Ignoring the ban

In Chicago the cities restaraunts have pretty much decided to ignore the ban on goose liver.

Some owners have tiptoed around the ban by serving the dish under alternate or code names ("I'll have the special lobster" will supposedly score foie gras at one restaurant), but renegades say they'll do what they must to fight City Hall. ...

At first, [restauranteur David Richards] said, restaurant owners worried their access to foie gras would be limited, and they crafted plots to keep their supply flowing--like getting it mailed to a suburban address for weekly covert pickups. Such cunning turned out not to be necessary, he said. Richards still gets foie gras from the same distributor he always did, and no one seems to care that it is still on his menu.

"We look at it as a choice," he said. "We live in a free-market society and if people are truly offended they won't buy it. If they don't buy it, I won't buy it."

Instead, he said, his foie gras sales have climbed, making him even less inclined to heed the law. ...

Many of those most vocally opposed to the ban have coolly stepped away from the debate by ending their foie gras sales or at least coming up with names clever enough to obscure the issue. Available on the menu at Copperblue, for instance, is "`It Isn't Foie Gras any Moore' Duck Liver Terrine"--a testy nod to the alderman who sponsored the foie gras ban

A nice mraket place FU to the cities nannies.

{via Overlawyered.com}

Attack the watchers

When a persons fiefdom is under attack they respond with villainous intent.

The inspectors general entrusted to unearth waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies are increasingly under attack, as top government officials they scrutinize try to erode the watchdogs' independence and authority.

During 2006, several inspectors general felt the wrath of government bosses or their supporters in Congress after investigations cited agencies for poor performance, excessive spending or wasted money.

In the government the old saying "Don't kill the messenger" seems to have been ignored a lot.

Your money belongs to the government

It seems in one state the government desires your Christmas money, and more.

Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee) said today that the value of unused gift cards should go to the state treasury - not to the merchant - and that change will be part of a bill he'll introduce in the legislative session starting in January.

Kessler said millions of dollars a year go unused by gift card recipients, and retailers are allowed to book the unused values after the cards expire. He cited figures from Consumer Reports showing that 19% of all gift cards are not used because they are lost or expired.

Kessler called that a "windfall," which he said could be used to support schools, health care or roads. Under his bill, after a one-year expiration date on all cards, 80% of the value of unused cards would go to the state treasury. Merchants could keep 20% of the value of an unused card to pay for processing, Kessler said.

This gov drone needs replacing now.

They wants your money in the form of income taxes, when you die, and now when you don't use it.

"I'd rather have people spend the money and use the gift card, but if they aren't, I'd rather the state get the money," Kessler said.

Isn't that the motto of the government already?

Quote

There are other things so clearly out of the power of Congress, that the bare recital of them is sufficient, I mean the "...rights of bearing arms for defence, or for killing game..." These things seem to have been inserted among their objections, merely to induce the ignorant to believe that Congress would have a power over such objects and to infer from their being refused a place in the Constitution, their intention to exercise that power to the oppression of the people. —ALEXANDER WHITE (1787)

Into the libertarian time machine

If you hear words like this, you may feel they come right from the mouths of a true hardcore libertarian.

"'the mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose that independence of thought and action which is the cause of much or our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and in fine, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise.'"

You may be very surprised, as I was, at who said this. Mark Twain spoke these words in 1867.

Quote

The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them. — Zachariah Johnson, 3 Elliot, Debates at 646

Follow our own laws? HA!

Seems the homeland security department does not like to follow the law.

The Homeland Security Department admitted Friday it did not follow the Privacy Act two years ago in obtaining more commercial data about U.S. airline passengers than it had announced it would.

Seventeen months ago, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, reached the same conclusion: The department's Transportation Security Administration "did not fully disclose to the public its use of personal information in its fall 2004 privacy notices as required by the Privacy Act."

Even so, in a report Friday on the testing of TSA's Secure Flight domestic air passenger screening program, the Homeland Security department's privacy office acknowledged TSA didn't comply with the law. But the privacy office still couldn't bring itself to use the word "violate."

Not one damn thing will be done to them, no matter what they call their acts.

Ouch!

No way would I invest in a company run this bad

The largest employer in the world announced on Dec. 15 that it lost about $450 billion in fiscal 2006. Its auditor found that its financial statements were unreliable and that its controls were inadequate for the 10th straight year. On top of that, the entity's total liabilities and unfunded commitments rose to about $50 trillion, up from $20 trillion in just six years.

If this announcement related to a private company, the news would have been on the front page of major newspapers. Unfortunately, such was not the case -- even though the entity is the U.S. government.

Sadly we have no options to reform the "company" as they have closed off most attempts at honest reform.

[via Cafe Hayek]

quote

Some of the worst abuses of government force in recent years were precipitated by technical and victimless gun-law violations. For example, the BATF claimed that the Branch Davidians possessed machine guns without paying the required federal tax and filling in the proper registration forms. So a tax case worth less than $10,000 led to a 76-man helicopter, machine gun, and grenade assault on a home in which 2/3 of the occupants were women and children. — Dave Kopel and Dr. Michael S. Brown, Prohibition Fever, NationalReview.com

Free market hybrids

In another blow against the war on drugs, the evil growers free marketeers have created a perennial marijuana.

Soldiers trying to seize control of one Mexico's top drug-producing regions found the countryside teeming with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with herbicides.

Soldiers fanned out across some of the new fields Tuesday, pulling up plants by the root and burning them, as helicopter gunships clattered overhead to give them cover from a raging drug war in the western state of Michoacan. The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide, said army Gen. Manuel Garcia.
........
The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago but has become the plant of choice for drug traffickers Michoacan, a remote mountainous region that lends to itself to drug production.

Yields are so high that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to harvest in 10 to 12 acres. That makes for smaller, harder-to-detect fields, though some discovered Tuesday had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing.

Good information on this war can be found at Stop The Drug War

Understand that I'm saying that we should give up. What I'm saying is that this is a war that should never have started in the first place.

Keeping an illegal immigrant out.

I support this one groups desire to keep an illegal immigrant out of our country. This vile criminal enters our country regularly without papers and has been known to enter houses without permission. Rumor has it that he uses unpaid labor to undercut our markets. Build the wall Mr. Bush. NOW!

quote and comment

All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void. — Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (2 Cranch) 137 (1803)

Null and void, but still enforced with all of the power of the state.

Southern Humor

In a small southern town there was a "Nativity Scene" that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. One small feature bothered me.

The three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets.

Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left. At a "Quik Stop" on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You stupid Yankees never do read the Bible!" I assured her that I did, but simply couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible.

She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face she said "See, it says right here, 'The three wise man came from afar.'"

Busted

Do you know your rights when dealing with the police? Most people don't. because of that fact, this youtube film was created to give you a bit of knowledge on when you have the right, and ability, to say NO.

quote

As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms. — Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1.

Death chili

I was requested to post the chili recipe that brought me to the edge of an early death. My dear wife, who does most of the chili cooking, posted the recipe on her blog.

The right to be dumb

*****This is going to be a long post, so go get a drink.*****

I live near LaVergne Tennessee in a semi rural area. LaVergne has it's own community blog properly title Lavergne Tennessee. Run by the kind Kathy T., she really has built a strong blog.

Just recently she posted a press release from the city itself.

FROM CITY PRESS RELEASE 12/14/2006: An anonymous tip lead to the arrest of 22 people on gambling and other charges and a gambling establishment was closed down in La Vergne Wednesday night. The operation took place less than 75 yards from a church.

Of the 22 arrested at 121E George Chaney Blvd., five were for felony charges while 17 were given misdemeanor citations.

“We received an anonymous call that there was gambling going on and when we went over there to do a welfare check, we noticed the security camera on the outside of the building,” LPD Lt. Ted Boyd said Thursday morning. “Officers Russell Howell and Chip Davis knocked on the door and the owners let them in. Apparently, the owners tried to convince police that they had made a place for their friends to get together and play poker.”

The games stated at 8:15 p.m. and reportedly would go on until the next morning. There was a $200 entry fee to play, Boyd said, noting they’d only been operating for about three to four weeks.

Three of the individuals – Steven Colbert, 42, of Shelbyville; Denny Kalinic, 33, of Columbia and Cathy McPherson, 23 of Shelbyville – were charged with the promotion of gambling and aggravated gambling.

Two individuals –--Ashley R. Hayes, 38, of Rockvale and Tyrone L. Jackson, 30, of Nashville -- were charged with gambling and possession of drugs. Approximately 400 pills were confiscated, along with nearly ½ pound of cocaine and a small amount of marijuana. The pills were Oxycontin, Loratab, Xanax, Percoset and more.

Charged with gambling were Landace Clackner, 26, of Nashville; Ernest Milton Darrett, 51, of Smyrna; Samuel B. King, 31, of Hermitage; Jefferson W. Morrill, 36, of Nashville; Van L. Ho, 22, of Lebanon; Millard Austin, 28, of Murfreesboro; Thomas James 31, of Smyrna; Robert Martin, 34, of Smyrna; Jerry K. Shadowens, 41, of Smyrna; Rangsit T. Iamsaard, 37, of Murfreesboro; Matthew M. Skaggs, 28, of Murfreesboro; Christopher S. Bissinger, 25, of La Vergne; Russell A. James, 30, of Murfreesboro; Allison Johnson, 27, of Antioch; Joycelyn Edwards, 27, of Antioch; Mark Pellatiro, 32, of Antioch and Gary Armstrong, 48, of Nashville.

In addition to the arrests, LPD officers seized $15,063 in cash, two trucks – a 2005 Chevy Silverado 3500 and a Dodge Ram SRT 10 – two TVs, five guns, leather furniture, a refrigerator (which was used to store alcohol and food), gaming tables and a poker machine. Only the poker machine will have to be destroyed. If the owners of the trucks aren’t able to get their vehicles back, they – along with the other items – will be sold at auction.

Ten officers from second and third shift responded to the call and Vice/Narcotics and LPD’s Crime Scene Unit were called in to assist and process the scene. According to Boyd, this is the largest bust by LPD officers on one call in one night.

“I’m proud of our department for the hard work they did in making these arrests and closing down this operation,” Chief Steve Lindsay said. “This was a major operation and we’re glad we shut the games down before they could possibly lead to more crimes within the city.”

Now I want to say that this press release bothered me on so many levels.

I was pretty much raised by my mom. She was one that always let us roam in life. No apron strings needed to be cut when it came time to leave the nest, and she made sure that we had a good grasp on making the proper informed choices in life.

One thing she did was to make sure that we knew that our decisions affected not just us, but ones around us.

In other words. She helped raise consenting adults. Because of this my siblings, and myself, all pretty much have similar views of society, and personal choice.

When I first read the post on the LaVergne blog I posted a comment.

arrgghhh!

They make it sound like the ultimate den of sin. They knew going into the door they would likely lose the 200 entry fee.

My libertarian side screams when consenting adults are treated like kids who are caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

I say gamble and enjoy life.

Dang nanny state.

Gunner walks off to look for a slot machine

Take a moment and note that the youngest person there was 22 years old. All old enough to drink, carry a weapon in war, and even vote. In other words. All adults.

Now you normally don't end up in a gambling hall like this by accident. so they all went in there knowing that they may, just may, walk out with a crap load of money, but likely walk out broke. That's why they call it gambling.

Now the first thing to note is that Tennessee has the lottery, and lotto. Gambling is legal here if the state controls, and profits from it. If you try to, they well...raid you.

I went by the building the gambling site was at to look for a specific item, and I easily found it. From the parking lot, I could see at least one store that was involved in state controlled gambling. Those scratch off tickets, and power ball tickets that never return much more then a "free ticket" win are just fine to the state, but a nice gambling pot by a private entrepreneur is simply sinful.

It is hard to respect a government that outlaws gambling as a sinful act, but then allow it if they get the money.

After my comment another comment was left. supposedly by a cop.

a metro cop said...
It's illegal to do what they were doing, so what's your point? They got away with it for three weeks, but they got caught. Shame on them for breaking the law. You just can't let people slide on something like this.

"What's my point?" they ask. Lets see. Gambling is illegal as long as they state wishes, but not for itself. Any law passed by the state, that has exemptions for itself, is an immoral law.

"Shame on them for breaking the law" always creates a hick-up in my mind. What if the law is simply bad? Should they be ashamed?

I guess this cop wants all the people to follow the law. Let me ask this. Have you ever heard of someone saying that they are a "law abiding citizen"? Normally said when someone wants to imply that they are a good person.

Sadly for them I do not see "law abiding citizen" as a positive characteristic in a person. What it means is that they follow the laws, even the dumb ones, with little thought. Oh! Maybe they do have some twinges as they follow a stupid law. shoving aside the thought that the law is bad is a habit the learn from an early age. Law abiding implies a defective person for me. That may sound harsh, but looking at the laws of today, I feel it is a dependable view. Would you "abide" by the patriot act?

"You just can't let people slide on something like this" means what? They are not committing a sin, otherwise the state would be also. What they seem to be sliding on was keeping the state's cut. Regretfully for them, the state has armed thugs enforcers and they will get you and their cut. That's what a police raid is. Ever think the gamblers will see their money, or vehicles again? The state gets their money and a competitor is removed. A win-win for them.

SO GO BUY A LOTTO TICKET AND SHUT UP.

I replied of course.

A victimless crime does not need task forces, or shows of force. If my friends and I sit around and play penny poker no police would arrest us. why not dollar ante? At what level does friendly games of chance go from fun, to evil enterprises bent on corrupting the morals of all?

Laws like this are moral based laws. Sadly, what some feel is immoral, is enforced on those who do not.

No victim, no crime.

Sadly we are living in Kant's paternal government.

A Government founded upon the principle of Benevolence towards the people-after the analogy of a father to his children, and therefore called a paternal Government" would be one in which the Subjects would be regarded as children or minors unable to distinguish what is beneficial or injurious to them. These subjects would be thus compelled to act in a merely passive way; and they would be trained to expect solely from the Judgment of the Sovereign and just as he might will it, merely out of his goodness, all that ought to make them happy. Such a Government would be the greatest conceivable Despotism; for it would present a Constitution that would abolish all Liberty in the Subjects and leave them no Rights.

You asked "what's my point?". The point is that consenting adults are being restrained by laws that are based on others views of what is bad, not laws based on protecting victims.

Also the little fact that the lottery, and lotto, show that gambling is just fine with the state, as long as the state controls and gets the profits.

There is a lot bad with this story.

BAD COPS
NO DOUGHNUTS

The first time I came across the works of Kant, and his view of the paternal government, I knew he was right. I had not used the term "paternal government" before that point.

Take a moment and compare and contrast the way a parent treats a child, and how the government treats you. The time your parents catch you smoking and tell you you're not old enough, but they do. The time the government catches you gambling, but sell lotto tickets just down the street.

The most offensive phrase ever used by an official, in many forms, is "we are doing this for your own good". This covers controlling gambling, alcohol production, and even building a shed out back that meets all city, county, state, and federal codes.

Think of all of the controls the government have on you. Now how many are their to protect you from yourself? Protecting you from yourself is what your parents did when you, and I, were young and dumb. I know some of the rules imposed on me as a youth kept me alive.

The things is that I'm not a kid anymore. I do believe by a nut check, that I'm an adult.

I see in life two kinds of laws. The first are laws with victims. Mostly that is another person. Assault, theft, DUI, and rape have victims. The other type is a victimless crime. Gambling is a good one. If you walk into a building with 200 dollars you know you likely will leave without it, but hope your skill will ensure that you leave with more. No victim other then your wallet. Other victimless crimes include speaking ill or well of a politician in a blackout period before an election or diabolically selling your own raw milk to a kind neighbor.

In my view of what a good law is the following criteria need to be met. If a direct victim cannot be identified, then you should not pass it. The state cannot be the victim.

Most laws will not pass this test.

Then another comment was left.

part 1
Anonymous said...
Gunner and Will - putting the gambling aside for a moment, what about the illegal drugs that were found. 400 prescription pills - sounds like distribution to me - 1/2 pound of coke - Yeah, nothing wrong there!! I don't want that junk going to any teens or kids... But I guess that is okay with you.

Now ask yourself this. Is a kid a consenting adult? Nope! Then selling drugs to kids is wrong. As the youngest person there was 22, then I say "blow your f'ing mind". With the modern media it would be hard to say that they did not know that drugs can hurt you. As they are adults, I say go for it.

part 2
I want to Thank the LPD for doing their jobs and getting these idiots where they belong - behind bars. The gambling charges won't be too major - just a slap on the wrist, but hopefully the drug charges will be substantial so they will learn their lesson.

How dare they make choices as adults!!!!!!

Note the blanket condemnation of them for the drugs. Maybe this last comment was posted as the commenter held a mixed bourbon and coke in one hand, or smoking his nicotine cigarette. One level of "drug" use is just dandy, but others are bad. How do you know this. Because the government said it was so. Daddy knows best

This paternal mindset is the most infuriating thing I know. It shows itself in the nanny government, and politicians who want to control you in so many parts of your life.

Most people will look at the press release and see another victory in the war on drugs and gambling. I look at it and see a loss of individual independence. Freedom means the ability to do dumb things. To limit a persons right to die a fiery death right after saying "hay you'all. Watch this" is a crime.

quote

No law ever written has stopped any robber, rapist or killer, like cold blue steel in the hands of their last intended victim. — W. Emerson Wright

Atlas shrugged?

I would like to say that, but the truth is all monetary, and less ideology. Seems Americans living overseas are getting shafted when it comes to taxes. This has brought on some rather extreme measures to protect their wallet, and family.

Historically, small numbers of Americans have turned in their passports every year for political and economic reasons, with the numbers reaching a high of about 2,000 during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

But after Congress sharply raised taxes this year for many Americans living abroad, some international tax lawyers say they detect rising demand from citizens to renounce ties with the United States, the only developed country that taxes it citizens while they live overseas. Americans abroad are also taxed in the countries where they live.

Most other countries do NOT tax their citizens that are out of the country. Can you say you are surprised that the long arm of the tax man reaches that far?

This is not an Atlas shrugged, but it is interesting.

It worked!

When you need something done there normally is someone with an old wife's tale on how to do it. You got wrinkles? Rub lemons on your skin. Got acne? Rub ground sage on your skin.

Most can easily be bested by modern chemistry purchased at any store in the form of a medicine, cleaning product, or salve.

I tried a home remedy today and was so impressed I had to share it.

I brew tea. Not any tea mind you. I brew what I like to call "MAN TEA". Not to be confused with a manatee. Those you use a rotisserie on. What I do is take a tea pot and drop into it a gallon tea bag, then fill with water and boil. I add that to the pitcher and then repeat it. Adding sweetener I end up with a cola dark pitcher of tea. Rather acidic and sharp, I like it, and it does put hair on your chest. Sorry wifey.

Last several pots I brewed kept getting "funkier and funkier". I figured it had to be the dark buildup in the bottom of the pot.

Off to the Internet. The first return was a suggestion to boil water and vinegar in the pot. Sounded old wives tale, but what the heck.

It worked. Not just a little, but totally. The inside bottom of the pot is as shiney as it was when it was purchased.

Just thought I would pass on this small gem of wisdom.

Stupid damn macromedia

I got the "update availible" box on my computer that macromedia is upgradable. I figure "what the hell". Do me a favor people. Just kick me in the nuts the next time I upgrade something. Maybe I will get the hint.

You ever see one of these FLICKR boxes on a blog? Cute little links that reload little images that the blogger has posted there.

Well thanks to Macro'fucking'media, everytime one of those little images changes, I get a click. Over and over. CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK

As far as I can find, there is no control panel to change this damnable click off. A few webpages I go to now have CLICK CLICK CLICK the entire time I'm trying to read them..

Lets just say the first 50 click wear on you, then you go to the macromedia site, and their help pages are about as helpful as FEMA in a hurricane.

I can't even find a link on the programs link to remove the upgrade.

I'm going to die

I love my mom, but last night I went to far. I told her I liked my wife's Cajun chili better then her tomato based chili.

If this is my last post, please contact the police on Monday.

Good bye

Homemade nannies

Not all nannies come from the state. Some are homemade and they want to control you...for your own good of course.

The Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to uphold a local school board’s decision to leave Harry Potter books on library shelves despite a mother’s objections.

The board members voted without discussion to back the Gwinnett County school board’s decision to deny Laura Mallory’s request to remove the best-selling books.

Mallory, who has three children in elementary school, has worked for more than a year to ban the books from Gwinnett schools, claiming the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft.

The witchcraft claim is ludicrous, but the rest of her claims have some merit.

Mallory, who is considering a legal challenge of the board’s ruling. “The kind of stuff in these books — murder and greed and violence. Why do they have to read them in school?”

The problem is that she wants to just not be the parent to her children, but yours also. She knows best, she is SUPER NANNY.

Finding humor in BB

George Orwell wrote a book about Big Brother. It told the tale of a dystopia, and the system of control.

SIXTY-ONE years ago, writer George Orwell sat in a chilly apartment on the top floor of a brick terrace in London conjuring up a fictional world in which people were under constant surveillance by cameras and microphones.

It was there, perched four storeys above the gardens of Canonbury Square in Islington, that Orwell began writing Nineteen Eighty-Four, setting out an oppressive future in which the all-seeing government of Big Brother watched over its frightened citizens, stamping out privacy and all free thought.

In a humorous bit of reality, big brother has taken up residence, like the book, where he wrote it.

He would be less pleased to find that his old view of the gardens is constantly scanned by two remote-controlled closed-circuit television cameras perched on the traffic lights in the middle of the square. And that another CCTV camera above the entrance of a conference centre in the next street has a commanding view into his apartment's rear window. In a lane just off the square, his favourite pub, the Compton Arms, is scanned by a security camera attached to the front of a nearby car yard, which records anybody going into or coming out of the pub.

About 100m farther, where Orwell's street meets busy Upper Street, I count security cameras in 10 shops, a bank and a council office with direct views of the intersection. A large traffic camera stares 24 hours a day at the intersection. In all there are 28 cameras within about 200m of his flat.

You cannot make this up people.

More latitude?

Three deputies gives a beatdown to a guy who parks bad. One comment in the article stands out.

"'Police officers, like some other people in society -- teachers and other groups -- we allow more latitude than others, but they, too, can (cross) over the line,' said Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby. 'And in this case, that's what the grand jury thought happened.'" ...

no more needs to be said.

Torture! What torture?

Like Sgt. Hans Georg Schultz's famous line "I know nothing! I see nothing! NOTHING!" the judiciary of Cook County have the same view.

LAWYERS WHO DEFEND police-torture victims in Chicago long ago reached a harsh conclusion about Cook County’s criminal judges: most have a vested interest in refusing to acknowledge police brutality. Now these lawyers can point to a case so extreme it’s almost funny: a judge who apparently ruled on his own performance as a prosecutor, deciding there was no taint to a confession that the judge himself had written. Judge Nicholas Ford passed judgment on assistant state’s attorney Nick Ford. Ford had no problem with Ford’s work.

It’s a case that’s unusual only in degree. Four years ago a group of 17 attorneys whose 12 clients alleged they’d been tortured submitted a remarkable petition to chief criminal court judge Paul Biebel. They wanted Biebel to disqualify the Cook County judiciary from any further involvement in their cases—in essence, to grant them a change of venue to some other county. The attorneys argued that 50 of Cook County’s 61 criminal court judges had ties to institutions or individuals who’d benefit from there being no investigation of torture cases.

Torture? what torture?

Quote

No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain

Quack quack

When I read certain lines in life I mutter to myself "quack quack". Sounds odd, but wait till you read it.

Beware Fayetteville homeowners with trash or old tires in overgrown yards: Children might be watching.

An educational program to teach kids how to spot building and property code violations -- complete with colorful characters such as "Willie Weeds" and "Trashy Tina" -- will be in the hot little hands of local children soon, thanks to Fayetteville city officials.
...........
Yolanda Fields, community resources director for the city, said the activity book is intended to educate future homeowners before they develop bad habits. The other benefit, she added, is children can inform their parents.
...........
The books, aimed at fourth- and fifth-graders, are part of a larger effort. No, Fields said, it's not to get kids to rat out their parents for yard violations.

Not to get kids to be rats. Well if it looks like one, and smells like one, and walks like one...The guess what?

Now you know why I muttered "quack, quack".

Meme. What I've done

If in bold, I did it. A few small notes included.


01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it every day if I can
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game Does Atlanta bvraves count?
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight up to 12
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch all the time
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage SUPA Students united to promote the arts
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse and fell off once
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours only when really sick
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper elementary school picture
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey long ago
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you (photography)
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head regularly
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Quote

"In truth, a state that deprives its law-abiding citizens of the means to effectively defend themselves is not civilized but barbarous…revealing its totalitarian nature by its tacit admission that the disorganized, random havoc created by criminals is far less a threat than are men and women who believe themselves free and independent, and act accordingly." - Jeffrey Snyder, A Nation of Cowards

For the love and lust of nurses

This story drips in what is wrong with the nanny mentality. It ends with a bit of poetic justice.

A restaurant owner finds a titillating way to get people to drop by and spend money. Skimpy dresses with a "nurse theme.

The Heart Attack Grill — a theme restaurant whose specialties include the Quadruple Bypass Burger and Flatliner Fries, cooked in pure lard — is making health-care professionals' blood pressure rise, and not because of the menu.

It is because of the waitresses' naughty nurse uniforms.

The waitresses wear skimpy, cleavage-baring outfits, high heels and thigh-high stockings — a male fantasy that some nursing organizations say is an insult to the profession.

Of course these frigid, nannies go to the state to get their uptight wishes imposed.

The restaurant simply adds a few small asterisks and enjoys all of the extra business the notoriety and press has brought them.

All images used from the restaurant's website. I have a sudden need for a sponge bath.

I'm glad I started on it then

A new study is out. One likely to be ignored by most, that destroys an old belief.

Marijuana is not a "gateway" drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. The study, which found that young men who chose to initiate their drug use with marijuana were no more likely to go on to abuse drugs or alcohol than those who smoked or drank first, calls into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades.

So toke up people.

I thought it was a joke

When I first saw this picture I thought it was a joke. A prank photo by some airsoft dudes.

It's not.

The firearm is real, and the kid is honestly being watched by a masked intruder.

Well I'm now in a gloriously great mood today.

Identified the round

I went to {edited to protect the dumb} in {edited to protect the dumb} Tn, and using calipers and such, they identified it as .308

Now a small gun rant.

When the smith told me it was a .308 he also said it was steel cased and that could be damaging to a firearm. I had read that before, but never have come across the situation, so had not gave it much thought. We talked about the brass wash/gilding then he said it.

I said "I thought at first it was a 7.62 × 51 mm. I got pretty close."

Then he said "Well they're the same thing".

The problem is that they are not.

One of the better writeups on the issue can be found at Say Uncle's Shooting Carnival, and even The Gun Zone has a good post on the subject.

While the 7.62mm NATO cartridge has a maximum chamber pressure of approximately 50,000 pounds per square inch (psi), in the SAAMI book the .308 Winchester has a MAP (maximum average product) pressure of approximately 62,000 psi* (each by conformal transducer measurements, and therefore comparable). This is not to say that all .308 Winchester loads will develop such pressures, merely that they would be within manufacturing tolerances if they did so. Firing .308 Winchester ammunition in a firearm specifically chambered for the 7.62mm NATO risks damage to the firearm and injury to the shooter.

When even gun smiths are giving out bad information how can newbies to the shooting field figure it all out? I've never shot a .308 or a 7.62X51mm, yet I know the basics of the issue on size and preasure.

Take a moment and verify all information you get over the counter. You get second opinions with doctors, why not gunsmiths?

Help identify some ammo

My brother was given a large bag(100-150 rounds) of an unknown ammo by a friend. We both have no idea what caliber it is.

It bullet itself looks about 7.62 and the whole cartridge is a bit longer then a 7.62X39. No sizing on the brass, but the head marks reads as such.

Above primer
6 1
Below primer
9 3

What I find odd about this is the color. The brass(?) and the bullet itself, both look like they are copper washed. That thin copper coating put on .22LR. I've never seen this before in any ammo I have shot.

I don't have a set of calipers so my size guesses are at best questionable. I'll be dropping by the local gun store tomorrow and seeing what they think of it.

Forgot to add.
It is not rimmed. It is a rimless cartridge. The Mosin ammo is rimmed.

Will return and report tomorrow.

Die blogger, Die.

Blogger beta is a pain in the ass. I get the prompt yesterday to go to beta. I go through the process and nothing. I sign into beta and it prompts me to create whole new blogs, and no way to get to this blog and my other projects. I sign into regular blogger, and the prompt to go to beta is no longer there.

Going beta sucks. The catgories are not worth it. hell. Blogger is not worth it.

Change is about to occur.

I will be going to my own domain as a Christmas gift to myself in middle December. It will be a www.******.com/noquarters website.

I would go to www.noquarters.com, but it has been taken by a guy who wants to set up an arcade online. I know that as I contacted him a year ago. He renewed the site late this year.

Prepare for the change over.

I'll be getting the domain from GoDaddy, and will look for a host at that point. Any suggestions on good cheap hosts? I guess I will also need to get a blog program.

Going to be a busy Christmas

Rum, rum, rum your boat

Have a fun weekend. Mine will include rum.

Their shirts match..Suspend them!

In what is a great example of a mindless government action, girls are suspended for wearing matching clothing.

A school recently suspended four eighth-grade girls because they wore identical outfits on the same day, some of the girls and their parents said.

Two of the girls, Dacia Small and Mindy Ellis, said McCulloch Middle School officials incorrectly branded them as gang members because of the outfits. The four received a five-day suspension after Principal Michael Shaffer saw their clothes, Small and Ellis said.

"One of the girls asked him what was the matter with it. Then he started yelling at all everybody and took us to the office and suspended us," Small told Indianapolis TV station WRTV.

The clothing they wore was for an after school dance group.

Private roads bad?

Tennessee has road issues. The state does not have the money to build all they feel is needed. A member of the House Transportation Committee made this surprising remark.

“Private industry can do things so much faster because they don’t have to jump through so many hoops,” Pinion said.

The article with that quote was from Nov 28th.

Since then the Tennessee voice has spoken with a bit of fear of these private roads.

One option that other states have chosen is toll roads that use public/private partnerships.

Those deals can work through a private company developing and building a toll road, at no cost to the taxpayers. The company would get to operate it and collect a portion of the tolls.

“I think it’s something I certainly want to look at, but I think you’ve got to proceed cautiously,” Nicely said, adding that he wants to watch other states’ with public/private partnership plans.

What's this "watch" crap? Other states have done it and it works. Can it be that private industry is not a pork project?

No cost to the taxpayer means the state cannot take their cut before the remains and crumbs get to the job of building roads.

The states fear of free market roads is embarrassing.

Quote

If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government — and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws. — EDWARD ABBEY

Not as fictional as it seems

The reality is that they banned trans fats for our own good. I have never heard a more offensive phrase.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has unanimously approved banning the use of trans fats. From Crain's:

Restaurants will have until July 1, 2007, to find substitutes for oils and other trans fats used in frying and spreads. But eateries will get until July 1, 2008, to find substitutes for oils and shortenings used for deep frying baked goods.

In September, the DOHMH proposed measures to decrease trans fats (Health Commissioner Tom Frieden likened them to lead paint, as both are invisible and dangerous), which found a lot of support but concern from the restaurant industry that restaurants wouldn't be able to find alternative oils.

What is hu8morous in my view is that a fiction story read years ago, is now the reality of today.

LIPIDLEGGIN’
.....A dozen years... doesn't seem that long. It was back then that the giraffes who were running the National Health Insurance program found out that they were spending way too much money taking care of people with diseases nobody was likely to cure for some time. The stroke and heart patients were the worst. With the presses at the Treasury working overtime and inflation getting wild, it got to the point where they either had to admit they'd made a mistake or do something drastic. Naturally, they got drastic.

The president declared a health emergency and Congress passed something called the National Health Maintenance Act which said that since certain citizens were behaving irresponsibly by abusing their bodies and thereby giving rise to chronic diseases which resulted in consumption of more that their fair share of medical care at public expense, it was resolved that, in the public interest and for the public good, certain commodities would henceforth and hereafter be either prescribed or strictly rationed. Or something like that.

Foods high in cholesterol and saturated fats headed the list. Next came tobacco and any alcoholic beverage over 30 proof.

The story is a great read as it relates to the laws of today more and more.

The horror

When I first read this story I laughed out loud.

Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.
.......
...For much of this election year, the legislative week started late Tuesday and ended by Thursday afternoon -- and that was during the relatively few weeks the House wasn't in recess.

Next year, members of the House will be expected in the Capitol for votes each week by 6:30 p.m. Monday and will finish their business about 2 p.m. Friday, Hoyer said.

I then realized what this really meant. Politicians do one thing, and not well at that. They pass laws and attempt to regulate our lives.

DAMN!

I say they should CUT the hours they work. Get them out of our lives.

This post is titled "the horror" because nothing good can come from this.

Of course some are whining.

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Oh shut up.

Hungry?

Sorry, but you can't have any armadillo in New York. Rules say so.

A food safety inspector noticed an interesting special posted in the front window of a market in Queens: 12 beefy armadillos.

In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another store. A West African grocery in Manhattan sold smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case.

All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal.

So eat those big macs, get fat, and shut the hell up! The rules say so.

Captain obvious to the rescue

Who would have guessed?

Depending on the agreement, the state could still own the road, Pinion said, but the private company would operate it and get a portion of the tolls.

“Private industry can do things so much faster because they don’t have to jump through so many hoops,” Pinion said.

Remove most regulations and see how good they could run it.

Santa's Butt is bad

Some think Santa wants to pervert and corrupt children.

A beer distributor says Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew.

In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine.
.....

But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming

Why the state police feel they need to comment on this is beyond me, but get real here. I drank a lot of stuff in my youth, and not once did the label do anything but identify the liquid inside. This "protect the children" mentality is the hammer used to destroy anything the nannies do not like.

Quote

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. — Noah Webster in "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution," 1787, in Paul Ford, ed., Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, at p. 56 (New York, 1888).

Quote

There is no doubt in my mind that millions of lives could have been saved if the people had not been "brainwashed" about gun ownership and they had been well armed. Hitler's thugs and goons were not very brave when confronted by a gun. Gun haters always want to forget the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is a perfect example of how a ragtag, half starved group of Jews took up 10 handguns and made asses out of the Nazi's.

Theodore Haas, former prisoner of the infamous Dachau prisoner concentration camp

My rights and their privilages

Bloggers have been on the Atlanta shooting story like white on rice. The story is the biggest circle jerk that I have seen in ages. In the reporting of the story a small bit on very interesting information has come to light.

I have read of the implications of using a firearm in defense of myself and family. I also understand the role of the grand jury. I don't understand the special privilages given to the police in grand juries.

In Georgia, the police are accorded special rights during grand jury investigations — rights that are not available to ordinary citizens. First, an officer can attend grand jury proceedings. Second, an officer can bring his lawyer into the grand jury room. Third, the officer’s lawyer can cross-examine the state’s witnesses. Fourth, an officer can make a “statement” to the grand jurors after the prosecutor has finished presenting his/her case. (See Title 45-11-4 of the Georgia Code).

A case can be made that those special procedures can help a bad cop avoid an indictment or conviction. On the other hand, a case can be made that prosecutors have too much influence over grand jurors and that those procedures simply make the process more fair and balanced. Whatever the merits of those arguments, the double standard is inexcusable. If anything, the police should be held to a higher standard than John Q. Citizen.

The grand jury cannot be considered balanced with these rules.

We did it, but it's not our fault

Remember the story about the city that wanted to keep people from feeding the homeless due to rugulation issues(spit)? Seems the city has changed their minds, and are blaming low level city employees.

Fire up those ovens! The casserole is back.

The chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors yesterday nixed plans to bar residents from cooking food in home and church kitchens and donating it to homeless shelters. He blamed overzealous county employees for a policy that made Fairfax the subject of nationwide ridicule.
........
"We've never objected to trying to take measures to make sure that food is safe," Brigl said. "But we just think that regulatory bodies have a really hard time dealing with something where you think outside the box, and this is an outside-the-box program."

The city followed a set of regulations, forms, and threats. Thinking, even outside of a box, is not something the government is good at.

I did notice this in the article.

The crackdown came after the county health department received a complaint about home-cooked food being served to the homeless.

A statist at work.