Kids and Guns

The anti-gunners keep claiming that hundreds and hundreds of children die every year from firearm related accidents. Well Kevin over at the Smallest Minority has issues with bold face lies and delivers the real data provided by the Center for Disease Control:

Here’s the available CDC data (you trust the .gov, right?) tabulated from 1990 up through 2006:

2006: 102
2005: 127
2004: 105
2003: 102
2002: 115
2001: 125
2000: 150
1999: 158
1998: 207
1997: 247
1996: 272
1995: 330
1994: 403
1993: 392
1992: 378
1991: 419
1990: 417

Go read his entire post it’s very good and further exemplifies why the anti-gun crowd is becoming more irrelevant every day. Also it’s good to see that gun related accidents involving children have been steadily decreasing over the last decade and a half.

Bloomberg’s So-Called Terror Gap

You’ve all seen the massive amount of propaganda Super Douche Bloomberg and his posse have been vomiting up. They want to deny anybody who’s name appears on the “no-fly list” the right to buy firearms. Well let’s look at some of the people on the no-fly list whom Bloomberg wants to strip the rights of for life.

First let’s meet Sam Adams. No not that Sam Adams but a 5 year-old child who is a suspected terrorist:

Saw the article you posted on Boing Boing about the five year old on the no-fly list. My son, also five, is on that same list and it’s a nightmare. Every time we fly with him, we can’t use the computer terminals to check in and the attendant has to call some never named government agency to make sure he’s not a terrorist. Some attendants joke it off but some are insanely serious about it. His seat always goes unassigned (even if it was assigned when the reservation is made) which always causes problems.

I’ve tried everything that anyone has suggested. There’s a TSA form that you can fill out for this situation, which I did, but they won’t tell you if they’ve removed your name. We got him a passport — that didn’t work. We’ve tried booking the tickets with his full name (including middle name), that didn’t work. We tried booking the ticket under Master Samuel Adams, with still no luck.

How about Mickey Hicks? He’s an 8 year-old boy on the no-fly list:

On its website, the TSA specifically denies that there is an 8-year-old on any of its watch lists. But try telling that to Mikey Hicks, who has had problems getting on airplanes his entire life. As a baby, Hicks was denied a seat on a plane because, officials told his mother, his name “was on the list.” He started getting full pat-downs when he was 2, his mom tells the New York Times.

Although arguably deserving Senator Ted Kennedy was also on the list:

U.S. Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government’s secret “no-fly” list.

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed.

Unlike you and me he was probably able to get his name off of the list. Let’s meet Michael Martin a 7 year-old “terrorist” who would be barred from owning firearms for life:

The name of a seven-year-old Coral Springs boy is on the no-fly list.

For the third time in his young life, Michael Martin recently had to check in with an airline agent before flying. His name appears to share a moniker with a suspected or known terrorist.

His mother had to ask an airline agent for help earlier this month when she couldn’t print Michael’s boarding pass from an AirTran kiosk at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

An Write named Chris Kelly notes his 12 year-old daughter is a “terrorist” as well:

My middle daughter’s name seems to be on the No Fly List. Since she’s only twelve years old, and neither practices nor endorses acts of political violence, I can only assume there’s been some kind of mistake.

No one at the airport will tell us how she made the list. They won’t even confirm that she’s on it. Every time we go to the airport, the electronic kiosk simply refuses to issue her a boarding pass, and we’re sent to the ticket counter, where five people look at the whole family’s I.D., and then specifically hers, and then someone calls someone, and they call someone, and that person tells the person on the phone, “No, she’s a little girl.” And eventually we’re allowed to run for our flight.

BoingBoing notes another 5 year-old is getting started in the field of “terrorism” early as well:

A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, “When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn’t passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him.”

This is just a small sample of people Super Douche Bloomberg wants to prohibit from buying firearms for life.

Math Hard

Apparently the education system in Chicago is a far more dire state than I realized. Basic math operations such as addition and multiplication apparently escape their government officials as Days of our Trailers points out:

Of the 4,050 firearms traded in for gift cards, there were 55 assault weapons and 3,335 handguns, along with 660 replicas, according to the Office of Police News Affairs.

Police gave a prepaid credit card for each weapon turned in: $100 for each assault weapon, $75 for guns and $10 for BB guns, air guns and replica guns.

About $46,000 had been raised so far this year for the program

55*$100 + 3335*$75 + 660*$10 = $262,225.00

In case you’re a victim of Chicago’s apparently abhorrent education system $262,225.00 is larger than $46,000 meaning the program cost more money than was raised.

Minnesota Representative Paymar At it Yet Again

I just received an e-mail from the NRA-ILA stating everybody’s most hated state representative Michael Paymar is threatening to amend a unspecified bill with his anti-private property amendment:

With Minnesota’s 2010 legislative session coming to an end, anti-gun State Representative Michael Paymar (DFL-64B) intends to offer an amendment to a yet unknown bill, which would severely regulate the sale of firearms at gun shows in Minnesota. Representative Paymar has until the last minute on Monday, May 17 to attach this amendment, so it is important that you once again urge your Representative to block his continued anti-gun agenda.

His proposed amendment would force all private sales conducted at gun shows across Minnesota to go through a background check. Gun prohibitionists, such as Representative Paymar, falsely claim that many criminals get their guns from gun shows, but the most recent federal study puts the figure at only 0.7 percent. This effort is a stepping stone for anti-gun advocates seeking to ban all private sales, even among family and friends.

Please contact your State Representative immediately and urge them to oppose Representative Paymar’s “Gun Show” amendment should it come up. To find contact information for your State Representative, please click here.

I will keep my eyes open and let you know the second he makes his move. Either way it would be a good idea to let your representatives know you won’t stand for any bill that threatens your property rights.

A Natural Progression

In the realm of things that are bound to happen Robb Allen informs us that machines with sentience and the desire to murder humans is no longer reserved just for Skynet guns but now also includes vehicles:

“Spira is in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize to educate the world that the #1 cause of deaths in 15 ‐ 25 year olds is from unsafe vehicles that slaughter people.”

Quick we need to enforce strict national vehicle control laws before more people die!

Respect Our Authority

This story can be labeled, “Only in America.” Five kids, California no less, were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing shirts that had the American flag on them:

The five students — Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano, Dominic Maciel and Clayton Howard — were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags.

Galli told NBC Bay Area, “They said we could wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it.”

Yup the kids weren’t allowed to display American colors in America because it might offend the students of Mexican heritage (whom are most likely American citizens and therefore shouldn’t be offended by people taking pride in their country).

Don’t get me wrong if you want to celebrate your heritage on any day by wearing the colors of your ancestor’s country by all means do it. You have that freedom because this country strongly believes in your right to free speech. But realize you are in America and therefore can not be offended by citizens celebrating their heritage of being American.

Obama Doesn’t Like Technology

This article perfectly portrays the meaning of double speak. Apparently Obama believes the following:

“What Jefferson recognized… that in the long run, their improbable experiment — called America — wouldn’t work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn’t have the best interests of all the people at heart.

“It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship.”

I actually agree with Obama on something, namely this. I think part of the problem with America today is the apathy of its citizens and their lack of being informed. If you ask most Americans who their state representatives are they won’t be able to tell you. Of course if you ask a really important question like who won American Idol they can tell you right off of the spot.

One of the best things about technology is that is provides you with a constant 24/7 stream of news and information. There is no excuse to not being in the know these days. Thankfully Obama is bringing this to light and asking everybody to embrace this technology… oh wait:

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

Like everything Obama says:

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

He bemoaned the fact that “some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,” in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.

So being in the know and having access to information is great unless that information doesn’t jive with what he thinks. For instance it’s just crazy to believe that people could be cooking the books on global warming climate is changing OMG!!!! climate change. It’s also crazy to think that GM used government money to pay back their loan from the government.

I love how Obama is all of the sudden an expert on technology that he admits to not knowing how to use. Seriously what a smug asshole.

Happy Belated Mothers’ Day

And for all you mothers out there here is a heart warming story from the UK via Says Uncle:

Schoolboy James Killen, 18, was held by police after next-door neighbour Jonathan London, 46, died of stab wounds.

It is believed Mr London attacked the teenager’s mother, former air stewardess Sandra Crawford, at her home in St Alban’s, Herts on Friday.

Mr Killen was arrested on suspicion of stabbing to death Mr London but later released on bail.

It is believed the teenager, a student at nearby Sandringham School, attacked Mr London after he discovered him slashing his mother.

The kid should have called the police and stood by watching his mother get slashed to death until the cops finally arrived. That way he wouldn’t be sitting in jail. See making self defense illegal is perfectly logical.

Upcoming Kindle Firmware

I mentioned Amazon is planning on rolling out a new firmware for the Kindle sometime back. Well Ars Technica has a good review of the firmware (lucky dogs got it early).

I have to say overall I’m excited. The categories feature is enough for me to be excited. But it appears as Amazon also implemented a decent password system. If you don’t enter your password properly it pops up a message saying if you forgot your password call Amazon and gives you a number. This leads me to ponder if you have to reset the password remotely. If so it would be a boon for times when the device gets stolen because Amazon could just refuse to reset the device if it’s reported stolen making it a paperweight. On the other hand they would need a mechanism in place to reset the password on Kindles not within range of a cellular data network.

I’m far less excited about the social networking features. Needless to say it uses a URL shortening service (which I talked about today) to post passages from your books on Facebook and Twitter. On the other hand Amazon controls the service so you can be fairly sure (although not completely) the links you see from them are legitimate.

The other feature I’m looking forward to wasn’t covered much which is the ability to zoom and pan PDF files. PDF files don’t scale well on the Kindle’s small screen and are only legible if you put the device in landscape mode. Being able to zoom in and pan will allow you to read PDFs in portrait mode on the regular small Kindle.

Now Amazon just needs to hurry up and release the Kindle Development Kit so I can start writing applications for the bloody device (yes I have ideas for applications for me Kindle).