Roberta X says she sucks at shutting up and doing what she is told.
I have that same “problem”. Ask anyone in my family. Vivid examples date back to at least early grade school when my conflicts with Mrs. Cole became legends. More recent examples involved the court system.
Instead of screaming bloody murder about the TSA (A Security Theater) Gail Todd chides the victim. The background is here:
When reader Marlys Powers prepared for a flight to visit her daughter in Phoenix, Ariz., she purchased a vinyl see-through bag to hold all her toiletries. She packed the bag with 3-ounce bottles of shampoo, lotions and toothpaste, as well as her toothbrush and hairbrush.
Marlys thought it would make it easier for security to see what was in her carry-on bag. Security didn’t see it that way. Because it wasn’t a quart-size bag, they took the lady aside and placed her in a private room for a thorough pat down.
After confirming she wasn’t carrying any concealed weapons, they told her they would have to confiscate all her 3-ounce bottles because they weren’t in an acceptable-size plastic bag. Then one agent discovered something else: two sandwich bags filled with cookies and banana bread Marlys was taking to her grandchildren.
The agent told her if she could combine her treats into one of the bags, she could use the other to stow her plastic bottles — which she did. The agent placed that plastic bag back inside her original plastic container and told her to have a good flight — which she didn’t.
Marlys had already missed her flight. And because all carriers were overbooked, she spent several hours standing by for a flight with an empty seat.
While packing all your personal items in a single plastic bag might sound like a sensible thing to do, remember that common sense is not a prerequisite for security rules. And if it doesn’t adhere strictly to the rules, it won’t fly — and neither will you.
She goes on to inform her readers how to avoid this by following the rules exactly. It doesn’t matter they don’t really make sense and are totally ineffective at preventing weapons from getting on planes. But Ms. Todd apparently lives in or near Chicago so it’s not too surprising that she uncritically accepts government tyranny as just part of everyday life.
If I were a peer reviewing this piece of work I would ask the “researcher”, “Please repeat after me, ‘correlation is not causation’. Again, ‘correlation is not causation’. Good, keep doing that until you can remember it when you are writing your papers.”
It looks to me like this guy has staked his career on something and is looking for evidence to support his hypothesis. And of course if that is all you are looking for and you ignore contradictory evidence you can probably convince yourself your hypothesis is valid.
Here is a sample of his conclusions:
Straus analyzed the results of four studies and found that spanking and other corporal punishment by parents is associated with an increased probability of three sexual problems as a teen or adult:
• Verbally and physically coercing a dating partner to have sex.
• Risky sex such as premarital sex without a condom.
• Masochistic sex such as being aroused by being spanked when having sex.“These results, together with the results of more than 100 other studies, suggest that spanking is one of the roots of relationship violence and mental health problems. Because there is 93 percent agreement between studies that investigated harmful side effects of spanking, and because over 90 percent of U.S. parents spank toddlers, the potential benefits for prevention of sexual and relationship violence is large,” Straus says.
I haven’t read all his papers so it’s possible he has considered an alternate hypothesis but I could find no evidence of that in the web pages I viewed this morning. The alternate hypothesis that is just “screaming at me” is that children with behavioral problems are more likely to behavioral problems as adults. And if they have more behavioral problems as children then they are more likely to get spanked.
In short, the argument that “the right of the people” is subject to reasonable regulation and restriction tramples on the very words of the Second Amendment, reading the phrase — “shall not be infringed” — as if it read “shall be subject only to reasonable regulation to achieve public safety.”
Herbert W. Titus
February 11, 2008
Gun Owners of America
Brief amicus curiae in D.C. v. Heller
[I’m tempted to quote nothing but amicus curiae briefs until March 18th.–Joe]
The VPC Blog is a must have. “Everyone” is talking about it and it’s good:
The Adventures of Roberta X keeps me looking up words in the dictionary but anyone that likes guns, science fiction and geeky stuff is interesting.
I listen to a lot of Audible.com books on my long commute (300 miles one way) between Moscow Idaho and Redmond Washington. This is one book that I can see raising my adrenaline level to “no sleep for you tonight” levels. From Audible:
In a hard-hitting and provocative polemic, Silicon Valley insider and pundit Andrew Keen exposes the grave consequences of today’s new participatory Web 2.0 and reveals how it threatens our values, economy, and ultimately the very innovation and creativity that forms the fabric of American achievement.
Our most valued cultural institutions, Keen warns, our professional newspapers, magazines, music, and movies, are being overtaken by an avalanche of amateur, user-generated free content. Advertising revenue is being siphoned off by free classified ads on sites like Craigslist; television networks are under attack from free user-generated programming on YouTube and the like; file-sharing and digital piracy have devastated the multibillion-dollar music business and threaten to undermine our movie industry.
From Amazon:
Keen’s relentless “polemic” is on target about how a sea of amateur content threatens to swamp the most vital information and how blogs often reinforce one’s own views rather than expand horizons. But his jeremiad about the death of “our cultural standards and moral values” heads swiftly downhill. Keen became somewhat notorious for a 2006 Weekly Standard essay equating Web 2.0 with Marxism; like Karl Marx, he offers a convincing overall critique but runs into trouble with the details. Readers will nod in recognition at Keen’s general arguments—sure, the Web is full of “user-generated nonsense”!—but many will frown at his specific examples, which pretty uniformly miss the point. It’s simply not a given, as Keen assumes, that Britannica is superior to Wikipedia, or that record-store clerks offer sounder advice than online friends with similar musical tastes, or that YouTube contains only “one or two blogs or songs or videos with real value.” And Keen’s fears that genuine talent will go unnourished are overstated: writers penned novels before there were publishers and copyright law; bands recorded songs before they had major-label deals. In its last third, the book runs off the rails completely, blaming Web 2.0 for online poker, child pornography, identity theft and betraying “Judeo-Christian ethics.”
Combining the double stack capacity of its patented 2011 technology with the light weight benefits of aluminum, the V.I.P. is the best carry pistol on the market today.
Due to overwhelming customer requests, STI International, Inc. has brought back their popular V.I.P. model. Built on the patented modular frame design with a reduced length polymer grip, the VIP delivers the advantages of a high capacity firearm configuration that is well-suited for conceal carry circumstances. The frame is constructed of highly durable 7075 aerospace grade aluminum to keep the weight of the pistol to a minimal 25 oz. The frame is also available in 4140 maxxell alloy steel (which comes in at 29.7 oz)
The VIP has a stainless steel scalloped slide with rear cocking serrations, STI dovetail front sight and Heinie fixed rear sight. The slide is also available in 4140 carbon steel. The VIP comes standard with features such as a stainless steel STI hi-ride grip safety, stainless steel STI single sided thumb safety and an STI stainless steel fully supported, ramped bull barrel. Calibers available are 9×19, 40 S&W, and .45 ACP.
In competition I shoot a STI gun, I carry a STI gun and you should too.
STI is giving away a free gun. Send them your business card and they may draw it out of a fishbowl on March 28th.
The unfortunate subjects of California need not apply.
In competition I shoot a STI gun, I carry a STI gun and you should too.
This promotion is available only to citizens of the USA. Unfortunately, citizens of California are not eligible for this promotion.
STI International
February 17, 2008
Spartan Giveaway
[Unfortunately, citizens of California have been subjugated by a tyrannical regime and have their rights infringed so badly they are unable to fully exercise even the most fundamental of human rights–the right to keep and bear arms.–Joe]
I think there is a little bit of projection going on here:
Politics also factors heavily into D.C. v. Heller, according to Henigan.
He said some state attorneys general — who are elected in 43 states — likely sided with Heller as a way to show constituents they support an individual-rights reading of the Second Amendment, even as they seek to preserve their own state statutes regulating guns.
“These are political actors. They don’t want to appear to be endorsing a handgun ban,” Henigan said.
As you should already know:
The ATF Special Agent doing the talking in this video about Cavalry Arms is no stranger:
I’ve blogged about him before.
His cell phone number and email, as of last month, are 602-859-6317 and Thomas.mangan@atf.gov.
Here are some other times he has appeared in the news and what he said:
”These are, quite frankly, weapons of war,” ATF special agent Tom Mangan said as he picked up an assault rifle and examined it. “These are military-type weapons. This is firepower you would expect to see on the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Agents said Thursday they found the 42 weapons in a storage locker about 10 days ago. The guns were worth $250,000 in all: Belgian-made ”FN” handguns, semiautomatic AK-47 rifles and other pistols. They also found four olive boxes loaded with .50-caliber bullets – ammunition that’s big enough to take out an airplane.
”The type of firepower you’re seeing here is on the increase,” he said. ”You’re seeing sophisticated weapons, military weapons, assault-type weapons, assault pistols, very expensive pistols. This level of fire power gives criminals options they haven’t had before.”
Put him on your list of people to be charged with violation of 18 USC 242.
If we could reverse history and engage the gun lobby back when they started their cynical campaign to convince Americans they have a “right to own guns” then our politics would certainly be in a different place. But it’s too late now and the gun lobby’s well-armed genie is out of the bottle.
Mike of Gun Guys
February 29, 2008
In-Depth Commentary: Candidates Quiet On Gun Issues
[Never mind that he is wrong about individuals having the right to keep and bear arms. What is more important is that he (and gun grabbers in general) are giving up on this battle and focusing their attention on “reasonable restrictions” on that right. We need to finish off the individual rights campaign (Heller) and then engage and destroy them on the “reasonable restriction” front.–Joe]
ATF Seizes Weapons At Gun Warehouse and the talking head says:
It’s still not clear if the nature of the investigation is as serious as the evidence implies.
Except the only evidence is that the licensed gun dealer, Cavalry Arms Corporation, had guns in a warehouse which the ATF put out on tables to show the media.
The serious part of the evidence is the ATF and the media cooperated to demonize gun possession.
Our state is a people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance. What is this dictatorship for? Its first function is to suppress the reactionary classes and elements and those exploiters in our country who resist the socialist revolution, to suppress those who try to wreck our socialist construction, or in other words, to resolve the internal contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. For instance, to arrest, try and sentence certain counterrevolutionaries, and to deprive landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists of their right to vote and their freedom of speech for a specified period of time – all this comes within the scope of our dictatorship. To maintain public order and safeguard the interests of the people, it is likewise necessary to exercise dictatorship over embezzlers, swindlers, arsonists, murderers, criminal gangs and other scoundrels who seriously disrupt public order. The second function of this dictatorship is to protect our country from subversion and possible aggression by external enemies. In that event, it is the task of this dictatorship to resolve the external contradiction between ourselves and the enemy. The aim of this dictatorship is to protect all our people so that they can devote themselves to peaceful labour and build China into a socialist country with a modern industry, agriculture, science and culture.
Chairman Mao Ts-Tung
Little Red Book
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
(February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., pp. 6-7.
[Yeah, I’m a day late with this one. Does anyone even know how many people were murdered by this government whose aim was to “protect all our people” in the next 30 years after this proclamation was made? All dictators claim they are going to be benevolent and they will only crack down on the criminals. Of course then Ayn Rand’s line from Atlas Shrugged immediately comes to mind. Which is precisely the situation we have with gun laws today and under an Obama regime things will only get worse. And all in the pursuit of an Utopian vision of a discredited philosopher with very little real world experience on the subjects he wrote about and who died over 100 years ago.–Joe]
First, my opinions are not those of my employer.
Second, I point you to the article titled EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn.
Third, I bring your attention to a comment about the fine following the article:
Microsoft MUST be brought to account for its’ practice of dominating by exclusion. If the company, Microsoft, continues to practice in a manner which refuses to be competitive, then it should be excluded from the EU. Nicholas Carton, USA
Nicholas Carton, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
Fourth, my opinion:
If people only knew how much time and effort MS spends groveling and trying to please these socialist jerks…
I am sometimes (and this is one of those times) of the opinion MS should tell the EU, “Then do without any of our products. Not only will your languages not be supported but all future versions of our software will not run without having at least intermittent Internet access and will not run if said Internet path traverses any part of an EU country.”
But that’s an emotional response without looking at the cost/benefit numbers. Rational analysis will require looking out for the stockholders best interests on a number of fronts. I know such a response would allow competitors access to a cash cow as well as cutting off MS income from this source. I just can’t help wondering at what point the EU will push MS too far and the numbers no longer add up to continue trying to please the greedy socialists.
I wish MS were in a position to demonstrate to the EU they need MS more than MS needs them and had the courage to follow through on a very forceful demonstration of that.
Headline: Court to address: Do you have a legal right to own a gun?
As far as media coverage goes it’s excellent. They got the Miller decision mostly wrong but otherwise they did very well with it. This is very good to see. Most MSM coverage of guns is more opinion than news coverage.
Uncle pointed out the video testimony in the house on National Park carry. I find it interesting that a letter written over a year ago by a bigot at the Department of Interior was brought up and challenged.
That letter has been a topic of mine before (and here).
I hope she is feeling the heat. Bigots opposed to fundamental rights guaranteed by our constitution have no place in our government.
As I said before this brand of stupidity will be laughed out of the legislature. The companies pushing this should try a free market approach to making money on bullets.
Let me get this straight…
The state wants me to pay a fee and ask me all kinds of personal questions to exercise a right…
The state wants to license every producer of firearms and require them to serial number everything they make, without room for error…
The state wants access to everyone’s police and medical records…
The state wants a record of every transaction where a firearm changes hands…
The state wants me to submit to training despite the fact that I had two decades of prior experience and no negligent discharge, much less a crime…
The state wants to dictate where I may carry a firearm…
The state wants to dictate how I transport a firearm…
The state wants me to inform them where and when I move anywhere in the country…
The state doesn’t trust me to report a theft, so they will automatically assume guilt if I don’t…
The state doesn’t trust me with certain types of firearms…
The state wants every bullet and case to have an identification…
The state doesn’t trust me to defend my life without violating someone else’s rights…
…and I’m the paranoid one?
TJH
February 26, 2008
In the comments to Bigot talk
[Imagine what the response would be if gays, Jews, blacks, etc. were required to adhere to such restrictions in order to exist in our country.–Joe]
Stephanie, of Boomershoot fame, has been trying to get Dave Barry (yes, the Dave Barry) to attend Boomershoot 2008. To further entice him she offered to blow up a low-flow (or whatever they are called) toilet for him. She received a call from an assistant who told her that Mr. Barry was already committed for the weekend. Then we received a postcard from Mr. Barry a few days ago:
It turns out there is more than one Dave Barry in the world and we will have a Dave Barry attending Boomershoot 2008. But not nearly as many people know of him as the one from Miami.