Month: February 2011

I Think I Can Help

Good old Josh Sugarman. He’s one of those guys who always finds time out of his busy day of learning how to use a toilet like a big boy to make false claims about firearms. It seems he thinks Arizona is a big source of guns for the Mexican drug cartels:

Gun shows in Arizona are a significant source of military-style firearms for Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations. The anchor’s[Kelly] reference to Civil War guns isn’t even relevant since any gun manufactured before 1898 is not a “firearm” under federal law.

My question is how can you stop this when the very organization, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), that is supposed to stop this is likely the source of the firearms smuggled across the border? Oh snap mother fucker. I guess the best thing we can do to prevent the supposedly smuggled guns is to shut down the ATF. How about Joshy, you on board? Nope? Ah, yes I’m sure that’s too logical for you.

Verizon to Throttle Heavy Data Users

Verizon has been making a big deal about having an unlimited data plan while AT&T offers a tiered service. It’s a nice feature to advertise but it appears Verizon is leaving itself a back door in case the new glut of iPhone users decide to rape their data network:

Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5% of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95% of data customers aren’t negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.

This is interesting verbiage I must say. Basically if you are in the top 5% of bandwidth users your data speeds will be reduced for up to two billing cycles. Yes, potentially two depending on how early you fall within that top 5%. Of course using the qualifier of 5% is interesting because the potential exists where the top 5% of data users would consume only 1MB of data (granted the possibility of that happening are less than a unicorn walking through my business within the next five minutes). T-Mobile has a much easier to understand cap where you get throttled after you’ve downloaded 5GB of data and I haven’t a clue what Sprint does (I’ve gone past the 5GB barrier before with no noticeable throttling).

It seems Verizon chose to use a percentage as a method of dropping the throttle hammer on anybody they chose to without having to give a concrete explanation as of why. If you have a nebulous figure of X% then you can pretty much do whatever the Hell you want because nobody can actually confirm whether or not they were within that percentage or not.

It’s an interesting response to a scenario they know will be occurring soon (a high increase in the data usage on their network).

Greedy Prats

Yes I use an iPhone but also keep a love-hate relationship with the device due to Apple’s draconian controls over what you’re allowed to and now allowed to do on your device. The main problem I have is Android didn’t work out for me as Google went and lost every record of every application I had purchased leaving me to either purchase them again (there is no support e-mail or phone number for the Market and their support forum seems to go entirely unmonitored) or abandon the platform. When you fuck me over I’m done so here I am in Apple land mostly happy.

Well Apple apparently has decided to be even more greedy and are forcing app developers who offer paid content outside of the App Store to include that same content through the App Store by March 31st. What makes this an even bigger deal is the fact Apple will take a 30% cut of all items purchased through the App Store.

This came to light when Apple rejected Sony’s e-reader application on ground that it allowed users to purchase content inside the app but not through the App Store. Amazon got away with this but sending users to the Kindle website when they clicked the button to buy a book in their Kindle app for iOS. Now Apple is changing the rules and both the Kindle and Barnes and Nobel apps will be required to offer all of their content through the App Store or abandon the platform.

Of course Apple’s 30% cut is rather insane for something like e-books because it means those e-books go from a profitable endeavor to a loss. When you buy a book most of the money goes to the publishers with a small percentage going to the store that sold the book and maybe some to the author if their book has already made the publisher their advance back. If you self-publish on Amazon they take 30% of the sale price of the book. This means all books sold through the App Store will lose Amazon money (probably Barnes and Nobel as well but I’m not familiar with their self-publishing option).

Who is going to continue doing business when you lose money with every purchase? Nobody that’s who. That very well could be Apple’s intention as well. The Kindle and Barnes and Nobel apps both compete with Apple’s iBook application (and by compete I mean dominate because the selection available through iBooks is pathetic at best). I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire maneuver is just a ploy for Apple to push their competition out of their market. Talk about being complete assholes and morons at the same time. If Apple starts pushing out other companies they will soon lose their main advantage, the app ecosystem.

Senator Boxer Trying to Abolish Shall Issue and Constitutional Carry Laws

Let me just say this right away, fuck you Barbara Boxer and fuck all of you who voted for her. Seriously you can all just go sodomize yourselves with retractable batons. Why am I so angry at her and her supporters? Because she is trying to pass a federal law, S.176, that would abolish shall issue and constitutional carry laws throughout the United States.

The bill, references as the Common Sense Concealed Firearms Permit Act of 2011, would strip each state of their right to issue carry permits however they saw fit. It would make all states may issue. And of course anybody applying for a permit would have to “demonstrate good cause.” You want my good cause? The second amendment. Need another? My right to self-defense granted by the fact I exist.

Those of you in California may want to makeup for your mistake of sending Boxer to D.C. You can do this by starting a recall election. I think there is grounds for that being she just introduced legislation that would completely ignore the United States Constitution and the entire concept of states’ rights. If you do recall I’ll completely ignore the whole transgression of sending her to D.C. in the first place. Seriously it’ll be like it never happened. Heck I’ll even say something nice about your state. Deal?

We Dodged that Bullet

Minneapolis/St. Paul have been under a major looming threat for a while now. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) has been threatening our fine metropolitan area by claiming they may hold their event here. Thankfully they decided to fuck over Charlotte instead.

Why do I say we dodged a bullet? Well the last time we had a national convention the only things that came of it were police abuse and protesters busting up private property. The Republican National Convention (RNC) was a fiasco. The police donned their riot gear, turned the area surrounding the RNC into a militarized zone, rounded up and arrested people planning peaceful protests, and illegally performed mass arrests of peaceful protesters. On the other side we had groups of protesters who decided it would be a good idea to smash in storefront windows, threaten the lives of Republican delegates, and do everything they could to not be peaceful. We don’t need that shit happening again.

Before somebody posts in the comments and claims that would never happen if with DNC all I have to say is do some research. The RNC itself wasn’t the problem, the problem was external factors. These external factors were completely oblivious to what party was in town (most of the protesters hated both parties). The exact same shit would have happened again and frankly I don’t want to put up with it. Seeing a police state in my neck of the woods once is enough for my lifetime.

Government Efficiency at Work

When you’re a lawyer fighting for the rights of the people it seems you’ll never get paid. Alan Gura, who fought for us in both Heller vs. District of Columbia and McDonald vs. Chicago still hasn’t gotten paid for the first case.

Meanwhile the government has paid $140,000 to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Lawful Self-Defense for stomping all over our rights.

Gee can you tell what side our government is on? It sure as the Hell isn’t ours.

Legislation to Make a Statement

There is a bill being proposed in South Dakota that would required every male above the age of 21 to purchase a firearm. They proposal is being used to make a statement against the Health Insurance Company Enrichment Act:

“Do I or the other cosponsors believe that the State of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not. But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance,” he said.

Using legislation to make a statement about legislation is a dangerous game that I can’t condone. First of all requiring everybody to purchase a firearm is just as bad as barring people from purchasing firearms. A right doesn’t require mandatory participation, if you wish to stay silent you may even though you have a right to free speech. A right simply means the option to exercise it is there should you chose to.

Many gun nuts are stating the point of this proposal is a good thing. I have a problem with it simply because legislation has been known to pass even though nobody thought it would go anywhere. Anytime a proposal on a new law is made it opens up the door for the proposal to become law.

I respect the idea being brought forth (the government can’t force you to buy something) but I don’t like the method being used in this case.

It Was Only a Matter of Time

I’m all for peaceful revolutions and protests but also realize that if the demands of the people aren’t met at some point a peaceful revolution will turn to violence. Sadly the time has come for Egypt as their dictator refused to stand down. Sure Mubarak promised not to run for re-election (Egypt does have “elections” but anybody who has ran against Mubarak has found themselves in prison on trumped up charges). The problem is the people wanted one thing and one thing only, Mubarak to get the fuck out.

Now there is fighting between “supporters” of Mubarak (it wouldn’t surprise me if we learn ten years from now that our own CIA started up the pro-Mubarak movement, they’ve done this shit plenty of times before) and those demanding his immediate resignation. Thankfully at the time of this writing it seems Egypt’s military is just staying the fuck out of it. I hope the people demanding Mubarak to step down win in the end but that’s mostly because I’m one of those crazy freedom loving libertarians who despises dictators of all forms.

ATF Opens for Comments on Shotgun Study That Will be Ignored

Get your e-mail client of choice ready because the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has opened up the floor for comments on their latest shotgun “study.” I think it’s appropriate to remind them that three gun is a sport (and that their assholes but I digress):

You can comment on the report by e-mail to shotgunstudy@atf.gov or by fax to (202)648-9601. The deadline for comments is May 1, 2011. Read the entire study online at: http://cheaperthandirt.com/blog/wp-content/images/012611-study-on-importality-of-certain-shotguns.pdf

So e-mail and/or fax your response to the above mentioned contacts. They’ll likely ignore us since they know what better for you and me than, well, you and me. But it’s always fun to complain.

It’s not Breaking and Entering when Politicians Do It

More head shaking news via Dvorak Uncensored has reared its ugly head. A New York senator who we’ll simply refer to here as Shit Head decided to go poking his nose in a home he wasn’t invited into, injured himself, and is suing the home owners:

Sen. Alesi claims in his lawsuit that he was hurt after deciding to look into the house of a Perinton, NY, couple, which was under construction under the time. The fun part is they didn’t know he was “looking into” their home, and he definitely was not invited, reports Rochester area WHEC News.

It gets better:

Alesi was cited in a sheriff’s report for criminal trespass, as the front door of the home was locked. He reportedly went to the back and snuck in through a basement level back door. He then tried to climb a ladder to the first floor, and fell, suffering leg injuries that required surgery. Alesi’s suit says the builders were negligent in maintaining a safe premises. DiRisio insists that the home was safe — for construction workers.

Yes Shit Head actually broke into the home, it wasn’t a case of a home under construction with no door attached yet. The asshole actually broke in, injured his dumb ass, and decided an appropriate response would be to sue his constituents. With “representatives” like this guy who needs the federal government to rain down tyranny?