Dante Alighieri
[I'm thinking of the current war against Islamic extremists... WW III or WW IV depending on how you keep count.--Joe]

The Canadian kook Cukier is blabbering away again:

REGINA (CP) - The shooting deaths of two RCMP officers in northern Saskatchewan and other crimes like it in recent years show the need to maintain the federal registry for long-barrelled firearms, gun control advocates say.

...

The deaths of constables Robin Cameron, 29, and Marc Bourdages, 26, have tugged at the heartstrings of people across the country and plunged the tiny farming community of Spiritwood, Sask., into a state of grief.

Police say the two young officers died after being shot by a man who fled the scene armed with either a hunting rifle or a shotgun on the night of July 7.

...

Wendy Cukier, a professor of justice studies at Ryerson University and president of the Toronto-based Coalition for Gun Control, says it doesn't make any sense to dismantle the long-gun registry.

Just how does the registry prevent or help solve this crime? Was the criminal so stupid he left the gun, registered in his name or someone that could connect to him, at the crime scene? Nope. The kooks thinking is that of a simpleton.

But Cukier says registration is a tool that allows police to trace a firearm back to its original owner.

It's a good way to prevent someone who shouldn't have a gun from buying one legally and it forces legal gun owners to be accountable by making sure their weapons don't fall into the wrong hands, she argued.

It can also serve as an early warning tool for officers, letting them know that a routine situation could turn dangerous because guns may be involved.

"No system is perfect, but it reduces the chances that people will be killed," Cukier said. "The system, however imperfect it might be, is better than nothing at all."

How does a gun registry prevent stolen guns or smuggled guns (think recreational drug smuggling) from ending up in the hands of anyone that wants one? And no it is not "better than nothing at all". It took between one and two billion dollars (Canadian) to implement the registry which could have been spent on police personnel and equipment.

I have Just One Question for Ms. Cukier.

Update: I realize I should have explained things just a bit better. Cukier claims this crime shows the need to maintain the registry but the registry wasn't a factor in solving this crime. And furthermore the last time I had an update on the topic since Canada started registering handguns decades ago there has only been one crime that the registry did help solve.

Ry and I have talked about this type of thing until the wee hours of the morning many times. It always came down to destroying their culture or engaging in some really nasty stuff. It turns out we weren't the only ones that came up with those conclusions. This is from 2003:

A Pew poll finds 40% of Americans worry that an US city will be destroyed by a terrorist nuclear attack. James Lileks thinks the annihilation of a city is a dead certainty and will only mark the start of a long, wearying struggle against Islamists armed with nuclear car bombs.

...

In stark contrast, the nuclear threshold against a terrorism may be crossed once they get the capability to attack with weapons of mass destruction. Unlike the old early warning systems, designed to gauge Soviet intent, the intelligence systems of the War on Terror are meant to measure capability. The relevant Cold War question was 'do they intend to use the Bomb?'.  In the War on Terror, the relevant question is simply 'do they have the Bomb?' This puts the nuclear threshold very low.

...

This fixity of malice was recognized in President Bush's West Point address in the summer of 2002, when he concluded that "deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend."

...

Because capability is the sole variable of interest in the war against terrorism, the greater the Islamic strike capability becomes, the stronger the response will be. An unrepeatable attack with a stolen WMD weapon would elicit a different response from one arising from a capability to strike on a sustained and repetitive basis. The riposte to an unrepeatable attack would be limited. However, suppose Pakistan or North Korea engineered a reliable plutonium weapon that could be built to one-point safety in any machine shop with a minimum of skill, giving Islamic terrorists the means to repeatedly attack America indefinitely. Under these circumstances, there would no incentive to retaliate proportionately. The WMD exchange would escalate uncontrollably until Islam was destroyed.

...

The so-called strengths of Islamic terrorism: fanatical intent; lack of a centralized leadership; absence of a final authority and cellular structure guarantee uncontrollable escalation once the nuclear threshold is crossed. Therefore the 'rational' American response to the initiation of terrorist WMD attack would be all out retaliation from the outset. 

...

It is supremely ironic that the survival of the Islamic world should hinge on an American victory in the War on Terror, the last chance to prevent that terrible day in which all the decisions will have already been made for us. That effort really consists of two separate aspects: a campaign to destroy the locus of militant Islam and prevent their acquisition of WMDs; and an attempt to awaken the world to the urgency of the threat.

I wish Israel well in their efforts to exterminate radical Muslims from their neighborhood. It's a start down the appropriate path. The alternate paths are far too uncomfortable for me.

The English may have some sexual hangups but this former Socialist Scottish party leader doesn't appear to have many:

A former Scottish Socialist party member today told a jury how she had a three-in-a-bed sex session with its former leader, Tommy Sheridan MSP, and his brother-in-law.

Katrine Trolle, 31, said she first had sex with the Glasgow MSP months after his wedding in June 2000.

The Danish occupational therapist also described a visit to Cupids, a swingers' sex club in Manchester, and said Mr Sheridan had offered her a "wonder drug" at a house party later that night.

...

Ms Trolle, from Dundee, told the court that Mr Sheridan flirted with her and made remarks about how liberal Danes and Scandinavians were compared to the British.

The witness said her second sexual encounter with Mr Sheridan took place at his brother-in-law's home in Glasgow.

Asked by Michael Jones QC, representing the Sunday newspaper, who was in the house, Ms Trolle replied: "Andy (McFarlane), Tommy and myself."

Mr Jones said: "What happened?" The witness replied: "We had sex."

Mr Jones sought clarification as to what Ms Trolle meant when she used the term "we".

She replied: "All three of us."

Mr Jones asked: "Together?" Ms Trolle said: "Yes."

Earlier she described her first sexual encounter with the MSP, which she said happened at his house.

Ms Trolle said: "He offered me a glass of wine. We talked a wee bit about politics and then went upstairs to the bedroom."

Asked what happened in the bedroom, Ms Trolle said: "We had sex."

The witness also told the court it was Mr Sheridan's idea to visit the swingers club in Manchester in 2001.

She confirmed the party which left Glasgow to travel south included Mr Sheridan, his brother-in-law, journalist Anvar Khan and a man named Gary.

...

The witness said: "We went into one of the small side rooms and had sex."

Mr Jones said: "Who went into this room and had sex?"

Ms Trolle replied: "Tommy, Anvar Khan, myself and Andrew. I can't remember if Gary was there or not."

Barb knows some occupational therapists at her work. I wonder...

They want to destroy Israel and kill all Jews. That's the truth. Got a solution Katie? We'd all love to hear your perky plan.

Michelle Malkin
Vent--July 18, 2006
On Katie Couric saying "We heard from many people that the news is just too depressing... I believe we can be a little more solution-oriented."
["Don't be surprised if Katie's "solutions" are socialistic, involved the loss of personal freedoms, and masquerade as "news". Malkin introduces Couric to a cluebat.--Joe]

Xenia has posted a bunch more pictures (and a little bit of story) from her visit here and her trip to Oklahoma to see her boyfriend graduate from Army Boot Camp.

• Private John
• Dressing up Sara
• Visit to Seattle proper

My favorite pictures from the collection:

Xenia's pinkie. My toes (I wear size 14 shoes).

Sara and Xenia get the ultimate desert offered at the Space Needle.

As in my previous post/QOTD I pointed out that English women leave the country to get some good sex. Here's more from the U.K closely related to the same topic:

WOMEN are getting a rough deal in bed — with some rating dull sex as a “household chore”.

And over a third complained of a lack of thrills from their fellas in a survey.

The poll proves women are NOT getting enough satisfaction in spite of greater sexual liberation.

A quarter of women in the 25 to 34-year-old age bracket find it difficult to get aroused.

And 45 per cent of women rarely or never make the first move for sex.

One in ten women said they have sex when they do not want it and regularly fake orgasm. And one in 20 think sex is a chore.

Meanwhile a quarter of men are snubbed for sex HALF the time by their regular partner.

Heavy sigh. So much work for Dr. Joe and I just don't have the time to do it all.

I'm not naïve. I've been around the block. I come for sex - of course the sun, but mostly the sex.

I'm not coming to live and set up house with a guy. I just want some fun and good sex.

A 42-year-old English woman
She travels at least three times a year to Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic for sun and sex.
[Those English and sex... I'm telling you they are bit on the strange side. It must be because the men in the U.K. have been neutered, in part, by the removal of their firearms. I think Dr. Joe has a lot of work to do there. Or else NRA Instructor Joe. One of the two.--Joe]

Xenia visited part of week before last and then again last week. Here are some of her pictures and comments. I like this one best:

Of course I took the picture and it is a picture of my daughter so I suppose there is the possibility of some bias.

It would have required courage to hang out with the Mahdi Army, if there were any likelihood that a member of the Iraqi "insurgency" would regard a representative of the New York Times as an enemy.

John Hinderaker
July 15, 2006
Power Line post commenting on this picture.

All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

Paul Simon
Recorded 1968
The Boxer
[In part this is what happens When Prophecy Fails, Bush Derangement Syndrome, and in everyday life.--Joe]

An anti-gun bigot targeted the SKS again. Pretty much every thing I said before when the SKS was singled out for "being evil" is true this time as well. The new stuff is taken care of by Kevin.

I spend $2 million [campaigning] every election. If my colleagues are smart, they’ll pay their $20,000 and Michael will draw the district they can win in. Those who have refused to pay? God help them.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez
From Stealing Democracy: How to Rig Elections by Spencer Overton
Pages 19 and 20
[Sanchez was referring to Gerrymandering the election districts to win elections. If you read the Amazon description of the book and the comments by the author be sure to keep your blood pressure medicine close by. Hat tip to Larry Pratt for pointing out the Sanchez quote. Read Pratt's article for the gun rights connection.--Joe]

I just love it when they say things like this:

..no matter how much training is involved, or who’s holding it, a gun is always dangerous. This guy, it seems, thought that because he was a police officer (and weapons instructor– which probably means NRA member), that he could be above the law. After all, he’s a cop, right? He would never do anything wrong, right?

Wrong. These fully automatic weapons are illegal for a reason, and it’s because they’re not safe in anyone’s hands, police officer, NRA member, weapons instructor, “law-abiding gun owner,” or otherwise.

These "guys" have no clue. They don't realize just how far out of touch with the rest of the world, and reality, they are. Or else they really are our friends and are trying to further discredit the anti-gun movement.

We call upon the city government and Congress to immediately repeal the District's Draconian gun regulations. The city's law-abiding citizens must be allowed to fight back, and regain control of their neighborhoods. Any politician, whether in the municipal government or on Capitol Hill, who does not trust the citizens of Washington, D.C. with their Second Amendment rights does not deserve to hold office, and should hand in his or her resignation. This risk-free working environment for criminals must end now.

Alan Gottlieb
July 13, 2006 News Release
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

The murderous attack that took place this morning was not a terror attack. It was an act of war by the state of Lebanon against the state of Israel within its sovereign territory.

The government of Lebanon, of which Hezbollah is a part, is trying to undermine regional stability. Lebanon is responsible and Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions.

Ehud Olmert
Prime Minister of Israel
July 12, 2006
Chicago Tribune

I want to make clear that the event this morning is not a terror act, but an act of a sovereign state that attacked Israel without reason. The government of Lebanon, of which Hezbollah is a part, is trying to shake the stability of the region.

Ehud Olmert
Prime Minister of Israel
July 12, 2006
New York Times

[Regardless of which quote is more accurate (the Times Online of the UK agrees with The Chicago Tribune) the spirit is the same. This is war.--Joe]

Okay. Maybe there is some evidence of global warming. But it's not as conclusive as the caption makes it out to be. And there's no evidence given that it's caused by man.

[The link is work safe.]

Faced with genuine horrific physical abuse and cold-blooded murder of captured human beings by Muslim jihadis in Iraq, Amnesty International was strangely silent, prompting some observers to question their neutrality.

Joining in the lack of response were typically outspoken Jimmy Carter and the International Red Cross. Joint statements from Arab defense leagues and Muslim anti-defamation groups were not made. The United Nations has scheduled no hearings, and has thus far proposed no sanctions.

In stark contrast, U.S. use of humiliation tactics similar to college-fraternity pranks, to get prisoners to reveal information, were broadly denounced as grotesque affronts to humanity, barbarous criminal abuse and violations of human rights, by the now silent critics.

The U.S. procedures involved putting underwear on a person's head, leading a prisoner around on a leash, and taking sexually explicit photographs, none of which lead to physical harm or death.

U.S. authorities, bowing to world opinion, court martialed and imprisoned some of the prison guards involved in the college-prank styled interrogations. A search for the Islamist insurgent perpetrators of the horrific murders has not yielded any suspects.

Alan Korwin
Writing under the pen name of The Uninvited Ombudsman
July 9, 2006
Page Nine -- No. 7 (an email list posting)

Thanks to Ry for pointing this out.

Now that the war on legal guns is won (the war on illegally owned guns cannot ever be won). The Scots have a new tool for their war on the knife culture:

METAL detectors that look like gardening gloves could save lives by taking knives off Scotland's streets.

The gloves conceal hi-tech gadgetry which officers will unleash this weekend on people suspected of carrying switch-blades and other knives.

Seven pairs of the specially-designed gloves, costing about £200 a pair, will be tried out for a month in Strathclyde and central Scotland. The battery-operated gloves allow officers to scan an individual for weapons with the fingertips or the palms of the hands. If metal is found, the glove, which is made from stab-proof Kevlar, starts to vibrate at the wrist.

Scottish police have already been issued with 1,000 hand-held scanners as part of the Safer Scotland campaign, but they have decided to give the gloves a try as they allow for people to be searched more discreetly. The manufacturers also say the glove enables police to carry out covert searches as only the wearer is aware when a knife is detected.

Karyn McCluskey, the deputy head of the Glasgow-based Violence Reduction Unit, said: "We are constantly looking at utilising new technology to detect weapons and take them off the streets of Scotland.

"It's important we look at innovative ways of tackling violence, and we are confident that these gloves will allow officers to search people in a safe and efficient manner."

This enrages me.

"Tackling violence"? All they are doing is shouting to the world that they have mental problems.

"More discreetly"? "Covert searches"? "Allow officers to search people in a safe and efficient manner"? In the U.S. we have the 2nd Amendment to enforce the 4th Amendment against violations like this.

There's the good news that this animal was killed:

MOSCOW — Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, responsible for modern Russia's worst terrorist attacks, was killed Monday when a dynamite-laden truck exploded in his convoy, Russian officials said.

Federal Security Service head Nikolai Patrushev told President Vladimir Putin that Basayev had been killed overnight in a special operation conducted by Russian forces in Ingushetia, the area of southern Russia that borders Chechnya. Patrushev's meeting with Putin was shown on Russian state television.

Basayev, 41, was behind some of Russia's worst terror attacks, including the seizure of a Moscow theater in 2002 in which dozens of hostages and militants died, the 2004 school hostage taking in Beslan that killed 331, and the seizure of about 1,000 hostages at a hospital in Budyonnovsk that killed about 100.

...

The Interfax news agency quoted Ingush Deputy Prime Minister Bashir Aushev as saying that Basayev's body had been identified "through some of the fragments, including his head."

Then the part that is most interesting to me is this line buried deep in the article:

Basayev was the most notorious of the Chechen warlords, eluding Russian forces for years despite Kremlin vows to hunt him down and an offer of $10 million and plastic surgery to anyone providing information leading to his death.

Do you notice anything a little different from what we are doing when we put a reward on a terrorist's head? The Russians don't waste time with the things like Club Gitmo. It's, "If we find him we are going to kill him."

I just hope they follow up on my suggestion for dealing with this type of vermin. It was the Russian school children incident that inspired me to come up with that disposal method so I think it would entirely appropriate for them to implement it with the fragments of this scumbag.

I wish it were true--that it were legal to actually carry your personal protection tools with you when you visited the Washington D.C. area. But this US News and World Report article does have a point, we are making some progress. We still have a lot of work ahead of us and we can't back of. We need to drive them into political extinction.

Packing heat on the hill

The NRA is riding high; gun control is a political loser

Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren's Washington office features his hunting trophies, including a stuffed wild turkey and a mounted deer head. The freshman congressman's enthusiasm for firearms might always have stood out in the Democratic Party, but Boren now finds himself among an even more endangered species: Democrats willing to discuss guns at all.

"When we as Democrats are trying to reach out and speak to voters in the center of the country, I don't think that we can support gun control," he explains. After seeing Democrats hammered at the polls for voting to regulate guns, many of his colleagues seem to agree. As a result, a number of pro-gun measures moving through Congress will most likely face little opposition, as advocates of gun control increasingly find themselves marginalized and ignored.

Not long ago, it was the gun lobby on the defensive from the passage of the Brady bill in 1993 and the 1994 ban on "assault" weapons. But some say support for gun control cost Democrats the House in 1994, and former President Clinton credited it with Al Gore's 2000 presidential defeat. "It's different than it was in the early '90s. Those were, in retrospect, the glory years," says Paul Helmke, former GOP mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., who recently took the reins of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Meanwhile, with little fanfare, National Rifle Association backers in Congress allowed the assault weapons ban to expire in 2004 and last year shielded gun makers from being sued over crimes committed using their products. Since 1999, nine states have eased restrictions on concealed weapons, and NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre says the freedom of gun owners is in "the best shape it's been in decades."

Today, Israel is really terrorising our people ... Israel and America, which talked too much about this terrorism in past are the worst, severest and ugliest examples of terrorism.

Khaled Mashal
The exiled supreme leader of Hamas
UK Times: Uncompromising message from exiled Hamas leader
July 10, 2006
[I'm sure Mashal can back up this claim with hours of video tape of Americans and Israelis doing more severe and ugly things than the beheadings of civilians, bombings of civilian aircraft in-flight, the torture and killings of school children, and violent, brutal, aircraft hijackings for the destruction of skyscrapers filled with innocent civilians.--Joe]