Month: August 2011

The State Protects Its Own Again

Remember the Ohio police officer who threatened to murder a person who was legally carry a concealed weapon? Obviously after such an egregious incident the officer was criminally charged right? Nope! As wizardpc shows us the officer in question is getting the usual punishment:

In a letter to Harless, Police Chief Dean McKimm said after reviewing the report, he finds there is evidence that the officer violated the three rules cited by internal affairs. Harless faces punishment ranging from 30 days off work to being fired, McKimm said.

Bill Adams, president of the Canton Police Patrolmen’s Association, said he would decline comment on the case until the disciplinary hearing takes place.

Harless was put on paid administrative leave in June and more recently went on sick leave. Harless is using his allotted and accumulated sick days, which is paid time off work, McKimm said.

He may lose his job… perhaps. But until the hearing is held (where he’ll be allowed to keep his job I’m sure) he’s on paid administrative leave. That’s right, he threatened to murder a person he’s supposedly charged with protecting and the taxpayers have to pay for this vacation. Isn’t that nice? The state always watches out for its own at the expense of those it rules over.

Everybody Carrying a Firearm in North Carolina is Now a Criminal

Bad news for those of you living in North Carolina, a filed a suit over this last year but it doesn’t appear as though a verdict has been declared.

So what should you do? Well I would never recommend anything illegal… according to a just system of law where victimless crimes don’t exist. Personally if I lived there I’d just carry anyways, your right to self-defense isn’t suspended because some politicians decide to declare an emergency. In fact I’d argue that during an emergency is when you would need your firearm most. Anyways, we all need to perform a little civil disobedience once in a while.

It’s a Day of Resignations

Apparently today is the day for resignations; first Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO and now CmdrTaco resigning from Slashdot:

After 14 years and over 15,000 stories posted, it’s finally time for me to say Good-Bye to Slashdot. I created this place with my best friends in a run down house while still in college. Since then it has grown to be read by more than a million people, and has served Billions and Billions of Pages (yes, in my head I hear the voice). During my tenure I have done my best to keep Slashdot firmly grounded in its origins, but now it’s time for someone else to come aboard and find the *future*.

I’ve been reading Slashdot almost daily for just under a decade. That’s quite a long span of time now that I think about it. Although I have some complaints about Slashdot I still enjoy going there to see the daily (or last week’s) tech news and the comments can still be rather entertaining.

So long CmdrTaco and thanks for all of your hard work.

What the Hell is Wrong With Britain

Uncle is asking what is wrong with Britain and I want to know the same thing:

London schoolchildren are eligible for 125,000 Olympic tickets but these will not include any featuring guns, as Games organisers and City Hall fear a backlash from the anti-gun lobby.

What the fuck? The Olympics are fucking televised more heavily than almost any sporting event on the planet, the kids can watch these shooting sports at home but won’t be allowed to go to the actual event? Where the Hell is the sense in that? What the Hell is wrong with Britain? This makes no sense whatsoever… wait, I see what’s going on here:

Georgina Geikie, 26, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and Olympic pistol hopeful, said she was “horrified”, adding: “This is a chance for children to look at guns in a different way. They are taking away the opportunity for the sport to blossom. How do we educate people that it is a sport if they cannot watch it?”

The Olympics portray firearms in a positive light which would be a direct conflict to the state’s stance that guns are evil spawns of Satan. Seeing such an event may make children realize that guns aren’t actually evil devices forged in the fires of Hell but simple tools which can be used for good things. This type of thinking could then lead to the kids, after growing up, eventually lobbying to restore firearms rights in Great Britain which would lead to the serfs arming themselves and thus not being as easy for the state to control.

This is disgusting statism at its highest.

Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple CEO

Although I knew this was going to happen eventually I wasn’t expecting it so soon, Steve Jobs has officially resigned as the CEO of Apple. In typical Steve fashion his resignation letter was short and to the point:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Steve will retain his role as chairman of the board and Tim Cook has already been announced as the new CEO.

Although I’ve often referred to Steve as a prick and an asshole I still had a great deal of respect for his business ability. He basically came back to Apple when it was nearing bankruptcy and turned it into one of the highest valued companies on the planet. This turn around wasn’t due to a government bailout or legislation to “even the field” for Apple, it was done by offering products people wanted.

Sadly my money is on Steve’s resignation being due to his continually deteriorating health. Although I personally believe Steve Wozniak was the true genius behind the starting of Apple I can’t deny the value of Job’s business ability in jumpstarting the personal computer revolution. It’ll be a sad day when we begin to lose some of the iconic individuals who helped change computers from something only the most wealthy companies could afford into devices so many people now have multiple of. Here’s hoping that Steve stays with us for many years to come.

Many people have been stating concern over the future of the company as Apple nearly went bankrupt the last time Steve departed. This time is a bit different though as last time Steve was forced out by the Board of Directors due to his rivalry with John Sculley who had been hired for his success at marketing for Pepsi. Sculley didn’t have an engineering background or any idea how to manage Apple’s product line which is what lead to their near bankruptcy. Tim Cook on the other hand was the COO and has been personally groomed by Steve to be his successor. It would surprise me if Steve’s recommended man wouldn’t follow well in the steps of his predecessor.

I’d Hire a New Defense Attorney

Sometimes you can look at the legal strategy that is being used by a defense lawyer and realize he should probably be in another field of employment. Thomas Fairbanks is being accused of murdering a sheriff’s deputy from Mahnomen County. The deputy was shot twice, once in the head and once in the abdomen, which is an important point to note when you look at the defense strategy being attempted by Mr. Fairbank’s lawyer:

Thomas Fairbanks is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Deputy Chris Dewey. Dewey was shot in the head and abdomen in February 2009 and died 18 months later.

The defense is aiming to show that the handgun’s trigger could be so easily pulled that Fairbanks accidentally fired the handgun at times that day.

Let me get this straight, Fairbank’s lawyer is trying to demonstrate that the trigger of the murder weapon could be easily fired by accident… twice? You may be able to get away with the negligent discharge due to light trigger pull weight defense if the victim is only shot once but shooting a firearm twice requires a completely conscious effort. In order to discharge the second round the shooter would have to release the trigger and pull it again. It would be akin to somebody running over another person with a car, backing up over the victim again, and then driving off.

Males Believe Talking About Their Problems is a Waste of Time, News at 11

Some research has come out of the University of Missouri which states the absolute obvious, men don’t like discussing their problems because they feel it’s a waste of their time:

“For years, popular psychologists have insisted that boys and men would like to talk about their problems but are held back by fears of embarrassment or appearing weak,” said Amanda J. Rose, associate professor of psychological sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. “However, when we asked young people how talking about their problems would make them feel, boys didn’t express angst or distress about discussing problems any more than girls. Instead, boys’ responses suggest that they just don’t see talking about problems to be a particularly useful activity.”

Well now that that problem has been solved it’s time to move on to other great mysteries of the world such as discovering whether or not water is wet. In all seriousness a lot of time and effort could have been saved if the researchers would have simply asked men whey they don’t like discussing their problems. It’s not that we need to feel secure in order to discuss our problems less we feel weak, it’s because we don’t believe talking about a problem will solve it and thus it is a pointless waste of time. Granted this attitude can be counter-productive in some cases, especially with issues involving relationships, but nine times out of ten talk isn’t going to fix whatever is wrong so any effort put into discussion is going to accomplish nothing but a delay in the action required to fix whatever is wrong.

Minneapolis Kids Smash 125 Car Windows, Likely to Receive Nobel Prize for Economics

Over the weekend 125 unlucky Minneapolis residents woke up only to see that the windows in their cars had been smashed. Police have arrested the punks who caused somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 in damages.

When interviewed the children were asked how they expected to pay for the damage they caused. One of the kids laughed at the reported and told him, “Easy! We’ll just use the money we’re going to get when we receive the Nobel Prize for economics!” Paul Krugman is reportedly starting the process of nominating the children for the prize.

From Now On I Demand Citations

Dennis Henigan, the President of the Brady Campaign, has another article up on the Huffington Post, and as usual it’s full of fear mongering and blatant lies. It’s almost comical to read through his pieces because they make a lot of claims but never have citations to back those claims. In the scientific community making claims that aren’t backed by evidence gets you laughed at and usually ostracized by your fellows until evidence is brought forth. I think it’s time that we started treating the gun debate like a scientific inquiry where all claims must be backed by evidence. Those of us on the side of gun ownership have been doing this for years so we can kick back for a while and relax, but those crazies in the anti-gun community need to pony up.

For some fun I’m going to go through some of the article’s claims because it entertains me:

Remember two summers ago when most Americans were appalled by the sight of guns openly carried by protesters at presidential speaking events and town hall forums on the health care issue?

Remember two summers ago when the anti-gun media tried to make the entire situation look like racial tension, even going so far as to fabricate evidence? If your side was willing to make shit up in order to push their agenda then you can bet your sweet ass that I’m going to demand evidence that demonstrates “most Americans” were appalled by the sight of guns being openly carried at those events.

When it comes to carrying concealed weapons, Perry certainly walks the walk. He has a concealed carry permit and proudly says that he carries a gun when he is out jogging.

I know you’re trying to make a case against Perry (which is really fucking easy by the way, I can’t believe you’ve fucked it up) but you have to realize that pro-gun people who are politically active far outnumber anti-gun people who are politically active. Thus this statement is going to cause more harm to your movement than good as it will improve the status of Perry in the eyes of the politically active pro-gun people. Usually if something works against your movement you simply ignore it and never bring it up.

He didn’t respond by saying the question is ridiculous. He didn’t say that in the close quarters of a rope line, with a multitude of people pulling and tugging at him, a gun could easily drop to the ground or be taken from him.

That’s why police standing in front of protest lines have their guns taken from them all the time… wait never mind, that doesn’t happen. Henigan this claim is idiotic, provide some proof of this happening or shut the Hell up.

He didn’t say that an armed candidate would be a nightmare for the Secret Service.

It must be quite the nightmare being the Secret Service actually taught Obama how to shoot.

Rick Perry apparently doesn’t think the question is ridiculous. In fact, his sarcasm suggests he has no objection to political candidates carrying guns to campaign events; he seems to imply that he may do so himself. One thing is clear. The governor has been so thoroughly marinated in pro-gun ideology that he is unashamed about taking it to its logical extreme.

There you ago again, making Perry sound favorable in the eyes of the politically active pro-gun population. I guess you’ve has been swimming in cognitive dissonance so long that you believe politically active anti-gunners outnumber politically active pro-gunners.

I wonder if this thought ever occurred to Rick Perry: If a would-be presidential assailant is undeterred by Secret Service agents with Uzis, why would he be deterred by a presidential candidate packing heat?

Objection, relevance? A potential assailant isn’t going to deterred by knowing that Perry isn’t carrying a gun so this entire statement is completely meaningless.

Yes, it is a good thing that senators can’t carry guns onto the Senate floor because the presence of guns, even carried by well-meaning, law-abiding citizens, increases the risk that arguments and conflicts will escalate to lethal violence.

Let it be known that I’m declaring bullshit, either provide evidence of this happening or shut the Hell up. I’m not aware of a single case of an argument between one or more people legally carrying a firearm that escalated into a shoot out. You keep making this claim Henigan but so far have yet to provide any evidence.

It is the same reason that our national parks are less safe because (due to legislation sponsored by Senator Coburn himself) concealed carry of weapons is now permitted within their borders.

Once again evidence is needed, or as Wikipedia would say, “[citation needed].”

It is the reason that our streets, restaurants and coffee houses are less safe in states that have made concealed carry easier.

Again, you need to provide some evidence. This blog, as well as many other gun blogs, contain tons of evidence that demonstrates that violent crime has been dropping even though carry laws have continued to be liberalized (using the classical definition of the word).

It is the reason that college campuses remain far safer than the gun-saturated communities that surround them, because the gun lobby has been foiled in its efforts to force colleges and universities to allow concealed carry

You can’t compare apples to oranges. A proper statement would be, “It is the reason that college campuses that continue to ban students and faculty from legally carrying on site have a lower rate of gun-related crime than campuses that allow students and faculty to legally carry on site.” Of course that statement would also be false but at least it would be a comparison of like things.

They may well be the way things are in an American nightmare where, in political discourse, the guns speak louder than the rhetoric.

That’s why so many political debates between people carrying firearms turn into shoot outs… never mind, once again that’s not the case which makes Henigan’s statements irrelevant.

Salt Lake City Mayor Looks to Ban Idling Engines

The stupidity… it hurts. It seems the mayor of Salt Lake City, Ralph Becker, is pushing an ordinance that would make it a offense (punishable by a fine of course) to idle your engine for more than two minutes:

And it has persuaded Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker to fight back. He wants to outlaw vehicle idling (beyond two minutes) as a means to cleanse the air. His proposed “idle-free” ordinance, which carves out exemptions for defrosting, extreme temperatures, emergency vehicles and work trucks — while carrying a fine of up to $160 for a second offense — gets its first airing Tuesday before the City Council.

While the environmentalists are jacking off to how awesome this legislation is I’ll just laugh at the fact that this law can be easily bypassed by tapping my gas petal every one minute and fifty-nine seconds.