Further Proof That The UK Is Absolutely Nuts

http://www.theregister.com/2007/03/27/biometric_ipod_activation/

The iPod mugging has become one of the top crimes de nos jours, but despair not, worried teen victim - the Tony Blair crime policy legacy is poised to come to your rescue. With fingerprint activation of MP3 players.

The suggestion makes a brief (which is the good news) appearance in the second of Blair's policy reviews, Building on Progress: Security, Crime and Justice, published this week, as an example of how crime can be 'designed out' of products. It is however the only example, which we think is the bad news.

The Government proposes, the review says, to "Work in partnership with businesses to crime-proof their products, services and processes to the highest standards. One example could be introducing fingerprint activation of MP3 players."

Regrettably, the review neglects to explain how the authors think this might work, but given the generally rickety and delusional grasp Government wonks tend to have of biometric technology's capabilities and limitations, we fear we can surmise. In principle it's fairly easy to add fingerprint activation to a personal music player - it's already being done on some laptops and various consumer electronic add-ons, and we're pretty sure we could find a couple of MP3 players that already have it if we could be bothered looking, so don't write in.

That is not the point. The point is that 'security' of this class is generally part speed-bump to the casual intruder, part convenience for people who don't want the hassle of remembering passwords. It is not serious protection of your data, if you want that then you'd be better using encryption, and it does not prevent hardware theft. So long as a thief can reset the biometric activation and reformat the hardware, the previous owner's fingerprints are of little relevance.

So, if the Government proposes to pursue this one, it can possibly persuade a few manufacturers to stick the speed-bump onto their devices and happily bank the crime-fighting marketing collateral. If, however, it proposes to pursue it to the extent that a system that could (theoretically, at least) make a difference was produced, then we'd end up with something along the following lines. Your iPod, mobile phone, electric toothbrush or whatever would require you to undergo a fingerprint activated registration process before it would start working. Your fingerprints could then be stored by the manufacturer along with your name, address, email, phone number and spamming preferences. Then, when the device was lost or stolen you'd simply contact the manufacturer and... Well, as whoever stole your iPod already can't get it to work unless they stole your fingers too, and the manufacturer is surely not about to give you a new one for free, we're not sure about what would come next, or why you'd have bothered contacting the manufacturer, considering.

But anyway, there'd be no point in stealing iPods, probably. Not without the fingers.
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We can't crack down on crime, so we're going to get government involved in the manufacturing of IPODs. Here's a brilliant idea: How about NOT making your country a bloody thieves' paradise?

Or is that too complicated for them to follow?

Law & Order Is A Joke

Need a villain? How about an offshoot Christian group with conservative fundamentals. I don't watch this show regularly but I've seen bits and pieces, and I swear, there are more violent Christian denominations than there are liberal academics.

Do they feel compelled to put this plotline in every bloody episode? Need a sympathy angle, give 'em dozens of kids. Need a reason to hate 'em, make their wives browbeaten, make 'em pedophiles who want "pure" bloodlines.

And don't even get me started on the anti-gun angle, for which they have an actual Honest-To-Goodness handbook, which a few minutes on The High Road will reveal for you.

Ye Gods...who writes this dreck, and who in their right mind watches it for entertainment.

Meat Loaf - Cry Over Me

Another night sleepless
I don't want to feel this
Nothing can stop this pain
Trying to get to
A time I forget you
Still tangled in yesterday

It's so easy for you
To give nothing for me
Did you ever feel anything?

I want you to Cry Over Me
Die over me
Even for a moment
Even for a moment
I want you to hurt over me
Feel what I feel
I want you to cry over, die over me
Baby, just for one time

I want your heart broken
Some sign of emotion
I want to see the tears tumble down
Show me I meant something
And that you feel nothing
But your world crashing to the ground

It's so easy for you
To forget about me
Did I ever mean anything?

I want you to Cry Over Me
Die over me
Even for a moment
Even for a moment
I want you to hurt over me
Feel what I feel
I want you to cry over, die over me
Baby, just for one time

Cry...Cry... Cry...

Well did you feel something?
Did we mean nothing at all?

I want you to Cry Over Me
Die over me
Even for a moment
Even for a moment
I want you to hurt over me
Feel what I feel
Even for a moment
Oh why can't you just cry over, die over me
Baby, why can't you hurt like I do like I hurt over you
Can't you cry over, die over me
Baby, just for one time
I want you to cry over, die over me
Baby, want you to fall on your knees
Baby, crawl back to me
Want you to cry over, die over me
Baby, just one time...
-------------------------------------------------------
From the CD The Monster Is Loose, here's the meanest love song since Keith Urban penned You'll Think Of Me.

Honestly, I didn't think this was such a great song to start with. Diane Warran shouldn't be allowed to touch a Meat Loaf CD with a 39 1/2 foot pole. I will say she didn't do half bad with this one. Meat belts it out and then just keeps amping the power up and up as the song goes along. He really feels what he sings, and if you weren't feeling it before, you're feeling it with him.

Def Leppard - Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad?

Here I am
I'm in the wrong bed again
It's just a game
I just can't win
There you are breathin' soft on my skin
Still you won't let me in

Why save your kisses for a rainy day
Baby let the moment take your heart away

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad, yeah
Have you ever wanted someone
You just couldn't have
Did you ever try so hard
That your world just fell apart
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
And you're the girl I gotta have
I gotta have you baby

There you go, midnight promises again
But they're broken by the dawn
You wanna go further, faster every day baby
But in the morning you'll be gone
And I'm alone

Why save your kisses for a rainy day
Baby let the moment take your heart away

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad, yeah
Have you ever wanted someone
You just couldn't have
Did you ever try so hard
That your world just fell apart
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
And you're the girl I gotta have
I gotta have you baby

Every dream I dream is like some
Kinda rash 'n' reckless scene
To give out such crazy love
You must be some kinda drug
And if my time don't ever come
For me you're still the same
Damned if I don't, damned if I do
I gotta get a fix on you

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad, yeah
Have you ever wanted someone
You just couldn't have
Did you ever try so hard
That your world just fell apart
Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad
And you're the girl I gotta have
I gotta have you baby
----------------------------------------------
Apparently, as a little critter, I had quite the unnatural fascination with Def Leppard. Not that I ever listened to them mind you - when I was just old enough to stand, I recognized their albums in stores, pulled them off shelves, ran around saying "De' Lepp'" all the time.

As I grew up, I thought they were more of a metal band, like Metallica, Megadeath, those kind. Only found out recently they were 80s hair rock. The above song got me into Def Leppard.

To listen to it, I thought it was the standard "Boy meets girl, boy can't have girl, much angst ensues" type song. To read the lyrics, it's "Attached boy meets attached girl, attached boy and attached girl have relationship, much angst ensues." Weird I never picked up on that before now. Cool song though. At the risk of sounding like a Liberal-Hippie-in-tune-with-my-feelings-schoolteacher-socialworker-problem inventor type: It speaks to me.

Selective Enforcement

So I'm watching the news this afternoon, and they're doing a human interest piece on the huge influx of Latinos into my city, and how they're all congregating on the East side, setting up Mexican businesses, that sort of thing. Lots of clips of store-fronts, people sweeping floors, food-packaging in Mexican, that sort of thing.

Then they start the interviews.

At first I wonder why everyone they're interviewing is under the age of 18. Then they conduct an interview with an adult, and it all becomes clear - the kids are the ones who know English. The adults all need translators.

IIRC, one of the kids said:
"It's nice to be here. It's like a melting pot. We're sharing our culture with everyone, and they're coming to appreciate our culture. We're here for everyone - Latinos and Americans."

Latinos AND Americans.

Why don't INS start the investigation right there? I mean seriously here, if I showed up at the range with a rifle someone suspected of being two inches under the Federal minimum, they'd pull the range records, and my name would be mud.

Someone as much as admits on public television that they're here illegally, and nothing happens. Sickening, when we refuse to enforce our own borders, and refuse to prosecute those who ignore them.

Female German Judge Quotes Quran As Excuse For Spousal Abuse

I translated this from the following link:
www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,472849,00.html

GERMAN JUDGE EXCUSES SPOUSAL VIOLENCE WITH QURAN

He beat her, he threatened to kill her: A German woman from Marocco wanted a divorce from her husband as soon as possible. A judge denied her request. Her reason: Physical chastisement is called for in the Quran.

Hamburg - The case sounds too odd to be true: A 26 year old mother of two little children wanted to throw off the bonds of her marriage. There is no doubt that her husband, who is also from Morocco, beat her as police have determined in May of 2006, when an argument turned violent in their apartment. The man had to move out, but the terror continued: After the separation the husband threatened to kill the young mother.

A quick divorce seemed to be the only answer - the 26 year old didn't want to wait the one year separation period mandated by law. If she weren't married anymore, her husband may leave her alone hoped the 26 year old. Together with her attorney Barbara Becker-Rojczyk she petitioned the Frankfurt court for a divorce last year. Physical violence and death threats seemed to present a hardship case - the only reason for a premature divorce - the attorney was sure.

In January, the letter of the presiding judge arrived. And with this letter, the scandal was made perfect: Using the Quran as a guideline, the judge denied the request for an early divorce. "The use of physical chastisement is not an undue hardship according to paragraph 1565 of the BGB (Bundesgesetzbuch, German law)" quoted the "Frankfurter Rundschau" out of the judge's decree. One had to consider that both husband and wife came out of Moroccan cultural circles.

To be clear: Since the Quran allows men to beat their wives, a german judge denies a petition for an early divorce of a woman being beaten by her husband. "Physical chastisement, that means to me: The man is allowed to beat (the woman)," interprets attorney Becker-Rojczyk the explanation of the judge.

The judge made it clear that continuing with the petition was useless according to that reasoning, Becker-Rojczyk told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Her client should simply wait until the one year waiting period had elapsed.

Together with her client, Becker-Rojczyk peitioned the court again, doubting that the judge could render an objective verdict. In response, she received a formal response from the judge, quoting a specific Sura out of the Quran, which determines the man's honor to have been damaged when his wife behaves in an unchaste manner. "It appears that the judge considers it unchaste when my client attempts to conform to the lifestyle of the West," according to Becker-Rojczyk.

That the judge is still on the bench surprises her. The verdict had been rendered several weeks ago alreday. Nothing has happened - Becker-Rojczyk contacted the press to bring attention to the case. The Frankfurt court was not available this evening for comment.Christa Stolle, business administrator of the women's rights organization Terre des Femmes is outraged by the explanation given by the judge: "It is unbelievable that a judge in Germany uses the Quran to render a verdict," she told SPIEGEL ONLINE. She is requesting disciplinary measures. The explanation of the judge is a ominous signal for all women, who are trying to free themselves from violent marriages. "To deny a divorce request with a reference to the Quran is beyond good and evil."

Using cultural background as an argument in German courts is not an isolated incident. "In the area of spousal crimes, mitigating cricumstances have been brought to bear based on the traditional background of the abuser." There have been cases of "honor killings", which have been punished as other than normal murders, says Stolle. In the meantime, this way of thinking has changed. "I hope that the Frankfurt case remains an isolated incident."

A verdict, if the terrorized woman will be divorced before the end of one year has not been reached. The family judge responsible, Michael Höhler, will have to render a decision.

Attorney Becker-Rojczyk is telling her client not to get her hopes up. She doesn't expect that there will be a negitiation before the year elapses in mid May. In her experience, several cases were drawn out so as to let the year elapse without taking further steps. When a dissenting opinion is given, the beaurocratic path is even longer, says Becker-Rojczyk.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hard to imagine this is the same country that made a serious attempt to put most of the free world under the sword 70 years ago. Now they're enforcing someone else's laws (in contradiction to their own) inside their own country.

Someone tell me why beating your wife is something advocated by The Religion Of Peace?

FBI Reports...

...more and more Islamic men are showing an interesting in becoming schoolbus drivers. They say there's no need to worry - buses full of school children have never been used before in terrorist attacks.

Very much, to my mind, like "Planes have never been used in terrorist attacks, don't worry about all those 45yo Saudis on student visas who are expressing extreme interest in flying, and none at all in landing..."

Random Reflections Pt.20

86. Seen on a bag of chicken. “Genuine Amish Chicken. Call ***-***-**** with questions or complaints.”

No Amish people I know of have phones.

87. Time is the most valuable commodity in existence. It’s how we measure out lives. Each moment exists only once. They belong to us to trade away as we see fit. We can never have them back, never call a do over. It is up to us to use our life as we see fit.

As my dad once told me, “Each day is like a new hand of poker, but you never how tall your pile of chips is.”

88. Somewhere on the order of 12 states are now mandating STD vaccines (which have the side effect of possibly preventing some kinds of cancer, which can be caused by licentious behavior) for 6th grade girls. One state’s governor even issued an executive order requiring them, because the legislature didn’t want to pass the bill for fear of risking the ire of parents.

First and foremost, I will decide what gets put it my child’s body, thank you very bloody much. Your suggestions may receive some consideration, but in the end, it’s not up to you. If you feel so strongly on the issue, come and try it yourself.

If you can’t figure out why I might object to such things, look at the market demographics for such products, and see if you can produce a coherent thought on the process.

*sigh* Yet another reason to homeschool your kids.

89. The state of Maryland has, in the past year, suspended 28 kindergarteners for indecent behavior, including what they classify as felony harassment of their classmates. Inappropriate touching topped the list of offenses.

They’re 5 years old and younger, for the love of money! They’re like bloody kittens – put a bunch of them in a room and they’ll wind up in a scrum, and after that, they’ll all fall asleep in a pile. Their brain functions have just barely moved past the “lie in our own mess and scream for food stage” they don’t know that what they’re doing now will be wrong for them to do in TEN YEARS, or on the job in FIFTEEN. They’re CHILDREN, they don’t know any better!

I’d probably be locked up for all the crap I did when I was 5, if’n I was in Maryland. Made the neighbors laugh for dang sure though.

They thought it was cute.

90.It was provided for in the United States Constitution that Congress must meet for at least one day a year.

Imagine that! They thought Congress would have so little to do that they wrote a passage FORCING them to meet and discuss the nation once a year.

Our current Congressional sessions are what, 190 days long, give or take? And we still moan about how little they’re doing, how much time they spend on vacation.

Therefore, I would like to propose that they retain their current salary and go back to the old schedule. I’ll even pay MORE, to have them do less than 1% of their current duties.

Like Harry Browne said “Government should be small enough to fit in my kitchen, and even that’s a little too big for comfort.”

Home Defense Rifle

My rail system arrived yesterday, and I decided to break down my rifle (Carolynn The *edited* McCarthy) and fit the rails to their various connecting parts.

No dice. One tube is slightly out of spec, and too wide/long. Given that I own multiple copies of this rifle platform, I tried out a tube from Nancy Pelosi, my brother's rifle. It fits, so I'll use it. Only problem being, the tube I have to swap in to make Nancy Pelosi work is too long, and will require filing to work. After trying various combinations of parts, I put Nancy Pelosi's collapsible stock on Mrs. McCarthy, and will be going with Pelosi as my base rifle for the build.

An ACE sidefolder is in the care of Post Office, pending delivery to your truly. Next up is a beautiful adjustable pistolgrip, and a frontgrip. Then maybe some rings for a flashlight, and a quick-detach sling.

...And All Will Know That 300 Spartans Gave Their Last Breath To Defend It...

Went to see 300 tonight. I can't tell if that was the best movie I've ever seen or the worst.

It had flashes of brilliance: The death of Leonidas for example, or the first time he met with Xerxes, or the "Come home with your shield or on it scene." Such scenes were beautiful, moving, soul stirring, everything you could want in a dramatic movie.

On the other hand (isn't there always an "On the other hand?") it was horribly inaccurate, the adult content was gratuitous and for the most part unnecessary, and worst of all: They sped through pretty much everything of substance to get to the fight scenes, which were, of course, fantastic.

For all the talk of freedom, the Spartan culture was depicted as very much like ours and not very much like reality. Straight men were fined, the entire culture depended on the draft and other forms of slavery, and the Spartans declared war on their neighbors for sport. It's hard to reconcile the incessant talk of liberty in this movie with the actual Spartan lifestyle.

Furthermore, the Persians were depicted as malformed, ugly, decadent, immoral, needlessly violent... while I know little of Persian culture I'm fair certain they didn't have hook handed fatmen with chest piercings doing their executions, nor were the 10,000 Immortals made up entirely of radiation victims.

I'm trying to reconcile my criticisms of the movie by telling myself that it is nothing more than a movie. Except, that's not entirely correct. It's more than a movie. It's the modern day equivalent of a campfire story - Beowulf cleaving foul villains collar to hip with an axe, that sort of thing. It's a story of extremes: The good and brave know nothing other than goodness and bravery, the traitors are malformed and easily manipulated, and the enemy is so inhuman as to be unworthy of sympathy. It's monosyllabicaly simple. 300 is propaganda for our souls. It's designed to make us believe in heroes again, and packaged up in the only media the video-game generation will accept.

DC Handgun Ban Struck DOWN!!!

An appeals court found that the handgun ban Washington D.C. (otherwise known as the high-crime, gun-free perfectly good swamp that they turned into the seat of government) was unConstitutional on the grounds that it violated the Second Amendment.

The majority opinion stated that the right to keep and bear arms existed before the Constitution was written and was still in effect.

The Mayor of D.C., affectionately known as "The Man In Charge Of The Ding-a-lings," has said the city will keep enforcing the ban. Not hard to do since there are no gun stores in that cursed city. Shades of Ray Nagin anyone?

Predictably hand-wringing and dire threats of blood in the streets from all the usual suspects ensued, and went largely unnoticed by anyone except their choir, and those blessed saints of the internet, gun community, who made merciless fun of them to no end.

We'll see if the Supremes take this case up. They haven't touched guns since the 30s, because they either have to dissolve the union by declaring the 2A null and void, or put a whole lot of Federales out of business and negate all firearms laws whatsoever. Two courts are in conflict over the DC case, so it looks like SCOTUS will be looking at this sometime in the future.

In the meantime, I'm contemplating buying and fixing up a Sistema when I'm finished with my Home Defense Rifle build, and have done some investing. We'll see. I hate seeing people fix up and mod their guns - it makes me want to as well.

Tales From Retail Pt.8

8.Stoners are funny to watch. They’re not violent and they do the dumbest things.

A kid I’ll call Red The Stoner (because of his perpetual red shirt) was a frequent customer. Well, shopper. He never figured out, in his constant pot-induced confusion, that he could actually buy anything.

The first time I interacted with him, he was wandering aimlessly at about 5 in the evening. I pulled my usual shpeel about helping him find stuff, and he half-heartedly waved me off.

Over the course of the next FOUR hours – one sixth of a day – he circled the store endlessly.

At 9pm, I advised him that the store was closing and he should bring his purchases to the register for check-out.

He arrives at the register, and I’m overjoyed. Not only has he displayed brain activity, but he’s buying something. He puts his CD on the counter, I scan the barcode, and inform him of the price.

He looks at me blankly.

For the next sixty seconds, I continue to remind him of the price. He finally rouses himself from his stupor and utters a line I will remember forever: “You mean…I have to pay for it?”

When I gently advise him yes, federal reserve notes are accepted in all merchandise sales, he stares off into space, for a few seconds, and then ambles quietly outside.

He came back in several times over the next few months, but never bought anything.

Reply On HR1022

One of the congresscritters I wrote last month wrote back. Here's the text of his letter. Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent, guilty, and downright indifferent. A proper fisking follows in bold.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
March 8, 2007

Dear Mr. Vincent:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I value the correspondence I get from people in *, and I would like to take this opportunity to address your concerns.

As you may know, H.R. 1022, the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007, was introduced by Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) on February 13, 2007. This legislation would reinstate the federal ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic assault weapons. This prohibition, which was originally passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, expired on September 30, 2004. Yeah, I know it. That's what I was writing you on. It wouldn't reinstate the ban, it would enact a whole new ban on parts, transfers, weapons, magazines, and would begin Nazi-style gun registration on American soil.

I agree that the right of law abiding Americans to own a gun should be protected. However, laws prohibiting felons and other potentially dangerous individuals from owning guns are reasonable and effective ways to reduce violent crime in our communities. In the past, the Senate has considered a variety of gun safety measures. I carefully evaluate each of these proposals, and I only support gun control legislation that corresponds to two important principles. First, I do not believe we should deprive law abiding gun owners, particularly hunters and target shooters, of their Second Amendment rights. Second, I only support proposals that I believe will unquestionably make our communities safer.And Britain, Canada, Australia, Russia, China, Darfur, Rwanda, Washington DC, California, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have all had such wonderful luck with reasonable and effective ways to reduce violent crime. They've been made UNQUESTIONABLY SAFER.

Bull.

Get it through your thick head:The Second Amendment is NOT about hunting animals and targetshooting. Well actually, in its original format it was about hunting politicians and targetshooting those who'd infringe upon human liberty.

H.R. 1022 has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Similar legislation has not yet been introduced in the Senate. I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind should this legislation be considered by the Senate. Oh I bet you will keep my thoughts in mind. Right in with those other three neurons that make up "US Constitution, sovereignty of."

Again, thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely, Herb Kohl U.S. Senator
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Only slightly better than I'd hoped, and that's because he doesn't say anything.

Those Crazy Europeans...

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/03...eban/index.php

Film or photograph a violent act (like taking a picture of a robber, or a video of some Religion Of Peace adherants torching cars) and the French.gov will toss you in prison for 5 years and fine you $100,000. They refuse to control and punish hooliganism and crime, so, in the tradition of governments everywhere, at all times throughout history, they go about making criminals out of free men and women.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/05/nsamurai105.xml

First they banned rifles. Crime went up. Then handguns. Rinse and repeat. Then most everything in between. Predictable results. Then large knives. Guess what happened? Then Swiss army knives. Duh... Then the serving of alcoholic beverages in glass bottles. Now they're on to the crap samurai swords sold at mall kiosks everywhere. And guess what? Crime is STILL going UP! There are some times where pointing and laughing is not only appropriate, it's necessary. This is one of them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/6423103.stm

77 year old man confronts hooligan in his 20s about peeing in public. Hooligan bodyslams 77yo into the pavement. Hooligan sentenced to 20 months in prison. And the pinkos here hold up The Benighted Kingdom as a beacon of liberal civilization...tsk tsk tsk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/05/ntax05.xml
Roughly 50 percent of a middle-class British family's income disappears to taxes. I wish I could find the article about how 30-40% of the British population was on welfare. That's a great read, and a good companion piece for this article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6424377.stm
A powerful politician wants to send illegals text messages reminding them to leave the country.
------------------------------------------------------
And we sent American citizens to die for these fools WHY? And we want to implement their leftist policies here WHY?

Tales From Retail Pt.7

7.The most inventive (and stupid) shoplifter I ever saw came into the store on a bright summer afternoon. He was wearing an ice-denim jumpsuit of the style (if not the fabric) favored by car mechanics, and he set his backpack next to our registers and said “I’m going to leave this here so you don’t think I’m going to steal anything.”

The assistant and I exchange glances, offer to help him, and spend several minutes ruminating on how society is finally turning itself around.

After about half an hour of hanging around the anime DVDs, our shoplifter walks up to the counter, grabs his backpack, and strides purposefully out, to a chorus of alarms. The assistant takes after him, but loses him in a crowd.

Four months pass. It is now the Christmas season. I’ve finished my dinner in the back room and come up to the registers. A backpack is laying on the counter, and a full Chinese gong bad starts playing in the Bad Things Are Going On section of my brain. I ask around, and one of the Christmas temps said that a guy (who I was able to determine matched the description of our shoplifter) had left that on the counter so we wouldn’t think he was a thief.

He’s got 15 CDs in hand when I catch up to him, and say “Welcome to *redacted*. I’m *redacted*, anything I can help you find?”

He says no and walks off. I follow. I trail him at 5 feet up and down the aisles. He finally realizes that this isn’t going in his favor, drops his CDs in a display, and walks out.

Right before the store closed, he came in again. Multiple customers, and Dave’s the only one there beside me, yours truly being engaged at the register. I told Dave to forget everyone else and be the guy’s personal shopper. Dave stood right next to him and riffled CDs in the racks everywhere he went. Eventually the guy wised up and left.

I see him occasionally at my current job. He no longer dresses like a rap video reject, and is usually inquiring about textbooks and historical films. I’d like to think he turned his life around.

I Laughed Until I Cried

For his birthday a friend bought her husband, (and I quote): "A one legged tripod." When asked how it worked she said "You sort of lean it against the ground."

As dad put it: "There's no good way of visualizing that."

I haven't laughed that good in years.

BAG Day Gun Pt. Whatever Pt.2

Took the handguard out to Gander Mtn. with the replacement piece. Spent the last 24 squirting WD40 all over the recessed pin in the end of the gas tube, and banging the hell out of it with a punch and hammer. Nearly bent the punch, but still no dice.

So, out to Gander I go, wallet in hand. The guy offers to try to punch it out, but says my best bet is to have them drill it out and replace the pin later. 3.5 weeks, $35. I say try punching it.

Five minutes later, the little critter that had so irritated me and my dad is out, and the handguard is reassembled. Got Mr. Bush all finished up in the basement as we speak. Looks kinda like an M1A.

Oh yeah and, guess how much it cost me to get the pin punched and the handguard replaced?

Nada. The 'smith (not the one who worked this gun over last fall, BTW) refused payment.

THAT, ladies, gentlemen, and assorted transgender beings is what happens when you drop a grand a year in a place, and visit once or twice a week.

Once the snow that has so plagued us for the past two weeks (and it's been snowing for 72 hours straight BTW) melts a little, we'll take Mr. Bush out to the range. See how he runs.

I Love Seeing This...

Just dropped in to CDNN to see if they have any 20rd MecGars for my Beretta yet. No dice. On impulse, I checked the major brand mags for major brand handguns and rifles. Glocks are the only ones with a decent stock of magazines available. Berettas, BHPs, Sigs, ARs, AKs, all the hi-caps are selling out.

Law of unintended consequences, people. Learn it. You screw with guns, you sell more of them.

We're The Government, And You're Not

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvsADU2OOWM

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll think. Then you'll cry some more.

This is parody at its finest. Pure truth, proceding with utter relentlessness, not acknowledging its own absurdity. A lot better than most of the Libertarian work on the market right now.

We've got The Black Arrow, which by all accounts is violence and pornography wrapped around a couple dozen essays. We've got Atlas Shrugged which is a book cover wrapped around a 1500 page essay, with characters. We've got Unintended Consequences, which I know for a fact is pornography and justifiable (and quite, uh, inspiring, cough cough) violence, wrapped around essays and reloading information. Matthew Bracken's first book was pretty good, we'll see how the second and third books are.

Are you sensing a pattern here? High profile Libertarians suck at communicating, even amongst themselves. Their party can't get jack done because they're all too busying ****ing about who's the most doctrinally pure, and holding rallies for pot. They could've been on Kelo like white on rice, and gained some political cred.

Instead, they spend their time arguing about Iraq.

And because of this, they're a joke of a party. The Libertarian party is where you go to vent some steam when you get so fed up with the Republicans you want to strangle someone.

Anyhoo, go watch the video. Then, watch it again. Then send it to a friend.

Socialism And Legos

This is my first "fisking" of a news article. We'll see how it goes, and maybe it won't be my last.

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=022107C

Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos.GREAT hook.

A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.Schools teaching socialism? Who'da thunk it. I'm just surprised that it came from a private school - these people should be the ones preaching the opposite.

According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."Anybody remember what Franklin said about democracy? Two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner? What the rest of the founders called Democracy - MOB RULE?

The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."And we all know that roughly a hundred million Russians and Asians throughout the last hundred years were murdered by capitalist societies...that the socialist countries still existing today are such BEACONS of freedom, prosperity, and peace. Give me a break.

They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social justice."Again, maybe you call a hundred million dead in a hundred years equitable and socially just. Maybe you need to quit using drugs, or have your brain examined, too.

So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the students shared the teachers' anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy it, I own it," one child is quoted saying. The teachers then explored with the students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of several months.If I buy it, I own it. The only way you can get your paws on it is buy using a gun, or by employing someone to use one. There's nothing fair and equitable about forcible confiscation of private wealth.

At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." Play how we want you to, or don't play at all.The teachers quote the children:

"A house is good because it is a community house."

"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."I'm thisclose to typing something REALLY foul here. RCOB moment.

"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."Damn straight. But:It's MORE important to have more power than other people over your building.

Given some recent history in Washington state with respect to private property protections, perhaps this should not come as a surprise. Municipal officials in Washington have long known how to condemn one person's private property and sell it to another for the "public use" of private economic development. Even prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut, which sanctioned such a use of eminent domain, Washington state officials acting under their state constitution were already proceeding full speed ahead with such transactions.In the past, eminent domain was only intended to be used for things like highways, hospitals, and other PUBLIC necessities, and only for things owned by the state and federal governments. In Kelo, it was ruled that eminent domain could be exercised to give private property to PRIVATE entities, as long as those private entities would use the confiscated properties to raise tax revenue.

Every Supreme Court Justice who signed off on that should be hung. From lamp-posts. I'm thinking along the lines of "reactive targets." Sort of like .22 spinners, only bigger.

Officials in Bremerton, for example, condemned a house where a widow had lived for 55 years so her property could be used for a car lot, according to the Institute for Justice. And Seattle successfully condemned nine properties and turned them over to a private developer for retail shops and hotel parking, IJ reports. Attempts to do the same thing in Vancouver (for mixed use development) and Lakewood (for an amusement park) failed for reasons unrelated to property confiscation issues.

The court's ruling in Kelo, however, whetted municipal condemnation appetites even further. The Institute for Justice reports 272 takings for private use are pending or threatened in the state as of last summer. It's unclear if Legos will be targeted. But given what's being taught in some schools, perhaps it's just a matter of time.You're right its only a matter of time. I've been told for years by Europeans living in socialist countries that socialism can never come to the United States, much to their dismay. Start with the little tykes, and socialism will come a lot sooner than one thinks. It's the whole bloody principle of public schools - impressionable critters running around to the Prussian equivalent of Pavlov's bell, the whole perverse experiment is designed to drill out inquisitiveness and free thought, and create soldiers and factory workers, who will accept things without question. They're getting to them in their formative years, which is why this socialism crap is such a threat and needs to stop right NOW.