As if that will help

Guns are already illegal so now they are about to make them even more illegal:

TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Japan’s parliament on Monday passed legislation strengthening gun control following a spate of shootings by gangsters, including the assassination of a city mayor in April and the recent murder of a hospital patient in a case of mistaken identity.

The revision of the firearms control law is the first since 1995, and imposes heavier punishments for gun crimes committed by members of organised crime gangs.

After the new law takes effect, which is expected by the end of the year, possessing a gun as part of organised crime syndicate will result in a sentence of one to 15 years in prison or a fine of up to 5 million yen ($46,100). The current provision is for a prison sentence of one to 10 years.

Under the revision, possessing more than one gun would become a crime, and would carry a prison term of between one and 15 years.

Just One Question.

Interesting findings

I doubt that many teenagers will be able to convince their parents of this but it could make for some very interesting dinner time talk:

Early sex may not lead where we think it does.

Teens who start having sex at an early age may be less likely to engage in delinquent behavior in early adulthood than teens who wait until they are older to have sex, a new U.S. study finds.

The conclusion contradicts the widely held belief that early sexual activity is associated with later drug use, criminality, antisocial behavior and emotional problems.

We got a very surprising finding, particularly that early sex seems to forecast less antisocial behavior a few years later, rather than more,” said lead researcher Kathryn Paige Harden, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia.

“There is a cultural assumption in the United States that if teens have sex early, it is somehow bad for their psychological health. But we actually found that teens who had sex earlier seem to have better relationships later. Now we want to find out why,” she said.

“Our hypothesis as a result of this finding is that teens who become involved in intimate romantic relationships early are having sex early and more often but that those intimate relationships might later protect them from becoming involved in delinquent acts.”

So many variations of such a discussion between parent and teenager are going through my mind that I couldn’t possibly unscramble them.

Posted in Sex

This is a fight we must win

We must win or else life under such a regime will not be worth living:

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad, her school said on Monday.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where the Liverpool woman was being held.

Teachers at Unity High School in central Khartoum said Gibbons, 54, made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favorite name for the toy as part of a school project.

Police arrested Gibbons on Sunday at her home inside the school premises, said Unity director Robert Boulos, after a number of parents made a complaint to Sudan’s Ministry of Education.

Boulos said she had since been charged with “blasphemy,” an offense he said was punishable with up to three months in prison and a fine.

[…]

Gibbons, who joined Unity in August, asked a girl to bring in her teddy bear to help the second grade class focus, said Boulos.

The teacher then asked the class to name the toy. “They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammed. Then she explained what it meant to vote and asked them to choose the name.” Twenty out of the 23 children chose Muhammad.

Situation Normal – Muslims Burning France

Since things are “stable” (no change in the situation) this is not news (but the second year of on-going coverage of the Aruba rape case got tons of play last night and this morning, and the History Channel has been busy talking about Sasquatch and the Bermuda Triangle).  Why report that Muslims are burning and looting in response to an accident?

Malkin has some details.

Le Parisien reports that they burned down a Peugeot dealership, sacked a train station and shops, tore up a McDonald’s, stole the day’s receipts and attacked customers, smashed and burned cars, and are still going strong.

Don’t they have a protection of gun rights in France? (I’m trying to imagine something like this happening in Idaho, going on for over a year, and I just can’t do it)

Yup.  Things are normal in France, so we can concentrate on important stuff like space-alien abductions, haunted houses, Princess Diana, and the Loch Ness monster.

I can’t help but wonder

Have “the times changed” in the last few decades? Or has this sort of thing being going on for a long, long time? If it has changed, why did it? Was it the independence of women having greater earning power? Or was it social acceptance of female sexuality? Something to do with the availability of birth control and/or good health beyond menopause? How would one design a study to answer those questions?

Older white women join Kenya’s sex tourists:

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) – Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.

They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is “just full of big young boys who like us older girls.”

Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.

Allie and Bethan — who both declined to give their full names — said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya’s palm-fringed beaches.

[…]

“It’s not love, obviously. I didn’t come here looking for a husband,” Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers.

“It’s a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn’t pay for anything, and I get what I want — a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?”

Yeah, I know, the “hard figures are difficult to come by” phrase made me laugh too.

Posted in Sex

Quote of the day–Hillary Rodham Clinton

There are big differences between me and Sen. Obama on healthcare. I have a healthcare plan that covers every single American. He does not. I have a healthcare plan that will leave no American out. He, by his own admission, leaves at least 15 million people out.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
November 25, 2007
Clinton, Obama dial up the healthcare heat
[And there is a big difference between both of their plans and what the U.S. Constitution says. The Constitution does not give the Federal Government the authority to engage in this kind of activity. That both senators are advocating unconstitutional action is proof neither of them are fit to be on the public payroll in any capacity. That includes dog catcher and “sanitation worker”. But the reality is that Henry Kissinger wasn’t just speaking about the administration he was working for. It applies to nearly all politicians.–Joe]

Being treated like cattle

If you were just the least bit selective in your data collection you could great really paranoid about big government. Check out this story (via email from Tony) Children herded like cattle into Maryland courthouse for forced vaccinations as armed police and attack dogs stand guard. And Local 2 Investigates Police Secrecy Behind Unmanned Aircraft Test.

Instead of paranoid, I think we should be “very skeptical”, “keep your powder dry”, and keep your training up to date.

If for some reason it ever becomes necessary to take down one of those planes do it while it is on the ground. If it’s already in the air then take out the communication gear on the ground.

I’ve often said the socialists think of the common person more as cattle to be dehorned, vaccinated, milked, and slaughtered than as people. The “central committee” or the “enlightened leaders” need to keep watch and do what is best for the common good. The right of the individual is unimportant next to the right of society as a whole. It’s time give up on these outmoded ideas and work for good of the collective. Those that resist are outlaws or insane and society is completely justified sending them to the work and reeducation camps. It’s for the good of society.

Yeah, right. And that is Why Boomershoot.

Update: This post is starting to get legs. The vaccination story above is obviously bordering near hysterical. I figured there was a grain of truth in it and the whole forced vaccination concept bothers me. Here are some more dispassionate versions of the same story:

Most of the articles just barely, at best, mention the protesters. The Christian Science Monitor has the best coverage of that angle:

But protesters outside the courthouse say that the summons to the courthouse amounted to a campaign of intimidation, and that parents weren’t adequately informed of their rights as parents or possible risks to their children.

“I think it’s offensive that the government would forcibly vaccinate kids. Individual rights are a good thing, and when you’re dealing with health issues, informed consent is an important value,” says Donna Hurlack, a Virginia gynecologist protesting outside the courthouse.

“There was a feeling of intimidation. Children were basically put in that building, lined up and given vaccines without any information given to parents about how to monitor their children for adverse vaccination reactions,” says Barbara Loe Fisher, president and cofounder of the National Vaccine Information Center, which advocates for more parental rights in immunization.

None mention the police and dogs but I found one picture that confirms that angle (from the Associated Press article above):

My best take on it is that the facts reported in the original article I linked to were probably correct. Yes, the spin on it was extreme but his point is valid. It was a forced vaccination. People were threatened with jail (point of a gun) if they didn’t comply. They were being treated a lot like cattle.

Quote of the day–Phil Goldsmith

We have our great role model out there in the NRA. They know how to do their job and mobilize people.

Phil Goldsmith
November 25, 2007
Why gun control has no shot–Governor’s effort to pass new restrictions runs into organized and effective opposition, as usual
President of CeaseFire PA
[In that spirit they should take us up on offers to go to the range together, learn how and why we socialize over guns, and why we oppose victim disarmament laws. They could join the NRA, read the magazines, participate in competitions, attend the annual meeting, Friends of the NRA dinners, and become firearms instructors. They could learn a lot from us.

Some of the most basic things they lack are a way to even join their organization let alone any benefits if someone were to join. And what existing events can they connect with people that might want to join? They have a lot of disadvantages compared to our side. We should fully exploit our advantages. These bigots need to be politically exterminated.–Joe]

Wireless, remote control cannon hit simulator

If you are into the battle reenactment scene Ozark Pyrotechnics, Inc. now has wireless Cannon Hit Simulation kits for sale.

This might be the way to realize one of my Boomershoot fantasies. That is where I mock the people unable to connect with targets using their rifles by pulling my iron sighted pistol from it’s holster and while standing popping off targets at 375 yards away.

Lentil and chocolate chip cookies

For Thanksgiving I usually make something with lentils since we grow them on the farm and few people do much cooking with lentils. Yesterday, about an hour before we planned to leave for the farm I still hadn’t started making anything (yes, I’m who Xenia inherited he procrastination from). I pulled the The Pea & Lentil Cookbook from the cupboard and started looking through it. “Oh, that looks interesting”, I thought when I saw the lentil cookies. “Interesting” was to be a word used in conjunction with my cookies many times during the day. I thought we had all the ingredients and started work. It turns out we didn’t have enough of everything and I improvised along the way.

Word traveled fast through the house and James came in to look and express his scorn, “Lentil cookies? Have you tried this before?” “No”, I replied. As he walked off he said, “I’ll be impressed if you pull it off.” At the end of the day he came up with my QOTD for today.

Lentil and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 7 dozen, approximately 3 cookies per serving
Lentils lend a rich, nutty flavor and cakelike softness to this classic cookie

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups lentil purée (purée instructions below)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

  • Preheat oven to 375o F.
  • In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add vanilla and eggs; beat until smooth. Cream lentil purée into butter mixture
  • In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture and blend lightly. Gently blend in oatmeal, chocolate chips, and nuts, just until evenly mixed.
  • Chill dough until ready for handling. Drop dough in rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 5 minutes; turn pan and bake another 5 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Lentil Purée

Add 2 cups water per cup of lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer. Simmer 10 to 20 minutes for decorticated (skinned) lentils, 35 to 40 minutes for whole lentils. Add more water if cooking time is extended due to high altitude, hard water, or prolonged storage prior to cooking. Stir a few times. Cook lentils until they are very soft but just short of falling apart. Which cooking is complete remove from heat and let cool slightly but do not drain. In small batches purée the lentils with a sieve, food mill, blender, food processor, or potato masher. Purée should be the consistency of canned pumpkin. Add water to thin if necessary.

It turns out I only had 1 cups of brown sugar. I topped it off with white sugar and poured some molasses over it until I figured it was “brown enough”. I didn’t see the walnuts in the cupboard and crushed some pecans with the potato masher. We only had four cups of oatmeal and I topped it off with Raisin Bran. We only had about 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and I figured the raisins in the Raisin Bran would be a good enough substitute.

I put the mixture in the freezer while I took a shower and we headed off to the farm.

As I was putting them on the cookies for baking people came in and asked what I was making. The response was universal, “Interesting”:


Putting the cookies on baking sheets as Aunt Alice expresses her “interest”. Photo by Xenia Joy.

I baked the cookies for the suggested ten minutes and wasn’t happy with them. Even 12 minutes didn’t seem like quite enough time but they tasted very good. Everyone, even our food snob son James, liked them.

Thanksgiving pictures from the farm

Yesterday we went to my parents place to gorge ourselves. Xenia and I took some pictures. She posted some of hers here. Mine are below (except as noted). And yes, I’ll tell you about the lentil cookies eventually.


Everyone says Barb and I are “cute” in this picture. Cute? Photo by Xenia Joy.


Son James who is featured in my QOTD today.


Daughter Xenia.


Xenia framed in frosted tree branches.


My brother’s shooting bench.


A neighbors Black Angus cow and Xenia.


Barb and Xenia reflected in the eye of a cow. Photo by Xenia Joy.


Xenia and I. Photo by Xenia Joy.

Quote of the day–James Huffman-Scott

So, it’s not just impressive you pulled it off. It was a f****ing miracle.

James Huffman-Scott
November 22, 2007
[Our son James after learning that not only did I try out a new recipe for cookies on Thanksgiving for our extended family I improvised with numerous ingredients and they still turned out quite good. Everyone, when I told them what I was making said, “Interesting” which of course actually means “I can’t imagine anyone eating something like that unless stomach cancer has already eliminated any concern about their stomach rotting.” I’ll share both the original and modified recipe soon.–Joe]

Lesson on Monopoly of Force

When I watched this video (via Dooce) I thought of it as a lesson on the concept of Monopoly of Force. Lions are the “King of the Jungle”, right? Don’t they represent government? The buffalo are the numerous “armed citizens”. The crocs must be criminals since they hide under the water like that and then disappear again when their opportunity slips away.

Yeah, I’m not normal.

Quote of the day–SayUncle

Not only should the president order the execution of the turkeys, he should kill both gobblers himself. With his bare hands, while wearing a loin cloth. He should then rise, his body glistening with sweat and blood, and take a bite out of its head and display it proudly to the American people.

SayUncle
November 22, 2005
My Platform
[While I strongly agree with the sentiment, and wouldn’t even mind the loincloth angle, I would be disappointed if he broke up a sweat or got blood on himself killing a turkey with his bare hands. In fact because the whole point of this it so show how manly he is to our enemies I’m thinking it should be a hog instead of a turkey. In which case if it was only bare hands I’d betting on the hog. So, I’d let him wimp out and him use a knife and/or a club. Now let the sweat and the blood glisten and our enemies cower.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Michael D. Barnes

Q: Mr. LaPierre claimed membership of the NRA was about 3.5 million. What is the combined membership of the Brady Center, particularly after joining forces with the Million Mom March?

A: We’re a lot smaller, unfortunately. We’re working to grow, we’re about a half million. We’ve started a new effort through the Internet to expand our outreach and we’re now up to over a quarter million new people, who are not members, but have logged on to sign, for example, our petition in support of renewing the federal ban on assault weapons. The NRA likes to brag about its millions of members and our information is that it has dwindled significantly. They were over four million about four, five years ago, they used the Clinton administration as a real boogeyman to build up their membership, but The New York Times and others have indicated that their finances have suffered significantly recently and their membership is probably more like 2.5 million, but that’s still a lot.

But there are 90 million gun owners in the United States. Only 3.5 million want the insurance and magazines and the various things you get for joining the NRA. When you look on our side and who supports us, for example, in the fight to renew the assault weapons ban, we’ve got over 300 organizations in the United States working with us: teachers, nurses, doctors, the American Academy of Pediatrics, religious organizations, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP. I’ll put our supporters in this cause up against the NRA any day of the week. We represent far, far more Americans, and the polling is very clear on that.

Michael D. Barnes
President, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
June 23, 2004
AN ASSAULT ON OUR SAFETY: GUN POLICY IN AMERICA
[It’s interesting to me that he quickly changes the subject when asked how many members they have. Did you notice that when he talks about NRA membership he jumps from four million to 2.5 million to 3.5 million. And if you want to talk finances the numbers I have show the NRA non-profit divisions solidly in the black and the Brady non-profit division running deficits. And the NRA Special Contribution Fund, Whittington Center alone has greater donations than the Brady non-profit (2005 numbers). If you look at the NRA Foundation numbers you will see their income is increasing and is nearly six times the Brady income which is falling. Add in all the donated money from other pro-gun organizations like The Second Amendment Foundation and you will find the Brady Bunch, by far the largest collection of anti-gun bigots, has income numbers on the order of one tenth that of the good guys. Barnes is just blowing smoke.

I bring this talk of membership numbers up because others have been talking about it.–Joe]

Anti-gun reactions

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear D.C. v. Heller The Brady Bunch said:

The Supreme Court’s decision in this case will be extremely significant – the most important decision on guns in nearly 70 years and maybe the most important ever regarding the Second Amendment.

On that point I think they are right. If we win we will be on the offense in a much bigger way than ever before. If we lose we will be on the defense with a handicap we have never before experienced.

The Gun Guys said:

Clearly, if laser guns that could kill someone from a thousand yards away were to come on the market (and they will), it would not be in the interest of protecting our law enforcement officials and citizens to allow such firearms to be sold to civilians. So, there is no absolute right to manufacture, sell and own any type of gun that the NRA and the gun industry claims to be a firearm protected under the Second Amendment. That is a dangerous and legally unsound notion, given that the courts have allowed gun control in the United States for as long as the laws have been in existence.

Perhaps he isn’t aware of my Spud Gun which “could kill someone from a thousand yards away” and that it is nothing more than a finely tuned hunting rifle (Remington 700).

He goes on to say:

It should be noted that within the gun control movement there was vigorous debate about whether or not to appeal the D.C. ruling. This is because, as it stands now, the striking down of the D.C. law is only applicable within the D.C. circuit.

The decision that the Supreme Court will render will affect the entire country – and it may be that there is a desire to stir up a political hornet’s nest on the issue during an election year, hoping that it will favor the Republicans.

I said back in March that if they were smart they would not appeal. But the roller coaster has just left the loading area and we are all going on an exciting ride with a good probability that someone is going to get thrown out before it stops next spring. The election year angle just adds more twists and turns (opportunities and risks).

Then the VPC says the D.C. ban is saving lives because D.C. has fewer suicides. It could be the numbers are bogus. For example if someone wanted to commit suicide they might just find a drug dealer and try to take his product from him. It would be ruled a murder and not a suicide. Still, I find this amusing. The VPC wants to protect us from ourselves but we are not allowed to protect ourselves from others. The first thing that comes to mind is–I wonder if they practice what they preach. If someone were in the middle of trying to commit suicide would they insist they stop then offer to do it for them because that would be more consistent with their philosophy?

And second, does this relate in some way to the apparent celebration of victim-hood by many liberals? They would rather have victims who have no control over their lives than people that take (the ultimate) control over their lives?