Mitch McConnell and Ken Salazar spar over when off shore oil drilling would be allowed

"Boys with toy gun cause scare near school"

Despite the statement that these guns are "designed to look like real firearms," it is not quite true. These Airsoft guns have the orange ends required for toy guns to indicate that they are toys. In addition, I assume that school is out for the summer. Overall, a bit of an over reaction. The story from San Diego can be found here:

Police officers and sheriff's deputies were called to an elementary school in the 4S Ranch area after it was reported that someone was seen nearby with a rifle.

A call came in about 12:45 p.m. saying that a person carrying the weapon was spotted behind the Stone Ranch Elementary School on 4S Parkway, said sheriff's Lt. Larry Nesbit.

It turned out to be two boys with an Airsoft rifle playing in a yard that backs up to the school and a park, Nesbit said.

According to various Web sites, Airsoft is a toy gun used in combat-simulation games and police training that fires a 6-millimeter or 8-milimeter pellet. Although they are toys, they are designed to look like real firearms, including pistols, rifles, combat shotguns and light machine guns.

The problem with T. Boone Pickens' energy advice

This gets to the basic problem with Pickens' advice:

What we like least about [T. Boone Pickens'] grand scheme is that to pursue the parts of it he personally prefers, Mr. Pickens would rely on government's heavy hand. Without government subsidies, mandates and rights-of-way acquisitions, America's switch from reliance on foreign oil to natural gas and wind-generated power won't happen fast enough to suit him . . .

Chinese Government Denying Visas to Former Olympic Champions

One would think that the International Olympic Committee would get a commitment from the host country to let in people with a legitimate connection to the Olympics when the hosting decision is made. ABC News has this story:

China's last minute decision to deny a politically active 2006 Olympic gold medalist a visa to attend the Beijing Games is not unique. Chinese authorities have also denied a bronze medalist, a respected New York-based journalist and a Danish sculptor entry to China in recent months -- a sign that Beijing is still cracking down on freedom of expression in the lead up to the Games.

The visa denials highlight how Chinese authorities are worried that human rights activists will bring international attention to politically sensitive topics -- such as press freedom, the Tian An'Men crackdown, and China's problematic role in Africa -- during the Olympics, according to China experts. "By denying visas and entrance into China, the government is choosing to lose face in a small way," said Sharon Hom, director of the New York-based non-profit organization, Human Rights in China. "If these people do protest and garner international attention, [China] would lose face in a big way. There's a lot of anxiety about that." . . .

Obama doesn't understand economics

As if it weren't already obvious, here is some additional proof that Obama doesn't understand economics.

"Let me make a point about efficiency, because my Republican opponents - they don’t like to talk about efficiency. You know the other day I was in a town hall meeting and I laid out my plans for investing $15 billion a year in energy efficient cars and a new electricity grid and somebody said, 'well, what can I do? what can individuals do?'

"So I told them something simple, I said, 'You know what? You can inflate your tires to the proper levels and that if everybody in America inflated their tires to the proper level, we would actually probably save more oil than all the oil we'd get from John McCain drilling right below his feet there, or wherever he was going to drill.' So now the Republicans are going around - this is the kind of thing they do. I don't understand it! They’re going around, they're sending like little tire gauges, making fun of this idea as if this is 'Barack Obama's energy plan.'

"Now two points, one, they know they're lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they're making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.

"You know, they think it is funny that they are making fun of something that is actually true. They need to do their homework. Because this is serious business. Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference."

Obviously, there are simple factual mistakes (e.g., the saving from air tires is up to 3 percent of gas used by cars, not of all oil consumption; the up to 11.2 million gallons saved of oil per day (about 267,000 barrels of oil) is just a fraction of the 1.25 million barrels of oil produced from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that McCain is discussing (even if you expand it to included all things that could be done to improve gas mileage)).

So what is the problem with Obama's notion of efficiency? He only includes some costs and not others. There are 250 million cars in the US. Suppose that you would have 150 million cars having their tires checked once a week. Suppose that it takes on average 5 minutes to check the pressure on all the tires (remove the stem covers, check the pressure, fill up the tires with air when needed, put the covers back, clean your hands). If that is done once a week, it would take 750 million minutes a week, or 12.5 million hours. The average hourly wage in the US is now $18 per hour. Including workers not paid on an hourly rate, the number would be much higher. But at $18 per hour time costs on average, that comes to $225 million, $32.5 million per day. If gas prices are $4 a gallon, you would save $44.8 million (11.2 million gallons saved * $4 a gallon). Not a huge difference in the numbers.

Alabama county has about 9 percent of adults with permits

Lauderdale County in Alabama reported has about 6.67 percent of all residents and 9.1 percent of adults with concealed handgun permits. (Second number based on assuming that the share of population below 21 is about 26 percent.)

Concealed carry in Florida, and Jacksonville in particular

Here is a nice story on people getting concealed handgun permits in Florida and the increasing rate that women are applying.

University of Georgia Policy on Firearms

Thanks to David Mustard for sending this to me. He just received it via email today.

MEMORANDUM

TO: UGA Faculty, Staff, and Students

FROM: Jimmy Williamson, Chief of Police

RE: Possession of Weapons on Campus

In regards to weapons on campus, the University of Georgia has a Firearms, Weapons, and Explosives policy. The policy conforms to Georgia statutes which address the possession of weapons on University property. The policy follows in its entirety:

University of Georgia
Firearms, Weapons, and Explosives Policy

The University has deemed the following actions to be prohibited by state law and/or University policy. Violation of this policy will result in appropriate action, including but not limited to termination, dismissal and/or criminal prosecution, if it finds that a student, employee or visitor to campus engages in any of the following:

Using, possessing, manufacturing, distributing, maintaining, transporting or receiving, in a residence hall, any location on University property or at any University sponsored event, any of the following:

(a) firearm or weapon whether operable or inoperable as defined in Georgia Code Section 16-11-127.1 or any object of like character, including but not limited to paintball guns, BB guns, potato guns, air soft guns or any device which propels a projectile of any kind;

(b) any dangerous weapon, machine gun, sawed-off shotgun or rifle, shotgun or silencer as defined in Georgia Code Section 16-11-121;

(c) any bacteriological weapon, biological weapon, destructive device, detonator, explosive, incendiary, over-pressure device or poison gas as defined in Georgia Code Section 16-7-80;

(d) any explosive materials as defined in Georgia Code Section 16-7-81; or

(e) any hoax device, replica of a destructive device or configuration of explosive materials with the appearance of a destructive device, including but not limited to, fake bombs, packages containing substances with the appearance of chemical explosives or toxic materials.

The possession of a valid firearms permit, or a valid license to carry a concealed weapon, does not exempt students from the provisions of this policy or provisions detailed in Georgia Code Section 16-11-127.1. Under these provisions, students are prohibited from possessing, manufacturing, etc. weapons as defined above anywhere on University property.

These provisions do not prohibit the possession by non-students (i.e. faculty, staff, and visitors to campus) of weapons or devices which are legal to possess, provided such a device is kept in a locked compartment of a motor vehicle, or a locked container or locked firearms rack within a motor vehicle.

Under Georgia Code Section 16-11-127.1(c)(5)(E), campus police officers are not prohibited from carrying weapons on the University of Georgia campus

Georgia Packing has this information:

I wonder if the UGA regulations can be challenged.

Stunning change in Rasmussen poll on who voters trust

The Rasmussen Reports has this new survey:

John McCain is now trusted more than Barack Obama on nine out of 14 electoral issues tracked by Rasmussen Reports. The latest national telephone surveys find that McCain has the biggest advantage on the war in Iraq, by a 51% to 39% margin.

Perhaps the most interesting finding of these polls is that McCain has expanded his leads on nearly every issue he had previously had the advantage on, while Obama’s leads have diminished over the past two weeks. . . .

"At-risk Dems back drilling"

Pelosi has apparently told Dems to publicly oppose her on oil drilling at the same time she will keep any vote from occurring. The strategy is to let the Dems oppose her so that they will be protected from voter anger. Here is the story from the Politico:

Rahall spent more than an hour last week talking to the president about energy. Bush spent the entire flight aboard Air Force One, and much of a subsequent limousine ride, grilling the West Virginia Democrat about legislative solutions to the high price of gasoline, Rahall said last week.

So, does the president think Congress can get anything done this year?

“No,” Rahall replied in a short interview with Politico. “He’s realistic about it.”

Asked if Congress will produce a comprehensive energy bill in September before Congress adjourns again for elections, Rahall replied, “This year? No.”

Instead, the chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources believes Democrats are all about 2009. . . . .

It is nice to know that the Dems don't mind waiting until 2009 to deal with this issue. The question is can the Republicans educate people on the game that is being played here.

From Alexander Solzhenitsyn speaking at Harvard in 1978

From today's WSJ:

the most cruel mistake occurred with the failure to understand the Vietnam war. Some people sincerely wanted all wars to stop just as soon as possible; others believed that there should be room for national, or communist, self-determination in Vietnam, or in Cambodia, as we see today with particular clarity. But members of the U.S. antiwar movement wound up being involved in the betrayal of Far Eastern nations, in a genocide and in the suffering today imposed on 30 million people there. Do those convinced pacifists hear the moans coming from there? Do they understand their responsibility today? Or do they prefer not to hear? The American Intelligentsia lost its [nerve] and as a consequence thereof danger has come much closer to the United States. But there is no awareness of this. Your shortsighted politicians who signed the hasty Vietnam capitulation seemingly gave America a carefree breathing pause; however, a hundredfold Vietnam now looms over you. That small Vietnam had been a warning and an occasion to mobilize the nation's courage. But if a full-fledged America suffered a real defeat from a small communist half-country, how can the West hope to stand firm in the future?

Obviously, this seems to also apply to today.

The "First Black President" now has to proclaim that "I am not a racist"

Is Bill Clinton a racist? Not as far as I can tell. It is just sad that political correctness these days has gotten to the point that it makes it necessary to defend against even the most innocent comments. However, Clinton does have something to do with making this worse. But there is one question that I have: why did Clinton pick this time to make this assertion? Was it to cause trouble for Obama? After all, the race issue had just surfaced as a bone of contention between McCain and Obama where McCain had just accused Obama of making race an issue. Instead, Clinton said this:

“I am not a racist,” Clinton said Monday in a testy interview with ABC News in Monrovia, Liberia, in response to a question that wasn’t quite related to that subject. "I've never made a racist comment, and I never attacked [Obama] personally."

New Fox News Op-ed: Where There's Smoke, There's Government Intrusion

The new piece is available here:

This is still a free country, right? Last week, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to more closely regulate the wages that firms pay workers and more strictly regulate tobacco products by putting them under FDA supervision.

The Los Angeles City Council also approved a one-year-moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a 32 square mile low-income area in the city, the poor after all have “above-average rates of obesity” and must be protected from themselves.

Perhaps the government may just want to ask people if they are poor before we let them enter certain restaurants.

Barack Obama promises a national ban on smoking in public places. Such micro-managing of peoples’ behavior will likely to only get worse, as anyone who has been to countries such as Sweden can attest. . . .

While I would appreciate people adding their comments here, you can see some other comments here.

Another C-SPAN Broadcast on Monday

CSPAN2 4:00 p.m. Dr. John Lott, bestselling author of Freedomnomics
Topic: The Second Amendment, post Heller decision
The talk will be for the Young Americans Foundation.

Homeowner stops armed attacker in Los Angeles

From the LA Times:

A man fatally shot one of three armed intruders who broke into his Woodland Hills home Friday in an apparent home invasion robbery, police said.

The dead intruder, a man in his 20s whose name has not been released, was found with a handgun, said Officer Jason Lee, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. . . .

Thanks to CM Ross for the link.

Violent environmentalist types attack car driver in Seattle: Critical Mass hogs road

The Seattle PI has this story:

Police spokesman Mark Jamieson said the driver is not considered an aggressor, but a victim, in the chaos that broke out during the Critical Mass protest.

While acknowledging that the driver did strike some of the bicyclists, Jamieson said it appeared the man did so trying to get away from the large crowd.

"It's completely understandable, if you've got a mob surrounding you, trying to get to you," he said.

The disturbance happened at around 7:15 p.m. near East Aloha Street and 14th Avenue East. The driver was in a white Subaru with a female companion and was trying to pull out of a parking space.

At that moment a large group of riders, described to police as anywhere from 100 to 300 bicyclists, were participating in a Critical Mass demonstration.

For years, bicyclists involved with Critical Mass have gathered monthly to ride through Seattle streets in a show of support for the rights of bicyclists. For the most part, Seattle police have taken a hands-off approach to the riders, although the protest tactics include filling the streets with bikes, putting a stop to vehicular traffic.

The riders were employing this tactic just as the motorist and his companion were about to drive off, Jamieson said.

"The bicyclists were using both sides of the roadway, effectively blocking traffic," he said.

According to what some witnesses told police, an altercation with the driver ensued and some of those on bikes began sitting on his car and hitting the vehicle, Jamieson said.

The driver tried to back up, he said, and struck a bike.

That's when bicyclists really began attacking the vehicle.

"They broke his windshield and they broke the rear window and did some additional body damage," Jamieson said.

The driver told officers he feared for his safety and that of his girlfriend, so he sped off, hitting other bikes and riders. . . .

Some coverage of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Convention

Some news coverage for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus:

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas)

WASHINGTON — Should college students have the right to carry concealed guns on campus?

Yes, say members of the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. Men and women from colleges across the country attended the group's first national conference in Washington on Friday.

The movement was galvanized by the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 students and faculty members dead, said Michael Guzman, president of the group. Officials say an emotionally troubled student opened fire with two automatic pistols in an academic building on a campus where guns were banned.

"We were formed the day after Virginia Tech," said Guzman, 21, a senior at Texas State University in San Marcos.

The issue is not keeping guns out of the hands of college students, he said. College students have the same rights to carry concealed weapons as anyone else, subject to the laws of their state, he said. The issue is whether properly licensed students should be able to take concealed weapons on campus the way they can take them nearly everywhere else.

"There shouldn't be an imaginary boundary beyond which you can't defend yourself," said Matt Mesang, 21, a senior at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla.

Guzman said the movement is growing. He said the group has members on 500 college campuses and chapters at 300. The group has about 31,000 members on Facebook.

Guzman said 11 colleges already allow students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus.

CNSNews had an article here that focused on my debate with Paul Helmke.

Some blog discussions here and here.

Video on demand available for Gun Control Debate between Paul Helmke and Myself

CSPAN has video of the debate and panels available here. If you have trouble with that link, you can go here and scroll down to where it says "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus First National Conference."

Morton Grove ends 27-year-old handgun ban, Chicago may also give in too

The Chicago Tribune has this story:

Morton Grove's landmark handgun ban, imposed 27 years ago, died quietly Monday night, as the suburb's Village Board bowed to a new legal reality and repealed the ordinance.

The board's 5-1 vote came in response to last month's ruling by a divided U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a similar ban. The high court ruled that the 2nd Amendment protects a person's right to own a firearm for self-defense.

Fighting in court to try to keep the law would cost money the village does not have, officials said.

"I appreciate the courage the board [showed] in 1981 in a noble experiment," Trustee Dan Staackmann said. "[But] we don't have the resources to fight this all the way."

Trustee Georgianne Brunner cast the lone vote against the repeal. "We may be acting a little bit in haste," she said. "I'm just grateful for what they did in 1981, and I wish we could just take a step back and wait it out."

Morton Grove adopted the nation's first ordinance banning the possession of handguns in 1981, triggering a storm of publicity and a nationwide debate over the merits of using local ordinances to control gun ownership. The ordinance was upheld in 1984 by the Illinois Supreme Court. . . .

Even more amazing is this story here:

Mayor Daley on Friday cracked the door open to abandoning the costly fight to uphold Chicago's 1982 handgun freeze -- if he can fashion a replacement ordinance that protects the safety of first-responders.

Until now, Daley had promised to defend Chicago's ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, despite what he called the dangerous precedent set by the court. . . .

Now that both suburbs have thrown in the towel, and newspaper editorials have urged Daley to do the same to save millions in legal costs on a fight he can't win, he appears to be having second thoughts. . . .

"We don't know yet. ... We're not gonna run away. We're gonna try to figure this out," he said.

Under further questioning, the mayor said city attorneys would simultaneously contest the law and work on a possible replacement.

Chicagoans with guns in their homes might be required to have insurance to protect taxpayers from frivolous lawsuits, he said.

How will the Olympics effect China regarding pollution

I have read numerous articles where Chinese citizens on the street have been saying that the smog in Beijing was not due to pollution. Yet, with the air beginning to clear with all the anti pollution efforts going on there, it will be hard for people to deny the role of pollution in their incredibly bleak skies.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Normally smog-plagued Beijing bathed in blue skies and sunshine on Saturday in just the sort of weather the Chinese pray will grace their Olympics and banish athletes' health fears six days before the big start.

Experts attributed a rare day of fine weather in the Chinese capital to overnight rain and -- finally -- the impact of strict anti-pollution measures such as ordering half the cars off the road and closing smoke-belching factories.

"You see, we have done it! You can even see the mountains," enthused one Chinese student volunteer near the magnificent, newly built "Bird's Nest" stadium that is the main venue. . . .

The question is the long run impact. Presumably this change and the change back to pollution after the games will make the role of pollution in causing the smog hard to deny.

Pictures from the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Conference

Joyce Lee Malcolm
Bob Cottrol
Alan Gura
John Lott and Paul Helmke

Debate on Gun Free Zones on College Campuses: Rebroadcast on CSPAN1 from 9 to 10 PM EDT

I think that the debate went well with Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign, on whether permitted concealed handguns should be allowed on colleges and universities. It was nice of him to participate. The link for CSPAN1 on the internet is available here.

New McCain ad on Obama being "The One"

Debate on Gun Free Zones on College Campuses: CSPAN3 from 1 to 2 PM EDT

For those interested, I will be debating Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign, on whether permitted concealed handguns should be allowed on colleges and universities. CSPAN3 will be covering the event live from 1 to 2 PM. After that, the rest of the conference will also be shown on CSPAN3. Presumably parts of the conference will be rebroadcast after that. The live link for CSPAN3 is available here.