So the quote about never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity is appropriate here.

James Huffman-Scott
July 18, 2007
[This was after I told him I had dropped the lawsuit against PNNL and why I had dropped it. I'll write up a report on it this weekend. I've been running on four and five hours sleep for the last week preparing for the depositions that were to be today, tomorrow and the next. We did three of the four depositions scheduled and we had enough answers we could put the rest of the puzzle together on our own. I need to sleep tonight and the rest of the week I need to get a bunch of things done I felt guilty leaving undone at work. The basics are that what James said above overstates things just a little bit but its close enough. I got screwed but it wasn't for any reason that is actionable. There are still unanswered questions but even if they were answered in the most favorable manner possible to me it just wouldn't matter from a legal standpoint.--Joe]

I own a gun because a disarmed populace is required for genocide and should it come around again, I'm not going to be that guy. I'm not going to be standing on the side.

Ry Jones
Armed America page 186
[Yeah, two in a row from Ry, but the timing for both was important. See also his blog posting on this new book.--Joe]

Try it yourself--I'm sick of the bitching.

Ry Jones
Marble Falls AR15 magazine backwards refutation
[From Ry's video on how a Police Officer can put a magazine in backwards an AR-15 long enough to get her picture in the paper. This refutes any claims it had to be a Photoshop job.--Joe]

War hath no fury like a non-combatant.

Charles Edward Montague
[Sounds like Cindy whats-her-name and most of the Democratic party doesn't it?--Joe]

Never do your enemy a minor injury.

Machiavelli
[At least it is attributed by some to be Machiavelli. I haven't been able to verify it. I like it regardless of who proper credit belongs to. Especially today since I am preparing for the depositions of my enemies, the felons, at PNNL. They did me a relatively minor injury over two years ago. My intentions for them are more than a minor injury. By this time next week they will be painfully aware of how much "injury" I am capable of delivering.--Joe]

The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home; and these are ignorance, superstition, and incompetence.

Elbert Hubbard
June 19, 1856 – May 7, 1915
[Add in "malice" and that statement is as true now as it was then. One only need look at what political left is currently trying to do in regards to the war.--Joe]

Legislation like the Brady Bill ignores the fact that violence unfortunately has been a fact of life long before firearms were invented. Outlawing guns does not prevent violence, but it does prevent smaller, older, disabled or less powerful persons from effectively defending themselves against larger and stronger attackers.

[...]

Once the anti-gun left has a cause or celebrity to rally around, rational thought goes out the window as they push their proposed legislation.

[...]

Sarah Brady is still a leading figure in the anti-gun movement. Jim Brady is still an advertisement for gun control.

Sandy Froman
July 12, 2007
The history of gun control, part 3
Froman is immediate past president of the National Rifle Association of America and a longtime member of the NRA board of directors.
[There really should be three separate quotes but I couldn't decide which of them I wanted to post first.--Joe]

Xenia just posted this wonderful video of Kim's wedding.

These posts and pictures have been up for a while but I didn't link to them at the time they were posted because I knew there were more coming:

• Pre-wedding Preparations
• The Wedding

It's been said before:  We tend to live our lives as conservatives, regardless of our political affiliations.  I've heard R. Limbaugh say it several times.  We don't take our paycheck, decide we're living on "more than we need" and give half of it away each payday.  We don't confront our neighbors, telling them they must cut back on their consumption or we're going to do something really bad to them.  You don't believe that you, personally, have far too much freedom, then demand that someone take your freedom away from you.  Chances are you don't feel you have the right to steal from someone on the basis that he has more than you.

Not exactly.  But we do often advocate such coercion against our fellow countrymen on a regular basis, through government.

If we define an American "conservative" as one who embraces the principles upon which this country was founded (Liberty, property rights, minimum to non interference by government)(and I do) then it is a fact that most people live as conservatives in their personal lives.  Its just that some of us are screaming hypocrites, like this Texas politician who fought against self-defense rights and ended up shooting a thief (the thief was, after all, merely practicing his own form of "Economic Justice" as the term is used by the Left).

Thanks to M. Malkin and K. du Toit.

I'm pretty sure this has been known for a long time but I somehow missed the memo. Uncle shows us how to convert many semi-auto firearms into full auto for pennies.

That, however, isn't the main intent with his post. It's about mocking the ATF and gun laws. All worthy goals.

Thanks Uncle.

Robyn Ringler is probably close to my age. But despite having some very adult experiences she is like a child in some ways. She is so naive:

Let’s pass legislation that will have no effect on you but will stop irresponsible gun dealers.

You, in this case, refers to "legal gun owners". What she does not realize is that no such legislation is possible. Any restriction, let along something that would "stop irresponsible gun dealers", on gun dealers or owners will have a greater effect on "legal gun owners" than it will on the "illegal gun owners". People that would use a firearm to commit a crime will have no reservation about breaking a law intending to prevent them from possessing a gun. Not so on those that obey laws simply because they are the laws. They will honor the waiting periods, the registrations, and licensing processes all of which are barriers to gun ownership and use.

But she is coming around. She apparently recognizes people have legitimate uses for defensive firearms:

So, legal gun owners, go ahead and own your guns for defensive use.

In this further display of naiveté I suspect she doesn't realize is that she has stepped onto a slippery slope that the VPC, The Brady Campaign and many other anti-gun bigots avoid. Once you acknowledge firearms as legitimate self-defense tools you cannot help but admit restrictions on the purchase and carrying of these tools can cost lives.

But also like a child it appears she is learning. I have hope for her. It is very, very difficult to be an advocate for something then renounce that position even when all evidence for your position crumbles away into dust. If I am reading between the lines correctly she is reexamining some of her most dearly held beliefs in regards to firearms.

Via Tamara and Oleg we find out that iodine is now a controlled substance. Apparently it can be used in the production of meth. I just want it to make explosives.

I have some very fond, as well as scary, memories of my first home-made explosives which were made with iodine crystals.

This is what you get when people start believing you can prevent crime. There is no end of what they can and will justify once they buy into that repulsive concept. Legitimate crime control consists of punishment of those who injure others.

What greater reassurance can the weak have than that they are like anyone else?

Eric Hoffer
(1902-83), U.S. philosopher.
The Passionate State of Mind, (1955).
[Perhaps reassurance isn't what is in the best interest of weak, the strong, or those in between. But then those who reassure the weak are unlikely to have the best interests of anyone but themselves in mind anyway.--Joe]

I was watching "Fight Club" (again) last night and thinking how lucky we are that you were never fashion-seeking enough to have embraced nihilism.

Sean Flynn
17:34 July 9, 2007
[In an IM chat with me.--Joe]

This is how China does it:

China on Tuesday executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog who had become a symbol of the country's wide-ranging problems on product safety.

Zheng Xiaoyu's execution was confirmed by State Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Yan Jianyang at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China's track record on food and drug safety.

Such cases "have brought shame to our administration and revealed serious problems. We need to seriously reflect on what lessons we can draw from such cases," Yan said about Zheng and a separate case involving Cao Wenzhuang, the administration's former pharmaceutical registration department director.

Zheng was sentenced to death in May for taking bribes to approve an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths and other substandard medicines. Cao was given a death sentence last month with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty.

It is my opinion that government corruption should be treated more harshly that corruption of officials in private business but I wouldn't contest someone's claim that execution is perhaps a bit extreme in ordinary corruption cases. But if someone dies as a result then it should be considered.

Politicians that infringe on the rights of the people to keep and bear arms should be encouraged to carefully weigh the potential harm of gun-control as well as the potential benefits.

Trivia/synchronicity about Kim and her wedding:

• When Kimberly Joe Huffman-Scott was born her mother, Barb, was the same age as Barb's mom was when Barb was born (31 years-old)
• When Kim was born her father, me, was the same as my mom was when I was born (30 years-old)
• Kim was 172 days younger than her mother when she married and only 40 days older than her father
• After the ceremony as Kim and I danced the boat sailed past the motel where Barb and I had our honeymoon and we celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary

Kim and I practicing our dance earlier in the day
(Photo by Xenia Joy)

Xenia and I earlier on the day of the wedding
(Photo by Xenia Joy)

Kim's garter
(Photo by Xenia Joy)

The bride and her parents
(Photo by Xenia Joy)

Kim and Xenia prior to the ceremony

Barb and I dance in the foreground, Kim and Caleb in the center background
(photo by Xenia Joy)

Kim and I dancing for real
(photo by Xenia Joy)

More of Kim and I dancing for real (can you tell what, if anything, I'm "packing", how, and where?)
(photo by Xenia Joy)

Dillon Precision Range Bag containing a video camera and accessories, a SureFire 6P flashlight, and a 22-round magazine loaded with 180 grain SXT Winchester Ranger .40 S&W

More photos on Xenia's Live Journal here and here.

When Kim was in the Kindergarten we were living in Sandpoint, Idaho. She would take her backpack with ladybug marking on it to school to carry her books and stuff. There was this older boy, a Fourth grader, that made fun of her about the ladybug backpack. The next year we moved to Moscow and Kim didn't have to deal with him anymore.

Kim graduated from Moscow High School and a year or so later moved to Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Shortly after arriving she was introduced to Caleb by a friend of hers. They talked and talked and discovered they both went to grade school at the same time in Sandpoint. They figured out that it was Caleb who teased Kim about her ladybug backpack. Kim and Caleb were married on Saturday.

For one of our wedding presents we gave them a set of a ladybug suitcase, a ladybug backpack, and a small ladybug backpack. Before the boat upon which the wedding ceremony took place left the dock a ladybug landed near one of the bouquets. I got a picture of it before it flew away:

I'll be posting some more pictures from the wedding soon. Watch for more ladybug pictures.