"Bloomberg's stunts cloud his gun efforts"

Keane with the National Shooting Sports Foundation writes:

The settlement between New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and two of the 15 firearms dealers he targeted in a lawsuit is more about publicity than necessity, given existing federal oversight of dealers by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and educational programs already in place.

The agreement calls for two Georgia dealers to receive additional training in preventing illegal, or "straw," purchases. But the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association, has for years partnered with ATF, the appropriate and legally authorized federal regulatory agency, to provide dealers with training designed to prevent straw purchases through the Don't Lie for the Other Guy program.

The campaign was launched in Atlanta this past January with Gov. Sonny Perdue and ATF Director Carl J. Truscott, who referred to Don't Lie as "vital" and "an important tool for ATF."

Firearms dealers in greater Atlanta have already received in-store materials that help deter would-be straw purchasers, and U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias has appeared in TV ads warning the public about the penalties associated with illegal purchases.

Unfortunately, Bloomberg has rejected NSSF attempts to share this industry-government program plus information about an ongoing series of seminars that educate dealers about the extensive laws and regulations governing the lawful sale of firearms. . . .

Concealed Handgun Law in Kansas Leads to New Sales

Kansans are lining up to buy guns and learn how to shoot them.

“Usually summers in the gun business are deader than a doornail, but we’re having a record year,” said Jeff Howlett, owner of Kansas Firearms Specialties in Tonganoxie.

Much of the increased interest in guns is because people are arming themselves to take advantage of the new Kansas concealed carry gun law, Howlett said. . . .

Don't believe claim that Alaska pipeline problem could raise gas prices by $10 per barrel

400,000-barrel per day reduction in output would have a major impact on oil prices, said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.

"Oil prices could increase by as much as $10 per barrel given the current environment," Emori said. "But we can't really say for sure how big an effect this is going to have until we have more exact figures about how much production is going to be reduced." . . .

Well, if people really believed that the market price would already be up by $10 per barrel. Instead,

ight, sweet crude for September delivery was up $1.23 to $75.99 a barrel in mid-afternoon Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

At London's ICE Futures exchange, the Brent crude contract for September jumped $1.09 to $77.26 a barrel . . .

If traders believe that prices will go up by $10 per barrel, it will pay for them to keep on buying the oil until it has gone up to that price.

One case where smoking by others may have really killed a non-smoker

I am dubious about the claims that second hand smoke are dangerous, but this case may get me to reconsider my opinion. The solution however may be to ban non-smoking areas.

Attorneys for a man who has been sentenced to death say some members of the jury rushed to judgment because they needed a nicotine fix.

Tuesday the Ohio Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in the appeal of Phillip Elmore, convicted three years ago in the strangling of his ex-girlfriend in Newark.

Elmore's attorneys say that the fact the judge wouldn't let jury members smoke or step outside to smoke led them to make a quick decision.

That's one of 17 allegations the appeal makes. Lawyers for Elmore also say his trial attorneys were ineffective.

What some states counted as work under the work requirements for welfare

The Washington Post might not be too thrilled about restrictions on wat counts as work, but some of these types of work are amusing.

"Some defined as work bed rest, going to a smoking-cessation program, getting a massage, doing an errand with a friend."

So what do the words to the song "American Pie" mean?

For those who always wondered what the words to the song "American Pie" mean,here is the ultimate website. I had figured out or heard some of these points, but there were others that I didn't know.

Thanks to Craig Newmark for pointing to this on his blog.

Does Oliver Stone's World Trade Towers Movie Cut Out the Moral Message?

Here is part of Brian Carney's take in the WSJ on Stone's movie:

A long article on the film in Newsweek quotes Mr. Stone: "The consequences of 9/11 are enormous to this world, not just to America." This is true; 9/11 changed world history. But he goes on: "This movie is made for the world, and if it's what I hope it to be, it transcends 9/11. It's about anybody, anywhere, who feels the taste of death, whether it was a bombing in Madrid or an earthquake or a tsunami" (emphasis added). Well, now we are in a different place. The world-changing character of 9/11 does not rest on the number of people who "felt the taste of death." Hundreds of thousands more people died in the December 2004 tsunami. It was a tragic event, but not a world-changing one. Unless you are an animist inclined to attribute moral significance to random acts of nature, a tsunami is "value-free." It just happened. But 9/11 didn't just happen. As "United 93" makes explicit, 9/11 happened because determined men with a plan boarded those planes and carried out their plan.

"World Trade Center" tells a different story. It is the story of 9/11 as experienced by the men on the ground as it occurred. As far as it goes, it does ample justice to the rescue and emergency workers who were present on that day. They did not know, could not know, who brought down the towers or why. The question is whether "World Trade Center" goes far enough when it comes to shaping our understanding of what happened.

One fact about the movie that has received considerable mention already is that it screened well with teenagers, many of whom were too young to perceive clearly what was done five years ago next month in New York and Washington. Will they come away from the film thinking of that day as a tragedy or as an atrocity? Mr. Stone would seem to prefer the former. But universalizing the meaning of the movie risks trivializing it. New York was not hit by an earthquake on September 11, 2001. . . . .

Divisions among Muslims

Two articles show some interesting conflicts:

1) Osama bin Laden's son in Lebanon to organize terror attacks

2) A top Saudi Sunni cleric, whose ideas inspired Osama bin Laden, issued a religious edict Saturday disavowing the Shi'ite guerrilla group Hizbullah, evidence that a rift remained among Muslims over the fighting in Lebanon. Hizbullah, which translates as "the party of God," is actually "the party of the devil," said Sheik Safar al-Hawali, whose radical views made the al-Qaida leader one of his followers in the past. "Don't pray for Hizbullah," he said in the fatwa posted on his Web site. . . . .

Weird University Professors -- 9-11 was a US Government Conspiracy

I realize that this has gotten some attention, but this interview is sufficiently amusing that I thought that I would put up a link to it.

Fox News has an interesting interview with the University of Wisconsin lecturer who thinks that 9-11 was staged by the US government. When asked about his qualifications for teaching a class on Islam he points to his research on 9-11, but then he also claims that his class is not on the 9-11 attack. he rest of the interview is really weird. I didn't know this but apparently there were no hijackers on the planes that crashed. Who knew? It is interesting to listen to him explain away the witnesses, the video tapes, and the passangers' telephone calls.

How much weight to put on testosterone testing for Floyd Landis?

This is an interesting read.

Art DeVany has a nice discussion on the testosterone testing issues involving Floyd Landis, the Tour de France winner.

UPDATE: Landis failed the backup test, but the points raised by DeVany are even more important to read now. If Art is correct, the statements about Landis can only be viewed as a very cruel mistake.

UPDATE 2: Here is another take from the WSJ:

One evening nearly two decades ago, four Swedish men in their mid-thirties gathered to quaff about 10 alcoholic drinks over six hours. Two weeks ago, American cyclist Floyd Landis says he drank two beers and "at least" four shots of whiskey after the worst day of his professional career.

Besides a taste for the bottle, these five men have something in common: The day after drinking, their urine showed an elevated "T/E ratio" of testosterone to epitestosterone, hormones that occur naturally in the body.

For Mr. Landis, the test result was bad news: It may cost him the Tour de France title, as the elevated ratio is indicative of the use of banned performance-enhancing substances that raise testosterone levels. On the other hand, that Swedish night on the town -- part of a body of research on alcohol's effect on testosterone levels -- might help him clear his name.

Testosterone and epitestosterone generally are in balance in the body, but some athletes inject steroids or other substances to artificially raise their testosterone levels, which can help long-term muscle building. (Though it generally takes more than a single day for any muscle-building effect to appear.) The day after his drunken night, Mr. Landis's T/E ratio was found to be 11-to-1, well above the 4-to-1 limit set by international cycling. But athletes' testosterone levels vary widely; for example, a test1 of saliva in Canadian university students this year found an eight-fold range of the hormone. If Mr. Landis's T/E ratio is normally toward the high end, a night of drinking could have raised it dramatically, putting him above cycling's limit. . . .

Poll: Democrats moving away from Israel

The poll results suggested that the Middle East conflict could have domestic political consequences in the 2006 midterm elections and beyond, due in part to a growing partisan divide over Israel and its relationship with the United States. Republicans generally expressed stronger support for Israel, while Democrats tended to believe the United States should play a more neutral role in the region.

Overall, 50% of the survey's respondents said the United States should continue to align with Israel, compared with 44% who backed a more neutral posture. But the partisan gap was clear: Democrats supported neutrality over alignment, 54% to 39%, while Republicans supported alignment with the Jewish state 64% to 29%. . . .

More on the numbers: While 64% of Republicans view what Israel is doing in the war as justified and 17 erpcent do not, only 29% of Democrats view it as justified and 36% do not.

Obviously, I am in with the 64% of Republicans and the 29% of Democrats on this one. It would be nice if we lived in a world without violence, but given that we do, I am not sure what other alternatives that Israel has. Israel seems to have gone more than the extra mile in giving back land or proposing to give back land and the other side seems only to be happy with their destruction. The recent statements, even this past week, by Iran are very worrisome. A couple of nuclear bombs and there will be nothing left of Israel.

Analyzing the congressional record

There is a new research project that employs computers to examine the 70 million words in the Congressional Record.

...researchers found, for instance, that "judicial nominations" have consumed steadily more Congressional attention between 1997 and 2004. In fact, the topic produced the most number of words published in a single "day" of the Congressional Record: 230,000 on November 12, 2003.' It looks like automated topic analysis has truly arrived."

Thanks to Jeff Koch for sending me this link.

Say what?: "National ACLU accuses black Mississippi mayor of racial profiling"

Here is a black mayor who won 88 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. Accusing him of racism seems beyond words to try explaining.

The national American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday accused the city's black mayor of civil rights violations including racial profiling in his crusade to stem crime in Mississippi's capital city.

The accusations against Mayor Frank Melton and police are based on complaints from people who say they were pulled over on the basis of their race and searched without probable cause, the ACLU's national racial profiling coordinator, King Downing, said at a news conference. . . . .

However, Melton said in an interview Tuesday that he wasn't interested in the ACLU's complaints against him or the police, and denied he had violated anyone's civil rights.

"We have 26 people that have been killed in Jackson this year. We have 300,000 people killed across America each year. The majority of them are African-American and it's time to do something different," Melton said. "I want to know what the ACLU wants to do besides criticize."

Melton took office last July after winning 88% of the vote on a tough-on-crime platform. . . . .

Will Lieberman Lose By More Than 20 Percent?

Lieberman is now down by thirteen points and the trend is strongly going the wrong way. Now comes even this bad news:

Facing a likely defeat, Lieberman has scrapped plans for a massive and costly get-out-the-vote operation on primary day, according to several Democratic sources. Instead, he will shift some of his resources into more television commercials designed to highlight his accomplishments for the state, in hopes of boosting his battered image. . . . .

What does it mean to say that a siting US Senator loses by more than 20 percent in his party's primary? That is really a massive blowout, and would be a really decisive rejection by the party that he has held public office for over the last 35 years. Would he really go on and run as an independent?

UPDATE: Statement from Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ):

"I frankly believe that if there is a significant margin of victory, if Mr. Lamont wins, I find it hard to believe that Joe Lieberman would challenge that, but it's his decision. I am going to support the Democratic candidate," Lautenberg said in an interview with National Public Radio.

Asked what sort of margin he would consider significant, the New Jersey senator answered: "I think if oh, let's say 20 percent of the people, or 10 percent of the people in the Democratic Party, and they're signed up as Democrats, don't want to give him a vote, I think he really has to take a look at what reality is."

Senate Vote on Minimum Wage Increase Tonight or Tomorrow

My new op-ed on the minimum wage increase going through congress is up:

Democrats are lacking in new ideas, so maybe that’s why Republicans are stealing their old ones. With some Republicans' poll numbers looking grim, early last Saturday morning House Republicans rushed through legislation raising the minimum wage. The Senate votes before shutting down for August recess, and will perhaps finish what is supposedly the process of stealing — or at least neutralizing — the centerpiece of the Democrats’ fall election agenda.

Chances for Senate passage are too close to call. Despite Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's support, many senators on both sides are unhappy. Democrats don't want to give up a campaign issue for the fall and complain that the bill also eliminates the inheritance tax for individual estates under $5 million; Republicans, meanwhile, take unseemly glee in getting Democrats to vote against a minimum-wage increase. But with control of Congress on the line, what is lost in the debate is how increasing the minimum wage harms the most vulnerable workers. . . . .

UPDATE: While the bill got a majority of 56-42, it failed to get the 60 votes required for cloture.

Diana Irey for Congress, Running Against John Murtha

Diana Irey is running against Congressman John Murtha. This race actually looks competitive and defeating Murtha would surely make a lot of news.

Additional info:

MURTHA'S MISTAKE

Rep. John Murtha, responding Wednesday to a defamation lawsuit filed by a Marine accused of killing Iraqi civilians in 2005, mistakenly said Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich had been "charged in the incident at Haditha." In fact, no charges have been filed against anybody.

Murtha quickly issued a new press release Wednesday deleting "charged" and describing Wuterich as leader of "the squad accused of killing two dozen civilians." The lawsuit accused Murtha of spreading "false and malicious lies" about the sergeant in his May 19 statement which said Marines "killed a number of civilians without anybody firing at them."

Although Murtha has carried his western Pennsylvania district by landslide margins and was unopposed in 2004, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won it with only 51 percent. Diana Irey, a Republican county commissioner, is waging a vigorous campaign, and last week accused Murtha of "regular and willful misstatements of key facts."

UPDATE: Here is an interview that Irey had on Hannity & Colmes

Accounting Government Style

For many decades this has been a serious problem (though some important reforms were adopted when the Republicans took over in 1995), but if the Republicans can finally get this reform through, it will have a major impact.

The set the government doesn't talk about is the audited financial statement produced by the government's accountants following standard accounting rules. It reports a more ominous financial picture: a $760 billion deficit for 2005. If Social Security and Medicare were included — as the board that sets accounting rules is considering — the federal deficit would have been $3.5 trillion.

Congress has written its own accounting rules — which would be illegal for a corporation to use because they ignore important costs such as the growing expense of retirement benefits for civil servants and military personnel. . . . . A growing number of Congress members and accounting experts say it's time for Congress to start using the audited financial statement when it makes budget decisions.

Bad Poll News for Senator Lieberman

"Millionaire businessman Ned Lamont opened a double-digit lead over veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman less than a week before Connecticut's Democratic primary, according to a poll released Thursday." I fear that things will also begin to change for the general election polls.

The Inability to Use Guns Defensively in New Zealand

"He was threatening them with their lives. He said: 'Give me the guns or I'll kill you.' He kept repeating it... It happened in a matter of seconds. What would you do?" said Carvell snr of his son's actions.

Greg Carvell then did "the only thing he could do", Carvell snr said: he shot Beckham in the stomach at close range with a handgun. Beckham dropped the machete and staggered towards the door before he fell, and Carvell ran to give him first aid. Motley rang emergency services.

Carvell snr, who was not in the shop when the incident happened, said staff now believed they had seen Beckham in the shop before, perhaps "casing out the joint".

The ordeal has left Greg Carvell so worried for his family's safety that he had moved his 9-month-old daughter into his room to keep her close by, said Carvell snr.

Auckland University senior law lecturer Scott Optican said Beckham's alleged comments before the shooting bolstered Carvell's claim of self-defence. He said the words could be used in evidence if the defence was required. "The guy [allegedly] said 'I am going to kill'. If that is true, it makes his legitimate claim of self-defence even stronger. Why should he not take him at his word? As it is, I think he's got a very strong case... it looks like a classic paradigm case of self-defence." . . . .

The Carvell family is also angry at the police's handling of the incident, which they say has left them "feeling more like suspects than victims".

Detective Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said yesterday police had not yet spoken to Beckham, who last night remained under police guard in Auckland Hospital and was reported to be in a stable condition and able to talk.

"We're waiting for advice from the medical experts as to when we can do that," he said. "Over the next few days we should be able to speak to him and get his side of the story."

Scott said inquiries were continuing this weekend into the incident, and a decision on whether any charges would be laid was not expected until this week.

Speculation has centred on how Carvell was able to have access to a loaded handgun in such a short period of time. But Carvell snr said they had nothing to hide.

"The gun was not loaded in the technical sense [before Beckham entered the shop]. I'm not telling you where it was, but it was not on the desk loaded... A firearm can be loaded very quickly."

Carvell snr, a well-known gun lobbyist, also said he thought the rules around about people not having loaded guns to protect themselves were "crap" in any case.

"Why shouldn't everyone be able to arm themselves? The police don't help you any more." . . . .

Note: Please see thankgodforguns for a discussion on this article and it is through his link that I found this article.

"Gun Dealers Reach Settlement With NYC Mayor Bloomberg."

Some depressing but expected news: "Gun Dealers Reach Settlement With NYC Mayor Bloomberg." Whether they are at fault or not, the legal costs of litigation can make many small shops just cave into these legal threats.

According to the settlement, the two dealers — A-1 Jewelry and Pawn and AAA Gun & Pawn Brokers — will be supervised for three years, but the clock will restart if there are any violations. For its part in the agreement, the city dropped its pursuit of monetary damages as well as its attempt to halt sales. They must also pay the city penalties if they allow illegal purchases.

Starting to get concerned about midterm elections

I am starting to get pretty worried about the midterm elections. Here are some polls for Senate races: Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota, Washington, and Pennsylvania. All but one of these polls are for senate seats that the Republicans currently hold (the exception is Washington state).

If these were polls from September, I would really worried, but at this point I am concerned. My biggest concern is that the terrorists know that the war is hurting the Republicans (along with the press) and that the terrorists will do what they can to help get the Democrats elected. By itself, I would hope that would give voters a second thought.

UPDATE: On a modestly bright note for Republicans in Pennsylvania, the Green Party has filled for getting its Senate candidate on the ballot in Pennsylvania. As the Green Party notes in the link, the Democrats will fight strongly against this. The Democrats succeeded in removing the Green Party presidential candidate from the ballot in 2004.