The View From North Central Idaho

I was listening to the audio book version of Surely Your Joking, Mr. Feynman! the other day and Feynman told of trying to teach his artist friend about science in return for the artist to teach him about art. It turned out that Feynman was a much better artist than the artist was a scientist. In fact the artist couldn't get anywhere with science. And Feynman observed that it wasn't just artists. It was pervasive in our society and perhaps in the human species. I've run into it myself some even with people that appear at first glance to be above average in intelligence. The concept that Feynman expressed was that people think engineers and scientists can do anything. You just have to tell them what you want and they could build it if they wanted to. People think of us as magicians.

One of the examples Feynman mentioned was that he was asked to be an adviser to the military and after some reluctance agreed to attend a meeting or two to see if he could contribute. One of the problems the military wanted help solving was the refueling of tanks. As they advanced on the battlefield they would run out of fuel and needed to be refueled. Why didn't the scientists just create an engine that used sand for fuel? Then the tank could just have a little scoop on the bottom and refuel itself as it moved along.

We are not magicians. There are physical laws that we not only don't know how to break but can't be broken. We may find a loophole someday but that is a very risky bet. Politicians make laws that everyone knows how to break but I'm not sure people in general understand the difference.

To make things worse our politicians write laws as if we actually are magicians. The universal biometric identification card, fingerprints, airplane security searches, and "ballistic fingerprints" are just a few of the examples that are applicable to my domain of blogging. And what happens when science doesn't come through like the advocates want us to? They bury their head in the sand and insist it's working even when it's not and cannot possibly work. People will want to believe something so bad that they will believe it despite evidence to the contrary.

In the cases above there is a fundamental problem that many people don't realize exists. It's a MUCH different problem that many other hard problems scientists and engineers have been able to solve. You used to hear things like, "If we can put a man on the moon why can't we [fill in the blank]?" At one level I understand the feeling. Putting a man on the moon is so outside of our everyday experience that it would seem to be impossible. So why not solve something that would seem to be simple like identifying people? The fundamental difference is in one case you are "fighting" a nearly static "enemy", "Mother Nature", and in the other cases you are "fighting" an active thinking opponent.

I'm reminded of a quote that relates to this topic:

Campaigns to bearproof all garbage containers in wild areas have been difficult because, as one biologist put it, "There is a considerable overlap between the intelligence levels of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." 

Richard Wabrek

The opponent you are defending against in the case of the identification, airplane security and garbage container problems is constantly getting smarter. The earth, it's atmosphere, the moon, gravity, and the dumbest tourists are not getting smarter.

Because of this fundamental difference in the nature of the problems any solution you find against an active opponent is likely to be short lived. In the case of a bear or a virus it may be possible to find a permanent solution. In the case of human opponents I think that in all cases it will be an unwinnable arms race. Solutions will come and with time and some smarts the opponents will defeat them with perhaps as little as one billionth as much money and effort as the solution builders put into it. The only question will be is, "Did we spend our money wisely on that solution?" Did we buy enough time before the solution was defeated to make the expenditure worthwhile? Or could we have spent that money on something else that would have been a better return on the dollar?

This concept can be extended even further. Think of the war on certain drugs and firearm bans. There is an active human opponent the solution provider is fighting. Those are battles that cannot be won.

The lawyer in Oregon that was arrested by the FBI because they "identified" his fingerprints on materials related to the bombing of the train station in Spain is going to be getting $2M from the U.S. taxpayers:

Two years ago the FBI branded Oregon attorney Brandon Mayfield a terror suspect, secretly searched his house and eavesdropped on his conversations with his family and co-workers.

On Wednesday, Justice Department officials agreed to pay Mayfield $2 million to settle one part of his lawsuit for his wrongful arrest in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.

Mayfield, a former Army officer, also got a formal apology. And the settlement allows him to continue his legal challenge to the USA Patriot Act, which Mayfield charges violates the Fourth Amendment by permitting government searches without demonstrating probable cause that a crime has been committed.

"The United States acknowledges that the investigation and arrest were deeply upsetting to Mr. Mayfield, to Mrs. Mayfield and to their three young children," said Tasia Scolinos, a Justice Department spokeswoman, in a prepared statement. "And the United States regrets that it mistakenly linked Mr. Mayfield to this terrorist attack."

Mayfield believed he was singled out because of his Muslim faith. FBI agents, however, insisted that his arrest was based on a faulty fingerprint identification that linked him to the attack.

Either way, Mayfield's arrest is one of the FBI's most embarrassing episodes in its five-year campaign to detect terrorist cells inside the United States.

The case also cast doubt on the accuracy of the FBI's troubled fingerprint-identification program and raised questions about sweeping anti-terror measures passed by Congress in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Mayfield, 40, was detained for two weeks after agents matched the print of his left index finger with one found on a bag of detonators connected to the Madrid attack.

What most people don't know is that fingerprint identification is often as much an art as a science. Sure if you have excellent quality prints from the nice man carefully rolling your inked finger back and forth on the fingerprint card even a computer can match that to another fingerprint card carefully made some other time. But if they have a smeared fingerprint left from you gripping a textured hand railing, or just the tips of your fingers from typing on the keyboard, or if you soaked your fingers in bleach the night before it's not clear whether you can get a match at all. And if you are elderly and do a lot of hand labor then the nice man may not even have usable fingerprints from your carefully inked and rolled fingers on the card.

But the U.S. legal system has a tremendous amount of case law built up that says a fingerprint match is positive identification. The problem is there aren't good standards for what constitutes a "match". How many little arches and swirls much be in agreement before it's considered good enough that no one else could have left those fingerprints at the crime scene? Or how may discrepancies can exist before the defense can argue that it definitely wasn't the suspect that left them? The courts have left it up to "experts" to decide. And the experts don't agree. The "science" of fingerprints isn't science. You can get two "experts" to look at identical data and reach opposite conclusions. And what of the ability to spoof fingerprints? It's not that difficult. And you leave some pretty high quality fingerprints on those soda cans you recycle, the water glass at the restaurant, and restroom door at work.

Until the case above the FBI experts had a much lower threshold for an "identical match" than did the forensic experts in other countries. And I don't think this issue has been settled yet. I expect there will be other cases where the "experts" want to "help" or have pressure put on them to claim matches when there shouldn't be. Innocent people will be arrested, imprisoned, and perhaps sometimes even executed because of shaky fingerprint evidence.

A good part of the problem is that many people think of science as some sort of magic that can give black and white solutions to almost anything. In some cases it can but in others it's simply not possible. But that's beyond the scope of this post. So I'll save that for later.

Paul Helmke is President of the Brady Campaign/Center to Prevent Gun Violence (better known in civil rights circles as "The Brady Bunch"). Here are some things to watch out for--straight from the horse's ass mouth:

The new Congress could send the public a positive message of its concern for safer communities by taking common sense steps like eliminating current restrictions on publicizing data about the source of guns used in crimes, strengthening the enforcement powers of law enforcement agencies including the ATF, making it harder for criminals and terrorists to buy guns by requiring background checks for all gun sales, and restricting sales of military style weapons and the ammunition that's used in those weapons. Steps like this help make us safer and will score political points for those who support them.

Emphasis is mine. Even casual users of guns should go immediately on alert about the ammunition even if they don't about the "military style weapons". The most popular American guns use ammunition that was first used by the military. .45 ACP, 30.06, .308, .223, 9mm, 12 gauge shotgun. That doesn't even include the less popular but still "interesting" calibers like .50 BMG.

And of course this point ignores all the other great points that could be made about their anti-freedom wish list. Examples include:

• Just One Question.
• All semi-automatic firearms are "military style".
• All bolt action rifles are "military style".
• All revolvers are "military style".
• All muzzle loader firearms are "military style".
• The "requiring of background checks for all gun sales" is a back-door gun registration scheme.
• Publicizing ATF gun trace data endangers criminal investigations.
• "Common sense" is the code phrase they use for things they don't want you to think about. Also known as "dangerous Utopian ideas".
• The ATF has no constitutional authorization to even exist let alone enforce illegal laws (what part of "...shall not be infringed" don't you understand?).
• Scoring points with anti civil rights advocates is politically hazardous.
  • The civil rights organizations in support of gun owners is over four million strong.
  • The anti-rights organizations like the Brady Bunch aren't even 1/10 that size.
  • Pissing off ten people for every one you make happy is not politically smart.

Via Arms and the Law.

I wouldn't normally mention this sort of thing on my blog. I'm not into bathroom humor, like some people I know. And this video is nearly ten minutes long which is way too long for most blog readers. But the police marksman and the total breakdown of civil society make it good enough to warrant my mention. Via Samantha.

The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the party that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.

Lord Acton

Phil points out that about half of last year's 10th graders in Washington State failed the math test they are currently required to pass in order to graduate. (Barely) Governor Gregiore wants to fix that--by lowering the standard.

This reminds me of a quote from a Heinlein book:

Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human.  At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe, and not make messes in the house.

The character Lazarus Long in the Robert Heinlein book Time Enough for Love

I'm with Heinlein on this.

Of course I'm going to get the evil stare of death from Xenia the next time I see her. She uses this cartoon as wallpaper on her computer:

Xenia's mother and I, her father, met each other in algebra class and both frequently got perfect scores on the tests. We took four year of math in high school and both did very well. How can she claim to our child and not like math? [heavy sigh]

Howard nails Rebecca Peters:

Ms. Peters’ career in gun control got its start in Australia, where she was an important contributor to that country’s current gun ban. By 2005, the rate of sexual assault in Australia increased 36% from its pre-ban 1995 rate, while the U.S. rate decreased 14.6%. Women are now raped over three times as often in Australia as they are in the United States.

The rate of sexual crimes against women in the UK increased 63.0% since pre-ban 1995. Women are raped and sexually assaulted nearly twice as often in the UK as the U.S. Meanwhile, British police ignore Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “civil,” as in: “orderly; well-governed.” The detection rate for sexual offenses dropped from 39% in 2003-2004 to 34% in 2004-2005, indicating poor governance: a 13% lower efficiency by police in bringing perpetrators to justice. Yet according to Peters’ interpretation, Australia and Britain promote women’s rights better than the U.S.

Is a society that accepts a drastic increase in the violent victimization of females more civil, or less?

This is a relevant question, because it appears that Peters believes such societies are more civil, as her IANSA is a major player in the U.N. effort to ban civilian firearms.

That's just a sample.

Peters is a very big player in the international anti-civil rights movement. Pointing out the terrible consequences of her successes should be high on the list of civil rights activists. To get more familar with Ms. Peters you might also want to get a DVD of her October 2004 debate with Wayne LaPierre (hint to people wishing to buy me a Christmas gift--it's only $5.95).

One of our employees found this gem a few years ago at the local food co-op-- a place where they charge high prices for food that's "non-corporate" and where they promote anti-capitalist politics and ideals.

It reveals much of the driving force behind the institution of Socialism-- pure, unadulterated, white-hot hatred for Mankind, marketed to us as “compassion”.  This rare glimpse into the mind of a Leftist is what I call the "Hate Dollar".

I believe I can speak with some authority in this area, having been one of "them" myself, growing up as I did among people of similar attitudes and beliefs.  Let me know if you want any part of this work explained:

Check out the high resolution version and you'll see the exquisite detail and the care with which the artist spills out hatred for America, for Liberty, and for most anything that smacks of human achievement and advancement.  Note also that President Clinton was far too Right Wing for them, having been something of an open-trade president.

Incidentally, I can find nothing in the hate dollar that would be at odds with what the current crop of jihadis has been saying-- The overlap of the two ideologies is worthy of note.

I got mixed up searching for the proper email address (the domain names differed by only one letter) and first sent emails to the Boys High School school. But eventually I got it straighted out sent an email to the address I found here. I sent a correction email to the police department as well. Here is what I sent the student:

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 8:59 AM
To: Bonnie
Subject: RE: site....

I haven't personally built either of those types of devices so I really can't help with what you want to do.

 

I'm sure you will be able to get the help you need soon.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

-joe-

---

From: Bonnie
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 4:08 PM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: site....

Hey I need help. I want to build a bomb out of simple ingredients. I need the recipe. a timer, maybe a detonater. I was thinking along the lines of a pipe or fire bomb? can you help?

Update: I received a reply from the school:

From: Melissa
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 12:09 PM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: Student wants help building a bomb.

Thank you for forwarding this email and we will ensure that this is followed up.

Kind regards.

Principal's PA

Update II: On December 4, 2006 4:45 PM I received an email from "NZ Police Web Site : Central" saying, "thanks I will forward it to the Intel office in New Pplymouth (sic)".

The right to revolt has sources deep in our history.

William O. Douglas
US Supreme Court Justice

Why am I not surprised? I'm betting these are people that want us to return to our "natural state"--to be "one with nature". If they really succeeded, if they actually achieved what they are pushing for billions of people would die. We would return to the technology, and probably the sociology, of the dark ages:

Fringe environmental campaigners have contributed to the metal market boom by hindering and delaying new mine development, Mr Munk said.

...

Barrick’s chairman said that the leading NGOs had played a responsible role alerting the world to problems. The new breed are not accountable, he said. “They haven’t got an address. They incite people, mobilise volunteers and make outrageous statements.”

Barrick recently came under fire over plans to develop an Andean gold deposit on the Chile-Argentina border. NGOs accused the company of seeking to destroy glaciers.

Barrick said that the mine would not touch the icefields and it had received 50,000 job applications from locals supporting the project.

Nuclear fusion is a wonderful idea. Clean, no risk of people making bombs from it, and nearly limitless energy. And we have people working on it. The problem is it's not just some government program--which would almost for certain doom it. There are numerous governments working on it. Think of a committee of bureaucrats that don't speak the same language. Now give them billions of dollars and tell them they aren't expected to deliver a working prototype for years or even decades. Oh, and they aren't ever expected to turn a profit.

When General Electric, Chevron, or even Toyota tells me they are building a nuclear fusion plant I'll willingly buy their stock. But the government is going to have to get my money for this boondoggle they way they always do--at the point of a gun.

Xenia has posted some more portraits. Kim and Caleb and Martin. I like these best:

Say Uncle reminded me of something and I had to go look it up. If you ever get a chance to hear Alan Korwin speak he's just as brilliant in person. Here is his take on the words we use. A sample:

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):	It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
pro gun	pro rights
gun control	crime control
anti-gun movement	anti-self-defense movement
semiautomatic handgun	sidearm
concealed carry	carry or right to carry
assault or lethal weapon	household firearms
saturday night specials	racist gun laws
junk guns	the affordability issue
high capacity magazines	full capacity magazines
Second Amendment	Bill of Rights
the powerful gun lobby	civil rights organizations

Just a little over a week ago I brought you this story on how you get what you pay for with government health care. It's "free", right? Here's a follow up story on it:

Patients spoke yesterday of their grim experiences in mixed hospital wards and claimed the Government fiddles the figures to suggest that most are now segregated.

Readers of The Daily Telegraph, from Truro to Manchester, said there were often naked and semi-naked patients of the opposite sex in full view and intimate medical discussions were easily overheard.

They said that flimsy partitions were used to indicate that the sexes were separated and that wards were classed as emergency or temporary in order to get around the rules.

The Department of Health says that 99 per cent of NHS trusts comply with the requirement to provide single-sex accommodation but on Thursday Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, admitted there were problems.

...

Single-sex lavatories were achieved by changing the designation on the doors to either male or female depending on the sex of the occupant. "In effect this made the facility unisex," she said. "I had to endure all the mess left by ill and confused male users of the lavatory."

A reader from Weston-super-Mare said that last March, at Weston General Hospital, she was on a ward with a partition half way through the room.

"I was taken to a bed on the male side. They said they would move me when a female bed was available.

"When I asked for the curtains to be drawn I was told it was not possible as the nurse needed to see me. I was on the male side when I came round from my operation and found this extremely stressful.

"When I needed to use a commode the curtains were at least 2ft from the floor — very distressing and undignified."

A woman admitted to the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, wrote: "I was amazed and embarrassed to find myself staring at a row of men.

"The man opposite had a skin complaint and lay on top of his bed with his pyjamas open and a small paper towel balanced on his private parts.

"Every time he moved the towel fell off."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are aware of these issues and know there is a disparity between our figures and the public view. That is why the Secretary of State has asked strategic health authorities to look into this and to report back to us."

Government officials love to make reports. It's one of the few things they are actually pretty good about doing. Too bad they can't actually accomplish something useful.

This is one of the dangers we face. People are getting used to having their freedoms violated. Some people get it. But others don't:

Stop griping about airport security

As the daughter of airline employees, I was practically raised on an airplane. I’ve been swabbed for drugs, had my shoes examined for explosives, had my bag torn apart and been patted down in plain view.

Yes, it’s an inconvenience, but it’s really not the end of the world.

I’m personally willing to sacrifice an hour of my life to not lose my life in an hour.

Whenever some nutcase tries to sneak a knife on board to prove a point, there is an immediate reaction of, “Oh look! Security is insufficient! Another 9/11 could happen now!”

Until you stop complaining about having to take off your shoes, you cannot complain about a lack of security.

"An inconvenience but not the end of the world." I'm sure similar words were used by a lot of the homosexuals when they had to wear the pink triangles in Germany in the late thirties. Or maybe by the Jews when their shop windows were broken on the Night of Broken Glass. It's only in hindsight everyone can see things clearly.

What this woman doesn't realize is that she is completely missing the point or perhaps even willfully avoiding the point. She thinks the point to be learned from the "nutcase" is that existing "security" is inadequate. It's not. The point to be learned is that we are spending billions of dollars each year and getting nothing good in return for it. That money could have been better spent on something else. What we do get from it is a desensitized population. It's just a pink triangle or a Star of David you have to wear. What does it matter? Just go along with it and don't make such a fuss. Right?

It's the creeping of the searching that is the problem. You are searched before you can enter a Federal Courthouse, tour Grand Coulee dam, or visit the top of the St. Louis Arch. You can be stopped on the road for no reason and your car can be searched if a dog takes an interest in it.

People are getting used to being searched for almost any reason. It's "an inconvenience but not the end of the world". Those people are wrong. It fails my Jews in the Attic Test. End of story.

Phil has better stories than I do about getting home after work last night. I had to take numerous detours from my planned route because of all the backups. Even though it was 00:45 after watching another four episodes of Enterprise with James' at his apartment there were cars backed up for miles in some locations. I managed to look far enough ahead to detour around them and didn't actually have to stop for the traffic.

It was 01:15 when I arrived in my neighborhood and there were people on the street directing traffic down a little hill. I have the best snow and ice tires Les Schwab sells without getting studs and didn't really have any problems. There were places where I expect my 10 MPH stopping distances would have been 50 yards (downhill on a glaze of ice) but I could stop, I could go forward, and I could steer.

There were lots of cars abandoned along the streets and there were "interesting" vehicle tracks in places vehicles had no business going. I'm in the middle of a conference call from work right now (my input isn't needed right now) but soon I'm going to grab some food and cooking utensils (the cafeterias at work are closed) and head off to work. I'm hoping to get some good pictures.

...the Second Amendment is not for killing little ducks and leaving Huey and Dewey and Louie without an aunt and uncle.  It is for hunting politicians, like [in] Grozny, [or back in] 1776, when they take your independence away!

Bob Dornan
Congressional Record, 25 January, 1995

This "male pill" works by preventing ejaculation without inhibiting orgasm. For some people that would eliminate a lot of the fun but for others it would be most welcome.

Also "useful" is that it can be taken as a "one of" a short time before its effects are needed and normal function returns a few hours later:

A male contraceptive pill, which can be taken as a one-off dose just before a date without any side effects, is being developed by British scientists.

The tablet would prevent a man from being able to impregnate a woman by creating a “dry orgasm”. But the user’s fertility would return to normal within a few hours of taking the drug.

The pill, which was derived from drugs used to treat schizophrenia, prevents ejaculation but does not affect the intensity of the orgasm.

Very interesting.

As a scientist I can't think of a better way to bias your research and end up with bogus results:

The record is clear, and once we are able to get hearings on this, everyone will see what they already know, and that is that those who have the least opportunities at this age find themselves in the military, as I did when I was 18 years old.

Not only is Charles Rangel looking to find what he wants to find in these proposed hearings but he is announcing to the world what data he will find and what his conclusions are. Even if he managed to find data completely contradictory to what he believed he would have a difficult time admitting he was wrong and changing his conclusions. For a politician this is even more difficult than for a scientist. But then again he is a politician, not a scientist. For them it's not about finding the truth or doing the right thing--those things are irrelevant in politics.

That reminds me of a couple jokes:

POLITICIAN: From the Greek `poly' ("many") and the French `tete' ("head" or "face," as in `tete-a-tete': head to head or face to face). Hence `polytetien', a person of two or more faces.

Martin Pitt

And my favorite along this line:

The word 'politics' comes from the Greek root 'poly', meaning many, and 'tics', meaning blood-sucking parasites.

I don’t care about crime,  I just want to get the guns.  No, we’re not looking at how to control criminals  . . .  we’re talking about banning the AK-47 and semi-automatic guns. Until we can ban all of the firearms,  then we might as well ban none.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum
[Just so you know what most in the gun-rights movement have discovered after only a modest amount of research. It's not crime control that drives the people that want to ban guns.--Joe]

Update: Due to interest in an accurate citation of this quote I went looking some more. I looked yesterday but wasn't able to find anything satisfactory. Here are some hints:

• From HK Weapons Systems: it is suggested it was in 1993 or maybe 1994.
• From a personal profile on Free Republic: it is suggested it was during a debate on the Brady Bill in 1993.
• It is not on the list of Second Amendment Foundation or the Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms bogus quotes.
• It is not on the list of bogus quotes at GunCite.
• Searches for "I don't care about crime" and Metzenbaum (Google, Live Search, Yahoo) get a lots of hits.

If I were to spend more time on this I would look for transcripts of the debate on the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban. But I don't really have the time.

One battle at a time. We have a lot of work to do with things like property rights, ending the war on some recreational drugs, and Federal regulation of almost everything but we are still winning (or at least not losing) the battle to regain our right to keep and bear arms. Here is more proof from Eugene Oregon:

Other than alienating virtually every rural Democrat, there is no practical reason to ban handguns. We cannot take handguns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens when criminals would still buy them illegally or steal them.

...

Most importantly, gun ownership, including handguns, is the biggest deterrent to a totalitarian government or military coup. If the neoconservatives use the next terrorist attack to set aside more of our rights, we'll eventually run out of them. I'll be thankful that our "well regulated [neighborhood citizen] militia" has a "right to bear arms" that is not "infringed." Those are quotes from the Constitution. I wish gun banners and neocons would read it and love it.

Several years ago when I successfully moved to strike the gun control plank from the Democratic Party of Lane County's platform, no rural Democrats vocalized support. That wasn't surprising, because no rural Democrats were present. We certainly have been rectifying that, as our recent gains have illustrated.

This is not to say I agree with the Lane County Democrats on anything else. Here some info off of their website:

On every civil rights issue, Democrats lead the fight. Democrats support expanding opportunities in jobs, health care benefits, and education. We support vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws.

[Heavy sigh] They don't really understand what a "right" is. Health care is not and cannot be a right. Same with education and jobs. We still have lots of work to do--one battle at a time.

I was reloading some ammo yesterday and noticed this on the shelf:

This is left over from one of the tests I did in September of 1998 when I was first trying to come up with a mix that would go boom from rifle fire. It was a mix of potassium chlorate, ammonium nitrate, and diesel. I had gotten a couple successful detonations but then wanted to try adding a lot more diesel. There were three reasons for this:

1. A slurry would be easier to put in the pop cans
2. Excess fuel should produce a fireball (HAH! It was over three years later before Ry and I had our first success with fireballs)
3. Fewer measurements means less time spent making the targets

It didn't work. Even though I nailed the pop can from only 100 yards away with my 30.06 all that happened was the back of the can blew out. To this day excess liquid of any type we have tried is bad news to the sensitivity of the mix.

No surprise here.

Palestinian Attacks Go on Despite Truce

JERUSALEM Nov 26, 2006 (AP)— Israeli troops withdrew from the Gaza Strip as a last-minute cease-fire deal took hold Sunday morning, but two major Palestinian militant groups, saying they had no intention of stopping their attacks, fired volleys of homemade rockets into Israel.

The ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad tempered hopes for a lasting truce, which was meant to end five months of deadly clashes.

I believe the problem is the mindset of the Muslim civilization. As told by Samuel P. Huntington in The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order they have a different viewpoint on group loyalties than we do in the West. I've made a crude chart that attempt to get the concept across:

Huntington describes it as a "U" and an inverted "U". I have it as more like 'V's because I didn't want to enter in all the data points to get a smooth U. But the point is that when our nations leaders say, "We are going to make peace, stop fighting while we talk" our civilization will obey even if the local groups think the fighting should continue. Muslim civilization doesn't have that much loyalty to their nation. The local tribe and community has more influence. And on the other end of the scale they have more loyalty to other Muslims than their nation as well.

This also explains why Saddam Hussein picked people from his hometown as his guards and elite army units. He trusted them far more than people from other areas of the country.

Where does that leave us? How can we, or the Israels, negotiate peace? Or even have peace with Muslims? Good questions. I'm not sure it can be done unless we destroy their culture.

Of course I do not regret the Bond days, I regret that sadly heroes in general are depicted with guns in their hands, and to tell the truth I have always hated guns and what they represent.

Roger Moore
[Daniel Craig isn't the only actor to play Bond and dislike guns.--Joe]

Xenia wants to be a photographer. She is doing some of her first "real" work now with senior portraits. Here is a set of pictures of Jessa. I really like this one:

Today she took pictures of Martin but I haven't seen them yet.

We went to my brother's place for Thanksgiving Day. They had a record number of people there--33. We brought seven of them in our van. In addition to Barb, me, and our three kids, James, Kim, and Xenia there was Xenia's friend Sara and Kim's fiancee Caleb. Here are some pictures. If I am in the picture Xenia took the picture (even the one with both of us in it). Otherwise I took the picture:

Kim and Caleb

Barb and me.

Xenia and me.

Amy. My brother's daughter who is the same age as Kim.

Lisa. My brother's daughter who is the same age as Xenia.

My Aunt Betty and one of her grandkids.

I'm thinking of giving (selling actually) the opportunity for people with night vision equipment the chance to exercise their equipment and skills on the night of Friday April 27^th 2007. This is two days before Boomershoot 2007. This would involve about 50 targets some of which would be "enhanced" for greater night time enjoyment. Other things that would be a little different from Boomershoot are the following:

• Targets would range from about 150 yards to 350 yards away
• Targets would be painted dark colors instead of being light colored
• Targets will all be 7x7 inches
• The price will be in addition to any entry fee you have paid already for Boomershoot 2007
• The price will be from $200 to $500 per person depending on how many people sign up
• The price will be finalized by April 15 2007 or when it is full whichever comes first
• Spotters are welcome but probably won't be useful and will not need to pay
• It will be limited to a maximum of 10 people
• The sun will be down
  • Sunset will be 19:50
  • End civil twilight will be 20:23
  • Moonrise will be 15:23
  • Moonset will be 04:06 the following day
  • The phase of the moon will be waxing gibbous with 82% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated
• Shooting will start at 20:30 and last for three hours or until the targets are gone
• A different location would be used. It is about two miles to the west of the usual site
• If it is too wet the site will be unusable and you would not have to pay even though you said you would participate
• All shooters will have a minimum of 10 feet horizontally and can set up starting at 19:00

This is a picture of the potential site as of November 23^rd 2006:

This location is facing north. The trees will shade the area from the setting sun but not from the moon. Of course if there is a heavy cloud cover it won't make much difference.

If you are interested send an email to JoeH@boomershoot.org with the subject of "Night Boomers".

Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not.

David Seabury
[Good advice when you in a situation where you fear for your personal safety. We teach this concept in NRA Personal Protection classes.--Joe]

Citizens have the natural right and the common sense duty to protect themselves, their families, their communities, and their property...guns are the equalizing tools of self-protection, utopian lamentations notwithstanding.

Edgar A. Suter

Pretty interesting if you are a mechanical engineer type.

If somebody brings up guns I'm going to shoot 'em.

James Carville
November 22, 2006
Democratic strategist
Election changes hue of red states
News Observer via Alphecca
[I'd like to suggest someone makes sure Mr. Carville gets some good training and lots of practice time at the range.--Joe]

I do not believe in people owning guns. Guns should be owned only by the police and military. I am going to do everything I can to disarm this state.

Michael Dukakis
Then governor of Massachusetts, 1986
[Todays QOTD was inspired by this post from Say Uncle.--Joe]

I first saw it at The Smallest Minority. Then a friend from Microsoft (and Boomershoot) sent me a link to it and said, "This bit of fiction just absolutely scared the living daylights out of me." I'm pretty sure he is Jewish. [I was wrong] That makes at least a little bit of difference in the context.

It's a good read. You should read the whole thing.

I responded to my friend in email. What follows is a slightly sanitized version of what I said to my friend.

I would expect that within a couple days Iran would have a soft green glow that would last for decades. If not from U.S. "sharing of the love" then from Israel suddenly becoming less inhibited in expressing their feelings toward Muslim extremists. I would expect many Muslim "Holy Cities" would become just "Holes".

North Korea geography would have some sudden changes that would require some changes in maps-should someone decide to put on their NBC (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) suits and visit. 
 
I certainly regard Muslim extremists as an extremely serious threat--more so than North Korea. Watch the trailer for Obsession, The Movie. There are so many parallels between Nazi Germany and Muslims today that one has to be blind, ignorant, or stupid not to see what's going to happen if we don't take violent action and follow through on it. Unfortunately we don't have any good options available to us. I see it as either the long slow road something along the lines of what George Bush attempted, and the Democrats sabotaged, or wholesale genocide. We don't yet have the moral justification, and certainly not the political will, for genocide. But after we get nuked we may.

It will be ironic. The Democrats all demanding/promising peace and getting swept into office on that force of that idea. Then they deliver the peace of the grave for both us and our enemies.

Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?

Joseph Stalin
[And hence, you can conclude that the left has a vested interest in not wanting people to think as well as own guns.--Joe]

I got an email from Babeland this evening. They have some toys they are pushing as gift ideas:

Spoil someone rotten with the look, feel, and total body indulgence of our top-of-the-line sex toys. These opulent items combine the latest technologies, premium craftmanship, and deluxe materials to create toys that are as decadent as they are delightful.

They have some interesting stuff available including programable ("as easy as sorting your music on iTunes"), 24K gold, stainless steel, and chrome toys. I will include just the paragraph titles to avoid pushing this blog too much past the PG-13 rating.

• For the Connoisseur
• For the Technophile
• For the Fashionista
• For the Adventurer
• For the Minimalist
• For the Sensualist
• For the Bootie Queen
• For the Realist (her)
• For the Insatiable
• For the Sophisticate
• For the Aesthete

I couldn't find any gPod's there however.

Blogging about the next Boomershoot, by people other than Ry and I, doesn't usually start until after the first of the year but it seems everything is happening early this year. Kirk made a blog post about it nine days ago: Boomershoot 2007. I expect that after Christmas people will start counting down the days and the blogging will get more intense. As last year I'll try to link to everyone that puts up a post mentioning Boomershoot.

In the past 90 minutes the last two "regular" positions for Boomershoot 2007 filled up. One was from Arlington, Washington and the other was from Florence, Montana. There are still six positions left in the .50 Caliber Ghetto and I'll let people without .50 cal toys to play there but they will be restricted in the available targets. This is amazing--64 positions have been taken up by November 20th which is over five months before the event.

I'll have a waiting list so send me an email if you want to attend and didn't get your position reserved in time. It seems there is always something that comes up for someone and they just can't make it and I nearly always give them their money back unless they insist that I keep it--in which case I just write them down as a free entry for the next year (yes, Phil, I'm talking about you for the second year in a row). The clinic is sold out too and again there is a waiting list. See here for details on that.

Speaking of places where people are coming from we have someone coming from Minnesota this year. That is a first from that state. See the map here for a complete list of where people have come from. It looks like Kirk (above) and Scott K. will be coming from essentially the same place on the East Coast and will be traveling the greatest distance.

In a day or two I'll be ordering most of the supplies--the cardboard boxes, zip-lock bags, and the vinyl gloves we use when mixing the chemicals. I'll probably order the potassium chlorate soon too. I have the money and want to put all the expenses I can into this year. Remaining will be the 800 stakes, batteries (for our walkie-talkies and our electronic scales), rubber bands (to attach the boxes of explosives to the stakes), baby wipes (clean up supplies for the chemical handlers), 25 pounds of [secret ingredient #3], 50 pounds of [secret ingredient #4], road flares, and gasoline. Most of these last items will be purchased locally at places like Costco and Wal-Mart. The stakes come from the local builder's supply place and will wait until just before before the event so I don't have to load and unload 800 stakes an extra time and store them in my already overflowing garage for months.

I had my first Boomershoot nightmare a week or so ago. Odd... I don't recall having any for Boomershoot 2006 although they were common for both Ry and I on several previous events. This nightmare was that I looked at my watch and realized it was 10:30 in the morning on the day of the event. It was 30 minutes past when the shooters meeting was supposed to start and I hadn't started making the explosives yet. All the shooters were patiently waiting on the grassy knoll, ready to start shooting, and I needed another eight or ten hours to make the targets. Not a pleasant thought.

I got a call from a woman today asking if there was room for her and her sister to park their RV's on-site and if it would be okay to cook some snacks for everyone the night before. Of course! And they aren't even planning on shooting. They are going to be driving several hundred miles to watch their husbands shoot (the wives are giving the entries as Christmas presents). I've had both of these wives call me now, as well as exchange several emails and they continually express a great deal of enthusiasm for the event and I'm beginning to wonder who the present is really for. Barb frequently asks, "Why do you do this?" I keep telling her it's for the explosives groupies--but I don't think she believes me.

This will be the 11th event I have put on. It was the 10th event before things really clicked well and the biggest problem I had only took ten minutes to completely resolve. Boomershoot 2007 should be a real winner for everyone.

There's plenty of room for spectators so bring your ear plugs, lawn chairs and we'll see you on April 29th. The directions are here. It'll be a blast!

The people that voted "blue" because of the promise of government supplied health care should be careful what they ask for. They might get it.

Katherine Murphy, spokeswoman for the Patients Association, said the huge budget deficits faced by some NHS trusts - estimated to be over £1 billion - together with the Government's obsession with targets, was leaving some hospitals with no option but to treat patients of the opposite sex together.

...

'The Government's pledge to get rid of mixed sex wards is yet another one of Tony Blair's broken promises,' Mrs Murphy said.

'We've seen more and more calls to our patient helpline from distressed women in particular who are being forced to share rooms with men.

...

Last month a review of 153 acute trusts in England revealed that, in some hospitals, two in three patients are still being having to share a room with a member of the opposite sex.

...

'Allowing trusts to simply put curtains up between patients makes no difference to them whatsoever,' Mrs Murphy added.

'It makes a mockery of the Government's targets and is simply a token gesture that is failing to get to the root of the problem.'

In 1997, the Government set its first target for closing such wards by 1999. But in January 2000 this was revised to 2002.

It was then moved again, to April 2004 – but even this target has now been missed.

Tory health minister Stephen O'Brien said: 'What further proof do we need of the value of a promise from this Labour Government than their record on mixed sex wards.

'Four years ago they said they would get rid of mixed sex wards, but four years on the increasing evidence shows the situation is getting worse not better.

'Financial deficits, caused by the Government's mismanagement of the NHS, is now leading to less trusts taking the decision to close mixed sex wards.'

And do you really want the government having ready access files on your medical records? What if those "evil homophobic Republicans" could easily find everyone that was gay? Or if the unethical Democrats exposed the Republican candidates (or their daughters or girl-friends) who had abortions when they where a teenager?

Almost lost in the article is the £1 billion deficit (not debt) of the National Health Service. Government health care is not only more expensive than private health care (ask any health care professional how much time they spend dealing with government paperwork) it's lower quality. Pay more, get less, and leaves you vulnerable to government abuse? You know it has to be the brain child of the loony left.

Update: I forgot to mention that Government Health Care fails my Jews In the Attic Test.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.

Elwyn Brooks White
(1899 - 1985)
New Yorker, July 3, 1944
[White wrote both Stuart Little, published in 1945, and Charlotte's Web, published in 1952. People with children will recognize these books. He was also the author of The Elements of Style Illustrated--professional writers will instantly recognize this title.--Joe]

There is a new gun store in Moscow and so I went to check them out on Saturday after having lunch with Barb (who had to work). Prices were typical, selection was better than I expected for such a small store. The guy behind the counter said business was pretty good. There had been some talk about the election results and people were thinking about what sort of defensive buying they might do if the anti-gun bigots in congress start looking like they might get their way. But so far everyone is mostly just talking and saving up but not actually buying in response to "black Tuesday". Most people figure they will have a couple months, perhaps as much as six months, to buy full capacity magazines and ugly black rifles.

As he was closed on Sunday I did my National Ammo Day purchase on Saturday. I purchased 2000 primers (all that he had in that size) for reloading my STI Eagle with .40 S&W fodder for more Action Pistol (IPSC) and steel matches. I have so many bullets, empty cases, and powder that I just couldn't justify buying any loaded ammo. I now probably have enough primers to reload all my pistol components.

As I said in a post last week our daughter Xenia and her friend Meghan won first place at district drama competition with both of their entries. Here is The Duel, written and performed by Xenia and Meghan on November 11, 2006 at Orofino High School (when Barb and I were going to school there this particular room was where Mr. Johnson's taught U.S. History):

Video: The Duel

See also Xenia's post about the competition.

Friday night Ry posted:

My position is that the formation of the Libertarian Party did more to destroy freedom in the United States (and therefore, the world) than any event since.

He and I talked about it at time lunch on Friday. I find it hard to disagree with his reasoning. But it's a little hard to know for certain because you can't rerun the experiment to see how it would have turned out had the Libertarian Party not been formed.

The only reasonable argument I can make against his position is that the L-Party has articulated and presented a viewpoint that perhaps would have been even more muddled and lost than it is now.

In any case it's sobering to think about and it causes me to wonder about other applications of the same thinking. What of Gun Owners of America, The Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right To Keep and Bear Arms, and JPFO? There I think the case is less clear. One can be a member of not just one but any and all of the organizations. With a political party your candidate either wins or loses. There is no middle ground or somewhat diminished influence when your most favored candidate looses a battle for political office.

Only a ghost can exist without material property; only a slave can work with no right to the product of his effort. The doctrine that 'human rights' are superior to 'property rights' simply means that some human beings have the right to make property out of others; since the competent have nothing to gain from the incompetent, it means the right of the incompetent to own their betters and to use them as productive cattle. Whoever regards this as human and right, has no right to the title of 'human.'

John Galt
A character in the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
[How fortuitous that I should be listening to this particular portion of Atlas Shrugged within minutes of getting a pointer from Phil to the article about the Massachusetts Health Insurance Plan costing $151 million more than expected. Universal health care is NOT a right. It is the taking of one man's property at the point of a gun and giving it to another who did not earn it. In other words it is a form of slavery.--Joe]

There was a car fire the night before I arrived in Reno for the Gun Bloggers Rendezvous in October. As I wasn't there at the time I disavow any involvement with it.

On the way home from the Seattle area last night I arrived slightly before the police did, but not before several other witnesses, to this car fire on Highway 26:

I also did not have anything to do with this fire. My chemistry set is safely locked up in the Taj Mahal.

The GPS coordinates were 46^o 47' 36" N 118^o 49' 19"W. The car was west bound on Highway 26 about 50 yards east of the junction with Lind-Hatton Road.  I arrived about 21:35. I left about 15 minutes later by which time there were at least three police cars and a fire truck there. East bound traffic was diverted on Lind-Hatton Road to Highway 395. To the best of my knowledge no one was hurt.

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?

Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia
1781
[Although this is widely attributed to Jefferson and this particular set of documents I have been unable to find it here.--Joe]

Yeah, I'm really late on this. I'm a procrastinator (Xenia! That doesn't give you an excuse--do as I say, not as I do!). Buy early and often. Read more here.

The Georgia State Supreme Court was most vigorous in taking the Second Amendment literally rather than trying to twist the words to mean something other than what it actually says:

[When] did any legislative body in the Union have the right to deny to its citizens the privilege of keeping and bearing arms in defence of themselves and their country?

. . . [T]his is one of the fundamental principles, upon which rests the great fabric of civil liberty, reared by the fathers of the Revolution and of the country. And the Constitution of the United States, in declaring that the right of the people to keep and bear arms, should not be infringed, only reiterated a truth announced a century before, in the act of 1689, "to extend and secure the rights and liberties of English subjects"--Whether living 3,000 or 300 miles from the royal palace.

...

The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State. Our opinion is, that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right, originally belonging to our forefathers, trampled under foot by Charles I. and his two wicked sons and successors, re-established by the revolution of 1688, conveyed to this land of liberty by the colonists, and finally incorporated conspicuously in our own Magna Charta! And Lexington, Concord, Camden, River Raisin, Sandusky, and the laurel-crowned field of New Orleans plead eloquently for this interpretation!

Unfortunately this was a 1846 case which makes it difficult to find and quote in present day cases and likely to be disregarded even though the Second Amendment hasn't changed in the past two centuries.

Found via Gun Law News.

Again (yesterday I reported on this one) from the Second Amendment Foundation. Some libraries are blocking access to gun related materials such as Women and Guns magazine. SAF is joining forces with the ACLU on this one. Here is the actual complaint.

From the press release:

SAF and its co-plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the library district's policy of using internet filters on publicly -- available computer terminals to block access to constitutionally -- protected speech, including publications such as Women & Guns magazine, which is owned by SAF. The library refuses to unblock such access even at the request of the plaintiffs

"The NCRL's policy of refusing to disable its Internet filters upon request is restricting the ability of speakers, content providers and patrons of the NCRL's public library branches to access the contemporary marketplace of ideas," the lawsuit states.

"We entered this lawsuit because citizens are being denied access to our website and information about our organization and publication," said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. "That clearly violates both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Washington State Constitution."

There are businesses (Cingular that I know of) that block Boomershoot.org and tell their employees it is because of "Criminal Skills". I'm annoyed but it's a business and as long as they just block access to their employees while at work I don't have any grounds to complain about it. A public library blocking access is a completely different story. They need to be slapped down--hard. Go get 'em.

Via Say Uncle.

So I sit and write and ponder, while the house is deaf and dumb,
Seeing visions "over yonder" of the war I know must come.
In the corner - not a vision - but a sign for coming days
Stand a box of ammunition and a rifle in green baize.
And in this, the living present, let the word go through the land,
Every tradesman, clerk and peasant should have these two things at hand.

No - no ranting song is needed, and no meeting, flag or fuss -
In the future, still unheeded, shall the spirit come to us!
Without feathers, drum or riot on the day that is to be,
We shall march down, very quiet, to our stations by the sea.
While the bitter parties stifle every voice that warns of war,
Every man should own a rifle and have cartridges in store!

Henry Lawson
Every Man Should have a Rifle
[As applicable here and now as it was there and then (Australia in 1907). Found via posts by Say Uncle and Alphecca.--Joe]

As I suggested the other day Phil now has some tunage for your gPod. He doesn't keep these files up for very long because of the disk space requirements and potential for using up a lot more bandwidth. If you read his post late you can still enjoy his selection by buying a copy of the CD here -- tracks six and nine.

For years I didn't understand why someone didn't just take a case all the way to the supreme court and overthrow all the anti-gun laws in the country. After all, what part of "...shall not be infringed" didn't they understand? And the 14th Amendment made the 2nd Amendment apply to the states and all the lesser political jurisdictions as well. But that was thinking rationally and I didn't understand that neither people nor law are rational. It was explained to me that the Supreme Court would never rule such that thousands and thousands of laws were suddenly null and void after being enforced for decades. We have to get out of this mess the same way we got into it--one step at a time. It was Joe Waldron that explained that to me. I was skeptical and didn't really understand--it wasn't rational. The law said, "shall not be infringed". Therefore that is the way they have to rule, right? Wrong.

I started reading some of the ruling from the courts and then I understood. Just look at how the various courts have interpreted U.S. versus Miller (see also the short version from JPFO) and you'll understand too. They used the most tortured 'logic' to arrive at conclusions that no rational person could support. This happened in case after case until a the weight of those precedents became a sturdy brick wall even though Miller lost his case by the slimmest of margins and defense errors (the defense attorneys didn't show up in court and did not present any case) and the lower courts extrapolated from this over the horizon into never-never land. I am no longer skeptical. I now believe.

Yesterday the Second Amendment Foundation announced they are taking one of those necessarily tiny steps in the courts to regain our gun rights. The press release is here. The complaint filed in court is here. I wish them well.

The company where I work matches my tax deductible donations to 501(C)(3) organizations. My sole donation beneficiary for next year is the Second Amendment Foundation.

MAN: A biodegradable but nonrecyclable animal blessed with opposable thumbs capable of grasping at straws.

Bernard Rosenberg

I might have done some good today without even knowing it. While I was busy riding the exercise bike at the health club and listening to Atlas Shrugged I received three pieces of email from a 12 year-old kid. It could be that he just didn't want to end up on one of my "Bomb Help" web pages but maybe he was telling the truth too. Always the optimist I prefer to believe the latter. You can decide:

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:45 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

dear joe,
hows it going? i was wondering if you could give me some info on how to make bombs.
( i know what you are thinking) no i DO NOT WANT  TO USE THIS BOMB TO HURT ANYONE!!!
i am going to be streight-out and honest with you.
i am 12.
i love bombs!( well its sorta a hobby of mine) after i made what i call a yeast bomb (yeast and flower and suger water)( the stuff reacts to make
C02 which eventuly exspands so much the bottle literly exsplodes.) noat this was in my bedroom at 12:00 or later at night.
i decided to look at bombs.
well.....i have also decided i want to be an exsplosives exspert when i grow up.
i was just wondering if you could give me some simple bomb recipes.
well.....if you think i may use the info for something  bad ( that seriously freaky school bomb threts or some thing) i want to tell you that I WILL NOT!!!! i am not a little syco and stuff.
well if you do think its ok to tell me some please only send 1. smaller things please for i do not want to hurt anyone.
2. safe to do without killing anyone or damiging unwanted targets and 3.
make it simple.
thank you for your time and if you do think im to young to poses such info i understand.( im still a bit angey but with all the horrid things going on i can relate) sighned jaron leavitt p.s. if you need to email me back [deleted email address]

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 7:48 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

i am srry i just read your last email on the page that you dont help people make bombs.
i didnt see that and please disreguard my last statement/email i understand im sorry for wasting your time and will seek bomb making instructions else where once again i am srry jaron

 

From: jaron
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 8:27 PM
To: Joe
Subject:

um......ugh.
after seeing your little page of other peoples little accidents um.....i dont think i want  to "toy"
around with exsplosive substances anymore.
i would like to greatly thank you for you have caused me to see how badly i or others may be hurt.
i still plan to be an exsplosives worker or pyrotechnition but i do not think i will be paling with anymore bombs untill i go to collage and know what the hell i am doing thank you with all gratitude jaron

The site he must of found the link to was (Warning! EXTREMELY graphic content) this one.

Even though I could legally own a machine gun in Idaho I haven't ever had the interest. They do have their application however. This video shows a plausible application. After I get my own helicopter I'll reevaluate the bias I have against machine guns.

Video: GPMG vs Gattling

A good read. Some excerpts:

This also leads to the phenomenon that academics don't know much about how markets work, since they have so little experience with them, living as they do in their subsidized ivory towers and protected by academic tenure. As Joseph Schumpeter explained in Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, it is "the absence of direct responsibility for practical affairs" that distinguishes the academic intellectual from others "who wield the power of the spoken and the written word." This absence of direct responsibility leads to a corresponding absence of first-hand knowledge of practical affairs.

...we must realize first that academics receive many direct benefits from the welfare state, and that these benefits have increased over time.

Excluding student financial aid, public universities receive about 50 percent of their funding from federal and state governments, dwarfing the 18 percent they receive from tuition and fees. Even "private" universities like Stanford or Harvard receive around 20 percent of their budgets from federal grants and contracts.[4]  If you include student financial aid, that figure rises to almost 50 percent. According to the US Department of Education, about a third of all students at public, 4-year colleges and universities, and half the students at private colleges and universities, receive financial aid from the federal government.

In this sense, the most dramatic example of "corporate welfare" in the US is the GI Bill, which subsidized the academic sector, bloating it far beyond the level the market would have provided. The GI Bill, signed by President Roosevelt in 1944 to send returning soldiers to colleges and universities, cost taxpayers $14.5 billion between 1944 and 1956.[5]  Federal spending on the latest version, the Montgomery GI Bill, is projected at $3.2 billion in 2006 alone.

...

The current crises in higher education and the media are probably good things, in the long run, if they force a rethinking of educational and intellectual goals and objectives, and take power away from the establishment institutions. Then, and only then, we may see a rebirth of genuine scholarship, communication, and education.

Last night I finished up the processing of the Boomershoot 2006 survey. I removed the personally identifiable information from the comments and put the results up here in an Excel spreadsheet.

There weren't any big surprises. I was a little surprised at how popular the opening fireball is. 37 out of 39 agreed that it is an important part of the event.

I was pleased that the question "Boomershoot safety met my expectations." had the highest level of agreement with 31 out of 39 strongly agreeing and the remaining 8 agreeing. There was one person that had some comments about ways to improvement and I'll think about it.

Some of the more interesting comments were:

I would like to see better and cheaper food and drink there.  Also strippers.

a night shoot would be way fun if the neighbors wouldn't be too bothered.  Keep it really small for safety's sake but the fireballs would be best at night, and it's hard to find a place to shoot distance with NV. [I'm working on the details for this. If you have the money, perhaps in the $300 to $500 range, this might happen this year.--Joe]

We need to fix the weather, You should build a giant umbrella.. No a huge kibbi dome over the field!!!  Even better lets get some of those greek weather gods to work for us, and they could push the clouds away. [My family will immediately know who wrote this comment. He didn't leave his name but I can hear his voice in my head say the words above.--Joe]

I like watching angsty geeks with guns sweat

Bring Stephanie back. [As if I need to drag her out of the garage and throw her in the back of the van. Stephanie knows her way and is always welcome to attend.--Joe]

All gun owners should be shot. [You're welcome to do the honors. I'll even supply the shotgun and give you your own very special shooting position. It will be a trench about two feet wide, seven feet long and five feet deep at the 380 yard line. Please wait for the start signal.--Joe]

On the price:

You could charge more-My son and I would still attend

It's expensive, but I understand why.

I am affraid to admit this, it was a bargain.

Cheaper is always better.

should be $4000 [You can have a private event any day of the year for this price. You have my phone number. Call me any time of the day or night with your credit card number.--Joe]

In the category of "Done":

Shooting a 50 cal and feeling everyone elses rounds being fired really wears on a person.  Having a spot to go shoot the big gun and then being able to return to a normal slot would be nice. [Position 12 is reserved for this.--Joe]

I would like a lane where you can check your sighting in before you shoot at targets.  Perhaps from 6 to 7 a.m.?  Or do you folks need that time to set up?  Either that or the previous afternoon? [Early morning is out. The range is covered with people setting out boomers. See Field Fire shooters for another option.--Joe]

In the category of "No":

Of course if I were to have one wish (just behind winning the lottery), I'd like to see 100 pound boomers!

Permanent lounge structure.  Bigger explosions-- of course. [No permanent structures. This is farm land and I want to be able to revert it with a few hours of work with a bull dozer. The explosions are already at the limit. The neighbors have double pane windows that have lost their seals and have had stuff fall off the walls.--Joe]

I was thinking of more comfort oriented things-- concrete, covered shooting positions, coffee/beverage waitresses, et al. [No. It's not going to happen. Although I won't go as far as Ry suggests, bring in fresh dirt and water it down for the shooting positions, I am inclined to encourage a more 'natural' shooting environment.--Joe]

In the category of "You're welcome":

thank you and your family for performing this valuable service to mankind.

Joe, if I didn't tell you before, let me tell you now: 2006 was an absolute BLAST!!! Thank you so much for a great event! After the last couple of years, where getting a boomer to boom was a very difficult proposition, you made it all work great this year. I still get a smile, every time I think of it! Thanks, again!

This is a great shooting event. Please keep it going. I enjoy the photos on your web page very much.

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.

Gore Vidal
In A View from the Diner’s Club (1991)
Gods and Greens
Observer (London, Aug. 27, 1989)

Heavy sigh.... I can't say that I'm happy about it. Sort of sad and nervous about it. But DAMN, they are beautiful as well as smart and talented.

Update: The picture in the wedding dresses had to come down. Some people were not supposed to see that one. This picture was taken the same day just a couple hours earlier.

Honorable: Afflicted with an impediment in one's reach.  In legislative bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, "the honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur."

Ambrose Bierce
The Devil's Dictionary

Where we have enjoyed a pretty solid 25 to 30 vote majority, we must now get by with a somewhat less reliable 11 to 16 vote advantage – keeping in mind that we’re talking about politicians so they’re unpredictable and require constant supervision.

Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
The Firearms Coalition
November 13, 2006
Analysis and Action Plan
fcalerts-list -- News from The Firearms Coalition

After an eight hour commute home Friday night, arriving at 00:30 Saturday morning I got up and was off to Orofino before 07:00. I was supposed to be in Orofino by 08:00. I cut close to ten minutes off the usual travel time and arrived a few minutes after 08:00. I arrived only shortly after Xenia and Meghan so everything was cool. I took the pictures you see here. My favorite is the following where Xenia started levitating after the announcement that she and Meghan placed first in both drama categories (ensemble pantomime and ensemble humorous) they entered in. It's off to State competition for them now.

Oh, I almost forgot. This is the second year in a row they won first place at the District competition in both categories they entered. They are very, very good.

Putting makeup on her is like putting makeup on a super model.

LaffeeTaffee @ xyzmail.com (email address disguised to prevent spam)
November 12, 2006
Macy's in the Spokane Valley Mall
[While doing a "makeover" on our daughter Kim.--Joe]

At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.

William O. Douglas
[A lawyer recently told me something very similar. But it was perhaps a bit more cynical--or was it simply more truthful?--Joe]

Via Tam: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within. Audible doesn't have it yet so it's going to have to wait. My backlog of dead tree format books is rather large.

I'm about halfway through Atlas Shrugged on my iPod Nano. With all the driving I have to do this weekend, plus the slow going over Snoqualmie Pass (I'm ready with good snow tires, tire chains, food, water, heavy coat, extra socks, work boots, extra gas, tarp, gloves, etc.) will probably mean I nearly finish it this weekend. I'm so pleased to "read" this book again. Thanks James for the birthday present.

Next on my Audible books list is Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

If the UK has this many plots in progress I wonder how many are active in the U.S.

Muslim extremists are plotting at least 30 major terrorist attacks in Britain and the threats may involve chemical and nuclear devices, the head of Britain's domestic spy agency said.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of intelligence agency MI5, said young British Muslims were being groomed to become suicide bombers and her agents were tracking some 1,600 suspects, most of whom were British-born and linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan.

"We are aware of numerous plots to kill people and damage our economy. What do I mean by numerous? Five? Ten? No, nearer 30 ... that we know of," Manningham-Buller said in a speech to a specially invited audience in London on Thursday evening.

I wonder what the Democrats response to a chemical or nuclear attack in the U.S. or the even the U.K. will be. If they suggest negotiation their celebration of power will be short lived.

I'm a little bit surprised but very pleased with how firm the Prime Minister and cabinet are holding on to their intention to scrap the gun registry in Canada. If they can reverse the repression there it will help us to prevent it here:

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day paid a visit to Dawson College yesterday to discuss Canada’s gun control laws with the mother of Anastasia De Sousa, the student killed in the Sept. 13 shooting, and wounded student Hayder Kadhim.

Members of the Dawson Gun Control Committee were also present.

Kadhim, 17, had originally asked to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper to debate the Conservative government’s intention to abolish the long-gun registry, but Harper sent Day in his place.

Calling the meeting "productive," Day seemed not to have changed his mind on the gun registry issue after the discussion at Dawson.

He said Canada should be investing its resources in cracking down on gangs and gun trafficking, and in tightening gun-licensing rules.

Day’s press aide said yesterday’s meeting was part of an extensive series of countrywide discussions with stakeholders over the gun-control issue.

It's an ominous day:  The enemy has occupied headquarters, control has fallen into their hands, and freedom is once again calling for her defenders.

Wayne LaPierre
November 9, 2006
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=61
[A little over the top perhaps but I can't see that it hurts to mobilize the troops.--Joe]

I said that I was at a pistol match last Sunday. Here are some pictures from that match. Yeah, I know it's really painful for people with dial-up. I have 3 MBPS downloads and I think you should too.

Adam's STI .40 S&W is in full recoil with a piece of brass just a few inches from the gun.

Don's .45 is in full recoil with his nickel plated brass in the air above the ejection port.


Don is playing Peek-a-Boo with his .45. Yes, that is a piece of nickel plated brass in front of his head.

Mike is winning the stage (and the match) Both Sides Now #1.

This last stage is the one that I was so pleased with my results on. An average of under five seconds to draw and shoot each of the six brown targets. Mike had slightly better time and was more accurate than me.

Progressive Gun Control: Tushnet v. Cornell:

Both scholars agreed that the actual impact of any realistically achievable gun control policy would not have the sweeping effect on reducing gun violence that most would be hoping for. However, while Tushnet saw this as one reason to not waste effort on the issue, Cornell maintained that reframing expectations about the impact of gun control policy could be part of developing a credible, progressive argument in favor of regulations.

"Credible"? Notice it not a "rational" or "persuasive" or "convincing" argument. It's a "credible" argument. In other words it doesn't matter if an improvement in crime rates can be measured. It's a good thing merely because regulation is what "progressives" do and they should feel good about doing it. "Progressives" regulate--it's in their nature. This is what I do--it's my nature and my arguments can be "forceful". Perhaps Mr. Cornell should further "reframe his expectations".

Molon Labe!

I think the reality is probably close to what Dave Kopel has to say:

The Second Amendment has emerged from the biggest Democratic victory since 1974 with relatively little damage. One reason is that in races all over the country, Democrats returned to their Jefferson-Jackson roots by running candidates who trust the people to bear arms.

But that doesn't mean we should sit back and relax. Wayne LaPierre has his own take on things:

We must start fighting today ... or tomorrow, we'll start over.

Spread the word to America's gun owners.  If they've wandered away from NRA, it's time to muster.  Sign up, recruit, enlist, renew, upgrade, get informed, get involved and get ready for battle again.

Of course Wayne has his own biases. Fear mongering helps his bottom line. But regardless of that what he says is probably good advice for gun owners. The more members the NRA has the more clout they have with the congress critters. The NRA lobbyists can really get a legislators attention by saying something like, "I have two emails already written and ready to send to our five (or seven or ten) million members. One says that you are a good guy and they should all donate $10 to your campaign. The others says you want to take their guns away and they should all donate $20 to your opponent. Maybe they won't pay attention. Maybe it's an empty threat but you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"

Apple doesn't like it but a small Japanese company has a innovative new product that is designed to be attached to your iPod--for women only:

Ichiro Kameda, the president of a tiny, two-man company in Osaka, is currently embroiled in a bitter battle with computer maker Apple.

"Putting it simply, the fight is all over what I call our beat generator. There's a small device with three different, sound-activated motors. It's a revolutionary invention. You can plug it in to iPods or mobile phones. It can also be programmed to operate only for certain voices," Kameda says, referring to his company's product.

Kameda's commercial pride and joy is actually a women's sex aid worn inside her most intimate orifices and buzzing her with good vibrations when set off by sound.

Though the Japanese Patent Agency gave him the right to use the devise (sic) in August last year, and the trademark he chose for the product was approved two months later, he still hasn't been able to sell. The problem? He called the product the gPod, presumably after the G-Spot and jii, the Japanese word for masturbation. Kameda has since found out his choice of product name was like, well, taking a bite out of a rotten apple.

I wonder if Phil has some appropriate tunage...

I think this is the most accurate statement I've found since the election:

The Republicans lost, and the Democrats won, for the same reason — they distanced themselves from their base.

After 30 years of being married I think I can safely say that Neal Bootz is pretty close to right. Except maybe about the food part.

Benton County. Case 06-2-02728-8.

More later. Some details need to be taken care of before I say much more.

For every attacker shot and killed in self-defense, 130 Americans are killed by guns for other reasons.

Mother Jones
Who We Kill
March/April 1996 Issue
The MoJo Wire and MOTHER JONES are projects of the Foundation for National Progress. A nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
Founded in 1975 to educate and empower people to work toward progressive change.
[Another case of using the wrong metric. The correct metric is attacks stopped, not attackers killed.--Joe]

I don't have more than a few minutes of experience on a Mac so I basically keep my mouth shut on the Mac versus PC war. I give you the following only for the humor value. It's not because I have any data to support anything negative said about the Mac.

Video: Mac attack

Video: PC vs Mac

Video: An Apple Gamer

I uploaded a several videos to Soapbox on MSN. They, not to mention Barb, won't allow me to upload videos of my sex hobby activities. So I did the next best thing:

Video: Kim's Project Fireball Test
After breaking up with her boyfriend this is Kim's first smile in a week. Fireballs will do that to you.

Video: Titanium Powder Works
One of our first successful fireball tests.

Video: Boomershoot Project Fireball Test

Video: Rocks Versus Explosives
My brothers had two big rocks in a field they couldn't get out with either the backhoe or the dozer. Ten pounds of explosives took care of the first one. Twenty for the second.

Video: Fairly Well
This is the first ever successful detonation of the explosive mixture to be used in Boomershoot. After two years of failures I was "enthusiastic" about the results.

Video: Exploding Guitar
It was a cheap guitar. Lyle can explain further. It was his guitar and he fired the bullet that detonated it.

Video: Pumpkin Popping
Aluminium powder gave it a bright flash. Flour gave it the white cloud of dust. It was hoped the aluminium would ignite the flour but it didn't work out.

I just got an email from Gene. The Boomershoot 2007 clinic is now full. Contact Gene to be put on the waiting list.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and then applying the wrong remedies.

Groucho Marx
[I expect we will be seeing a lot more of this soon.--Joe]

The main thrust of this article is something completely different but what really caught my eye was this:

Russia loses around 700,000 people each year - about 0.5 per cent of its total population - to emigration, disease and alcoholism.

It would appear that the "benefits" of socialism last for quite some time after the system has collapsed. One would hope that people not try another "experiment" such as that ever again. What is it? Something like 100 million dead in the last century that can be attributed to socialism and communism? And if the above numbers are correct and characteristic of what happens when socialism collapses one may even make a prediction.  And that prediction would be that the implementation of a "workers paradise" means the complete death of that society. It may be that the only escape from the death throes of that type of disaster is for some other culture to salvage the remnants and rebuild it in a completely different image.

But one could always hope people could learn from the failure of others. But that hope would only reveal that I'm an optimist even in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary. I do have irrefutable evidence that people don't learn from the failures of others--there are still people that vote for the Socialists Democrats in our country.

I did a little bit of pistol practice last week. Then I did quite a bit of dry firing Saturday evening before going to the IPSC match on Sunday. I came in fifth overall out of 17 entries. The practice helped. In particular on the last stage I shot (Both Sides Now #1) I could feel things working correctly. I still hit, just barely, a no-shoot target but I felt myself enter into "the zone". The conscious mind was merely an observer as the eyes, hands, and fingers aligned the sights and pulled the trigger. From 35 feet away I drew and fired six rounds into six targets while leaning around the edge of a barricaded in, on the average, under five seconds. It felt really good for a change. I should practice more.

Last night shooters 92 and 93 signed up for Boomershoot 2007 leaving, excluding the .50 caliber ghetto, only three positions. Even a month ago I could not have imagined such a thing would have happened. It's five and a half months before the event! What other sort of event fills up that far in advance? My guess is that I could start taking reservations for Boomershoot 2008 right now and I'd be half full for that within a month.

I'm pleased and proud but I need to figure out the answer to just one question, what do we do next with Boomershoot? Soon, I'll finish my posts "Boomershoot Past", "Boomershoot Present" and "Boomershoot Future". They aren't about the details or the mechanics of Boomershoot. They are about the philosophical principles of Boomershoot. From that I will figure out the implementation details of "Boomershoot Future".

Update: I had a person signed up to shoot alone request to be moved to a different position shared with his friends.  Position 19 in the main area is open again.

Ron Paul is actually a Libertarian. He just puts an R after his name so he can actually get elected instead of being on the outside and whine about things. He is a freedom advocate that is practical--something that is sometimes difficult for me. I tend to be more absolute and reluctant to sacrifice my principles even when I know it's not in my best self interests to be so.

That aside, here's what Ron Paul is saying about the current state of gun control:

The gun control movement has lost momentum in recent years. The Democratic Party has been conspicuously silent on the issue in recent elections because they know it's a political loser. In the midst of declining public support for new gun laws, more and more states have adopted concealed-carry programs. The September 11th terrorist attacks and last year's hurricanes only made matters worse for gun control proponents, as millions of Americans were starkly reminded that we cannot rely on government to protect us from criminals.

...

Gun control may have faded as a political issue, but the mentality that Washington knows best-- and that certain constitutional rights are anachronisms-- is alive and well. Look for gun control advocates to bide their time and look for new ways to resurrect the issue in 2008 and beyond.

As fast as we can... we need to change the negative view of guns and their owners. We need to have and create the proper State of Mind in the public.

I understand their point and I might even agree with it as long as the family was both paying for the health care and making the decision. But if the government is paying for the health care and/or making the decisions then I get very uncomfortable. And as this is in the U.K. it will be the government paying for the health care:

Doctors involved in childbirth are calling for an open discussion about the ethics of euthanasia for the sickest of newborn babies. The option to end the suffering of a severely damaged newborn baby - who might have been aborted if the parents had known earlier the extent of its disabilities and potential suffering - should be discussed, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in its evidence to an inquiry by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which examines ethical issues raised by new developments.

The reason I get concerned if the government is paying for it is that the health care budget is essentially fixed and to eliminating a few very expensive patients will save a lot of money. There will be a slippery slope they will have a great difficulty in avoiding. And once comfortable with elimination of those sort of expenses it will be more comfortable to "cut expenses" elsewhere. The elderly and the gravely, but perhaps not necessarily terminally, ill will likely find themselves next on the "chopping block". If the family is paying for it then there will still be financial pressure on the middle and low end of the economic scale but the option for the long shot attempt for a "normal" life will be available for some instead of being denied to all.

I should ask our Chinese friend if this is some sort of cultural thing. Maybe something was lost in the translation because this makes no sense to me:

China has a totally different attitude towards sex from many countries. We should not only promote a bold, open attitude, as in Western countries, but also preserve healthy, traditional views on sex," said Duan.

This appears to be a direct contradiction unless he is saying both (and I would presume all) behaviors are acceptable. But don't doesn't quite fit with the rest of the context:

BEIJING, Nov. 6 -- Once regarded as "bold and open," Li Yinhe's views on sex, particularly topics such as "wife-swapping," got a frosty reception from experts at the fourth Guangzhou Sex Culture Expo.

Addressing last year's festival, Li, widely acclaimed as China's foremost female sociologist on sex issues, said wife swapping was a normal kind of entertainment and all couples should have the right to do it if they wanted to.

However, this year scholars and experts at a forum held in conjunction with the ongoing expo rejected her easy-going views.

"Wife swapping should not be promoted to the public as it will lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases," said Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Provincial Population and Family Planning Committee.

Zhang added that neither the sex forum nor the expo should provide a platform for advertising bold and "unacceptable" views to the public.

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.

John Quincy Adams

Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.

W. C. Fields

Your vote isn't a bet on who's going to win the election. It's a statement of who you are.

Karl Hess
Fundraising Letter written on behalf of the Libertarian Party, November 1990.

Can't we just all agree? Can't we all just get along? It's such a simple logical idea:

Montreal — A young man shot in the head during a college shooting rampage called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday to limit handguns and impose an outright ban on assault rifles.

Hayder Kadhim, who was shot three times by killer Kimveer Gill on Sept. 13, has written Mr. Harper an open letter in which he describes his ordeal after Gill opened fire on students at Dawson College, killing Anastasia De Sousa and wounding 20 other people.

“This has brought me, as a Canadian citizen, as a friend of Anastasia and as a victim, to write a letter to our prime minister to tell our government that we need to strengthen the laws regarding gun control,” Mr. Kadhim told a news conference.

“Guns and society definitely don't mix. This is a simple logical idea that I think most Canadians would agree with.”

Simple ideas for simple minds. So if "guns and society definitely don't mix" then you should be calling for the police and military of Canada to give up their guns too. After all, aren't they part of society? Or do you think that guns do have some place in society? Don't the police and the military have guns so they can protect innocent life? And don't private citizens have a right to protect their own lives? It is this argument that brings "society" to the conclusion that the individual doesn't have the right to defend themselves. To the conclusion that the good of "society" is more important that the good of the individual.

I've been listening to the audio book version of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I could rant on this topic for quite sometime at the moment. The book gets my blood pressure up. It's fiction but it's too close to reality to be comfortable. I don't care for her version of ideal relationships between men and women but she really nails "the good of society" and "higher purpose".

Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.

John F. Kennedy

I should have looked up their IP address (85.94.131.189) before sending my latest response. The guy sent the email from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ATF probably isn't that interested.

Read from the bottom up.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:41 AM
To: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Cc: ATF Intelligence Division
Subject: RE: bomb

Nope. I don't know much about any of that stuff.

There are some people that do know a lot about that sort of thing though. I put them on the Cc: line. They even have a website. Check it out: http://www.atf.gov

-joe-
-----Original Message-----
From: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:23 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: RE: bomb

Maybe just to remove doors locks and also it would be good to remove doors from it's hinges as well. Do you know how to make that thing like napalm?

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 7:11 AM
To: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Subject: RE: bomb

What type of doors? Sliding glass doors will disappear with an ounce of high explosives. The bank door to the vault is going to take many pounds and careful placement of several bombs.

Wood? Metal? What is the door frame made of? Do you want the door blown off it's hinges? Or is removing the locks sufficient?

-joe-
-----Original Message-----
From: hood_gangstarr@XXXX.com
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 4:02 AM
To: Joe Huffman
Subject: bomb

hi man,
can u send me some "recipe" to make a bomb out if stuff i have at home. i need some small bomb of size that could blow doors or something.
send me that if u can, thx 

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

Lord Acton
[Keep this in mind when dealing directly with the anti-gun bigots.--Joe]

Someone could get me this movie for Christmas if they wanted.

The trailer, one minute and one second:

The abridged, 11.7 minute version:

And the Christians are Kuffars [infidels], and you may say to yourself, "No, no, no, they're innocent!" No kuffar is innocent!

Interesting point of view. He (or she) says the Democrats are too moderate. The Democrats have abandoned the left.

A truly left party would call for universal health care. It's criminal to live in the richest country in the world and have 46 million people - 15 percent of the population - without health care. The last time Democrats controlled the executive branch, the Welfare to Work program passed. This bill created a slave class, eliminated union jobs and didn't help anyone get off welfare.

...

Democrats merely represent a different sector of the elite. Most people are oblivious because elections focus on marginal issues. It's no wonder that rich people have seen their wealth explode while working peoples' wages have stagnated. What's the moral? Don't get involved in petty democratic politics. Forget the Young Democrats. Get involved in activism that matters, which is mostly activism that works outside the system. Remember, rights are not given; they are taken.

So what rights do they suggest should be taken? A "right" to health care? A "right" to a job? And what activism "outside the system" do they endorse? It's interesting to speculate. Whatever the answers are I'm certain the "rights" and activism they support are not the same as mine.

Many thanks to Say Uncle for the pointer.

Overview for the laymen is here.

More porn means less rape.  Porn is implied. The actual variable is Internet access.

Violent movies reduce violent crime.

Previous studies measured aggression in the laboratory but not what happens in the real world. These researchers seem to have found ways to get the data from the real world. Bravo for them. I'm skeptical but only because it's what I want to believe. It reduces the justification for interference with the free market. Let's see if other researchers can duplicate and/or confirm their work. I'll be doing my part--especially with the porn.

When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all.

William O. Douglas
Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court
April 17, 1939 to November 12, 1975
[Nice words but in practice there are certain complication in the implementation.--Joe]

More research on one of my favorite hobbies:

LONDON — People aren't losing their virginity at younger ages, married people have the most sex, and promiscuity has no firm link to sexually transmitted diseases, according to the first comprehensive study of sexual behaviour.

The British study was published Wednesday as part of a series on sexual and reproductive health by the British medical journal The Lancet.

Experts say the findings, which go against many stereotypes of sexual health and behaviour, will be useful not only in dispelling popular myths about sex, but in shaping policies that will help improve sexual health across the world.

...

We did have some of our preconceptions dashed,” she said, explaining they had expected to find the most promiscuous behaviour in regions like Africa with the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases. That was not the case, as multiple partners were more commonly reported in industrialized countries where the incidence of such diseases was relatively low.

“There's a misperception that there's a great deal of promiscuity in Africa, which is one of the potential reasons for HIV/AIDS spreading so rapidly,” said Dr. Paul van Look, director of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organization, who was not connected to the study. “But that view is not supported by the evidence.”

Prof. Wellings says the results imply promiscuity may be less important than factors such as poverty and education — especially in the encouragement of condom use — in the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

...

The study also found that contrary to popular belief, sexual activity is not starting earlier. Nearly everywhere, men and women have their first sexual experiences in their late teens — from 15 to 19 years old — with generally younger ages for women than for men, especially in developing countries. That is no younger than 10 years ago.

Still, there are considerable variations across countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, men and women tend to lose their virginity at ages 16½ and 17½ respectively. In comparison, men and women in Indonesia waited until they were 24½ and 18½ respectively.

So... just how good do you think those security checks at the TSA checkpoints are? How poor of a job would they have to do before you would say, "We need to figure something else out. This just isn't working."? Suppose they let 10% of the knives and explosives through. Or may be 25%. Surely if 50% of the people could get guns and explosive through you would say they should be fired, right? Well... the real numbers are:

Federal authorities have launched an investigation to determine who leaked test results showing security screeners missed 90 percent of the explosives and guns agents attempted to sneak past checkpoints this month at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The probe was launched by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration after The Star-Ledger, citing information from federal security officials, reported Thursday that screeners failed 20 of 22 covert tests and also violated standard operating procedures at the busy hub.

Don't you just love it? The government agency gets caught not doing the job they said private enterprise was too incompetent to handle what is their response? Why it's, "You weren't supposed to know that! Who told you?" They are going prosecute whoever it was that let us know they are playing Keystone Cops to the extent they succeed only 10% of the time. Just like Christopher Soghoian said, it's "security theater".

It's time to consider alternatives to airplane security.

This type of sensational journalism contributes nothing to an already emotion-filled debate and only serves to mislead and confuse the issue. The simple truth is: You cannot legislate against insanity. Unfortunately, Ackerman and others have a problem grasping that fact.

Larry Whitmore
Executive Director
Canadian Shooting Sports Association
Cannot legislate against insanity
October 30, 2006
Toronto Star
[It is my opinion they cannot grasp that fact because they too have mental problems. The writers of our constitution did in fact attempt to legislate against insanity. It's called the Second Amendment. And as Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, et al. plainly demonstrate it wasn't entirely successful.--Joe]