S&W Model 500
"It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." -- Edmund Burke
From drugsense:
Love is a word that is constantly heard,
Hate is a word that is not.
Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
Love, I have read, is hot.
But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
And Love but a drug on the mart.
Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But Hating, my boy, is an Art.
-- Ogden Nash
John de Rosier at The Albany (NY) Times Union - And they want us to defend ourselves with duct tape? - I titled this with the hard-to-read punch line. Cartoon commentary on U.S. defense spending. Too true.
Kim du Toit - S&W Model 500 (.500 S&W Magnum) - everybody's talking about Smith & Wesson's new hand cannon. No reports yet from anyone who's actually fired one, and lived... S&W's press release is here. The product page is here. Weighs almost 5 pounds, 2600 ft-lbs. muzzle energy, muzzle compensator, recoil absorbing grip. The hunter model comes with a sling! [kimdutoit]
Dr. Susan Block at Counterpunch - The Dildo Dialogues: My Adventures in Suing the LAPD for Trampling the Fourth Amendment - A review of the case of a TV sex educator whose studio was invaded by an LAPD S.W.A.T. team, and an impassioned plea for donations for her appeal of the Judge Manuel L. Real throwing the case out before it was even considered by the jury. [smith2004]
But even as we gain our rights to a better life, sexually and otherwise, there are venomous fundamentalist forces, from Islamist Ayatollahs to Christian Crusaders, working against us, operating out of fear that they are losing their grip on power. And they are! As science opens our minds and technology brings us closer together, the world is becoming freer and more accepting of human sexuality and all that goes along with it: diversity, women's rights, peace, individualism, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
But there is always a backlash to growth, and so we encounter these fundamentalist forces that oppose humane evolution and freedom, feeding off the dark side of human nature. These are the power brokers and warmongers, the leaders of the world's largest corporations, their political lackeys and presidential sons. These individuals and institutions no longer represent the people. They don't even represent political interests. They just represent their own personal interests. We're beginning to see what "Family Values" really means. It means money in the pockets of the Bush Family, the Rigas Family or whichever Family's favorite son is spouting those political pieties at the moment.
Gary Snyder at The Village Choice - Why Libertarians took "Guns for Tots" to Harlem - scroll down to the "Rant of the Week".
"Guns for Tots" was political street theater. The Manhattan Libertarian Party has no actual desire to distribute toy guns in East Harlem or anywhere else. That should be up to individual parents. Libertarians would never force a toy gun on any child/parent, unlike a City Council that wants to FORCE its ban on ALL parents.
Michael Powers at Strike the Root - Every Passenger a Terrorist: A Critical View of Airport Security - an entertaining romp through the TSA gauntlet. [rrnd]
The Lebanon (MO) Daily Record - Views from the other side of the war on drugs - after publishing a few pro-drug-war pieces, this paper received 36 anti-drug-war responses, mostly from outside their dead-tree distribution area. They printed them all. Bravo! [drugsense]
POPFile is working for me swimmingly. Out of 1094 messages received since I cleared the statistics last Saturday, I have had to correct it 27 times, for a 97.5% accuracy rate. Almost 700 of those messages were spam.