Author Archives: Joe

Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

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The right of citizens to be safe in their homes and communities can never be subject to a popular vote.

It is astonishing that in a city where the leaders preach how open they are to diversity, they encouraged voters to blindly march to the polls last November to practice a blatant, egregious and despicable form of social bigotry against their neighbors and fellow citizens.

Working to deprive others of their property and their right to self-defense just because you don’t like firearms is morally repugnant, and with today’s ruling, the people who pushed Proposition H last fall should feel ashamed of themselves.

Alan Gottlieb
Second Amendment Foundation
June 13, 2006
Judge Rejects San Francisco’s Handgun Ban
[I’m pleased SAF/CCRKBA is continuing to push the bigotry meme.  Also of interest is the city bigots announced today they are going to appeal the decision.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Raymond Chen

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It would be unreasonable to expect the HTML parser to be able to understand every language both present and future. (At least not until clairvoyance has been perfected.)

Raymond Chen
June 5, 2006
[I absolutely love this quote.  Understatement in the first sentence followed by the only known exception to the stated rule.  Succinct yet complete encapsulation of the situation.  Some people get annoyed at me when I find exceptions to their overly broad generalizations but I think they are an essential component of understanding the situation and almost always just trying to help.  Today, as most days, Raymond is my technological and word-smithing hero.-Joe]

Hate crimes

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You probably have to be a numbers geek to enjoy this but since this is my blog and I am a numbers geek you get the “benefits”.  Clayton Cramer computes how hated you are based on the number of crimes committed against various groups (racial, sexual orientation, and religious belief) as compared to what is to be expected from your representation in the population.  So for example, if the group you belong to composes 10% of the U.S. population yet suffers 20% of the hate crimes you are hated more than a group that composes 80% of the population and suffers 40% of the hate crimes. 

What group do you think is the most hated?  Blacks maybe?  They used to get lynched for looking at white women “the wrong way”.  Nope, not the most hated anymore.

What about Jews?  They were considered the “spawn of the devil”, “controlled the banks”, and “vermin that spread disease.”  Nazi Germany was implementing the “Final Solution” just 65 years ago.  There still must be a lot of residual hate for them, right?  Not all that much in this country anyway.  In the Mideast I’m sure it’s tough to top their score.

Maybe it’s the Muslims.  It was Muslim extremists that perpetrated 9-11, the first World Trade Center bombing, the Beslan school hostage crisis, and nearly all the casualties of our armed forces in the last few years.  Surely they are the most hated.  Nope.

What about homosexuals?  The Pink Pistols haven’t really caught on enough to prevent gay bashing, right?  I’m not sure about the effect of the Pink Pistols on hate crimes against gays but homosexuals only come in at number two.

The most hated group is not identified by religion or sexual orientation.  This group is identified by “race” (the definition of “race” is a topic for another time) and I’m a member.  Read the Clayton’s post for details.  This runs counter to the Seattle School Districts definition of racist however.

Update: I fixed the example in the first paragraph.  I was in a hurry and made a major error in my haste which defeated my attempt at clarification.

Raging against self defense

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Sarah Thompson, M.D. gives us an expanded version of the mental issues of the anti-gun bigots I posted about a year ago.

Quote of the day–Tony Blair

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In Iraq and Afghanistan, al Qaeda has taken a stand.

They know that if progress and democracy take root in those two previously failed and terrorized states, then their values of violence and hatred against those who disagree with them will in turn be uprooted.

That’s why they fight and why they will continue to fight very hard.

For three years, al Qaeda have sought to murder innocent people, promote sectarian killing and wreck the democratic process in Iraq.

This terrorism is a global movement. Their attack in Iraq has only ever been part of a wider attack that they have carried into conflicts and countries the world over.

Indeed, there is barely a major nation in the world that has not felt the outreach of their evil.

Defeat them in Iraq and we will defeat them everywhere.

We need to do so armed, of course, with weapons, but also with one simple idea — that where people want to live in freedom and be governed by democracy, they should be able to do so and the world should stand united behind them.

In Iraq today, that idea has shown its worth.

 

Tony Blair
Prime Minister of Britain
June 8, 2006
Blair: Blow to al Qaeda everywhere
CNN

Xenia’s pictures of Sara

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That’ my youngest daughter behind the camera and my (so called) adopted daughter in front of the lens.  I’m impressed by both.  My favorite of the collection:

Quote of the day–Martin Luther

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Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees must be put out of sight and … know nothing but the word of God.

Martin Luther
[I admire Luther for his honesty even though I dispise his contempt for reason and truth. Most present day haters of reason, nearly all advocates of gun control, are not nearly so open about it.–Joe]

Culture under attack

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In the U.S. we have a gun culture—NRA, SAF, CCRKBA, GOA, KABA, JPFO, USPSA, bloggers, and even Boomershoot and I are a small part of it. And even though all the these organizations and people only advocate legal activities we still get blamed for the illegal use of guns. Our culture is under attack by bigots with mental problems who can’t answer Just One Question.

But have you wondered what the bigots would say if our gun culture was abolished? Would they then be happy and stop their whining about freedom? In England nearly all guns are banned yet they still have violent crime. So what do the like-minded bigots say there? No big surprise–it’s the knife culture:

…he was appalled at Britain’s knife culture.

Kamondo Mulumbu said: “Knives are out of control. Most young people are walking around with them.”

These bigots are people that cannot tolerate freedom. They demand their freedoms be taken from them and others. They yearn for a utopia that cannot exist and paradoxically the perceived path to an Elysium Field is the path to a hell on earth. You can chose to fight them now on the gun issue or you can attempt to fight them later when even knives have been abolished. Adapt Churchill’s quote to the situation as necessary. It’s not just gun or knife culture that is under attack, it’s the culture of freedom.

Awesome understatement

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Ry says awesome.  That is an understatement.  Among the usual things to wonder about in this video I wonder about the air density.  How did he know it would be safe at that altitude?  The glide ratio is going to be severely affected compared to doing the same stunt at sea level.

Quote of the day–Martin Luther

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Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but — more frequently than not — struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.

Martin Luther
[The benefits of socialism, communism, and gun control are faiths as well.  Factual data and reason are hated by most, no matter how well intentioned, promoters of those belief systems.–Joe]

A good sign

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Some moderate Muslims in Canada are asking for help in preventing their youth from becoming extremists.  This is a good sign:

OTTAWA—Canada’s Muslim community is asking for high-level political assistance, including the help of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to weed out extremists who are preying on young people.

“We’re not here to say we don’t have an issue. Of course we have an issue, but we can’t deal with it ourselves,” social worker Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social Services Association, told a news conference yesterday.

“We are part of the Canadian society and so we demand that the Canadian society come forward and help us to root out this.”

All the alternatives to a large majority of Muslims helping to end the violence of the extremists are very unpleasant.

Understanding Bush derangement syndrome

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Putting on my engineer/scientist hat…

Problem:
Why do so many of the people on the political left make such outlandish claims that no rational person could believe them?

Given:
Bush derangement syndrome describes some of the symptoms in general terms. It does not explain why it occurs and hence is of little use in prevention and cure.  Other, more specific, examples of irrational beliefs include:

Solution:
The best explanation to date is, in the simplest possible words, When Prophecy Fails.  This isn’t a perfect fit but the underlying mechanism appears to explain the symptoms.  Let me explain.   When people commit to a political viewpoint they frequently don’t just adhere to a set of beliefs they claim are “good” they also frequently claim their opponents are “evil”.  This is, in almost all cases, not true.  Because I am so familiar with the issue of gun control I’ll use examples from that particular public debate to illustrate. Without any data to support one side or the other there are two hypothesis that, at face value, appear to be worth exploring:

  1. Easily available weapons is good public policy because they enable innocent people to defend themselves against violent criminals.
  2. Easily available weapons is poor public policy because they enable violent criminals to commit violent acts against innocent people.

Some people promoting hypothesis 1 go beyond claiming they are trying to save lives by enabling self-defense.  These people may claim their opponents have the intent to enable evil acts (socialism, communism, genocide, etc.)  Some people promoting hypothesis 2 go beyond claiming they are trying to save innocent lives by removing weapons from potential criminals.  These people may claim their opponents do not care about the loss of innocent lives and are motivated by money from gun and ammunition sales or the mere enjoyment of their hobby.

In the process of promoting their beliefs both sides will make predictions (prophecies) about the consequences of agreeing and/or not agreeing with them.  When those predictions fail to come about they are in the situation of a failed prophecy as described by the book.  Those people, given certain conditions, will not admit they were wrong and change their beliefs but will instead increase their promotion (proselyting) of their belief system and make new, typically even grander, predications of the adverse results if people fail to adhere to their belief system.

Hence, people opposed to the Bush administration end up claiming President Bush is the equivalent of Adolf Hitler and the gun controller types ban certain types of clothes when gun bans fail to reduce crime.

Quote of the day–Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi

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We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme.

Abu Abdel-Rahman al-Iraqi
Identified as the deputy “emir” or leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
June 6, 2006
Quad Cities Times–Spiritual adviser led to al-Zarqawi
[Note the goal, that the word of his God to be supreme and hence the end of human rights as we know them.  It also sounds to me like a example for When Prophecy Fails.–Joe]

Reading, arithmetic or both?

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We already know The Gun Guys have mental problems, but beyond the known problems there is even more.  Which do you think it is?  Do they have reading comprehension problems? Arithmetic problems? Or maybe both? Here’s the evidence, you decide, from an email I received today:

But the most important of these is definitely the “one handgun every three months” law.  Currently, anyone legally able to buy one gun can legally buy any number of them– illegal gun dealers know this, and therefore use it to buy weapons in bulk, which they then sell to criminals.  This law cuts that right out, and doesn’t come close to bothering “law-abiding gun owners,”  Who legitimately needs to buy 36 new guns every year?  A similar law is being worked on in Pennsylvania right now, which would actually limit the purchase of handguns to one every month.  And if you really need to buy more than 12 handguns per year, you should get another hobby.

If he didn’t understand one “handgun every three months” meant something different than “three handguns every month” it was a reading comprehension problem.  If he mixed up multiplication and division then it is a serious arithmetic deficiency.  I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming he knows better than to believe there are 58 months in a year but with all the mental problems he has the possibility exists he could be living in some sort of imaginary alternate universe.

If you are ever asked why limiting your purchase rate is a bad idea here are some answers:

  • Registration:  In order to enforce laws such as these registration of all (hand)gun sales with automated retrieval of the data is required.  If you don’t understand what is wrong with that then you have more reading to do (also here and Molon Labe).
  • Legitimacy:  The constitution (Federal and most states) protect the right to keep and bear arms.  Where did they acquire the authority to ignore the constitution?  And if they claim “reasonable regulation” such as “shouting fire in a crowded theater” comparing it to the First Amendment you answer that if they are allowed the power to restrict you to one gun a month then they also have the power to restrict it to one per year, one per lifetime, or ownership of only one gun at a time.  A better comparison would being only allowed one letter to your congress critter each year, or one blog posting per week.
  • Effectiveness: It’s already illegal for convicted felons to own firearms.  A law prohibiting you and I from buying more than one gun every N units of time will not matter to them.  Such a law would not be any more effective than the current laws against the manufacture, sale, purchase, and use of some recreational drugs.

And the best answer is, “It’s a bad idea because no one has yet answered Just One Question.”

Now feed him to the hogs

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Fortunately the two 500 pound bombs didn’t reduce him to his molecular components:

 

In fact he lived for a few minutes after the bombs blew the house into rubble.  In his last minutes he had the opportunity to see the faces those who he should have worshiped–those who brought the fist of god down upon his head:

The house, and all inside it, was wiped out. However, Jordanian sources last night said Zarqawi did not die instantly. Though mortally wounded, he was alive when Iraqi and US troops arrived on the scene. His brutal reign ended 10 minutes after the bombs fell. Ten others died with him, among them a chief aide and two women.

There is video showing the bombs being dropped but the video I really want to see publicized is that of his remains being excreted from the ass of a pig.

Ammo shortage is Hillary’s fault

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I’ve been hearing about the 7.62×39 ammo shortage and high prices for sometime now.  I didn’t realize it was Hillary Clinton’s fault and wouldn’t have believed if I didn’t have these additional details:

American defence officials have secretly requested a “prodigious quantity” of ammunition from Russia to supply the Afghan army in case a Democrat president takes over in Washington and pulls out US troops.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Pentagon chiefs have asked arms suppliers for a quote on a vast amount of ordnance, including more than 78 million rounds of AK47 ammunition, 100,000 rocket-propelled grenades and 12,000 tank shells – equivalent to about 15 times the British Army’s annual requirements.

The Bush administration is said to want the deal because of worries that the next president could be a Democrat, possibly Hillary Clinton, who may abandon Afghanistan.

…

Defence specialists said Russian arms chiefs at first “fell about laughing” because they thought the order was a joke when it arrived this month.

But with the Americans said to be pressing for a price and earliest delivery date, the request is being rapidly processed and exports could begin before the end of this year.

The “decade’s worth” of ammunition will give the Afghan National Army a vast arsenal to deal with Taliban or drug warlords if Washington withdraws its troops.

…

The order also suggests the Afghan army will be equipped with T62 tanks, Mi24 Hind attack helicopters and Spandrel anti-tank missiles.

If fully trained it will provide a formidable force against insurgents and potential foreign aggressors, including Pakistan where tensions are high on the southern border.

“This is completely refitting the Afghan army for the long term and it should stop a resurgence of the Taliban in its tracks,” a British arms expert said. “The order will take a year to make and deliver but the Russians are used to large quantities.”

…

Some observers pointed to the irony of the deal, because when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan the Americans sold Stinger surface-to- air missiles to the Mujahideen to enable them to shoot down Moscow’s aircraft.

Quote of the day–Nouri al-Malki

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Al-Zarqawi was eliminated.

Nouri al-Malki
Prime Minister of Iraq
June 8, 2006
Top terrorist killed in air raid
See also:

[There was no competition for today’s “Quote of the day”.–Joe]

Experts weigh in on ID cards

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Via Bruce Schneier.

In this case the experts are the people that make a living selling the fake cards:

(AP) Luis Hernandez just laughs as he sells fake driver’s licenses and Social Security cards to illegal immigrants near a park known for shady deals. The joke _ to him and others in his line of work _ is the government’s promise to put people like him out of business with a tamperproof national ID card.

“One way or another, we’ll always find a way,” said Hernandez, 35, a sidewalk operator who is part of a complex counterfeiting network around MacArthur Park, where authentic-looking IDs are available for as little as $150.

Basically it’s a unsolvable problem that, even if successful, won’t solve the problems the government wants it to solve.

Another crime by PNNL personnel

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Hey PNNL felons!

Remember the email you sent to the Department of Energy?  The one where you said I used government computers for hosting personal websites?  You might want to read this.  Plus I know another lie too–a much bigger and more blatant lie by one of your felonious coworkers.  I’m just not telling you the details of what I know about it right now.

The front is here

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The recent arrests of Muslim extremists in Canada weren’t isolated and weren’t limited to just that country:

AN INTERNET trail left by a British computer expert has led investigators to an intricate terror network spreading from the backstreets of Baghdad through cells of young militants living in European capitals to Islamic extremists plotting car-bomb attacks in North America.

For nine months police and intelligence agents in eight countries have patiently worked through a forest of e-mails and intercepted telephone calls that have so far led to the arrest of up to 30 men.

…

A senior security source told The Times that there is a far greater number of terror networks operating in Britain than had been thought, all using the internet to plot attacks here and abroad.

A series of criminal trials in Britain, the US, Canada and Bosnia over the coming months will determine whether the much maligned Western security agencies have successfully disrupted a dangerous ring of al-Qaeda sympathisers or been duped by faulty intelligence.

…

The arrest of 17 suspects, many of them teenagers, picked up in the suburbs of Toronto at the weekend is said to be the latest stage in dismantling a terrorist nexus that, worryingly, has its links with one of the world’s most wanted men — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

On his website al-Zarqawi has encouraged young Muslims to take up the fight in their own countries and spread his religious war further than Iraq and Afghanistan.

One aim is to create an army of “white-skinned” militants, men born in Europe and America who can convert to Islam and become harder for the authorities to detect as they cross the world on their missions, including suicide attacks. Using skilled computer operators around the world, al-Zarqawi’s outfit passes on bombmaking manuals, advice on how to sustain terror cells and even ways to use credit card fraud to hack into vital internet sites.

…

A series of raids in recent months in a number of Europe’s capitals and in Atlanta in the US has passed virtually unannounced.

One US official told the Wall Street Journal: “We let the operation run as long as we had to make sure we could identify as many would-be terrorist operators as we could and then picked them off one, two, three and finally 17 at a time.”

What will it take for people to realize we are in the middle of WW III with the front lines in our own cities?  And furthermore our enemy is composed of up to a billion people.