Late Start

Didn't sleep well last night, plus fighting an oncoming cold. Got up later than normal, still expected at work to keep some commitments, so that's it for this morning's blogging. I know this is less content than usual--I'll be happy to give everybody their money back. I may have something more this evening. Until then...

The Wise Guy

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit interpreted the Second Amendment as bestowing on individuals a right to have guns.

No it did not either, Erwin. You've been spinning your subversive interpretation of the Second Amendment for more years than I can remember, but I'm not going to let you get away with a damned lie that anyone who can read can disprove.

While acknowledging that the district court "held that the Second Amendment...does not bestow any rights on individuals except, perhaps, when an individual serves in an organized militia" (the only use of the word "bestow" in the entire document), the panel majority specifically noted:

The wording of the operative clause also indicates that the right to keep and bear arms was not created by government, but rather preserved by it...Hence, the Amendment acknowledges “the right...to keep and bear Arms,” a right that pre-existed the Constitution like “the freedom of speech.” Because the right to arms existed prior to the formation of the new government...the Second Amendment only guarantees that the right “shall not be infringed.”

So try that spin on someone who ain't watchin', Prof.

As for the rest of your subversive screed, you and yours keep claiming you have equal weight of scholarship on your side as far as founding intent goes, but you always seem to come up short on documentation from the time the Constitution was written and ratified to back your claim that the Founders intended the government, and particularly the federal government, to be able to disarm the people.

That's so stupid it's laughable.

And as far as your proposal to apply less than strict scrutiny to an article in the Bill of Rights, how convenient that you believe this ought only apply to the Second--but I guess in order for that to happen, we need to drop this individual rights nonsense and just take you at your demonstrably worm-tongued word for things, right Erwin?

Tell me something--have you ever had a really sharp kid, one who's mind hasn't been clouded by the Stalinist nonsense that passes for public education these days--stand up in one of your lectures and proceed to demonstrate how utterly and irremediably pompous and full of crap you are?

Not impressed, bub. Especially with this latest clumsy bit of whining subversion.

I know GOP apologist Hugh Hewitt considers you one of "The Smart Guys." From where I sit, I just can't see it. You look like just another bloviating pinko to me.

Wayne Fincher Update: March 15

In unrelated proceedings, Stilley was dismissed last week as the defense attorney for Hollis Wayne Fincher, a Washington County resident convicted in January of possessing illegal, unregistered weapons. According to a report in The Morning News, Fincher cited irreconcilable differences with the attorney and requested another defender for the sentencing phase of his trial.

Stilley, who was privately retained, said he was permitted to go to the federal courthouse in Fayetteville to be formally dismissed. Fincher awaits a court-appointed defender.

Please note the new address for Wayne's defense fund, per his daughter:
The Wayne Fincher Defense Fund
PO BOX 215
Elkins Arkansas 72727

[More about Wayne Fincher via WarOnGuns]

This Day in History: March 15

On the morning of March 15, 1783, General George Washington makes a surprise appearance at an assembly of army officers at Newburgh, New York, to calm the growing frustration and distrust they had been openly expressing towards Congress in the previous few weeks. Angry with Congress for failing to honor its promise to pay them and for its failure to settle accounts for repayment of food and clothing, officers began circulating an anonymous letter condemning Congress and calling for a revolt.