The View From North Central Idaho

Two non-partisan, respected federal government agencies recently examined gun controls and found no statistically significant evidence to support their effectiveness. In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed 253 journal articles, 99 books, and 43 government publications evaluating 80 gun-control measures. The researchers could not identify a single gun-control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents. A year earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on an independent evaluation of firearms and ammunition bans, restrictions on acquisition, waiting periods, registration, licensing, child access prevention laws, and zero tolerance laws. Conclusion: none of the laws had a meaningful impact on gun violence.

Robert A. Levy
September 27, 2007
The D.C. Gun Ban: Supreme Court Preview
[Via Uncle.--Joe]

Uncle reports having problems with Google being bigots. I had similar problems a while back and had similarly unsatisfactory results. I really wish there were a good alternative to getting advertising on my blog. I don't get a lot from them, currently about $0.80/day, but it pays my Internet related bills.

Here is the story of my experience with Google:

• Freedom of (some) expression is supported.
• Google tries to explain
• Google goes limp.
• I just deleted my Google Adwords campaign
• Google says good-bye

Thursday night we left the Huffman-Scott compound in the care of Caleb, Kim, and Xenia and headed to Missoula Montana. The next morning we went on a walk along the Clark Fork River:

We continued on to our time share condo in Columbia Falls and today went hiking in Glacier National Park. We hiked to Avalanche Lake. It is stunningly beautiful country. But it is also Grizzly bear country. And of course operational firearms are "illegal" in National Parks. I put illegal in quotes because the people that enacted and enforce that "law" are in violation of 18 USC 242. I'm hoping the Parker/Heller case will be a stepping stone to fixing that issue.

It's a small world. Over two miles off the road up a rocky hiking trail, at the edge of Avalanche Lake, we had the couple on the left offer to take our picture together. We agreed (picture above this one) and we took a picture of them together with their camera for them. We talked a bit and Barb asked where they were from. "Idaho", they said. "Where in Idaho?" we asked. "Troy", was the reply that shocked us. Troy is about ten miles from Moscow where Barb and I have our home. It turns out that Barb works with one of their friends and knows several of the people they know.

There is a loop at the bottom of the trail, about 1/2 of a mile long, that is suitable for wheelchair bound people. Some of it is almost artistic in layout.

We are still in Columbia Falls at our condo. No easy Internet connection. I'm sitting in the lobby of the lodge to get a connection. Blogging will be light for a few more days.

Growing up in eastern Kentucky like I did, I'm used to having a few guns around to protect me.

Loretta Lynn
[Not all celebrities are gun grabbers. Add Loretta Lynn to your list of common-sense people.--Joe]

There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period.

Ted Nugent

I think I probably am spoiled. But that is okay.

Xenia Huffman-Scott
September 27, 2007
[Her sister Kim further noted that Xenia is in fact spoiled rotten--two cavities were discovered today when her teeth were cleaned.--Joe]

Firecracker Films have changed their contact person for the "Gun Families" documentary they are making. I've updated my post to reflect the changes.

They are still actively looking for people. If you have kids under 12 that are reasonably knowledgeable shooters please consider getting involved in this.

For a while I've been saying that this whole national ID debate will be irrelevant soon. In the future you won't have to show ID; they'll already know who you are.

Bruce Schneier
September 26, 2007
The Technology of Homeland Security
[It was this article that inspired the above comment. My comment to Schneier's article was:

I used to specialize in biometrics and was underwhelmed at the actual capabilities compared to the marketing hype. And that was with people that weren’t even actively engaged in trying to defeat the technology. If someone really wants to defeat it the odds of success are very close to 100%.

“Novelty” contact lens easily defeat iris scans. Remote fingerprint scanning can be defeated with Band-Aids (or just the sticky tape part of it). More sophisticated/determined people will use contact lens with someone else’s iris pattern and be wearing someone else’s fingerprints.

The bottom line is that for the average person they might be able to know who you are and where you have been. Great information to use against your political opponents and for stalkers with access to the databases but useless for stopping smart and determined criminals.--Joe]

I probably will get in trouble, as I have before, for using the word "porn" in the same post with one of my daughters. But I'm 300 miles away at the moment and figure everyone will have enough time to cool off before I get home.

Anyway, on Saturday I took some pictures of our daughter Kim as she checked out a Saiga-12 with a 10-round detachable magazine:

Caleb, my son-in-law, says he always listens to Kim and does what she tells him to. I think she was telling him to do something when I took that last picture above...

Speaking of propaganda... I received an email at work yesterday saying something to the effect that the Halo 3 release will be the biggest release event in entertainment history. At least that is what I remember it saying. I don't pay that much attention to games or publicity events.

What struck me was the number of copies they have ordered for employees. At the Redmond company store alone they brought in 25,000 copies. There will be additional shuttles from all over the main campus to the company store to help alleviate the parking issues that would result if people tried to drive themselves.

I asked James when he was going to pick up his copy. He told me that he pre-ordered his a year ago at some retail outlet so he could get some special edition version. Wow...

I stopped off at the company store yesterday at lunch time to pick up some software for Caleb. He told me no big hurry but I just know the store will be a madhouse the rest of this week. I saw a big empty space in the middle of the store where I expect the product will be stacked when it opens later this morning.

I also saw some Halo 3 hats on the shelf:

Instead of addressing the deficiencies or giving it up as a bad idea they are hiring "public relations" consultants to convince the people a national ID card is a good thing. Why don't they be honest about it and go for the tattoo on the forearm or the RFID chip under the skin? Of course they probably would need Joseph Goebbels reincarnated to get that "PR" campaign off the ground.

Details are here:

As controversy rages over forthcoming federal Real ID requirements, state officials should be plotting public relations strategies to counteract the well-publicized rebellion, past and present state motor vehicle administrators advised their colleagues Monday.

Civil liberties and privacy groups, as well as organizations like the National Governors Association, have attacked the 2005 law as insufficiently protective of privacy and too costly to implement. But that's exactly the sort of message motor vehicle departments need to offset with their own materials trumpeting the plan's perceived benefits, suggested Lucinda Babers, interim director of the District of Columbia DMV, and Betty Serian, a retired Pennsylvania Department of Transportation official who now runs a private consulting firm.

"I think it's a classical textbook case of good communications planning, knowing who your audience is, and working that into your implementation plan for Real ID," Serian said during a panel discussion on the first day of the Government ID Technology Summit here. About 100 state and federal officials and representatives from technology vendors were in attendance.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to issue final rules in the fall, but draft rules say that starting on May 11, 2008, Americans will need a federally approved, "machine readable" ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments or take advantage of nearly any government service. (States that agree in advance to abide by the rules have until 2013 to comply.)

[...]

But even those states that fall into the anti-Real ID category should be thinking about how to make their residents feel happier about the requirements, the conference speakers said.

Sample messages could include, according to Serian: "It's an improvement to your existing process, it's a way to do the right things for the right reason, it will help prevent identity theft."

They admit they have to make their residents feel happier. I've heard "arbeit macht frei" too. Do you feel happier now?

That propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.

Joseph Goebbels
Fest, The Face of the Third Reich, 90
[Does this remind you of any politicians and/or media outlets in the present day?--Joe]

I suppose its to be expected. You can't get more government contracts if you were to tell them the problem cannot be solved as long as they are headed in that direction. But what you can do is sell them millions and millions of dollars of technology that can be defeated with a few dollars worth of mu-metal and/or a Faraday Shield. I guess it doesn't matter. It's just government money. They have to spend it on something anyway, right?

Here are the details:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a comforting prospect for the million or so daily passengers on U.S. airlines. Los Alamos National Laboratory is working on an alternative to the "sandwich bag" solution for carry-on liquids.

Passengers' ability to carry liquids with them during boarding has improved since the original total ban installed after a plot involving liquid explosives on transatlantic flights was busted in London in August 2006.

A total ban has given way to a partial ban because current X-ray machines can detect liquids, but they don't know the difference between Gatorade and a liquid explosive.

But the so-called "3-1-1" plan for placing smaller-than-3-ounce liquid containers into one separately scanned, quart-size plastic bag per passenger remains an annoyance for many airport travelers, a fact that has not been lost on the department.

Within a month after the London scheme was foiled, said Michelle Espy, LANL's co-principal investigator on the project, the laboratory had sketched out a "proof of concept" for a liquid-sensing instrument that has come to be called SENSIT.

In May this year, Brian Tait, a program manager in the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency made a presentation on LANL's demonstration for using magnetic resonance technology to perform non-invasive "liquid and solid explosive detection at ultra-low field without radiation."

Espy said the technology is a variation on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a very low-field approach that the lab has been using for studying the brain in a technique known as magneto-encephalography, which is a way of reading signals emanating from the brain.

The sensor or magnetometer used in both the brain study and the bottle analyzer is known as a SQUID, an acronym that stands for Superconducting Quantum Interfering Device.

Comforting? I suppose you could say that. It will give some people a false sense of comfort. But then that's what TSA is all about anyway. A Security Theater that makes some people feel good.

We spent this weekend out camping in an Idaho mountain meadow, in an "open range" area (where cattle wander free, and are branded for later roundup).  Aside from being stunningly beautiful, with the fall colors coming on and the abundant wildlife resulting from recent logging operations (you did know that logging results in copious new foliage for the grazing of deer and elk, and cover for small game, didn't you?) there are quite a lot of cow pies.

Grass and water go in one end of the bovine, you see, and cow pies are what come out of the other end.  The name applies whether the bovine in question is male or female.  That saves you the trouble of determining whether a given pie is a cow pie, a bull pie, or a heifer pie, etc..

I'd been doing some shooting out there with several firearms, and asked my 10 year-old daughter to get out her .22 rifle.  She wasn't much interested until I pointed out that she could try shooting at small pieces of wood floating in a pond.  She quickly discovered that if you place a bullet just under the floating stick it will jump 15 feet into the air.  That got her attention, and she was soon asking for more ammo.  She's a fairly new shooter, so her hit rate wasn't very good, and she lost interest until she discovered that a fresh cow pie will explode if hit with a .22 Long Rifle hollowpoint.

In other words, her shooting may not be minute-of-angle accurate (one M.O.A. equals one sixtieth of a degree) but she can shoot "Minute Of Cow pie" (M.O.C.) which allows her to enjoy a 100% hit rate on these impromptu, reactive targets.

She spent the rest of the afternoon shooting cow pies with a big grin on her face (and me laughing to myself, thinking how wonderfully stereotypical, North-Idaho-redneck an activity that was).

For further study, I picked up some beer cans (probably discarded by some pale, leftist San Franciscans who thought getting drunk and littering in Idaho would be a hoot) filled them with water and shot them with various calibers.  It happens that a .223 Remington cartridge, pushing a 55 grain, hard-jacketed spitzer at around 3,000 feet per second will cause the water-filled aluminum can to burst out in all directions, yet still hold together in one piece, whereas a soft lead sphere of .495" diameter (50 caliber patched round ball - the patched ball is an American innovation that was used with deadly effect against King George's officers during the Revolution) traveling at about half that velocity will blow the can into several pieces, scattering them up and out about 15 yards, leaving the base of the can still holding water where it stood (I picked up the pieces and took them home if you must know, leaving the meadow cleaner than we found it).

I also discovered that you can hit gallon jug-sized targets at 200 yards (you do travel with a rangefinder, don't you?) with a little youth model .22 rifle, zeroed at 20 yards, if you aim about 5 1/2 feet high.  You have enough time to bring the rifle down and listen/watch for the impact at that distance.

Ain't freedom grand?

Nice of them to stop by.

Domain Name		e-nt.net ? (Network)
IP Address		66.7.41.# (Violence Policy Center)
ISP		eLink Communications
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  District of Columbia City  :  Washington Lat/Long  :  38.9068, -77.0427 (Map) Distance  :  2,071 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
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Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  32 bits
Time of Visit		Sep 24 2007 2:34:51 pm
Last Page View		Sep 24 2007 2:41:17 pm
Visit Length		6 minutes 26 seconds
Page Views		3
Referring URL		http://blogsearch.go... Center%22&scoring=d
Search Engine		blogsearch.google.com
Search Words		"violence policy center"
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffman.org/2007/09/20/QuoteOfTheDayCamEdwards.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffman.org/default,month,2006-10.aspx
Out Click		What A Tangled Web They Weave http://www.camedwards.com/2007/09/19/what-a-tangled-web-they-weave/
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Sep 24 2007 5:34:51 pm
Visit Number		194,160

Since I now that I know their IP address I also went looking through old log files for them. They visited in March after doing a blog search for "Josh Sugarman". Then they were here a couple times in August looking for stuff about Larry Craig. For more details see: VPCVisits.xls (28 KB)

People have been having problems with the anti-spam feature in comments. I've disabled the Captcha and enable some other things in an attempt to mitigate the resultant spam. I need to dig into the source code and fix the Captcha and other problems but I just haven't gotten around to it.

If you have been frustrated by the comment issues please try again. I really like getting comments and don't want you to give up on it.

Joe (a different Joe) ROs Don as he blasts through a stage. Yes, Joe's shirt says "INFIDEL" on the back (and the front).

That's Adam with the "air gun" practicing for the next stage.

 
As I mentioned in the QOD yesterday Xenia's boyfriend John went with me to the match.

 
Michelle and Adam as he ROs while she shoots a few rounds.

We also had an anthropology grad student, Michelle, from Washington State University show up. I asked if she knew "Joan", an anthropologist from WSU who has studied the gun culture. She claims to not know Joan Burbick (and here and here). Michelle has only been in town for a few weeks having just arrived from Iowa. She also said she is a Evolutionary Anthropologist while Joan is probably a Cultural Anthropologist which means they wouldn't be as likely to meet each other. Since I was wrong about Joan being an anthropologist it's quite believable.

We managed to talk her into shooting a little bit. She also claims to have only fired one gun on one occasion. Had it not been for her poor posture while shooting I, and probably everyone else, would not have believed her. In her first six shots I think she only had one miss. She did amazingly well for a completely new shooter. She emptied two magazines out of two different guns and didn't develop a flinch which is quite common with new shooters with a fairly large caliber handgun.

I spent several minutes talking to her and answering questions. The questions had some anti-gun bias and I finally asked what her sort of opinion she had on guns. She said as anthropological observer she was not allowed to have an opinion.

People in a society find ways to avoid conflict, and instead they find substitutes for it. I think the gun has become one of those substitutes.

Instead of addressing the root causes of the inequalities in our society, such as the limits of access to education, jobs, housing, the legal system etc., we invent or come up with crime scenarios. The gun becomes the substitute way to solve conflict in the United States, and the biggest conflict of all is crime.

So that’s how I view it as a political fetish -- that it’s a substitution. This is a moment in the United States when access to political power is, I think, limited to a class of professional politicians and lobbyists. And the act of buying a gun can mimic political action. It makes people feel as if they are engaging in politics of political protest.

I’ll give an example of how I think guns have political meaning. One of my old friends who is an ex-Vietnam vet, a Navy pilot, said to me one night, “Whenever I get mad at the government, I go out and buy a gun.” And to me, that’s a form of mimicking political action. One is left only with a gun in one’s closet. One has not changed or affected the government at all. In that way, I see it as a fetish, a substitute.

Joan Burbick
October 16, 2006
Joan Burbick's 'Gun Show Nation' Explains How the "Gun Rights" Movement is a White Male Political Power Play
[Just so you know what they think of you.--Joe]

Every time I hear or read something about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad coming to the U.S. to address Columbia University I keep thinking this is going to go down in history the same as if Adolf Hitler had come to the U.S. to address some university in September of 1937.

If fact the whole culture of certain units is competition. They shoot "matches" quals, standards, stages, etc all the time. In that world everything is graded and the results posted for all to see.

These guys could be very good competition shooters, instead they are very good at killing our enemies.

Greg Hamilton
September 18, 2007 8:34 PM
[Greg teaches military, law enforcement, and private citizens how to shoot. He is very, very good. Not just at shooting but at teaching, thinking, understanding what he is doing, and explaining it.

On a related note--Xenia's boyfriend just came back from "playing in the sandbox". He went to a steel match with me today. His shooting has improved considerably since the last time we went to the range together. I still did better than he did, but he did make me proud. I should have some pictures up soon.--Joe]

The jerks at PNNL I used to work for report back to Battelle headquarters in Columbus Ohio. It appears I just had a visit from them:

Domain Name		rr.com ? (Commercial)
IP Address		65.24.154.# (Road Runner)
ISP		Road Runner
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  Ohio City  :  Columbus Lat/Long  :  39.9968, -82.9882 (Map) Distance  :  1,755 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinNT
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Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1280 x 800 Color Depth  :  16 bits
Time of Visit		Sep 22 2007 12:53:04 pm
Last Page View		Sep 22 2007 1:10:13 pm
Visit Length		17 minutes 9 seconds
Page Views		9
Referring URL		http://search.live.c...uffman.org&FORM=USNO
Search Engine		search.live.com
Search Words		blog.joehuffman.org
Visit Entry Page		http://cc.msnscache....lang=en-US&FORM=CVRE
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...w,category,PNNL.aspx
Out Click		a story which was published today http://www.tri-cityh...58717p-9075291c.html
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Sep 22 2007 3:53:04 pm
Visit Number		193,489

I never was one who was interested in fast or flashy cars. Vehicles, to me, are a means to transport people and things from point A to point B. I once had a long series of conversations with this guy named Walter about cars and women. He figured that a nice car was essential to finding a nice woman. He drove a Mercedes when I first met him. Then it was some sort of flashy looking muscle car. I forget the make and model. I just don't pay attention to that sort of thing. Then after he hit it big he bought a brand new, bright red, Ferrari. Within a day or so after buying it he came over to my place to show it off. "That's nice Walter." I just wasn't interested. And when we went for a ride I couldn't sit up straight. It was extremely uncomfortable for me. I just can't see the point. The only way I could see getting something that "over the top" is if it were REALLY over the top. If it could spread wings and fly at 300 MPH then I could see the appeal. But to be merely 50% faster than an ordinary car just seems pointless to me.

I feel the same way about machine guns. I just don't get the appeal. I've shot them a few times. And sure, they put a lot of lead down range in a short period of time but so what? I can put more pieces of lead on target with a semi-auto in any realistic situation that I can imagine myself being in. There isn't even someone like Walter who could plausibly argue that machine guns will attract the babes--so what is the appeal? I really don't get it.

That said, I just saw the analog in the machine gun world of the car that can spread wings and fly at 300 MPH.

I told Barb this is what I want for Christmas:

Video: VIP Protection Tool

P.S. After a decade of faster and faster, flasher and flasher cars Walter eventually did find a woman that would marry him. Barb and I always figured it would be a gold-digger that took him for a ride since that seemed to be what he was advertising for. But the reports I got back (he is on my "every time I see his face I involuntarily start to draw my gun" list now) is that she appeared to be an alcoholic instead.

We have to realize that people who run the government can and do change.  Our society and laws must assume that bad people - criminals even - will run the government, at least part of the time.

John Gilmore
A transcript of remarks given at the First Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy, March 28,1991
[Gilmore's primary concern is privacy. He is a big name in the opposition to a national ID card, unreasonable search and seizure, etc. But the justification for that concern, as stated above, is also applicable to being opposed to restrictions on firearms.--Joe]

Of course it was in Boston where the cops all went bonkers because someone was carrying around some wires and LEDs (via Bruce):

Star Simpson was charged with possessing a hoax device today at Logan International Airport for wearing a sweatshirt that had a circuit board affixed to the front with green LED lights and wires running to a 9-volt battery.

This is not a bomb:

And furthermore, being the nit-picky engineer that I am, it's a breadboard, not a circuit board.

If someone wanted to carry a bomb around at the airport they would almost for certain put it in a suitcase instead of wearing it in the open on their sweatshirt. And since it was in the open you can easily see there is no detonator and no explosives attached. But this is Boston. And so:

Outside the terminal, Simpson was surrounded by police holding machine guns.

"She was immediately told to stop, to raise her hands, and not make any movement so we could observe all her movements to see if she was trying to trip any type of device," Pare said at a press conference at Logan. "There was obviously a concern that had she not followed the protocol ... we may have used deadly force."

Simpson was arrested...

Bruce says Refuse to be Terrorized. I say Boston was just exercising their authority as a police state. And the police probably hadn't gotten to play with the sub-guns in weeks. They had to justify having their toys by actually pointing them as someone occasionally.

I do agree with Bruce that the true terrorists are probably laughing at us.

Wow. It's ALL here.

Too bad everything costs money to view.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

H. L. Mencken
[I keep thinking there has got to be a better system. The competing political systems of today are a minimum of 100 years old. Our communication technology, mass media, and perhaps other technology surely make some sort of new freedom based political system viable rather than enhancing a police state. But what is it?--Joe]

Just today I received a copy of the letter the Idaho Attorney General sent to the Moscow City Attorney.

If you recall our Mayor wanted to ban guns in public places. The AG told her in legalize via the Moscow City Attorney to not even try going there.

I wish he had warned she was dangerously close to committing a felony but that is expecting too much even for Idaho in today's political climate. We need to work on that for a few more years first.

Men have a source of potentially life-saving stem cells between their legs:

A team of American researchers has found a way to easily identify stem cells in the testicles of adult mice that can be coaxed to turn into brain cells, muscle cells, heart cells, blood cells and even blood vessels.

One day, they say, male patients may be able to turn to their own testicles as a source of stem cells to repair an ailing heart or kidney or to fix the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

The procedure would involve removing a small piece of testicle - about the same amount used for a biopsy.

The first question that comes to my mind is, "Can you repair the damage you did to my testicle?" They don't answer that question in the article. I presume the answer is yes, but I'd want to make sure before I authorized a major overhaul of my other body parts. I'd hate to have the rest of my body in full working order and then find they had scrapped out my testicles in the process.

From the U.K. we find (via Bruce):

A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any.

In fact, four out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a record of solving crime that is below average.

[...]

We have estimated that CCTV cameras have cost the taxpayer in the region of £200million in the last 10 years but it's not entirely clear if some of that money would not have been better spent on police officers.

Not entirely clear? What could be more clear? It appears that the rate of crime resolution is inversely proportional to the number of cameras present.

But they are apparently so accustom to Big Brother being there they are afraid to consider his absence. But don't expect them to remove the cameras and spend the money on something better like more police and/or better enforcement. You should expect them to conclude they don't have enough cameras and to increase proselytization. It's just one of those things about human nature that is hard to accept.

...regarding the police chiefs out there (who, we are told, have come out against the Second Amendment): Every law enforcement officer is required to take an Oath, affirming said officer's commitment to the Constitution of the United States.  Here is one example taken at random.  I'm sure you can find many others:

“I swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland and support the Constitution and laws thereof; and that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the office of police officer according to the Constitution and laws of this State.”

Notice the first clause-- support for the U.S. Constitution.  Taking an Oath not only suggests or recommends, but it requires individual judgment and individual commitment to the U.S. Constitution when deciding to follow a particular order or enforce a particular law.  It requires, in this case, that the sworn individual understand the Constitutionality of an action before taking that action.  Why else take the damned Oath?

The Nuremburg defense doesn't cut it here.

On the matter of law enforcement officers who have taken the Oath, and who then actively lobby against our Constitutionally protected civil liberties:  Words fail me at the moment, but I'm envisioning a physician who takes the Hippocratic Oath and sets out thereafter to murder his patients.

To you chiefs of police out there who are on the fence:  Be reminded that some of us actually take our civil liberties seriously.  Just sayin'.

Update 09/21/07:  Another reminder for our friends in law enforcement (and to law makers as well).  I use this example only because it is so well known, though there are plenty of other examples: In early 1942 there were a whole lot of German officers and government agents who were as cock-sure of themselves as anyone could be.  Their degree of swagger was quite an impressive sight to behold.  Only a few years later however, many of them were fugitives from justice, while others were swinging from ropes (things can change in short order, and being on the right side of Liberty is good insurance).  As Joe points out in comments, there is this little thingy we call 18 USC 242.  Not that it would be needed as the Constitution already spells out the law in plain English, but here we have teeth, out in front of the brain, as it were.

This is an anti-gun report bought and paid for by an anti-gun foundation, assembled by anti-gunners from the Joyce Foundation, Harvard, and the Violence Policy Center. I’ve seen more serious studies written by Carrot Top and Larry the Cable Guy.

[...]

They’re officially parodies of themselves.

Cam Edwards
September 19, 2007
What A Tangled Web They Weave
[Yup. See also what Uncle has to say about it.--Joe]

Box Cutter Sails Through Airport Security

At least TSA put on a little bit of a show for their Security Theater. They make him pour out his coffee.

Old "fake but accurate" Dan Rather is suing CBS:

The lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times, alleges that CBS violated Rather's contract by giving him insufficient airtime on 60 Minutes after he was ousted from the anchor seat at the CBS Evening News in March of 2005. It also claims that the company commissioned a biased investigation into the Texas National Guard controversy, resulting in a flawed report that "seriously damaged his reputation."

[...]

The suit says the public apology Rather offered to viewers and to Bush on his newscast on Sept. 20, 2004 was written by a CBS corporate publicist, and that he delivered it "despite his own personal feelings that no public apology from him was warranted."

It's amazing isn't it? It was conclusively proven the memo he reported on was a fake but no apology was warranted. Had he been getting away with that sort of crap for so long that he thought it was acceptable? If so then how much damage did he do before he finally got caught? His betrayal of the public trust should have required of him something much more substantial than a public apology. It should have been an exceedingly stiff fine and perhaps some jail time.

Son James and I watch DVDs of some Science Fiction TV series together nearly every Monday evening. Until we got all caught up with the releases we were watching four episodes of Stargate SG-1 each get together.

About three weeks ago Sean and I checked out a gun store that he had never been to and I had only been to once about 18 months ago. The wall looked like this:

James has been saying he needs to buy a gun. And right there, in plain sight, was a suppressed PS-90 TR (Triple Rail, semi-auto version of the P-90 used by SG-1 as they battle evil aliens from all over the galaxy). I tried to get James to buy it with his bonus money but he was too smart for that. It's space-a-roma (I think that was the word Sean used) appeal is very high but neither James nor I have a use for one.

I've been corresponding with a 13 year-old kid that started out saying he wanted to make bombs but there was enough information that indicated he had no intention of hurting anyone or their property. He was just using the wrong word for his desired activities. Rather than ignore him or turn him in to the police in his area I politely declined to help and suggested he attend Boomershoot 2008 since he lives in Idaho. Tonight, after six emails from him in 36 hours, he asked:

Can you give me the URL for the website of pain full pics of pipe bomb retards?

I recently told a friend of mine i made small explosives for recreational uses, and he said "oh yeah i should come to your house and we can make a pipe bomb"

I told him he was being stupid and, before he made explosives needed to do his homework. I told him id try to find the page i saw and show him how dumb his idea really was.

Cool. Maybe he will make it to adulthood.

This (WARNING! Extremely graphic!) is the link.

And speaking of bombs--if you are a suicide bomber intent on taking out some of our boys in the sandbox with itchy fingers on their ".50 caliber sniper rifles" keep (more extremely graphic material!) this in mind.

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.

Ronald Reagan
[The difference I saw between working on government contracts as a "Senior Research Scientist II" at PNNL (I was once told I would be considered a "god" if I had a PhD) and working at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer was like teaching high school Freshman versus earning my MSEE. But you don't need to be an engineer to see the truth of Reagan's statement. Just look an some of our government agencies, like the TSA. This is just part of the reason why government should be limited; they are too stupid to spend our money wisely.--Joe]

IBM put 35 programmers on a free OpenOffice offering that will compete with Microsoft Office. I don't know how many programmers Microsoft has working on Office but I know they take up most, if not all, of buildings 16, 17, and 18. Each of those buildings are large three-story buildings.

IBM versus Microsoft. Free versus expensive. 35 versus hundreds (include our son James).

Hmmmm.... place your bets with your broker. I put all my chips on Microsoft.

TSA head Kip Hawley (http://www.kiphawleyisanidiot.com/) attempts to explain the reason for the three ounce limit on liquids and why the rule is reasonable. He is deliberately obscure in places:

“This is something we thought a lot about. There’s a whole classified section to the answer, but in the unclassified part we are limited to discussing, with 3-1-1, the major focus was first, to stop assembled bombs,” he said.

“The nature of liquid explosives is that they are very volatile, unlike military-grade explosives that react predictably. With homemade explosives, while the benefit is that they are made of easy-to-get ingredients, the downside is that you get widely different results for the same quote-unquote recipe.

“If you’re going to use these explosives in the aviation context, you have to be very precise in the mixing because, as we found in the testing, minor variations in formula have a very dramatic effect on whether or not the explosives are successful.

“So 3-1-1- eliminates the ability to assemble the ingredients in a laboratory, using expert people to provide a finished bomb for somebody to use on a suicide mission on an airplane,” he said.

On a plane, mixing up a bomb in a suitable container “isn’t like mixing a beverage,” he said, adding: “This stuff is very volatile; it is very obvious; you can smell it a long way away. It’s very corrosive.”

The volatile stuff he's talking about would be the acetone used to make acetone peroxide. And yes acetone is very smelly. I have never made acetone peroxide and have no plans to. It's called "Mother of Satan" for a reason.

The "very corrosive" stuff would be nitric and sulfuric acids used to make nitroglycerin; probably the most well known of all liquid explosives.

Yup. Mixing up either of those explosives without being noticed would be difficult on a plane. The acetone in particular is very noticeable. Finger polish remover is frequently acetone. So if someone starts working on removing their fingernail polish don't be surprised if you see the flight crew getting a little excited about finding the source of the smell.

The problem with the whole explosives testing thing is that there are lots of things made out of stuff they don't, and essentially can't, test for that make the whole exercise just A Security Theater. That money would be far better spent on finding the bad guys before they ever got to the airport. But don't expect Hawley to tell you that. It's not his job to tell you his job is a sham. His job is to make you feel safer. Do you feel safe yet?

The Founding Fathers systematically democratized the powers of society through the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They democratized the power of law through the right to vote. They democratized the power of wealth through the right to private property (since repealed by environmentalists and courts). They democratized the power of ideas through the right to free speech (since repealed by McCain/Feingold). And they democratized the power of violence (or the capability to commit it) through the right to bear arms (since repealed by "gun control").

The four great powers of man: law, money, thought and violence were thus divided among the people and not reserved exclusively to the connected, the rich, the approved, and the enlisted. That's the basis of our Republic. That's America. And that is, apparently, a total surprise to liberals. 

Mac Johnson
Court Rediscovers 2nd Amendment, Liberals Fear Other 'Rights' May Soon be Found
March 15, 2007
[Liberals just got pwn'd in this very case. The D.C. lawyers messed up and the lawyers for the good guys just nailed their scrotums to the wall.--Joe]

For once I can actually thank the Gun Guys for doing something useful. They pointed me at this video. Nice. Thanks Gun Guys.

Of course they call it ridiculous. But hey, what do you expect from him?

I still have the sneaking suspicion this guy is working for our side and collecting money from the bad guys. Nice gig if you can get it and aren't encumbered by little things like morals and principles.

Reader Rob pointed these out to me.

Setting aside the ones that appeal to my sick sense of humor and the one that would piss off my vegetarian daughter I think the pro-choice one is my favorite.

It's just ludicrous to allow guns in schools under any circumstances. There are regular common-sense gun owners who overwhelmingly want the local school board to at least be able to make their own decision on this at the local level. Most of the parents I talked to had no idea, and they were horrified when they found out it was possible to bring a gun to school. . . . Johnny's parents don't want his first-grade teachers packing heat.

Ginny Burdick
Oregon State Senator
D-Portland
September 11, 2007
Teacher demands to carry gun in school
[Oh really? ANY circumstances? How about when some nut case or (redundancy alert) religious fanatic is shooting up the school? Should the cops leave their guns at the station when they come out to put a stop to it? If no, then why shouldn't the teachers put a stop to it even sooner? And how about this teacher who has a nut case ex-husband? If she is a teacher then she doesn't deserve to be able to defend herself? And it's particularly noteworthy that she appeals to "common-sense"--because there is no factual data to support her conclusions. If she lived in the deep south 40 years ago she would be appealing to the "common-sense" laws prohibiting blacks to use the same water fountain with whites. It's typical that she claims she is an advocate for "gun safety legislation". I'll bet she has never taught or even attended a gun safety class yet wants to legislate on the issue. In conclusion, not everyone is a bigot or has mental problems like Ms. Burdick. Some people want teachers to be able to protect themselves and their students. That is the real "common-sense" which should be adhered to.--Joe]

People need to start talking about it in the open and France is actually doing it. Good for them.

• French FM Says World Should Prepare for Possible War With Iran
• World should brace for Iran war: France
• Prepare for war with Iran, says French minister
• World should brace for possible war over Iran: France
• France warning of war with Iran

I sort of ran out of snark for these sort of things and they have just sat around in my Inbox "forever". Some I would have turned over to law enforcement but it has been so rare that I have received even an acknowledgment of receipt from them that I got discouraged. If they don't care then I guess I don't much care either.

But maybe you will get some amusement out of them:

From: Pgleon@
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 3:29 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: DA BOMB

hey joe i was wounderin how 2 make a bomb could u plz tell i at least wana blow a little hole in a wall or somin blow a hole in da floor i meen grass like a golf hole but a bit wider and deeper could u plz send me instruction but i avent got much 2 spend on it and i live in the uk. send this 2 gesty@ thx dude

---

From: Jordan
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 6:59 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: bomb

i was wondering if me and  a friend put black powder in a concled place with a wick would it explode and how big. Well anyways can you give us directions on a big bomb blow a few feet into the ground?
Jordan

---

From: yunus 
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 12:14 AM
To: JoeH
Subject:

hiii

c
i trying to some kind a loud bomb for a trick but i cant be there and so i
need also a timer but i have no idea so i hope you will help  me

whatting your answer
please

_________________________________________________________________
En etkili ve güvenilir PC Korumayi tercih edin, rahat edin!
http://www.msn.com.tr/security/

---

From: René
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 10:30 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Can u help mee?

I want to Build a Big Bomb with a big boom... It can be expensive but easy to get the stuff to it.....
Nothing else matters

---

From: SCOTT 
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 1:48 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: HOW TO EXPLOSIVES

Hello Mr. Huffman,
 
I would like some info on how to build a bomb, something with the power of about 2 sticks of dynamite. I might like to try and put a hole in a cement wall or something to that affect.
 
                                                    Thanks!
 
                                                           Scott

---

From: mark 
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 10:54 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: help me

Dear Joeh;
   I have an enemy in my neighborhood who's always trying to get me arrested. She hates me and tries to hurt me in anyway she can. Well, I want to teach her a lesson once and for all. Help me build something that can be thrown through her window and severely hurt that bitch. Remember it can't be to heavy because I have to be able to throw it.
                                                                    sincerely,
                                                             troubled housewife

---

From: ASHTRAYASHTRAY13
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:59 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: basic bomb

hi,
 
i was wondering how to make a small basic bomb with simple and easy available ingridients. i would be very grateful if you could possibly tell me ??
 
regards,
Ash

---

From: Mirjana 
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 5:29 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Homemade bomb

Can you tell me how to make a bomb that can make a hole in the ground (about 20 cm). Not too strong so i have to run like half a mile, and not that it explodes in 5 sec... I don't have many materials avalible, just stuff that you can find in every home. I know how to make one bomb... but i need some weird acid so i can easily get hurt.
 
If you don't reply me, thanks anyway...

---

From: louis
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 6:04 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: u are a faggot and u cant catch me bitch hahahahahaha!!!!!!HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

y dont u leave the 15 year old texan alone, dont u have something better 2
do! try and track me ass hole wow u have my e-mail big deal, i am 15 as well
and im guna make a bomb, throw it into a hotel swimmig pool

---

From: extinct02ws6
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 11:12 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Just Curious

 Hey. I was wondering how to build 2 types of bombs. the first, small, how to build a hand grenade. and second, larger, how to blow up a car. fused or timed. doesn't really matter. thanks!
                                                                                                               tommy

---

From: Kayci
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 8:47 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Plan

Okay,so a friend and I need to build a series of explosive devices for a plan we have that will
probably take a few years to finalize. Anyway,we need to build 2 or 3 types of bomb:2 gas bombs,most likely propane,and some handy throwable explosives like grenades or pipe bombs. For the propane ones,we need complete instructions on engineering and remote
detonation. We want to take out a large building,roughly the size of a high school gymnasium. We want to injure many people in the proccess. We need the pipe bombs and grenades so we can fend off any resistance. We also might need a car bomb or two,for a good distraction. So,let me know what you got,I need the info soon.
Thanks,
KC

I did some maintenance on my blog this morning. The live comment viewer is working now, or at least it was the last couple times I tried it. I can now edit posts and have the changes "stick" which they hadn't been doing for the last couple weeks. Very annoying that last one. In order to edit a post I had to copy the .XML file for that day's entry to my personal computer, using my "geek brain" edit the .XML post which was encoded within the day entry file, then copy the file back up to the blog server.

While I was messing around with it I thought I might as well update the blogroll to better reflect reality. There are other blogs I read fairly frequently but I only put blogs that I read every post nearly every day on my blogroll. I'm sort of a purist I guess. No offense to others that I read frequently but don't have on the list. I just don't have time for everyone that I would like to read and/or that link to me. If you link to me in a post I will read your post and I will monitor the comments to it for a while. And if you put me on your blogroll I will check you out for a few days but it's going to be very rare that I am going to link to you just because you linked to me.

I know I messed up some RSS feeders as things were changing--at least mine was affected. Sorry about that.

In most of Europe, phone companies don't record the phone numbers when you call, and they don't show up on your bill.  They only tick off the charges on a meter.  Now, I was told that this is partly because the Nazis used the call records that they used to have, to track and identify the opposition after taking over those countries in World War II.  They don't keep those records any more.

John Gilmore
March 28,1991
A transcript of remarks given at the First Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy
[Interesting perspective. I hadn't really thought of it but phone records could be thought of as violating my Jews in the Attic Test.--Joe]

Why didn't they see it coming before realizing our sex lives are our own business?

But this suggestion from the government's sisterhood also demonstrates the migration of individuals' control over their lives to the state and beyond. As more power and decisions are passed to Europe - without our consent - so politicians have to find something to busy themselves with, and what better challenge than 60 million people who fornicate, drink to excess, smoke, eat too much salty and fatty food and harbour all sorts of antisocial and criminal intent?

This is a presumption of a historic scale and arrogance which is best seen in the systems set up under Tony Blair to scrutinise every movement, communication and transaction we make. But at least we now understand the extent of the takeover. According to a YouGov poll released with Liberty's report 'Overlooked: Surveillance and Personal Privacy in Britain' last week, 60 per cent of us believe we live in a surveillance state and only one in five trusts the government to keep our personal details confidential. Unless controlled, a government of long standing is by nature leaky, incompetent and greedy for ever more power.

Although it is often true it is "better late than never" I just wonder that if in this case it is too late to avoid a disaster.

But at least they are seeing and saying the right things:

It is argued that we have the Data Protection Act and the information commissioner, but despite the latter's agitation, nothing has stopped the 500,000 interceptions of private communication each year, the total surveillance of motorways, the building of the ID card data base, the creepy children's database and expansion of the police DNA database.

The Canadian system hasn't worked perfectly, especially since 9/11, but Canadians shudder at what is happening in the UK, at the abandon with which we allow government more and more control over our lives and our futures.

A revolution of thought needs to take place. The personal information of innocent people, their digital footprints, their movements, as well as the things consenting adults get up to must not be allowed to become the property of the state or the subject of regulation by a lot of po-faced, reformed dope-smokers who can think of little but the improvement of their fellow human beings.

Via Michelle Malkin.

I've been reading every article I can on the materials these two guys were playing with. They are claimed to have had the following in their car:

• Three pieces of PVC pipe cut into various sizes, 1 foot or less, filled with a mixture of
  • Potassium nitrate
  • Karo syrup
  • Cat litter
• Safety fuse, 20 feet.
• Electric drill
• .22 caliber ammunition
• Gasoline, 5 gallon canister
• Laptop computer reflecting visits to the following Web sites
  • A video file that shows Qassam rockets firing
  • Hamas information
  • A discussion of martyrdom
  • M-16 rifle photos

Except for the pipes and the stuff all mixed up you might find that in one of my vehicles sometime.

It is claimed the cat litter was used to "bind the ingredients" but I'm not buying it. Karo syrup doesn't need any help "binding". If you put enough cat litter in the mixture it would make it easier to handle--including putting it in the pipe. But if you add enough litter to make it easy to handle I keep thinking it would interfere with the desired reaction--unless you were just trying to make a 4th of July type "fountain" or "smoke bomb". With a good detonator (blasting cap) and with no, or a limited amount, of cat litter it might go boom but it's not going to be all that impressive.

If it were just the above items and it were up to me personally I would give them a stern warning for traveling with the pipes filled with the mixture. If they had a car accident it might catch fire and make the situation much worse. It's not going to go boom and rip the car apart or anything but it's not something you should do either.

If the mixture will actually explode then it would be a violation of Federal Law in regards to transportation of explosives since I doubt they had the proper placards, packaging, licenses and/or permits, storage magazine, and an hazardous materials endorsement on their drivers license.

But it wasn't just those items. There was one more thing that changes the entire flavor of the case:

In July, Mohamed posted a video on YouTube that explained how to transform a toy remote controlled car into a detonator, Hoffer said. The 12-minute video is narrated by a man speaking Arabic with an Egyptian accent. It shows no face, only hands.

"Mohamed admitted he made and uploaded it," Hoffer said.

The video's narrator says it's meant "to save one who wants to be a martyr for another day in battle," Hoffer said. The narrator also mentions a previous example that used a remote controlled toy boat. Federal agents searched the New Tampa home of Megahed's family and found a remote controlled toy boat, Hoffer said.

But what does that mean?

The judge asked if there was a definite link between the two, and Hoffer said no.

Exactly! Does the video mean he was intending to be "a martyr for another day in battle"? Was he going to try to detonate the material remotely for an evil purpose? I detonate explosives remotely using supersonic lead pellets and I could see doing it by a radio controlled device too (it's been a common fantasy of mine and others to fake shooting a reactive target with an ordinary iron sighted handgun from 500 yards then tease those that can't hit a target with their scoped rifles).

Summing up I am in near complete agreement (an extremely rare event) with CAIR:

Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was quick to distinguish between Megahed and Mohamed.

"It's obvious there are two separate individuals with different charges and different allegations," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the two individuals end up having separate cases altogether."

He defended Megahed, saying it appeared he "just happened to be in the car." But he had harsher words for Mohamed.

If he could talk to Mohamed, Bedier said, "I'd say, 'Wake up!' "

He added, "Muslims don't get a second chance when they dabble with things like this. Not only will this have consequences on him, but it will have consequences on most of the Muslims in this country."

Update: Ry reminds us we can't believe everything we read in the media.

Update2: Ahh... now things are making more sense:

In the trunk, deputies found four small sections of PVC pipe, at least three of which were stuffed with a "potassium nitrate explosive mixture" of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and kitty litter, Hoffer said. He said the kitty litter served as a binder to keep the substance from coming out of the pipes, which were not capped.

[...]

Both men are charged with transporting explosives without a permit, relating to the stuffed PVC pipes deputies have described as pipe bombs. Hoffer conceded in court, however, that the devices, while explosive, were not pipe bombs and were not "destructive devices" under the law.

Allen maintained that the filled PVC pipes couldn't do much damage because there were no caps and no metallic material that could serve as shrapnel.

Sounds more like smoke bombs than pipe bombs to me. Worst case they could be incendiary devices. My bet is that if the defense plays their cards right they can beat the explosives charge.

I knew Ms. Ringler was stopping by for a visit every once in a while. I had some time tonight to explore in greater detail her visits. I put the results in an Excel spreadsheet to easier share it with you: RobynRinglerVisits.xls (36 KB)

When I wrote my Sympathy for Robyn Ringler post I actually knew a little more than I let on. I knew that she had seen my post where I called her and her ilk bigots. I also knew she was visiting Kevin's blog at least occasionally too (it's all in the spreadsheet).

After my "sympathy" post she came by to read it less than 36 hours later (as well as visiting Uncle after he poked her with a stick). Ride Fast had his hope realized in less than 19 hours.

Bigots really don't like to be made fun of. Frequently part of the reason they are bigots is because they are unsure of themselves and feel threatened. They need to bring someone else down in order to make themselves feel powerful. This may particularly apply to anti-gun bigots because we already scare them just because we own guns. As explained by my formerly liberal friend Mike:

Back in the days when I was very anti-gun, I tended to think of “gun nuts” as drooling, knuckle-dragging morons. Cavemen. Uneducated. Beer-drinking slobs who could barely read and who probably beat up their wives a lot. Maybe they were even all closet Nazis, eh? Etc., etc., etc. It was an image that came instantly to mind. I would talk about “gun nuts” that same way with friends of like mind. It all made such perfect sense to us.

But if ever I came across a “gun nut” in person I would be silent — especially if it was someone dressed in, say, hunting cammos. Or I might see “gun nuts” on TV and make a snide comment about them, but seeing them made me feel a bit afraid (something I didn’t reveal to other people). It wasn’t rational, but it wasn’t surprising considering how I’d been raised. It wasn’t until a long time later that I realized what I’d been doing: trying to make the “gun nuts” almost into sub-humans in my mind, and paint them as ridiculous and stupid so that they shrank in stature and were less scary to me. (But as I said, this doesn’t work. No amount of sneering made me feel less afraid.)

Pointing out their total lack of factual knowledge on the subject has got to be very painful for them. For them to think of us as knuckle-draggers and then have their intellectual lunch handed to them probably will do nothing to change their minds. But what it does do in this new democracy is make them back off the topic. I believe that having them avoid the topic is the best we can hope for. When they have such a poor self-esteem and they have taken a very public stance on the issue it is simply beyond their ability to admit they are wrong. You wouldn't expect a Klansman to admit they were wrong would you?

The best you can hope for is for them to back down. So let's take our victory over this bigot and continue on to the next one. Conversions are too difficult, just intellectually shame them into silence and mock them as we roll on past.

Ms. Ringler, if you stop by again to read this there is something I want you to know and understand. From Clayton Cramer:

Still, her announcement that she was going to stop allowing comments doesn't particularly upset or surprise me--this is a common response of gun control advocates, who soon discover that we knuckle-dragging Neanderthals don't just outnumber them, but we're smarter than they are--way smarter.

That and if you ever change your mind about guns and gun ownership I'll give you free NRA Certified training, a free position at Boomershoot, and I'll never bring up your ugly past again.

Shooter groups, like the Sporting Shooters Association, who want to break our gun laws; take away gun registration; take away limits on hand guns; are in my opinion the most anti-social and dangerous type of groups that Australia has recently seen outside of course of certain criminal drug-related gangs.

John Crook
Gun Control Australia's president
http://ssaasa.org.au/alerts2.htm
[Just so you know what they really think of you.--Joe]

Let that sink in for a moment...70:30 approval.

The next thing I heard was that the voter turnout was 30 percent.

If my math is correct, 70 percent of 30 percent comes to 21 percent of eligible voters who approved the levy.  21 percent of the people wanted the levy, and the other 79 percent either opposed it, figured it was a forgone conclusion, didn't care enough to vote, or didn't know about it (the latter leaves me wondering who was in charge of publicizing it).

In a very small town where the school district is possibly the largest single employer, how many of those 21 percent who approved the levy do you suppose were school district employees, the families of school district employees, and contractors to the school district?

Forget how you would vote on something like this-- you could be on either side of it, depending on the particular issue.  Looking at it conceptually; how is it that 21 percent of the people, most of whom are the direct recipients of the tax revenue, are able to impose taxes on 100 percent of the people?  Is that outcome consistent with the idea of democracy, or of a free society?  No and no.

Why don't we have a quorum rule for something like this?

Lots of sobering material in this video.

I wish some national leaders would reframe the issue for what it is rather than a politically correct phrase. It's not a "War on Terror". It's a war against religious fanatics.

We must destroy their culture to win. If we don't win everyone loses.

At least Newt gets it. But I suspect he is right--we will have to lose an American city before we as a nation will take their threat seriously. And losing a city will be a much bigger loss than just the city and it's people.

Handguns should be banned because they can kill quickly and from a long distance giving victims little chance to escape. If they use knives or any other weapon then the victims can escape.

We should be tightening our borders to ensure no one can bring any guns across the border and maybe lobby the Americans for a gun ban (too bad Americans to believe in this) or else energy exports are reduced.

rewrite the safe schools act to determine which disipline method is needed on a case-by-case basis (i.e instead of expulsion, we should try mental health programs)

Some police presence near schools can be helpful but can't be everywhere at once.

I DONT WANT TO SEE ANY OPPOSITION TO THIS REMARK.

September 9, 2007
Comment in response to Gun ban needed, not school metal detectors: McGuinty 
[signed] "Vote NDP in the next federal/provincial election from Toronto, Canada"
[Heavy sigh. See also yesterday's QOTD. Keep in mind this article was, in part, about a high school student who was fatally stabbed. Apparently victims can't always escape. Or else it is a nuance available only to the liberal mind which, of course, escapes a red-necked, knuckle dragging, Neanderthal like me. I suppose it could be that someone is mocking McGuinty but I can't quite convince myself that is the case.--Joe]

Does it ever strike you as odd that some of our servants demand that they have a monopoly on certain types of weapons?

I keep thinking that they must have either forgotten they are servants or intend to change the relationship.

I have been in contact with Alice (Catherine has taken over) at Firecracker Films in the context of Boomershoot. My family is not that good of a match because Alice Catherine wants children aged 12 and under. Does the following apply to you? This is your chance to make a difference in the British view of firearms.

Let's ban handguns in Ontario. Let's ban handguns across the country. Let's declare war against handguns.

Dalton McGuinty
Ontario Liberal Leader
September 12, 2007
Gun ban needed, not school metal detectors: McGuinty
Responding to concerns after a student had been stabbed to death at a Toronto High School.
[Via Phil. Many of the comments to the article are just as nonsensical. These people have mental problems.--Joe]

It seems there are a lot of people stopping nearly a full car length behind the broad white line at traffic lights lately.  This was once a rare occurrence (old people who can't see, stoned kids, etc.) but I'm seeing it every day now as I drive through town.

Is this some new cultural phenomenon, or do we suddenly have more pot smokers in Moscow, Idaho?

I found this at Say Uncle.

The video pretty well speaks for itself (the audio anyway-- there's not much to see).  Full transcripts are provided also.  I  truly did not believe what I heard the first time through: The cop actually threatened to fabricate charges against an innocent man because he dared to ask questions.  The cop then lied to a fellow officer, saying the motorist had been weaving and had failed to signal (he was driving perfectly and the signal indicator is clearly visible in the video).

Cops have to put up with a lot of really insane crap.  Having worked in the late-night music scene for many years, I've seen cops put up with the most outrageous behavior from people, and do it with amazing patience.  LEOs need to present a far more calm demeanor than the average person.  This cop on the other hand is a fight picker-- a frustrated, undisciplined prick with a chip on his shoulder, and that is a disaster in the making.

The fact that our LEO said what he said, knowing he was being recorded, suggests he had reason not to worry much about being disciplined for it.  On the other hand, it seems the recording taken from his cruiser has turned up missing.  Put those two facts together and what do we have?  Was he contemplating the destruction of his victim's recording?

Understand that when you're out in the middle of the night this sort of thing is far more likely.

On a broader point: Our foolish "war on drugs" has led to far more abuse, as cops are looking out for drug deals and the like, with full knowledge of current forfeiture laws.  In this environment, "probable cause" has morphed from that-which-is-required-to-obtain-a-warrant-from-a-judge, into whatever-the-cop-decides-at-the-moment-is-cause-for-a-warrantless-search.  As with much of our Leftist speak, "Probable Cause" has taken a meaning opposite to its original.  It is now used to enable the exact abuse it was intended to prevent.

My experience with city and county law enforcement (north Idaho/Eastern Washington) has been pretty good over the years, and in most cases, very good, even when I was clearly in the wrong.  Lets hope it stays that way.  You get one retarded mayor or one bad sheriff at the next election, and things could go to hell fast.

...it does seem as though when you want corrupt politicians by the bushel, Democrats are a more reliable supplier.

Clayton Cramer
September 10, 2007
New Jersey Corruption
[Yup. I suspect it has to do with the lack of fundamental political principles.--Joe]

First a refresher course.

I don't know if he actually believes this or not. Maybe he does and just doesn't have a good imagination. Or maybe it's just that it's part of his job to comfort the sheepeople even if he knows he isn't telling them the complete truth:

Chief Troyer has been a driving force behind all of the airport security changes that has especially been focusing on removing items from people's luggage that could be used to make explosives.

But we get this doublespeak and I just get annoyed with him:

“I don't necessarily see it as being stricter as it is begin responsive to the threat,” Spokane International Airport Police Chief Pete Troyer said.

Whatever. The guy is just an actor in a security theater. What can you expect from someone like that? He reads his lines and he entertains the public.

This last weekend Caleb and I went out to the Boomershoot site again. I needed to move some dirt and the bulldozer was going to be less than a quarter of a mile away so I borrowed it for a couple hours.

The photos with me in them are by Caleb. The others were taken by me.

The prime objective was to smooth some dirt we had roughed up putting in the "well":

This is where we frequently park when working at the Taj.

It's now much smoother. We also planted grass and raked the seeds into the dust to wait for the fall rains.

The secondary objective was to make the outdoor assembly line area more hospitable. The ground is uneven and if it has rained recently it can be muddy.

We put up a table in the foreground area and assemble targets here.

A close up of the signs above the door.

I moved more dirt in so there would be less of a step between outside and inside:

That old bulldozer is old enough it could retire. I think it is 63 years old now. I wonder if we could sign it up for Social Security benefits or something.

Here Caleb is putting the "decorative stones" in place where we walk and stand while assembling the reactive targets.

This is, essentially, the final result of our work.

After taking the last picture above we put in three more "Roman Cobblestones" for the legs of the canopy, spread grass seed around and raked the seeds into the dust.

I thought of one more thing that needs to be done before next spring. There needs to be some steps made to get from this top area down to the "well" pump. It's a steep area that will be slick when it's wet.

After playing in the dirt we tested out the new explosive grade ammonium nitrate.

All previous Boomerite was made with AN from a farm supply dealer. The explosive grade material has much smaller prills than the older stuff and the one batch we mixed up was not as sensitive as previous tests indicated with the old material. We'll have to do some more tests sometime. It is probably good enough however.

It would not detonate with Federal American Eagle .22 LR ammo at a distance of 10 yards. This corresponds to an approximate target velocity of 1175 fps. It would detonate every time with CCI Stinger .22LR from 30 yards away which corresponds to an approximate target velocity of 1450 fps.

There may be a surprise or two here for some people, Fifteen new things to know about sex, but mostly it's old stuff or stuff you would figure out if you spent a minute thinking about it. But this, exercise unleashes a bounce bras can't handle--Breasts fly up and down a distance of up to 8 inches, was new to me:

Scurr recruited 70 women, including students and faculty from the University of Portsmouth, with bra sizes ranging from A-cup to extra-large (DD, E, FF, G, H, HH, J and JJ were included).

Each woman walked, jogged and ran while wearing different bra types. During the exercise, Scurr took biomechanical measurements, including the amount of breast movement in three directions: up-and-down, side-to-side and in-and-out.

During walking exercise, the women's breasts moved relatively the same amount in all directions. But when participants sped up to a jog or run, their breasts moved proportionally more in some directions than others: More than 50 percent of the total movement was in the up-down direction, 22 percent side-to-side and 27 percent in-and-out.

The overall pattern of the movement resembled a figure-8.

I guess I haven't been watching enough breasts under a variety of situations. I'll have to put that on my list of things to do.

The anti-freedom bigots have pushed things so far that people don't have a clue of where "the middle" is. Example:

What the two sides don't acknowledge is that reasonable people can oppose civilian ownership of machine guns or .50-caliber rifles so powerful they must be shot using a tripod while still supporting hunting and owning guns for self-defense. Americans can support background checks on guns sold everywhere – not just by licensed dealers – without putting gun companies out of business. The United States can require registration of guns and proficiency tests for gun owners, just as we do with cars, without making it impossible, or even difficult, for law-abiding citizens to buy guns.

The name-calling and breath-holding have made us all forget that a middle ground is possible.

I have long had a hot-button about people that want to be in "the middle" and those who create the perception of "the middle". People, in general, don't want to be considered extremists or even a short distance from what they perceive as "the center". Most people are comfortable only when they are with the majority and when the perception of "the center" moves they tend to move with it. "Wimps" doesn't begin to express my disgust for people like this who decline and/or refuse to think for themselves.

That aside as a inalterable trait of human nature we now must deal with it and perhaps use it to our advantage.

Perception of "the center" is created in at least three ways:

1. Labeling your opponent, no matter how "moderate" their stand, as "an extremist".
2. Labeling your own position as "moderate".
3. Advocates for a position who attempt to "stake out the middle ground" and abandon the extreme position.

The anti-freedom bigots label the NRA as "an extremist" organization and claim they are advocates for "reasonable measures". Check and check on points one and two. The NRA has, in essence, abandoned class three devices and agreed with the NICS background check. Check on point three. This makes it difficult for us to make progress in repealing oppressive gun laws due to the majority of people who believe "the middle" is somewhere close to the current state of our laws.

This "middle ground" mentality and the desire to stake out a more "extreme position" was an additional motivating factor for me to create Boomershoot. By being an advocate for long range precision rifles and recreational explosives I enable others to feel more comfortable with less "extreme" positions. I push as an "extreme" advocate for freedom to make it more comfortable for others to move in my direction.

But what is really missing in the debate is an identification of where the real extremes are.

Obviously one extreme is a complete ban on firearm ownership with a death penalty for even the slightest infraction for possession of a firearm or any component of a firearm or, plans, documents, or materials with the intent to make a firearm or component of a firearm.

So what is the other extreme?

The anti-freedom bigots would have us believe it's allowing people to carry concealed firearms or teaching children or young adults how to shoot. But with only a small amount of thought most people will realize this isn't all that extreme. It's just that that position has been labeled as extreme.

How about the GOA who claim they are a "no-compromise gun lobby" and who want our gun rights back? Surely they are staking out the extremist position, right?

Wrong. Very, very wrong.

Part of the other extremist position would be where firearms ownership, training, practice, and continuous (24 by 7 with no exceptions) possession of a loaded firearm is mandatory for everyone. The other part of this extremist position would be when government funds are used to accomplish those goals and it's a death penalty offense for anyone who attempted to avoid or change these requirements.

With those definitions of extremism the "the middle ground" should be pretty clear--"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". Not infringed in the slightest. No law that places any restriction or ownership requirement on anyone. That is the true "middle ground".

There are so many ways to game this technology, that's the difficulty. This is not ready for prime time.

Rick Keene
September 11, 2007
Assemblyman, R-Chico.
Handgun stamping bill sent to governor--Spent shell casings would be imprinted
[Yup. Advocates of this are either exceedingly simple minded and/or just want to increase the difficultly of gun ownership.--Joe]

It was amazing seeing something that was used for so much violence, hurt and destruction, to watch its power being taken away. This really hits so close to home.

Melanie C. Brandon
Fashion statement for gun control Designer Melanie C. Brandon has made jewelry from a machine gun and pistols seized in Phila. and melted down.
[Her tag-line: "With each piece made, another gun is taken off the street." It must be like some sort of primitive religion that believes spirits inhabit inanimate objects. The "power" is in the gun. Maybe an exorcism ritual would just as well. Or if it's not evil spirits inhabiting the gun then maybe it's the shape of the piece of metal. Do wearing crosses or some other shape of metal ward off evil spirits? Maybe putting smiley faces on the guns would make them acceptable. Whatever it is, it's not about the facts of gun ownership.--Joe]

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.

Charles De Gaulle
[Which is why they don't understand when we get all upset after they don't honor their campaign promises.--Joe]

Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

Albert Einstein

Via Bruce we find, once again, that if you look and act like you belong you can belong:

The skit had been approved by ABC lawyers, but it had been assumed they would be stopped at the first checkpoint, hundreds of metres from the President's hotel.

Instead, they were waved through the first checkpoint, then a second that had sniffer dogs. They eventually stopped in sight of the hotel.

The ABC later released a statement saying the team had no intention of entering a restricted zone and had been wearing mock "insecurity passes" that stated the convoy was a joke.

"It was a piece testing APEC security and the motorcade looked pretty authentic," the Chaser source said.

"They approached the green zone, and they just waved them through – much to their amazement, because the sketch was meant to stop there with them being rejected.

"They were then waved through into the red zone, but rather than go all the way through they made the call to turn around."

"Apparently that was the first time the police realised it was not authentic and they swooped in and arrested everybody."

This is the funnest part to me:

"The police only detained the Chaser motorcade when it was turning around and after Chas Licciardello emerged from a car dressed as Osama bin Laden."

Good security is extremely difficult. It only takes one weak link to break the chain. But had APEC security been part of a Hollywood movie it would have been in the series The Keystone Cops. Again, from real life:

LAST week, a butter knife was a handy dining implement. This week, it seems, APEC security staff have declared knives and forks as potential terrorist weapons.

On the same day police won a court battle to stop protesters marching down George Street through the APEC security zone, it emerged yesterday that at least one cafe near George Bush's hotel has been ordered by police not to set outdoor tables with silverware, lest it fall into the wrong hands.

And office workers in Bridge Street's AMP tower have been told to stay away from the windows, draw the blinds and not to look at helicopters.

[...]

"On Monday an APEC security officer asked us to limit our outdoor furniture. He said if you are setting a table, don't set it with knives and forks because they can be used as a potential weapon by terrorists."

[...]

On Tuesday night, about an hour before Mr Bush arrived at his hotel, a police officer approached a Herald reporter and demanded to see what he had written in his notebook.

He told the reporter other police in the area might make similar demands. Two minutes later another officer made the same request.

Security Theater at it's finest.

I fear we are partying like it is 1984.

Ray Ozzie
Microsoft Chief Software Architect
September 6, 2007
Company Meeting 2007--Changing the world
[Ozzie talked about growing up in the 60's and being in fear of "the man" and how the personal computer was believed to help restore power to the individual. He asked us to make sure private things could be kept private even when we are putting more and more information into "the cloud". It was good stuff. I had planned to write up a big post on the meeting last night but got wrapped up in expressing my "sympathy" to Robyn.--Joe]

Both Kim and Xenia appear to have inherited something besides their good looks from their mother. For several years Barb has had headaches that didn't quite qualify as migraines but were stubborn and painful. Kim had some mild migraines, if there is such a thing, in High School. Last night Xenia had one. A scary event because it involved her loosing her vision in one eye for a while. She posted about it on her Live Journal. I wouldn't have normally linked to that post but the video she made brought a smile to my face.

There has been quite a bit of talk about Ms. Ringler, the anti-rights activist, recently:

• An Open Letter to Robyn Ringler.
• Quote of the day
• Why Reasoned Discourse^tm matters
• they are spawning
• Put your fingers in your ears
• Go read!
• Robyn Ringler Stays True To Form
• Robyn Ringler Wrapup Redux.
• The Brady Campaign...the Criminal's Best Friend
• Because it deserves an icon of its own
• More Reasoned Discourse^tm
• Robyn Ringler Takes Her Marbles and Goes Home
• Couldn’t Handle the Reasoned Discourse^TM

Mostly because of the Enough is Enough post by Ringler. If it is really true as she reports, "I’ve been told I should be dead and how my death should take place." then I have some sympathy for her on that one point. If not directly, then almost for certain indirectly, I contributed to her feelings being hurt after being called a bigot.

I debated with myself how to write this post which is part of why I am so behind the curve on the topic. I considered doing an Alex St. John type "apology" (read the book) which resulted in his immediate termination of employment at Microsoft (he knew it would and IIRC cleaned out his desk before pushing the "Send" button on the apology email). I finally decided that there was a better approach.

First a taste of the Alex St. John approach--Ms. Ringler, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention you are a felon as well as a bigot.

In one sense I really don't like hurting other people's feelings--especially children and women. I feel empathy for them and I'm certain others that we might like to have on our side will feel empathy toward them as well. But how much sympathy should one have for those that don't want "colored people" eating in the same restaurant as "white folk" or drinking from the same drinking fountain, or are not allowed access to the public swimming pool because "they would have to drain and clean the pool after the blacks had used it"?

How much sympathy do you feel for a KKK or Aryan Nation type person that gets ostracized in their community for their bigotry and leaves town? Or the bully at school that finally gets caught in the act and is disciplined? Ms. Ringler, of course, does not think of herself as a bigot. I'm certain she thinks of herself as just looking out for what is best for everyone. But the KKK think the same things about themselves. Ringler hasn't said she wants us dead or living our lives as slaves. And I'm certain she hasn't put a pillow case over her head and burned crosses in the yards of anyone's home. She is much more refined than that. She just wants the government to put us in jail for exercising a right constitutionally guaranteed to not be infringed (refer to numerous state constitutions if she whines that the Federal Constitution doesn't really say that--many state constitutions are not in the least bit ambiguous). She wouldn't want to get her own hands dirty dealing with scum like us.

This last point may be why she is turning off the comments. As one person commented maybe she doesn't want to be associated with people like me in any way.

What we have here, in the case of Ringler, is her experiencing what I call the proper state of mind for defending the RKBA. We are just "gun niggers" in her mind and she has just realized we are going to stand up to her and Ringler is feeling the same pain as the old man in the book Negros with Guns who said (page 10):

God damn, God damn, what is this God damn country coming to that the niggers have got guns, the niggers are armed and the police can't even arrest them!

To Ms. Ringler I say, again, I'm sorry if you received death threats or people said you should be dead. That was entirely inappropriate. The law provides for the death penalty for your type of crime only if it results in the death, kidnapping, or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill. I don't believe you made it that far in your conspiracy against the rights of others and hence I believe the worst punishment that should be dealt to you is a fine and perhaps a few years in prison. But you don't have any of my sympathy for having your feelings hurt. As Xavier said, "..........Oh good grief. Grow up."

Looking up Alan's web page for my previous post I took a look at his blog for the first time in quite a while. Not because it rarely deserves my attention but because his stuff is frequently long and I postpone reading it "until I have more time" and then that just never happens. But this post thrills me. A sample:

Gun Owners Without Borders is a proposal for a new international human rights organization.

Gun Owners Without Borders recognizes a bond between individual human beings whose right to live is challenged by their governments or other forces.

Gun Owners Without Borders supports an inalienable right of people to resist any attempts to exterminate them, regardless of the source or justification for the attempted extermination.

Current United Nations policies do not prevent genocide and democide, because a nation's sovereignty logically comes first. Internal policies are a nation's own business. This holds true whether the rulers are elected, appointed, inherited or in charge through force of arms.

Gun Owners Without Borders recognizes that this is perfectly understandable and a normal state of affairs under the nation-state system.

Communist China, for example, could shoot its citizens who are drug addicts, or for political reasons, or to harvest organs or to turn babies over for adoption (and they do). The U.N. and others might object, or not, but it's not within their realm to stop such abuse. Nor could they, as a practical matter, if they were of a mind to.

Gun Owners Without Borders therefore understands it falls only to individual persons to defend their own right to their own lives if they can, even if such defense would be viewed as illegal or criminal acts by the ruling parties. Under the doctrine of state sovereignty, anyone who shoots back at an agent of the government is by definition typically an "outlaw."

If you ever think we have the gun-rights situation in the U.S. under control and you are looking for a more challenging political environment I'm sure there will be enough work available on this planet for a generation or ten of gun-rights activists.

Uncle reports they can't help it. It's just a condition. Jed read the report and took away that people "become deaf to arguments of reason".

I think it's a fascinating insight into the human mind. And my take is different from both Uncle and Jed. My take is that we need to carefully word things to avoid reinforcing the very lies the anti-gun bigots are trying to convince people of. This is very closely related to something Alan Korwin shared via email over seven years ago. Here is just a sample of Alan's brilliant, ahead of his time, insight:

Certain words hurt you when you're talking about your rights.  People who would deny your rights have done a good job of manipulating the language so far. Without even realizing it, you're probably using terms that actually help the people who want to disarm you.

To preserve, protect and defend your rights in this critical debate, you need effective word choices.

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
PRO GUN
It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
PRO RIGHTS

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
GUN CONTROL

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
CRIME CONTROL

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
ANTI-GUN MOVEMENT

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
ANTI-SELF-DEFENSE MOVEMENT

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
SEMIAUTOMATIC HANDGUN

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
SIDEARM

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
CONCEALED CARRY

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
CARRY or RIGHT TO CARRY

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
ASSAULT OR LETHAL WEAPON

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
HOUSEHOLD FIREARMS

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIALS

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
RACIST GUN LAWS

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
JUNK GUNS

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
THE AFFORDABILITY ISSUE

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
FULL CAPACITY MAGAZINES

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
SECOND AMENDMENT

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
BILL OF RIGHTS

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
ANTI GUN

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
ANTI-GUN BIGOT or ANTI-GUN PREJUDICE

---

They want you to say (and you lose if you say):
ANTI GUN

It's better to say (and they lose if you say):
ANTI RIGHTS

Nephew Jason Scott lost his arm to an IED in Iraq nearly two years ago. He's back in the news as the first recipient of a scholarship here:

Amputees from the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for the past year have been watching the progress of a new structure as it emerged from what used to be the hospital’s deeply sloped backyard. They are excited, anticipating the opening of the 31,000-sq-ft Military Advanced Training Center, which will help them resume productive lives.

Among my daily browsing fare are articles on sex research. I love the tension between the passionate subject and the dispassionate terminology and phraseology. Example:

In addition, male preference for salivary exchange could function to introduce substances such as hormones or proteins into women's mouths that may influence their mating psychology, and even make them more sexually receptive.

I hope it wasn't taxpayer money dispensed as research grants to "discover" that a French kiss might make a woman "hot"--even if does provide me with considerable reading enjoyment.

The whole conference has spent a lot of time talking about ways to control uses of information and to protect peoples' privacy after the information was collected.  But that only works if you assume a good government.  If we get one seriously bad government, they'll have all the information they need to make an efficient police state and make it the last government.  It's more than convenient for them - in fact, it's a temptation for people who want to do that, to try to get into power and do it.  Because we are giving them the means.

John Gilmore
A transcript of remarks given at the First Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy, March 28,1991
[See also my Jews In The Attic Test.--Joe]

I finally stopped procrastinating and made our travel and hotel reservations for the Rendezvous. I'll get our registration in to Mr. Completely later today.

We are flying in so that means even if the range would allow "Joe's special recipe" for reactive targets I'd be blocked by the TSA from bringing my chemistry set.

Barb and I will arrive in Reno on Thursday morning and leave Sunday evening. I'm hoping to see the same participants as last year as well a bunch of new ones. Will you be there?

For years Ry and I tested new reactive target recipes for Boomershoot. When our hypothesis for making an explosive which could be easily detonated with long distance rifle fire were proven false Ry would lament that we didn't have enough columns on our spreadsheet. There was some variable, which we didn't know existed, that was critical to our understanding of explosive detonation. Literally it was true that I had (have) a spreadsheet with lots of different variables that we thought might be critical to make our explosives better. Some of those included:

• Flammability limits (acceptable ratios of fuel to oxygen where ignition can occur)
• Heat of vaporization
• Specific heats (including those for phase changes)
• Flash point
• Auto ignition temperature
• Heat of combustion per unit mass
• Heat of combustion per unit of oxygen
• Heat of combustion relative to specific heat of the materials
• Temperature of decomposition of the oxidizer

Our experiments yielded no obvious corelation between any of our hypothesises and the real world--until the last couple of days.

The title for the column on the spreadsheet we apparently were looking for is Ω. In explosive engineering terms (rather than electrical engineering terms which is what first comes to mind with that symbol) this is the weight ratio, expressed as a precentage, of the oxygen remaining or required (expressed as a negative number) for complete combustion of all the fuel in the explosives. For example, TNT, C₇H₅N₃O₆ has end products of CO, H₂O, and N₂. That carbon monoxide (CO) could have been converted into carbon dioxide (CO₂) and more heat if there had been enough oxygen around. It turns out that Ω for TNT is -74%. For RDX (the active ingredient in C-4), C₃H₆N₆O₆, Ω is -21.6%. From my earliest attempts at reactive target explosives I started out with stoichiometric ratios. This would give me the most bang for a given mass of components. That is, no excess fuel and no excess oxygen left over after the reaction was complete. It was ultimately discovered via both experimental results and hints found on the Internet that maximum sensitivity was not achieved with stoichiometric ratios. It was more sensitivity when the explosive was oxygen rich. From some of my "new" books on explosives I found that "Ω" is a measure of that "richness" or "poverty". I modified my spreadsheet to calculate Ω for various recipes.

Here is a partial (I have three times this number of recorded experiments) table of various Boomerite recipes and my best approximation of Ω:

There were other variables that changed as well such as packaging materials, fuel used, ratios of oxidizers, catalysts, size of the particles, and packing density which also affected the sensitivity. But the correlation with Ω is very strong. Each year the sensitivity increased and Ω, a measure of the excess oxygen, was a significant component of that increase in sensitivity. It also can be too high--obviously if there is no fuel at all and only oxiderizer it's going to be a minor explosion at best. But this gives me a reason to revisit old fuels and try something a little bit different this time.

Side note: The most recent recipe on the web is not what we actually use. What I publish is always at least one "generation" behind our "latest and greatest". Ω for the web recipe is 20.1%.

But the deeper reason behind the hysteria over the decision is that for decades the left has been able to make the Constitution into whatever it wanted. The actual words did not matter. When words -- even just 27 words -- mean exactly what they say, then the power to dictate law from a "living" Constitution disappears and liberals are reduced to trying to persuade people that they are right -- a daunting task. When a court can decide that the 2^nd Amendment must be respected, the left is on a slippery slope indeed. Who knows what amendment might be rediscovered next? Personally, I vote for the 10^th. Regardless, if the trend is allowed to continue, it will be a disaster for the dictatorial left. Thus, I predict the decision will be appealed.

Mac Johnson
Court Rediscovers 2nd Amendment, Liberals Fear Other 'Rights' May Soon be Found
March 15, 2007
[And, as was recently reported and commented on in various places, Johnson was correct in his prediction--it was appealed.--Joe]

Mother/wife and daughters via Xenia:

The Brady Bunch has a link to this video about "microstamping" on their website. They ignore obvious and important points of their critics such as:

• Shell casings found at a gun range can be deliberately scattered at a crime scene
• Revolvers don't leave shell casings at the crime scene unless the shooter reloads
• Replacement firing pins and breech faces would have to be registered and tracked as well as the firearm itself
• Gun parts are easily modified or manufactured
  • Firing pins can be manufactured from scrap metal with simple hand tools--they may not last more than a few dozen shots but they should be more than adequate for most crimes
  • Breech faces markings can be ground off and/or filled in with metal filled epoxy
• There are many millions of guns already in circulation
• Stolen guns aren't going to be associated/registered with the criminal who used it in a crime
• A black market will likely develop in unmarked gun components or components that have phony numbers (such as fake SSN cards that have valid numbers but belong to someone else)

One must assume they believe in some sort of supernatural capabilities for this technology that defies the laws of physics and human nature as we know it. But regardless of all the reasons why this scheme could never work the big thing that I noticed while watching this video was the background music--the theme from The X-Files.

If your organization was concerned with reducing violence you would assume you claim victory when violence was reduced after expending your energy to accomplish some task. But that's not the way it works with the Violence Policy Center. They claim victory when the number of gun dealers is reduced:

The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important—and little noticed—victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America. Fewer gun dealers reduces the potential number of sources for high-volume illegal gun trafficking.

I'm pleased to note they report Idaho still has more gun dealers than gas stations however:

America Once Had More Gun Dealers Than Gas Stations, Now Only Five States Do: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming.

As a reminder, it was their buddy former President Bill Clinton and fellow criminals in the legislative bodies obtained an dramatic increase in the price of a Type 1 Federal Firearms License (FFL). This drove hundreds of thousands of dealers out of business and gave the VPC their "victory".

If the VPC is going to claim victory when the number of gun dealers is reduced instead of when the rate of violence crime is reduced they really should be called the "Victimization Proliferation Conspiracy".

On Hillary and Guns:

If a majority of the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the District's handgun ban, the NRA and the entire gun community will explode.

Oh, not literally--at least not necessarily.

Hillary needs to cross her fingers and hope that Breyer and Ginsburg can somehow read the 2nd amendment to the constitution as it is actually written and not how the liberals would like it to be written.

Interesting conundrum. According to this analysis if the court comes down on our side regarding the meaning of the 2^nd amendment Hillary could be our next president. If we don't end up with Hillary it will because the court ruled against us.

Via Bruce.

I'm surprised this works as well as it does. I would have thought you would need a telescope (or cheap rifle scope) to focus the light on the photocell. I'm certain you would get better range if you did so. Also using an infrared laser would make it less likely your eavesdropping will be detected.

Laser Espionage Microphone (how-to)

Sadly enough, overthrowing the government is exactly what this country needs.

[...]

As George Orwell put it in 1984 - "If there was hope, it must lie in the proles..."

dragonwolf
September 1, 2007
The New Revolution
[This is at least part of why we are winning the war against gun control. The left hates Bush to such an extreme they are thinking of an armed rebellion. They then realized bans on guns are an impediment.--Joe]

When people believe a tale that conflicts with self-checkable evidence it tells me that people undervalue the role of evidence in forming an internal belief system. Why this is so is not clear but it enables many people to hold fast to ideas and notions based purely on supposition.

Neil deGrasse Tyson
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries
[This is a good book. It's especially entertaining when he lets lose with a rant. But, back on point, I believe the reason is very clear. People believe what they want to believe. It's rare that people will believe the evidence when it is contrary to a position they have invested in. That investment can be of any type including political and emotional, as well as financial. Belief in god(s), gun control, communism, and (redundancy alert) the Democrat party are prime examples. Chris Phillips encapsulated the appropriate conclusion and cure with much wider application than he originally suggested. Although he never discussed it with me I believe that conclusion was based on the basic truth of investing in your beliefs tends to close your thinking. See also When Prophecy Fails and Cognitive dissonance.--Joe]

Now I don't suppose you'd be ready and willing to honor all the creative people, the inventors, those who put their dreams into action, and the venture capitalists who have put their capital at risk so you could have a chance at a job in the first place, by going to work on a weekend at no charge to your employer.  What; turnabout isn't fair play?  Its all one way with you?

Guns and puberty are a dangerous mix. Targeting juniors increases the likelihood of gun addiction.

John Crook
Gun Control Australia's president (see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia)

Shooters turn recruiters to keep young guns firing
[Does he also have a problem with juniors getting "addicted" to books, stamp collecting, chess, tennis, golf, baseball, football, or basketball? Or is maybe he just has a problem with freedom. One could make a wise ass remark about the guy's last name, but I won't.--Joe]

Being a "double stack guy" I don't have a use for them. But they are pretty and, I'm certain, of very high quality.

ETM_Press_Release_83007.doc (313 KB)

It's amazing what people will say about you and how messed up they get the facts. And it's amazing what you can discover if you just look through your log files.

A case in point:

A commenter to one of my posts said something that piqued my interest so I went looking for their IP address in my log files. What I found shocked me. The log files lead me to the comments here. The article itself is very factually based as near I could tell. It was the comments that went off the deep end and got libelous:

By Ralph Wiggan, 8-11-07

Any word on if they are going to close down the training facilities Jason Hamilton received instruction at or the sporting store he bought his firearms at. I hope they don't close down that long ranger sniper explosive shooting course that takes place near Orofino. Jason Hamilton is said to have attended that regularly with his friends.

I don't keep a list of previous attendees but I think I would recognize a name of someone that attended more than once or twice. I don't recall Jason Hamilton ever attending Boomershoot. I also just looked and don't see any email addresses with an obvious connection to his name on the Boomershoot announcement list.

By Steve, 8-11-07

Ralph I think that shooting event you are referring to is called boomershoot. Its run by a guy I think is fairly well know around sandpoint, Idaho and might also have connections to Aryan nations. I heard he runs in Anti circles to throw the ATF off. He has a CD on how to make explosives, encrypt and hide messages and hit targets at long range. I believe it can be downloaded from a couple of P2P sites, but I can't remember which. He likes to post about hitting the second amendment reset button a lot and shooting Jack Booted thugs. That whole group is being watched pretty close by several watchdogs groups like the southern poverty law center.

By Mike G, 8-12-07

Just because Joe Huffman went to a few of their meetings doesn't make him a member.

 

By Ralph Wiggan, 8-12-07

You say Joe Huffman puts on that event and he brags about training people to shoot jack booted thugs! WOW. Sounds like this Jason Hamilton took that advocacy to heart. Given what happened in Moscow I'm surprised there hasn't been more media attention on that.

By Steve, 8-13-07

See for yourself:

"If it ever becomes necessary to start shooting tyrants and “jack booted thugs“ in our country I want as many people on my side as possible. And I want them to have the equipment and the skills to be able to hit head and chest sized objects many hundreds of yards away."

One small step at a time then a half step backward--Iowa Permits Same-Sex Marriage, for 4 Hours, Anyway.

I'm happy about this for three reasons:

1. I believe same sex marriage has more benefits to the individuals and society than making it illegal. Hence it's "the right thing to do".
2. It causes Democrats heartburn in the coming election.
3. It forces the issue of full faith and credit between the states with regards to licenses of all types--including concealed carry licenses.

I do agree it really should be handled in the legislative arena rather than the judicial arena but court action such as this forces the legislature to address it.

Just so you know what they think of you.

According to the Brady bunch if you are part of the NRA you are part of the "Triangle of Death":

They ignore the fact that firearms are used to save far more innocent lives than to take them, and that thousands of NRA instructors across the country teach self-defense and the protection of innocent life. They ignore the fact that the NRA is not a lobbying group for dealers or manufactures but is primarily an educational, range development, and sporting organization. Even if you focus entirely on NRA-ILA, the actual lobbying arm of the NRA, it's primarily funded by individual donations not dealer and/or manufacture donations. But the truth isn't nearly as useful to the Brady Bunch.

And of course even if you were to take their claims about the NRA as true it still doesn't make sense. If the guns are already "illegal" and/or the dealers are "corrupt" then it's an enforcement, not legislative, problem. But then, people with mental problems frequently don't make sense.

A politician has to wear a mask that hides who he is really is--to be different people to different interest groups--in order to get elected. For a lot of homosexuals, unless they choose to be open about it, they also have to wear a mask that hides who they really are. Perhaps all these gay politicians are the consequence of people who get used to wearing a mask about their sexuality--and find it very easy to then leapfrog into politics, a career that does not require, but certainly encourages equivocation, shading the truth, and flat-out lies.

None of this would matter if Craig had either been discreet, or intelligent. But he managed to fail on both counts with this stunt in Minneapolis, and made all of this relevant.

Clayton Cramer
August 29, 2007
I Just Noticed That Larry Craig's Three Kids Are All Adopted
[I disagree with a lot of Cramer opinions about gays, but I think he has it right this time.--Joe]