Sunday: My son Roger does his Eagle Project

This Sunday my son Roger starts his eagle project for Scouts. Maxin did his Eagle project a few years ago. It is always impressive to see these Scouts organize their projects. Roger had to work hard to get the approval for his project through the different government officials in town. After helping plant all the trees and putting up the sign to the park, I may be pretty sore on Monday, but I will also be very proud of Roger.

MP3 of Interview with Kirby Wilbur on Seattle's KVI

Kirby WIlbur was nice enough to have me on his radio show on Friday. A MP3 of an interview can be found here. Go to a little past the half way point in the mp3.

Three talks down in Seattle, One more to go

It has been a fun week First Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. Then in Seattle I have had talks with the Seattle Federalist Society, the econ department at the University of Washington, and Women of Washington. TV Washington covered the Federalist Society event and today I was on Kirby Wilbur's radio show. All the events have been a lot of fun. The big talk is still coming up tonight where there will be around 1,000 people at the Free Enterprise Conference 2007 at the Westin in Bellevue at 9 PM. There was another small talk on Friday, but it wasn't open to the public.

UPDATE: Well, I did the talk tonight, and it was a lot of fun. First, let me apologize for those relying on my website to go to the talk. While I meet the people who took me to the talk at the Westin, the actually talk was at a convention center and given the number of people at this event it needed to be in the convention center. It was a large auditorium, with huge video screens. Given the academic that I am, the 50 minutes that they allowed me were not enough, but I can blame them a little bit because as the speech sent on, the time keepers were ordered to give me more time. That is a first for me, but for an event that seemed to be timed down to the minute the fact that they gave me an extra 10 minutes to talk was very nice. All I can say is that the ovation that I got was much more impressive than the type of ovation that I have gotten from any academic talks. Finally, the setup tonight was extremely well organized. Jeff and Pam Israel did an extremely good job in chaperoning me.

Business Week On Why Environmental Groups Go After Apple Computers So Much

Ever wonder why Greenpeace has these wacky attacks on Apple claiming that its computers are so environmentally unfriendly? I have. Their computers are no different than any other ones, but Greenpeace keeps going after Apple.

It's clear why Greenpeace picks on Apple so incessantly: The unique place that Apple and its chief executive officer, Steve Jobs occupy within popular culture and the technology industry make them both convenient whipping boys for publicity-hungry environmental organizations. Calling out Apple over environmental issues simply gets more headlines than criticizing HP would. . . . .

On the even more depressing side, "Mac users are more likely to care about global warming, deforestation, and other environmental issues than your average Windows user."

Why do people think that the economy is doing worse than it is?

The U.S. economy by most markers is performing admirably. According to the National Bureau of Labor Statistics, we have had 49 consecutive months of job growth. Unemployment is at a historic low of 4.7 percent, the average number of jobs created is holding steady at around 100,000 per month and real after-tax personal income has increased by 12.5 percent. Yet, according to a CNN poll, half of Americans think the country is in a recession. As Larry Elder writes today at TownHall.com, the reason can be found in the way that the media portray the economy. And that portrayal differs dramatically when a Republican is in office as opposed to a Democrat. . . . .

Giuliani Tries Reassuring Voters on Gun Control

LEBANON, N.H. — Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani is leaving the door open to allowing the blind and physically disabled to carry guns.

During a town hall meeting in northwestern New Hampshire Tuesday night, Giuliani told a former police officer blinded in the line of duty and concerned about the former New York City mayor's stance on guns, "You don't have to worry."

"You have a constitutional right, that is protected, to bear and carry arms. It is the Second Amendment," Giuliani told about 200 attendees in a high school gymnasium in Lebanon. "If someone disagrees with that, you have to get the Constitution changed."

He added that he believes in only three restrictions for those wishing to exercise their Second Amendment right — a previous criminal record, a history of mental instability and an age requirement. . . . .

Giuliani's answers are all over the map on guns as I discussed here. I have a hard time believing almost anything he wants to say on guns. One time he gives big qualifications, the next time he seems to believe that there are only three reasons for someone not being able to own a gun. If true, that would rule out most gun control.

Miami Police Arrest a Report Who is Carrying a Concealed Gun

MIAMI (AP) — A television reporter investigating a story on school violence was arrested after carrying a loaded gun onto school property, authorities said.

Jeffrey Weinsier of WPLG-TV, an ABC network affiliate, was taken into custody Tuesday at Miami Central High School after ignoring several warnings not to walk on school property, Miami-Dade schools police said.

"Kindly go across the street now," an officer is shown telling Weinsier during the videotaped encounter.

"I'm not," Weinsier replied. The officer then handcuffed him.

Weinsier, 40, was charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds, trespassing on school property with a weapon and resisting officers without violence.

The photographer working with Weinsier, Frank Debesa, said afterward: "Jeff did have a gun on him."

Weinsier began carrying a gun after he received death threats stemming from a series he did about unsanitary conditions at restaurants, according to the station. . . . .

Talk at Appalachian School of Law

Yesterday was a very interesting day. I don't have time to go through it now, but after writing about the horrible attack that was suffered at the law school in 2002, I had a chance to actually visit the school and talk about the tragedy. The students there were great, and one of the administrators and a former student herself, Jina Sauls, was nice enough to share a couple of her personal thoughts over lunch about those who had lost their lives that day. I must also say that the school is located in an absolutely beautiful area. Hopefully more later.

Georgia Concealed Carry Holder Stops What Would Have Been A Multiple Victim Shooting

Witnesses said Ojeda appeared to have been drinking when he drove up to the restaurant around midnight, Norcross Police Detective Jason Carter said. Ojeda joined a group of four other people “other regulars, but not well acquainted with the man” on the patio and became belligerent when one person asked Ojeda not to be obnoxious. After a brief scuffle, Ojeda left, only to return with a gun about 45 minutes later, Carter said.

As people on the patio scattered, one of the men he’d been sitting with ran away but drew his own gun, police said. That man, whose name was not released, fired once and hit Ojeda in the head, police said.

Thanks very much to Del Simmons for sending this to me.

Talks this coming week

This will be a busy week:

Appalachian Law School in Grundy, Va. at noon on Tuesday October 23rd (For past discussions that I have had on the tragic attack in 2002 at the law school see here) -- Gun Control
Puget Sound Federalist Society (Seattle, Washington) at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, October 24th -- Freedomnomics
University of Washington Economics Department at 2 PM on Thursday, October 25th -- Measuring Media Bias (Something discussed in Freedomnomics)
Women of Washington at 7 PM in Seattle on Thursday, October 25th -- Freedomnomics
Free Enterprise Conference 2007 at the Westin in Bellevue on Friday night at 9:16 PM-- Freedomnomics

Endangered Species Act Creates Real Problems in Georgia

More than a billion gallons of water is released from Lanier every day. The Corps of Engineers bases its water releases on two requirements: The minimum flow needed for a coal-fired power plant in Florida and mandates to protect two mussel species in a Florida river.

"We've learned from this what a blunt weapon the Endangered Species Act has become," said state Rep. John Linder. "We need to understand this lake was created not for mussels but for people."

Radio Interview with Jason Lewis on KTLK

An MP3 of the radio interview on Freedomnomics and other issues is available here.

This is why we need to arm teachers: Glenn Beck deserves a lot of credit for this story

On Glenn Beck's page scroll down to the middle of the page and click on the video for "Exposed: The Perfect Day". Beck says that the government is sitting on this information because they are "afraid that the American people will panic." I think that this is the information that we need for a rational discussion on arming teachers.

Glenn's guest, Brad Thor, gets it partially right when he says "You want an armed presence at your school." He then points to armed guards and police. The problem with armed guards and police is that if they are present, they will be the first ones taken out. It is good to have some there, but it is cheaper and much better to allow armed teachers and staff. He makes four points on school security: deter, detect, delay, and destroy. Armed teachers and staff can help with all these four points (even "detect" because they might be more able to successfully detect and alert others if they are armed). The deterrence, delay, and destroy aspects are more obvious. Thor points to Israel, but he doesn't mention that they arm teachers in Israel.

Global Warming Misinformation

OpinionJournal.com has an interesting piece up:

Global warming doesn't matter except to the extent that it will affect life--ours and that of all living things on Earth. And contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life is thin. Most evidence suggests the contrary.

Case in point: This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20% to 30% of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming--a truly terrifying thought. Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct. The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age--saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe. But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals. . . .

One reason why anonymous political donations should be allowed

This deluge of corporate dollars comes at a time when congressional Democrats aren't the least bit bashful about their agenda. Should they win the White House they'll raise tax rates, pursue a trade protectionist policy under the guise of "fair trade," and enact as much of Big Labor's wish list as they can, from doing away with secret ballots in union certification elections to piling on more labor, environmental and health regulations. "There's almost nothing in the Pelosi/Reid agenda that we favor," one long-time industry government affairs representative tells me. "But we're still giving the bulk of our money to them." . . . .

When Republicans were in control, Ms. Pelosi and company denounced the "K Street Project," run by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. They protested that corporate lobbyists were allowed to become a fourth branch of government--and in some cases their protests had merit, as Republicans curried favor with money interests.

Meanwhile, Democrats under Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Schumer have quietly erected their own K Street Project, and employ some of the same strong-arm tactics they once deplored. "I've never felt the squeeze that we're under now to give to Democrats and to hire them," says one telecom industry representative. "They've put out the word that if you have an issue on trade, taxes, or regulation, you'd better be a donor and you'd better not be part of any effort to run ads against our freshmen incumbents." . . .

Second Grade Student Suspended for Drawing Stick Figure With Gun

I am about as worried of the other parents who turned in the second grader as I am of the school district that enforces mindless zero tolerance rules.

DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a gun earned him a one-day school suspension.

Kyle Walker, 7, was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City.

Kyle gave the picture to another child on the school bus, and that child's parents complained about it to school officials, McDevitt said. Her son told her the drawing was of a water gun, she said. . . . .