Security Blimp

I'm looking out my window at the Security Blimp right now, wondering why, if Climate Change is occuring at such a quick rate, its so fucking cold and miserable outside?

Kyoto

Russia President Vladamir Putin is going to sign Kyoto. Its now headed to the Dumas for a rubber stamp.

Blogging will be light non existent today, as I deal with the impacts of this development.

John Hostettler

While blogging about John Hostettler insightful floor statement on the incompetence of the DC Police and its 911/emergency response capabilities, I forgot about an earlier post on John Hostettler this spring.

Thanks a bunch, Congressman Hostettler. How I wish you represented me, instead of that fence straddling drunk.

HR 3193

Voting is done and we won pretty handily 250-171

That breaks down as follows,

193 Republicans voting for it, 22 against, and 7 not voting.
52 Democrats voting for it, 143 against, 1 present and 4 not voting.
Bernie Sanders voted against it.

I'll get you a complete list of who voted what later today. I expect you all to call the RINOs and give them grief while calling the Democratic friends of the constitution and thank them for their continued sanity.

We Won

We just won. The bill passed on an oral vote. Souder requested a recorded vote and recieved it.

It will be interesting to see who votes.

Tom Davis is an asshole

Tom Davis is an ass. He's a bumbling, fence straddling, alcohol fueled fool.
He used to be my congressman, but thank god I was gerrymandered out of
his district. Simply put, he is a disgrace to the good people of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.

Go Rocky Top!

The Volunteer State is stepping up today. First it was Zach Wamp and now Masha Blackburn (who is pretty darn attractive) are doing a great job of shutting the gun grabbers down.

Of special note, its nice to hear that members of Zach's family have CCW permits.

John Hostettler

Hostettler is on right now talking about the inability of the DC Police to povide even the most basic level of police protection and responsiveness.

He's pointing out how his constituents can keep their families safe, but in DC you are required to hope that a police force which often times doesnt show up for hours to come to your rescue.

Souder Responds

Mark Souder has a great response to Waxman.

"It would be illegal to shoot such weapon at a limo or armored truch under my bill, and it will still be illegal to shoot such a weapon in that fashion under my bill"

Oh God

Oh god . . . Henry Waxman is complaining about .50 caliber sniper rifles now. Good grief. Go back to California.

Idiot

Eleanor Norton Holmes is an idiot. Here's some of her more idiotic questions.

It should be a requirement of citizenship to warn the police if someone has a gun.

If you vote for this bill you will vote to allow children under 18 to carry semi automatic assault weapons on the streets.

If you vote for this bill you will vote to allow people who have been convicted of a crime to buy SEMI AUTOMATIC weapons.

Like I said, an utter and complete idiot. Thank god she doesn't count.

This can't be

Certainly, there must be a mistake here.

Van Douglas Godette Jr., 23, from Lake Charles was sentenced Monday by United States District Judge Richard Haik to 21 months imprisonment to be followed by three years supervised release for making false statements to a firearms dealer while attempting to purchase a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol announced United States Attorney Donald W. Washington.

The offense occurred when Godette attempted to purchase firearms at a gun show in Lake Charles in November 2002. While completing the Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms Form 4473 Godette answered "no" to questions which ask whether the purchaser has been convicted of a felony.

What happened to the gun show loophole???






Oh, never mind. I forgot. Its just another GFW chimera.

More Staff Problems

I guess Kerry is gonna blame his staff for his latest screw up too.

On Good Morning America today, Kerry blamed

his I-voted-for-before-I-voted-against soundbite on fatigue: "It was a very inarticulate way of saying something and I had one of those moments late in the evening when I was tired in the primaries and didn't say something clearly. But it reflects the truth of the position, which is, I thought, to have the wealthiest people in America share the burden of paying for that war. It was a protest. Sometimes you have to stand up and be counted."

However, at the time he made the statement, the Washington Post reported it as occuring at a noon time rally.

'I actually did vote for his $87 billion, before I voted against it,' he told a group of veterans at a noontime appearance at Marshall University. He went on to explain that he preliminarily backed the request, so long as it was financed not by deficit spending but with a tax surcharge on the wealthy that Bush opposed.

It'll be interesting to see how he blames the staff for this one.

Crossposted at TN4w.

Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil Gingrey Congressman for Georgia's 11th District, along the western border just south of our place, is on the floor making a mockery of the Democrats false federalism arguments.

Good job Dr. Phil. You have a great future!!!!

DC Gun Ban Debate

The non member of congress is on the floor complaining about the efforts to free the people. She is upset that the didn't ban cop killer bullets.

What the hell is a cop killer???

Sure beats bug juice

It was tequila and margarita mix, to be precise, left in the refrigerator in a pitcher and mistaken for limeade by kitchen staff, who poured it into small cups and served it to children as a lunch treat, he wrote.

Nothing this exciting ever happened to me at school.

National Ammo Day

The Books are Burning

Tim Sandefur reminds us all that it is Banned Book Week and the world and out country are still filled with people who would oppresse the rights of others to information, alternate opinions, or simply a good story.

Here's a list of the 100 most requently banned books over the previous century. Pick one up this week and read it. Better yet, when your done, share the book with someone else and ask that they too pass the book along. If you can't find a book in your neighborhood, because its been banned or other such nonesense, the University of Pennsylvania Library has a great on-line library of books along with the story of their banning. This is another great banned book resource.

Might I suggest starting with John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding before conquering the ALA's Top 100 list.

I'll probably re-read To Kill a Mockingbird again as well Huxley's Brave New World. Both are longtime favorites of mine, but there's lots of other goodies on the list as well . . . everything from Mark Twain to Stephen King to John Steinbeck to Madonna. Plus a ton of Judy Bloom (who's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge were two of my favorite childhood books). Heck, I like the Harry Potter movies and have always wanted to read the books. Maybe I'll start this week.

UPDATE:Went to Books A Million last night and bought some banned books, including the first two Harry Potter books. I started reading the Sorcerer's Stone on the train this morning. As someone said in my comments, its much better than the movie. It was actually an interesting experience reading it now, knowing what I know of its success and the great struggle out of poverty that accompanied J.K. Rowling's drafting of it. When I am done, my copy will be passed along.

I also purchased a few other banned books to distribute randomly. Today, I handed a women on my bus To Kill a Mockingbird. Tomorrow, I am giving away a copy of Catcher in the Rye. Friday I will give away a copy of Brave New World.

D.C. Personal Protection Act

From National Journal's Hotwire

HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE

D.C. Gun Laws/Marriage Amendment
Full committee meets to formulate a rule on H.R.3193, the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act and H.J.Res.106, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.

Location: H-313, U.S. Capitol. 5 p.m.
Contact: 202-225-9191 http://www.house.gov/rules

In The House

Tom Delay just took to the floor to lay out todays agenda. Its gonna be an exciting one. They plan on debating and voting for the District of Columbia Personal Protection Act and the Federal Marriage Protection Act.

Look for updates here.

Leggo My Eggo

It turns out that John Kerry never owned what he said he owned and never said he owned what he claims he doesn't own. Rather, Senator Veracity of Taxachussets would now have us believe that the detailed and personal responses to the questionnaire provided by Outdoor Life for their interview with the candidates were instead filed out by a lowly, un-named junior campaign staffer.

Senator John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error.

Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the campaign, said Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, owns two guns, a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun and the rifle, which Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry "keeps as a relic" and had never fired. Mr. Meehan said the gun had no make or model markings on it and that Mr. Kerry "got it from a friend years ago," adding that such rifles were first manufactured in Russia more than 100 years ago and were used by the North Koreans and the Vietcong.

The clarification came in response to an article yesterday in The New York Times quoting Mr. Kerry's response to a question by Outdoor Life: "What is your favorite gun?"

"My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam," said Mr. Kerry, a veteran, according to the October issue. "I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."

Though the comment was presented by Outdoor Life as part of an "exclusive interview with the two presidential candidates," four pages that included many long, conversational answers using first-person pronouns, Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry's portions were written by his staff. A public relations representative for Outdoor Life did not respond to a message seeking comment.

So, apparently, nothing the Senator says can be readily believed because while quoted to him, he would have us believe that it is actually the product of a run away campaign staff who failed to check with him and decides to fabricate exactly what kind of gun he has. When it blows up in his face, they then regroup and cite another, allegedly less scary but unknown weapon.

He Who Shall Not Be Named has the details on this new rifle.


All this, of course, has me wondering what other alternative realities Mr. Kerry's campaign staff create?

As a lifelong hunter and fisherman, I am proud to be among the millions of American sportsmen and sportswomen who are dedicated to conserving fish and wildlife and passing along the American hunting and fishing traditions to the next generation.

Did they make this up? Probably.

I started hunting and shooting with my family when I was 12 years old. It taught me responsibility and respect for the outdoors. As President I will make conservation of the outdoors and preservation of hunters’ rights a priority so that another generation of Americans can pass on these values to their children and grandchildren.

Did his staff pull this out of thin air or did they actually ask the candidate when he started hunting?

What about his favorite day in the field, is this nothing but a fiction created by campaign staffers?

The greatest day I ever had in the field was in South Carolina hunting with my cousins; though last year bagging two pheasants with two shots on my first hunt in Iowa was also a good day.

Sadly, the junior league reporters at the New York Times seem incapable of asking the tough questions. I guess that’s the fault of the pajamaheden?

Here's the Senator Kerry's staffer's response to the question "In your view, does the Second Amendment protect the individual’s right to own firearms? Why or why not?"

Yes. As a hunter and a gun owner, I believe that law-abiding American adults have the right to own firearms. As President, I will defend the Second Amendment right of law-abiding American adults to own firearms.

Did he make that up?

Well, this statement is his agreement that any firearm laws be subjected to a strict scrutiny review . For the non lawyers out there, that means a firearm law must be supported by not only a compelling state interest, but that the means chosen to address that interest are narrowly tailored and do not burden the Republic with an overbroad scheme. Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, 476 U.S. 267, 274 (1986). (For those not familiar with standards of review, this web page provides a good general overview). The end result of course, is that nearly every gun control measure supported by Kerry is unconstitutional.

Is this another waffle?

Does he now oppose all gun control, even the ridiculously overbroad so called Assault Weapons ban?

I support extending the assault weapons ban.

That’s his response to the previous question.

Hmm, waffles within the same interview.

Obviously his unnamed staffers aren't speaking to the candidate or each other. Otherwise, his positions could never be so, so, so. . . . nuanced??

Naah, how about just full of it.


Crossposted at the Countertop Chronicles.

Postal Match, Part Deux

Well, I had threatened to and actually did it. Since the Neanderpundit announced in the comments to the Postal Matchh Part Deux that he would accept entries until tonite at midnight, I decided to head out and reshoot. Boy am I glad I did.

Lets recap . . .

yesterday, I spent a ton of time at the NRA range . . . almost 4 hours, and shot hundreds of rounds of ammo, including ten shots for the Postal Match. However, these were all taken without the benefit of having eaten lunch.

So, this evening, after dinner, I headed over to Blue Ridge Arsenal to reshoot (the NRA is closed for league action on Monday nights). What a grand trip. When i arrived, the store was pretty much empty, but with the same guys from my End of the So Called Assault Weapons Ban journey there. I purchased a couple of boxes of .22lr, and while paying for it and my range time, was checking out the rental guns and was overcome by Karma. Must Shoot Ruger Redhawk 7 inch .44 Magnum Karma. of course, is impossible to avoid, and so, I laid $10 down for the rental and grabbed a box of .44 mags. I had my own pics of Osama that Muslim Scumbag piece of shit, so I didn't buy any of theirs. I proceeded to walk into the range and put 50 BOOOMING rounds into Osama. great fun. Repeat.

After shooting my hearts content out with the Ruger, I then turned to the task at hand and shot about 50 warm up rounds with the Mark II. In doing so, I experimented with different aim techniques, and decided that I shot best when not shooting for the Bullseye, but instead trying to just place shots within the 9 ring and posting the target about 8 inches higher. After this revelation, I put my two targets up and shot my 10. The results, for me at least, are damn impressive.

The left target scored 49. The top left was a 9 with the round landing just next to the bullseye at 7 o'clock. The rest were 10s.

On the right target, I scored a 47. Again, the top left was a 9 with the round this time landing at 4 o'clock, just north of the 8 ring. The bottom right scored an 8 with the shot landing at 9 o'clock at the intersection of the horizontal line and 9 ring.

Total score = 96 Wow! I am impressed with myself.

That though, isn't even the most exciting news. Rather, as I was talking to the Blue Ridge guys, they mentioned that they have filed paper work to become a Class III firearms dealer (they hope to sell to the local police departments) and that once the paper work comes in they will be offering rentals of Automatic Weapons!!!!!! MP-5s!!!!! Uzis!!!!!! Yahooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In addition, they have a long term plan for next year to upgrade the range facilities (which sorely need some rehab work) so that they can accept some rifle ammo (.223, .30-30, 7.62x39, etc.).

Things do appear to be looking up for Blue Ridge. I wish them well. It was a really poor gun shop a couple of years ago, but the new owner seems to be doing the right things (plus, with Galyan's demise, it looks like their gonna have a monopoly on handgun sales in Fairfax County).

Libertarianism

Ravenwood, who btw I went shooting with yesterday, has a great link to a Libertarian quiz on his page. I took it and scored a pretty reasonable 87% . . . enough to classify me as a:

Radical Libertarian

But, you say . . . . why are you not a pure libertarian??

Well, while I think freedom of travel without restrictions is an ideal goal to strive for, while many in the world still inist upon bringing harm to our way of life, the need to secure our borders is vital. To that extent, I aligned myself with the

>Illegal immigration is a serious problem, but the solution is more border patrol and/or use of the military to guard the borders better

school of thought. Maybe once we defeat al Qaeda we can open up the borders again - though in order to quell future attacks we really need a better system of tracking what foreignors are coming and going from the country.

For what its worth, on the education question I also sided with the

Replace government-owned schools with government-provided vouchers for everyone

school of thought since the state (ie: individual states) are in an excellent position to help ensure a basic education for all citizens across socierty. However, I'm hesitant of the state dictating whats the wrong or right subject to teach, and believe the marketplace will better sort those educational issues out.

In any case, take the quiz and see how you fare.

Presidential Guns

The New York Times has picked up on John Kerry's admission of Assault Rifle ownership in a recent edition of Outdoor Life magazine. The Times, one of the most vocal and fiercest defenders of the so called assault weapons ban doesn't really seem worried about Kerry's hypocrisy (or potential illegal ownership), brushing it off with a quote by Bob Ricker that

not worried by Mr. Kerry's answer because "he knows a lot about firearms and he's also one of the most credible individuals when it comes to talking about gun-violence prevention and what it takes to keep weapons of war off the street."

.

To their credit though, they do point out that Kerry likes to tell

audiences he has never met anyone who wanted to use an AK-47 to shoot a deer. But it is not clear what Mr. Kerry does with the Chinese assault rifle he told Outdoor Life magazine he kept in his personal collection.

However, continuing on the Democrat's latest strategy paint President Bush as the waffler to Mr. Kerry's straight talking and firm decision making, they attack Bush for making seemingly contradictory statements about his favorite gun.

Mr. Bush named the Weatherby 20 gauge (although he gave a slightly different answer in a separate chat with Field and Stream magazine.)

They go on to explore Mr. Bush's waffles on the issue in much greater detail.

Mr. Bush does not have such high-powered weapons but seems unable to pick a consistent favorite. To Field and Stream, he said, "My favorite gun is the first gun that my dad gave me, which is a Winchester .22 pump, Model 61."

He also mentioned the Weatherby he chose for Outdoor Life, saying that it was a "custom-made gun presented to me by the C.E.O. of the company, Mr. Weatherby." Mr. Bush said he had "six or seven guns" in his office safe, including two .22's, deer rifles and a .243-caliber "varmint" rifle.

"Given to me by the former lieutenant governor of Texas, Bob Bullock, my old buddy," Mr. Bush explained of the .243-caliber rifle, "who on his deathbed said, 'I want to give you a gun.'

Hmm, so Bush is torn by what his favorite gun might be . . . a trust Model 61 given by his father when he was a boy? Nothing wrong with that.

Or could it be his Weatherby Athena, given by Mr. Weatherby himself? I'd have to say, I iz a bit jealous. Of course, if a dying friend handed you a varmint rifle on his deathbed . . . that too might hold a special place in your heart.

And certainly, his deer rifles (which undoubtedly are higher powered than the Kerry assault weapon, but I'll leave that point alone) might also be legitimate favorites. It’s really a shame that the Time's didn't explore this topic further? Perhaps he has a pristine pre-'64 Winchester Model 70? Or Maybe a sweet Ruger M77 or a tack driving Browning A-Bolt? Or, does he simply have a trust lever action like the venerable Winchester '94 or Marlin 336 (the most popular gun in America), both of which are steeped in Western (ie: Texan) history? Enquiring minds want to know.

In either case, for the hunters and gun owners out there, I think it is pretty clear who is being straightforward on the issue and who is, pardon the Frog, speaking out of their derriere.

P.S. In the same Outdoor Life article, Kerry makes the shocking admission that the right to bear arms is an individual right immediaetly after supporting the assault weapons ban. I'm working on a longer frisking of this apparant contradiction, and while I try to avoid the abortion debate, will show how Mr. Kerry's position is one that should also worry the pro abortion crowd.

Crossposted at TN4W

Let's Just Ban Guns

Ya Know, the liberals (especially here in corrupt Washington, D.C.) keep insisting that the D.C. Gun ban is a success and the only thing keeping D.C. Citizens (and especially the children) out of the morgue is the D.C. Gun ban.


Yeah, right. Looks like they might need to reconsider.

A night and early morning of gunfire in the area left five people dead and four wounded, including a teenage student at Ballou Senior High School who was found shot to death in a stolen car, becoming the 20th juvenile slain in the District this year.

. . . .

Walker's death was the latest in a string of killings that has pushed the District's number of juvenile homicides to record levels in recent years. She was the 20th juvenile to be slain this year in the District. Last year, 12 juveniles were killed; in 2002, there were 16 juvenile homicides, Gentile said.

Hmm. I can't imagine how something like this could happen. Didn't these kids realize that

• its illegal to murder someone;


• its illegal to shoot someone;
• 
  
• its illegal to steal a car;


• its illegal to use a firearm in the commission of a crime;


• its illegal for juveniles, indeed any one under 21 years of age, to purchase a handgun or handgun ammunition;


• its illegal to discharge a firearm in the District of Columbia;


• its illegal to possess ammunition (including individual component sub parts - shell casings, gunpoweder, bullets, primers) in the District of Columbia;
, and of course

• its illegal to posses a gun within the District of Columbia?

With tough laws like that on the books, makes you sort of wonder why crime in D.C. keeps spiraling out of control?
Aren't these kids afraid that the corrupt and incompetent Chucky "Cheese" Ramsey is going to throw them in jail? Or at least ask for a bribe?

A Gun Guy Kind of Day

Well, the wife and child have headed out and south for the next couple of weeks, leaving me to man the fort all alone.
So, on an overcast Sunday afternoon, with nary a football game to really interest me (tomorrow nights fight between the Cowboys and Injun's is a must see though) I met with Steve from Ravnwood (a fine fine blog) over at the NRA for some gun play. Steve took along one of the purtiest SKS's I've ever seen, as well as a couple of nice handguns. I took my Glock 23, Ruger Mark II, the latest Marlin 336, the PC9 and of course, my commie gun complete with oh so very frikkin scary 40 round magazines.

A fun time was had by all, and by 12:30 or so (after an hour and a half), the range started getting pretty busy, with all the lanes filled and a large group waiting to enter. Steve ended up leaving and freeing his spot but I decided to stick around as I still needed to re-site my Mark II (I had taken it apart - including the sites - the other day) before shooting Neanderpundit's Postal Match Part Deux. I sited it in, and in the next half hour the range pretty quickly emptied out. Running low on .22lr ammo (actually I was out of the high velocity stuff my Ruger enjoys) I cut out of the range for a quick trip down the road to Galyan's to restock (the range store was awaiting a shipment).

Galyan's sadly, has undergone an awful change. First, they've reorganized everything, but whats even worse, is that the ammo selection was horrib (though I did get ammo) and the handgun selections are in very sorry shape. In fact, the entire hunting department looked like it had been worked over. While I was standing around waiting for help, a guy next to me was purchasing a Glock 19. Turns out, its the only one the store has and the front site has fallen off and no one can find it. It also comes with the wimpy 10 round mags, not the standard 15 rounders. They tell the guy they will have to send it off to Glock to be repaired (no charge to him, of course) and then proceed to ring him up. While the clerk is doing the background check, I mention to the guy that if they are sending the gun off, he ought to have the 10 rounders switched out for 15. He agrees and asks the clerk that question, and he responds that Galyans doesn't sell them and they cant do that. In fact, this does appear to be the case, as Galyans is selling 10 rounders for my G23 for $26.00. I purchased 13 rounders a little over a week ago for that same price. I could find no other hi cap mags anywhere in the store. Well, to make a long story short, this guy still bought the gun and was even willing to pay for it IN FULL up front. Geesh, don't know what price they gave him, but they are running a sale - $50 off handguns over $400 till October 2. Might be worth checking out.

I left Galyan's, and headed back to the NRA which was a virtual ghost town at this point. Took up a position in Lane 2 right next to a father and son shooting a sweet Springfield XD in .357 SIG. The father had really loaded these things up. He said he was trying to match a .257 magnum and it sure sounded and felt like it. I had never fired a Springfield XD (or a .357 SIG for that matter) and so he gladly obliged me. Of course, he had never fired a Glock before, so I let him and his son have some fun with it. He liked the Glock, but felt a bit more comfortable on his Springfield. Not surprising. I really liked it. The sites were perfect for me (3 dots insteasd of the U Glock has, and it just felt right in my hand. He said they sold for almost $100 less than a Glock. For that price, if your in the market for a new handgun, I would heartily recommend one.

After that diversion, I got to the task at hand - shooting for the neanderpundit Postal Match Part Deaux. Last time, using the 10/22 and an awfully difficult target, I performed less than stellarly. This time . . . . well, I don't know how I will match up, but my total score out of 100 was 87.

The first target I scored a 44 (a 10, two 9s, and two 8s) on the second target I scored a 43 (Three 9s and two 8s). Not too bad, though I think If i had eaten lunch, I would have shot a bit better.

Anyway, after finishing up, I decided to make some space for new ammo in the ammo locker. That of course, entailed sending about 150 rounds of .40S&W down the range, as well as finsihing off what was left of an old Wal Mart Remington Value Pack of .22lr. It originally had 500 rounds in it, but as I would open up and not empty different boxes of .22, I threw the extra rounds in this box. I estimate that I shot about 400 rounds of assort .22lr, on top of the 100 rounds I shot warming up and competing in the Postal Match. I also plowed through 60 rounds of Winchester .30-30, 40 rounds from the AK, and 50 rounds of 9mm from the PC9. Good fund.

Returning home, I cleaned my guns up, took a shower, headed for church, and then tonite rented on DVD the only movie that is truly fitting on a he Who Shall Not Be Named day like today . . . . Zulu, the greatest war movie ever and the best movie ever to take place in South Africa.

Dan Rather

DRUDGE is reporting that CBS plans for Dan "What's The Frequency, Kenneth" Rather to retire this spring.

I'm gonna chalk that up as TOO LITTLE TOO LATE.
Thank goodness CBS isn't showing NFL games anymore, cause now there is nothing keeping me from a complete boycott of the network.

The-Crease.org

WOW!

Check out The-Crease's redesign! John's putting my site to shame once again.

Pay Pal

First, we were greeted with the news this morning that Pay Pal wants to Censor Bill Quick's Daily Pundit for telling the violent truth about something (though they won't say what). Now, we have the blogfather telling us that Pay Pal is intent on becoming the morality police, cutting off not just sellers but also users

who buy things it doesn't want them to: prescription drugs from unverified pharmacies, material with even a whiff of sex and gambling or lottery services. . . .

Its policy on adult materials is especially stringent, banning not only any material or services suggesting sexual activity but also "non-adult services whose Web site marketing can be reasonably misconstrued as allowing adult material or services to be purchased using PayPal."

.Prof. Reynolds thinks that its past time for more competition in this area. I agree, and while Pay Pal seems to have beaten most of its competition, alternative are still out there. Check out these choices.

• Storm Pay from Clarksville, TN (though they do seem to frown on sex and gambling)


• NoChex is from Leeds, London and doesn't seem to have any problem with sex or gambling (the British usually don't) and has no readily apparant prohibiton against firearms or telling the truth about the world.


• Pay By Web is anothe good choice.

You could also simply sign up and create your own Verisign payment processing account as well

. My point though is that there are options out there and Pay Pal isn't your only choice. Perhaps the blogsphere can band together to punish Pay Pal, by not only refusing to use their services, but also by promoting their competitors in order to secure a robust marketplace of choices. Lots of people run blog ads. Maybe we can all make a simple post or two about a good experience at a Pay Pal competitor. If we spread these out over the next couple of months, call it a Carnival of the Alternative Online Payment Processors I'm sure Pay Pal would eventually get the idea.

Carnival of the Recipies

Got big plans for this weekend?

Company coming over? Maybe some friends to watch a little college football Perhaps the parents stopping by unexpectadly to visit the grandkids? Is the church having a homecoming picnic?


If your like me, and are always at a loss for recipies, have no fear, the Carnival of the Recipies is here, and celebrating the Indian Summer in high style.

Me, I look forward to the Kentucky Oaks Pie, which I plan to eat along with some smooth sipping Kentucky Brewed Woodford Reserve.

RCOB Moment

I hate School Administrators. Especially the clueless liberal kind. Add a foolish, zero tolerance policy and you've got a recipie for disaster. In New Hampshire at least, it amounts to the suggestion that kill themselves, cause they certainly aren't free.

In this case, it turns out Londonderry, in far Southeastern New Hampshire, populated as it is with Massholes galore, thinks a skeet shotgun is a tool of mass desctruction, unfit for viewing by impressionable high school students. As Matt at Stop The Bleating points out

this decision is ridiculous. We're not talking about a student submitting a photo of himself waving a handgun while flashing gang signs; trap is a legitimate sport -- in fact, an Olympic sport. There's nothing violent about it, except in the twisted worldview of a few ignorant people.

Plus, if they are going to ban shotguns in yearbook pictures as violating the zero tolerance policy on violence, then what about all the other violent activities the students subject themselves too?

as far as I know trap originally was intended as a way of practicing for bird hunting, but I'm certain that many trap shooters today have never hunted in their lives, just as lots of archers have never bow-hunted, most javelin throwers presumably never have waged war Bronze Age-style, lots of fencers presumably never have participated in a real duel, etc., etc.

Wonder if they've gotten rid of football and wrestling too??
Actually, I wonder what John Kerry thinks of this? You know, he is a sportsman and a Masshole.

Cox's Floor Statement

Yesterday, I mentioned the morning floor statement of Christopher Cox concerning Republican vs. Democrat votes to eliminate slavery.

Well, here's the actual transcript.

Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, this is the 150th anniversary of the Republican Party. Over a century and a half from the abolition of slavery to the establishment of women's rights to the freeing of millions of people in the Soviet Union, Afghanistan and in Iraq, the Republican Party has been the most effective political organization in the history of the world in advancing the cause of freedom.

So that all of us can learn more about the achievements of this fundamentally American institution, the House Republican Policy Committee has published the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. Each day, a civil rights milestone in the history of the Republican Party is listed. Yesterday was the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation sparked howls of protests from Democrats in Congress and across the country, but it was based on legislation passed in this Congress just 2 months before. Every single Republican voted for freeing the slaves, and every single Democrat voted against it.

Heh!

I guess I should also take this opportunity to point out that not only did Al Gore vote against the Civil Rights Act, but that he was also a member of the Klu Klux Klan. Of course, some think reminding people of this is nothing more than kicking a bunch of old guys around. If thats the case, then let me be the first to throw one more kick in their face.

Ouch

Chritopher Cox was just on the floor of the Senate talking about Civil Rights.

He said, in more eloquent words than these - After Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, EVER single Republican voted for it to abolish slavery and EVER single Democrat voted against it in order to preserve slavery.

Never Forget

It appears that some people think I am a photoshop wiz or something and actually created the images I've been posting the last couple of days. While I am flattered that folks would think me this creative, the truth is I am not. These images were either emailed to me, or found in my random web surfings. Where I know the origins, I've linked them to the page I found them.

Nevertheless, the fact that I didn't create them in no way impunges the message they convey . . . . that Senator John Kerry and his liberal supporters are bad for America.

Kerry's Boy Toy

57 Varieties

Brilliant

I just found a great new web page - MakeThemAccountable.org

Separated At Birth???

Election Prediction

Bush Wins!

Virginia 2nd Amendment Freedoms

The Virginia Citizens Defense League has lots of great new stuff up.

First, and most importantly, they have a copy of Delegate Dick Black's letter to Attorney General Kilgore seeking a legal opinion on whether the ban on restaurant Concealed Carry is enforecable. General Kilgore's opinion is expected soon. Here is what VCDL reported in their Action Alert email.

As you can see, a lot of careful research has gone into the request.

Plenty of documentation was provided to backup the case that J3 is invalid, including a ruling by Mary Sue Terry, when she was Attorney General in 1987, on a law with a similar construction (Page 3, D1 of the Request).

Here is the law found by Ms. Terry to be invalid and unenforceable:

§ 8.01-498. Selling officers and employees not to bid or to purchase.

No officer of any city, town, county or constitutional officer or employee of any such city, town, county or constitutional office shall, directly or indirectly, bid on or purchase effects sold under a writ by such officer. (Code 1950, § 8-427; 1975, c. 84; 1977, c. 617.)

Here is the law after the General Assembly reenacted it:

§ 8.01-498. Selling officers and employees not to bid or to purchase.

No officer of any city, town, county or constitutional officer or employee of any such city, town, county or constitutional office shall, directly or indirectly, bid on or purchase effects sold under a writ by such officer. ---Anyone violating this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.--- (Code 1950, § 8-427; 1975, c. 84; 1977, c. 617; 1988, c. 674.)

Here is the current version of 18.2-308 J3:

J3. No person shall carry a concealed handgun onto the premises of any restaurant or club as defined in § 4.1-100 for which a license to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption has been granted by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board under Title 4.1 of the Code of Virginia; however, nothing herein shall prohibit any sworn law-enforcement officer from carrying a concealed handgun on the premises of such restaurant or club or any owner or event sponsor or his employees from carrying a concealed handgun while on duty at such restaurant or club if such person has a concealed handgun permit.

As you can see there is no penalty proscribed.

Of course, this is important because most people in Virginia who are going out for a nice meal would (or, as is my case, even breakfast) like to carry concealed. This dumb law prevents that and forces Virginia Permit holders to carry openly like everyone else in Virginia. As we've reported here in the past, this has led to a lot of unwanted media intrusion. In one very publicized case, a group of law abiding citizens was unfairly harrassed at Champ's restaurant because of this.

Well, VCDL has uncovered the goods on that episode, and has posted both a complete and detailed summary of what actually happened and a copy of the 911 call transcript.

Do yourself a favor. Read the entire transcript, and then decide for yourself who was the bigger threat to peace and harmony.

Axis of Evil

Kissing Kerry

Botox Boy

Postal Match, Part Deux

The Neanderpundit is holding the next postal match this weekend. As some of you know, I didn't do so hot last time. However, I had some excuses.

Well, this time, its a different story. I've got my glasses, the targets are printed and my pistol is dialed in. In fact, my Ruger Mark II is shooting especially accurate and I intend to get one of Og's predicted 100s!

Look for a scan of my targets to be posted here Sunday evening.

If you want to participate, you can download the target here.

Perhaps for Round Three, we can use this target.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

I used to think the Washington Post had the most annoying sign in feature, but I take that back. The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Access Atlanta.com is far far worse. So bad, I think we may just institute a permanant boycot of the crummy paper here at the Countertop Chronicles.

Monday Song Lyric - delayed

Last week, John J. Miller had an excellent review of Iron Maiden's masterpiece, Powerslave on National Review Online.


Like John, I was also a Maiden fan as a youth, and while my musical tastes may have drifted away from time to times, my fondness for their powerful music never faltered. As John so deftly states

In the loud and fast genre of heavy metal, Iron Maiden's music is tough to beat. Listening to the band for the first time after many years — I more or less had stopped by 1987 — I hear lots of strong riffs and melodies as well as impressive levels of musicianship. I don't play the guitar, but I've strummed one before and taking in a Maiden solo now makes me tip my hat to the guy who spent a lot of lonely hours perfecting his craft.

For me, however, what always separated Iron Maiden from other heavy-metal bands were the topics of the songs. Despite those silly album covers and names, the group's lyrical interests were downright mature — and several notches above everything else in the genre. If Iron Maiden ever wrote a song about sex, drugs, or rock and roll, I never heard it. The guys were too busy singing about literature and history. Here's a sampling of song titles: "The Flight of Icarus," "Alexander the Great," "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner." Not all of their subjects are so transparent. "The Trooper" is Maiden's version of "The Charge of the Light Brigade," the poem by Tennyson. "To Tame a Land" is based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic Dune. "Stranger in a Strange Land" isn't based on the Robert Heinlein book, but something else entirely. (Arctic exploration, if you must know.)

I, of course did play guitar and Maiden was a poweful early force. In my one real outing as a musical god, playing before a pack house at the Morristown Beard talent show, my friends and I (well, friend and I, I didn't realy know the other guys) performed Maiden's "The Trooper" (along with Pink Floyd's Run Like Hell and a Stormtroopers of Death song) before a shocked audience of conservative, button down, prep school parents. We didn't go over well, but we had a blast.

While I wish we put on as good of a show as Maiden, the truth is, few will ever match the elaborate stagings and set changes that were the hallmarks of Maiden's powerful shows.

In honor of Maiden and of Powerslave, I present today's Song Lyric.

"Aces High," is about as perfect a heavy-metal tune as there is. It's about the Battle of Britain, told from the perspective of a British pilot. On tour in support of Powerslave two decades ago, Iron Maiden would begin its concerts by playing snippet from Winston Churchill's "Never Surrender" speech — and then launch into this rocker.

You can watch a video of its performance here.

Aces High
Steve Harris

There goes the siren that warns of the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak
Out for the scramble we’ve got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack.

Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheelblocks there’s no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before it’s too late.

Running, scrambling, flying
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live. aces high.

Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers
Let off a sharp burst and then turn away
Roll over, spin round and come in behind them
Move to their blindsides and firing again.

Bandits at 8 o’clock move in behind us
Ten me-109’s out of the sun
Ascending and turning our spitfires to face them
Heading straight for them I press down my guns

Rolling, turning, diving
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live, aces high.

New Look

If you haven't noticed, we've got a new look here. Hope you like it.

I plan for this to be a temporary phase. My previous template was having problems, and while I figure out how to move to a more stable platform, I thought I would try out one of the new sample templates blogger offers. We'll see how it runs over the next couple of weeks.

The one major change to occur is the loss of my archives - The posts are still there, but there just not accessible from this page. When I make the final changes, I hope to switch to a software program that will let me organize by catagory. I've put up about 1000 posts over the last 8 months or so and hope to eventually catagorize each. Its time consuming, but hopefully worthwhile.

The only other change is loss of some people from my blog roll. If you find you are no longer listed, have no fear. I will return you to the roll this week sometime, while also adding others to the roll too.

Robert Byrd

Robert Byrd is on the floor right now talking about the constitution. I have no idea what his larger point is going to be - I presume it has to do with kicking Bush out to prevent a military dictatorship taking over the coutry - but its real interesting how he keeps talking about the Language of the Constitution empower the rights of people to act as a countermeasure to the national military.

Ooops, he mentions the Right To Keep Arms along with the Right to Assemble and Speech. These rights are what makes the US a shining beacon and for them to aspire to. I'll pull the whole speech tomorrow, but its pretty intersting, especially in light of the current debate over DC's Gun Ban.

I'll Drink To That

Lt. Gen. Mikhail Kalashnikov is going into the vodka business. Good for him. Nothing follows a long range session better than some good drinking and revelry with your buddies. I'll Drink To That



The only question remaining is when can I get some???

So Not Sorry

So, Dan Rather is sorry for getting caught. Maybe.

We don't know, because he isn't really clear what he's sorry for short of a "mistake in judgment." Hmm, what does that mean? That he misjudged how easily it would be to fisk him? That he misjudged the tolerance of the American public for his bias? Maybe he is sorry that he misjudged the extent that his cohorts in the news media would defend him. Yes thats got to be it because it seems like the New York Times is the only one who is still on his side.

Mr. Rather and others at the network are said to still believe that the sentiment in the memos accurately reflected Mr. Killian's feelings but that the documents' authenticity was now in grave doubt.

There they go again. Fake but accurate. Geeze. Why do we even bother with these people anymore. Soudns to me like they sit around in pajamas deciding what the truth should be.

The developments last night marked a dramatic turn for CBS News, which for a week stood steadfastly by its Sept. 8 report as various document experts asserted that the typeface of the memos could have been produced only by a modern-day word processor, not Vietnam War-era typewriters.

The seemingly unflappable confidence of Mr. Rather and top news division officials in the documents allayed fears within the network and created doubt among some in the news media at large that those specialists were correct. CBS News officials had said they had reason to be certain that the documents indeed had come from the personal file of Colonel Killian.

Danny Boy's "Seemingly unflappable confidence" allayed fears???? They can't be serious, can they? I mean, do they expect anyone to believe this. I guess, if by "creating doubt among some in the news media" they mean Nicholas Kristoff and the Time's staff they do. No one else seemed to believe this crap after it first broke.

Yes, that most certainly must be what Danny Boy is sorry for. He is sorry he misjudged the willingness of the media to go along with the Charade he and the Times and the Kerry Campaign were going to pull. Want to know how we know? Because, as John Tant points out

An apology is specific.

John's got a lot more, including a exhaustive list of people who are owed an apology. Check it out.

Save D.C.

I'm going to try to get up to this press conference and throw some fireball questions at them, but am not sure I'll be able to get over from the house side in time.
Hope someone else will also be able to cover it.

Citizens to Save D.C. Gun Safety Laws
News conference to announce citizens' mobilization against gun repeal. Visits to Senate offices to follow
Participants: Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.
Location: G-11 Dirksen Senate Office Building. 1 p.m.
Contact: 202-225-8050

Raquel Welch

Inspired by the Gun Guy, I present you the most beautiful women I know of.

Raquel Welch

Yaaaaaa Baby!!!!!!

A little gun porn

I'd love to be your cave man . . .

Mel's got nothing on this

Whew. I think I need a cigar

Tools For Sale

I seriously secommend checking them out.

Ping Pong Matrix

Coooool!

Who's The Bigger Ass?

In a trifecta of glamourous misfits

Is it Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin who was just busted in Oklahoma City for pot?

Is it Growing Pains star Tracy Gold who rolled her SUV and injured her husband and 7 year old son while drunk driving?

Or was it Edward Furlong, the asshole PETA/animal rights activist (and we bet John Kerry supporter) child star of Terminator 2 who decided, in a drunken stupor, to yank lobsters out of a fish tank at a grocery store?

We'll let you decide.

We Shall Overcome!!!

The latest VCDL News Alert is a biggie.

First, Gary Alves has been acquitted of the charge of carrying a concealed weapon in the Dulles Airport parking lot. Notwithstanding Virginia's airport weapons law (18.2-287.01), the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority arrested and charged Mr. Alves for carrying a pocket knife. On Wedensday, Loudon County District Court Judge Dean Worcester dismissed the charges and ruled the MWAA regulations on weapons preempted.

Also, in Loudon County the Commonwealth's Attorney dropped charges against Dr. Thorston Hisam for allegedly violating the concealed carry restaurant ban. The Commonwealth's attorney apparantly agrees with Delagate Dick Black's position that the Restaurant Ban is neither valid nor enforceable under Virginia law.

Attorney General Kilgore (who wants to be Governor) is currently reviewing Delegate Black's position and is expected to release a binding legal opinion soon.

Congratulations to Attorney John Flannery, II (with Campbell, Miller,
Zimmerman in Leesburg - JonFlan@aol.com) for both important wins!

WELCOME to everyone coming over from Alphecca. Feel free to browse around, theres lots of good 2nd Amendment stuff here. Also, if you care about the truth and the future of our economy, please check out this post.

Iowa Reasons

This is a pretty fair Op-Ed from one of the major papers in the battleground state of Iowa.

Cowboy "six-guns" and holsters of my youth are largely gone from today's toy boxes, replaced by more futuristic toy weapons. Many adults, however, now shoot authentic replicas of the guns their movie heroes used. The old bang-bang, I-got-you - no-you-missed-me arguments are gone in today's high-tech young adult paint ball games. Cowboy action shooting is a growing and popular sport, and so, I must assume, is assault weapon shooting.
. . .

People can again buy "real" assault weapons. It's their right, the same as it's mine to have my old hunting shotgun and rifle. Ownership and use of military weapons without military training and discipline is a dangerous mix, though. It would be a refreshing and useful change to have people focus as much attention on the responsibilities of gun ownership and use as they do on protecting their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The Real Top 10

Rocky Top!!!!

Think your school's game-day experience is all that and a bag of chips? Universities like to carry the one definitive aspect of their programs around like a trump card. But Tennessee sees whatever your school is bringing to the table and bets the House That General Neyland Built that it's got you beat.

Kerry, Choice of Commies

Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

I've long been arguing that Kerry and the other members of the "progressive wing" of the Democrat Party are nothing more than re-branded socialists for a long time know. Turns out, I'm not the only who feels that way.

The notorious Russian Newspaper Pravda has come out in support of John Kerry with this statement

Kerry is probably a better choice as US president. A better choice for the world, and a better choice for the US.

I guess its only a matter of days till al Jazeera supports him too.

Remember to vote and get a friend to vote too!

TN4W

Hey, I was invited to join TN4W as a contributing poster. TN4W is a new blog set up to ensure Tennessee's 11 electoral votes land the right way this year. I'll be crossposting most of my political stuff over there too. Check it out.

Bananas

The Instafather quote's Lileks

it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” It boggles, it really does: the story is true, the evidence is faked, but the evidence reflects the evidence we have not yet presented that proves our conclusion – ergo, we’re telling the truth

and gives a hearty

"ouch," but a dead body feels no pain.

Bananas I say.

Is CBS turning into San Marcos?

Is Dan Rather really Fielding Mellish? I'm just waiting to hear

This trial is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham

Imagine That

Hmm, it looks like Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett has a few skeletons in his closet.

He published this attack on President Bush last year with the Veterans for Peace organization. Now, how much do you want to bet there is a connection between them and John Kerry's old cronies in the peace movement?

While GW Bush will be cast as a conquering hero by his political team and accepted by the population as such, history will treat him as Napoleonic. Bush will reach a new lofty level of acceptance by first fear and then staged triumph. Those who waited too long to gain their voice will lose their voice again.

He then goes on to state

We must now revert to the history of Europe to discern what to do. We must study the nemesis of France and how Napoleon was felled before understanding the damage a tyrant does to a nation and society. We must examine the ruthless and dictatorial rise of yet another of the three small men—one whose name is not spoken out of fear of reprisal, but his name was Adolf. We must examine history, in order to not repeat it, and to understand the mesmerism of a public to a murderous scheme. Three small men who wanted to conquer . . . and vanquish. Each created a need for a balancing throng; history then recorded the damage from a far better perspective.

More than one French or German household now sits watching the US expending her virtue through the tools of greed, anger and vengeance. And they caution us. They caution that out of this strong arm tactic will bring about the rise of a United Europe or Asia to counterbalance an arrogant superpower.

Oh, so the Kerry's last ditch hope is to return to the Mooresque charges of Hitler.

Right.

Hypocrites

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal (I know you've already taken my previous advice and gotten the subscription) has an article on the environmental prostitutes at Greenpeace. Turns out, just like Exxon, they like to go sailing in the fragile waters of Alaska. Except, unlike Exxon, Greenpeace has a tough time complying with most environmental laws and now face substantial criminal penalties for failing to enter these waters without the required oil spill prevention plan or proof of financial responsibility should a spill occur (and thats a real concern since their boat holds over 128,000 gallons of oil and lubricants).

Greenpeace, of course, is pleading not guilty, laying the blame instead on a "communications mishap" and simple "clerical error."

According to the Washington Legal Foundation, a lawyer for Greenpeace was also quoted as saying that environmental regulations are "getting to be more complicated in this day and age." You don't say.

What's The Frequency, Kenneth

Well, I went to an interesting presentation earlier on the Statistical Value of Life in setting regulations at the American Enterprise Institute (I'll blog about it later tonite). I was a bit hesitant about going, because it started at noon, and of course, I was expecting CBS to make a major announcement at noon.

Of course, its now almost 4:00 pm and nothing has happened, prompting me to question if CBS is broadcasting their statement on a different frequency.

As Best of the Web Today reminded me today, this great R.E.M. song is all about Dan Rather and his bizare run in with a homeless attacker in New York.

As disturbing as that story may be, the depth of dishonesty that Kenneth and CBS have sunk might be even more shocking, prompting that all important query, What's The Frequency, Kenneth?

What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
Words and Lyrics by Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe

What’s the frequency, kenneth? is your benzedrine, uh-huh
I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed
I thought I’d pegged you an idiot’s dream
Tunnel vision from the outsider’s screen
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh
You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh

I’d studied your cartoons, radio, music, tv, movies, magazines
Richard said, withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy
A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

What’s the frequency, kenneth? is your benzedrine, uh-huh
Butterfly decal, rearview mirror, dogging the scene
You smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh
You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh
I couldn’t understand
You said that irony was the shackles of youth, uh-huh
I couldn’t understand
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I couldn’t understand
I never understood, don’t fuck with me, uh-huh

Gmail Invites

Want 'em???

I've got 5 to give away . . . well, I've got 6, but I promised my brother one.

If you want one, link to me and let me know in the comments to this post. If you already link to me, then let me know that in the comments.

Catch ya later.

Shopping Time

Look at that smile. Like a kid on Christmas morning.

All I can say is be careful, you might shoot your eye out!

Thanks to Spoons and Freedom Sight for the link.

He's At It Again

The incompetent Chuck Ramsey is going to subject himself to another Live Online discussion tomorrow, Wed. September 14, at the Washington Post web page. He will be discussing discuss crime, the ban on assault weapons, terrorism, drunken driving checkpoints and other current law enforcement topics affecting the District.

Get your questions ready.

The Dukes of Hazard

CNN is reporting that Jessica Simpson is going to play Daisy Duke in the movie remake of the Dukes of Hazard.

She's nice . . Real nice.


But for me, Catherine Bach will forever be the original and the best Daisy Duke.



In other Duke's news, Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott (STIFLER!!!!!!!) will play the cousins Bo and Luke.

What I don't understand is how, in the PC Times we live in, is Hollywood going to allow a movie to be made, the star of which is a car named the General Lee, with a Giant Confederate Battle Flag on its roof, that play's Dixie???

Is McLaughlin Dan Rathers Lap Puppy?

Not sure who saw this exchange on the McLaughlin group the other day. I just caught it on the replay Sunday night.

Issue three: Bush Unguarded.

BEN BARNES (FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF TEXAS): (From videotape.) I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get in the Air National Guard.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Former Texas Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House Ben Barnes, a Democrat, this week told "60 Minutes" that he pulled strings to get George Bush into the Texas Air National Guard just after Bush graduated from Yale and faced the Vietnam War draft. Barnes says the request for preferential treatment came from a Bush family friend, the now-deceased oil man, Sid Adger.

The White House struck back.

WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR DAN BARTLETT: (From videotape.) I chalk it up to politics. They play dirty down in Texas. I've been there. I see how it works. But the bottom line is that there is no truth to this.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Barnes is a fund-raiser for John Kerry. Besides this Barnes account, new documents obtained by "60 Minutes" show further detailed preferential treatment for Lieutenant Bush, and also identify the reasons why his squadron commander ordered Lieutenant Bush to stop flying. Quote: "Failure to perform to U.S. Air Force Texas Air National Guard standards and failure to meet annual physical examination as ordered," unquote.

Speculation now rages in press circles as to why that physical exam failure occurred. Some questions have been raised about the authenticity of the new documents about Bush's service in the National Guard. Dan Rather says CBS sticks by its report. The chairman of the DNC, Terry McAuliffe, agrees with Rather. Quote: "These new documents show that the president did not serve honorably."

This ran on Saturday, after the scandal broke. It goes downhill from here.

Question: Did George Bush use the National Guard to dodge military service in Vietnam? Eleanor Clift.

MS. CLIFT: It was a well-known haven during Vietnam to avoid going into combat. And it was peopled by the sons of the rich and the well-connected. And George W. Bush wasn't the only one. But for the last three decades, the Bush campaigns and the Bush family have covered up the various records.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Has any --

MS. CLIFT: And that's been amazing that it has taken so long for this to come out.

Newsweek's Eleanore Clift, a more clueless twit you'd be hard to find. Please, tell me whats taken so long to come out. That Bush didn't serve in Vietnam? Or that rich and well connected people served in the National Guard instead of Vietnam?

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: All right, before this election is over, will Bush rue the day that he refused to condemn the Swift Boat Veteran ad, yes or no, meaning that he apparently has unleashed a counterattack that may have even more serious consequences?

MR. BUCHANAN: John, look, if the president wins this election, the Swift Boaters will have won it for him, plus the convention. The National Guard issue is going nowhere, except it's going to be real trouble for Dan Rather.

MR. BLANKLEY: The National Guard --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Quickly. Quickly, Eleanor. Will they rue the day, yes or no?

MS. CLIFT: Yes, they will. It's created doubts about his background.

He cut Tony Blankley off and clearly didn't want ANYONE discussing the memo's, ahem, questionable provenance. If you can catch a copy of the video, this exchange is incredible. His willful blindness became even more apparant just a moment later. (Of course, I need to add that Clift is seriously deranged if she thinks these questionable memos created any doubts about Bush's background.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Yes or no?

MR. BLANKLEY: No. The Washington Post on Friday reported that all their experts believe these documents are false.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I know about the report. But it's far from settled.

MR. BLANKLEY: And --

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: They're going to get a sample of the handwriting from the contemporaneous time. Quickly, what's the answer?

MR. BLANKLEY: And Ben Barnes went on TV --

MR. O'DONNELL: Yes, the war-making president did everything he could to avoid personally being involved in a war. But he will not regret what the Swift Boat ads have done to John Kerry.

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: I agree with the collective sentiment.

Either John McLaughin was seriously uninformed going into this broadcast, or he has major problems with reality. He was determined to not let questions about the documents credibility be raised and wanted his panelists to indict Bush based wholly on these false charges. Despicable.

Contact them at comments@mclaughlin.com and let them know what you think.

Kerry on Guns

Its sort of fitting, considering his history of Waffles.

In a small gymnasium at the Thurgood Marshall Center in Washington, surrounded by police officers and politicians including D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Kerry accused Bush of helping put dangerous weapons in the hands of terrorists by refusing to fight for an extension of the ban on semiautomatic weapons.

Wonder why he didn't do this in Pennsylvania or Ohio. What's he trying to hide?

Tuesday Song Lyric

In all my heated excitement about the passage of the so called Assault Weapons Ban, I neglected to post a Monday Song Lyric.

Drats.

Well, I was going to save this one for the demise of Hillary, but figured nows as good a time as any. Perhaps when DiFi or Hillary finally die, I'll repost it then as well.

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead!
Ding Dong! The Witch is dead.
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!

Classic!

The Post's Credibility Gap

When the Washington Post runs articles like today'sNo Cheers Over Gun Ban's End, they are just calling out for people to again attack their credibilty.

Gun dealers in Maryland and Virginia said yesterday that lifting the 10-year-old federal ban on assault weapons would have little effect on business -- no parties to celebrate the expiration and probably no lines out the door.

For one thing, distributors could not ship the weapons until the ban expired at midnight today, so stores won't have the fresh stock for days or weeks. But mostly, the dealers said, customers just aren't that eager to buy them.

Well, they had to travel four and a half hours away to find a dealer to support that claim. Closer to home, at Galyans Sports, about 20 miles outside D.C., the Hunting Department told me they had "about 400 calls already" today inquiring about standard 13 round magazines. For what its worth, Galyans is having a killer firearms saleright now. Check it out. This Ruger M77 is sweet. No word if the sale also includes their fine collection of handguns as well.

At Blue Ridge Arsenal, about 15 miles outside D.C. and where I purchased my former law enforcement only 13 round standard mags last nite, they told me they had been selling them like hot cakes all day long, and that in conjunction with the lifting of the three day waiting period in Fairfax, VA on July 1st, sales had been through the roof and in the previous two months they were almost equal to total handgun sales last year.

I guess I should also point out that C&E and Showmasters plan to bring The Nation's Gun Show back to D.C. the weekend of October 9th (thats my birthday weekend, how fun!!!)

More on the D.C. Gun Ban

Good for Marc Souder (R-S.C.)

"This is a constitutional issue, not a home rule question," Souder said. "The fact is, we didn't allow the District to have home rule on the selling of slaves, either."

Of course, at the same time that Souder appeals to reason, the Democrats remain mired in confusion.

After praising Kerry for "the courage of your leadership" to extend the ban, Norton said, "I have just learned that the House will shortly schedule an up-or-down vote to repeal all our local gun safety laws. . . . President Bush, who promised to support an effective assault weapons ban four years ago, would apparently allow the unlawful purchase and use of such weapons even in the nation's capital."

I'm going to pass on the "Courage of your leadership remark, cause thats just too easy, but I would like to point out that if the purchase of firearms is allowed by law, then that purchase, by definition, simply can't be illegal. Perhaps one of my democratic readers can explain this seemingly contradictory statement to me.

What, You can't? Oh, thats what I thought.

While the repeal doesn't stand much chance of success in the Senate, it remains a powerful and smart political move.

Referring to Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Forti said, "I think Nancy Pelosi's worst nightmare is a vote on this issue because [rural Democrats and House moderates] don't vote with the Democrats. They have no choice; otherwise they'd be finished in electoral office."

Security for D.C.

The House is set to lift the D.C. Gun Ban?

Will the Senate go along? it will be interesting to see.
Here's a question for you though. . . .

Will it take an act of Congress to undoe the D.C. Gun Ban?
Since all of D.C. is under the Jurisdiction of the Department of Interior and treated, in some respects, as a giant National Park, could the Secretary of Interior decree through regulatory edict that guns are allowed?

A limrick

By Angel

Dianne's Gun Ban Comes to Pass

She and Chuck Can Kiss My Ass!

Shopping!!!!!!!!

Well, i went shopping tonite.

I was hoping to find a wide assortment of goodies at all the usual locations, but sadly, no one seems to have stocked anything in preparation of the end of the dreaded Assault Weapons Ban (of course, I was only looking at places within 25 minutes of me)

That, of course, led me to call Blue Ridge Arsenal, a gun deealer with a reputation locally for shoddy service, a dangerous range, and high prices couples with rude sales people. Turns out, Blue Ridge does have some magazines for my Glock, so I bit the bullet and headed over.

Boy, was I surprised. First, the store seems to be well stocked with firearms (lots of nice looking revolvers) and other accessories. Display cases, which used to sit empty, were now full. The guys working there were friednly, and the range looked clean. Turns out, as of about 1 year ago, they are under new management. I'm going to blog more about them later, but as of now, I would recommend giving them another shot.

Anyway, the mags they had were new (as in not used) Law Enforcement Only mags. They had not gotten new new mags in, but I was actually more pleased to buy a couple of these 13 rounders for the Glock 23 at $26 each (If you join their range, you get 15% off). As the guy said, it sure beats the $85 they used to fetch.

I'll post pics later tonite.

For now, i am just drooling over my purchase

Where are my F'ing Highlighters

How come, every day, it seems like my highlighters are missing from my desk?!?!?!?!?!


Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhhh


I am pissed. Hear me screeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Missed it

I wish I knew about this earlier. It looks like it was probably a good discussion.

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) Discussion, "The End of the 'Assault' Weapons Ban: Threat or Law that Failed to Produce Any Benefits?"

Participants: James Kessler, Americans for Gun Safety and John Lott, author, "More Guns, Less Crime"

Location: AEI, 1150 17th St., NW, Wohlstetter Conference Center, 12th Floor, Washington, D.C.. 9:30 a.m.

Contact: Veronique Rodman, 202-862-4871; e-mail, vrodman@aei.org;

Idiot Cry Babies

Why not harrass them. I will.

News conference on the assault weapons ban.

Participants: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.; Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif.; Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass.; Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif.; Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Rep. James Moran, D-Va.

Location: Cannon Terrace, Cannon House Office Building. 4 p.m.
Contact: 202-225-5516

Idiots

If an idiot speaks , and no one hears them, are their words still idiotic?

Assault weapons ban proponents
News conference to explain why it is crucial that assault weapons remain off the streets of the nation.
Participants: Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, D-Md.; Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger and other Maryland
police chiefs; Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran; Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan; Mike Barnes, former Maryland congressman, president, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence;others

Location: Suburban Hospital, 8600 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, Md.. 11:30 a.m.
Contact: Bill Bronrott, 301-652-6016 or 202-270-4415

Yes, they are still idiots.

Shopping

Spoons wants to go shopping.

Here's what I am on the look out for (remembering, of course, that I am facing close to $2000 in auto repair bills - so no new AR-15s for me).

First, I am going to get some replacement mags for my G23. Regular size please, none of those wimpy ten rounders for me.

Then, I am going to get myself a couple of new Butler Creek 50 round mags for the 10/22. I hate to reload in the middle of a fun plinking session, and its just so much easier to swap in a new Butler Creek mag than having to carry around a dozen of the baby 10 rounders.

I supose I ought to get a couple of new 40 rounders for the SAR-1 (AK-47 clone). A folding stock would be nice too, don't ya think? Is it easy to put a flash hider and a bayonette on? Or should I just consider the purchase of a new one with those features (such purchase would have to be delayed considerably, in light of the aformentioned auto repair bill).

When I do have enough cash on hand again (after I buy a safe, thats the next big purchase and its one I need to make) I'm buying myself a Colt AR-15 (or maybe a Bushmaster, why would I choose one over the other?) with one of those nice collapsible stocks.

Well, thats the shopping list. Tonite, after work, I am heading over to Potomac Arms in Alexandria, VA to go shopping. I'll probably drive by Galyans in Fair Lakes, VA too, just to give them some of my celebratory business as well.

WELCOME to everyone from Spoons. I've actually gone shopping and found some magazines. Read about them here and here. Plus, there's lots more on the Assault Weapons Ban here and the forthcoming vote to repeal the D.C. Gun Ban. Feel free to browse. A good place to start is here. Just keep scrolling down.

Who Wears The Pajamas?

If, as Joanthan Klein asserts, the 60 Minutes team is

the most careful news organization, certainly on television

what does that say about the credibility of the mainstream media generally?

Of course, 60 Minutes has been pulling frauds on America for years, whether it was Ed Bradley and the Alar Scare, Mike Wallace and drug smugglers, or Dan Rather and Memogate, the facts clearly show 60 minutes and Veracity go together like oil and water.

VICTORY

Matt at Stop The Bleating has some important perspectives for us to remember.

Now, for a bucket of cold water: It took the anti-civil rights crowd many years to get the Ban passed. They're not going to just roll over on it now. They'll be back with it -- or, more likely , something worse. DiFi, Babs Boxer, Schmuck Schumer and the Hero of Chappaquiddick haven't lost their appetite for infringing your rights. No time to rest on our laurels, folks. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom . .

Ban Was 'Big Nothing'

There's a fairly big article on the Bans expiration, and its ineffectivness in todays Washington Post. SOrt of interesting, if you ask me, especially some of the admissions the Post will now let out, since its too late for them to simply renew it.

Yet what strikes gun dealers such as Marlow is that the rifles for sale this week will not be different in any significant way from the ones available for the past 10 years. Amid the furious political maneuvering of recent days is a situation little noticed by the public but one well known to dealers: The ban did not prevent many assault weapons from reaching the streets.

"It's a big nothing," said Gary Taepke, owner of Wolverine Shooting Sports, a gun range and firearms store in Brownstown, south of Detroit. "The ban didn't change anything. It is strictly cosmetic."

A surprising number of gun control advocates find themselves largely agreeing with that assessment, although they argue that the answer is not to end the ban but to strengthen it. The failings of the law, they contend, are the product of undesirable political compromises, not proof that their cause is wrong.

"We agree that the 1994 law is ineffective," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Washington-based Violence Policy Center, which estimates that U.S. companies produced more than 1 million assault-type weapons in the past decade. "Good public policy would be to institute an effective assault weapons ban."

Interesting, don't you think. Kristen Rand's still an unprincipled bitch, though. One of the interesting things about the article is its focus on Michigan Gun dealers and the ultimate impact on the election.

The Wolverine shop has several posters displayed prominently. One shows the Statue of Liberty adorned with a leather shoulder holster and the motto, "United We Stand." Another shows Democratic senators, including presidential nominee John F. Kerry, smiling about a gun control success and urges people to "Vote your sport." It warns, "Your firearm freedoms are at stake."

National polls suggest that strong majorities of voters and gun owners favor extending the assault weapons ban. The figures are comparable in Michigan, a state passionate about hunting. Last week the state declared open season on mourning doves for the first time in 100 years.

Kerry left the campaign trail earlier this year to cast a Senate vote for stronger restrictions and has recently stepped up his criticism of President Bush, who promised as a candidate in 2000 to extend the ban. Although Bush has reiterated that he would sign an extension if it reached his desk, he has not lobbied for it.

Now that they lost, what is their strategy?

Instead, the two senators held a news conference to urge major retailers not to sell the once-banned weapons.

Yep, thats gonna stop crime, though in reality, its probably just as effective as the so-called Assault Weapons Ban was.

The also are running this picture. Problems with Front Sight notwithstanding, I like it.

The Weekly Report

Jeff SOyer's Weekly Report is up and its a doozy!

Not to ruin your day, but . . .

Yahoo is running this scary picture.




Yikes. Thats Al Gore.


My god is he a fatso!!!!

TUrns otu he is going on the stump for Kerry. That might even be better news than the so called Assault Weapons Ban expiring. More on that tomorrow. Today is all about the goodies.

Cox on Guns

He's on Washington Journal.

The Host asked him if he owned a gun and what kind. He smiled, laughed, and said thats my own business. Paused. Then continued: more than I need, not as many as I want.

Blood In The Streets

Says Uncle is reporting no bloog in the streets in his part of Tennessee.

I can report the same here. No one shot me up with a real or a so called assault weapon today on my commute from gun friendly and gun crime free Virginia to gun unfriendly and gun crime rampant D.C.

I wonder why? Didn't DiFi promise me otherwise??????

Glory GLory, Alleluia

What a beautiful morning in America it is.

Chris Cox of the NRA is on C-Span's Washington Journal right now discussing the most important event of the year so far.

Here's the official word

CHANGES IN FEDERAL LAW AS OF SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 RELATING TO SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS (SAWs)

AND

LARGE CAPACITY AMMUNITION FEEDING DEVICES (LCAFDs)


GENERAL

As of September 13, 2004, the provisions of Public Law 103-322, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, covering semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices are no longer in effect. The regulations implementing these provisions also are no longer in effect.

Specifically, there is no longer a Federal prohibition on the manufacture, transfer, and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices.

There are no longer any marking requirements for semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices. Existing markings on firearms and magazines relating to law enforcement or government use may be disregarded.

There is no longer any Federal requirement for Federal firearms licensees to obtain certain documentation before transferring semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices to government agencies or law enforcement officers. However, any records obtained prior to September 13, 1994, pertaining to the sale or transfer of semiautomatic assault weapons must still be retained for a period of 5 years. See 27 CFR § 478.129(f). Moreover, records of importation and manufacture must be maintained permanently and licensees must maintain all other acquisition and disposition records for 20 years.

Licensees who provided letters of future intent to sell semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices to law enforcement agencies and other qualified customers are no longer obligated to comply with such letters.

Anyone who illegally possessed, manufactured, or transferred semiautomatic assault weapons or large capacity ammunition feeding devices before the bans sunset still have violated the law since their possession, manufacture, or transfer was illegal at the time.


IMPORTATION

The prohibition on the importation of non-sporting firearms under 18 U.S.C. section 922(l) and 925(d)(3) still applies.

Importation of large capacity ammunition feeding devices still is covered under the Arms Export Control Act. Therefore an approved permit still is required to import large capacity magazines.

Temporary importation of semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity magazines is now lawful under the provisions of 27 CFR § 478.115(d) because temporary importations are not subject to the sporting purpose test.

Any importer who has a valid approved Form 6 import permit with a restriction related to the assault weapon ban should comply with the restriction because the weapons most likely are non-sporting.

Any importer who has a valid approved Form 6 import permit with a restriction related to large capacity ammunition feeding devices may disregard the restriction. Importers may apply for a new permit if they prefer.

ASSEMBLY OF NON-SPORTING SHOTGUNS AND SEMIAUTOMATIC RIFLES FROM IMPORTED PARTS

The prohibition on assembly of non-sporting shotguns and semiautomatic rifles from imported parts as provided under 18 U.S.C. § 922(r) and 27 CFR § 478.39 still applies.

SENTENCING ENHANCEMENTS

The sentencing enhancements for using semiautomatic assault weapons in a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime no longer are in effect. Similarly, the sentencing enhancements for semiautomatic assault weapons in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines no longer are in effect.

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS

Law enforcement officers and police departments who obtained semiautomatic assault weapons are no longer required to use such firearms only for official use.

Law enforcement officers and police departments may now sell or transfer semiautomatic assault weapons to persons who are not prohibited from receiving firearms.

Law enforcement officers and police departments may now sell or transfer large capacity ammunition feeding devices to anybody.

Signed statements that semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices will be used for official use are no longer required to be provided to Federal firearms licensees.

RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Federal law does not prohibit retiring law enforcement officers from keeping semiautomatic assault weapons or large capacity ammunition feeding devices.

Former law enforcement officers who received semiautomatic assault weapons on retirement may now transfer those firearms to persons who are not prohibited from receiving firearms. Transfer of large capacity ammunition feeding devices is no longer restricted.

NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT

All provisions of the National Firearms Act relating to registration and transfer of machineguns, short barreled rifles, weapons made from rifles, short barreled shotguns, weapons made from shotguns, any other weapons as defined in Title 26 U.S.C. section 5845(e), silencers, and destructive devices still apply.

Registered silencers can now be attached to semiautomatic rifles and pistols without creating a prohibited semiautomatic assault weapon.

USAS-12 and Striker12/Streetsweeper shotguns are still classified as destructive devices under ATF Rulings 94-1 and 94-2 and must be possessed and transferred in accordance with the NFA.

EFFECT ON STATE LAW

Expiration of the Federal law will not change any provisions of State law or local ordinances. Questions concerning State assault weapons restrictions should be referred to State and local authorities.