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Labels: movie reviews Labels: 2008 presidential candidates Travis County prosecutors on Friday dismissed the case against David Lozano, who lost his leg in a late-night shootout with an Austin police officer at Lozano's Northeast Austin house in 2007. "We believe that Mr. Lozano maintained a reasonable belief that on that day and time he was defending himself, his wife and his property," Travis County Assistant District Attorney Steven Brand said. The dismissal came after a series of expert witnesses for the state and defense cast doubt on whether officer Roger Boudreau told the truth about the confrontation, according to lawyers in the case. "Had it not been a police officer, this case would have been dismissed a long time ago," said Lozano's lawyer, Ryan Deck. "A police officer changed everything." Lozano, 48, spent 13 months in jail before he was released on bail last year. Lozano and his wife, Rosemary, were having marital problems leading up to the incident on March 11, 2007, according to Deck and a police affidavit. That night, a man with whom Rosemary Lozano had had an affair threatened David Lozano in a phone conversation, Deck said. Then that man, Miguel Salazar, called police and reported a domestic disturbance at the Lozano home, Deck said. Next, according to both Boudreau's account as detailed in the police affidavit and Lozano's account as told by Deck, Boudreau knocked on the door, heard someone chamber a round into a gun through the door and moved off the porch. Lozano thought it was Salazar knocking and intentionally made the sound with the gun to scare him, Deck said. After Lozano looked through the peephole and saw nobody, he opened the door, Deck said. Boudreau never identified himself as a police officer during the incident, according to Deck and the affidavit. What happened after the door opened was in dispute. Labels: gun self-defense Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on “white people with blue eyes” and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people’s mistakes. Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: “This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing.” Labels: economics, politicians behaving badly "If we are to release them in the United States, we need some sort of assistance for them to start a new life," said National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair at his first press conference. "You can't just put them on the street," he added. "All that is work in progress." Obama has vowed to close the controversial prison camp by next January and has ordered individual reviews for cases against each of the over 240 remaining prisoners. Blair told reporters that the review of Guantanamo cases was still underway, and that the government was "building dossiers on each of the detainees." The Obama administration is currently evaluating what could be done with the prisoners, he said, but pledged that if they are sent to another country, "we have to be sure that that country will treat them in a humane fashion." Twenty men detained at the remote US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southern Cuba have been cleared of terrorism charges, including 17 Chinese Uighurs ordered released by a US court in June, seven years after their arrest. But the US says they may face persecution if returned to China. Labels: 2008 presidential candidates, terrorism I know of no truly comprehensive data on this, but here's what we learn from the intentional homicide line in Justice Department's Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2004 (a sample that is representative of the large urban counties that account for roughly half of the nation's violent crimes): 83% had a prior adult arrest (compared to likely 25% or so of the adult U.S. population). 76% had two or more prior adult arrests. 55% had five or more prior adult arrests. 65% had a prior adult conviction. 44% had a prior adult felony conviction (compared to about 7.5% of the adult U.S. population, see Christopher Uggen et al., Citizenship, Democracy, and the Civic Reintegration of Criminal Offenders, 605 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 281, 288 (2006)). This does not include "arrests or convictions that occurred while the defendant was a juvenile" (I quote here from an e-mail from the author of the report). Since nearly half of all homicide offenders are 24 or under, the exclusion of juvenile arrests and convictions is thus likely to substantially undercount the actual arrest and conviction record. This also doesn't include arrests or convictions that the state effectively expunged or never logged, for instance because someone was allowed a "deferred adjudication," which is essentially probation in lieu of a conviction, so that no conviction would be entered if the probation is finished with no observed violations. TOKYO (AP) — A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person certified as a survivor of both atomic bombings by the United States, officials said Tuesday. The survivor, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, had already been a certified hibakusha, or radiation survivor, of the bombing on Aug. 9, 1945, in Nagasaki, but he has now been confirmed as surviving the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier, in which he suffered serious burns to his upper body. Certification qualifies survivors for compensation, including monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs. Labels: machining The troubled teen charged with stabbing WABC newsman George Weber during drug-fueled rough sex is a 16-year-old Satan-loving sadomasochist with a knife fetish. John Katehis is also a hustler who stabbed Weber "50 times to the neck" and body, police said. "He and Weber met online sometime last week and had arranged to meet," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. "There was going to be an exchange of money." Katehis was charged as an adult Wednesday with 2nd degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon - charges that could send the tattooed teen to jail for a long time. ... Katehis admitted stabbing Weber after answering an ad the newsman placed on the Internet looking for rough sex - but claimed self-defense. He was also carrying a dagger that cops do not think was the murder weapon, sources said. "He saw the victim's ad looking for violent sex and said, 'I can smother somebody for $60,' but it got out of hand," a police source said. ... Cops found Katehis by combing through Weber's e-mail and Web browser history and tracking calls he made from his cell phone, sources said. Katehis and Weber rendezvoused Friday evening and headed for the newsman's Brooklyn brownstone for sadomasochistic sex, sources said. Weber, 47, whose ankles were bound with duct tape, was stabbed repeatedly in a frenzied attack that sprayed the walls with blood. Police found evidence the newsman fought back and wounded his assailant - the killer's blood was found in the bedroom and bathtub drain, the sources said. Labels: homosexuality Clinton offered the bluntest comments to date by any senior U.S. official that Americans' habits and government policies have stoked the drug trade and the accompanying violence. "How could anybody conclude any differently?" she said. "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians." U.S. domestic drug-control strategies during the past three decades have largely failed, she said, suggesting that the Obama administration will try to reduce demand and emphasize treatment more than its predecessors. "We have certainly been pursuing these strategies for ... a long time. I remember Mrs. Reagan's 'just say no,' " Clinton said, referring to former first lady Nancy Reagan's exhortation to young people to refuse drugs. "It's been very difficult." Labels: gun rights, substance abuse State government could not seize private arms or ammunition during a state of martial law under a bill approved Tuesday by the Idaho House. Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, sponsored the bill. He cited Hurricane Katrina and the bedlam that developed in the aftermath in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities as an example of a time when people needed their arms and ammo. "Even in those instances, we should have the right to keep our Second Amendment right and keep our arms and ammunition," Nielsen said. Labels: gun rights Labels: 2008 presidential candidates, economics Labels: humor Political correctness will rot a thinking mind. Case in point, the reaction to the following statement from Id. Rep. Dick Harwood (R-St. Maries): Promoting his state sovereignty resolution on the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives on Monday, St. Maries Rep. Dick Harwood declared that the United States is really a “confederacy.” “To be accurate, we’re a confederated republic,” the fifth-term Republican then told the House. This brought a strong reaction from a local minority right’s activist: “It’s a very offensive term for minority communities in our country, like African-Americans,” said Tony Stewart, a board member and co-founder of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, and a retired political scientist at North Idaho College. “That whole term refers to the period of slavery.” So every use of the term confederacy applies to slavery? Not according to my dictionary. The primary meaning is, ” an alliance between persons, parties, states, etc., for some purpose.” Steve Shaw, an active political science professor at Northwest Nazarene University, while disagreeing with Harwood and suggesting that Harwood needed remedial U.S. History classes, identified Switzerland as a confederacy. I guess this would indicate the Swiss have slaves, if we’re to believe Mr. Stewart. Was the United States founded as a confederacy? I’m going to do something totally wild and suggest we find out what the Founding Fathers say. Labels: political correctness Labels: low standards of journalism Labels: machining His first mistake was trying to steal four guns. His second one was trying to steal them at a gun show. The alleged crook scooped up four Smith & Wesson guns from a vendor's table at the RK Gun Inc. show Sunday at Cessna Activity Center, 2744 George Washington Blvd. But he didn't make it far. The vendor and at least two others who were at the show grabbed the man before he could make it out the door, held him down, then cuffed him with zip ties -- hard plastic fasteners -- until law enforcement officers arrived. Austin Sechler, the vendor who said the man tried to steal from him, said it was "the very wrong place to do this." Labels: media manipulation CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico — Little town, big hell. That proverb about turmoil in small communities has never seemed truer than in this gangster-besieged village and a neighboring one in the bean fields and desert scrub a long day’s drive south of the Rio Grande. Since right before Christmas, armed raiders repeatedly have swept into both villages to carry away local men. Government help arrived too late, or not at all. Terrified villagers — at the urging of army officers who couldn’t be there around the clock — have clawed moats across every access road but one into their communities, hoping to repel the raids. “This was a means of preservation,” said Ruben Solis, 47, a farmers’ leader in Cuauhtemoc, a collection of adobe and concrete houses called home by 3,700 people. “It’s better to struggle this way than to face the consequences.” But shortly after midnight last Sunday, villagers said, as many as 15 SUVs loaded with pistoleros attacked nearby San Angel, population 250, and kidnapped five people. Four victims were returned unharmed a few days later. The fifth hostage, a teenage boy, was held to exchange for the intended target the raiders missed, villagers said. “We have support of the federal forces,” said an official of the dirt-street village. “Security is what we’re lacking.” After the earthworks were dug in both villages, volunteers manned checkpoints at the remaining open entrances. Those sentinels, however, were removed when it was decided they couldn’t stop a serious attack, anyhow . “We aren’t able to confront this sort of thing,” Solis said. “We have a few shotguns, some .22 rifles, a few pistols — nothing compared to what they have.” President Felipe Calderon’s war on Mexico’s drug gangsters has met with mixed success since he began deploying about 45,000 soldiers and federal police after assuming office in December 2006. The federal forces have been able to defeat the gunmen in open combat but unable, so far, to extinguish the bloodshed or the crime. Narcotics-related violence killed at least 6,000 people last year and looks likely to match that toll again by Christmas. Kidnappings, extortions and bank robberies are on the rise in many cities and even in rural flyspecks like Cuauhtemoc and San Angel. Though still far less serious, the troubles faintly echo those of a century ago when Cuencame township, which includes Cuauhtemoc and San Angel, suffered massacres and guerrilla attacks in the lead-up to the Mexican Revolution. Most of Mexico’s violence these days isn’t politically inspired, but the gangsters’ hit-and-run tactics often mirror those of an insurgency. Government forces frequently find themselves without adequate manpower to be everywhere at once. “This is really the job of the federal government,” Solis said of his town’s efforts at self-defense. “But they don’t have enough men to keep up. There is delinquency wherever you go.” Labels: gun rights I use these when assembling AR’s with an off-list lower. But, and this is a big but, you must use a magazine that holds no more than 10-rounds. Here is the relevant provision of the AW Ban..... Generic Characteristics Defining Assault Weapons: 12276.1 (a) Notwithstanding Penal Code section 12276, “assault weapon” shall also mean the following: Rifles (1) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following: (A) A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon. (B) A thumbhole stock. (C) A folding or telescoping stock. (D) A grenade launcher or flare launcher. (E) A flash suppressor. (F) A forward pistol grip. (2) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds. (3) A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches. The controlling clause for off-list weapons utilizing a bullet-button is PC 12276.1(a)(2). By restricting the fixed magazine to 10-rounds or less, all other characteristics are free; ie, you can have a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, a telescoping stock, a flash suppressor (I skipped grenade launcher – I wouldn’t want to challenge them on that), and a forward pistol grip. The key is the fixed, 10-round magazine. Labels: gun technology
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I ran for Idaho state senate in 2008--didn't win
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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Wow. I see why this film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It deserved them. It's a movie with heroes, bad guys, and bad guys who end up redeeming themselves with heroism of a sort. It is a film that affirms the power of love to overcome a disastrous start in life.
I don't ordinarily like heavily flashbacked movies, but there's a good reason for it here, as becomes apparent by the end. There is nothing pedestrian about the cinematography, and in spite of the fact that most everyone is speaking either Hindi (with subtitles) or various levels of Indian-accented English, it is completely comprehensible.
The language is coarse in a few spots, but it is the subject matter--the montrosity of growing up in the Mumbai slums, and the horrible things that happen there--that earns this film an R rating. My wife and I were not surprised, since we have read a bit about the problems of India, but I think for many Americans, they may find it shocking, and it is probably too intense for anyone that isn't a teenager. (Of course, there are people who take their kids to see Saw, so what do I know.) It makes you glad to know that as poor as you can get in America, you will never be reduced to this level of poverty.
TOTUS
You probably know that POTUS is the common abbreviation for President Of The United States. But what is TOTUS? The Teleprompter Of The United States! And there is a very clever, very witty blog purportedly written by that piece of electronics!
What a Weird Case
The March 28, 2009 Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman has one of those news stories that makes you scratch your head. It would appear that a police officer failed to identify himself under circumstances where there was a plausible basis for the homeowner to believe that he was under criminal attack:
If you are writing a novel, here's a way to set up a tragedy:
In dispute, but the rest of the article explains why all charges were dropped--an audio recording demonstrated that Boudreau was, at best, grossly mistaken about who fired first. Even if Lozano was in the wrong--and it isn't clear that he was--Boudreau's statements about his actions were so at variance with the facts that the prosecutor would never have won the case.
A police officer should always identify himself as a police officer when responding to a domestic dispute.
Thank Heavens: I Thought He Was Going To Blame It All On The Jews
From the March 27, 2009 Financial Times:
Yeah, all several hundred million "white people with blue eyes" did this to them. And no "white people with blue eyes" were injured by this.
I Had To Look Carefully At This
In 2002 or 2003, or even 2004, this would have been satire in astonishingly bad taste. But now it is news. From AFP:
President Barack Obama's intelligence chief confirmed Thursday that some Guantanamo inmates may be released on US soil and receive assistance to return to society.
Ordinary People Who Just Snap
One of the enduring myths that underlies much of the gun control movement is the idea that a lot of murders are committed by ordinary people like you and I who lose their temper one day, grab a gun (because it's readily available), and murder someone. The FBI studied this problem in the 1970s, and found that people arrested for murder generally had long arrest records and a sizable fraction had previous felony convictions. An astonishing number had previous homicide convictions!
Professor Volokh over at Volokh Conspiracy points to some more recent data that suggests that this is even more true now:
There are people without criminal or mental illness histories who do, indeed, lose their tempers, go get a gun, and murder someone. But they aren't that common. Far more typical is the person who, by the time they reach adulthood, already knows what it is liked to handcuffed by a police officer, has been convicted of at least a misdemeanor--and carries a bail bond company's business card with him.
Kansas Right To Keep And Bear Arms
The Kansas legislature just proposed an amendment to the Kansas Constitution guaranteeing an individual right:A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, for lawful hunting and recreational use, and for any other lawful purpose.
Professor Volokh reports that it passed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of the legislature: "39-1 in the Senate and 116-9 in the House." Since the Kansas Supreme Court in City of Salina v. Blaksley (Kan. 1905) utterly misread the existing provision:The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be tolerated, and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.
as guaranteeing the right of the legislature to organize a state militia to overturn the legislature (yes, I'm not exaggerating), the Kansas courts have been reluctant to admit that there is an individual right. Professor Volokh thinks this amendment, scheduled for the November 2010 election, will be pass by large majorities. I think he's right.
Made in USA
There's a lot of people who don't realize that we are still making stuff in America (besides worthless mortgages). I lost the circular level that I use for manufacturing ScopeRoller caster assemblies, so I had to buy a new one. I found a Empire Bullseye Circular Level at Home Depot for a bit under $3. Made in USA by
I needed some round, 1" dies to use with my lathe. I went to McMaster-Carr to order them--and I discovered that American made dies were only a few dollars more than imports. Just to be sure, when they arrived, I checked each of them. The packaging says Greenfield, and the dies are stamped USA. I've previously mentioned my surprise and pleasure at the number of items that I have bought, assuming that they were made somewhere else--and they were made in USA.
EMPIRE LEVEL MFG. CORP.
Mukwonago, WI 53149
www.empirelevel.com
American manufacturing isn't dead. Labor union American manufacturing may be dying, but that's not the same thing.
The Crooks Are Getting Smarter
And no, I don't mean the ones that work for President Obama. Daily (hourly?) we all get emails that purport to be a security alert, or request for clarification that asks you to login to a bank's web page. When you get to that web page, you are asked to enter account information. The goal is to get you to tell them credit card information or personal details that will let them either run up your credit card, or steal your identity.
Most of these aren't very well done frauds. There will be a web page link that says something like "http://www.bankofamerica.com" but if you move the mouse over the text, you will see that the link actually takes you to an IP address based web page, not a domain name web page, like http://18.242.20.30/index.html. Unless you look very carefully at the browser's address line, you won't notice that the page, which may actually be a copy (in most respects) of the real institution's web page, isn't where you think it is.
Today's more clever than usual fraud purports to be from the Kansas City Police Credit Union. Since I have no account with them, I knew that the email was fraudulent:We recorded a payment request from HostGator - www.hostgator.com - Professional Web Hosting to enable the charge of $ 18.20/month on your account.
If you click on the "Cancel this payment" line, it takes you not to an IP address-based web page, but one with a plausible domain name: http://www.kccpcuhb.com/. If you go to the actual Kansas City Police Credit Union web site, it is similar enough that you might believe that it is the real thing. But the real institution's web site is kccpcuhb.org, not .com.
Because the order was made from an African internet address, we put an Exception Payment on transaction id #POS 718493-5 motivated by our Geographical Tracking System.
THE PAYMENT IS PENDING FOR THE MOMENT.
If you made this transaction or if you just authorize this payment, please ignore or remove this email message. The transaction will be shown on your monthly statement as "HostGator Professional Web Hosting".
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So I did a WHOIS to find out who owns the www.kccpcuhb.com domain name:Domain Name.......... kccpcuhb.com
Creation Date........ 2009-03-26
Registration Date.... 2009-03-26
Expiry Date.......... 2010-03-26
Organisation Name.... Cally Nichols
Organisation Address. P O Box 99800
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. EmeryVille
Organisation Address. 94662
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US
Admin Name........... PrivateRegContact Admin
Admin Address........ P O Box 99800
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ EmeryVille
Admin Address........ 94662
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............
Tech Name............ PrivateRegContact TECH
Tech Address......... P O Box 99800
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... EmeryVille
Tech Address......... 94662
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com
Interesting problems. The creation date: today? That's a clue that this is a fraud.
Whoever registered this domain obviously doesn't live in California, or they wouldn't have spelled EmeryVille with a capital V.
The phone number? Putting a period between the country code and the area code--but no periods between area code and phone number--tells me that this wasn't done by an American. And if you call that number, it goes directly to voice mail--and the mailbox is full!
But I do give them credit for having the wits to register this domain to an American address, although it's a bit odd that the registrar is "Current Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE".
Mr. Lucky
During the election campaign to create the California State Lottery, opponents claimed that you were more likely to be struck by lightning than win the lottery. I knew someone back then who had been struck by lightning twice and survived--and I kidded that someone that lucky needed to play the lottery! But that's nothing compared to this Mr. Lucky. From the March 24, 2009 New York Times:
Now, you might think that having the misfortune to be in the only two cities that have ever been atomic bombed would not qualify as Lucky. But surviving two such attacks? Play the lottery, Mr. Yamaguchi!
Machining My Own QD Swivel Stud
I mentioned some days ago that the Harris QD swivel stud adapter that I purchased for my M1A did not quite fit, and I had been forced to make a replacement part for the washer that goes inside the stock. (If you have no idea what a QD swivel is--you can see one here. You press or pull to the side, and it quickly releases it from the gun stock. Hence: QD for Quick Detachable.)
I was not completely happy with the result. The reason is that the Harris bipod tightens up to the stock by turning a thumb screw. To work correctly, the base of the QD swivel stud must be screwed down to the material of the stock. The swivel stud adapter is about .750" long, and if I turned it in far enough to be screwed down to the stock, about .100" was sticking above the .110" thick rectangular part that I made to go inside the stock. The gun would go together, but it required force, and that's never a wise thing with a mechanical part--especially since the part the screw was hitting was the cylinder in which the operating rod resides.
I added several washers between the stud and the stock, getting the end of the stud's screw away from the operating rod assembly, and the gun would go together without force--but now the bipod thumbscrew would not allow it to be tightened enough to grip the stock firmly.
The obvious solution is to use the lathe to turn .100" off the end of the stud. But in spite of having a heck of a lot of taps and dies, I did not have a 10-32 die to recut the threads, which might be necessary afterwards. (This is on order, because you never know when you might need to rebuild civilization with the contents of your garage.) Besides, there's a sense of accomplishment in making a part like this from scratch!
1. I started with 1/2" diameter steel rod, because I had that lying around the shop. (It would have been faster to start with 3/8" rod.) I cut it with the chop saw to about .700", and trimmed it on the lathe to .650".
2. Then I turned the end that was going to have the hole in it for the quick detachable part to .368" diameter for a length of .350". (It actually came out more like .363" diameter.)
3. Then I turned it around, and turned the other .300" (which will be the threaded end) to .245" diameter.
4. I had a 1/4"-20 die, so I threaded the .245" end. (This is also a somewhat stronger thread than 10-32. As we computed previously, a 1/4"-20 screw requires about 7500 Newtons to shear. The stock will probably break before the screw does.)
5. Now I put the part in the vertical mill, and used a 4 flute end mill to flatten opposite sides of the cylinder to flats. The target was .300" wide, because that's the QD swivel stud width on the flat sides; I settled for .318" wide.
6. Now I measured the center point for the hole into which the QD part goes. I used a center drill to mark the spot, but the mill vise on the vertical mill doesn't have enough grip on a round part like this to do more than mark it.
7. Then I put the part in the drill press vise, and drilled a hole that the QD part goes through. It should be .143", but my .140" drill was the closest size, and it was a bit tight of a fit, so I moved up to the .168" drill, which speeds up connecting the QD--and still leaves enough steel that I'm not worried about it breaking. (Well, perhaps those manuevers where the aircraft with the tailhook grabs you off the runaway might be a problem, but I try not to do things like that.)
8. Last step: the rectangular washer that i made previously had a 10-32 hole. I enlarged it and tapped it to 1/4"-20.
Everything now goes together without force, and the bipod locks firmly in place against the bottom of the stock.
Like A Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Episode
From the March 25, 2009 New York Daily News:
Like I said, it's like an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. It's dark. It's grotesque. It's seamy. Except that the writers of Law and Order would be reluctant to admit that homosexuals have a disproportionate tendency towards sadomasochistic sex, and would find some way to weave in a straight sadomasochistic couple as well (along with a Japanese-American burglar, for balance).
I've mentioned in the past the studies that find a correlation between childhood sexual abuse and adult homosexuality, suggesting that at least for some homosexuals, abuse causes or at least predisposes towards adult homosexuality. While there are straight sadomasochists, it is pretty clear that this is disproportionately associated with homosexuality (especially male homosexuality). Can anyone imagine a reason why a person whose first sexual experiences involved a mixture of pain and sexual excitement might have pain and sexual excitement mixed together as an adult?
Secretary of State Clinton Blames U.S.
From the March 25, 2009 Idaho Statesman:MEXICO CITY — The U.S. bears much of the blame for violent drug wars roiling Mexico because of its demand for drugs and its failure to stop illegal weapons from crossing the border, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, accepting "shared responsibility" for the problem.
Any guesses how long it will be before the drug traffickerrs have a Blackhawk? And watch her try to blame the NRA for that!
...
She announced that Obama would seek $80 million, most of it in an upcoming supplemental budget request, to provide Mexico with three Blackhawk helicopters. Mexican officials, along with some members of Congress, complain that U.S. anti-narcotics aid under a program called the Merida Initiative has been slow to arrive.
Hmmm. I remember those efforts trying to reduce demand through social pressure ("Just say no") and encouraging companies to do drug testing of employees. And the response of liberals? Ridicule for "Just say no," and lawsuits to try and prevent drug testing.
Idaho House Passes Bill Banning Martial Law Confiscations of Guns and Ammo
From the March 25, 2009 Idaho Statesman:
The bill passed the house 61-9.
Unsurprisingly, a Democrat from Boise, Grant Burgoyne, argued against it, because it "takes power away from Idaho's governor to seize arms and ammunition in the case of a rebellion or insurrection." Yes, that's the idea! If someone breaks the law, they can be arrested and disarmed while awaiting trial. If they haven't broken the law, they can't be disarmed. That's not a bug. That's a feature.
It is probably not truly necessary since Idaho authorities are already substantially restricted by our "no foolin'" right to keep and bear arms provisions in the Idaho Constitution:The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged; but this provision shall not prevent the passage of laws to govern the carrying of weapons concealed on the person nor prevent passage of legislation providing minimum sentences for crimes committed while in possession of a firearm, nor prevent the passage of legislation providing penalties for the possession of firearms by a convicted felon, nor prevent the passage of any legislation punishing the use of a firearm. No law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition. Nor shall any law permit the confiscation of firearms, except those actually used in the commission of a felony.
An Idaho statute would be ignored by the federal government if they decided to disarm Idahoans, but it's a nice symbolic touch.
And Pete Nielsen represents me in the lower house! That's nice, too.
The Bush Deficits; The Obama Deficits
Hearing Democrats whine last election about the size of the Bush deficits was irritating, not because they were wrong to be upset, but because it was rather like hearing a prostitute accuse someone of immorality for a one night fling. The Heritage Foundation has this graph comparing them:
You will also notice that after the Democrats got control of Congress in 2006, there was no obvious gain. (The 2007 budget was set before the Democrats could do anything--not so for 2008.)
Weird Street Names
I mentioned several days ago that there were a couple of weird street names in the extreme southwest of Boise, off Eagle Road: Easyjet and Brandi's Jewels. A reader explains:Easyjet and Brandi's Jewels are, or were, race horses from the Boise area. My folks raised quarterhorses and bred one of their horses to EasyJet. EasyJet's prime time would have been in the 70's or early 80's I think. My folks horse had a couple babies that did fairly well in the racing environment.
And that's about right. The subdivisions are 1980s, I would guess, by the appearance of the houses.
Many street names have obvious origins. There's a reason that most cities in America have a Main Street, or a Broadway, and the numbered and lettered streets are also obvious. (Boring, but simple to find your way around town.) But I would bet that not one Los Angeleno in a thousand has a clue why Rosecrans Boulevard is so named. It's for a Union Army general who was later a Congressman representing Los Angeles, and who bought up 16,000 acres of "worthless" land in the Los Angeles basin for $2.50 per acre. Many cities have a Euclid Street, instead of 13th, because of the same superstition that meant that many skyscrapers didn't have a 13th floor. (Euclid's Elements consisted of 13 books--hence the substitution for 13th Street.)
Confederacy: It Doesn't Just Refer To The Stars and Bars
Adam's Blog points to one of those reminders that there's always someone prepared to play the victim card and take offense, even where none was intended:
Adam agrees that Harwood needs some remedial U.S. History classes, but that the term "confederate republic" is used in Federalist #9, and Tony Stewart's comments also show a certain lack of knowledge. I might excuse this ignorance a bit more except Stewart is a retired political science professor--and he doesn't know that "confederacy" refers to something more than the C.S.A.? I can see why I can't get a teaching job at a community college--not ignorant enough.
What really disturbs me is how often victimhood offense is based on ignorance. I mentioned several years ago how a member of the Rhode Island legislature was insisting that the formal name of the state ("Rhode Island and Providence Plantations") be changed because of the slavery connotation of "Plantation." Except that "plantation" did not have a slavery connotation with respect to Rhode Island's name, and there were similar "plantations" in Ireland.
And the District of Columbia official who was forced to resign for using the word "niggardly" which has nothing to do with the racial epithet.
And as I mentioned last year, when the term "black hole" was used to refer to the Dallas County traffic ticket collection system, a judge insisted that this was a racist term--with no apparent awareness that it refers to an object so dense that light can't escape it. (Or perhaps a judge so dense that no knowledge can cross his event horizon.)
Dear Mr. Hannity:
I've watched your show on Fox News channel for several years, first when you were teamed up with Alan Colmes, and now, by yourself. I have appreciated your efforts to inform Americans about the important issues and challenges confronting our nation--but I do not appreciate the direction that your show seems to be headed.
For most of the Bush Administration, before 9/11 and after the invasion of Iraq, one of the defining aspects of the left was the deeply personal insults that it directed against anyone with whom they disagreed. They turned everything into a personal attack. Instead of arguing that the Iraq War was perhaps a bridge too far, they insisted that it was an attempt to enrich Haliburton for the benefit of puppet master Dick Cheney. The attacks on Governor Palin were even more outrageously in this same vein.
In the last few weeks, I've noticed that your show seems to be relying increasingly on personal ridicule rather than serious policy questioning. The "Liberal Translation" segment is especially offensive. There are also times that going for the cheap laugh is causing you to overlook far more substantive criticisms. For example, last night you spotlighted the profoundly embarrassing interview on 60 Minutes in which President Obama's responses to Kroft involved a lot of giggling and laughs about the economy. Kroft realized that something was wrong, and asked, "Are you punch-drunk?"
Pretty obviously, Obama wasn't. The use of that movie clip got a few laughs, but a little thought would have revealed that Obama's behavior was indicative of someone who is profoundly embarrassed, and not quite sure how to handle an interview involving a crisis that he feels unequipped to solve. Obama is in over his head, because he lacks executive experience--and that is the real story. We can feel sorry for Obama, who was promoted by the mainstream media to a job for which he is clearly unqualified. We can feel sorry for America, which is suffering from a crisis that demands the best possible President right now--and we don't have it. But this is a serious problem--and going for the laughs isn't helping.
I've written before about how Ann Coulter's sometimes cruel personal statements get a cheap laugh--and distract from serious and important points that she makes. Over the last several years, I have become increasingly disappointed by Bill O'Reilly's increasingly confrontational manner of dealing with guests. There's a difference between challenging someone to defend their position, and just talking over them, more loudly and more belligerently. Glenn Beck is a breath of fresh air; he either is a very humble person, or he at least knows how to fake one on the air. When Michelle Malkin or Laura Ingraham substitutes for O'Reilly, I come away with that same positive reaction: here is someone with strongly held conservative views, but who is focused on policy, not personal insults.
I am especially irritated by the cheap personal insult approach from people that purport to be following Jesus. Christians aren't obligated to be milquetoast. We can strongly disagree with our opponents, but the personal insults are outside the pale.
Very Truly Yours,
Clayton E. Cramer
UPDATE: Let me emphasize that questions of personal corruption (exchanging governmental favors for money, gifts, etc.) are legitimate concerns. Hypocrisy as it impinges on public policy is also a legitimate concern. Raising these issues in a dignified and honest manner doesn't qualify as personal insult.
Check Your Angles Frequently
As part of the manufacturing process for ScopeRoller's caster assemblies, I first make a rough cut of the cylinders on a chop saw, then square them and trim them to the correct length (plus or minus .002") on the lathe. The last couple of times that I have made a set, I have had a heck of a time getting the cylinders to square up correctly on the lathe--and as a result, when it comes time to center drill the ends of the cylinders, those holes just don't end up very well centered. For the cylinders that I am going to bore out to make a sleeve, this is a nuisance, but not a hopeless one, because I generally use a boring bar to finish the interior diameter of the sleeve. For those that will be turned to an exact outside diameter, it is more than a nuisance--I end up have to turn away a lot more material than I would prefer, and do another squaring cut.
I couldn't quite figure out why I used to be able to do a pretty good job of squaring these cylinder--but not anymore. Then I pulled out a steel square, and checked to see if the chop saw blade was exactly perpendicular to the surface on which the cylinder lies for cutting. And that was the problem. The chop saw blade is adjustable for vertical angle (from 90 degrees to 45 degrees), and it was easily several degrees off of 90.
Squaring a cylinder on a lathe can correct for small discrepancies, but when you get to something that is several degrees from a right angle, it seems to be pretty much impossible to get a perfectly square result. You start with the end that is the closest to square, and chuck that end first. Then make a cut across the less square end. I'm having trouble applying the opposite angles theorem from geometry to a rotating 3-D domain, but my intuition tells me that as the net effect is that the squaring cut makes the less square end at least as square as the end in the chuck--and then when you turn it around, the second squaring cut gives you something darn close to 90 degrees. If worst comes to worst, turning the cylinder end over end again gives you an even closer cut to 90 degrees.
In any case, with the chop saw angle set correctly, I only need to square each end to have a 3.048" long cylinder so square that no matter how carefully I check it, there's only about .001" difference between the length of the cylinder at various points.
Too Stupid To Stay Out of Jail
Shoplifting is wrong. Trying to shoplift items that cost hundreds of dollars under the watchful eye of the proprietor is stupid. And trying it at a gun show? From the March 23, 2009 Wichita Eagle:
Thanks to Dustin's Gun Blog for bringing this to my attention.
The Decline of Dead Trees Media
Traditional media keep pretending that they have professionalism and experience on their side in the battle against the blogosphere. But I keep hearing from around the country that really large tax protest rallies are just being ignored:
You know, you could almost get the impression that the professional journalists are letting their partisan enthusiasm for the left get in the way of reporting important events. Nah!
And how many front page stories were there in the newspapers in Lexington and Louisville, or in our own home town paper, the State Journal, about this event?
NONE. ZERO. ZIP.
In one of the most blatant examples of media manipulation that I have ever witnessed in my entire life, the mainstream media have chosen to ignore a mass protest by over a thousand Kentuckians, speaking their minds about an issue of major importance in our lives.
When that putrid hate-monger Louis Coleman held a rally at which only a handful of his sycophants showed up, they covered it like it was the second coming. If it had been 1500 NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL ALIENS demonstrating for rights that they do not possess, demanding benefits for which they have not paid in a country NOT their own, they would have been all over it. But let 1500 men and women who love their country and are tired of being abused by their elected officials show up in one place, hold a PEACEFUL rally and what do they write about it?
NOTHING. RIEN. ZILCH.
Why Does This Make Me Think of The Magnificent Seven?
You remember: the movie about the little Mexican village that hires seven American gunfighters to protect them from bandits who are operating with no fear of the federales? From the March 22, 2009 Houston Chronicle:
Mexico has pretty strict gun control laws, from what I understand, that utterly fail to disarm the drug cartels, but seem to work pretty well at preventing their victims from putting up a credible defense. Think about it for a second: in a village of 3700 people, there are probably 1200 adults who could carry a rifle. Even if 100 thugs from the Zetas showed up, even with automatic weapons, the advantage of a defensive position and greater numbers would mean a thorough defeat for the thugs.
More Proof That Knuckle Dragging Gun Nuts Are Smarter Than California Legislators
I mentioned the new American made copy of the Steyr AUG; a reader tells me that he saw a couple of them offered for sale at a gun show in California. What? How could that be? To original California assault weapons law adopted in 1989 was defective because it banned most guns not by function, but by name and model. As a result, there was a series of revisions to the law in the 1990s as gun makers made trivial changes to the guns that did not affect functionality--and ended up with guns that were exempt from the ban. The last set of revisions apparently sought to ban guns based on functional characteristics--such as a detachable magazine. This is what California should have done in the first place, if the functional characteristics of the assault weapons were actually a problem, but that would have banned milions of guns that Californians--and some California legislators--owned, such as the Ruger 10/22, the Ruger Mini-14, the Auto-Ordnance M1A1 (the semiauto version of the Tommy Gun).
And what defines "detachable magazine"? One that can be removed without a tool. If there's a button you push, that's a detachable magazine. If you have to use a screwdriver, or even the tip of a bullet to do so, it's not a detachable magazine.
So:Now, here’s the good news: a commonly-accepted definition of a “detachable” magazine is one that can be removed without a tool. And…a tool can be almost anything, even a cartridge for the gun. Enter the Bullet Button from Prince Industries (no web site), a clever invention that honors the law while preserving most of the convenience of a detachable magazine.
Apparently AR-15s, Steyr AUG clones, and a variety of other weapons are now being sold in California with this alteration--and thus not violating the California Assault Weapons Control Act. And not surprisingly, it isn't terribly difficult to replace this with the standard parts on short order.
The Bullet Button is just a few small parts that alter the behavior of the magazine release. Parts 1, 2 and 3 in the photo make up the Bullet Button. Part 3 fits inside part 2. Part 4 is the magazine release that comes with an AR-15 parts kit. Parts 5 and 6 are the standard magazine release spring and button; these can be discarded after installation of the Bullet Button.
UPDATE: A reader gave me this update, with some warnings to avoid falling afoul of this incredibly stupid law:
