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

Groucho Marx
[The Washington State Legislature is in session again.--Joe]

Real ID Act (National ID cards with a different name) are a waste of time and money as well as being a source of high risk to liberty.  A year ago I wrote about the flaws that would show up.  Now the AP has an 'exclusive' on the story of the problems the states are having:

AP Exclusive: National ID, State Nightmare

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver's licenses by 2008 isn't just upsetting civil libertarians and immigration rights activists.

State motor vehicle officials nationwide who will have to carry out the Real ID Act say its authors grossly underestimated its logistical, technological and financial demands.

In a comprehensive survey obtained by The Associated Press and in follow-up interviews, officials cast doubt on the states' ability to comply with the law on time and fretted that it will be a budget buster.

"It is just flat out impossible and unrealistic to meet the prescriptive provisions of this law by 2008," Betty Serian, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said in an interview.

...

In a comprehensive survey obtained by The Associated Press and in follow-up interviews, officials cast doubt on the states' ability to comply with the law on time and fretted that it will be a budget buster.

"It is just flat out impossible and unrealistic to meet the prescriptive provisions of this law by 2008," Betty Serian, a deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, said in an interview.

...

"If you take any one of these things individually, you see a significant problem," Steinhardt said. "There are literally hundreds of these problems embedded in Real ID, and the statute doesn't give you a way out. It's black and white. No exceptions, no reality check.

"In many respects it's a statute that ignores reality."

Like I said in my post from last year.  It's as if the congress critters had tried to legislate that PI equals 3.0.  They are out of touch with reality.

The latest technology to be employed in the unconstitutional search of people attempting to board an aircraft while exercising their right to travel is puffers:

'Puffers' add to airport security
1/12/2006 1:29 PM
By: Lisa Reyes, News 14 Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Travelers at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport will soon see new security measures. High-tech machines to detect explosives will be located at three checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration says the imminent danger to aviation these days is explosives. TSA officials demonstrated devices called “explosive-detection trace portals” or “puffers” at the airport on Thursday.

The machines puff air on travelers to dislodge particles from their skin or clothing.

“It loosens particles that are attached to a person or his clothing, and those particles are analyzed by the machine for the presence of explosives,” said John Gartland of TSA.

The devices take about 20-25 seconds to check each passenger.

The TSA purchased the three machines through federal funding. They cost a little over $100,000, and about a 100 of them will be implemented in airports nationwide.

I agree that explosives is the biggest threat to safe airplane travel.  Other weapons such as guns and knives are of little use if someone wanted to bring the airplane down.  And if the user of such a weapon were intent on attacking people in the cabin they wouldn't make all that much progress before they were stopped by someone else in the cabin.  But a pound of explosives, about the size and weight of a pint of milk, in a tightly closed area like the cabin of an aircraft can do a lot of damage.  There is a Myth Busters episode on this very topic if you have any doubts.

In any case keeping explosives off of passenger airplanes is a good idea.  They aren't useful for self-defense in an aircabin enivornment, as the knives and handguns are, and they represent a significant hazard to the entire aircraft and people on the ground.  The problem is--How do you do it?  As I have explained before with the explosive sniffing wasps the problem is one of false positives if you try to detect improvised and/or "homemade" explosives.  And if you don't address those type of explosives you have a loophole any terrorist can waltz right through.  And the current explosives detection technology fails even on people that inadvertently contaminate their luggage.  If a skilled adversary were to be intent on bringing explosives on board a plane nothing short of a full search of everyone will be effective. So what's the solution? Use our limited resources on other things such as better intelligence as to who is a threat and interviews of passengers.  That will guard against both the known threats using existing weapons and the type of threats we haven't thought of yet.

From Tahlequah Daily Press but not the New York Times or any other mainstream media outlook I could find.  I wonder why?  Maybe it's because:

Experts say for self-defense, nothing beats a gun

By Eddie Glenn Press Staff Writer

This is one, hopefully, no one will have to observe. But January is (along with Quality of Life Month, Wealth Mentality Month, Be On-Purpose Month, and Get Organized Month) Self-Defense Awareness Month.

The event is sponsored by the National Self-Defense Institute to promote their SAFE (Self-Defense Awareness and Familiarization Exchange) program. The program has a two-fold purpose: To prevent crimes of sexual violence through programs of education and training, focusing primarily on awareness and prevention; and to educate women about realistic options that will help them avoid, escape, and survive assaults if they do occur.

...

Lawrence is also a black belt in Okinawan Karate, Kempo, Jeet Kune Do, Ju Ji Tsu, and Aiki Jitsu (that’s five black belts under his belt). Still, when it comes to self-defense – especially for women – he suggests a firearm, and the knowledge of how to use it, is the most effective weapon.

“A woman is at an obvious size and strength disadvantage, and for her to protect herself against a man – who may be carrying a weapon himself – would take years of practicing any martial art,” said Lawrence. “Someone who is strong and athletic can probably study any martial arts technique and make it effective, but if you don’t meet those criteria, you need to consider what the best equalizer is going to be.”

...

Still, his advise for the most practical and effective self-defense: “Get a concealed carry permit, and know how to shoot your gun.”

Democracy is a form of government in which it is permitted to wonder aloud what the country could do under first-class management.

Senator Soaper
[Except under McCain-Feingold.--Joe]

I like Reno for some reason.  Las Vegas has it's appeal but Reno isn't bad.  I shot in the USPSA Area 1 competition there once.  It's also fairly close to home as far as tourist cities go.  Mr. Completely has put up a trial balloon for a Gunblogger Rendezvous in Reno the first part of November.

Read his proposal and send him an email if you are interested.  That's a long way into the future for me to be making plans for anything other than Boomershoot (which is more like year around planning), but I think I could do that.

This should be interesting.  Abu Hamza is a radical imam that had more than 2700 audio tapes and about 570 video tapes of himself extolling the "virtues" of Hitlers actions against the Jews, that it is the duty of his followers to fight for Allah and that fighting involved a religious obligation to murder Jews, kuffars (non-believers), and apostates.  The British are putting him on trial:

The radical imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque, Abu Hamza al-Masri, went on trial at the Old Bailey yesterday accused of being a hate-filled bigot who encouraged his congregation to murder non-Muslims.

...

David Perry, for the prosecution, told the court that Abu Hamza’s exhortation of murder and celebration of hatred were an affront to and an offence against Britain’s traditions of freedom of expression. His crimes were committed out of his mouth in the form of utterances that were “destructive and corrosive” of a free society.

Mr Perry said: “The plain, unambiguous meaning of these words — such as ‘every last Jew is going to be buried in Palestine’ — is obvious. He says jihad is obligatory, jihad involves the death of the kuffar, Jews are detestable, to be reviled and to be killed. This is what the defendant intended to be heard.

...

The talks are not solely about violence, murder and holy war. The cleric’s speeches also contain diatribes about Britain’s licensing laws, the use of additives in food, adultery, the role of women and the evils of democracy.

Mr Perry said Abu Hamza sought to create “a blueprint for living” for his followers and impose his view of Islam on every aspect of their lives.

Central to that was his message that jihad, or holy war in the cause of Allah, was a religious obligation and that killing non-believers — especially Jews — was an essential component of jihad.

“The prosecution case is that Sheikh Abu Hamza was expressing hatred and contempt for kuffars, in particular Jews,” Mr Perry said.

“But what he had to say did not stop with hate-mongering. He was exhorting his listeners to kill and making it clear, as a religious leader, that that was a religious duty and not a matter of choice.”

...

“He accused the Jews of being blasphemers, traitors and dirty. This, because of their blasphemy, and because of their filth, was why Hitler was sent into the world. He also tells his audience that the Jews control the West, by which he means western liberal democracies such as this country.

“He says the Jews control the West and must be removed from the earth.”

Here is an overview of a two of the tapes to be played at his trial:

Tape Two
A video entitled “Adherence to Islam in the western world”. believed to have been recorded in September 1999. Abu Hamza tells his listeners that Britain is “a kuffar country which is at war with Islam”. He says that killing kuffars is allowed in Islam and singles out people who sell alcohol as legitimate targets.

Tape Seven
“How to Survive in the land of Kuffar”, recorded in September 1999; a lecture in Arabic aimed at youth and families. Abu Hamza criticises “corrupt scholars” and disbelievers who do not deserve anything except the sword, reiterates that jihad is compulsory. Attacks the UN and atheist nations that preserve the “Zionist existence”. He described Britain as “a land of war” that will only be peaceful when it surrenders to Allah.

Ahh... yes.  This is the peace of Islam.  The same peace that Hitler sought for the Jews of Europe.

I wonder if this trial will make any difference to those in Britain opposed to the war in Iraq.  Will they realize this is why their soldiers are fighting in the Mid-East.  It is to keep this sort of hate filled bigot and his murderous followers from realizing their ambitions.

We are at the point in time and terror where nothing short of a strong uniform policy of domestic disarmament will alleviate the danger which is crystal clear and perilously present.  Let us take the guns away from the people.  Exemptions should be limited to the military, the police, and those licensed for good and sufficient reasons.

Patrick V. Murphy
Former NYC Police Commissioner
Handgun Control Inc. spokesman
December 7, 1970
During testimony to the National Association of Citizens Crime Commissions
[For those who say, "No one wants to take your guns away."--Joe]

There are some men who get more satisfaction out of their ignorance than most learned men get out of their knowledge.

Peter McArthur
[Most gun control advocates ignorantly attempt to take the high moral ground with their more "enlightened" approach.  They propose vague alternatives to firearms such "conflict resolution", "crime prevention", and do "studies" so filled with holes that most people would fall on the floor laughing if there weren't people quoting it as unassailable truth.  They ignore the one question that needs to be answered and they denounce their opposition as "red-necked, knuckle dragging Neanderthals".--Joe]

Vote against Paul Warnett who said,

I believe in an outright ban on hand guns if nothing else then to reinforce that handguns are objects to be shunned. Of course criminals are not usually using registered guns but the concept of a gun registry is not a bad one the problem is that it ended up costing 2 billion instead of 2 million dollars.

Mr. Warnett forgot to mention that the gun registry hasn't solved any crimes yet either.  Or was there one crime solution it was given credit for?  In any case whether it was zero or one the money would have been better "spent" shoveled into furnaces to keep the elderly warm than as a crime fighting tool.

There is this rumor going around that Bill Clinton will replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft.

Unless the culture has drastically changed at Microsoft in the last few years I just can't see the people at Microsoft even giving someone like Bill a job as an intern.  Although it does bring up some rather interesting images--imagine Bill being the intern to the president of the Microsoft Gun Club.  The MSGC president, being fond of "assault rifles" and also being the creative type, explores some alternatives to cigars for intern Bill to earn his keep.  Bill might wish he had banned the iron front sight as well as the flash suppressor and bayonet lug.

In the past couple of weeks several people on LiveJournal have been passing around a link to my Jews In The Attic Test.  Here are the ones I found recently:

• kitiara
• apocalink
• perich
• skreidle

There have been other blogs in the last few months too. This is very cool.  I have been pushing this concept for years and people always sort of looked at me funny when I talk about this sort of thing.  Some of the stuff I have been concerned about has been materializing. These include the situation in the U.K. with all the car license plates being tracked for years and the NSA listening in on certain communications. 

Maybe some people are starting to get it now.  I just hope it isn't too late.  Ry and I had a rather depressing chat at lunch today about all the rules/laws/regulations that don't apply if you happen to have the right connections or are in the proper position of power (and not all that high on the food chain either!).  Sort of like the Golden Rule: "Those with the gold make the rules."  Only on a much larger, more scary scale.  The U.S. Constitition and the Bill of Rights isn't really even considered a strong suggestion to our present day politicians.  Without that what do we have?  There are scary times ahead...

In high school I participated in track.  In college and after, until we had kids, I played a lot of tennis.  After Bill Clinton (spit, spit) was elected President I took up shooting.  With my choice of sports it should come as no surprise that cheerleaders seemed a bit pointless to me.  However here is news of a cheerleading coach that could have made a difference in my attitude on cheerleaders:

SULTAN, Wash. - A high school cheerleading coach resigned after allegedly teaching her team how to perform certain sex acts.

It happened in the small Snohomish county town of Sultan, apparently during a team sleepover at the home of cheerleading coach Katie Chase.

...

Chase held a sleepover, where she allegedly instructed the students on how to perform certain sex acts.

She had been on the job since September and was not employed as a teacher. She resigned Thursday and a new cheerleading coach was hired today to take her place.

If that is the type of coaching Ms. Chase is interested in there are other opportunities for her in the nearby Seattle area if she has sufficient expertise.  I wish her luck in her future endeavors.

Thanks to Fish Or Man for pointing this out.

Even for politicians, hard facts must eventually matter. If they can't see that gun control laws have failed to deliver as promised, it's hard to know when facts will make a difference.

John Lott
January 9, 2006
Gun Control Lessons for Bloomberg
The New York Sun

By comparision to these guys it's true--Boomershoot is lame.  The largest Boomershoot targets are like 1/30000th of what these guys did.  Boomershoot has excellent neighbors but I just can't ask them put up with even 1/10000th of that event.  Orofino would probably complain about broken windows.  Man, that was awesome.

My calculation is that they were just under a mile away.

H/T to Ry.

When Barb and I came home from running some errands yesterday we found Xenia and a couple of her friends on the roof of the house.  Xenia was taking pictures of them in their porn prom dresses.  She posted the pictures here.  I think she is going to be a fine lesbian porn photographer.  I'm so proud.

The judge's authority derives entirely from the fact that he is applying the law and not his personal values. That is why the American public accepts the decisions of its courts, accepts even decisions that nullify the laws a majority of the electorate or their representatives voted for.

Robert Bork
Opening statement at 1987 Senate hearings to become associate justice of  the Supreme Court.

Via Alphecca comes unsurprising news from "gun free" Australia:

Armed robbers terrorise city

January 07, 2006

ARMED robbers have hit a post office, fast-food restaurant and bottle shop in three separate raids in Sydney's southwest.

Three men wielding firearms entered an Ingleburn post office about midday today, threatening the store attendant and demanding cash.

Police said they had worn helmets to conceal their faces and made their getaways on motorbikes.

No one was injured during the robbery but one witness inside the store was treated for shock, police said.

In another incident, two men forced their way into a liquor store on Brookfield Road at Minto at 9.05pm (AEDT) yesterday, as two staff members were closing up.

...

Police are also investigating an armed robbery at a fast food restaurant at Punchbowl.

Three men, one armed with a pistol, entered the restaurant on Canterbury Road at 9.45pm.

The Precision Rifle Clinic is full.  Contact Gene if you want to be put on the waiting list.

Previous years:

• 1999 didn't fill up
• 2000 filled on March 17th
• 2001 didn't fill up
• 2002 filled on April 22nd
• 2003 filled on February 23rd
• 2004 filled on March 1st
• 2005 filled on January 18th

28 positions have been filled in the main event.  There are 32 positions remaining.

Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated out of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing--with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for second and third place.

Robert Heinlein

Mr. Completely and Jerry the Geek have both made positive comments about Boomershoot 2006.

Thanks guys. 

Jerry, as he points out, provided some memorable tips for Boomershooting back in '99 which I am quite fond of.  I get comments on those hints every once in a while.

I really should go have dinner with Mr. Completely--I was invited two months ago and never got around to it.

Update: Doing a little searching I came up with a bunch more posts.  Some of which I had seen and forgot about in my early morning (I tend to agree with my daughter Kim who says, "Afternoon IS early") haze.  I cut off the list of posts at January 1, 2006.

• New Toys on Friday
• Big Big Boom
• Boomershoot (Say Uncle in Nashville News)
• Boomershoot (Say Uncle in SaysUncle)
• Boomershoot 2006 in Comfort
• The Gun Fund
• Best Gun Buys of 2005

Via Michelle Malkin comes this story in the Washington Times:

PARIS -- A gang of more than 20 youths -- thought to be North African immigrants -- terrorized hundreds of train passengers in a rampage of violence, robbery and sexual assault on New Year's Day, French officials said yesterday.
    The five-hour-long criminal frenzy was "totally unacceptable," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters. "Those guilty will be found and punished, as they deserve."
    The gang of between 20 and 30 youths boarded the train, heading from Nice on the French Riviera to Lyon, in eastern France, early on Jan. 1, as it carried 600 passengers home from New Year's Eve partying overnight.
    Once inside, they went wild, forcing passengers to hand over mobile phones and wallets, and slashing seats and breaking windows.
    A 20-year-old woman cornered by several of the marauders was sexually molested.
    "It was a real scene of pillage on the train," said the regional state prosecutor, Dominique Luigi, adding that the passengers were in a state of "panic."

I'm reminded of Hamilton's quote about a target rich environment--both on that train and any place anti-gun French politicians congregate.

The Seattle Times just announced their web statistics for the stories of 2005.  One story in 2005 was probably the most popular story EVER.  Danny Westneat explains:

By tallying clicks on our Web site, we now chart the most read stories in the online edition of The Seattle Times. Software then sorts the tens of thousands of stories for 2005 and ranks them. Not by importance, impact or poetic lyricism, but by which stories compelled the most people to put finger to mouse, click, open and, presumably, read.

Which brings me back to sex with horses. The story last summer about the man who died from a perforated colon while having sex with a horse in Enumclaw was by far the year's most read article.

What's more, four more of the year's 20 most clicked-upon local news stories were about the same horse-sex incident. We don't publish our Web-traffic numbers, but take it from me — the total readership on these stories was huge.

So much so, a case can be made that the articles on horse sex are the most widely read material this paper has published in its 109-year history.

Even though sex is one of my hobbies I didn't have an interest in this story.  It wasn't until today that I actually read the story.  I'd heard about it of course but it was one of those stories that made me uncomfortable.  The mental images were disturbing for me and I didn't want to know any more details.  I categorized it as a Darwin Award incident and forgot about it.  The rest of you that made this story so popular; I think you need to get your own sex life--this vicarious stuff is more than just a little weird.

In some areas of the country showing someone your middle finger is the universal hand signal for "shoot me".  If you are carrying a gun and give such a hand signal you likely to be held at fault if the shooting does start. If you choose to carry, you will be held to a higher standard of behavior than those that don't.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

Okay, I just remembered another case where guns and sex mixed fairly well.  It's this joke:

Back in the good ole days in Texas, when stagecoaches and the like was popular, there were three people in a stagecoach one day:  a true red-blooded born-and-raised Texas gentleman, a tenderfoot city-slicker from back East, and a beautiful and well-endowed Texas lady.  The city- slicker kept eyeing the lady, and finally he leaned forward and said, "Lady, I'll give you $10 for a blow job."  The Texas gentleman looked appalled, pulled out his pistol, and killed the city-slicker on the spot.  The lady gasped and said, "Thank you, suh, for defendin' mah honor!"  Whereupon the Texan holstered his gun and said, "Your honor, hell!!  No tenderfoot is gonna raise the price of women in Texas!!"

There is a sex toy store in Seattle that has a clever name, "Toys in Babeland".  They have an online presence too.  I had heard people talk about the store and figured it must be something pretty special.  I have visited a couple times now, the most recent must have been a couple years or so ago.  Barb and I were disappointed.  It had a very poor selection.  Their online store is much better and I subscribe to their email list which is kind of cool.  I just got a mailing from them today, visited their website, and thought I would share a few things:

• Tentative about Toy-ing
• How to Striptease
• How to Talk Dirty
• How to Choose a Vibrator (several woman have told me the Pocket Rocket is one of the best)

It's extremely rare that I find occasion to legitimately mix sex with guns.  I don't care to see scantily clad or naked women (or men) with guns as some people do.  Guns and sex are just two completely different aspects of my life and I don't generally see activities with one as being connected in any way to the other.  However, this is one occasion where I can see the benefit of a connection between the two.  You see, an added benefit of getting the Pocket Rocket name out there as a vibrator is that it makes it all the easier to make fun of the anti-gun governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich who refers to small handguns as "pocket rockets".

I've never been to a Hooters but I think it's time I visited.  This is why:

Jason had a visit from...The Hooter's girls (four) who delivered a calendar filled with pictures of girls and their bikinis. The calendar was signed by many of the models. Jason was impressed that the months were not in order. I was impressed that he noticed the months were not in order.

Jason is our nephew who was in Iraq and is now recuperating at Walter Reed.

Thanks Hooters girls for supporting our troops.