I think this is a train wreck waiting to happen.
Mike Machado
California State Senator
Talking about “Real ID” which is expected by most to be a real mess.
[For expense think about the Canadian gun registry on steroids. Plus it can’t possibly achieve it’s intended goals.–Joe]
Xenia had four days off from school this weekend so Barb took some time off too and visited me in Kirkland rather than me driving home to Moscow this weekend while James and the two attack dogs and two flesh eating cats guarded the Huffman-Scott compound. Yesterday was mostly consumed with shopping at “thrift stores.” It always seems to me it would be much more thrifty to not go shopping at all, but that argument is always met with such a clamor that I seldom bring it up regardless of the unassailable logic. We had lunch at a Japanese buffet which was very nice. Today we visited the Seattle Center and had lunch in the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle.
Pictures are here.
Update: Xenia posted some more pictures.
Here’s what the public thinks:
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Many adults in the United States believe the current regulations regarding firearms are adequate, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 52 per cent of respondents believe the U.S. does not need stricter gun control laws.
…
Polling Data
Does the U.S. need stricter gun control laws?
Yes
39%
No
52%
Source: Rasmussen Reports
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 American adults, conducted on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
Here’s what’s on the agenda for Congress (from Volume 3, Issue 1, January/February 2006 Firearms Coalition, Hard Corps Report):
The Democrats are fractured over gun control. The Canadian Gun registry is about to be scrapped. New Orleans. The list goes on.
Keep up the pressure. Drive these bigots into political extinction.
The mere absence of war is not peace.
John F. Kennedy
Washington D.C. elected a convicted felon as Mayor but at least they waited until he was out of jail. Not so on the West Bank. And these aren’t just minor crimes:
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Imagine 54 U.S. congressmen holding office from behind bars, and you get an idea of the problem facing the Palestinian parliament when it meets today for its first session since the January landslide victory of the radical, anti-Israel group Hamas.
About 10 percent of the 132 newly elected Palestinian legislators are inmates of Israel’s civilian and military jails. Some of the legislators are being held in administrative detention without charges; others are serving time after conviction in Israeli courts.
How, if at all, these prisoner-politicians can participate in government and join debates on proposed legislation is a serious question.
“They won’t get any special privileges just because they were elected,” said Israeli Prison Service spokesman Ofer Lefler. At best, he said, they might be able to pass information to the outside world through monthly family visits or visits with lawyers, which can occur more frequently.
“In our jails they haven’t got cellphones — I hope. And they haven’t got permission to call,” Lefler said. “They are prisoners. That’s the whole story.”
While Palestinian legislators confined to the Gaza Strip under Israeli travel restrictions are expected to participate via closed-circuit video link with their colleagues meeting in Ramallah, no such provision exists for the 13 legislators in Israeli custody. (One legislator is in a Palestinian jail as well as under international supervision.)
Ten of the 14 are members of Hamas, whose effective majority drops from 74 to 64 seats while they are incarcerated. Three are members of Fatah, including the head of the party’s electoral list, Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti is serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in five attacks that killed civilians. Still, he is often mentioned by Palestinian and Israeli analysts — a la Nelson Mandela — as a possible future Palestinian leader.
One inmate, Ahmed Sadaat, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is in a Palestinian jail in Jericho for his role in the 2002 assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.
This should speak volumes about their agenda, their political mandate, for their terms in office.
About 10 days ago I was telling someone about the extremist Muslim response to the cartoons of Muhammad. They weren’t particularly familiar with what was happening but said, “It will go away soon.” I agreed, but my point was it showed the tremendous gulf between the west and radical Islam. Later, at lunch with a friend, I repeated, “It will go away soon.” He disagreed, “The only way I see to get to the other side of this is over a pile of bodies–either theirs or ours.” I realized he could be right but wasn’t convinced. A week or so, I thought, that’s about the typical attention spam for this sort of thing. I had forgotten the length of the French riots (and here, here, here, and here) last fall. That was more like three weeks or a month. This is a bigger and more widespread event. Perhaps this will be the flame that will burn until all the fuel is exhausted. It was over lunch yesterday this same friend told me about the $1 million reward for killing the cartoonist and ended the conversation with, “I feel like I’m living on another planet, these people are a bunch of savages.” I couldn’t disagree.
In our frame of reference this insult is so trivial and their response is so extreme there will be no compromise, no truce, and no ceasefire. As communication and travel have improved we can no longer be isolated from each other on this planet. The publication of a few cartoons in minor newspaper in a small country in Western Europe ignited a violent, worldwide, response. The fuel supply for this flame, this clash of civilizations, has been building for over a thousand years and the flame may not be extinguished until the fuel is exhausted. I see only uncomfortable options; we destroy their civilization, they destroy ours, or we participate, as either victims or perpetrators, in the greatest genocide this world has ever known.
This is a unanimous decision by all imams of Islam that whoever insults the prophet deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man to his end, will get this prize.
Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi
Peshawar, Pakistan
February 17, 2006
Cleric announcing rewards of $1 million dollars, one million rupees, 500,000 rupees, and a car for the killing of the cartoonist who drew the prophet.
The police commit the ‘crime’ in order to get evidence:
According to court documents, Spotsylvania detectives paid three visits to the Moon Spa in January and received massages, baths and sex acts on four occasions. Smith previously told The Post it was not the first time his agency has employed the full-contact method, which he said is essential because many prostitutes avoid verbally incriminating themselves. Several legal and law enforcement experts said the practice is rarely used, if ever, and might amount to breaking the law.
In their news release, Smith and Neely said that undercover officers often purchase illegal drugs to build cases against dealers and that the “same lawful investigative technique” was used in the prostitution cases. A Virginia law banning drug possession exempts law-enforcement officers who possess narcotics as part of their job duties. The prostitution statute makes no such exception.
Another case of “The law doesn’t apply to us.” Jerks.
Congratulations to Mr. Completely for winning the title of Biggest and Best Gun Blog 2005. For this he, and his lovely wife KeeWee, will be receiving a free entry into Boomershoot 2006. I’m not sure what he is going to be using at the event as his particular area of gun dominance is with .22LR handguns, but I’m sure we can figure something out. I’ll be having dinner, again, with he and his wife on March 1 so maybe we can work out some details then.
BRITAIN’s security forces are nowhere near getting to grips with al-Qaeda, the country’s top anti-terror police officer said yesterday, warning the struggle could take decades.
Peter Clarke, the head of the Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Terrorist Branch, said it was “hopelessly optimistic” to think that the threat from al-Qaeda could be contained within five or ten years.
One report even suggests that the current generation of al-Qaeda leaders have drawn up a “50-year plan”, he said.
Mr Clarke, speaking to a Whitehall gathering of security experts, gave a sobering assessment of the task facing police and intelligence officers trying to counter Islamic extremist groups.
As Ry and I concluded a year and a half ago–we must destroy their culture. The only alternative involves a nearly uncountable pile of bodies and may be unavoidable anyway. But we must try.
Patience and perserverence have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
John Quincy Adams
[I just got all caught up on my paperwork dealing with the bigoted felons at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.–Joe]
I don’t go along with the idea of taxing income so “deductions” don’t really excite me all that much–they should make deductions not applicable to taxes. Deductions are just the government attempting to screw people a little bit less, but we are still screwed. Anyway, Australia is going to be doing less screwing of prostitutes:
STRIPPERS and prostitutes will be allowed to claim condoms, lingerie, oils and other “tools of the trade” as tax deductions under new rules issued by the Tax Office.
In a directive obtained by The Daily Telegraph, the Australian Taxation Office informs sex workers that they should also claim for their exotic dancing lessons.
Damaged bondage equipment and “adult novelties” are also listed as valid tax deductions.
Sex workers who keep a separate premises will also be able to claim a deduction on their accommodation costs – even if it is a room rented by the hour.
The UK is on it’s way just as F.A. Hayek warned. This is from an editoral, again warning the British people:
FEW industries could be more competitive than retailing. The drive to better their rivals is what pushes the major store groups to continuously improve what they offer to customers. So what does a gaggle of Members of Parliament suggest applying to this thriving industry? A regulator, of course.
Imagine how the staff of the Retail Regulator might delight in “protecting” consumers by dictating permissible prices, and suitable sales mixes. The customer would no longer be king, instead it would be the bureaucrats who held sway over what appeared in the stores.
The MPs would have their new creation charged with bringing forward “proposals for the maintenance of a vibrant, diverse and sustainable retail sector”. That is a tall order of a bureaucrat, as likely to result in a dictat that every high street should have the approved quota of coffee shops, chemists and clothes stores and end up looking remarkably similar.
The All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group has identified a problem but it is reaching for the wrong weapon to deal with it. In its own evidence it cites the heavy regulation that already governs retailers, with the burden being disproportionately heavy on smaller stores. There is a genuine concern about the speed at which smaller stores are vanishing: in the last decade the UK has lost nearly 30,000 independent food, beverage and tobacco retailers. Yet dubious regulation has hastened this trend.
The insistence of the competition authorities that there were two distinct types of grocery shop, the superstores and the convenience stores, and that the first could be allowed to gobble up the second, has dramatically changed the retail landscape in Britain. There now seems a willingness to rethink that view but it is too late to undo the damage. One lobby group, the new economics foundation, is calling for the major grocers to be forced to divest their stores to limit their market share to a maximum of 8 per cent. Even if that were possible, consumers would be incensed.
Competition authorities and Retail Regulators? Wow!
The serfs are loosing even more freedom in other areas:
SMOKING will be banned in all pubs, clubs and workplaces from next year after historic votes in the Commons last night.
After last-minute appeals from health campaigners, MPs opted for a blanket prohibition which will start in summer 2007, ending months of argument over whether smoking should be barred in pubs and restaurants only. They voted to ban smoking in all pubs and clubs by 384 to 184, a surprisingly large majority of 200.
Smoking will still be allowed in the home and in places considered to be homes, such as prisons, care homes and hotels. But there are difficult decisions to be made on exemptions for places such as oil rigs, where smoking outside the workplace would be dangerous.
Smokers lighting up in banned areas will face a fixed penalty notice of £50 and spot fines of £200 will be introduced for failing to display no-smoking signs, with the possible penalty if the issue goes to court increasing to £1,000.
Caroline Flint, the Public Health Minister, also announced that the fine for failing to stop people smoking in banned areas would be increased to £2,500 — more than ten times the £200 originally proposed.
The Bill also allows the Government to increase the age for buying cigarettes. Ministers will consult on raising it from 16 to 18.
Smoking could still be banned at outdoor locations that are “substantially enclosed”, such as football grounds and railway platforms. The details will be contained in regulations after a three-month consultation.
No decision has yet been made on whether smoking will be banned in cars carrying passengers.
What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Thomas Jefferson
Letter Nov. 13, 1787
referring to Shay’s rebellion
[Present day examples of tyrants and patriots abound and are a constant reminder we must not give up the fight to keep our right to keep and bear arms.–Joe]
Read all about it here.
The ineffectual, expensive, and dangerous gun registry in Canada is about to get dismantled:
OTTAWA (CP) – The Conservative government has created a committee of two cabinet ministers and a backbencher to figure out how best to kill the long-gun registry as soon as possible.
Registry critic Garry Breitkreuz, who is working with Justice Minister Vic Toews and Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, said he has been given wide leeway to deal swiftly with the registry.
Remember New Orleans and remember Canada.
Via Bruce Schneier comes this cartoon. Airplane security isn’t improved by removing tools (such as knives and firearms) from the passenger compartment. It’s improved by removing the people that are a threat and giving the innocent people onboard the tools and the will to help with their own security.
The potassium chlorate was delivered this week. I just need to order the boxes used as containers for the explosives and I will have all but the most trivial items needed for Boomershoot 2006 in stock.
Last Saturday I tested out a flour mill as a tool for getting all the lumps out of the potassium chlorate just prior to mixing it with the other ingredients. It works but requires constant human attention. Dad had an idea that I will try at the next opportunity. In any case I think I can get rid of the blenders which are the biggest power drain and another drain on labor as when they are used they require constant attention as well.
The main reason for the Saturday excursion to Boomershoot country was to test target detonation with .223 at the greater ranges. I made some new targets and shot at them from 630 yards with a .223. I made a number of errors and didn’t realize until after I got home that because of the cold (30F) and the exceptionally high air pressure (30.5″ of Hg) the target velocity was probably under 1200 fps. This velocity is below what I would have expected the targets to detonate and that in fact is exactly what happened. I had nearly a dozen solid hits without them detonating. I fired one round of CCI Stinger (high velocity .22LR) from about 15 yards away (probably about 1500 fps target velocity) and a target with three .223 holes detonated. I really want to test the .223 with a target velocity of 1400 to 1500 fps.
Below is the target array I made to make it easier to assure a hit on a target while not having all of them detonate at once causing the neighbors to have things fall off the walls. I had something else in mind, Ry suggested this but figured I would need someone at the shooting line to help get things lined up. While driving home from the Seattle area I figured out a way I could line it up myself. I keep telling him that between the two of us we have a complete brain. Lots of ideas from one or the other of us will be half baked and the other turns it into something quite clever.
From the shooters viewpoint
Side view
From Connecticut:
HARTFORD — Getting guns off the streets was the focus yesterday of 15 Connecticut mayors and Gov. M. Jodi Rell at a summit on a statewide urban violence problem.
A rash of shootings, fights and other violent incidents that has plagued Stamford and Norwalk in recent months has also hit other cities. Rell last month invited the top local officials of the state’s 14 largest cities and the town of Windham to meet to share suggestions and strategies for attacking the problem, particularly among Connecticut’s youth.
Most of the 90-minute meeting, which was closed to the public, focused on the problem of illegal guns, participants said.
Just as Heinlein said. I have Just One Question for them.
If “everybody knows” such-and-such, then it ain’t so, by at least ten thousand to one.
Robert Heinlein
[Can you say “we need more gun control?”–Joe]