Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

It’s not a slippery slope

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Some are calling the Heller ruling a slippery slope. And the lawsuits being filed (and here) might be used as evidence for that claim.

I don’t see it quite that way. It’s more as I told Sean last night in IM:

It’s like we have landed on Normandy, held, and advanced a couple miles with materials, men, and supplies pouring in behind us.

It’s going to be a very long and difficult fight. Every challenge to their bigoted beliefs will be a rallying cry for them. They will scream and yell, and refuse to obey the law of the land as long as they can. It will be little different than when blacks were declared equal citizens and they were still stopped for driving while black, jailed, beaten, and even convicted in kangaroo courts on phony charges. It won’t be until we start convicting the bigots on 18 USC 241 and 242 (the rough equivalent of the Nuremberg trials in my Normandy analogy) will they start to back off.

BTW: A little birdie told me there will be more lawsuits announced on Monday. This is going to be very broad front war. We outnumber them and can out supply them. We can exhaust their resources, diminish their ability to put up effective resistance, and sap their will to fight. Some will even surrender without putting up a fight.

I’m reminded of the words of Charles Schumer:

We’re here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true! We’re going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We’re going to beat guns into submission!

U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer
November 30, 1993
NBC Nightly News

Eat them Chucky!

Quote of the day–Justice Antonin Scalia

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In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.

Justice Antonin Scalia
June 26, 2008
District of Columbia et al. v. Heller
Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit.
[It sounds to me like D.C. just became a shall issue politicial entity. That’s overstating things just a little but not by much.–Joe]

Attack! Attack! Attack!

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The ink isn’t dry on the Heller decision and we have already attacked the bigots in Chicago.

I was worried when I first heard of it. I was worried it was someone that didn’t know what they were doing and they would mess it up. The Second Amendment Foundation is involved which helped ease my worry some. Reading the entire complaint I broke out into a big smile. I can hear Alan Gottlieb’s mischievous voice and carefully calculated plan coming through. Then at the very end I saw the attorney–Alan Gura.

As Sean just told me in IM, “Yeah, baby! Sleep well, Mayor Daley”.

But that’s not all! The NRA is on the attack in California as well and perhaps New York. There should not be any rest for the wicked.

This is going to be great for the election in November too. It will have a very strong component of the gun rights issues. And I think we can get out the votes better than the other side can. Plus with the Heller decision on our side with Obama flip-flopping it’s going to look bad for him.

A settlement between Red’s and ATF

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I would prefer the Feds ended up in jail and reimbursing Red’s for all expenses but I can’t complain a whole lot if this goes down as described:

An Idaho gun shop that went to federal court to keep the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from stripping it of its gun license has reached a tentative settlement with the government.

Attorneys on both sides told U.S. District Court Judge Mikel H. Williams on Wednesday that they had likely agreed on how to end the case.

Mark Geston, an attorney representing Terry and Ryan Horsley of Red’s Trading Post, said he could not yet release details, but said the proposal would allow the Twin Falls gun shop to continue operating.

“I think everybody’s reached a cooperative and constructive agreement,” Geston said Thursday. “The judge said to have it finalized in 10 days and we’ll just do our best to do that. The agreement allows Red’s Trading Post to continue as a gun shop in Twin Falls.”

I tried to check out Ryan’s blog but Blogger reports:

Sorry, the blog at redstradingpost.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.

This is entirely speculation on my part but my guess is pulling the blog down is part of the settlement. Stepping even further into baseless speculation one could say it’s a sad day when you have to give up your 1st Amendment rights to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights.

Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

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Legal theatrics that deflect attention from the failure of Bloomberg’s administration to prevent crime while pursuing an agenda of victim disarmament are all flash and no substance and the people know it. Judging from today’s appeals court ruling, so do the courts.

Alan Gottlieb
April 30, 2008
SAF CHEERS FEDERAL COURT REJECTION OF BLOOMBERG LAWSUIT
[I’m frequently told it is because of a personality “defect” that I expect people to obey the law instead of openly disobey. Even though the 2nd and 10th Amendment are so blatantly violated that you would think I would get a clue and not have those expectations of our public servants. Still occasionally those servants who believe themselves to be masters get their wrists slapped and that is a good thing. Not as good as being sent to prison for violation of 18 USC 242 as they should be but it is better than letting them get away with it entirely as is usually the case.–Joe]

More evidence of the efficacy of Dr. Joe’s cure

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Via Scott K. we have this research confirming Dr. Joe’s cure for everything:

Researchers from the Cancer Council of Victoria found that men who masturbated more than five times each week were one-third less likely to develop the cancer.

Feeding the poor

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Ignoring the fact that no where in the U.S. Constitution does it allow for the Federal government to do this it’s just plain stupid even if it was allowed:

President Bush called on Congress Thursday to approve $770 million to help alleviate dramatically escalating food prices that threaten widespread hunger and increasing social unrest around the world.

In a surprise mid-afternoon appearance at the White House, Bush announced he is asking lawmakers to approve the additional funds for global food aid and development programs. The money is being included in a broader $70 billion Iraq war funding measure for 2009 that the White House sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday.

If it were the case that it was some sort of rare natural disaster at a personal or business, not governmental, level I could see accepting promissory notes in exchange for food or even making gifts of food. The goodwill generated might prove worthwhile. But to feed those that can no longer afford to feed themselves and have no realistic hope of improving their economic situation will only increase the suffering.

A short story will illustrate. The essence is true but I forget the details.

A few years ago a group (I think it was a state wildlife department) decided to feed a small herd of hungry deer searching for food in the snow. There were only a few of them–perhaps 20 or 30. Nearly all the deer made it through the winter when perhaps a five or ten of them would have died had they not been given assistance.

The next winter, at the same location they again fed the deer but this time there were 40 or 50. The wintering area could only support perhaps 15 or 20 deer. If they didn’t feed them again then perhaps 20 or 30 would die. If they could not allow for five or ten to die last year then certainly the could not allow 20 or 30 to die this year! A few years later the herd was in the hundreds and not only was it prohibitively expensive to feed them the deer were destroying the plant life of both their winter and summer feeding grounds. That many hooves and mouths became, in essence, a swarm of locusts that stripped the countryside clean.

What should be done now that they realized the folly they had engaged in that first winter? They had reached the point where they would have to feed them even in the summer to avoid the deaths of hundreds and still they would destroy the plant life and endanger other animal species wherever they went. I believe some were trapped and moved to other areas but increasing the bag limits on hunting season thinned the herd down to levels where the environment could support them. Most of those deer they feared would die were killed.

So what do we do about people in some distant land that cannot afford to feed themselves? I don’t know exactly but the free market, if it were allowed to work, will find solutions such that most of them will not starve. Someone who is hungry and whose family is hungry will work hard and for long hours. Cheap labor attracts the capitalists. The smart ones in those areas of food shortages, if allowed to do so, will find products and/or services they can export in exchange for food and/or money. And yes, some will die of starvation. The media will show us high resolution color pictures of dying children and say it is the fault of the greedy capitalists. But giving them food without anything in exchange will only mean death is delayed and the magnitude of the tragedy increased.

Quote of the day–Al Capone

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When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, its called hospitality.

Al Capone
[I’m reminded of this by the apparent suicide of the “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey. How sad that a provider of a desired service is convicted of a victimless crime and ends up dead. The real criminals are those that created and enforced such a law.–Joe]

Food riots

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Food shortages and riots are occurring around the world and even toppled Haiti’s government. In the U.S. wheat flour prices are double what they were a few months ago.

This is good news for farmers in a free market but the implications are profound. Food shortages are probably more destructive to the fabric of civil society than any other single factor. When people get hungry enough they will do almost anything.

A few years ago my brother told me the world reserve of wheat would last nearly a year even if all production were stopped immediately. Things have changed (from the previous link):

…there is now less wheat in grain bins than at any time since World War II — only about enough to supply the world for four days.

Record oil prices, collapsing housing market, and now world wide food prices and shortages. These are interesting times we live in. Will it result in increased government involvement to “solve” the problems? Or will people realize that government interference in the free market causes the problems? Remember that for decades the Soviet Union tried to increase food production under their communistic form of government and failed. And during those same decades the U.S. with a mostly capitalistic economy was trying to reduce food production so prices would increase and they too failed.

I’m reminded of Milton Friedman quote:

Governments never learn. Only people learn.

Have people learned? When they are hungry will the remember the lessons? Or will they insist the lessons be repeated at the cost of millions or perhaps even billions of lives?

Triangle of Death marches through our parks

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I received another wheelbarrow full of cash and notification from the Apex of the Triangle of Death that our National Parks may soon turn red with blood as shoot outs between visitors…

Sorry. I think I was channeling the VPC for a moment there. Here is the real story:

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), through the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, today issued a proposed rule to amend regulations prohibiting firearms in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. The National Rifle Association (NRA) led the effort to amend the existing policy regarding the carrying and transportation of firearms on these federal lands.

“Law-abiding citizens should not be prohibited from protecting themselves and their families while enjoying America’s National Parks and wildlife refuges,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “Under this proposal, federal parks and wildlife refuges will mirror the state firearm laws for state parks. This is an important step in the right direction, and we applaud efforts to amend the out-of-date regulations.”

The Era of Reagan is Over

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So says the Newtster, pretty well verifying what I’ve suspected for a long time– that Gingrich either never really got it, or he’s just tired of the fight and wants the DC culture to be nice to him once in a while.

Others have tried to get this across, so it’s old news, but I’ll give it another go:  As one who upholds the founding principles of the U.S., I could not give a rat’s behind if someone running for office is a black, white, Asian, Hispanic, one-armed female homosexual midget named Butch Hussein Ahmadinejad.  If that person has a track record of strenuously upholding and defending the founding principles of this country, she has my vote.  I do not care about personality (except she has to be a confident fighter or nothing’s going to improve).  I do not care about looks, I don’t care about slick marketing or any of that BS.  She’s got my vote.  This is why Reagan won two landslides- he tried to uphold the founding principles of this country.  He understood and embraced those principles and (and this is key) he was therefore capable of articulating them.  He was far from perfect, but he did it better than any president in my lifetime, even with a solid Democrat majority in both Houses, and that’s why he was popular.  It’s also why he was, and is, so hated and maligned by the Left (clue: You cannot embrace America’s founding principles and expect to get along with the Left.  They will never, ever tolerate you, so if you’re going to do it, expect to be attacked ruthlessly.  Ruthless attacks, however, can go both ways).

If you think it is a matter of hero worship, or cult of personality, etc., you are not capable of understanding Reagan’s success.

Therefore, to say that the era of Reagan is over is to say that the era of upholding America’s founding principles is over– that we are to abandon our principles in favor of “getting along” with those who would further undermine them.  No, Little Grasshopper– let them feel they must strive to “get along” with us in order to stay in the game.  It’s a choice.

Now we have three conservative-hating, anti-Constitution leftists remaining in the presidential race– two calling themselves Democrats and one calling himself a Republican, so this election no longer interests me.

To anyone else who wants my vote; it’s really easy– Just show the track record stated above.   For now, I will vote on state and local issues. (Yeah, I know– I could vote for Paul, but…)

Chicago people are slow learners

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9 people killed in 36 shootings over the weekend in Chicago:

Nine people were killed in 36 shootings over the weekend in Chicago, reflecting what some community leaders say is a deadly breakdown in discipline among gang members after a crackdown over the past few years put many of their leaders behind bars.

[…]

The shootings included drive-by attacks, and one case in which someone shot up a plumbing supply store with an AK-47. At least 14 of the shootings were gang-related, according to police. As for the rest, the only thing they can say for sure is that three had nothing to do with gangs.

[…]

Around the country, a number of cities, including Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, are not reporting surges in gang violence.

So, Mayor Daley, how is that handgun ban working out for you?

You would think the lessons of alcohol prohibition would not have to be retaught for recreation drug and gun prohibition. But for some reason that isn’t the case and Chicago appears to be the natural epicenter of demonstrating this lesson. What seems so odd to me is that it is taking so much longer to learn the lesson this time. I guess people in Chicago are just slow learners.

You are doing it wrong

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Wrong search terms, wrong location, on the wrong website, with a webmaster that watches his log files. I’m filling out the police report now.

Greensboro is just 90 miles from Chesterfield (have you sees the news lately?):

Domain Name (Unknown) 
IP Address 216.79.193.# (BellSouth.net)
ISP BellSouth.net
Location
Continent  : North America
Country  : United States  (Facts)
State  : North Carolina
City  : Greensboro
Lat/Long  : 36.0844, -79.8209 (Map)
Distance  : 2,038 miles
Language English (U.S.)
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; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; InfoPath.2; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  16 bits
Time of Visit   Apr 22 2008 10:34:38 am
Last Page View Apr 22 2008 10:34:53 am
Visit Length 15 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.co…w to bomb a building
Search Engine google.com
Search Words how to bomb a building
Visit Entry Page http://blog.joehuffm…ombBuildingHelp.aspx
Visit Exit Page http://blog.joehuffm…ombBuildingHelp.aspx
Out Click http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=how to make a small bomb
http://www.google.co…to make a small bomb
Time Zone UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time Apr 22 2008 1:34:38 pm
Visit Number 288,609

A good first step

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It’s a start. Now she should get the Feds to arrest the city council and mayor on charges of violating 18 USC 241 and/or 242:

Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham says the city’s newly enacted gun control laws are unconstitutional.

Wal-Mart support of the oppressors

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Chris Cox of the NRA has this to say:

“Today’s announcement by New York City (NYC) Mayor Mike Bloomberg comes as no surprise to National Rifle Association (NRA) members across the country. None of these joint Wal-Mart/Mayor Bloomberg initiatives will lower crime, because they ignore the real cause of crime — criminals.

Mayor Bloomberg has long confused his NYC mayoral podium for a national bully pulpit from which he feels entitled to push his personal gun control agenda outside NYC. Now, instead of trying to impose his philosophy on other cities and states, Mike Bloomberg has set his sights on our country’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Bloomberg proves his disdain for individual firearm ownership, and his assertion that only the privileged should own a firearm and should have the right to defend themselves and their loved ones.

NRA will continue to oppose any scheme that puts burdens on law-abiding Americans and not on criminals.”

Sebastian is pretty pissed but counsels restraint when writing your letters to corporate headquarters.

Here is what really got to me:

Creating a record and alert system to record when a gun sold at Wal-Mart is later used in a crime. If the purchaser of that gun later tries to buy another gun at Wal-Mart, the system would alert the sales clerk of the prior buy and could refuse to make the sale.

Retaining the recorded images of gun sales in case law enforcement wants to view them later as part of an investigation.

Have they ever heard of “due process”? The RKBA is about to be declared, by the highest court in the land, as an individual right guaranteed to not be infringed. And yet if I bought a gun at Wal-Mart and someone stole that gun from me and used it in a crime Wal-Mart would hold that against me if I tried to buy another gun. Why stop there? Why not do the same for knives and baseball bats?

How about flashlights? I’m sure burglars need flashlights when they are sneaking around someone’s house in the middle of the night. What if Bloomberg put pressure on Wal-Mart to keep flashlights out of the wrong hands? Would Wal-Mart cave to him about that? Or would they offer to insert their finest four D-cell flashlight someplace where it would help him find his way out of his cranial rectum inversion problem?

What would happen if some KKK member in political power put pressure on Wal-Mart to “retain the recorded images” of blacks/Jews/Gays that made purchases “in case law enforcement wants to view them later as part of an investigation”? This is no different. Guns are just as legal to sell and own as claw hammers, baseball bats, and kitchen knives. For Wal-Mart to single out gun buyers as a special class of people worthy of extra scrutiny and suspicion is deplorable. They are supporting the oppressors of essential freedoms and should be treated the same as those that would collaborate with the KKK.

Wal-Mart management would do well to remember K-MART.

Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

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The city is earning the nickname ‘Killadelphia’ not because of state preemption but because the mayor and city council think punishing law-abiding gun owners will somehow cause criminals to stop killing one another. Does he seriously think limiting legal handgun sales to one a month will prevent drive-by shootings by recidivist gang bangers? Can he honestly believe that penalizing someone for not immediately reporting a stolen firearm will prevent the thief from selling that gun to someone else who uses it in a crime? Where does he get the notion that restricting the rights of honest citizens is going to fix the broken court system that repeatedly returns these thugs to the streets?

None of these measures has worked anywhere else they’ve been tried. So what makes Nutter think he can perform a miracle now, especially in defiance of state law? Nutter is nuts, and so are the council members who copied these ideas out of the extremist gun control playbook for his rubber stamp signature.

Alan Gottlieb
Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.
April 11, 2008
SAF BLASTS ‘KILLADELPHIA’ MAYOR, COUNCIL OVER MEASURES DEFYING STATE LAW
[IMHO this should be immediately settled in the court system. Federal Prosecutors should have the mayor and all the city council members who voted for this arrested and charged with violation of 18 USC 242.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Charlton Heston

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It is evil, and we must defeat it.

Charlton Heston
1997
This quote was used in the “No on I-676” campaign. Initiative 676 was a gun registration and mandated training scheme.
[Heston died yesterday.

Yes, he was an actor but I don’t pay much attention to actors. What I remember him for was his contribution to the rights of gun owners.

During the “No on I-676” campaign Heston and others from the NRA showed up and gave speeches all around the state. The Citizen Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms invested a lot of time and money into as well. And of course I and thousands of other gun owners in Washington state spent a lot of time and money working on this. We ended up sending it down in flames (71%-29%) and Heston probably did as much or more than almost anyone else to make that happen. It was such an overwhelming defeat the anti-gun bigots in Washington state (Washington Ceasefire) has not tried an initiative since then and even the legislature has been somewhat timid on guns since then.

I didn’t meet Heston. I did meet and talked to Tanya Metaksa for quite a while on election night. I was probably in Idaho the weekend when Heston did his thing in the Seattle area. But I did buy the t-shirt (see below).–Joe]

I blame global warming

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Seattle and surrounding areas in the Puget Sound are now getting heavy snow. Visibility is only a few blocks as I look out the window of our building here in Redmond.

I’m fairly certain Al Gore would agree with me, and I know Phil does. It’s all because of man caused global warming climate change.

Update: The storm forecast for the Boomershoot site:

OROFINO/GRANGEVILLE REGION-LOWER HELLS CANYON/SALMON RIVER REGION-

132 PM PDT FRI MAR 28 2008

…SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 5 AM PDT SATURDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 5 AM PDT SATURDAY.

2 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED FROM LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING AS A COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. QUICK BURSTS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE.

More Heller from eyewitness Korwin

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I met Alan Korwin at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in 1999 and 2000. I was very impressed both times.

Read what more on what he has to say about the Heller case.

The machine gun issue

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Throughout the Heller case I think most hard core gun rights activists have been thinking “Will this help or hurt machine guns? Even if the Supreme Court slaps D.C. down on handguns, rifles, and shotguns will they create a rule or test that slams the door on machine guns becoming commonly available?”

I’ve been, behind the scenes, asking people not to even talk about machine guns in the context of Heller. My thought was that if machine guns are ignored in the Heller decision, then if we do things right after a Heller win we can get some machine gun relief eventually. Obviously it came up in a big way during the oral arguments. Some people have been critical of Gura for “throwing machine guns under the bus” during the oral arguments. I am not one of them. I viewed it as unfortunate collateral damage. We needed to bomb the crap out of D.C. and they were holding machine guns as hostages. It was more important to destroy D.C. now than to try and figure out a way to get the machine guns to safety. We might still be able to resurrect machine guns, they aren’t really dead, just on life support.

Now, via Uncle, I find Gura responds. I agree with him.