Summer Solstice, 2003
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies." -- Groucho Marx
From Chuck Muth's News & Views:
"There has been a spirited contest to see who could use the words 'Bush' and 'lied' (or 'misled,' 'deceived' or 'tricked') most often in the same paragraph. So far, Sen. Bob Graham, Florida Democrat, seems to have a narrow lead." -- William Rusher
From The Federalist:
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro barraged South Florida with a series of expletives Wednesday morning, when WXDJ-FM disc jockeys Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero placed a call to Castro, claiming to be aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Asking Castro for help in tracking down a lost briefcase containing sensitive documents, Castro responded that he had been informed and was "satisfied." At this point, Santos replied, "Are you satisfied with [what] you have done on the island, assassin?" thus prompting Castro's on-air tirade. "I don't know what we can do to top this," Mr. Ferrero later commented. "Maybe we can go after Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden."
As funny as this was, it's worth underscoring the brutality of the Castro regime with the realization that some number of aides were likely killed or imprisoned for not properly screening the WXDJ call.
Drew Sheneman - 2003/06/05 - cartoon commentary on the Patriot Act. Hehe. [smith2004]
Christopher and I saw The Hulk last night. I liked it. He said he liked X-Men better. Besides great special effects, it had an eery psychological undertone. Not just a teenagers movie.
We're planning to go to Barnes and Noble today to buy Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. No telling if there will be any copies left. If not, I'll probably ask Amazon to overnight it. I'll read it to the kids at bedtime for the next little while, possibly sneaking ahead myself if I can't resist. This is the sort of book that book devour a whole weekend.
Watchblog "is a multiple-editor weblog broken up into three major political affiliations, each with its own blog: the Democrats, the Republicans and the Third Party (covering everything outside the two major parties)." Three columns, one for each "party". [doc]
Always Right with Chuck Muth will be interviewing next Tuesday, June 25, at 8pm (EST), Kim Bryant, "the courageous Waltham, Massachusetts mother whose refusal to knuckle under to the strong-arm tactics of government bureaucrats over the home schooling of her two children has ignited a national firestorm and heated debate over who should control a child's education." The link is to the streaming audio broadcast. Send questions for Mrs. Bryant to chuckmuth at earthlink.net. [muth]
Mad Ogre - Why I hate the M-16/AR-15 Rifle and variants - a detailed dissing of the U.S. military's current issue rifle, complete with diagrams. Bottom line: it's a great target rifle for punching holes in paper, but this ain't no mulitary weapon. From Ogre's intro: [madogre]
This is an article I have been meaning to write for some time now. Finally did it and I will make no apology for it. If I have pissed you off by stepping on your manhood for dissing your favorite black rifle... that is just too freaking bad. The AR design blows and there is nothing you can do to change that fact.From the article itself:
The AR-15 sucks by design. If you lay out the blue prints of the rifle you discover that the design is fundamentally flawed. The design uses tolerances that are way too tight for a combat weapon. It is ammo sensitive to the point of being finicky. It uses soft alloy receivers and is fed from flimsy magazines that are too weak to operate properly when loaded to full capacity. Then there is the gas system. The rifle defecates where it eats thanks to it's direct gas impingement system. Compounding that bad idea, we have the use of a tiny gas tube and a horrible breach design that is impossible to clean properly without dental tools and the patience of a dentist doing a root canal. The gas tube itself can warp or break from overheating due to sustained firing. I know, I've seen it happen and I've done it myself. When the gas tube glows brightly at night to the point it's lighting your immediate area -- this is not good it could go "pop" any moment here. If your gas tube had any weakness in it before -- it's only going to be worse now. If it doesn't break now -- it will have a greater likelihood of breaking in the future.
The extractor design is puny and weak, but worse yet is the spring loaded ejector. The ejector plunger can get stuck with the smallest of particles of brass or copper from the ammunition. A jam from a stuck ejector is a special kind of jam that double feeds the next round causing a wedge that prevents further movement of the action regardless of how hard you try to pull on the bolt handle. To clear it, you have to drop the magazine (if you can) and slam the butt furiously against a hard, unyielding object... preferably Eugene Stoner's head. (the designer) Unfortunately when you start slamming the rifle like this, you can bend the rifle at a couple different points or you can just break stock. It's a roll of the dice.
...
Like the AR? Fine. Enlist and try it out where it is supposed to be used. One thing to think about. The AR was designed back in the 1960s. Since that time there have been dozens of different military guns designed all over the world. The designers of these weapons had the advantage of being able to look at what else was out there and pick what they liked the best. So my question is, over the last thirty some odd years, how many new military rifles have come out using the AR gas system? How many have come out using a piston? How many have a spring loaded ejector vs. a fixed ejector? With some form of gas piston or op rod since the AR: K2, G36, SAR, Valmet, Sako M90, Sig 550, FNC, Galil, Tavor, AN 94, FARA 98, Aug, INSAS, AR 70/90, AR 18, Stoner 63. I'm not sure if it is Singapore or Taiwan who has built a copy of the M16 and it even has a gas piston! I've probably forgotten a few as well. Who else has used direct gas impingement in their designs? I can't think of any. The best way to improve the AR-15 is to unscrew the front sight, and put a new gun under it.
Glenn White at DrugSense - DEA Showed Its Contempt For Our Liberty - the DrugSense letter of the week. Bravo! [drugsense]
Some say terrorists will take away our freedom. The DEA political ideology calls American elections "coups," and continues to terrorize those deemed "politically incorrect."
They appear to relish their opposition to American democracy. The DEA and the Justice Department owe the people of this and other states an apology for their arrogance and treasonous contempt against our elections, our democracy, our liberty and our intelligence.
Limit government, not liberty. It is still our patriotic duty.
David Teather at Guardian Unlimimted - No smoke without ire - speakeasies have returned to the Big Apple. But this time it's illicit smoking that they're catering, not illicit booze. Good for them. Now if they'd just take it up a notch and start hanging the enforcers... [grabbe]
BBC News - Mercury 'linked to autism' - though no link was established to thimerosal in vaccines, this is closer to a causal link than I've seen before. [lew]
A group of parents in the US and Canada are suing health authorities because they believe thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines, could have caused their children's autism.
The MMR vaccine, which some parents fear is linked to autism, does not contain thimerosal.
Ed Gerstner at Nature - Dart thrower caught on camera - Richard Baugh has developed a computer model of the speer-thrower featured in Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series. [lew]
The atlatl - pronounced "at-la-tal" - is a hand-held spear-thrower that was developed in northern Africa 25,000 years ago. Now high-speed video imaging of modern-day atlatl throws could help to settle archeologists' debates about the design and construction of the simple but effective gadgets.
By Bob Graham at the Evening Standard - I just pulled the trigger' - interviews with American soldiers who are still in Iraq. It ain't pretty. Sierra Times discussion here, along with a couple other story links. From Henrietta Bowman's introductory comments: [sierra]
There are so many reasons I was against Gulf War II. I refuse to call it by its propaganda name, Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraqis are not free, by my definition, when America is calling of of the shots. Not the least of my objections to the war was in the ways it would harm both Americans and America.
Also, I knew there would be high 'collateral damage' and after the main invasion efforts were over, it would degrade to guerilla warfare with an ever expanding death toll on both sides. It is morally wrong calling the guerilla partisans now attacking our troops 'terrorists.' They are resistance fighters, the same as French resistance fighters that fought the Nazis in occupied France or the Poles in Poland. I don't know about the rest of you, but if America was the defeated and occupied country, I would fight until the last breath in my body to destroy my 'liberators'.
William O. Beeman at Pacific News Service via AlterNet - Barbershop Wisdom Says Bush in Trouble - Mr. Beeman's Barber says Bush is in trouble. The Busheviks have broken every rule of justified conflict. And Americans are waking up and noticing. [sierra]
In her classic work, "And Keep Your Powder Dry," and in numerous other writings, Mead pointed out that Americans have four prevalent attitudes toward the use of violence:
- First, Americans see themselves as resorting to violence only in defense, never for aggression.
- Second, Americans say they use violence for altruistic, never for selfish purposes.
- Third, though Americans must put up a strong defense, they are never bullies.
- Finally, for Americans, violent action is a "job" with a finite length.
Friends of Liberty - PayPal = SpyPal - an anonymous poster recommends J. Orlin Grabbe's Digital Monetary Trust (DMT) over the spying goons at EBay's PayPal. Personally, I don't trust DMT either, especially after the Laissez Faire City debacle. If my money disappears from their network of computers, what can I do about it? At least with a bank or other bricks-and-mortar business, I can hold somebody responsible, even if I have to do it up close and personal. [whatreallyhappened]
Kim du Toit - "White Studies" Part II - nice picture of Mr. du Toit holding his AK-47 and its 40-round magazine and wearing his Nuke the Moon T-shirt. And a reminder about Kim's Nation of Riflemen mugs and lunchboxes. [kimdutoit]
Protect Your Vote! is a web site devoted to defeating the Continuity of Government movement. They are attempting to quickly pass a constitutional amendment that would allow for the appointment of U.S. Representatives should some percentage of the House be killed. Good idea on its face, but it creates a clear path for a future tyrant to install his own Congress. [kaba]
