Lest Darkness Fall

Brits Banning Glass Pints

2009-08-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

When I think of going to a pub for a pint of beer, I have a few specific ideas in mind:

beer will be good
beer will be served at the perfect temperature
beer will have the perfect amount of carbonation from the tap
beer will be served in a nice and heavy pint-sized glass

If I'm going to leave my home, travel to a pub and then spend as much on a single beer as I would on a six pack at the grocery store, I want that beer to be perfect. I suspect that an awful lot of pub-goers share these opinions, especially during a global recession in which it is getting increasingly more difficult to come up with recreational spending money.

According to the BBC story in the title link, Britain has decided that pint glasses made out of actual glass are too dangerous to be tolerated and are considering banning them from pubs. The plan is to replace the traditional glass with shatter-proof plastic. Here's why:

"Official figures show 5,500 people are attacked with glasses and bottles every year in England and Wales."

At first glance, 5,500 people being attacked does sound frightening. A closer look reveals that this number includes both bottles and glasses. Of those attacks committed with glass pints, no indication is given as to how many people were actually harmed. Thus, the relevant number could be a lot less than 5,500. It sounds like a nanny state government is just blowing everything out of proportion in order to get credit for "doing something". When you weigh these 5,500 attacks against the roughly 6,552,000,000 (six point six billion) pints served annually, you end up with less than 0.00008% of the pints actually being used in attacks.

This is why I loath and detest government bans against practically any object. Bans almost always start the same way. Somebody gets harmed by a person using a particular object in an unlawful manner and makes a fuss. Law makers and bureaucrats eager to earn their keep decide to "do something" and protect people from an alleged new public menace. The object that was used for an unlawful purpose suddenly becomes "bad" or "dangerous", without regard for its usefulness and without any responsibility being assigned to the attacker who used it in an unlawful manner. The next thing you know, a ban deprives society of a useful object and the thug grabs the next closest item and uses that as a weapon and the whole process starts over again.

For the most part bans are nothing more than knee-jerk reactions foisted onto simple-minded people who lack the reasoning skills to comprehend that they won't solve societal problems. If the goal is to disarm thugs in pubs, banning glass pints won't help. Bar stools, chairs, silverware, bottles, billiard balls, pool cues, darts, loose coins in a sock and countless other objects are just as dangerous. The only way to make pubs perfectly "safe" would be to turn them into padded cells where customers are stripped naked and chained to the wall while a medical team carefully administers alcohol-free beer through a tube.

To make matters worse, the pubs are already being hit hard by the recessions, as shown by these other BBC stories:
UK 'is losing 52 pubs each week'
Pubs are closing, but who cares?
Our pub's about to shut?!?

Here we are, in the middle of the decline of an industry, and these people want to make struggling businesses spend money to replace their glass inventory with a product that is likely to annoy their customers. All so that less than one ten thousandth of one percent of the pints served each year can no longer be misused by criminals who will undoubtedly pick up something else to wield as weapons.

72yr Old Businessman Shoots 4 Robbers

2009-08-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

This is another good one. A 72 year old businessman sees one of his employees being pistol whipped by the 4 armed robbers that were in his store. He opens fire with a 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun and hits all 4 of the bad guys. Sadly, it looks like two of them might survive.

Here's a frustrating pair of quotes from the story:

Augusto told cops he bought his shotgun after a robbery nearly 30 years ago. Browne said it was unclear Thursday night if Augusto has a license for the weapon.

A police source said that if Augusto is hit with a charge, it will be a minor one. "It doesn't look too bad for him," the source said.

The guy stops an armed robbery, saves an employee from a life threatening beating and reduces the criminal population by two, yet they have to end the story with thoughts of him possibly facing some sort of criminal charge. This guy should get a marksmanship award from the NRA and a good citizenship medal from the mayor. If they decide to charge him with something, I hope the neighborhood drums the district attorney out of office.

(As always, clicking on the title link will take you to the full story.)

UPDATE:
Here's a link to the NY Times version of the story with a few more details.

Woman Beats Armed Home Invaders with Can of Peas

2009-08-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

The title link is to a story about a Toledo woman who used some common sense survival instincts, ordinary household items and good preparation to triumph over home invaders. Per the article and the associated video interview, the woman heard a knock on her at 5:30AM. She thought it may have been her brother, so she opened the door and was attacked by two masked men, at least one which had a gun. One of the men pointed a gun at her and started pulling the trigger and for some reason the gun didn't fire. He then started beating her head and face with the gun. Fortunately for her, she had answered the door while holding her improvised home defense weapon, a long heavy sock with a can of peas at the bottom of it. She fought back and beat one of the attackers so badly that he was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Let's hope he doesn't pull through.

Let this story be a lesson to everyone. With a bit of thought, many common household objects can easily be transformed into effective and potentially deadly self defense tools. This woman said she stashed several of these sock and can flails around her house in case of emergency. When you use the sock to swing around a heavy object, the speed of the swing adds tremendous momentum and can deliver enough power to break bones. Even a large handful of change in a sock can be dangerous. For those afraid, unwilling or legally unable to keep a firearm for self defense, remember that you can still arm yourself in other ways. If someone starts pounding on your door at odd hours, having a weapon at hand when you answer the door could save your life.

Although I found it quite uplifting that this woman had the foresight and courage to fight back, there was one sad spot in the article. Here's a quote from a neighbor who witnessed the attack:

"Very scared. So scared that I thought I was going to die because I thought they were going to come to my place and kill me because I had my head out peaking [sic] out"

I find it disheartening that someone could witness this sort of brutal attack and do nothing more than "peek out". If people were quick to protect each other and fought back against crime more often there would be a lot less of it. Grab a chair, a wine bottle or a hammer and bash the attacker's head in while he is occupied with beating his victim. Stab them a dozen times with a kitchen knife. Come up behind them and kick them in the groin or knee as hard as you possibly can. Don't just "peek". Fear is never a valid excuse for not doing the right thing. I can somewhat understand not getting involved in a fair fight between two strangers when there is no obvious "bad guy" and "victim", but when you see two guys with ski masks bashing their way into your neighbor's home there is no doubt about who needs to be stopped. If a witness does nothing to help a victim they are partly responsible for whatever happens to the victim.

Stop AB 962, The Bill That Could Kill

2009-07-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

In the never ending war against liberty, California is considering passing a bill that would likely result in accidental shooting deaths and injuries. The bill would prevent handgun owners from practicing sufficiently to maintain their skills. If a gun owner is forced to use a firearm in self defense, society at large will be much safer if that person has recently been target shooting and is not fumbling around incompetently. Regular practice can mean the difference between the bad guy getting shot and a stray round striking property or an innocent bystander.

The bill would reduce safe practice by:

Forbidding the sale or transfer of more than 50 rounds of handgun ammo per month to anyone who is not a licensed dealer
Require ammo only be bought in person (i.e. banning mail order sales)
Requiring vendors to keep a record of every ammo sale and report all sales to the state
Require vendors to keep all ammo out of reach from customers so that buyers must seek assistance from staff before purchasing
Require vendors to pay a licensing fee to the state (even if they already have a license to sell firearms)

Anti-gun people will probably think I’m crazy for opposing these restrictions, but take a moment to think it through before you decide. A leisurely one hour practice session with a hand gun for most people consumes about 200 rounds of ammunition, even when most of that hour is spent loading magazines, setting up targets, inspecting targets, collecting spent brass and other non-shooting tasks. A semi-automatic hand gun fires a round as quickly as the user can pull the trigger. In a regular slow fire practice session, a person will fire a shot every few seconds. Thus, a standard 10 round magazine will be emptied in about 30 seconds. 50 rounds of ammo during an unhurried practice session can be consumed in about 2.5 minutes of firing. If the shooter is practicing double taps, defensive shooting and quick reloads they might go through 50 rounds of ammo in less than half of that time (1min 15sec). Do you really think it a good idea for people with potentially lethal defense tools to be forbidden to practice with them for more than 1-2 minutes per month? What will happen when an unpracticed gun owner tries to defend themselves? Where will the bullets go if they they pull the trigger and miss the bad guy?

To make matters worse, the law doesn’t seem to distinguish between different types of hand guns. A typical concealed carry permit holder might be allowed to legally carry two or three different kinds of guns. For example, they might be permitted to carry a tiny gun that can be easily hidden under summer clothing, and a regular gun that can be concealed under normal clothing. Chances are good that those two guns will use different kinds of ammunition. If you are only allowed 50 rounds of ammo per month and need to practice with two different guns, you can practice with each gun half as much. That brings us down to maybe one minute of practice per month per gun, less time than you spend brushing your teeth before you go to bed each night.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, gun owners commonly own both a rifle and a handgun that fires the exact same type of ammunition. This simplifies ammunition purchases and lets them carry a single type of ammo when shooting. .22 rimfire, 9mm, .38 special, .357 magnum, .44 magnum and .44 special are a few examples of ammunition commonly used by both rifles and handguns. How can you prove to an ammo vendor what kind of gun you plan to fire their ammo through?

A single round of .45ACP ammunition costs about $0.30 if purchased in bulk (1000 rounds) over the internet. If purchased in a typical 50 round box at a local gun store, a single round will cost about $0.40, 25% more than by bulk. If we ban bulk purchases and tack on licensing fees and compliance costs, the price of ammo could go up by 50%. The cost of ammunition for a typical one hour 200 round practice session with a common .45ACP pistol would go from $60 to $90 (assuming they remembered to save up 4 months worth of ammo to allow for a one hour practice session). Such a large increase would significantly discourage practice.

Note that a similar Federal law was repealed in 1986 after the BATF testified that it was useless at preventing crime. The City of Pasadena passed a similar law, and repealed it two years later after realizing that they were generating a huge and costly database wasn't actually helping the police.

Please contact your state assemblyperson and the senators on the California appropriations committee to demand that they oppose this bill. Even if you hate guns you should oppose this bill because it will only serve to reduce the competency of law abiding gun owners without reducing gun ownership. No matter how you feel about guns, it is in your best interest that whoever squeezes a trigger on a firearm be well practiced, accurate and safe when they do it.

Emergency Preparedness and Survival

2009-07-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Every time our country is hit by a major disaster, be it a flood, hurricane, fire or something else, the news is filled with sad stories about woefully unprepared people being left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Too many people falsely believe that our government and emergency services will take care of them and keep them safe. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests that people keep at least a three day supply of food, water and other essentials on hand at all times for each member of their household. They strongly encourage people to expand this to a two week supply if they can afford to do so. It can easily take several days for the government to get help to disaster victims. If the disaster is not limited to a small geographic area, it could take much longer. For example, if a tsunami wipes out the eastern seaboard or if terrorists detonate suitcase nukes in several major cities, there simply may not be enough emergency workers and supplies to go around.

Imagine for a moment that a disaster hits your home or office. It could be a dam failure, fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, earthquake or even a terrorist attack. 3,000 gallons of raw sewage could erupt from your drains and toilets when city maintenance goes awry. A small plane might crash into your home without warning. Your building may be destroyed or authorities might simply deem it unsafe and force you to leave. Streets could be blocked, flooded or collapsed making it impossible for you to drive to safety. How would you fare if you have only moments to quickly grab a couple of items before you are forced to flee on foot?

Are you ready to survive in an overcrowded gymnasium or stadium for several days with nothing more than what you can carry? Will you be passably comfortable in a room packed with people when you have nothing more than a few square feet of space on the floor? Will you be like the hurricane Katrina victims that were stuck in rescue shelters and rooftops without food or water if the government is slow to deliver supplies?

All of the gear in the world is of little use if you don't have it packed into a portable and quickly accessible package when you need it. You might not have two hours to dig through piles of camping gear to find what you need when your house is about to slide down a cliff. Unless you are a die-hard backpacker, chances are good that most of your recreational outdoor equipment will be too bulky and heavy for you to carry very far if roads are blocked and vehicles can't be used.

For around $150 and an hour or two of effort you can easily put together a good emergency kit that will help you and a loved one survive for a few days without running water, electricity or help from others. Hunger, thirst, cold, wet, minor injuries and boredom need not overly trouble you if you are adequately prepared.

The ability to create fire, construct shelters, patch up injuries and plan for a variety of adversities helps distinguish humans from less intelligent animals. Please take a moment to look over your emergency kit and make sure that it is complete, accessible and in good condition. If you don't have a kit, get one. Here are a couple of links that may help:

The Disaster Preparedness and Survival Gear section of my Amazon store

The FEMA "Are You Ready?" page (tips, checklists and guides from the US government)

Once you get the basic survival gear together, consider adding these additional items to your pack:

Underwear and Socks in a zip-lock bag: Dry socks are especially important as they help keep your feet healthy so that blisters, infections, fungus and other things don't prevent you from trekking to safety
Paperback novel and a deck of cards in a zip-lock bag: Survival can be surprisingly boring. These can keep you sane if you get stuck in a shelter for days and can even be used as kindling.
Batteries for radios, cell phones, flash lights, GPS devices, etc.
Prescription medications for yourself, family and pets
Feminine hygiene products (tampons, pads, etc.)
Powder: It can prevent heat rashes, dry wet feet to prevent blisters, help sweaty hands grip slippery objects and partially deodorize clothing.

'Anti-Stab' Knife On Sale in UK

2009-06-16T10:34:00.001-07:00

New Point Knives in the U.K. is offering kitchen knives that are designed to minimize the risk of accidental and fatal stabbings while maintaining more or less their full functionality as food preparation tools. Many blogs and web sites are already overflowing with scornful comments about these products, with phrases like "knives don't kill people; people kill people" and other such rhetoric. Although I am about as pro-weapon and anti-nanny state as it gets, I decided to give this product the benefit of the doubt.
I am a somewhat serious amateur gourmet and am picky about my kitchen knives. They must each go into the proper slot in the cutlery block, be kept razor sharp, and must be washed by hand and put away the moment they are not in use. In spite of my fussiness about knives, I was hard pressed to come up with legitimate criticism for the concept of these new products. There really aren't that many uses for an endlessly long point on some larger types of kitchen knives. The New Point knives that I have seen so far do indeed have points, but the points are protected by a smooth rounded curve that would make it more difficult to thrust the blade deeply into something. Enough of the point is exposed to easily split the skin on fruit and even slice most food items. Granted, this sort of design would be impractical for various tasks such as boning, filleting and paring, but New Point doesn't appear to be offering those kinds of knives.

If the New Point knives are well balanced, sharp, comfortable and of high quality steel, I see no harm in their use and there are a few situations in which they could be quite helpful. For example, when teaching cooking in a home economics class, these knives might slightly reduce the risk of accidental stabbings in a room crowded with uncoordinated students. People with repetitive motion issues and nerve problems might find such a knife comforting as it would be less likely to stake a foot to the floor if it slipped out of a hand.

In short, I think it silly for someone to get angry about these products, especially if the person claims to believe in liberty and personal choice. Although I have no interest in owning one, I see no reason to grumble about them being on the market. To be honest, I think such grumblings just portray the pro-weapon and anti-nanny state people as unreasonable and makes it easier to dismiss their opinions on more serious issues. As long as nobody mandates their usage or tries to ban traditional knives, they aren't hurting anyone and could even be useful in certain situations (if they are of decent quality). I do, however, hope that people are not so foolish as to think that these are magically safe knives that can be treated carelessly or that all knives should use this design. They still have an edge and presumably can remove fingers and open arteries. Nonetheless, they may slightly reduce the frequency of some of the more serious accidental kitchen injuries that are commonly treated by emergency room staff.

TV News Ignores Iranian Election Protests

2009-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve been following the Iranian post-election protests and riots via social networking sites like YouTube, Twitter and others. Last night while the streets of Tehran were filled with people chanting “Death to the Dictator!” after a clear case of election tampering, CNN was running a fluff piece about whether or not Obama is more popular than effective. Los Angeles based TV news programs talked about illegal aliens working at a car wash, a newsworthy discovery on par with finding tools in a hardware store. FoxNews ran a story about a peeved Sarah Palin. A continuous scan through all available satellite TV news channels revealed similar drivel, with nothing of substance about Iran.

I find this disconcerting given Iran’s important role in the Middle East, their efforts to become a nuclear power and their influence on international policy. Iran is one of the world’s most powerful theocracies and their government has more or less been an enemy of the United States for decades. When their people protested a rigged election, did battle with police and chanted “We want freedom!” in the streets they were mostly ignored by American news networks. This lack of coverage is even more disappointing now that the Iranian election protests have spilled over into large American and European cities.

I realize that there are logistic difficulties in placing reporters inside of a nation that is hostile to foreign press, but this didn’t entirely stop the BBC. Their reporters managed to capture video footage of the protests and were even briefly arrested while reporting on this story. They managed to get enough footage out of the country that Iran has since been actively jamming the BBC communications satellite.

CNN is a very active user of the Twitter microblogging service and used to seem savvy about social media. They were one of the first Twitter users to achieve over a million followers and at one point had 45 official twitter accounts. Why did they not improve their coverage after being twittered with thousands of requests for this? At the very least they could have put a political analyst in front of the camera to discuss what was happening. For many hours, the 2nd most popular trending topic on Twitter.com was #IranElection and the 3rd most popular was #CNNFail. I am surprised that an event of global significance combined with this much social media outrage wasn’t enough to motivate them to cover the story.

The more that I use the internet, the less use I have for main stream media and entertainment. I found dozens of videos on YouTube covering the Iranian riots while they were actually happening. There were hundreds of photographs of the riots on web sites like Flickr. I even found live clandestine coverage on twitter purportedly from a protesting Iranian student as police assaulted a university. I’m beginning to think that traditional news media outlets no longer have much to offer. They are slow, unwieldy and subject to the bias of advertisers and network executives. Television news networks often worry so much about ratings that they focus on entertainment as often as information. "News" stories about “American Idol”, “24” and Obama going on a date with his wife get nearly as much coverage as events of global significance. Once upon a time they may have cared about facts and integrity, but stories like the Dan Rather incident have shown us that their slowness is not caused by diligent fact checking.

If traditional media networks do not find a way to more effectively leverage emerging internet technologies they will soon find themselves without viewers and sponsors.

UPDATE:
CNN's coverage has improved today and they even acknowledged the criticism they have been receiving from the internet/Twitter. Ironically, #CNNFail is still in the top ten list of trending topics on Twitter, and comments there indicate twitterers are either too busy watching the internet to notice CNN's improved coverage or are still angry that it took them so long to start covering this issue.

Student Uses Gun to Stop Robbery and Rapes

2009-05-06T22:52:00.001-07:00

Another great self defense story. Click on the title link and see the full story, complete with a video clip of the news story. Here's an excerpt:

Bailey said he thought it was the end of his life and the lives of the 10 people inside his apartment for a birthday party after two masked men with guns burst in through a patio door.“They just came in and separated the men from the women and said, ‘Give me your wallets and cell phones,’”

If you read further and watch the video, you will learn that the student pulled out a gun, shot and killed one of the attackers and then kicked down the door to the room where the women were being held and opened fire on another attacker who was trying to rape his girlfriend.

Although one student was admittedly shot in the exchange of gunfire, they are expected to fully recover. Even with this mishap, this is a great outcome as it prevented one or more of the women from being raped or worse. It's great that this student had both a gun and the courage to use it in defense of others.

CA Band Girl Beats Off Two Muggers

2009-04-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

I love stories with quotes like this one:

one got a punch in the nose and the other a kick to the groin. Rust says the girl then beat both of them with her band baton

It sounds like this young lady knew exactly what she was doing, and may have had some training. Going after vulnerable spots, delivering a few extra hits to make sure her attackers aren't able to pursue and then running to safety is exactly what is called for in this type of situation. It just goes to show that with the right mindset, the smaller/younger/"weaker"/out numbered person need not be a victim. I hope this young woman left a lasting impression on her attackers and inspires others to react to crime in the same manner.

Click on the title link for the full story.

Only You Can Stop Gun Crime

2009-02-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

For those worried about the possibility that guns may cause violence and crime, the title link goes to a site made just for you. There is a web cam showing an evil firearm for you to carefully monitor. Watch closely, for you never know when it might wreak havoc.

Be sure to leave a comment here if you see it causing any trouble.

Enjoying My Amazon Kindle

2009-02-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

(image not actual size)

I got an Amazon Kindle about 8 months ago and I love it as much now as I did then. I can't believe how many books I read now (5+ novels per months plus various other things). I keep it within reach nearly all day long. The built in memory holds roughly 200 books so no matter what mood I'm in I always have something on hand that suits me. The e-ink technology is MUCH easier on the eyes than a computer screen (no flicker and no back light), and the adjustable font size is great for when you are desperately trying to finish an engrossing chapter at 2AM while you can barely keep your burning eyes open.

Although it costs around $350, it has already more than paid for itself. Here's how: There are countless multitudes of free legal ebooks readily available on the internet. I'm not talking about stealing, file sharing or piracy, but legitimate honest to goodness free books. Since ebooks are quite small (roughly 1MB each), they can be downloaded almost instantly and transfered to the Kindle via USB. Sites like ManyBooks.net actually let you download free books in Kindle format. Other sites such as Baen Free Library give away legal free ebooks from popular science fiction authors. Some popular current authors such as Cory Doctorow give away ebooks free in hopes that it will gain them a larger following and thus a larger customer base. I quite literally have THOUSANDS of free books that will take me forever to read, which means I'm now spending much less money feeding my reading habit. If you want current books and don't mind spending around $10 for them, you can use the built in free EVDO wireless internet connection to download them from Amazon directly to the Kindle device without any need for a computer. The original purchase prices comes with unlimited free EVDO internet access so you can download books and surf the web nearly anywhere in the U.S. where you can receive a cell phone signal. The e-ink is a bit slow to refresh and the browser is primative, but sites like Amazon.com and WikiPedia look pretty good. I've used my Kindle to read and post to Twitter.com, access Google Maps to find my approximate location on a map and find nearby restaurants and businesses. I admit, the web browser leaves a lot to be desired but you can use it as much as you like for free, something that's pretty nice as a side benefit to a full featured ebook reader. Here are some of my favorite things about the kindle:

Not much bigger than a mass market paperback yet it can hold hundreds of books and offers access to the internet
Battery lasts a long time (more than a week when I have the EVDO modem turned off)
Great for traveling as I no longer have to fill my carryon luggage with heavy bulky books
All content on the device is searchable, which makes it easy to look up facts and find favorite passages
You can use the built in keyboard to take notes and mark up your favorite texts
It's a great way to read popular fiction without filling your real book shelves with one-time reads that don't add particular value or distinction to your home library

Here are my few complaints about the kindle:

Would like a higher contrast screen. Current screen is good, but white background is not pristine white and is a more like the off-white paper used for newspapers
It should really come with a better case that offers a bit more protection and security
Would like a smaller "next page" button so that it is not as easy to accidentally advance to the next page
Would like a more robust web browser (I know, it's an ebook reader and not an iPhone, but I think with a minimal effort they could have made the browser much better)

Other features that people might like to know about:

It has a head phone jack and volume controls for listening to mp3 files or even audio books
It has an email address that only accepts mail from addresses you designate, so you can send txt files, word docs, pdfs and kindle files directly to your device

I know this probably will just look like an ad to most folks, as I am admittedly an Amazon.com affiliate. Nevertheless I thought I share this review with everyone in the hope that others will enjoy it much as I do and find themselves reading more. In this media saturated world where everyone has multiple TV's, computers, iPods and other forms of entertainment, it's all too easy to give up reading. This device makes it so convenient that people who own will find themselves reading more, which means that they will get more mental stimulation than most other forms of passive entertainment.

Krav Maga

2008-09-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

Given the current legal and social climate, carrying a firearm isn’t a viable option for most people much of the time. Many employers have so called “anti-violence” policies that include bans against possessing a weapon in the workplace or even in your vehicle if it is parked on company property. Some countries/states/counties/cities make it virtually impossible to legally carry a gun for personal protection. If you are like me, and are plagued with such restrictions, consider signing up for Krav Maga lessons.

Krav Maga is the fighting system of the Israeli military and has recently been making its way into numerous U.S. law enforcement agencies. It was designed from the ground up to be something that everyone can use, including people of greatly varying size and strength. Military service in Israel is compulsory for both men and women, and Krav Maga is designed to simultaneously teach people of both sexes how to fight for their lives and survive dangerous situations.

Krav Maga is all about self defense. It is not a ritualized art and it most definitely is not a sport. It emphasizes brutally effective moves that some would consider “dirty” or “dishonorable”. Groin kicks are a staple of this system, as is attacking throats, eyes, knees and anything else that can quickly neutralize an attacker. It is all is about doing whatever it takes to give you the best chance of making it home safe and sound after an attack.

I recently became a student of Krav Maga, and have been extremely impressed with this fighting system. I like how they always try to prepare students for the worst. It is always assumed that that an attacker will have an advantage, such as superior size, superior numbers, weapons, the element of surprise and possibly all of the above. In my very first day of class I was taught to throw a basic punch and kick, and then told to close my eyes and stand in a relaxed casual position. A training partner would then run at me from a random direction and slam into me with a pad, partially knocking me off balance. I then had to immediately open my eyes, face the pad and throw a series of punches and/or kicks at it. Since then, I have often been required to stand in a casual position (i.e. not in a fighting stance) when learning to defend and counterattack against various moves. The idea is to change the shock reflex so that rather than freezing up during a startling attack students immediately launch an overwhelming counterattack.

Much of the training is done full force against one or more pad wielding partners. This conditions the striker to hit hard and use the proper technique. It also teaches the person with the pad to recognize what it looks like when someone is attacking them and to not be intimidated by it. Tell tale indicators such as a slight twist of the hips or shoulders, tensing of muscles, etc., can all be safely studied so that the pad holder learns exactly what an attack looks like when it is first initiated. Holding the pad against strong attacks also strengthens core muscle groups as they tense to absorb the blows.

Krav Maga also gives you a really good workout. When I first started the class, the intensive warm up routines had my heart hammering and my lungs heaving and was nearly more than I could handle. This cardio workout is then followed by stretching and then vigorous combative training. The intense beginning serves both to get students in better physical condition and to tire them out so that when they are practicing they will get used to fighting while tired. After all, muggers and other attackers aren’t likely to give you a pass just because you happen to feel fatigued on the day that you encounter them.

If you’d like to get in better shape, lose some extra weight and/or would like to learn how to protect yourself, seriously consider taking up Krav Maga. My physical condition has improved noticeably in just half a dozen weeks, and I am told that after only a few months of training I likely will be better trained for hand to hand combat than most ordinary police officers. Given how much I have improved already, I’m inclined to believe it.

S.C.O.T.U.S. Affirms 2nd Amendment (sort of)

2008-06-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

By now, nearly everyone has heard of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Washington D.C. ban on handguns. For the most part, it affirmed the 2nd Amendment, which is fantastic news for anyone who believes in the right to bear arms for self defense, checking government power, or both. It also affirmed that the 2nd Amendment bestows an individual right, and not merely a right for militias to bear arms.

For the most part, this ruling made me happy, but I'd like to caution firearms advocates not to celebrate too hard. There are several things that really should be considered about this ruling, lest complacency lead firearms owners to think that they can rest on their laurels.

Problem #1:
The fact that this issue was credible enough to make it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court is a bad sign. The 2nd Amendment is very clear, and should not require a prolonged process of legal escalation for a gun ban to be thrown out. The very first judge who looked at this case should have thrown out the ban without much more than a few minutes consideration. What part of "shall not be infringed" did the lower courts not understand when this was first challenged?

Problem #2:
This was a 5 to 4 decision. That means that a single swing vote is all that stood between the highest legal authority in our nation declaring that the 2nd Amendment was null and void. It means that 4 justices, people that are considered the most experienced and powerful legal experts in the country, disagreed with the the decision to uphold the 2nd Amendment. Think about that for a moment. Our country is still dangerously close to invalidating a cornerstone of the U.S. constitution. What happens when this issue comes up again (it will), and on that day we have one additional anti-gun justice on the bench?

Problem #3:
This decision included enough wiggle room for other kinds of gun bans to successfully be passed. Here are some quotes from Justice Scalia:

"Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

Note that the 2nd Amendment's "shall not be infringed" wording says nothing about conditional limitations on the right to bear arms. Scalia's comments undermine this simple clarity by saying that it is indeed possible to establish quite a few limitations on firearms ownership, and if enough of these limitation are passed into law, owning, selling and transporting firearms could become so onerous as to create a de facto ban of them.

Don't get me wrong; I think today's ruling came out about as well as we could have expected, and gun owners are entitled to a little celebration. Nevertheless, I think it is important to keep this ruling in perspective and continue to actively support pro-gun organizations and vote against any politician who expresses a desire to further restrict the private ownership of firearms.

WSJ Refers to Global Warming Scare as "Yellow Journalism"

2008-06-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

It's about time a main stream media source is talking candidly about the unsubstantiated theory of man made global warming. I encourage you to click on the title link to read the full story. Below are a few of the better quotes from the article:

"even if we ignore the falling global temperatures over the past decade as fossil-fuel emissions have continued to increase, an honest scientist would still have to admit that the hypothesis of man-made global warming hardly rises to the level of "an assertion of what has been or would be the result of carrying out a specified observational procedure.""

"Global warming may or may not be "the greatest scam in history," as it was recently called by John Coleman, a prominent meteorologist and the founder of the Weather Channel. Certainly, however, under the scientific method it does not rise to the level of an "item of physical knowledge."

"whatever follows the phrase "most experts agree" or "no one can measure the exact effect but" is not real science. In fact, if there is no possible way that a statement can realistically be tested, it probably fails to meet the standards for any professional community and is of no real use to the public."

Solar Researchers Predict Cold Temperatures by 2020

2008-06-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

Kenneth Tapping, project director for Canada's National Research Council, believes that the sun might be entering a period of minimal activity, which could lead to the lowest global temperatures of the past couple of centuries. Here 's a quote from the IBD article:

Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."

Has the media pendulum begun to swing again? I've been seeing 1-2 new stories per week for the past few months about "global cooling", "upcoming ice age", "reduced sunspots and solar activity" etc. How long will it be before the next Al Gore pops up as the media's favored eco-messiah and warns us of the dangers of Global Cooling while raking in millions in appearance fees and doing absolutely nothing tangible to protect habitat or preserve ecosystems?

NOAA Study Suggests Global Warming Not Increasing Hurricanes

2008-05-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

After Hurricane Katrina, lots of people were quick to tell us how global warming was to blame for an increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes. Now, a recent study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggests that this isn't the case. Read the title link for the full story.

This is the sort of thing that frustrates me about globing warming alarmism. Otherwise rational people jump to unsubstantiated beliefs much in the same way primitive peoples used to blame bad things that they didn't understand on evil spirits. We have enough proven and fully understood environmental problems that we can work on without needing to invent a climatic bogey man. Lets cut down on water pollution, slow down population growth, protect some natural habitat and work on things that we can make a definite impact on. When science comes up with a climate model that actually works, is accurate and survives a couple of decades of peer reviews, we can use it to figure out what negative impact mankind is having on global climate and what we can do to minimize it. In the meantime, let's make quantifiable and measurable progress towards making the world a better place without relying on guesswork and ineffective knee jerk legislation that is far more likely to harm our economy than it is to save the planet.

Global Warming or Global Cooling?

2008-05-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

The title link is to a great article showing how different sources of historical temperature data tell conflicting stories. Data from NASA implies that global temperatures are increasing while information from the UK Meteorological Office, University of Alabama and Remote Sensing Systems clearly show that temperatures have been falling for quite some time. To further confuse matters, the often cited NASA data did not support global warming until the raw data was massaged to no longer match the original measurements. Older temperatures were interpolated and adjusted downwards, and recent temperatures were presented as higher than the actual raw values that were initially recorded.

I suggest you peruse the entire article, as it offers graphs and visual aids to clearly illustrate the issue and help open-minded rational people understand just how imperfect global temperature predictions are. You might also like to read the much shorter Herald article discussing how global temperatures are not likely to increase in the next decade.

Global warming is an easy and seductive cause precisely because it is so difficult to measure or prove. Climate models are imperfect and ever changing. Good intentions, alarmism and knee jerk reactions have taken the place of objective science in this politically charged issue. Vote to tax SUVs or mandate that corn be turned into fuel instead of food and suddenly you are “saving the planet”. Climatic data never actually needs to improve as lack of success can always be blamed on too little effort, freak climatic anomalies, or the ever popular "we did our part but China’s pollution nullified our efforts". To make matters worse, now that the global warming movement has gained so much momentum, powerful individuals and groups have become vested in the global warming “problem”, and scientists must produce research that supports this belief or risk losing their funding and positions. Science is rapidly being replaced by dogma which makes it much harder for us to objectively learn more about our climate and what impact our species is having on it.

In the late 1800’s there was fear of an impending ice age. By 1930, we were supposedly threatened by global warming. In the 1950s, people decided that global warming wasn’t happening after all. In 1975, the New York Times reported “A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable” and public schools taught children that we were beginning a new ice age. Most of these scares were based on a perceived average surface temperature change between 0.5 and 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Think about that for a moment. As little as ½ of a degree of change has been grounds to proclaim globally and historically significant climate change. Here we are on the surface of a thin crust of rock covering a ball of molten magma spinning around a massive and ever fluctuating ball of burning gas, subject to cosmic radiation, solar flares, plate tectonics and volcanism and yet people really think that a perceived and heavily disputed tiny average temperature change is absolute proof of a long term trend caused by humans. It is especially absurd if you consider how few years worth of data we have to analyze compared to the vast and complex climatic history of our planet.

Glaciers are indeed melting in places, but they are growing in others. In places such as Greenland and Switzerland, receding glaciers have revealed ancient villages, proving that the areas were devoid of glaciers in the not so distant past. How can we then say that the current absence of glaciers in such areas is unnatural and caused by manmade carbon emissions? Sure, polar bears and other species are threatened by climate changes, but so were dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and countless other species that were wiped out long before the dawn of human industry. Our climate is so vastly complex that we are unlikely to understand it well enough within our lifetime to accurately predict long term climate changes.

We would be far better of if kindhearted people applied their good intentions to othe environmental issues where they could make real and measurable progress. If for example, global warming activists instead spent their efforts buying up land to protect it from development, globally distributing contraceptives and educating people about the dangers of overpopulation, they could protect a vast amount of unspoiled habitat and slow the rate of new polluting consumers being brought into the world.

Peeping Tom Beaten and Arrested

2008-02-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

According to a Fox8 news story, a Greensboro N.C. man heard noises from under the bed he and his girlfriend were laying on:

"(When) I looked underneath there, I saw these eyes staring back at me. I was like 'what the crap! This ain't normal,'" said Lynn. "So I start(ed) slinging him around. I was upper cutting him, beating him left and right."
...
"I talked to the cop. He told me if I wouldn't have caught him, he planned on spending the night."

Police are in the process of notifying the victims of the other cases and anticipate more charges will be filed.

Click the title link for the full story, a photo of the peeper and a video interview with the man who found him and give him a well deserved beating.

Female Blackbelt Marathon Runner Foils Burglary

2008-01-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

This from the sun-sentinel.com:

A would-be burglar met his match when he tried to elude Margo Foster, a marathon runner with a black belt in karate who also knows kickboxing and kung fu, police said.
...
Without thinking twice, she said in an interview, she bolted through the living and dining rooms and followed the startled man out to the backyard. Police said he had one of Foster's backpacks strapped on his shoulders, filled with her property. She wanted it back.
A seven-block-long chase had just begun.
...
As related by Foster, the intruder began to climb the 6-foot-high wooden fence in the yard, when she "grabbed him by the neck, ripped him off the fence.. threw him to the ground, and put my knee to his chest."
...
"Go ahead and run," the former yacht detailer said she yelled. "You're not going to get away from me. I've been running for 40 years."

This is great! If everyone fought back like this, crime would go down. Yes, it's dangerous and obviously some victims will end up hurt, but if most people were willing to fight back like this crime would be much less attractive to thieves. In the long run, we would have a better, safer and more mentally healthy society.

14yr Old Boy Beats Burglar With Bat

2008-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I haven't posted in quite some time. This is because I got tired of following the mostly disappointing and frustrating news feeds in order to find the occasional good tidbit worth commenting on. Yesterday, however, a friend sent me a great story that I just had to share with you all.

From MSNBC.com:

“I only hit him twice,” Michael said almost apologetically of the incident that played out Tuesday morning in the Phoenix suburb.
He demonstrated for Vieira how he whacked the burglar, later identified as Thomas Garza, a 30-year-old career criminal who was on parole at the time, twice across the back and shoulders.
On the 911 tape of the incident, Garza can be heard yelling “Please! Please! Please!” after being hit.
…
When Garza left the building, Michael climbed out his window behind him, saw the police arriving, and showed them where to go to find the suspect.

Nice work, Michael! Too bad you didn’t get him in the head before the police got him.

Weapons and Tactics Reviews from Iraq

2007-05-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

The title link is to a letter posted on the Tactical Shooting Forums allegedly from the son a U.S. Marine in Iraq. It provides an interesting review of both U.S. and enemy weapons, and describes some of the groups of people that our soldiers are fighting.

Here is an excerpt:

The .45 pistol: Thumbs up. Still the best pistol round out there.
Everybody authorized to carry a sidearm is trying to get their hands on one.
With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put 'em down with a torso
hit. The special ops guys (who are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK
military model and supposedly love it. The old government model 45's are
being re-issued en masse.

Warning:
The full story contains some profanity and may not be safe for work or appropriate for young children.

Thanks to Palantirion of Sanitycheck 101 for sending me the link.

11yr Old Girl Kills 2 Armed Illegal Alien Home Invaders

2007-05-02T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from the Libertypost.org story apparently borrowed from the NRA Files:

Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez 23 and Enrico Garza 26, probably believed they would easily overpower a home alone 11 year old Patricia Harrington...
It seems the two crooks never learned two things, they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine.

You've got to read this full story. You'll enjoy where this little girl shot the first of her attackers :)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find main stream news sites discussing this story in more detail. From what I can tell, it may have appeared in a November 2006 printed copy of an NRA publication, as this is how have I seen it posted as on various gun friendly discussion boards and forums.

Disney Fired Husband and Wife Over Legal Gun

2007-03-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Zendo Deb over at TFS Magnum pointed out the story in the title link. Here's a couple of excerpts from the letter published at NRA-ILA.com:

I represent Doug and Linda Gray, a husband and wife who were both employed by the Walt Disney World Company. ...The Grays had to begin their commute before sunrise, and had to travel through some less than safe areas. In fact, they had been accosted on their commute to work in the past. They contacted law enforcement about this and were advised that they should purchase a firearm for their own protection during their commute. Based on this advice, Mr. Gray purchased a revolver to protect he and his wife. When the Grays arrived at work, the revolver was locked in their vehicle.
...
Just 17 days before their 10th anniversary of employment at Disney, they were both terminated. While Mrs. Gray was being asked about an absence from work, she responded that her husband was unable to attend, and she didn't feel safe traveling into work without him. Upon further questioning, Mrs. Gray revealed that Mr. Gray had the firearm in their vehicle for their protection. Disney had the vehicle searched, and the firearm was found, locked in the vehicle where the Grays indicated it was. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gray were terminated. Additionally, Disney had the Orange County Sheriffs issue a trespass warning against Mr. and Mrs. Gray, so that neither could step foot on any Disney property again.

This same basic issue has come up repeatedly. Weyerhauser fired a dozen employees for possessing firearms in their vehicles, and in response to this the Oklahoma State Legislature passed a law forbidding employers to prevent employees from having legally owned firearms in their vehicles. (Here's my post on that story.)

I think employers should not be able to inquire about the contents of nor search employee vehicles. When you drive your car on a public road, police officers do not have the right to search your vehicle without either a search warrant or some evidence that your vehicle contains an illegal item (i.e. probable cause). Under the law your automobile is treated much like your home or your clothing in terms of privacy and the search rights.

I have often heard people say that the private property rights of the employer should allow the employer to make any rules they like about what vehicles can park on their property. I strongly disagree. An employer should have the right to forbid people to enter their property, but they should not have the right to violate your privacy as a condition of granting you access. Allowing employers to search private vehicles is a violation of privacy similar in spirit (albeit not as traumatic), as allowing employers to conduct daily body cavity searches. After all, an employee could hide a folding knife, a home-made hand grenade, poison, drugs or other potentially dangerous items in an orifice.

Just how far are people willing to let employers violate the privacy of employees? Could an officer of the company require all female employees to bare their breasts to them so that the officer can verify that they don't have a small Seecamp or a Bobcat hidden inside their bras? Could an employer demand the right feel the breasts of busty female employees to try and determine if their allegedly silicone implants and gel filled bras might instead be hi-tech liquid explosives? (TSA agents already have the right to do this at airport security checkpoints.) Can an employer randomly squeeze the crotch of male employees or put their hands up women's skirts to make sure they aren't wearing Thunderwear holsters?

If an employer can forbid employees to have legal firearms in their vehicles, I don't see why they couldn't legally ban any other item they don't like. With this crazy logic, a Christian Scientist employer could forbid medicine in cars, an atheist employer could forbid bibles and a censor-happy employer could forbid "immoral" books and music. Perhaps a Catholic employer could even forbid contraceptives and copies of The Da Vinci Code.

I say that the 4th Amendment should protect employees from such unreasonable searches and bans:

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Potential U.S. Terrorist Database Quadrupled in 4 Years

2007-03-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

My previous post mentions that government shouldn't be trusted with a massive identity database. The WashingtonPost.com story in the title link further supports my case, and I encourage you to go read the article in its entirety. Here are a few excerpts to whet your appetite:

Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it. "The single biggest worry that I have is long-term quality control," said Russ Travers, in charge of TIDE at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean.

Pause for a moment and think about that. 435,000 people are already in this database, which is roughly equivalent to the entire population of Kansas City, Sacramento or Cleveland.

The bar for inclusion is low, and once someone is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off it. At any stage, the process can lead to "horror stories" of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.

I understand that there is probably a legitimate need to track potential terrorists, but there should be a simple process for getting yourself removed from this database in the event that you are experiencing negative consequences as a result of a mistake.

In 2004 and 2005, misidentifications accounted for about half of the tens of thousands of times a traveler's name triggered a watch-list hit, the Government Accountability Office reported in September. Congressional committees have criticized the process, some charging that it collects too much information about Americans, others saying it is ineffective against terrorists.
...
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said last year that his wife had been delayed repeatedly while airlines queried whether Catherine Stevens was the watch-listed Cat Stevens. The listing referred to the Britain-based pop singer who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. The reason Islam is not allowed to fly to the United States is secret.

I have followed this issue since the passing of the Patriot Act, and have found news stories about infants, two year olds and other seemingly harmless people that have been added to the no-fly lists. While I have no use for Ted Stevens, it is ridiculous that a U.S. Senator's wife gets flagged by the system because of a similarity to a male British singer. The system needs to work better and include a modicum of common sense.

The 80 TIDE analysts get "thousands of messages a day," Travers said, much of the data "fragmentary," "inconsistent" and "sometimes just flat-out wrong."

With any old scrap of unreliable information being fed into this database, it's no wonder that the list of names have quadrupled in four years. At the current rate of growth, by 2010, this system will contain nearly 2 million names, a number larger than the population of 15 different U.S. states. If this same growth continues until 2014, the list will include 8 million people, more than the population of 39 different U.S. states. Data mining is a useful tool, but the database must be accurate, and must have a viable mechanism for removing faulty information. We need to take a serious look at the current TIDE system and ensure that it is actually increasing public safety and is not evolving into something that violates the privacy of innocent people while generating false leads that could potentially spread our security staff so thin that they no longer have the resources to catch the real bad guys.

Government Selling Your Identity Online

2007-03-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here's another example of why you should fight the concept of national ID cards and any other form of comprehensive identity database.

From the Napa Valley Register story in the title link:

SACRAMENTO -- The Social Security numbers, addresses and signatures of more than 650,000 Californians have been available for purchase since 2004 -- for about $6 each on a Web site operated by the secretary of state's office.

...

The Web site had been used to post bank lending and collateral statements -- so-called Uniform Commercial Code filings -- that were frequently purchased by financial institutions conducting loan research. The site contained about 2 million records, a third of which contained individual borrowers' information. The rest had information about business loans.

From NBC11.com:

For three years, the Secretary of State's office routinely placed thousands of documents containing Social Security numbers on the Internet and then sold them to the public for $6 each." The state has literally been selling on the Internet an ID theft starter kit," said Sacramento assemblyman Dave Jones.

From CBS13.com:

"I was really surprised to see this and really stunned to see the names of people I knew in the community, businesses large and small and see their social security numbers, signatures and their addresses," said State Assemblyman Dave Jones.
In fact, Jones' staff got 14 people's records from the Secretary of States' website for less than $90.

As if this particular issue of selling identity information online wasn't bad enough, here's another story to make privacy conscious people cringe:

From SCMagazine.com:

The personal information — including Social Security numbers — of 71,000 Indiana state health care workers were accessed by a hacker in January.

The attacker accessed the data, as well as the credit card information of 5,600 individuals and businesses.

If you are curious about what people might be doing with these Social Security numbers, here's an example from WRAL.com:

Raleigh — The state Division of Motor Vehicles issued about 27,000 driver's licenses to people with invalid Social Security numbers, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

...

Almost 12,800 of the invalid numbers belonged to dead people. About 7,500 of the people who provided those numbers had revoked or expired driver's licenses.

About 7,200 of the people providing other invalid Social Security numbers also had revoked or expired licenses, according to the audit.

...

The DMV didn't require Social Security numbers to issue a license before last year. Since August, the agency has used an online verification program that allows employees to check the authenticity of Social Security numbers with what officials call "ironclad accuracy."

Keep in mind that the above stories all came out in just the last few days. If you keep an eye out for the subject of identity theft, you will continuously find stories like these on the internet news sites. If you let the government put all of our identity data in one place to create a multipurpose national ID card, you will simply do the following:

Create a single target for people to hack, bribe, buy and steal identity information from
Allow criminals to operate with impunity once they obtain such an ID card, as the government keeps telling us how this "hacker proof", "theft proof" ultra secure" cards can't be compromised and thus can be trusted by everyone

We are safer when government agencies and corporations have as little information about us as possible, and when that information is as compartmentalized and as difficult to access as possible. We don't need a single magic number that lets a data miner access our credit history, medical records, buying habits, home address, tax records, firearms ownership, driving privileges, etc. all from a single database. We are already near this point since people widely misuse Social Security numbers for more than tax purposes. Lets not make matters even worse.

Housing Community Bans Possession of Firearms

2007-03-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

According to NewsChannel5.com:

ANTIOCH, Tenn.- Some people in a Nashville neighborhood are furious over a new rule that makes it illegal to own a gun.

Residents in Nashboro Village said it's unconstitutional and leaves them defenseless.

Two weeks ago, residents received a letter from their homeowners' association indicating that guns are not allowed on the property.

I haven't found a more detailed version of this story yet, and the article in the title link is unclear about exactly what gives the property manager the right to impose such restrictions. At one point, it is referred to as being in a letter from a "homeowner's association", and in another place it makes it sound as if the rule was decreed by "Officials with Ghertner and Company, the property manager at Nashboro Village".

This article makes me wonder if homeowners associations actually have the power to vote in firearms bans. I would think that if they can control what color you paint your home, where you can park your cars, etc., there's probably a legal mechanism for them to hold a vote and decide to ban the ownership of otherwise legal firearms from your property. Things like this make me glad that I absolutely refused to consider buying any home under the dominion of a homeowner's association. I can't understand why anyone would volunteer to be subjected to an additional layer of bureaucracy in their lives, especially since we are already burdened with a plethora of government bodies and agencies that regulate how we use our private property.

Lest Darkness Fall Online Store

2007-03-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have recently created an online store (see title link) that will help you find books, movies and more about the topics found on this blog. It's a great way for people to find liberty oriented items. Customers can rest easy knowing that all transactions will be handled through Amazon.com.

As an added bonus, Amazon will give me a small commission on all sales purchased through this store, so in addition to getting quality goods you will also be supporting this web log. If you don't see what your are looking for in my store, click on the "Powered by Amazon.com" link in the lower right hand corner of the store and I will still receive a small referral fee for any purchases you make on Amazon.

Thank you for your support!

Dangerous Ruling for the Bad Guys

2007-03-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

Recently a U.S. Court of Appeals overturned portions of a 1976 law that bans Washington D.C. city residents from possessing handguns in their homes. It also removed the requirement that long barreled firearms be stored with trigger locks or in a disassembled state. According to the judges, the Second Amendment protections

"are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or continued intermittent enrollment in the militia."

This fantastic news for several reasons:

Residents of crime ridden Washington D.C. can now more easily own the means to defend themselves, and can store these vital safety tools in a more accessible manner
If D.C. residents start using guns to defend themselves in their homes, we should see the usual drop in violent crime and home invasions that accompany gun friendly cities, and these improved crime statistics will make excellent fodder for pro-gun and pro-liberty activists.
If anyone appeals this ruling at the U.S. Supreme court, there's a fair chance that we could reestablish a federal mandate that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, which would in turn help people throughout the nation roll back the various gun bans they have been oppressed by.

Not surprisingly, a Washington Post editorialist did not share my enthusiasm for this turn of events. Here's the opening sentence of their opinion piece (emphasis added by me):

a federal appeals court turned its back on nearly 70 years of Supreme Court precedent to give a new and dangerous meaning to the Second Amendment. If allowed to stand, this radical ruling will inevitably mean more people killed and wounded as keeping guns out of the city becomes harder. Moreover, if the legal principles used in the decision are applied nationally, every gun control law on the books would be imperiled.

It's really a shame how so many members of the media misinterpret the right to bear arms. The only danger in this ruling is to the criminals who used to be able to invade private homes at will without fear of being shot by homeowners. The criminals are the "more people [who will be] killed and wounded", and that's good news for the rest of us. The right to self defense is far more important than the government's right to govern, and every time a ban is lifted to empower self defense the media should celebrate rather than bellyache. When guns are banned violent crime goes up, as seen in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Washington D.C. and New York. As gun bans are lifted and things like concealed carry are allowed, violent crime goes down, as seen in numerous states and cities.

I'm beginning to wonder if the reason media people favor gun control is because gun bans lead to juicy violent crime stories and eye-grabbing headlines that help to sell more copy and attract more viewers. If the world actually became safer, these people might have to actually look for something newsworthy rather than continue to inundate us with depressing crime stories.

TFS Magnum, The Freeholder, Musings of a Geek With a .45, QandO, Michelle Malkin, Stop the ACLU, Hot Air, and The Volokh Conspiracy have also covered this story.

300: A Fantasy Movie About Thermopylae

2007-03-09T23:14:00.000-08:00

Background:
The movie 300 is a based on the graphic novel of the same name, and is an adaptation of the Battle of Thermoplyae in 480BC, one of the most crucial moments in the fate of Western culture. This battle is also why many firearms enthusiasts rally behind the cry Μολών Λαβέ! (often represented as Molon Labe! or ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ). These are the words that King Leonidas of Sparta responded with when the Persian King Xerxes demanded that 300 Spartans lay down their arms and submit to his rule or face annihilation at the hands of his 600,000 man army. The words mean "Come and get them!", and are the ancient Greek equivalent to "pry it from my cold dead hands". Viewers should know that this battle is still studied by modern military strategists, and is used as an example of how well-trained and well-armed men can resist vastly greater numbers using the right type of terrain.

On to the movie review:
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, both for its artistry and story. Anyone with a high tolerance for on-screen violence who likes rooting for the underdog and who enjoys highly stylized and artistic cinema will like this film. For those not familiar with Frank Miller, he is a renowned comic book author and artist famous for dark and edgy works often involving a an underdog opposing some form of oppression, wrong doing and/or corruption. The recent movie Sin City was based on his work.

300 was a surprisingly good blend of stylized choreography and edgy music that felt like a cross between fine art, a music video and an incredibly well done video game. Many of the fight scenes were shot using "speed ramping", a technique in which the footage speeds up to let you pan past a battle and get an idea of the magnitude of what is taking place without having to stare at hours of hack and slash combat. At other times it slows down for a few moments to allow you to fully appreciate the artistry and choreography of a specific sequence, often for an exchange between two or three closely embattled opponents, before speeding up and continuing with the story. I found this technique to be much less disorienting and easier to follow than the jittery filming of Gladiator, or the choppy editing of The Bourne Supremacy.

Another interesting aspect of the movie was the way it came off as an over-the-top tall tale. Some characters, such as Xerxes, appeared larger than ordinary humans and had voices that were far more imposing and booming than normal. I had no problem with this stretch of fantasy, as it reminded me of how the legends of Cuchulain and Beowulf were eventually stretched into fantastic myths rather than told as the deeds of ordinary men. Watching this movie gave me a glimpse of how the story of this battle might have verbally been passed down to future generations of ancient Greeks.

After seeing the previews and flipping through a copy of the comic book, I knew that this movie was really going to have a lot of visual impact. Because of this, I opted to see it on a huge IMAX screen. I'm glad I did as it produced amazing visual detail. Nearly every frame of this film could have been turned into a painting, tapestry or computer wallpaper. Although the movie was utterly filled with violence, it was the most artfully rendered violence that I have ever seen on screen. One scene in particular involved a sequence in which two Spartans became separated from their colleagues and were forced to battle as a lone pair. The moody CGI background, speed ramping and choreography transformed this life and death struggle into something as graceful as a pair of Olympic figure skaters.

Movie vs. History:

A number of liberties were deliberately taken with this film. Historical purists who only enjoy perfectly accurate costumes and sets might want to shy away from it. Here are just a few of the more obvious historical discrepancies:

In the movie the Spartans wore nothing more than sandals, cloaks and some sort of leather briefs. In reality, Spartans wore formidable body armor that protected their torsos. According to USAToday, the naked muscular chests helped the movie test “100% positive for women of all ages”.
The movie was filmed in a studio and sound stage and not on site in Greece. The scenery is all CGI, and is not a realistic reproduction Thermopylae.
Many of the Persians were rendered more like video game monster bosses than human beings

These things did not bother me, as I already knew the story of Thermopylae and was looking to be entertained rather than educated. If you are interested, this article covers historical discrepancies in more detail.

Cautionary note:

While I recommend this movie to any adults who like a mix of fantasy, glory and historic battles, I do not think it is appropriate for children. Leave your kids with a sitter unless you really want them to see graphic depictions of people being riddled with arrows, stabbed with spears and having various limbs removed. While the stylized violence is less traumatizing than an ultra-realistic rendering, it still delivers a small taste of the horror of massive-scale melee combat.

Malkin Criticizes Coulter for Slur

2007-03-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

As any reader of this blog can tell, I am neither a conservative nor a Republican. Nevertheless, I often enjoy reading Michelle Malkin's blog, as her views are similar to mine on the subject of illegal immigration. Most of all, I enjoy her sincerity and class. The title link is to an example of her doing the right thing and not engaging in blind party solidarity.

As most have heard, Ann Coulter recently made a comment at a conservative convention that more or less called John Edwards a f@ggot. Often in politics, you see influential people of like ideology overlooking each other's wrongdoings or standing shoulder to shoulder and congratulating each other on the wittiness of their personal attacks. Malkin did not buy into this, and rightly tore into Coulter on her blog:

We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don't expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation's preeminent conservative gathering.
...
With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees.

Nice work, Malkin!

UPDATE:
It looks like conservative blogger Hugh Hewitt has also entered the fray:

The use of a hateful slur word in a public forum is beyond the pale. It saddens me that we can’t have unanimity on such a simple and basic point.

As for me, in spite of all the thoughtful emails I’ve received to the contrary, I’m sticking with my original assessment of Ann and her “joke”: Idiotic. Disgusting. Stupid. Moronic.

It's good to see people speaking out for what is right, even if it might cost them a storm of complaint email from the more radical segment of their fans.

Global Warming or Global Cooling?

2007-03-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Ever since Al Gore's documentary won an Academy Award, I've heard a number of people authoritatively claiming that the concept of "global warming" is an undisputed and undeniable fact. This is wrong, and can only be said by someone who is either ignorant or who cares more about a political agenda than they do about the scientific method.

Here are some quotes from a recent TIME article on the subject. Before you read these quotes, keep in mind that TIME is a product of AOL Time Warner, and is considered by many to have somewhat of a leftist political bias, so this should not be dismissed as anti-Gore/pro-corporate political dogma:

... a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.
Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest.Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F.

Please click on the title link and read this entire article. There is an abundance of scientific data to support the idea of global cooling, and the scientific community is very divided about whether we are facing global warming or global cooling. If people truly care about human impact on the environment, they need to stop fixating on the trendy and politically popular myth that global warming is an established fact. If we as a species are having an adverse impact on the planet, we need to consider all available data and use the scientific method to find a comprehensive explanation of the nature and cause of that impact.

If we let ourselves be suckered by Gore and other political activists into thinking that their assertions are unchallenged scientific facts, we may exclude other ideas that might better be able explain or minimize our impact on the environment. Gore definitely has a political agenda, and his annual $30,000 energy bill makes me suspect that his environmental activism is more about self promotion than saving the planet. Environmental activism can be hugely profitable for those people at the top of powerful environmental organizations or who manage to seize the limelight. Whenever someone screams "The sky is falling!" people line up to make donations to that cause, and some of that money is used to pay hefty salaries and fund lavish lecture junkets. I bring this up not to claim that Gore and other global warming activists are all thieving liars, but rather to point out that we should not treat their words as gospel. Climatology is a a matter of science and should be decided by the scientific community at large after considering all available data. It is not in our best interest to place blind faith in self-promoting politicians who selectively publicize their favorite bits of "evidence" while blithely ignoring vast amounts of conflicting data.

Further Reading:
If you have an open mind and would like to learn about a less frequently publicized aspect of environmental theory, you might enjoy Michael Crichton's novel, State of Fear. While the plot isn't terribly realistic or gripping, it does a good job of explaining how the environmental movement isn't necessarily as selfless as many like to think. It also does a nice job of weaving an opposing view to global warming within the context of an easy to read story. The book is riddled with foot notes citing specific scientific studies and bits of evidence that refute simplistic global warming theories, so in addition to proving some light entertainment it also can serve as a starting point to help people delve into less publicized climatological data.

100yr Old Man Fights Off 3 Muggers

2007-03-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

According to The Daily Record:

A 100-YEAR-OLD man fought off three teenage muggers after being surrounded at a bus stop.
...
He said: "They pushed me against a wall and tried to take my money from me.
"I went mad. I was lashing out on the floor and then I stood up and was kicking them all.
"I pushed one and kung-fu kicked the other one between the legs.
"They ran off scared after I did that and I still had all my money.

Further proof that anyone with enough determination can defend themselves.

Possible Federal Ban On Radar Detectors

2007-02-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

According to i-go-cars.com:

The legislation, sponsored by Senator Steve Oelrich of Gainesville, Florida, would make using a radar detector a secondary traffic infraction, which means you could be ticketed were [you] pulled over for another offense and found to be using a radar detector.

I understand that many people think that this is a safety issue, but I'm against any such ban. I don't own a radar detector and am not a pedal-to-the-metal sort of driver, so my objection to the ban is not about making it easier for me to speed.

I object because it amounts to denying a private citizen the right to own a device that passively receives and alerts them to a signal that is being beamed at them for the purposes of surveillance. If somebody (in this case the police) is bouncing a laser or radio wave at you for the purposes of measuring and recording your actions, you should be entitled to own a gadget that informs you that you are being targeted. If it ever becomes illegal to have such devices, it paves they way to make it illegal to own other tools that could detect more egregious intrusions upon your privacy.

Imagine if someone, such as a pervert neighbor, was using an infrared illuminator to see into your darkened bedroom through an open window. Or, imagine if an unscrupulous hotel maid plants a wireless camera in a room in order to record what happens in bed. It is technologically possible to create devices to warn you of these sorts of intrusions upon your privacy. If it is OK to federally ban a radar/laser detector, why would it not be equally OK to ban other spy-detection devices? The fundamental concept behind the detection technology is the same.

Law enforcement agencies sometimes use microphones, wire-taps, hidden cameras, FLIR, infrared optics and other technology to gather evidence. As better spying technology becomes available, both law enforcement and private citizens will use it. It would be much easier for them to use technological spy tools on people if it was impossible for anyone to obtain devices to detect such spying. Banning radar and laser detectors is a legal step in the wrong direction as it creates a precedent for banning other types of passive detection equipment to warn people that they are being spied upon. It is wrong to deny law abiding citizens (and even criminal suspects since they haven't yet been convicted of anything) a legal means to detect when their privacy is being invaded.

Our right to privacy is more important than the convenience of law enforcement agencies. We have already seen countless cases of people using hidden cameras to photograph up girls' skirts, spy on locker room showers, dressing rooms, and more. As new technology becomes available, perverts and snoops will use it and people should not be barred the use of detection equipment just so that it is easier for the police to gather evidence.

Senior Citizen Kills Armed Mugger With Bare Hands

2007-02-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

From foxnews.com:

A retired member of the U.S. military aged about 70 put suspect Warner Segura in a head lock and broke his clavicle after the 20-year-old and two other men armed with a knife and gun held up their tour bus, Luis Hernandez, the police chief of Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose, said Thursday. Segura was later declared dead, apparently from asphyxiation.

The two other men fled when the 12 senior citizens started defending themselves during the Wednesday attack.

More proof that a good defense can work. I bet that these criminals never expected to face resistance from a group of aging tourists. By fighting back, these brave tourists accomplished all of the following:

Seized control of the situation and put momentum and surprise in their favor
Took away the muggers ability to harm them (the muggers might have decided to hurt a few of the tourists in the process of robbing them had the tourists meekly complied)
Sent a message to criminals everywhere that crime can be a hazardous and undesirable occupation
Sent a message to criminals and good folks alike that seniors are not necessarily easy prey
Removed one thug from the gene pool and presumably saved a number of other people from future victimization.

Update:
I just noticed that TFS Magnum also covered this story a couple of days ago.

500 S&W Magnum

2007-02-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ever since I posted earlier about a video of a watermelon being shot by a person using a S&W .500 magnum revolver, I've been getting a lot of referrals from search engines for people searching for things like:

.500 mag
s&w 500 mag
500 mag
500 magnum watermelon
s&w .500 ban

Given that there seems to be a lot of interest in this, I thought I would provide some information about it here so that my visitors from search engines don't go away disappointed.

Basic Info about the .500 Magnum cartridge:
According to Wikipedia:

It is the most powerful handgun cartridge commercially manufactured with over 2600 ft·lb_f (3.5 kJ) of energy created with a 440gr bullet travelling at 1650 fps.
The .500 S&W Magnum can develop over 2600 ft·lb_f (3.5 kJ) of muzzle energy, nearly three times as much as the 900 ft·lb_f (1.2 kJ) generated by the .44 Magnum made famous by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies. This is a difference of over 600 ft·lb_f (0.8 kJ) of energy more than the .454 Casull, the previous commercial record holder.

Currently available is an even more powerful round developed by DoubleTap Ammunition which produces a 350 grain, 1975fps monster punching at over 3032 ft-lbs!

Reviews of the S&W .500 Magnum Revolver:

Shooting Times has a great review, complete with a nice photo showing the size of the .500 Magnum cartridge next to a number of large caliber rounds for comparison.

Popular Mechanics has a nice 3 page article about both the gun and the round, and goes more into more of the technical details about the cartridge.

Guns and Ammo also has a good review, and includes a chart comparing the muzzle velocity and muzzle energy of the .500 S&W to a number of other large caliber handgun rounds. There's also a photo of a .Model 629 .44 Magnum next to the Model 500 to give you an idea of just how large this revolver is.

Reloading Info for 500 S&W:
For those of you interested in reloading this round, ReloadAmmo.com and Handloads.com each have a page that you might find helpful.

Taurus Raging Bull in S&W 500:
If you are looking to buy a revolver chambered in S&W 500, you can now add Taurus to your list of choices. Gunblast.com provides a review, complete with gun photos and short video of mean being fired.

.500 S&W Special:
According to an American Handgunner and Wikipedia Article, there is also a shortened and weaker "Special" round available, which should make this gun a lot cheaper for plinking, though it won't have nearly the fun kick. This is the same concept as how a .357 Magnum being able to fire .38 special special rounds.

.500 S&W Ban:
For those trying to find out if this caliber has been banned, I did some research and thus far have not found any credible articles saying that the .500 S&W round is banned. In CA, a ban was passed against the .50 BMG rifle caliber (something altogether different), but not on the .500 S&W handgun round. I found a few references of a Florida democrat calling for a national ban on the .500 S&W, but it appeared to be local partisan whining without any real support. If anyone has a link about a ban being in effect for this specific round in the U.S.A., please post it in the comments so others can see it.

.500 S&W Lever Action Rifle:
I have seen a few references to a 500 S&W Lever Action rifle possibly being made for this round, but as of yet I have not found any actually for sale.

.500 S&W Collectors Knife:
Amazon.com has a .500 S&W collectors knife for a very reasonable price, and it includes the folding knife, a single .500 S&W cartridge and a collector's tin.

Pop Goes The Weasels

2007-02-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Three Islamic militants died in eastern Pakistan when a powerful bomb they were transporting by bicycle accidentally exploded Saturday near a bustling cattle market, police said. Mohammed Shakil, a police inspector at the scene, told The Associated Press one of the men riding a bicycle had strapped explosives to his body that exploded prematurely, killing himself and the two others in Cheecha Watni...

Good riddance!

A slightly longer version of the story with a few more details can also be found here at the Jerusalem Post.

Teachers Threaten Jobs With "Rotten Apple" Award

2007-02-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

Last week Apple CEO Steve Jobs was invited to speak at a conference put on by the Texas Public Education Reform Foundation in Austin. Apparently, teachers didn't like what they heard, as they are now threating to create a "Rotten Apple" award and issue it to him if he doesn't either make a public apology or come discuss the issue further at another conference. Here's a quote from the macnn.com story in the title link:

Should Jobs fail to apologize or neglect to attend the conference, where he is encouraged to speak with the people who educate California's children and hear from them what the situation is like, the CFT will create a new award specifically for Apple's chief. "We'll call it the Rotten Apple, for the individual who best personifies the need to think differently about public education and teacher unions," California Federation of Teachers president Mary Bergan wrote in a letter to the executive.

For those not familiar with the story, here are some of the remarks that triggered this reaction (taken from Investors.com):

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," he charged. "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."
...
Jobs said a little more on the subject, comparing school principals to corporate CEOs: "What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good?" He answered himself to uproarious applause: "Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, 'I can't win.' "

I think Jobs made an excellent point and has nothing to apologize for. Enraged teachers should take a moment and give these harsh remarks their due consideration. Teachers often argue that the problem is lack of funding, meager salaries and excessive interference from State and Federal regulations. While these are all probably true, much of the blame for these issues can be laid at the feet of the unions. Here's why:

First of all, the unions represent the teachers. If most educators feel that they are underpaid and that their union is not making a good enough collective bargain, they should find a way to either improve or get rid of the union. The entire purpose of the union is to give the teachers greater bargaining power and political clout, and if it's not getting the job done they should stop supporting the union and seek a different approach.

Secondly, the teachers unions are a tremendously power political force. CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger learned the truth of this when a union sponsored advertising campaign caused him to lose on all of his ballot initiatives in last year's special election. These unions are well organized, well funded and are able to greatly influence who is elected to office. Many of the people who are making decisions about education on a state and federal level are people who partially owe their positions to union supporters. If the unions aren't using their power to get the right people elected, they are not serving the interests of the educators and are proving themselves to be useless. If teachers hate the admittedly horrible "No Child Left Behind" policy, they should get their unions to hammer on politicians until it is repealed rather than defend the unions against criticism.

Nobody likes to receive a slap in the face from a guest speaker, but if the teachers felt that Jobs was worth inviting to this conference before he made these remarks, they should give his words due consideration before responding with an off the cuff and retaliatory reaction. Don't forget that the entire purpose of the conference was to discuss the reform of public education, and reforming any policy or institution often requires people to face painful truths. It's a shame that Jobs' candor will probably be punished by further attacks and a decline in the purchasing of Apple products by public schools.

House Bill to Require English Proficiency Before Citizenship

2007-02-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

According to CNSNews.com:

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week would designate English as the country's official language and require immigrants to learn English before becoming naturalized citizens.

This is good news! We are a nation, and to exist as a united and functional society we must all be able to communicate with each other. If someone screams "Help!", "Fire!" or "Rape!", everyone in earshot should be able to understand and respond accordingly. If a police officer yells "Freeze!" or "Drop your weapon!" or "Put your hands up!", the person hearing this command should know how to react in order to avoid being shot. If a citizen is selected for jury duty, they should be capable of doing their civic duty, hearing out the case, understanding it fully and then rendering a verdict.

I would take the bill one step further and require people to demonstrate considerable English proficiency before granting them permanent residency/green cards. Permanent residents are by definition people who have the right to spend the rest of their lives here. They will be subject to numerous laws written in English, and will most likely have to work in an English dominant society. Workers should be able to understand customer complaints, requests from colleagues, tax laws, employment laws, etc. Drivers should be able to read traffic signs, parking restrictions, maps and more. How can they do any of this if they don't speak the common language of the land?

My belief that Americans should be able to speak and understand English is not racist. I don't care if the person applying for a green card or citizenship is a blond blue-eyed European, an Asian, Hispanic, Black or whatever. They shouldn't be granted the privilege of permanent residency or citizenship until they can speak our common language well enough to understand and be understood by others.

Libertarian Blog Aggregator

2007-02-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

The title link is to an RSS aggregate feed that will give you the most recent articles from a collection of Libertarian blogs.

If you'd like to see who made the feed and why, visit them at Zebbyfeeds.

If all goes well, I hope to have this blog added to their feed.

For those less tech savvy folks out there:
Most blogs have a "Subscribe to this page" sort of link, such as those in the "Subscribe to Lest Darkness Fall" section on the left of this page. This lets people with simple feed-reader programs or online services automatically monitor a blog for changes and retrieve newly published articles from that page. Such tools let you view all of the newly published material from all of the sites that you are subscribed to from a single location, much like how you view all of your email messages from various people by opening a single program or viewing a single web page. This saves you from having to visit each of your favorite sites just to see if they contain any new content.

It this technology interests you, consider using a free online service such as Bloglines, or use the "Live Bookmark" feature built into the Mozilla Firefox web browser. My Yahoo, Google Reader, My AOL and various other well known free web service providers also offer similar functionality.

3 Minute History of American Warfare

2007-02-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

Maps Of War has a brief animated list of the various wars that the United States of America has been involved in. It zooms to areas of conflict on a map, shows the number of American deaths from that war, and then attributes those deaths to the political party that was in charge at the time the war began. At the end, you can compare which political party was responsible for leading us into conflicts that resulted in the most American deaths.

Click on the title link and then click "Play" when the map finishes loading.

Note:
I have not verified the accuracy of each piece of information presented in this animation.

Say Goodbye to In-flight Privacy

2007-02-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

Imagine being watched by cameras hidden in the backs of every seat and listened to by sensitive microphones throughout the duration of your flight. According to the SmartMobs.com article in the title link, this may soon become a reality:

Scientists from Britain and Germany are spending £25 million to develop a system they hope will make it virtually impossible to hijack an airliner by providing pilots and cabin crew with an early warning system. They say rapid eye movements, blinking excessively, licking lips or ways of stroking hair or ears are classic symptoms of somebody trying to conceal something.

A separate microphone will record speech, including whispers; Islamic suicide bombers whisper texts from the Koran in the moments before they explode bombs.

Although this seems hard to believe, given the U.K.'s love of police-controlled cameras and considering that I found this same story on a number of blogs and news sites, it might actually be true. If it does happen, I suspect it will cause more problems than it solves. Will a Muslim who is afraid of flying be flagged as a terrorist if he/she mutters a prayer under their breath on takeoff? How many privacy activists will create false hits by blinking and whispering just to protest the system?

B of A: Bank of Aliens

2007-02-13T23:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some quotes from LATimes.com:

Bank of America said Tuesday that it was issuing credit cards to Spanish-speaking immigrants who may not have Social Security numbers, triggering complaints that the nation's largest retail bank is tacitly endorsing illegal immigration.

The bank described the program as a pilot, limited for now to 51 branches in Los Angeles County, and said it could go national this year.
...
Despite Bank of America's compelling interest in Latino markets, it was arch-rival Wells Fargo that kicked off the competition in 2001, when it became the first U.S. bank to accept identification cards from Mexican consulates to open an account.

Since then, Wells has opened more than 1 million accounts for Mexicans using the consular card. It also accepts Guatemalan, Argentine and Colombian identity cards. The assumption is that most immigrants using the cards to identify themselves are here illegally, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Trigg said, but the bank doesn't ask.

This is an area where my fellow Libertarians may disagree with me, but I'm against making it easier for people to conduct business in this country when they can't produce identification issued by this country. In a Utopian world, all countries should be equally great and people should be free to roam across borders and conduct their business however they please without having to present papers to every authority and business that demands them. In the real world, however, the United States of America is one of the best places on earth to live and illegal aliens are coming here because their native countries don't offer them a decent quality of life. Sadly, we can't afford to welcome hordes of impoverished people who break our laws to get here, consume more tax based resources than they contribute and who send much of their income back to a foreign nation rather use it to support our national economy.

If we were a truly Libertarian society where everyone was expected to fend for themselves, I wouldn't mind it as much. Instead, we have tax funded schools that can't turn away students, hospitals that are required to treat people even if they can't afford the treatment, and various other programs that are being completely overwhelmed by illegal immigrants. We have a very different country today than we did back when we used immigrant labor to create our infrastructure and build our fledgling nation without offering much in the way of tax based social, educational and medical services.

I understand that banks are businesses and have a duty to seek out customers and increase profits, but this method of doing so is distasteful to me. While I am not calling for legislation to stop this, I will do my best to restrict my banking business to companies that do not go out of their way to encourage illegal immigration. Apparently The Freeholder feels even stronger about this than I, as he calls it a "national disaster in-the-making".

Click here for more news stories on this issue.

FBI Still Losing Weapons, Laptops and Data

2007-02-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

According to the arstechnica.com story:

In the 44 months that it took to complete the new audit, the FBI lost 160 weapons and 160 laptop computers—a massive improvement over the 354 weapons and 317 laptops lost during the first 28-month-long audit.

"Perhaps most troubling," says the report, "the FBI could not determine in many cases whether the lost or stolen laptop computers contained sensitive or classified information. Such information may include case information, personal identifying information, or classified information on FBI operations." Laptops can also contain goodies like the software that the FBI uses to make its identification badges, a copy of which was installed on a laptop stolen from the Boston Field Office in July 2002.

It is stories like this that make privacy advocates mistrust the government and speak out against national id cards and massive databases containing info on law abiding private citizens. This data inevitably will wall into the wrong hands. If we ever create a comprehensive database about private citizens for the purposes of increasing national security and/or tracking medical records, it will only be a matter of time before large portions of that data are accidentally left unsecured on the internet, are recovered from lost or stolen hardware and/or are compromised by hacker attacks.

If you'd like more evidence, try the following searches on the Google News web site and see just how common this sort of problem is:

lost laptops
stolen laptops
identity theft laptops
military data identity theft

AZ Minimum Wage Hike Causes Layoffs

2007-02-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

The Federal government is likely to pass a law to increase the national minimum wage. This is a bad thing, as it will do the following:

Harm the lower and middle class by increasing the cost of goods (paying an entry level worker/clerk more means you need to charge more for goods and services)
Increase unemployment (if employers can't afford to pay more per hour, they will simply pay for less hours of labor, meaning that they can afford to employ less people)
Increase crime (if people working near the minimum wage can no longer find work, they may find other ways to obtain money.)

The AZCentral.com story in the title link supports some of my predictions. Here are some quotes about what happened after Arizona increased their hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75:

Some Valley employers, especially those in the food industry, say payroll budgets have risen so much that they're cutting hours, instituting hiring freezes and laying off employees.

The Employment Policies Institute in Washington, which opposed the recent increases, cited 2003 data by Federal Reserve economists showing a 10 percent increase caused a 2 percent to 3 percent decrease in employment. . . . "After a wage hike, employers seek to take fewer chances on individuals with little education or experience," one institute researcher told lawmakers in 2004.

Tom Kelly, owner of Mary Coyle Ol' Fashion Ice Cream Parlor in Phoenix, . . . said, "The new law has impacted us quite a bit." It added about $2,000 per month in expenses. The store, which employs mostly teen workers, has cut back on hours and has not replaced a couple of workers who quit. Kelly raised the wages of workers who already made above minimum wage to ensure pay scales stayed even. As a result, "we have to be a lot more efficient" and must increase menu prices, he said.

The emphasis of the story is on how teenagers are most affected by layoffs caused by increases in the minimum wage. Increasing teenage unemployment is especially harmful to society. Gainfully employed teens learn about responsibility and self-reliance and channel their youthful energy into something positive. Society should encourage this. When I was a teen I knew some kids who planned their free time around how much money they had. If they had enough money for legitimate entertainment, such as a movie, they would behave themselves. If they were out of cash and bored, they would go vandalize something and act like delinquents. Increasing teenage frustration and boredom and making it harder for them to earn money will undoubtedly result in more petty crime.

All Labels Currently Used In This Blog

2007-02-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

I have labeled nearly all of my previous posts. Here is a complete list of all labels currently in use for this blog. Click on any of the links below to see articles related to that topic. Note that many posts were assigned multiple labels, so there will be some overlap between categories. The number after each label/link is the number of articles that currently exist within each category.

Using Labels to Find What You Like

2007-02-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

I recently began using blogger's new "labels" feature to classify my recent articles and make it easier for you to find stories that appeal to you. Here's how it works:

Each time I create a post, I add one or more "labels" that describes that nature of the article. These labels then appear as hyperlinks at the bottom of the story. If you see a label that interests you, click on it and you will be taken to a page that contains nothing but articles that I have written related to that particular topic.

This article, for example, is about the technology of labels. Thus, at the end of it you will see a "Labels:" header followed by a hyperlinked word "Technology". If you click on that link, you will get a page that contains all of the articles I have written related to technology.

Once I finish labeling all of my previous posts, I will post another entry listing every label that I have used so that you can see what topics I most have written about and find the articles that are most likely to appeal to you.

Fun Flash Shooting Game

2007-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

The title link is to a silly, simple and fun shooing game. In short, you appear in a room and zombie/robot things try to get you. You kill them by shooting, and the faster you kill them, the more power ups you get. If you kill a bunch of them within a very short window of time, you get several power-ups. Weapons include pistol, uzi, shotgun, grenades, deployable barrels full of explosives, deployable walls and more.

Watch out for the red guys as they will shoot fireballs at you as soon as they have a clear shot. Also, be sure to grab the red boxes when you kill off a red guy as they contain more weapons and ammo.

Enjoy.

Petite Beautician Foils Robbery

2007-02-07T21:13:00.000-08:00

The title link is to a story in a which a 4' 9" female hair stylist thwarts a robbery attempt from a 6' tall masked man. Below are some quotes from the Telegraph.co.uk story:

the robber, carrying an imitation gun, burst in and demanded cash from the terrified owner Joanna Holmes.Miss Lowell, then 26, wrestled with him until concerned staff dragged her away

Think about this quote for a minute. A robber attacks and the only person with the guts to fight back is "dragged away" by "concerned staff". What was the "concerned staff" thinking?!? Why didn't they help Miss Lowell beat the hell out of the robber rather than start fighting the one woman with the guts to do the right thing? They should have immediately started hurling things at him, stabbed him with scissors and otherwise made this intruder flee for his life. If I was Miss Lowell, I would find a different job rather than continue to work with such pathetic and cowardly colleagues.

But as the raider ran out she took off her stiletto heels and chased him 300 yards down the street brandishing one of the shoes before he eventually got into a waiting car.She managed to note the registration number...

This woman really has guts! It's too bad that the police couldn't or wouldn't prosecute the case.

Miss Lowell said: "I looked in the mirror at his gun to see if it was real and I was convinced it wasn't. That's when I turned round and went for him.

A perfect example of how a basic knowledge of weapons can help out ordinary people. Being able to tell if a weapon is real, or being able to glance at a revolver and see if there are bullets in the cylinder can save your life and/or help you decide how/when/if to fight back.

"I think he was a bit shocked that the smallest person in the shop was having a go.

I bet the robber was shocked when she stood up for herself and didn't cower. I've long believed that robbers will often be stunned d by a person who tells them "no". Someone once tried to rob me at knife point and you should have seen the dumbfounded look on his face when I told him "no" and dropped into a fighting stance and put up my hands. He just stood there for a moment with his jaw hanging open and a stupid confused look on his face and then became scared and took a couple of hasty steps back from me. (He eventually went to prison because of this crime).

Most thieves don't expect serious resistance. They think their weapon will magically compel obedience and submission from their victims and they don't know what to do when their "victim" tells them to bugger off. That moment of shock might be all you need to disable them, disarm them or escape from them. I realize that in some cases resisting may get you hurt or killed, but I firmly believe that if most people resisted, there would be a lot less crime and the world would be a safer place.

Truck Thief, Beaten, Captured and Jailed

2007-01-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

Crime doesn't pay when victims fight back:

As speeds reached 70 miles per hour, Lucas grabbed a trowel from a bucket of cement and started clubbing the truck thief.

"I think that scared him more than anything, so he stopped the truck at that point," Lucas said.

The frightened driver started running on foot with Lucas right on his heels.

"I ran over and I tackled him to the ground and made sure I had him subdued, while a couple other gentlemen helped me get some zip ties on him," he said.

Lucas and two witnesses zip-tied the suspect and held him until cops arrived.

Libertarian Response to State of the Union Address

2007-01-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights followed by my own thoughts:

Health Care:

...health care reforms should be the province of state and local governments. The federal government should not be involved; there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution granting it license for such involvement.

Look at how many people come here from Canada for serious medical procedures rather than trust their nationalized health care system. Look at how many people in the UK go to private clinics to get better and faster treatment rather than use the far cheaper practitioners of socialized medicine. Anyone who has switched from an HMO to a PPO type of medical insurance will tell you how much better it is to have more control over your own health care decisions. Under an HMO, I was told what kind of medicine and treatments I was allowed to have. Doctors would recommend a medicine for me, and then give me something less effective when they realized the good stuff wasn't covered by my plan. Under a PPO, my doctor offers me whatever she thinks will best help me and then offers me other choices if I can't afford the good stuff. Under my HMO, it took me over 3 months before I could get permission to see a specialist. Under a PPO it took me 3 days. National/Universal/Socialized health care would effectively create the world's worst HMO, and government policy makers would decide what treatments patients are allowed to have and what medicines doctors are allowed to prescribe.

Education:

Today, Republicans and Democrats compete over which big government programs and mandates can be forced on state and local governments. No Child Left Behind should not be reauthorized. Bush said he wants children in failing schools to have additional options. We agree, but that should be left to state and local governments to hash out.

"No Child Left Behind" should have been named "Let's All Be Mediocre and Illiterate Together". All this program has done is take away from teachers the ability to tailor coursework to best help their students. Miscreants and slackers are pushed through the system along with everyone else because it's virtually impossible to flunk them. Non-English speaking Illegal alien children are given the same resources (and more) than citizen children of tax payers. I say we do the best we can for the majority of children so that most kids can fully realize their potential. Take the kids who can't or won't learn academics and put them into remedial vocational schools where they can learn rudimentary literacy, basic math and some job skills that will help them support themselves. Why try and force fractions and algebra on kids that won't do any homework?

Energy:

If we want the lowest possible energy prices and alternative energy sources to develop, we need to get government out of the energy business and let the free market work.

Amen. Stop subsidizing anything to do with oil and level the playing field for alternative forms of energy development. If oil R&D becomes more expensive, oil companies will pass on that cost consumers and alternative fuels will become more attractive to the public. Don't go overboard and tell automakers what kind of cars to make or create new taxes on oil companies, just back away and let free market competition solve our problem in a fair environment.

Government Spending:

The President indicated that he intends to exercise some spending restraint and to balance the budget. He also suggested reforms that are supposed to prevent billions of taxpayer dollars from being spent on earmarks. Those are fine words, but we should look at his actions, too. ...If he is truly opposed to earmarks, he could have used his veto power, but he didn't. If a Libertarian president had been handed such bills, they would have gone, unsigned, back to the Hill with a simple message attached: For the sake of the American people, become financially responsible now.

Republicans are just as bad as Democrats when it comes to throwing away our money. Don't look expect reform from any incumbents in the big two parties, spending our tax dollars is how they exercise and maintain their power. Vote them out of office and throw your support behind 3rd party reformers. If even a few big party politicians are seriously threatened by 3rd party reformers, things change. Look at how the Republicans pushed the "small government" agenda in the early 90's after Ross Perot split their presidential vote and helped elect Democrat Bill Clinton into the presidency.

65yr Old Woman Saves Husband from Cougar

2007-01-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

According to CNN.com:

Nell Hamm said she grabbed a 4-inch-diameter log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,"' she said.
"So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.

Yet another example of how you should NEVER give up when attacked by anything, be it man or beast.

Students Taught To Attack Gunmen

2006-10-15T17:37:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I noticed something in the news positive enough to inspire me to write about it, but at last something truly great has happened.

According to the MSNBC.com article in the title link:

Youngsters in a suburban Fort Worth school district are being taught not to sit there like good boys and girls with their hands folded if a gunman invades the classroom, but to rush him and hit him with everything they've got — books, pencils, legs and arms.

Students are also instructed not to comply with a gunman’s orders, and to take him down.

...

Aim for head
Browne recommends students and teachers “react immediately to the sight of a gun by picking up anything and everything and throwing it at the head and body of the attacker and making as much noise as possible. Go toward him as fast as we can and bring them down.”

Response Options trains students and teachers to “lock onto the attacker’s limbs and use their body weight,” Browne said. Everyday classroom objects, such as paperbacks and pencils, can become weapons.

“We show them they can win,” he said. “The fact that someone walks into a classroom with a gun does not make them a god. Five or six seventh-grade kids and a 95-pound art teacher can basically challenge, bring down and immobilize a 200-pound man with a gun.”

I think that this a fantastic lesson for the following reasons:

It completely removes the payoff/reward that an attacker is looking for
It teaches children that sometimes it is worth to risking your own safety in order to protect others from harm
It teaches kids that crime and cruelty do not pay

People that attack schools typically have some very specific objectives in mind. They are angry about something and are trying to lash out in the worst possible way. They desire as much media attention and publicity as possible so that EVERYONE will see the terrible vengeance they are wreaking upon a society that they believe wronged them. They also generally want a period of total absolute power over a group of helpless and terrified people. They want to savor the power of life and death over others while they watch people cower, tremble and beg. At the pinnacle of this, they then take their own life so that nobody can ever take this moment of triumph away from them or punish them for their terrible actions.

If everyone instantly and mercilessly attacked such people on sight, they would be denied everything they want to achieve. There would be no cowering, begging for mercy nor a prolonged moment of power over others. There is no time for news helicopters to circle the campus or camera crews to fill the parking lot to memorialize their actions. Instead of obtaining power and attention, the attacker would find themselves on the defensive, receiving injuries or death at the hands of the intended victims, and most likely will end up captured, prosecuted and imprisoned. Instead of a few moments of supreme power, the attacker will ultimately end up in pain and spend many years as a helpless prisoner of our justice system.

During a battle some children or teachers may be killed or injured but the attacker will still be denied the specific "reward" that they came for. This is much better than the certain death they will face if they meekly cooperate with an attacker. If the news was filled with stories of attackers being beaten, captured and imprisoned, sociopaths would be less likely to attack schools because they would realize that they are unlikely to achieve their objectives. Over time, such attacks would diminish.

When students are taught to fight back, they will learn that saving the lives of their classmates is a noble goal. Zero-tolerance anti-violence policies that punish students for self defense and pacifist rhetoric have been teaching people that it is better to be a victim or allow others to be harmed than it is to fight for what is right. The news often features stories of people being raped, robbed or beaten in public places while passersby look the other way and try not to get involved. If students are taught to defend themselves and others, the world will become a better place. Keep in mind that 9/11 probably would have failed if the passengers on all of the planes had fought back.

If people learn from an early age that those who commit crimes will be opposed by everyone within sight, they will be less likely to commit crimes themselves. Consider the Columbine attackers Harris and Klebold. They were supposedly unhappy bullied kids who plotted revenge against their tormentors and the people who witnessed their victimization. If kids were taught to fight bullies and attackers, chances are good that the Columbine killers would have experienced less victimization and thus would have been less enraged against their classmates. Far more important, if the Columbine killers knew with total certainty that the moment they pulled a gun on their classmates EVERYONE would have tried to kill them, they might not have had the guts to engage their classmates in mortal combat. Remember, they wanted to inflict fear and retribution from a position of power. They may have been willing to die on their own terms, but they did not want to be defeated by their intended victims before accomplishing their objectives.

I hope that this bold idea catches on and that more schools embrace a method that will discourage attacks rather than train more people to become helpless victims and tolerate evil.

17yr Old Captive Kills Intruder

2006-08-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

CEDAR CITY - Police in southern Utah are calling a 17-year-old boy a hero after he fatally stabbed an armed intruder who broke into his family's home early Wednesday.
...
While the stepfather fought with the intruder, the boy was able to free himself. He then pulled a 6-inch hunting knife from beneath his bed, walked into his parents' bedroom and stabbed the intruder five times in the back, Gower said.

Good for him! In today's society, many people would think it strange for a person to keep a knife, firearm or other weapon under or near their bed. Here's an example of how such things can come in handy. Who knows what this armed intruder would have done to this family once he finished strapping them all down with duct tape. Disgruntled ex-employee stories often end badly once they decide to arm themselves and get revenge, so this could have turned out to be quite a tragedy.

I am especially pleased that the police have acknowledged and praised the young defender's efforts:

CEDAR CITY - Police in southern Utah are calling a 17-year-old boy a hero after he fatally stabbed an armed intruder who broke into his family's home early Wednesday.

Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower described the boy as a level-headed kid "who, in my opinion, saved his family's lives."

Why is "Up" Bad?

2006-08-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

If someone does something very poorly, they might say any of the following:

I messed up
I screwed up
I f_cked up

Why is UP the negative direction? In many religions and mythologies, paradise, heaven and bliss are considered to be above us, and some form of hell is considered to be below us. When you get a promotion, you "move up" in the world. When a commodity becomes more valuable, its price goes "up", and when it loses value or becomes less desirable the price "drops", “falls” or goes “down". When a person gains rank in the military, they move “up” through the ranks and are “over” those they command. In general, when power and value increase they are described in terms relating to “up” or “ascension”. Based on these trends, one would think that the word “down” would be appended to phrases to indicate failure, such as “messed down” or “screwed down”.

I did quite a bit of research on the internet, and can find no logical reason why "up" is appended to various other words to indicate failure and ruin. Quite commonly a version of the F word or "screw" is put before “up” to indicate a negative state. The F word and “screw” are slang references to the act of sexual intercourse, which is an activity most people probably enjoy. Depending on how people are positioned, it is quite possible to have intercourse with an upwards motion for at least one of the partners and have the experience remain pleasant. Thus, it does not logically follow that the "up" would make the experience negative and lead to a slang equation where: sex + up = bad

Does anyone out there know where the concept of "up" being bad in these phrases came from? The internet is filled with explanations of the etymology of the F word, definitions of the slang term "screw" and definitions for the word "messed", but none of these sites explain why people came to append the word "up" to create a specific negative meaning.

New Tiny Swiss Revolver

2006-08-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

According to the site in the title link:

Its total length does not exceed 5.5 cm.

It shoots 2.34 m/m rim-fire ammunition.

This firearm is a scaled-down model of the much acclaimed and mystical Colt Python with all the same features as are found on the real size gun.

According to the manufacturer, the gun will fire a 1.9753 grain round at 426 feet per second. In my opinion, that it makes it more dangerous than the average BB gun and is something I'd rather not get hit with, but is far too weak to serve as practical option for self defense. Undoubtedly it is intended as a collectible and not as a viable weapon. Let's hope that the anti-gun crowd doesn't panic over this and start trying to ban it as it would be kind of fun to add this to my collection.

Note:
Photos were taken from the manufacturer’s web site and modified to fit on this page.

Airline "Security" Going Overboard Again

2006-08-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Now that a terrorist plot has been uncovered that was attempting to blow up as many as 10 airplanes, the airport security folks are forbidding liquids, gels and pastes on airplanes. This means items such as hair gel, toothpaste and contact lens solution can't be put in your carry-on luggage.

Articles like the one in the title link are also speculating that cell phones, iPods and other electronic devices are potential threats because their batteries could be used to detonate bombs.

This whole travesty of airport security is getting out of hand. If anything, this process just annoys travelers and encourages terrorists to be more resourceful. Liquid and gel explosives have been around for decades, yet suddenly everything that is liquid is banned. Earlier, the bans went after deadly tweezers and lethal toenail clippers. Now they are going crazy over common cosmetic products and bottled water. This is nothing more than security theater and does not really make us safer.

Here are five ways that terrorists could probably defeat this security:

Since liquids, pastes and gels are allowed in checked baggage, put the explosives in there. A detonator could probably be hidden in a dummied up hair spray or shaving cream can.
Use a plastic type explosive and pack it in a carefully sealed container to prevent the sniffing devices from detecting it. Hide it in a seemingly innocuous item, such as batteries, bars of soap or practically anything
Give a female suicide bomber explosive breast implants
Get a suicide bomber to swallow a bag full of explosive liquid

I'm not writing this to encourage terrorism. I am not a terrorist and in truth I hate terrorism. I am writing this only to point out to how idiotic it is to cripple our airline industry all in the name of security when this mock-security won't actually stop a determined group if they have any brains. If I can think of five plausible methods in under a minute that could be used to bypass airport security, I’m sure a well funded terrorist organization can think of these ideas and many scarier ones.

I am someone who used to fly quite a bit for business (domestic and internationally). I also usually take a plane somewhere every year for vacations, and occasionally use a plane to visit relatives. I would rather assume the miniscule risk of being blown out of the air by terrorists than spend an extra couple of hours going through bogus security screenings and not be able to transport travel essentials such as water, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc. Even with the threat of terrorism, air travel is safer than driving. The chance of being killed by hijackers is very low. (I acknowledge that the threat is real, as proven by 9/11, but it is nevertheless statistically unlikely.) Since the annoying security measures are unlikely to stop a smart terrorist, my odds of dying are not significantly reduced by this security, yet my comfort and ease of travel is greatly diminished by it.

Convenient, comfortable and efficient methods of travel are important to our nation. Businessmen frequently use planes to get to meetings and conventions. Patients fly to visit specialized doctors. Family members fly to visit each other. Couriers often carry donor organs on commercial flights. Tourists, who make huge contributions to our economy, fly to their destinations. Thus, interfering with air travel should not be done lightly. If the government tried to interfere with automobile travel as much as they do with air travel, the people wouldn’t stand for it. Why does America patiently tolerate these extra delays and searches before flying rather than lobby against it?

Our planes already have the hardened doors to protect the cockpit so that hijackers can't get to the flight controls. Thus, the chances of another 9/11 hijacking in which terrorists take over a plane and use it to destroy specific targets is virtually nil. As I see it, these are the three worst things terrorists could do on a plane:

Kill the passengers and flight attendants
Destroy the plane shortly after takeoff when it has a full fuel load and is over a densely populated area
Spray the passengers with a slow acting and highly contagious disease that they will then spread throughout the nation

All of these things would be hindered if you allowed the passengers to be armed in some capacity. Imagine if even 20% of the passengers had something as mild as pepper spray or mace. If a group of terrorists jumped up and started causing trouble, they would have to deal with a cabin full of a gas that would pretty much disable them and everyone else on the plane. If you throw in a few stun guns, a couple of CCW holders with legal firearms and some trained air marshals the terrorists wouldn't stand a chance. Unarmed passengers stopped Richard Reid (the shoe bomber), and unarmed passengers kept flight 93 from hitting its intended target. Armed passengers could do the same thing more easily and with a higher likelihood of success.

Since most people will probably think my "arm the passengers" idea is crazy, here are a few more ideas that would probably work better than the security measures that are currently hindering travelers:

Most planes have several bathrooms. Passengers could be forced to use random bathrooms rather than one closest to them so that multiple terrorists can’t easily smuggle bomb parts into the same bathroom and assemble a dangerous device.
Assign passengers random seats. Passengers could still request aisle, window and emergency exit row seats when they buy their tickets, but they wouldn’t be told which specific seat they will get until they board. This would ensure that terrorists cannot sit next to each other to coordinate their attacks.
Planes have a central air system. Add a tank of nitrous oxide, pepper spray or other knockout agent. If the flight attendants believe an attack is underway, they can hit a panic button and knock out the passengers until the plane can be diverted to the nearest airport
Air marshals: put at least one undercover and one uniformed marshal on every flight (if we can send 150,000 soldiers to Iraq, we can figure out how to train enough air marshals)
Allow flight attendants to be trained and armed in some capacity. Martial arts, pepper spray, TASERs and/or firearms could all be very effective deterrents if used by those who are sufficiently skilled and trained in their use. Granted many attendants won’t volunteer for ninja-combat training, but I bet a significant number of them would be willing to at least carry pepper spray or something simple.

More Bad Reviews for Anaheim White House

2006-07-25T00:39:00.000-07:00

It looks like I should have done my research more thoroughly. Although I had heard good things and read some positive reviews before we chose the Anaheim White House, I just did another search and found many negative reviews of this restaurant. Here are some links to other reviews and excerpts:

by socaldi on DineSite.com:

the service was terrible… it was impossible for us to enjoy our overcooked, long awaited, mediocre meal. I don't know how this restaurant recieved [sic] a good rating

by cym8 on DineSite.com:

Not worth the $$'s. Service was good food very average.

by siniquezette on DineSite.com:

Orange County has much more to offer than this place. Entrees have no flavor to them at all. Very bland and much lack of creativity in all dishes.

by ekschuller at CitySearch.com:

…they fed me what appeared to be little quiches from a box bought at Costco together with wilted endive for ONLY 16 bucks a person!!! ...I will thus not ever return here and I recommend to anyone that asks never, ever to go there…

by ymy72579 on CitySearch.com:

…my wife ordered; well, it was sooo awful that i don't even remember. Chicken tasted like over nuked microwave mcnugget w/o meat juice. The portion was soo small, It only took me a sec to lick it off the plate. Enviorment [sic] feels like haunted house in southern part of mississippi from horror movie

by jamizban on CitySearch.com:

From the time we sat (and they messed up our reservation, btw) until the time we finally got our souffle, which took almost an hour to produce after we ordered it, it was 3 1/2 hours! ... the kitchen needs to desperately get their stuff together. Won't go here again.

by thenewbombs on CitySearch.com:

It took 30 minutes to get a menu, another 45 minutes to get cold appetizers and more than an hour to get our main courses. The souffle that we ordered at the beginning of the odyssey was still not ready THREE HOURS LATER! Do NOT come here...

by epop on evite.com:

...service was terrible, the place smelled, and the food was only so-so. It was very overpriced...

on restaurants.com:

My experience at the The White House was terrible. I would not suggest anyone going Anaheim White House. Terrible FOOD...

Judging from all of these negative reviews, it sounds like this place either used to be good and fell apart or is just utterly unreliable. Oh well, live and learn. Eventually this post will show up on search engines when people look for "Anaheim White House" and will hopefully save others from a similarly bad experience.

Anaheim White House of Flies

2006-07-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my wife and I went out to celebrate a special occasion. We were looking for a place with gourmet food and good ambience and decided to give the Anaheim White House (www.anaheimwhitehouse.com) a try. Big mistake.

When we arrived, we were greeted by a valet who charged $3 +tip for the service of parking my car in their empty lot 30 feet away from the front door, a feat I could have easily managed myself.

Once inside, we discovered that the restaurant had lost the reservations under my name. After a brief discussion they seated us anyway.

The waiter came out to take our drink order and I asked to see the wine list, which he didn't have. After my wife and I each made additional requests, we finally obtained their extensive wine list. The Maitre d' or manager then came over and gave us a colorful and enthusiastic explanation of the specials and even recommended an excellent wine to go with my meal.

As we waited for our appetizer, we were plagued by a black house fly that buzzed around us incessantly. While the ravioli appetizer was fantastic, it also attracted more flies. Our uninvited table guests began to irritate us and after a while we killed a few.

When the main course came out, we were treated to excellent presentations of perfectly cooked mixed vegetables and angel hair pasta as the accompaniments to our entrees. My wife had the 'Gauthier Maine Lobster', which was supposedly poached in champagne sauce. In reality, I think the chef drank the champagne and cooked the lobster in a ceramics kiln because it came out dry and flavorless with an anodized shell that could not be breached by our table implements. Unfortunately, the restaurant didn't have crackers or picks and we were left at the mercy of the chef's failed attempt to split the shell prior to serving.

My meal was supposedly a critically acclaimed award winning special that included Filet Mignon and Maine Lobster. My lobster was also overcooked and lacked the customary Maine Lobster sweetness. The steak was unremarkable for a filet mignon (I've often prepared better and have had its equal at casual places like Marie Callenders and The Outback).

As my wife and I gnawed on our leathery lobster, more flies began to arrive. Eventually the five black corpses we left smashed on our window convinced the swarm to leave us in favor of attacking other diners. While we celebrated our victory the couple at the table next to us asked the waiter for better lobster cracking hardware and complained of the lobster being overcooked. Since the restaurant had no cracking tools for the diners, the waiter took the offending crustacean back to the kitchen where they presumably used the jaws of life to crack open the shell.

We also complained about the quality of the lobster to the waiter who merely gave us an "Oh, that's too bad" dismissal and scurried away. My wife then complained to the Maitre d', who gave us a sincere sounding apology. Although by this time we were both thoroughly annoyed, we decided to wait for dessert (a Grand Marnier soufflé that we had ordered at the beginning of the meal since it takes a long time to prepare).

The waiter brought out a top notch soufflé along with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and two glasses of champagne, all of which were free of charge in the hopes of making up for the lobster and to help us celebrate our special occasion.

Feeling somewhat mollified, we proceeded to enjoy our dessert until the bill arrived. Boy, were we in for a shock.

Ravioli Appetizer: $25 ($12.50/person rather than for the table)
Dinner Salad: $8
2 glasses of wine: $21
Gauthier Maine Lobster: $59 (listed as “Market Price”)
Weekly Special Steak and Lobster: $75 (no price was volunteered by the waiter at the time it was described and while we thought it would be expensive, we didn’t expect it to cost more than double the most expensive entree on the menu)

Our bad lobster, lost reservations, black house flies and valet parking would have cost us a whopping $201 +tax +tip had they not taken off the $10 desert.

Looking back on it, we should have raised hell and demanded a bigger discount. At the time we just wanted to celebrate our special occasion and have a pleasant evening so we didn’t make much of a fuss other than complain a couple of times and leave a negative comment card topped with several dead flies as testament to our bad experience.

Let this be a warning to those of you who are considering dining at the Anaheim White House. Unless you have money to burn and like bad seafood and house flies, I suggest you dine elsewhere.

Brewing Mead

2006-07-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

For quite some time I’ve wanted to try brewing an alcoholic beverage at home. After doing some research, I found a place in my area that has all of the brewing equipment and ingredients and makes a business out of helping people brew their own beers and sodas at their facility. Thus, rather than buy all of the equipment and go through the extensive sterilization process, I decided to take advantage of their service and do it there.

I decided to brew mead, mostly because mead is fairly uncommon compared to beer. I can buy countless varieties of beer almost anywhere, but I’ve only found half a dozen varieties of mead in my local stores. Also, mead is a bit more versatile than beer as there a number of different ways you can serve it (see below).

I took the brewery’s standard mead recipe (2.5 gallons of honey, 7 gallons of water, 1tbsp Irish Moss and 2 tubes of Champagne yeast) and modified it a bit (I’m one of those people who can’t follow a recipe without adding my own flourishes). I added one quart of light malt in the hopes of giving it a subtle malty accent. This should theoretically be quite pleasant, though it isn’t nearly enough malt to transform the brew into the traditional mead/ale hybrid known as “braggot”. Unfortunately, it will take a couple of months for my batch to ferment before I can bottle it and taste it for the first time.

For those of you not familiar with mead, here are some interesting facts about it:

it’s believed to be the oldest alcoholic beverage brewed by man (5,000BC or before) and variations were brewed by most ancient civilizations all over the world
it’s usually about 10-15% alcohol (mine is predicted to be 13%)
it’s believed by many to be the source of the word “honeymoon”, as Celtic, Scandinavian, Babylonian various other newlyweds would drink this honey wine for a month or “moon” after the wedding (some cultures thought this enhanced fertility or increased the chances of conceiving a male child)
depending on recipe and yeast type, it can range from a very dry ale or wine-like beverage to an extremely sweet dessert wine (I’m trying for moderately dry)
both dry and sweet variants will have a honey-like flavor, and the type of honey used strongly affects the flavor of the beverage
mead can be flat like wine, or sparkling like champagne (I’m trying for sparkling)
the are many ways to serve mead, ranging from drinking it chilled like beer to mixing it with fruit juice on the rocks or heating it with mulling spices like mulled wine
it is easily brewed without sulfites, and is less likely to cause headaches than wines made with sulfites

I’ve read that a tasty liquor can be created by freezing mead in a large-mouth container (like a bucket) over night, and then removing and discarding the block of ice from the remaining liquid. This removes a significant portion of water as well as some impurities that get trapped in the ice. The result is a higher concentration of alcohol and a more pure tasting beverage that can be served as a cordial. This might go nicely as a Drambuie substitute in a Rusty Nail, one of my favorite mixed drinks.

If you’d like to learn more about mead, try these links:
AllAboutBeer.com
GotMead.com
MeadMadeComplicated.org
OldestBrew.com

Wish me luck in the outcome of my first batch. If this works, I will probably get the equipment and try making it at home on my own next time.

"Scary Movie" With a Twist

2006-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I found the video in the title link entertaining and just had to share it. There are two minor problems with this film, though.

Unless she was using special ammo, bullets from that weapon very likely would have passed through the intruder and into the surrounding neighborhood, posing a threat to innocent people and property. As much fun as it would be own one of those, for urban home defense she probably would have been better off with a shotgun firing shot or a handgun firing hollowpoints or safety slugs to reduce the risk of over-penetration and background damage.
From a legal standpoint she should have probably waited another 3 seconds for the intruder to slightly breach her outer defenses before taking him down. The courts will go easier on her if there was some broken glass inside her home, or if the lock or door was damaged from the outside. This would have made for more creditable "reasonable" fear for her life if she had to deal with a jerk District Attorney. Since she received the harrassing phone call, and since the police will find the knife on his body and evidence of tampering with her home wiring, she still probaby won't have any legal problems, unless she lives in an anti-gun place like California. Given that she had a full auto weaon, chances are she was in a gun-friendly state as Class III firearm permits aren't exactly easy to obtain in anti-gun areas.

Jon Stewart on Ted Stevens and the Internet

2006-07-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

The title link is to a clip on YouTube.com of Jon Stewart mocking Ted Stevens and government ignorance of the internet. I thought it would be a fun way to wrap up this series on government and technology. (I found the link for this file on the IPAC blog, a non-partisan organization dedicated to preserving information freedom through balanced information policy.)

The reason I wrote this series is that I believe we tech-savvy people have a duty to help protect our nation from ignorant politicians. We know how important technology is, and what a huge impact it can have on our lives. It is vital that we research the people that we vote for and make sure we aren't electing people who think of the telegraph as a new-fangled hi-tech device. If someone is running for office, we can’t afford to just vote for them because they've held that office since before we were born. If a representative makes an ass out of himself while giving a speech about technology (ex: Ted Stevens), write him a scathing letter and then vote him out of office (don't send email as he probably won't know how to use it). We can also help defend against technology-ignorant politicians by discussing major technological issues with other voters. Remember that people who don’t know much about technology are less likely to get their news online, so a conversation might be the only way they learn about important technology issues.

Technology and Government

2006-07-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to the Ted Stevens post, I here are two more examples of what happens when ignorant government officials make technological decisions for our entire nation:

Example #1: File Sharing Technology
Peer-to-peer file sharing technology allows computer users all over the world to easily exchange files in a manner that is difficult to monitor, track or prevent. As a result, this technology is heavily used to illegally distribute and download music recordings, movies and other copyrighted material. This illegal activity, however, does not mean that file sharing technology is “bad” and that it has no legitimate uses. Peer-to-Peer technology is a fantastic way to distribute information over the internet without overloading a single server or network. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) doesn't care that this technology can be also be used for legally distributing files, and thus they launched a campaign to crush file sharing technology. Eventually this issue ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, and all nine justices unanimously decided that peer-to-peer companies like Grokster can be held liable for copyright piracy on their networks.

According to Justice Sourter:
"There is no evidence that either company (Grokster or StreamCast) made an effort to filter copyrighted material from users' downloads or otherwise impede the sharing of copyrighted files."

According to Donald Verrilli Jr., an entertainment industry lawyer:
"Copyright infringement is the only commercially significant use of file sharing"

In short, a group of very elderly Justices who have most likely never even used peer-to-peer technology and who don't understand its potential have declared open season on people who facilitate it's usage. Now, people who facilitate peer-to-peer networks are faced with the impossible and immoral task of censoring all traffic on their servers (which they would probably get sued for) or risk being sued out of business by the RIAA.

The ironic thing is that since this decision, the entertainment industry is now partnering with peer-to-peer companies such as BitTorrent and Guba.com to distribute their movies and content. Likewise, Apple has all but formally announced that their next operating system will include bit torrent technology to allow for easier distribution of patches and possibly even some files from iTunes. Thus, the very technology that has been under attack as being only useful to pirates is suddenly being embraced by the industries that have been trying to destroy it.

Example #2: RFIDs in Passports
The U.S. State Department plans to start issuing e-passports to Americans starting in August. This will entail embedding an RFID chip in passports that contains your identification information. This would allow devices to scan the passport from a short distance to retrieve this identity information, and will supposedly make for faster and more accurate processing at customs checkpoints. The problem is, this technology is NOT secure.

Hackers have already figured out how to create long range RFID scanners that can read this sort of information over long distances (i.e., from many yards away). They have also figured out how to change the information embedded into RFIDs, and even transmit a virus via RFIDs. And all of this before the first e-passport was even issued! Imagine what hackers will be able to do in 10 years by the time this first generation of e-passports expire? Will anti-American terrorists use this to identify targets for kidnapping? Will terrorists capture your identity from a distance, and then embed that identity into a chip on their own fake passport so that they can travel without the hassle of being arrested? All of these things will probably be possible in the near future. Google for RFID Hacking if you'd like to see some of the ways RFIDs have already been compromised by hackers.

Sen. Ted Stevens Clueless About Internet

2006-07-14T01:08:00.000-07:00

The title link is to an .mp3 recording of comments made by U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. He is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and was a big reason why the so called "Net Neutrality" bill was shot down. This sound bite is part of his 11 minute speech against the Net Neutrality clause. Please click on the title link and listen to the 2.5 minute clip before reading further.

This is a typical example of how people in our government are regulating areas of our lives that they know absolutely nothing about.

Senator Stevens (recently famous for Alaska's $320 million dollar bridge to nowhere), was born over 80 years ago and lived nearly all of his life before the internet even became accessible to the average consumer. It would be very surprising if he knew much about the internet, and his rambling speech proves that he knows absolutely nothing about how it works. Nevertheless, he, and people like him, are deciding on what kinds of regulations should be placed on the internet. This will affect how much people pay to use the internet and what kind of content consumers are able to access. It could even effect what content providers survive.

I find this very frustrating. There is no shame in someone from his generation and cultural context not understanding the internet, but it is infuriating that someone who can't even grasp the fundamental concepts is a key player in regulating what has become the most vital communication system in the world. The internet delivers information and entertainment to and facilitates commerce for nearly a 1.5 BILLION people and should not be regulated by those who aren't even vaguely familiar with it.

Why can't these politicians get some help from their staffers, do some basic research and actually learn about an issue before they start making policy? Either their egos are so bloated that they don't realize the magnitude of their ignorance or they are utterly owned by lobbyists and corporations and just make up stuff to defend the positions they are paid to take. Why do voters even allow jerks like him to govern us? Is Ted Stevens really the best that Alaska has to offer as a senatorial candidate?

For those of you not familiar with the "Net Neutrality Issue", here's a quick summary:

AT&T and other Network Infrastructure owners have expressed a desire to charge additional money from web sites and services that you visit/use in exchange for not blocking your access to access them. For example, your ISP could tell someone like YouTube.com or Google.com to pay them extra money if they want to ensure that you and other users of that ISP/phone lines are able to view their content without undue slowness.

This is admittedly a biased oversimplification of the issue, but since most people who visit this site are fairly tech savvy, I don't want to spend too much time explaining all of the details of Network Neutrality in this post. If you'd like more information, try this Wikipedia link.

Pirates 2 Worse Than Walking the Plank

2006-07-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

For some reason, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest broke a 3-day earning record. According to this WashingtonPost.com article and video clip, this sequel earned $55 million on Friday and $132 million over the Friday-Sunday opening weekend. Regrettably, I was roped into being one of the people who shelled out $10 and two hours of my life to see this film and contribute to its undeserved financial success.

This sequel lacks most of the light-hearted and humorous banter that made the first movie passably fun. The production team made the mistake of taking this film somewhat seriously and trying to subject us to a boring drawn-out story line that is more about setting up for a third money making movie than actually showing the audience a good time. The only positive in this experience for me was that I was able to watch it at a place that offered true digital projection, which made for crisp visual effects, especially during the opening stormy ocean scenes.

The novelty of the digital screening quickly wore off as the movie’s unrelenting stream of CGI effects did nothing to compensate for the poor writing and utter lack of character development. As a viewer, I found myself wishing both heroes and villains alike would die in the hopes of ending the franchise. None of the characters inspired any emotional response; the villains weren't fun to hate and the heroes weren't worth rooting for. The movie would have been better if a tsunami came right after the opening credits and wiped out everyone before the plot could get started.

How can a bunch of people continuously fighting with swords never manage to cut anybody who wasn't made from CGI?!?! This movie’s continuous action scenes did to swords what the A-Team did to automatic rifles: it made them boring, commonplace, and pointless.

Overall the film serves as an example of why I try to avoid modern era Disney movies. It fits the typical Disney model of using excessive marketing, pointless action and self-gratifying special effects to sell a film devoid of believable characters, realism and creativity. Dead Man’s Chest actually has a lot of qualitative similarities to the recent Star Wars movies, so if you are still wincing at Vader’s final “Noooooo!” in Revenge of the Sith then you probably should avoid this over hyped sequel.

The Ugly Side of Illegal Immigration

2006-07-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've written numerous articles about the problems of illegal immigration. One of the things I've lamented is the lack of respect many illegal aliens have for our nation and our culture. In the past, immigrants tended to come from far away places with the intent of becoming Americans and participating in the American dream. These immigrants made difficult journeys that took weeks or even months of continuous travel to get here. When they arrived, that often lacked the money to go back home if things didn't work out. Since their homelands where overseas in Europe and Asia, they were pretty much stuck here and had to make the best of it as they couldn’t simply walk home if things didn’t work out. As a result, they were highly motivated to succeed and to become accepted as Americans.

The illegal immigration that takes place today is often very different. Many of the people who come here have no interest in assimilating or permanently joining our society. Quite often, people come here to make money to send out of the country, or to save up money that will let them return home one day and start their own business or retire in style. School teachers in Southern California talk of families that come here to get free education and medical care for their children while they work and save as much money as possible. They then return to Mexico after fully exploiting our tax based system and extracting money from our economy.

Others that come here feel that they are re-conquering the land that once supposedly belonged to their ancestors. Political activists and illegal alien leaders tell them that they are the rightful owners of this land, everyone else here are white racist oppressors, and that they should cling to their Mexican heritage rather than assimilate with us "gringos".

In the scenarios I describe, there is no reason for the illegal immigrants to learn English or better their community. The first group I mentioned literally is here to take as much as they can from our country and then use it to better themselves in their home country. If you are only here for a few years or a decade, why bother learning English or helping to build our nation when they won't be here later to enjoy it? In the second case, political activism has taught the illegals that American citizens are their enemy.

For those who doubt me, follow the link below to a web site that has created a flash video of the worst type of illegal aliens possible. I warn you now, this video contains obscenities, flag desecration and other highly offensive things that are directed at us Americans. It is a compilation of various illegal alien protestors showing contempt for our flag, our people and our culture. If we allow this crowd to increase its numbers and gain influence in this country, we will see race wars within our lifetimes. Look at what is still happening in France as they battle both their legal and illegal alien communities that keep rioting, burning and looting. Any group that deliberately increases racial tensions should be nipped in the bud. Every time an illegal alien burns the U.S. flag, yells "Viva la Raza" or "brown power", some other equally racist group will respond with "White Power!" etc. We don't need this sort of problem in our country. Many big cities in this country have already burned because of racial tensions in the past 50 years. Our prisons frequently break out into Black vs. Hispanic riots. Violence will come to this country if we don't prevent these tensions from building up and stop illegal alien activism from inciting hate.

I fully admit that there are many illegal aliens who come here desperately wanting to build a new life and hoping to some day fully join our society. I have known such people, and often they are good people who really make an effort to join our society and respect our nation and culture. Nevertheless, we cannot afford to look the other way and assume that all illegal aliens are of this benevolent type. We must control our borders and prevent employers from attracting illegal aliens in order to ensure that the bad type of illegals I described do not grow in numbers or influence. Even if 90% of the illegal aliens who come here were beneficial (which I doubt), and only 10% of them are harmful, we still have a serious problem. Since we currently have between 12 and 20 MILLION illegal aliens in this country (and about 3,000 new ones arriving every day), that would mean we have between 1.2 and 2 million people who are here to either suck our nation dry or to re-conquer our land. This is a very dangerous situation that must be reversed for the survival our school system, medical care system, economy, standard of living and national culture.

New Template Design

2006-07-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

For those wondering why I haven't posted recently, it is because I have been teaching myself CSS so that I could re-design my blog template/layout. Roughly 90% of my visitors are using 1024 x 768dpi or higher resolutions, so I decided to make better use of this space. The main (center) column now automatically re-sizes based on the width of your browser window. If you maximize the window you should see more of each article without having to scroll.

I also added a new feature to the blog. In the lower right hand column you will see a new section entitled "Books I'm Currently Reading". Under that are the titles of my current reads, along with a very brief description of what they are about, a small picture of their covers and a link to buy the books from Amazon.com. In addition to helping my readers find new good books, these Amazon.com links will help support this blog as I will receive a small commission for the books and any other products you buy after clicking on these links. Thank you in advance to those of you who choose to support my efforts in this way.

Please leave me your comments about the new layout. In particular, if you are having any problems with this new layout, please let me know what internet browser and screen resolution you are using so I can try to resolve the issue. I have tested this layout in FireFox and Internet Explorer, and would especially like feedback from users of other browsers.

Words to Live By

2006-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Gun control defined:
The erroneous theory that people who are willing to ignore laws against rape, torture, kidnapping, theft, assault, robbery and murder will obey a law which prohibits them from owning a firearm.

500 WMD's Found In Iraq

2006-06-22T00:51:00.000-07:00

It looks like we not only found WMD's in Iraq, but we found them quite some time ago and they are just now bothering to announce it. Here's an excerpt from the foxnews.com story:

Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."

...

"This says weapons have been discovered, more weapons exist and they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The weapons are thought to be manufactured before 1991 so they would not be proof of an ongoing WMD program in the 1990s. But they do show that Saddam Hussein was lying when he said all weapons had been destroyed, and it shows that years of on-again, off-again weapons inspections did not uncover these munitions.

Granted these weapons were old and do not prove the existence of recent WMD manufacturing, but they do serve to regain some of our credibility on the Iraq issue. I find it odd that the Bush administration wasn't trumpeting this earlier, but perhaps it's more politically expedient to reveal this now when his poll numbers are slowly beginning to recover. If we found these weapons after critics have begun to say that they don't exist, I wonder what else we might eventually uncover over time.

Where Are the Unions on Illegal Immigration?

2006-06-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

I've often wondered how labor unions and union members feel about the issue of illegal immigration. Unions constantly badger non-union mega-employers such as Wal-Mart about how they don't pay a fair working wage (which I actually think is true). Unions are some of the largest, wealthiest and most influential political entities in our country and are adversely affected by illegal immigration every day. After all, every employer that hires an illegal alien for skilled manual labor is in effect reducing opportunities and wages for union workers. Construction, in particular, is turning more and more to illegal alien laborers and away from more costly union workers. This is why it puzzles me that unions seem to be quiet on this issue.

The title link is to a humaneventsonline.com story about how the Bush administration supposedly plans to put in a super highway to connect Mexico and Canada. Though I've never heard this reported elsewhere and can't vouch for the veracity of the story, here are some quotes that should make union workers angry:

Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America.

...

A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.

Since the unions have tremendous influence over national politics, and the Democratic party in particular, I would think that now is the time for them to clamor for pro-border security and anti-illegal immigration candidates and policies. The Bush administration has engendered a lot of outrage, and is at risk of a national anti-Republican backlash at the polls that could potentially cost them control of congress. In this climate, it should be pretty easy for a Democrat to get elected this November. If unions use their vast political influence, they could see to it that illegal immigration is greatly reduced. (Don’t get me wrong, as a neo-libertarian I’m no more in favor of Democrats than Republicans, but I like the idea of anyone who will actually do something to stem illegal immigration.)

Readers of my blog and web site know very well that I'm not a big fan of unions, but it just seems like the illegal alien issue would be the perfect rallying cry for them. Given our current political climate I would think their influence could be used to great affect for the benefit of all legal workers, and in particular, union workers.

Happy Fathers Day!

2006-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

To my father, and all of the other good fathers out there:

Knife Amnesty in the UK

2006-06-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

From the BBC:

Machetes, meat cleavers and axes as well as knives were among the haul of 17,715 surrendered to the 43 police forces across England and Wales.

...

Mr Coaker urged those who had not yet handed in their weapons to do so.

"The initial figures for the first week of that campaign are very encouraging, " he said.

"That is 17,715 fewer weapons that can be used in a crime against ordinary, law-abiding citizens.

"If you carry a knife out of self-defense, you run the risk of having it turned on you. Carrying a knife is illegal and will not be tolerated. It could land you four years in prison"

...

Police say that from 1 July tough action will be taken on those found armed with knives.

However, some families of victims of knife crime have questioned the effectiveness of an amnesty, calling instead for tougher sentencing.

I know the weapon bans have been going on for quite some time, but every time I read about them I still get angry. These pompous and officious fools have no moral right to tell people they should remain as helpless as possible in order to maintain public safety. This crap about "carry a knife out of self-defense and run the risk of having it turned on you" is not justification for disarming people. Sure, some fools might think that a knife makes them invincible, but they probably aren't bright enough to survive an attack no matter if they are armed or not. Those who actually bother to learn how to use a self defense tool, such as a knife, pepper spray, stout walking stick or best of all, a firearm, are going to be able to do a lot of public good. A trained and armed person is less likely to be a victim, more likely to help someone else and more likely to remove a criminal from society.

This issue of disarming the public is never truly about public safety. Disarming the public only benefits criminals who want helpless targets and governments that wish to control people. Police officers prefer to arrest unarmed people. Leaders don't want to worry about rebellion when they pass laws that they know will anger the people. Keep in mind that it is already against the law to harm someone else without a good reason (e.g., self defense). Thus, outlawing weapons is redundant unless there are motives other than public safety. If you have a weapon and don't hurt anybody, you aren't a problem. If you use a weapon to harm someone, you've already broken battery and/or murder laws, regardless of the weapon. If you use a weapon to scare someone without cause, you have broken assault and/or robbery laws, regardless of the weapon.

Woman's SS# Used By 81+ Illegal Aliens

2006-06-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

This NFDailyNews.com story is yet another reason why we should crack down on illegal immigration and require employers to verify social security numbers before hiring employees. Here are some excerpts:

DUBLIN, Calif. (AP) - Audra Schmierer's Social Security number really gets around. It has been used by at least 81 people in 17 states, most of them probably illegal immigrants trying to get work.

...

"They knew what was happening but wouldn't do anything," said Schmierer, 33, a housewife in this affluent San Francisco suburb. "One name, one number, why can't they just match it up?"

...

Schmierer realized she had a problem in February 2005, when she got a statement from the IRS saying she owed $15,813 in back taxes _ even though she had not worked since her son was born in 2000.

...

What started as a hassle turned into a major headache earlier this year when she sought work through a temporary agency that learned her Social Security number had been used by a woman in Texas two years earlier. The agency could not hire Schmierer for more than a month while the situation was clarified.

Stolen or fabricated Social Security numbers are frequently used by illegal aliens in order to obtain employment. As you can see from this story, this often harms the people who were really issued those numbers. Since the purpose of a Social Security number is to track taxation, Social Security contributions and Social Security benefits, it is ridiculous that employers are not required to check the validity of these numbers before hiring new staff. Keep in mind that employers must contribute money into Social Security for each employee, issue tax statements to each employee and the IRS based on these numbers. Thus, if they have the wrong number, they effectively are providing bogus information to the Federal Government and in my opinion are either aiding and abetting a crime or at the very east are being very negligent.

The government either needs to stop forcing employers to contribute tax and Social Security money for their employees, or they need to create a fast and easy way to verify Social Security numbers and require employers to use it. Right now, employers are required to contribute money based on these numbers, regardless if the numbers actually mean anything. This is stupid.

SF Gun Ban Overturned

2006-06-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

Although this really isn't much of a surprise, the new San Francisco law banning the possession and sale of handguns has been overturned by a judge after an NRA backed lawsuit. Here's a quote from the foxreno.com news story:

In siding with the gun owners, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge James Warren said a local government cannot ban weapons because the California Legislature allows their sale and possession.

"My clients are thrilled that the court recognized that law-abiding firearms owners who choose to own a gun to defend themselves or their families are part of the solution and not part of the problem," NRA attorney Chuck Michel said. "Hopefully, the city will recognize that gun owners can contribute to the effort to fight the criminal misuse of firearms, a goal that we all share."

The ordinance targeted only city residents, meaning nonresidents in the city or even tourists were not banned from possessing or selling guns here. Warren's decision was not unexpected. In 1982, a California appeals court nullified an almost identical San Francisco gun ban largely on grounds that the city cannot enact an ordinance that conflicts with state law.

While I am always glad to see self defense rights upheld in court, part of me was curious as to how bad crime would have gotten in San Francisco. Had this law been allowed to stand, pro-self defense people would have had another example of how gun control leads to increased violent crime. Nevertheless, I am glad that it was overturned as I'm sure that there are many people in San Francisco (albeit not the voting majority) who disagreed with this law and would have either been turned into criminals or rendered defenseless had it been allowed to take effect.

Controversy Over Telling Women To Drink Less To Avoid Rape

2006-06-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

According to the Scotsman.com:

A POLICE chief sparks controversy today by suggesting the number of rapes in Scotland could be substantially reduced if women drank less.

Neil Richardson, assistant chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, bases his claim on new research which identified victims' alcohol consumption as significant in a third of attacks.

The senior officer said "a lot" of the 1,100 rapes a year could be prevented "by people not allowing themselves to be in a vulnerable position".

…

In 40 cases, officers investigating the assault said they believed the victim's alcohol or drug-taking was a "significant factor in the fact they were targeted".

Officers believed that in 33 cases, alcohol had affected the victim's ability to resist the attack and in 34 cases it affected their ability to avoid the assault altogether.

People with common sense are probably wondering why this was considered to be controversial. Here’s another excerpt:

…rape support and alcohol workers insist women should be able to drink without fear of being attacked.

Sandy Brindley, national co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, warned that Richardson's comments might make women reluctant to come forward if they are attacked while drunk.

She said: "Women should be able to drink and not worry about being raped."

To Sandy Brindely, I say I should also be able to run naked and blindfolded through bear country while covered in bacon grease without fear of being mauled, but that just isn’t how the world works.

Don’t get me wrong: A lone drunken lingerie model walking down a dark gang-infested alley while clad in a micro-skirt and a see-through tube top does not “deserve” to get raped, and anyone who tries to rape her should be shot. Nevertheless, her chances of avoiding rape are much less than those of an armed sober woman wearing practical clothing who goes out with friends and avoids dangerous areas. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own safety and take sensible precautions. I think the police chief did the right thing in telling women how to reduce their chances of being victimized. The rape crisis coordinator shouldn’t be angry that “reports of rapes focus on the woman’s behavior”, but rather should be grateful to know that woman have some level of control and that there are things that they can do to reduce their likelihood of being raped. Taking precautions about personal safety is just common sense.

The Bio-War on Drugs

2006-06-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

The title link is to the InTheseTimes.com story about how congress wants to use a bioweapon in the war on drugs. Here are some quotes:

This infection, first detected in Asia, has rapidly spread across the United States. It is caused by a mold-like fungus that can penetrate the cornea of soft contact lens wearers, causing redness and pain that can lead to blindness—requiring a corneal replacement. That same week, the House of Representatives passed a provision to a bill requiring that the very same fungus be sprayed in “a major drug-producing country,” such as Colombia.

Before I get accused of distortion, it should be noted that the idea behind this is not to harm people but rather to use the fungus to destroy cocaine crops. It is believed that the eye-ball eating variety is a mutation and it is not absolutely certain that using this fungus to fight cocaine will result in epidemic blindness. Nevertheless, if we spray entire areas with it, who knows what will happen to the people who live nearby?

I find this sort of thing to be very disturbing. Our country spends far too much effort and tax dollars fighting a war against drugs that it will never win as long as both people and mind altering substances exist anywhere on the planet. If people are willing to do something as vile as sniff glue, lick frogs and suck Nitrous Oxide out of cans of whip cream for a buzz, what makes anyone think that laws will stop drug use?

According to the article, after 30+ years of research on this fungus, the following groups have "all concluded that the fungus is unsafe for humans and the environment":

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (a.k.a. the Drug Czar’s office)
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
The U.S. State Department
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Here are some more quotes:

“Fusarium species are capable of evolving rapidly. … Mutagenicity is by far the most disturbing factor in attempting to use a Fusarium species as a bioherbicide,” wrote David Struhs, then secretary of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, in a 1999 letter rejecting the use of the fungus against Florida’s outdoor marijuana crop. “It is difficult, if not impossible, to control the spread of Fusarium species.”

The DEA stopped funding Fusarium research in the United States during the early ’90s after it learned that Fusarium infections can be deadly in “immunocompromised” people—not only AIDS patients and those with other illnesses, but also those who are severely malnourished. The University of the Andes in Bogotá has recently reported that 12 percent of Colombian children suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of biohistory should realize that this is a bad idea. There are countless examples of people introducing new species into areas that quickly went out of control and devastated their new habitats. (Search on “invasive species destroy” for examples.) In this case, if the fungus is known to be both aggressive and prone to rapid mutation, it is extremely unlikely that we can predict what effects it will have on a new area a few years after it is introduced. We already know that it can attack eyes and kill people under certain conditions. What might it do in 10 years after it takes over new regions and has time to evolve into something worse?

This is a bad idea even if the fungus doesn’t run amok and mutate into something nasty. If we successfully harm cocaine production, the world supply of cocaine will go down and the demand will remain unchanged. As a result, cocaine will become an even more valuable commodity, and those cocaine growers who survive the fungus attack will become dramatically more powerful and wealthy. Addicts will take greater risks and commit more outrageous crimes in order to obtain enough money to feed their habits. People will be even more willing to kill for drugs and control of drug markets. Those who want cocaine and cannot obtain it will turn to other drugs.

We would be much better off legalizing, regulating and taxing drugs. It would immediately take the profit out of it for criminals (why illegally buy overpriced stuff of dubious quality from a gang-member/dealer when you can go to the drug store?). The drug lords and smugglers would suddenly find themselves without a source of wealth and power. The tax revenue would help pay to incarcerate people who commit crimes while intoxicated. Drugs can indeed be harmful to users and society, but outlawing them only makes matters worse. Look at prohibition: When alcohol was illegal, gangs flourished. The gangs had money to bribe police officers and judges, buy Thompson machine guns, etc. With this as a foundation they were able to amass vast amounts of power and even found political dynasties (the Kennedy family, for example). It is not in our national interest to guarantee wealth and power to criminals by maintaining the war on drugs.

86 Yr Old Lady Beats Off Mugger While Others Refuse to Help Her

2006-06-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

The WCBSTV.com story in the title link contains both a textual account and a video interview of the 86 year woman who successfully fended off a mugger with her umbrella. Here an excerpt:

...Elisabeth, who'd been in tougher situations as a Jew eluding the Nazi's in Europe, made her move. With the purse strap tangled around her arm, she grabbed her large umbrella from the walker, snapped it open and "I beat him with it," she said with a smile.

Then, she added, "I wish I'd poked him in the eye" with the sharp end.

According to the story and video interview, this Jewish woman survived the Nazi holocaust, 5 strokes and a broken hip before this mugger beat her with a wooden sign post. Congratulations to her for refusing to give up and for her determination to defend herself and her property.

Here's where the story takes a turn for the worse:
During the video interview, the woman mentioned that passersby did not help her while she was being assaulted. Imagine an eldery woman with a walker being struck repeatedly with a wooden club by some thug who then tries to wrest away her bag. Visualize her yelling and hitting the attacker with her umbrella while she tries to hang on to her bag. Now imagine younger, stronger and more physically able people walking past this struggle without lifting a finger to help her! This is the impression I got from her description of the events during the video interview. If this is truly what happened, the passersby who did nothing to help her are worthless cowards. I sincerely hope that the next few times someone is mugged, beaten, raped or killed in New York it happens to those same cowardly bystanders rather than to decent human beings.

06/06/06: Apocalyptic or Ordinary Day?

2006-06-06T01:31:00.000-07:00

The title link is from a stltoday.com story regarding Tuesday's date: 06/06/06. A tour of the web will show you stories of how this day carries the mark of the beast and will mark the end of the world. Other sites mention how the day is being capitalized on, such as using it as the release day for the new Omen movie (satanic thriller), the new Anne Coulter book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and the next book in the Left Behind series, "The Rapture". I think it's interesting how worked up some people can get over a date, especially one that has little relevancy to the original prophesy that has everyone is trying to link it to. Here are some quotes from the stltoday.com story:

Most modern scholars attribute the writing of the book of Revelation to John of Patmos. He is said to have received visions on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, most likely around 90 A.D., that make up the book's contents.

...

But here, Tuesday is likely to be just another day - especially since the Gregorian calendar was not adopted by most of Christendom until 1500 years after Revelation was written.

For those not familiar with the history of the modern calendar, our current calendar system is known as the Gregorian calendar, and was adopted by the Catholic world on the orders of Pope Gregory in 1582. The purpose of this new calendar was to correct the correlation between Easter and the Vernal Equinox. (It was believed that under the old Julian calendar, Easter had drifted 10 days from it's proper date.) As part of this correction, the days Oct 5 - October 10, 1582, were stricken from the calendar in order to jump ahead 10 days that year. Thus, even if the Book of Revelations had placed some significance on the date 06/06/06 (it didn't), the date it would have been referring to would have been on the pre-Gregorian calendar and thus would have referred to a day 10 days from today. Don’t forget that the Roman calendar that was used as the basis of the Julian and Gregorian calendars had been extensively tampered with by Julius Caesar and other emperors. The number of months in a year and the number of days in each month were often capriciously modified as recently as 45 BC, so it is entirely possible we don't even have a perfect translation of how a 06/06/06 date from John's time would translate onto our current calendar.

Before people start wondering about 6/16/06 as the real beastly day, remember that modern scholars don't actually know if 666 is really supposed to be the number of the beast. Here's another quote from the stltoday.com story:

John writes that the beast places a mark on the right hand or forehead of all but the servants of God. It is that mark - 666 - that has so intrigued people through the centuries. Most scholars now agree that what John was up to was gematria, or Hebrew numerology.

"Back then there were no separate symbols for numerical values," said the Rev. Louis A. Brighton, a professor of New Testament interpretation at Concordia Seminary. So letters did double-duty as numbers. The Hebrew consonants that spelled out "Nero Caesar," in the Greek form of the name, add up to 666. (Transliterated into the Latin form of Nero Caesar, the numbers add up to 616.)

Keep in mind, John, the author of Revelations, was a Christian of Jewish origin who supposedly received the visions while on a Greek island. He sent his Revelations to 7 churches in what is now modern day Turkey. Thus, deriving John's number of the beast would involve trying to correctly identity which translation of "Nero Caesar" should be converted into a number and then guessing which calendar that number would be relevant to. Assuming it is even possible to do this 2000 years after John had these visions, we still come back to the fact that the so called mark of the beast isn't directly related to a date in the Book of Revelations and is instead described as an identifying mark for those who are not servants of god. No matter how you look at it, today's date of 06/06/06 is unlikely to have prophetic significance, unless of course some nutty group decides to blow up something or performs a massive attack in order to give this date the meaning that they believe in

Pop Tart Thief Gets Pounded

2006-06-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some quotes from azcentral.com:

First, the clerk at the convenience store ripped the man's shirt off as they struggled...

Then . . . he was hit by a pickup truck in the parking lot

...he got up and kept running - into the path of a minivan while he was crossing the street.

Usually I really hate crime, but if I was the convenience store clerk who got to see saw all of this, I almost think it would have been worth getting robbed. That must have been the funniest robbery at that location ever! Too bad they don't have it on video. Can you imagine being so stupid as to go through a struggle with a clerk, get hit by two vehicles and then get booked for robbery all over a couple of pop tarts? If the mini-van had been going a little faster this would have qualified for a Darwin Award.

Victims Fight Back in Murfreesboro

2006-05-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

From wsmv.com:

Usually criminals worry about being caught by police but in Murfreesboro criminals need to watch out for their victims. In the last two months, five different victims took bold risks in stopping crime.

Click on the title link to read the full story. It's great to hear how good citizens refused to give their consent to be victimized. Here's a quote from a person who used a pair of scissors to prevent a robbery and detain the robber:

"If you roll over and take it, they will do it again," Davis defended his action.

Although taking extreme action to stop a crime may be dangerous, if more people did it, crime would drop dramatically. More criminals would be jailed, killed or disabled, and other people might think twice before deciding to prey on people that very could kill them. Good for you, people of Murfreesboro!

Border Patrol Against Guest Worker Program

2006-05-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

(photo from of msnbc.com)

According to the Detroit Free Press story in the title link, the Border patrol agents:

welcome proposals to clamp down on illegal immigration, but they also want a crackdown on employers who hire undocumented immigrants

support President George W. Bush's call to raise the total number of agents protecting the southern border by 6,000 to 18,000

support Thursday's Senate action to extend barriers erected along the border with Mexico and to deploy more vehicles and technologies to frustrate illegal entry

part ways with Bush on his guest worker program, a centerpiece of the Senate's immigration legislation. And they believe that without cracking down on employers, higher-paying U.S. jobs will remain a magnet for down-and-out people in Mexico

So there you have it: the professionals who are charged with the duty of securing our border want employers punished for hiring illegal aliens, want more man power, barriers and enforcement technology and are against the guest worker program.

Here are some more quotes:

On the Web site of U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, the union that represents agents along much of the Arizona border with Mexico, there's contempt for Bush and Democrats as they work on immigration law.

"Every day that President Bush and the Senate hold real border security hostage to their misguided amnesty program, thousands upon thousands of illegal aliens continue to flood into the country," reads the chapter's home page. "Make no mistake, most of them get by us. We are losing this war, and it's not even close."

"The interior enforcement has taken a backseat to border enforcement. So once they get past the border, they're home free," said Albon. "If they don't have jobs that they can come to, then there's no reason for them to come, and they would stay where they are."

Happy Memorial Day

2006-05-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all of the veterans who have served and are serving our country to help protect our freedoms.

15 Yr Old Shoots Home Invader

2006-05-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

From the MiamiHerald.com:

With a man breaking through the front door, a Hollywood 15-year-old loaded his father's gun, waited for the intruder to come in and shot him, police said.

...

Police said the teenager is unlikely to be charged in the case. But they said Jumper, who was shot several times, will be -- once he's discharged from Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

Good for him! I must confess I am surprised that a 15yr old living in Hollywood would have been trained in the effective use of firearms; maybe this part of Los Angeles hasn't fully succumbed to hopolophobia after all. Good news indeed.

Xenophobic Mexico's Hypocrisy

2006-05-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

Mexico

and Mexican's often decry our desire to stop illegal immigration as racist and xenophobic. In their opinion, any attempt on our part to secure the

U.S.

borders and limit who is allowed to immigrate here is immoral. Take a look at these excerpts from a DetNews.com story and see how they do things in

Mexico

In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.

Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."

Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges.

How can

Mexico

and

Mexican immigrants

be so hypocritical as to protest against our efforts to protect our borders? Just about the only job barred to non-natives in our country is President of the

United States

. Whenever I learn more about

Mexico

's immigration laws, I find it tempting to build walls and mine fields along the border just to spite them. If we passed half of the restrictions on foreigners that

Mexico

uses, there would be rioting and bloodshed all over our nation.

The foreign-born make up just 0.5 percent of Mexico's 105 million people, compared with about 13 percent in the United States, which has a total population of 299 million. Mexico grants citizenship to about 3,000 people a year, compared to the U.S. average of almost a half million.

Can you believe this? We should tell Vincente Fox and his corrupt henchmen to go suck eggs the next time they drag their hypocritical butts in front of a microphone to complain about U.S. border security and immigration policy.

Some Facts About Illegal Immigration

2006-05-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some excerpts from a recent San Francisco Chronicle article. Although I am including some of the highlights below, I strongly suggest you click on the title link and read the full story.

Mexico is literally moving here:

Washington -- The current migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the United States is one of the largest diasporas in modern history, experts say.

Roughly 10 percent of Mexico's population of about 107 million is now living in the United States, estimates show. About 15 percent of Mexico's labor force is working in the United States. One in every 7 Mexican workers migrates to the United States.

Illegal Immigration to the U.S. is Hurting Mexico too:

Migration is profoundly altering Mexico and Central America. Entire rural communities are nearly bereft of working-age men. The town of Tendeparacua, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, had 6,000 residents in 1985, and now has 600, according to news reports. In five Mexican states, the money migrants send home exceeds locally generated income, one study found.

Mexico has become financially dependent upon illegal immigrants in the U.S.:

Last year, Mexico received a record $20 billion in remittances from migrant workers. That is equal to Mexico's 2004 income from oil exports and dwarfing tourism revenue.

The money Mexican migrants send home almost equals the U.S. foreign aid budget for the entire world, said Arturo Valenzuela, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University and former head of Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.

Most illegal immigrants are not educated; how does importing millions of them help the U.S.?

Most illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America have not completed high school, although education levels are rising. Harvard economist George Borjas found that in 2000, 63 percent of Mexican immigrants had not finished high school.

U.K, Weapons Control

2006-05-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

From BBCNews.com:

The Police Federation research reveals 7,000 officers have been threatened with a gun and 40,000 a knife, in the last two years.

It's a good thing the British gun and knife bans made it impossible for criminals to get weapons and created such a safe and crime free haven . . . [sarcasm]

Yet another example of how weapons bans never actually manage to disarm the bad guys. The sad thing is, they still apparently haven't learned their lesson:

A five-week national knife amnesty, which will allow people to hand in the weapons without fear of prosecution, will run from 24 May to 30 June.
Home Office Minister Liam Byrne said: "[It will] send out the strong message that carrying knives on our streets will not be tolerated and there are tough penalties in place for those that do."

BS from Bush on Immigration Reform

2006-05-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some highlights from President’s Bush’s Monday night speech and my responses to him. (Click on the title link if you'd like to read the entire transcript at businessweek.com.)

For decades, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders. As a result, many who want to work in our economy have been able to sneak across our border -- and millions have stayed.

Once here, illegal immigrants live in the shadows of our society. Many use forged documents to get jobs, and that makes it difficult for employers to verify that the workers they hire are legal. Illegal immigration puts pressure on public schools and hospitals...strains state and local budgets...and brings crime to our communities.

Yep, this is all true. Unfortunately, Bush, you have no credibility on this topic because you have done absolutely nothing to resolve this problem. On the contrary, you have condemned the people of the Minutemen Project as vigilantes, and have spent far more effort comforting and placating Mexico's president rather than securing our porous borders. According to some reports, your administration even hampered the Border Patrol for political reasons. With this as your background, why should anyone look to you for a solution?

First, the United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign Nation. It is also an urgent requirement of our national security.

This hasn't happened throughout nearly two full terms of you in power. Why should we believe you will do anything now?

Since I became President, we have increased funding for border security by 66 percent, and expanded the Border Patrol from about 9,000 to 12,000 agents. The men and women of our Border Patrol are doing a fine job in difficult circumstances - and over the past five years, we have apprehended and sent home about six million people entering America illegally.

According to anti-illegal immigration experts, we need roughly 36,000 Border Patrol agents, and in merely upped the number to a third of this. While you are rattling off numbers, why not tell us how many of those 6 million people that were deported returned here within 30 days of being caught?

By the end of 2008, we will increase the number of Border Patrol officers by an additional 6,000. When these new agents are deployed, we will have more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol during my Presidency.

Should we believe you this time, Bush? Last time you promised two thousand additional agents every year, and then delivered only 200. Even if you aren’t lying this time, you are talking about upping their manpower to only half of what is necessary to secure the border.

One way to help during this transition is to use the National Guard. So in coordination with governors, up to 6,000 Guard members will be deployed to our southern border ... This initial commitment of Guard members would last for a period of one year. After that, the number of Guard forces will be reduced as new Border Patrol agents and new technologies come online.

So basically, these troops will start arriving just in time for the next election, with a reasonable chance that they will never even reach full capacity before you reneg and/or decide these troops are needed more in Iraq or Iran. This is too little, too late.

We have expanded the number of beds in our detention facilities, and we will continue to add more.

How about giving us the numbers? The last time you promised to increase the capacity of detention centers, it ended up being by a negligible amount. We have between 12 and 20 million illegal immigrants here right now, with more pouring in every day. Did you fund a few hundred extra beds so you could sound like you were doing something, or are you actually doing something meaningful like doubling our detention capacity?

Second, to secure our border, we must create a temporary worker program. ... I support a temporary worker program that would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter our country in an orderly way, for a limited period of time. ... And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.

BS! How does this secure our borders? It simply brings more people here who will encourage their family to do whatever it takes to join them here, including sneaking across our borders illegally. What will the mechanism be for expelling "guest workers" when they overstay their welcome? How will having guest workers here earning minimum wage discourage more illegals from coming here to take those same jobs for cheaper wages? How does it help our country if we import people who will send most of their wages to their home countries rather than participate in our economy?

This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing.

Oh goody! Just what the American worker wants: Another path for employers to find people who will work for substandard wages so that low-wage Americans will either have to accept less pay and less benefits or go unemployed. Why not just encourage employers to outsource and send our jobs overseas if you don’t want them to be filled by Americans? Are you trying to see how many citizens you can get to draw unemployment, welfare and other tax based aid? This concept of illegals "doing the jobs Americans won't do" is complete and utter bull excrement. We have American workers in coal mines, chemical production plants and all kinds of other horrific jobs. Americans will do ANY job if they receive just compensation. What about the THOUSANDS of black Americans who can’t get jobs repairing the Katrina damage because FEMA contractors are importing illegals to work for less? There are numerous stories that blacks were offered $10/hr for these reconstruction jobs, and then were terminated once the illegal aliens arrived to work for half of that. Are these jobs you claim Americans won’t do?

Third, we need to hold employers to account for the workers they hire. It is against the law to hire someone who is in this country illegally.

You've had many years to do this and chose not to. Why haven't you made this a priority a long time ago? Why did only 3 employers in the entire country face fines for employing illegal aliens in 2004? I could find 10 employers who hire illegals within walking distance of my home. Your people couldn't find more than 3? In the whole country? Over an entire year? And now you want to convince us that you care? You should be going after THOUSANDS of employers every year until the problem stops.

Yet businesses often cannot verify the legal status of their employees, because of the widespread problem of document fraud. Therefore, comprehensive immigration reform must include a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility.

This is just a pathetic way to promote your concept of national id cards. There are already programs in place to verify the social security number of an employee and their right to work. Put the money into enforcing the existing program before you throw money at another program that will not be enforced. Illegal aliens often use invented/random social security numbers. We already have the ability to check if a social security number is valid; just compare it against the records to see that it matches the name and age of the correct living person. We can also quickly determine if multiple employers are contributing too much money into the same Social Security and tax accounts so that one number doesn't get used by multiple people. The truth is, the government likes the Social Security card fraud because it means those illegals who use fake numbers are putting money into the Social Security and tax funds that they will never be able to withdraw or get refunded. It's free money! The government doesn't want to stop this. I heard on the radio a couple of weeks ago that there are illegal aliens who used the Social Security number 000-00-0000 when they obtained jobs. Do you really mean to tell me that the government can't catch that as fraudulent without a costly new identification system?

Some in this country argue that the solution is to deport every illegal immigrant -- and that any proposal short of this amounts to amnesty. I disagree. It is neither wise nor realistic to round up millions of people

This statement is a diversion. Nobody really expects an army to forcibly scour the nation and deport all illegal aliens instantaneously. We expect you to enforce the existing laws and secure the border so that it is no longer desirable to be here illegally. If you find someone, throw them out. If not, make things difficult enough for them so that they don't want to be here so that they go home of their own volition. If employers don’t dare hire them, if schools don’t educate their children for free, if hospitals don’t treat them for free, they will stop coming and start leaving. After a few years of this, the illegal alien problem will go away.

…we must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot, which has made us one Nation out of many peoples. The success of our country depends upon helping newcomers assimilate into our society, and embrace our common identity as Americans. Americans are bound together by our shared ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for the flag we fly, and an ability to speak and write the English language. English is also the key to unlocking the opportunity of America.

If we are a melting pot, then let’s turn up the heat and make them melt. If you really want them to assimilate, make it happen. Don't let them in unless they speak passable English. Make English our national language. Stop printing government forms in 20+ languages. Require immigrants to pass a simple English test to get residency and a more difficult one to become citizens. How can we be a united nation if our people can't even talk to each other?

Bottom line:
Don’t give us any more of your disingenuous posturing designed to trick us into thinking you are helping. Enforce our existing laws, secure the borders and do your sworn duty to safeguard our nation. So far you have dropped the ball and betrayed our entire nation, and your recent speech did little to improve upon your gastly track record.

Happy Mothers Day!

2006-05-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and to all good mothers out there. For those who don't know, in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared that Mother's Day would be observed nationally on the seond Sunday of May each year. Other countries that follow this same tradition include Finland, Turkey, Denmark, Belgium and Australia.

How the U.S. Acquired the SW from Mexico: #1

2006-05-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

The supporters of Mexican illegal aliens often like to claim “We were here first” as justification for ignoring

U.S.

immigration laws and illegally entering our country. In truth, they were not here first, or they would not have needed to cross the border to get here. Interestingly, even their ancestors were not here first. Here’s a brief history of who was here first and how this region came to be part of the United States of America. For the sake of brevity, this article will focus on Texas (the first area to fall under American control), and future articles will cover the other areas.

This map, courtesy of the Smithsonian, shows the portion of the United States that was originally claimed by Mexico:

Note that the current U.S. states of California, Nevada Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are fully contained in this area, along with bits of other states.

In the late 1600’s, what is modern day Texas was mostly populated by Apaches, Comanches and other Native American tribes. Those few Spanish settlements that were attempted in this region generally failed, or barely managed to survive. Over the next 100 years or so, Spain gradually established isolated footholds and tiny communities in the area, but did little to physically "possess" this area other than by drawing lines on maps.

In 1821, American Moses Austin received a colonization grant from the Spanish authorities in San Antonio. His son, with legal permission from Spain, brought in hundreds of American families to form what is now Austin, Texas. In this same year, Mexico finally won it’s independence from Spain, and assumed nominal control of this region after having defeated Spain. They were impressed with Austin’s success and prosperity and offered huge tracts of land to other American promoters with the caveat that the settlers they import must become Catholic.

By 1830, legal American immigrants greatly outnumbered Spanish/Mexican immigrants. This worried Mexico, and Mexican troops were sent in to patrol the border, prevent more American immigrants from coming, and levy taxes against the legal and invited American settlers. The people of Texas chafed under these restrictions, and when General Antonio López de Santa Anna declared himself dictator, Texas petitioned for independent statehood (i.e. they wanted to become a separate Mexican state to gain more autonomy rather than remain a part of the Mexican state of Coahuila; they weren’t trying to leave Mexico altogether). Santa Anna responded by imprisoning the petitioner (Austin) for 18 months.

In 1835 Mexico tried to disarm the American settlers of Texas. This was the last straw for the American Texans, and they promptly and forcibly expelled the Mexican Army and declared their independence. Santa Ana led troops back into Texas in an attempt to retake it, and was eventually captured by American/Texans and was then forced to acknowledge Texas as an independent entity.

Texas then asked to become a member state in the United States of America. Texas was admitted into the U.S.A. in 1845.

There a several very important lessons here:

The first people here were sparse Native American Tribes, though Spain eventually claimed to posses this land
Spain and later Mexico Invited U.S. citizens to settle Texas, who established the first large scale semi-modern cities
Mexico REQUIRED American settlers to assimilate by forcing them to convert to Catholicism. (Imagine what would happen if the U.S. tried to tell Mexican immigrants they must convert to Protestantism or some other non-Catholic faith!)
When Mexico felt that too many American immigrants were entering Texas, they responded by using the military to close the border (something Mexico is vehemently against us doing to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants)
The first large settlement to thrive in Texas were American
The mostly-American Texas seceded from Mexico AFTER being cutoff by the Mexican Army, AFTER increased taxation by the Mexican government, AFTER Santa Anna jailed their most prominent resident and AFTER the Mexican Army tried to render them helpless by disarming them.

UK Woman Pounds Burglar with Pans

2006-05-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from the Mirror.co.uk:

Laura, 23, beat Ibrahim El-Hamady so hard it broke. She grabbed another and landed more blows as she chased him out.

She dragged him under a CCTV camera, called police on her mobile and held him until they came.

Good for her! I hope one of the pans she used was a large, heavy cast iron skillet. I wonder how long it will be before the U.K. tries to ban frying pans given that someone has proven them to be useful self defense weapons.

Illegal Alien Problem Not Limited By Race

2006-05-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

The article in the title link might be of interest to those who incorrectly think that the illegal alien problem is about race, or is limited to Mexicans/Latinos. Here are some excerpts from the MecuryNews.com story:

But whether or not they join the debate, Asian immigrants and Asian-Americans stand to be greatly affected by the proposed legislation now making its way through Congress. Some proposals would create a path to citizenship for an estimated 1 million undocumented Asians while others would criminalize them, or curb the protections of those who are legal residents or U.S. citizens.

Of the 11.1 million who are in the country illegally, 13 percent are Asian and 78 percent Latino, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. While Mexican protesters at the May 1 marches proudly wore T-shirts and held signs that defiantly proclaimed they were in the United States illegally, most undocumented Asians choose to remain invisible, even within their own ethnic communities.

...

Roughly 10 percent of America's Asian population is here illegally, experts say. In the Bay Area, as many as 180,000 Asians are undocumented, estimates the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.

...

In 2000, the largest group of undocumented Asians were Chinese (23 percent), followed by Filipinos (17 percent), Indians (14 percent) and Koreans (11 percent), according to a study by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Although Latinos make up the majority of our illegal alien population, I want to go on the record that I have nothing against Hispanics in particular. I am an Equal Opportunity Deporter, and believe in deporting all illegal aliens, regardless of race, religion, creed, sexual orientation or whatever. What matters to me is whether or not an immigrant respected the laws and people of this nation enough to wait their turn and go through the appropriate legal process before coming here. I am also heavily influenced by how much effort an immigrant makes to assimilate into mainstream American culture. I'll cheer on the deportation of Caucasian European illegal aliens just as loudly as I will those of any other race or cultural background, especially if they refuse to learn English and hold themselves seperate from the rest of American society.

Thankfully, I am not alone in these thoughts as even some Latino Groups are protesting against illegal immigration.

Student Kills Attacking Gunman

2006-05-07T22:37:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to AlanDP of the Blogonomican for pointing out this WTVM.com story to me:

CARROLLTON, Ga. Police say a University of West Georgia student killed an armed man who broke into his apartment near the school's campus.

Authorities say Vaughn -- of Carrollton -- struck two of the men with the gun then threatened the other before one of students grabbed a knife and stabbed him multiple times.

Police say the 22-year-old Vaughn was pronounced dead at the Tanner Medical Center-Carrollton from numerous knife wounds.

Nice work, students! Another case of victims refusing to give up living and tolerate being victims!

For those of you not familiar with the Blognomicon, it's a quality blog that tends to focus on firearms issues, with the occasional article about pipes and pipe smokers, current events, satire and more. It's well worth a visit and is one of my regular reads.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2006-05-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Although many people think Cinco De Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day, it actually commemorates Mexico defeating the French at the Battle Of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In short, the Mexican government was just as inept with money then as they are now, and they defaulted on loans to various foreign countries. France, never one to pass up a chance for defeat, attacked Mexico in retaliation for them defaulting on a loan. As with most French wars, France suffered a major defeat and this defeat led to the Cinco De Mayo Holiday.

Given Mexico's success at beating the French and in overthrowing their own government during the Mexican revolution, one can only hope that the people of Mexico might one day gain the courage to rise up and overthrow their corrupt and incompetent government. Perhaps if they start over once again, they will finally manage to fix their economy and make their country a place where all of their people can make a decent wage and receive a good education so that they no longer need to illegally sneak into our country and cause problems for the United States of America.