Oh, now this is going to be fun…

….right here:

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether strict local and state gun control laws violate the Second Amendment, ensuring another high-profile battle over the rights of gun owners.
The court said it will review a lower court ruling that upheld a handgun ban in Chicago. Gun rights supporters challenged gun laws in Chicago and some suburbs immediately following the high court’s decision in June 2008 that struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia, a federal enclave.

As well they should review it, and strike it down. I understand what Judge Easterbrook was getting at when he cited the principle of federalism in his opinion, but the Second Amendment should not allow for gun bans on the state and local level any more than the First Amendment allows states, counties or cities to require a license for a newspaper or to allow the newspaper to print only so many copies per day, week or month.

A bad case of teh stupids…

…rat-cheer…

PHOENIX — Bartender Randy Shields was serving British brews and Arizona ambers as usual at Shady’s bar in east Phoenix when he saw a customer walk in with a hunting knife strapped to his hip.
A disturbing image flashed through his mind — “that knife sliding between my ribs.”
The customer willingly turned over the knife while he was in the bar, but Shields still worries about a new Arizona law that goes into effect Wednesday that will allow guns into Arizona bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
Under the law, backed by the National Rifle Association, the 138,350 people with concealed-weapons permits in Arizona will be allowed to bring their guns into bars and restaurants that haven’t posted signs banning them.
Those carrying the weapons aren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
The new law has Shields and other bar owners and workers wondering: What’s going to happen when guns are allowed in an atmosphere filled with booze and people with impaired judgment?

All right, does anyone else here see what’s wrong here? The folks carrying guns aren’t going to be allowed to drink alcohol, yet the bar owners are worried about impaired judgment? Sounds to me like they should be more worried about the unarmed drunks than the armed sober people. But maybe that’s just me…

Remember, folks, easy availability of guns is the problem here…

…and not the feral youths! Wow, beat him to death with railroad ties. That’s some high-grade brutality for teenagers. And Richard Daley, Mike Bloomberg, et al, would tell you that when those feral youths come of age and take their predatory practices to the streets at large, we should just give them what they want. Is it so wrong of me to think that’s just evil?

From just a "cultural difference"…

…right smack into lack of any morals whatsoever…

Although the cultural divide between Europe and the U.S. has narrowed over the years, the legal fate of director Roman Polanski shows there are still major differences…
“To see him thrown to the lions and put in prison because of ancient history – and as he was traveling to an event honoring him – is absolutely horrifying,” French Culture Minister FrÉdÉric Mitterrand said after Polanski was arrested upon arrival in Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival, where he was to receive a lifetime achievement award. “There’s an America we love and an America that scares us, and it’s that latter America that has just shown us its face.”
…
“The French view Polanski as an artist and celebrity and feel he deserves a different kind of treatment than ordinary people, which just isn’t an option in the U.S.,” says Ted Stanger, an author and longtime resident of France who has written extensively on the differing public views and attitudes across the Atlantic.

So, apparently, Polanski’s artistry excuses the fact that he drugged and raped a 13-year-old, all the while ignoring her cries for him to stop. Wow. They just don’t make the words to describe how disgusting that is. I mean, I know that there is a huge cultural difference between France and the United States, and I know the United States itself is obsessed to a large extent with celebrity, but I’d like to think we as a society wouldn’t excuse such abhorrent acts just because of the perpetrator’s social status. So, so much more I could say to this, but this piece from Kate Harding at Salon slams it home quite nicely.

What else did they expect?

You tax the rich and they go to a state that doesn’t take as much of their money? Huh, who knew…

…at least two high-profile defectors have sounded off on the tax changes: Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano, the billionaire who ran for governor three times and who was paying $13,000 a day in New York income taxes, and radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. Golisano changed his official address to Florida, and Limbaugh, who also has a Florida home, announced earlier this year that he was relinquishing his home in Manhattan.Golisano, who created 5,000 jobs from his Rochester payroll processing company, Paychex, bristled when politicians said he was bailing on New York in the spring.
“If anything, New York state has bailed out on us,” he said.

I don’t think I would have been even that diplomatic. Seems to me New York state is acting like it’s entitled to take as much of Mr. Golisano’s hard-earned money as it sees fit. I know there’s a sizable entitlement mentality on the individual level, but I never would have thought that extended to a government entity. Who do those people think they are?

From the Department of Not Getting It…

…right here:

I think that it is great that the FDA has banned all flavored cigarettes, but what I don’t agree with is that it will stop teenagers from starting to smoke. I think that the FDA should ban cigarettes altogether because it does nothing but cause harm to the user no matter what flavor or age.

Yep, because that worked so well for alcohol back in the 1930s, right?

Preach it, brah…

…My fellow Texan Tweaker is on fire rat-cheer. A-MEN!

I bet that one smarted…

…but Mr. Bay was exactly right with this:

When it came to acting on behalf of peace in the 21st century, the Obama administration weighed “sphere of influence” against “sphere of security” and came down solidly on the side of the Russian czars.
I am referring to the administration’s refusal to deploy long-range defensive ground-based interceptor (GBI) missiles in Poland. For an administration that insistently congratulates itself on “smart diplomacy,” this is a shortsighted decision that sets back 21st century collective defense (sphere of security) at least five critical years and likely longer.
…
The White House decision also damaged relations with the Czech Republic, which had agreed to host an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) radar as part of the defensive system. Recall in 1938 in Munich, the West sold out Czechoslovakia in an attempt to “reset” diplomacy with Adolf Hitler.
…
…the odds are the descriptive phrase will not contain an adjective associated with brilliance or courage. A “YouTube Era” Neville Chamberlain seems more apt.

I’m sure many of the left are going to protest that, saying it’s better to try to negotiate with those who would leave our allies out in the cold than always to resort to weapon deployment and the like — but who said it has to be one or the other? As Teddy Roosevelt’s much-quoted saying goes, it’s best to speak softly and carry a big stick — but it seems that the current administration is throwing away that big stick in the hopes that those in Iran and that vicinity will listen to those soft words alone. You know how often everyone says “Never Again” in reference to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, and how often those words ring so hollow in light of the actions of some. It would seem they’re ringing hollow once again, but as opposed to herding Jews into boxcars, this time around the enemies of the Jews will kill them with a few nuclear-tipped missiles. Never again, indeed…

I get the feeling…

…reading stories like this one and this one, that sooner or later the Israelis are going to have to say “the hell with this” and do whatever whatever they have to do to assure their security. It’s a laudable goal, to be sure, but “nuclear nonproliferation” is still just as big of a joke as is “gun control.” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said more than once that he would like to see Israel wiped off the map, and I don’t see how this sort of security theater writ large is going to change that.
Of course, I have no doubt that the Israelis are keeping a sharp eye on this whole thing and making contingency plans behind the scenes. I’d be surprised if they had not been doing such long before the last elections here in the United States. And it’s not as if they haven’t taken certain unpopular measures to assure their security before…

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

….a bluegrass rendition of “Super Freak”?! Yeah, really….from Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby. Gah, I think I’ve heard it all now…