Law enforcement backdoor? What could go wrong?!

Police would like to have a national backdoor to your private data .... you know, to help them with legitimate police work:

But cybercrime investigators are frustrated by the speed of traditional methods of faxing, mailing, or e-mailing companies these documents. They're pushing for the creation of a national Web interface linking police computers with those of Internet and e-mail providers so requests can be sent and received electronically.

I can think of lots of reasons that this would be a Bad Idea.

I'm sure David could come up with several more.

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Sharing the wealth

A couple of Examiner columns to share.

The first is from the Atlanta Civil Rights Examiner about Arizona's proposed abolishing of permit requirements for concealed carry.

Then David Codrea has more on the Austin Gun Show controversy.

Go. Read.

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JPFO Alert

NRA under gun owner scrutiny.

So jihadi's deserve criminal rights why?

Ace has this post about a couple of things (one of which is down right now), but this story of a prison guard tells it all:

About halfway through, they used a comb — thick and long, about 10 inches, with a handle. They'd taken the teeth out and sharpened it like a knife.

They put it in my left eye. It went three inches into my brain.

'They' were Mamdouh Mahmud Salim and Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, accused of bombing two embassies in Africa.

Read the whole thing .... really.

'They', and all of 'them' need to be thrown, bound at the hands and feet, into a wild hog pen. The festivities need to be filmed.

Then sent to Al Jazeera.

They probably won't like us then ....... fuck 'em.

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Conflict of interest?

Isn't this convenient, that they're 'doing something' about a competitor:

"Our ... people will hold Toyota's (TM) feet to the fire to make sure they are going to do everything they said they were going to do to make the vehicles safe," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at an appearance in Washington.

I wonder if their people would do the same with a company who owed them several billion dollars?

Just as Obama's refusal to release college transcripts leads one to wonder if he's not an 'affirmative action' graduate, so does any action that's against an auto manufacturer who's not GM or Chrysler will be looked at as suspect.

At least, it should.

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About the Scott Roeder conviction

First off, I want to make clear that I am against abortion, both on religious grounds as well as human rights grounds. It is my opinion that abortion should be allowed only in cases of rape or incest, and that the abortion should be accompanied by investigative action on the part of authorities.

That said, I was interested in a thread I saw on Ace of Spades, that was about the conviction, and an earlier one discussing the folly (or not) of allowing the 'necessity' defense.

I thought the judge was correct in allowing the defense, and I thought that Roeder should have pursued that defense anyhow (since I know where he's coming from). I also think that Roeder should also appeal, since the judge (I have since found out) did not allow Roeder to actually put on a 'necessity' defense.

I have been following the drama in Kansas for a while now, beginning with then Attorney General Phill Kline's attempt to prosecute George Tiller for performing illegal abortions. Tiller was essentially accused of violating a provision of Kansas law stating that late-term abortions could be performed, but only with the concurrence of a doctor who is not affiliated with the abortion doctor.

Tiller was using the same concuring doctor, one who had financial ties to Tiller. It was this relationship that Kline was trying to prosecute. Bad thing was, Kline was trying to win reelection and having a particularly bad time with it. I'll spare you the political details, but essentially, Kathleen Sebelius pulled out all the stops to get Kline replaced by someone more .... compliant (Jack Cashill has more). Kline's replacement ended the prosecution of Tiller that Kline had worked so hard to effect.

So now, we come to Scott Roeder's defense. The evidence that Tiller was performing abortions in violation of state law might have won a conviction, had it been allowed to proceed ..... but it wasn't. So now we can reasonably assume that Roeder concludes that going the 'legal' route to stop Tiller is doomed to failure. What is left?

Someone, maybe a lot of someones, thought that Tiller needed to be stopped; someones who had the authority to prosecute Tiller. But those who had authority to do this were stopped.

It's my opinion that Roeder, logically, did the only thing left available to him (or to anyone faced with the realization that the laws will not be enforced). He shot and killed George Tiller.

The judge allowed Roeder to mount a 'necessity' defense, but when his lawyers tried to call Phill Kline to testify, the judge said no.

Just so I have this straight, the judge says "Yes, you can put on a 'necessity' defense", but then won't allow you to call the witnesses who can testify to your 'necessity'?

The legal system (which has nothing, apparently, to do with justice) has gone stark raving mad.

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PS - don't try to change my mind; it can't be done! :-)

Common sense gun laws? Indeed!

Alan at Snarkybytes has a tongue-in-cheek (but very accurate!) look at how much common sense some gun laws make:

For instance, if the barrel on my shotgun is over 18 inches it’s legal. If it’s 17 3/4 inches long I could face 10 years in jail. That makes no sense.

And it goes on and on and on .......

I've heard that the ATF tried to snag a citizen for a short-barreled shotgun by measuring the barrel with a 3" magnum shell, when the shotgun wasn't chambered for but 2-3/4". Fortunately, the jury saw the error of ATF's ways.

The most common sense gun law I know is: Don't make gun laws period!

I know, wishful thinking!

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Too much time on my hands ......

That's what the government on Ballard, WA have - someone cut down an exceptional tree:

Now, the city's Planning Department is after the homeowner for removing 80 years of history because it was protected under the "exceptional tree ordinance.

It was a monkey puzzle tree? Never heard of 'em.

One of these days, the citizenry will finally get tired of these busy-bodies and take matters into their own hands.

Tar, feathers ...... some assembly required.

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More on today's JPFO alert

I read with interest the latest JPFO alert, in which Kirby Ferris goes over just how shitty Paul Clement is on the second amendment (how on earth does NRA employ him?).

I just scanned through his part of the oral arguments, and I didn't see much a all that would endear him to 2A advocates.

So the question is begged again: Does the NRA really want gun control to die?

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JPFO Alert

Does the NRA really want "gun control" to die?

More 'democracy' crap

From Ace's overnight thread comes this misguided effort to 'equalize' the electoral college:

The electoral college is a time-honored system that has only broken down three times in over 200 years. However, it's obvious that reforms are needed. The organization of the states should be altered.

So they think the electoral college 'broke' three times? What they mean is, three times we didn't get the result we wanted, so we'll change the rules of the game.

The constitution is essentially counter-majoritarian; even if the majority wants to keep you from speaking, or wants to arbitarily violate your privacy, or take your weapons, the constitution is (supposed to be) there to say ' No you can't'.

When the electoral college 'broke', it actually worked exactly as it was intended; to thwart the will of the majority. One of the great blunders that Americans have made was the ratification of the 17th amendment, providing for the direct election of US senators. That amendment reduced one of the checks and balances down to nothing; namely, the influence of the states in legislation. This is why spending must originate in the House, then the Senate must approve it. The states were to provide the 'statesmanship' to temper what the masses (citizens) wanted.

The Left has endeavored for a long time to make our government more 'democratic' so that they can get more and more power by promising more and more benefits paid for by government.

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Hey, I'm fixin to pee!

Stolen from Ace is this picture of the most awesomest puppy around!

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