Xenia, our youngest, is a senior this year. We are now counting down the months until she will be done with high school. We have a tradition, from when I was growing up, of taking a picture of the kids on the first day of school. Here is Xenia's collection of those pictures. And here is another set from the first day of the last year of us having kids going to K through 12.

All three of our kids are in the house this minute and it's almost alien to see them as adults (Xenia will be 18 in a just a few days). And then next year both of our daughters plan to get married in July. I look at the pictures of our kids when they going to grade school and I want to reach back in time and give them hugs. We give them hugs now of course but I also miss the children that they no longer are.

Victory In Sight. I highly recommend this conference.  I was a speaker at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in 1999 and 2000. I have been wanting to go back every year since then but I could never quite make it work. This year I decided to attend the Gun Blogger Rendezvous instead since it was closer and hence would take less time and money.

Maybe next year.

I just watched An Invitation to Islam. While the very first of it has English subtitles most of it is in English. My favorite parts was where the guy says:

Islam is the only religion acceptable to God.

...

God recognizes no separation between religion and state.

...

He has no need for the legislatures and parliaments which you in the west have, to put in mildly, used to legislate yourselves into a prison of your own making. Who in his right mind would want to legislate himself to death like you have done to yourselves?

This is the religion that executes teachers who dare to instruct women, stones to death women suspected of adultery, and beheads homosexuals.

We must Destroy Their Culture.

From the Chicago Tribune (and here):

In a documentary taped earlier but scheduled to be broadcast Sunday on the BBC, Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism branch, said that "thousands" of British Muslims are now being monitored by police and intelligence agencies.

And from The Observer:

Police are investigating a network of terror training camps across Britain which they fear are nurturing a new wave of home-grown Islamic extremists. The investigation is linked to raids late on Friday in which anti-terrorism officers arrested 14 people.

Yesterday police also sealed off a school in East Sussex run by an Islamic charity, Jameah Islamiyah, in the grounds of which The Observer understands the jailed cleric Abu Hamza secretly ran terror camps, training young militant Muslim men to use firearms.

...

A counter-terrorism official described the arrests as part of a 'new plank' of attack against Islamic terrorists in Britain, one that targets their 'upstream' activities. 'It is not just about disrupting specific plots,' the source said. 'It is about closing down their opportunities to plan these attacks. Those that set up terror training camps are very much in our sights.'

The source said they were not just talking about military-style camps, but bases where religious extremists 'bonded' and indoctrination took place preparing young extremists to become suicide bombers.

The source refused to quantify the number of camps they were investigating, but confirmed there were likely to be several around the UK, both in metropolitan areas and remote rural regions.

The Observer understands camps have operated in some of Britain's most isolated areas including Scotland, Wales and the Lake District. There has long been speculation that Abu Hamza operated a training camp in the Brecon Beacons in Wales and an unknown location in Scotland. At least two of the 7/7 bombers were known to have gone on white water trips in North Wales before their lethal attacks in London, and the use of activity-based training camps are suspected of playing a pivotal role in preparing young extremists.

At first glance this might seem reasonable. But what of the precedent being set? What if it were Jews being monitored and their firearms training being investigated in Germany in 1938? For those that don't pay that much attention the German Weapons Control Act of 1938 forbid Jews from owning firearms.

I am certain we must Destroy Their Culture. But unless there is some probable cause (does being Muslim constitute probable cause?) I'm uncomfortable with widespread monitoring. Yes, I realize this is the U.K. we are talking about in this case but in many cases restrictions on human rights in the U.K. are a predictor of things to come in the U.S.

Airport security is getting a lot of attention recently. And as I have often noted it doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. Here is more data supporting my point:

NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Transportation Security Administration is suspending installation of the only airport checkpoint device that automatically screens passengers for hidden explosives due to problems with the system's reliability, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

"We are seeing some issues that we did not anticipate" with the devices known as "puffers," the Times quoted Randy Null, the agency's chief technology officer as saying.

Duh! It's an insolvable problem.

They are trying however. I'm actually surprised at the level of effort they are putting into it--without realizing they can't solve the problem:

Spread out on a table at the Transportation Security Laboratory outside Atlantic City last week, like a dim sum meal, was a collection of small dishes with samples of the explosives people here are working to defeat. They included Semtex, TNT, C4, British RDX and dynamite - several of which are popular among suicide bombers and have been used in successful airline plots - along with liquid explosives in bottles marked only “A,” “A1” and “B.”

Scientists and technicians carefully stuff these raw materials into computers, small electronic devices, shoes and cigar boxes, building every imaginable bomb and then testing them on detection equipment.

“We do our best to try to figure out all the options before someone else does,” said a laboratory technician who would identify himself only as "Mr. T" in accordance with a laboratory policy of not identifying staff members.

Criticism of the Homeland Security Department and the Transportation Security Administration is not so much directed at the 190 federal employees and contractors at the laboratory here, or at Susan Hallowell, the chemist who runs the place.

They are spending millions and millions of dollars on this and yet I am virtually certain that with a team of no more than five people and a couple hours of work by each team member we could shut down all commercial air traffic in the U.S. for a several days without breaking any existing explosives laws or anyone getting physically hurt (economic damage would be rather high however). Repeat once a week or so and within a couple months they would abandon their expensive and stupid attempts at preventing explosives from getting on planes.

But the problem is that most people really don't appreciate being taught a lesson--especially if it makes them look incredibly stupid. If we were identified as their teachers, unlikely but possible, the odds are that the thanks we received would be in the form of free room and board and a "spouse" that rented us out several times a day for a couple packs of cigarettes.

A gun is a very important part of a farmer's equipment. There are more illegal guns held within the M25 than the whole of the British Armed Forces.

Getting a gun illegally has never been easier. People who want to use them illegally do not get them registered.

Liz Mort
August 30, 2006
Concern as gun numbers soar in Suffolk
Eastern region spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance

[See also the Countryside Alliance our shooting campaign. I thought everyone had given up over there. Apparently resistance fighters still exist. I think I see more free Boomershoot entries for U.K. entrants again. This quote brought to you via Phil and Kevin.--Joe]

Professor Fox’s maundering is based upon the unproven assumption that more gun control will lead to less violence. He believes that being a university professor entitles him to dictate public policy, and our request for supporting statistics is irrelevant because we are not part of his Ivory Tower clique. He uses his command of the English language to create subtle innuendos to label us gun-fetishists and paranoids, and to imply that we have taken the government hostage like so many terrorists.

It’s easy to lose touch with reality when one gets to live life in a protected enclave with a tenured position from which one can espouse fanciful ideologies without impacting job security. Regardless of the damage inflicted on regular people for implementing his recommendations, by nature of his gentrified position it’s unlikely the “Dean of Death” will be suffering the consequences of his beliefs.

Howard Nemerov
September 2, 2006 - 10:41
Gun Control: Rebuttal to James Alan Fox
[An excellent fisking of this bigot (also referenced by another bigot here).--Joe]

This started out to be a comment to SayUncle's post on jury nullication but ended up being a blog post instead.

We have a legal system. Not a justice system. I'm not saying this is avoidable, it's just a statement of the facts.

IMHO our legal system is an approximation to a justice system. That given I fully agree there are lots of laws that need to be eliminated or changed. There is more than one path to that end. There is the obvious path through the legislature and is to be preferred but there are alternatives as well.

One alternate path to legal change is jury nullification. After I was on a jury I talked to the prosecutor about this very issue. Read about it here if you want.

Another path that is less palatable is demanding the vigorous enforcement of unjust laws. If fornication is against the law (it was in Idaho the last time I looked), so demand the unmarried child of the prosecutor, or police chief living with there significant other be prosecuted. Make a big stink about it such that it gets in the papers. Make it such that the law enforcement community of that jurisdiction comes out and literally says, "We will not prosecute cases under this law." The law is, in essence, stricken from the books in that jurisdiction. The down side is that if you can't find someone that is "conviction proof" to make the stink over you might end up with lot of "innocent" people convicted. If you can fill the jails with "innocent" people the legislature will fix the problem because of the population at large will demand it. But, in essence, you will be creating martyrs for your cause. You should get their permission to be martyred before doing so. It is considered very rude to martyr someone without their permission and could result in their own version of justice being visited upon you.

Despite their differences, these groups form the outline of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.

George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
In a speech to veterans at an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City.
August 31, 2006

Handguns are banned in the U.K.  So this couldn't have happened:

Gun gang hit church club

THESE sickening CCTV images show merciless robbers storming a church social club where they threatened to shoot OAPs.

The three cowards, two with guns, stopped two elderly women escaping the venue. They bundled one over before dragging the 83-year-old into the main hall.

The gang then told the ten staff and customers to sit with hands behind their heads at Our Lady of Assumption Church’s parish club in Childwall in Merseyside.

Manageress Lynn Goulding, 54, said: “The gun sounded like a firecracker. I grabbed one of the men through sheer panic but he hit me on the chin.

“I can’t believe I was inches from a man pointing a gun at me. It was the most horrific experience of my life. I’m still shaking.”

The gang stole £970 and fled Wednesday’s 1am raid in a 4x4.

 

Anyone who studies the matter will reach the conclusion that good marksmanship, per se, is not the key to successful gunfighting. The marksmanship problem posed in a streetfight is ordinarily pretty elementary. What is necessary, however, is the absolute assurance on the part of the shooter that he can hit what he is shooting at - absolutely without fail. Being a good shot tends to build up this confidence in the individual. Additionally, the good shot knows what is necessary on his part to obtain hits, and when the red flag flies, the concentration which he knows is necessary pushes all extraneous thinking out of his mind. He cannot let side issues such as fitness reports, political rectitude, or legal liability enter his mind. Such considerations may be heeded before the decision to make the shot is taken, and reconsidered after the ball is over; but at the time, the imperative front sight, surprise break must prevail.

Thus we have the paradox that while you almost never need to be a good shot to win a gunfight, the fact that you are a good shot may be what is necessary for you to hold the right thoughts - to the exclusion of all others - and save your life. This may come as a shock to a good many marksmanship instructors, but I have studied the matter at length and in depth, and I am satisfied with my conclusions.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper's Commentaries
Vol. 5, No. 1
January 1997

SayUncle brings up an interesting point. I don't bring it up very often, but my position has long been that if someone has proved themselves so dangerous to society they can't be trusted with possession of a gun then they can't be trusted with a can of gasoline and a book of matches either. Either lock them up and try to keep them from possessing any weapons or let them out where they have access to all types of weapons. Prohibiting them from possession of a firearm just doesn't make any sense to me.

A couple months ago I heard some rumors of police hostility to Tannerite in some jurisdictions. And I also keep getting hits from "interesting" places looking at my posts on Tannerite. I wonder if it's getting a little bit too much attention from the wrong people. I'm nearly certain that it stores very well if kept cool and dry (and protected from theft!). You might want to stock up...

Here are some of the hits I'm getting:

• Tannerite and the law
• Heads up

This is the most recent:

Domain Name		senate.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address		156.33.195.# (U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms)
ISP		U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  District of Columbia City  :  Washington Lat/Long  :  38.8933, -77.0146 (Map) Distance  :  2,072 miles
Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft Win2000
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  16 bits
Time of Visit		Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Last Page View		Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.google.co...,RNWE:en&q=tannerite
Search Engine		google.com
Search Words		tannerite
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ite And The Law.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ite And The Law.aspx
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-8:00
Visitor's Time		Aug 30 2006 7:12:15 am
Visit Number		96,907

Update: Here's another one:

Domain Name		dsl.net ? (Network)
IP Address		65.86.162.# (Charles County Sheriff's office)
ISP		DSL.net
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States  (Facts) State  :  Maryland City  :  La Plata Lat/Long  :  38.5163, -77.0154 (Map) Distance  :  2,085 miles
Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  :  1024 x 768 Color Depth  :  32 bits
Time of Visit		Aug 31 2006 7:00:38 am
Last Page View		Aug 31 2006 7:00:38 am
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.google.co...e&btnG=Google Search
Search Engine		google.com
Search Words		tannerite
Visit Entry Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ite And The Law.aspx
Visit Exit Page		http://blog.joehuffm...ite And The Law.aspx
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC-5:00
Visitor's Time		Aug 31 2006 10:00:38 am
Visit Number		97,072

It was a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among western democracies, when those who warned about a coming crisis, the rise of fascism and Nazism, they were ridiculed or ignored.

...

This enemy is serious, lethal and relentless. But this is still not well recognized or fully understood. It seems that in some quarters, there is more of a focus on dividing our country than acting with unity against the gathering threats.

Donald Rumsfeld
August 29, 2006
Voice Of America News August 30, 2006

Alright guys. This has to rank near the top of the list of the most despicable crimes. Keep your eyes open as you go about your business and report anything suspicious.

Neighbours who believe they live next to property being used for sex slaves are being urged to help the fight against human trafficking.

A drive will also appeal for men who frequent brothels to contact the police anonymously and without fear of prosecution with concerns about women who appear to be working there against their will.

Senior officers want people to look out for women who cannot speak English, seem reticent or afraid and are not allowed out without being accompanied by a man.

The next time Barb takes me to a brothel you can be sure I'll be on the lookout.

At least some people that will be listened to are talking about it:

Security officials should concentrate on people not objects at airports but simplistic racial profiling is not the way to thwart potential attacks on airlines, experts say.

They warn, however, that more effective behavioural profiling would be very labour-intensive, expensive and would not guarantee success.

"It's the only methodology that can stay ahead of terrorism and terrorists," said Philip Baum, editor of the magazine Aviation Security International.

"Screeners are spending far too long trying to confiscate scissors and shampoos and gels from people who pose absolutely no threat."

A debate over the merits of profiling -- where security staff focus their search efforts on people they regard as suspicious on grounds such as ethnicity and religion -- has erupted since British police said on August 10 they had foiled a plan to blow up trans-atlantic planes using liquid explosives.

Immediately, airports across Europe and the United States tightened security: passengers were banned from taking liquids or hand luggage on board and travellers were rigorously checked. Some of those measures were later relaxed.

Baum said such actions, which caused airport chaos, flight delays and cancellations, were unnecessary and ineffective.

"The existing technologies have been proven to have limited effectiveness," he told Reuters. "They haven't as yet identified anybody who has been carrying an improvised explosive device on their person or in their baggage, whereas profiling has been proven to be effective."

This is all prior to boarding and I don't disagree with any of it. Once people are on board more changes are necessary. All alternatives should be investigated.

It's interesting how the different media organizations spin things. This particular time it is Rumsfeld that gets run through the spin cycle of the media washing machine.

Forbes mentions the lessons of history in regards to Hitler:

In remarks prepared for delivery to the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.

CNN noticed that too and goes further:

Addressing several thousand veterans at the American Legion's national convention, Rumsfeld recited what he called the lessons of history, including the failed efforts to appease the Adolf Hitler regime in the 1930s.

"I recount this history because once again we face the same kind of challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism" he said.

...

Rumsfeld recalled a string of recent terrorist attacks, from the 9/11 attacks to bombings in Bali, London and Madrid, and said it should be obvious to anyone that terrorists must be confronted, not appeased.

The Seattle Times didn't mention the above and focuses on:

"They are actively manipulating the media in this country" by, for example, falsely blaming U.S. troops for civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"They can lie with impunity," he said, while U.S. troops are held to a high standard of conduct.

Rumsfeld made similar points later, in remarks prepared for delivery at a Reno, Nev., convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"The enemy lies constantly — almost totally without consequence," he told the veterans group.

And from the UK again no mention of the parallels of the fascism of the 30's with the fascism of today, just about the media being manipulated:

'The enemy lies constantly -- almost totally without conscience,' Rumsfeld said. 'They portray our cause as a war on Islam when in fact the overwhelming majority of victims of their terrorism have been thousands and thousands of innocent Muslims.'

Similar oversights occur in most of the media reports and Democrat commentators either ignore it (Harry Reid) or call it absurd (Stephen Elliott) without even giving us their reasoning. But one shouldn't be surprised by this. Expecting them to reason, let alone articulate it, is like expecting a dog to be able to drive a car. They may think they are doing just fine but they will very shortly crash and drawing the unwanted attention of the entire world to their deficiencies.

If you are a blogger and you haven't read this page from the Electronic Freedom Foundation it is a worthwhile read: How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else).

Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations.

Thomas Jefferson
[Islamic extremists, please take note.--Joe]

Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.

Winston Churchill

That's the point of this editorial. Okay. Fine. All you have to do then is amend the constitution. Just don't pretend it doesn't exist.

You can't get the votes to amend the constitution? Tough. Your bright ideas must not have been all that bright then. Your options are now rather limited. You can move to another country more to your liking. Maybe you can find one with the all the socialist trimmings you whine about not having. Want a few bucks for the one-way plane ticket out of the country? I'll be glad to contribute to you leaving. Another option is you can start a revolution and overthrow the existing government by means of violence. Your choice Mr. Kurlansky. What's it going to be?

In May of 2005 ATF Investigator Crystal visited my explosives magazine for the mandated inspection. It was the first time she had seen my magazine and contrary to what every other ATF representative had said she wasn't sure my locks met the letter of the regulations. She decided to ask the authorities "back east" about it and in June of 2005 sent me an email saying I had to correct the deficiency. I made what I thought were the required changes and sent her the pictures in September of 2005. I hadn't heard anything about them by March of 2006 and was starting to get worried. Boomershoot 2006 was approaching and I required the use of the magazine. I wrote her an email and got a call from her a couple minutes later. I followed her suggestion and asked for a determination on the locks and hoods. Nothing by Boomershoot time and used her suggested Plan B.

After being not being home for a month I went through my big pile of mail tonight and found a letter from the ATF dated July 18, 2006. In it they said, in part:

After careful review, ATF has determined that the 1/4-inch protective steel coverings do not prevent lever action on the locks. However, ATF believes that the combination of the construction of the locks and the protective steel coverings is substantially equivalent to the requirements of the regulations. Therefore, you are granted a variance from 27 CFR, Part 555, Subpart K, to use the alternate locks for you Type-1 outdoor magazine.

Finally! Bureaucracy moves slowly and unsurely. It wasn't quite what I wanted but it's good enough.

I can again legally store thousands of pounds of explosives in the Taj Mahal if I so desire. And I do desire that. Planning for Boomershoot 2007 is underway.

I just read this and came up with a hypothesis I would like to explore. The hypothesis is, "States that have shall issue laws regarding concealed weapon have lower rates of drive-by shootings."

I specifically wonder about drive-by shooting because I envision them happening in the evenings/nights when people are more likely to be carrying their personal protection tools with them. During the day bigoted employers have rules prohibiting the exercise of your rights while on company property and violent crime against these people, even if temporarily off company property, is less likely to be met with an armed response.

I haven't even done a simple search engine inquiry for the data yet, but has anyone seen any papers/reports that address the issue?

Oh, I also wanted to point out that the newspaper reports it was a "gunman driving a car", not a "car driver with a gun". And of course the response will be that we need to eliminate gunmen, not eliminate car drivers.

I don't have a problem with being interviewed before flying commercially. I do have a problem with searching through my stuff, especially when it including the clothes I'm wearing. That's why I think it's possible, but not likely, for these efforts to bear palatable fruit:

In the U.S., small teams of TSA screeners walk around Logan and Dulles, among others, trying to find people who look nervous. The program -- dubbed Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, or SPOT -- was first used by state police at Logan.

They consulted with psychiatrists to develop a behavioral profile. In addition to obvious things like someone sweating excessively on a cool day, the teams look for people whose facial expressions are deemed to be hiding an emotion. The teams haven't caught any terrorists though they have detained several people with outstanding criminal warrants, TSA spokeswoman Peppin says.

The agency wants to expand the program and replace contractors who collect identification at airport checkpoints with staff trained in interrogation and behavior identification, Peppin says.

`Conversation With Congress'

"It may be something that we roll out initially in small airports,'' she says. "Any kind of total transition would require a larger conversation with Congress and our airline partners.''

The reason I think it's unlikely to be acceptable is because of their underlying attitude:

There may be no better time to push for tougher measures, Loy says. He contrasted today's climate with a 1759 comment by Benjamin Franklin, who said those who would give up liberty for "a little temporary safety'' deserve neither.

"He wasn't getting on airplanes,'' Loy says.

That statement hightlights they don't fully understand the problem. The problem isn't just that existing airport/airplane security is a joke, the problem includes that there are certain inalienable rights being infringed.

The war on terrorism doesn't resemble other wars with fairly defined battlefields. Today's enemy could be as close as the person sitting next to you on an airplane.

Michael Cousineau
Training against air terror
August 27, 2006
Union Leader
New Hampshire

I can't imagine who would believe this:

Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said Saturday that the heavy-water plant will also be used to treat and diagnose AIDS and cancer, and for other medicinal and agricultural purposes.

Well, there are the barking moonbats I guess. They probably will believe it.

I just read Scott Adams thought experiment about dealing with Iran. Scott's hypothesis is it's mostly about pride. But I think he is ignoring the Islam component and nearly a 1000 years of history. But while I regard it as a worthwhile thought experiment I don't see any reason to revise my inclinations on what to do about Iran.