Sunday, March 14, 2010
Redirections
I have moved my blog since I got me a domain name and if I ever figure out the redirect thing I'll close this one, until then go here.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
I can haz domain
I am moving to my very own domain name. Now I just need to figure out how to redirect because copying and pasting is slow and dumb.
Doctor Zero
To Keep and Bear Arms « Doctor Zero.
An excellent essay on the right of self defense with a few thoughts on the American ideal.
An excellent essay on the right of self defense with a few thoughts on the American ideal.
I have a confession I have paid no attention to American motorcycle racing since DMG bought out the AMA for the rights to AMA roadracing but this makes me sad. (and I know I’m late, like I said I haven’t been paying attention) Superbike Planet notes that Kevin Cameron wasn’t at Daytona this year his reasons are sound but it’s still a sad day for Motorcycle racing. Not as sad as Honda not being involved in the sport anymore but still pretty sucky.
New York
So I see a rumor that Charles Schumer mr. anti civil rights himself has a NYC unrestricted gun permit, meaning he is one of 30,000 people out of 8,000,000 and actually about 22,000 of those are retired cops which leaves us with about 8,000 non LEO permit holders. That 8,000 is primarily the ultra well connected of NYC, people such as Robert DeNiro, Don Imus, Harvey Keitel,Joan Rivers, The Donald and a variety of politicians. Contrast that with MN that has a shall issue carry permit system as of this month there are 71,000 permit holders out of a population of 5.2 million with the vast majority of them being civilians and that has happened in the just over 5 years MN has had a non discretionary permit system.
This quote from Wikipedia regarding the Sullivan act: Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person arrested under the law was mobster Giuseppe Costabile [1]. Whether this was part of the law’s intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element. The police granted the licenses, and could easily discriminate against “undesirable” elements. Sponsor “Big Tim” Sullivan reputedly desired the law so that his criminal cohorts could go about their activities unimpeded by citizens defending themselves with concealed handguns. does a fine job of showing what gun control is really about taking gun out of the hands of a feared minority. Look at the cities and states that have the most draconian gun laws; Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC , California, Massachusetts, Maryland are all winners on the Brady Campaign scorecard all have had large immigrant populations and now have a large minority population.
In June we will see NYC attempt to defend itself because it is next up on the list.
This quote from Wikipedia regarding the Sullivan act: Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person arrested under the law was mobster Giuseppe Costabile [1]. Whether this was part of the law’s intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element. The police granted the licenses, and could easily discriminate against “undesirable” elements. Sponsor “Big Tim” Sullivan reputedly desired the law so that his criminal cohorts could go about their activities unimpeded by citizens defending themselves with concealed handguns. does a fine job of showing what gun control is really about taking gun out of the hands of a feared minority. Look at the cities and states that have the most draconian gun laws; Washington D.C., Chicago, NYC , California, Massachusetts, Maryland are all winners on the Brady Campaign scorecard all have had large immigrant populations and now have a large minority population.
In June we will see NYC attempt to defend itself because it is next up on the list.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Health care
It's economics day evidently. I found another good article on why Health Care Reform won't work here at the Fiscal Times ,there is also a blog post here from the comments section that makes some fine points. Then there is this from the CATO Institute. Again government interference in markets distorts said markets.
Cash for Clunkers
It's been slow at work for the last 8 months but really slow the last two, now February and March are typically kinda slow in the auto repair biz but this is pretty amazingly bad. Yesterday in my ample free time at work it occurred to me that I had forgotten one of the probable contributors to this time of suckage... Cash for Clunkers.
Anyone who had the cash or credit went out and bought a new car because our federal government subsidized the purchase price and then required said old cars drivetrain be permanently disabled so those cars didn't go back into the market. So people with the money for repair or maintenance on their "gas guzzler" bought a new car, after all if Uncle Sam wants to help pay for it, why not?
Well here are a couple reasons 1) New car sales crashed after the program ended putting lots of stress on dealerships and their commission paid salesmen. 2) It depresses the vehicle maintenance market which means a lot of small businesses and their employees are heavily stressed and dipping into their cash reserves. Some shops and techs will die from this drop. 3) It creates a market bubble very similar to the housing bubble there are economic incentives to get people in cars now and worry about whether they can afford them later. 4) It means I need to go get a part time job or start doing side work at home which I hate for a multitude of reasons but pays pretty well as I have little traditional overhead.
Those of you who don't know an automotive mechanic or technician as we sometimes like to be called are asking what does he care if it's busy or not that just means more time surfing the web or whatever and getting paid, nope to the paid part. See most techs work on what is best called commission meaning I get a piece of every billed hour of labor. Some shops also guarantee their techs a certain base salary, usually an unattractively low number to encourage productivity, but many don't and where I work is one of those, so no work equals itty, bitty, teeny paychecks that don't cover expenses. I'd get a new job but no one is hiring....the market is depressed by a much higher than normal number of new cars on the roads which will need little to no maintenance for the next 100,000 miles.
It is another example that shows government interference in markets always damages some other portion of said market.
Anyone who had the cash or credit went out and bought a new car because our federal government subsidized the purchase price and then required said old cars drivetrain be permanently disabled so those cars didn't go back into the market. So people with the money for repair or maintenance on their "gas guzzler" bought a new car, after all if Uncle Sam wants to help pay for it, why not?
Well here are a couple reasons 1) New car sales crashed after the program ended putting lots of stress on dealerships and their commission paid salesmen. 2) It depresses the vehicle maintenance market which means a lot of small businesses and their employees are heavily stressed and dipping into their cash reserves. Some shops and techs will die from this drop. 3) It creates a market bubble very similar to the housing bubble there are economic incentives to get people in cars now and worry about whether they can afford them later. 4) It means I need to go get a part time job or start doing side work at home which I hate for a multitude of reasons but pays pretty well as I have little traditional overhead.
Those of you who don't know an automotive mechanic or technician as we sometimes like to be called are asking what does he care if it's busy or not that just means more time surfing the web or whatever and getting paid, nope to the paid part. See most techs work on what is best called commission meaning I get a piece of every billed hour of labor. Some shops also guarantee their techs a certain base salary, usually an unattractively low number to encourage productivity, but many don't and where I work is one of those, so no work equals itty, bitty, teeny paychecks that don't cover expenses. I'd get a new job but no one is hiring....the market is depressed by a much higher than normal number of new cars on the roads which will need little to no maintenance for the next 100,000 miles.
It is another example that shows government interference in markets always damages some other portion of said market.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Math is fun
This is interesting from Walls of the City comes some fun math and statistical goodness. Go read.
Hot, very, very hot
I like spicy food, I have been known to ask for Thai hot when the stars align but it sounds like Larry found something evil hot. By the way Larry is the author of Monster Hunter International so if you find this good he has a book you'll love.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Treasury to TARP Inspector General: Drop Dead | BeyondBailouts.org
Treasury to TARP Inspector General: Drop Dead | BeyondBailouts.org
I swear the level of hubris is stunning, and again I see no real difference from the last administration.
H/T to Instapundit.
I swear the level of hubris is stunning, and again I see no real difference from the last administration.
H/T to Instapundit.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Pin the Bogeyman On the Tea Party
From Real Clear politics
"If elected I promise to vote "No" on any bill that proposes to expand government power for any purpose. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce government spending. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce federal taxes." I could get behind a No! campaign.
"If elected I promise to vote "No" on any bill that proposes to expand government power for any purpose. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce government spending. I promise to vote "No" on any bill whose net effect does not reduce federal taxes." I could get behind a No! campaign.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Econ 101
From the Gay Patriot comes a really good lesson on economics. I'm leaving it as a embedded link because he has a good website and you should go there and read a bit.
Tuna smackdown
Some friends* of Sari's and I created a goof called the Tuna hotdish smack down last year mostly to give us all an excuse to get together over the winter and visit. So as reigning champion I decided this year I needed to twist things a bit.
My initial thoughts were to deconstruct the ingredients, foody talk for using traditional ingredients in a different arrangement, so one way to do it would be instead of a casserole you would have a plate of pasta like tagliatelle with a mushroom cream sauce and sliced tuna steak with Parmesan and ground pepper. That seemed needlessly complicated for something that needs to travel 30 miles before eating. I agonized, I pondered and then I found the idea.
I made tuna hotdish using seared tuna steak, coconut milk, ginger, a bit of ancho chilies with slivered Parmesan cheese, French Fried Onion and coconut flake for some crunch. I also made a couple testers in ramekins for quality control purposes.
Update: I have retained my crown, it was close, because the head chef from the Harbor View Restaurant showed up too late to be judged. Without that misstep of the pro I would have placed second.
Abode Gallery has some furniture that makes me drool, if you need beautiful stuff for your house this would be a good place to go.
Friday, February 19, 2010
"Progressive news" definition
Oh boy some people make it hard to not start cleaning the gene pool.
I would like to thank Roberta X and The Unwanted Blog for bringing this moonbat to my attention now I'm going to quietly despair for my fellow man. I also need to credit Creative Loafing in Atlanta since it was their story first.
Atlanta Progressive News was not planning to make any public statements regarding Jonathan Springston’s departure from Atlanta Progressive News until having been contacted by Andisheh Nouaree at Creative Loafing with the news agency’s threat of publishing a blog entry about it.
It should be noted that Nouaree’s motives in writing this piece are questionable, seeing as how he has made negative statements about APN’s Editor in the past.
Jonathan Springston served as Staff Writer, then Senior Staff Writer for a total of four years. During that time, he has grown as a writer and has produced a lot of content which has served to inform our readership on issues ranging from Troy Davis to Grady Hospital.
As many of our readers know, we are in the midst of a major website redesign and relaunch that will result in new content and new forms of content, as well as tools to empower our readers to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Part of that has meant going back to our core mission and re-examining how every part of what we do is consistent with, and advances, that mission.
In the end, we had to make a very difficult decision to move forward as a publication without Jonathan Springston. Last Wednesday, we informed him it seemed more appropriate if he found work with another publication or started his own publication.
At a very fundamental, core level, Springston did not share our vision for a news publication with a progressive perspective. He held on to the notion that there was an objective reality that could be reported objectively, despite the fact that that was not our editorial policy at Atlanta Progressive News. It just wasn’t the right fit.
We have already begun drafting a more programmatic statement on our editorial position regarding objectivity, inter-subjectivity, and news. To be sure, I’ve commented on Creative Loafing’s blog previously about such issues.
In the meantime, here is some information from our Frequently Asked Questions page:
“Progressive news is news that brings us closer to universal health care, living wages, affordable housing, peace, a healthy environment, and voting systems we can trust.
“Progressive news is news that brings us closer to universal health care, living wages, affordable housing, peace, a healthy environment, and voting systems we can trust.
We provide news of concern to working families, and therefore, our writing is geared toward a specific audience. Fortunately, our audience–working families–comprises a majority of people in the United States who are largely ignored by corporate media sources.
We believe there is no such thing as objective news. Typically, mainstream media presents itself as objective but is actually skewed towards promoting the corporate agenda of the ultra-wealthy.
APN, on the other hand, does not pretend to be objective. We believe that our news coverage is fair and that our progressive principles are fair. We aim when possible to give voice to all sides, but aim to provide something different than what is already provided by corporate sources.”
We wish Mr. Springston the best of luck in his future endeavors and in fact we think he would be a good candidate for Creative Loafing or even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Also in response to the other question from Mr. Nouaree: we will currently not have anyone in the Senior Staff Writer position, although we have a handful of staff writers. Gloria Tatum, an activist and corporate media critic, recently joined our staff as well.
We are always seeking additional writers and contributors, and the new website coming soon will make it easier for people to submit content.
Red seemed an appropriate color for the APN.
Red seemed an appropriate color for the APN.
I would like to thank Roberta X and The Unwanted Blog for bringing this moonbat to my attention now I'm going to quietly despair for my fellow man. I also need to credit Creative Loafing in Atlanta since it was their story first.
Big tents
I find it quite refreshing that a bigoted asshole got soundly booed at CPAC. The GOP looks to be moving towards a more libertarian outlook on gay and lesbian issues than it has in the past. The group said bigoted asshole was whining about is a cosponsor of CPAC called GOProud, something that would have been unheard of a few years ago. I understand that some people have a religious opposition to gay marriage and that's okay, they can have a traditional opposite sex marriage I'm fine with that and I'm sure most gays and lesbians are cool with it too. Personally I would like to see government get out of the marriage biz altogether I think it has no business legitimizing any union beyond outlining the rules for inheritance and tax breaks given to those who admit to the government they are planning on co-habitating with each other for life. As long as they are consenting adults I couldn't care less. Another bunch of sinners at the event is the Poker Players Alliance which is trying to get the ban on internet poker lifted.
I wonder how much of this is due to Ron Paul and the TEA Party's influence energizing a younger group to become active in local Republican party organizations. I'm glad to see the argument start because it's way over due and if the Republican party came to what I am going to call the correct decision it would make this libertarian feel much better when he pulls the lever for a candidate with an R after their name.
H/T to the GayPatriot
It appears the WA state Supreme Court has incorporated the 2nd amendment under the due process clause of the 14th. Volokh Conspiracy link.
A couple excerpts
This is sure to give the VPC and Brady Campaign fits because if the US Supreme Court uses the same reasoning for McDonald (which most folk suspect they will) incorporation is a slam dunk and sure to create several more challenges to asinine state laws such as California and New Jersey's "Assault Weapon Ban"s and their may issue carry permit rules.
A couple excerpts
"Like Presser and Cruikshank we question
the relevance of United States v. Miller to the instant matter, albeit for different reasons. Miller concerned the constitutionality of a federal regulation barring interstate transport of, for example, an unregistered sawed-off shotgun. The Court upheld the federal regulation stating, “[i]n the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ‘shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length’ at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.” Id. at 178. Miller’s holding stands for the proposition—and little more—that certain types of weapons are
not linked to militia service."
"Sieyes’s objection may be that he was 17 years old at the time of his arrest, and his right to bear arms should be equal to that of an 18-year-old’s, but his arguments fail to challenge the statutory age limit set by this statute. In sum appellant offers no convincing authority supporting his argument that Washington’s limit on childhood firearm possession violates the United States or Washington Constitutions. Accordingly we keep our powder dry on this issue for another day."
"The Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
I am surprised by a couple things, the biggest of which is that they correctly read Miller because that is the case that is used by the anti civil rights crowd to cite the 2nd as reserving the RKBA to the state militias. It also appears that if Sieyes had actually supported his argument by using Gunwall they might have reversed his conviction. The last thing I find surprising is they came very close to deciding on a standard of review for use in 2A cases and that it looked like they were going for strict scrutiny, in fact that is what judge Jim Johnson suggested in his dissent. That makes perfect sense as we are talking about a fundamental right after all but it stands to lay waste to an awful lot of firearms law that is based on prior restraint at this point, background checks being the most obvious one. the relevance of United States v. Miller to the instant matter, albeit for different reasons. Miller concerned the constitutionality of a federal regulation barring interstate transport of, for example, an unregistered sawed-off shotgun. The Court upheld the federal regulation stating, “[i]n the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ‘shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length’ at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.” Id. at 178. Miller’s holding stands for the proposition—and little more—that certain types of weapons are
not linked to militia service."
"Sieyes’s objection may be that he was 17 years old at the time of his arrest, and his right to bear arms should be equal to that of an 18-year-old’s, but his arguments fail to challenge the statutory age limit set by this statute. In sum appellant offers no convincing authority supporting his argument that Washington’s limit on childhood firearm possession violates the United States or Washington Constitutions. Accordingly we keep our powder dry on this issue for another day."
"The Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."
This is sure to give the VPC and Brady Campaign fits because if the US Supreme Court uses the same reasoning for McDonald (which most folk suspect they will) incorporation is a slam dunk and sure to create several more challenges to asinine state laws such as California and New Jersey's "Assault Weapon Ban"s and their may issue carry permit rules.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Rewarding the good guys
So Sunday I'm going to give money to Starbucks in a show of support as detailed by gun bloggers everywhere but I think I'm going to pass on the political statement to the barista because Stingray brings up a couple good points. I have emailed Starbucks and will fill out a comment card Sunday when I make a 30 mile trip for a cup of coffee.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tea anyone?
There have been a few intriguing pieces on the Tea Party of late here's one. Real Clear Politics had another the other day here and then there is this one from Mr. Instapundit that I like enough to link to again.
The thing for my non minarchist friends to understand is this irritation at the federal government and profligate spending started before the election, I know it's hard to believe but it's true for me and those other friends of mine that have been protesting.
Here's a bigger shock I don't care what color president Obama is, I really don't, in fact I was listening to Henry Gates this morning on MPR and was reminded this worry about skin color or ethnicity is from my parents generation, most of the people I know care about the person and his or her actions not the amount of melanin they have in their genes.The thing I care about is that those leaders we elect uphold their oath to the Constitution and abide by it's constrictions.
News flash I have disliked the increase in federal power and spending since I've been able to vote. I don't care which side proposes it, it doesn't matter if it's Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. or our current president. I disliked in a bi partisan way the McCain Feingold act. I dislike the Patriot Act I&II. I dislike that the democrats are continuing to whine about an obstructionist republican minority when they have for the last 13 months had super majorities in both the house and senate as well as a friendly face in the white house. I find Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin and several others political ideals and aims just as distasteful as president Obama's and they are white and most are male. I'm not a bigot for my disdain of stateism or those who propose it.
I wrote my congressman and senators in opposition to the bailouts by Bush, I wrote them again asking them to oppose the TARP bailout and Chrysler and GM and health care reform. If they don't listen the only other option is to start going to political rallies and protests and then get involved with one of the political machines and work to change it.
I think we as a country have drifted too far towards the kind of political ruling class unbeholden to the people that more and more pushes us in a direction that resembles that of Europe's democratic oligarchies and if I had wanted to live in Europe I would have moved there years ago.
The thing for my non minarchist friends to understand is this irritation at the federal government and profligate spending started before the election, I know it's hard to believe but it's true for me and those other friends of mine that have been protesting.
Here's a bigger shock I don't care what color president Obama is, I really don't, in fact I was listening to Henry Gates this morning on MPR and was reminded this worry about skin color or ethnicity is from my parents generation, most of the people I know care about the person and his or her actions not the amount of melanin they have in their genes.The thing I care about is that those leaders we elect uphold their oath to the Constitution and abide by it's constrictions.
News flash I have disliked the increase in federal power and spending since I've been able to vote. I don't care which side proposes it, it doesn't matter if it's Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. or our current president. I disliked in a bi partisan way the McCain Feingold act. I dislike the Patriot Act I&II. I dislike that the democrats are continuing to whine about an obstructionist republican minority when they have for the last 13 months had super majorities in both the house and senate as well as a friendly face in the white house. I find Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin and several others political ideals and aims just as distasteful as president Obama's and they are white and most are male. I'm not a bigot for my disdain of stateism or those who propose it.
I wrote my congressman and senators in opposition to the bailouts by Bush, I wrote them again asking them to oppose the TARP bailout and Chrysler and GM and health care reform. If they don't listen the only other option is to start going to political rallies and protests and then get involved with one of the political machines and work to change it.
I think we as a country have drifted too far towards the kind of political ruling class unbeholden to the people that more and more pushes us in a direction that resembles that of Europe's democratic oligarchies and if I had wanted to live in Europe I would have moved there years ago.
The tasters were surprised
Well this sucks for someone but evidently not for the super evil corporation. What I do know is as work has gotten slower and my paycheck has shrunk because of said work slow down I am spending more of my money on groceries from WalMart and less and less at the Co-op. At this point The Wedge or The Seward Co-op gets money for coffee, seafood and some specialty fruits and veggies that the HP Lovecraft corporation. doesn't carry. Another nice plus with this shift is I can buy ammo at the grocery store now which saves time. Life is good.
H/T to Instapundit
H/T to Instapundit
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
