Armed for Bear

Students on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard aren't allowed to leave their village without a shotgun and ammunition. That's because hungry polar bears can be behind every swing on the island.

Don't tell Wayne.

Because We Wouldn't Want to "Harm American Interests Abroad"

President Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the state's execution of a Mexican national for the brutal killing of two teenage girls...

Medellin was born in Mexico, but spent much of his childhood in the United States. He was 18 in June 1993, when he and other members of the Black and Whites gang in Houston encountered two teenage girls on a railroad trestle.

The girls were gang-raped and strangled. Their bodies were found four days later.

Nice. Would he still want to halt it if they had been his two girls? And why aren't we primarily concerned with American interests at home?

Give Them What They Want

"There's not much you can do about it," he said...

"God protects me," he said...

"If they come in here, they come in. There's nothing I can do," he said...

"There's nothing you can do, really," he said...

One thing all clerks said they had been instructed to do in the event of a hold-up is to acquiesce to a robber's demands.

"Don't fight them," Smith said. "Give them what they want; let them be."

What if they want this...?

Since You Asked

If the South Medford High School English teacher wins her case (and I pray she doesn't), will students have the right, for personal safety reasons, to not have her as their English teacher? Will parents be allowed to pull their sons and daughters from Shirley Katz's class for safety reasons?

— Dean L., Medford

Well, Dean, since you asked, just what the hell is wrong with you, and why should your pathetic fears have any bearing on the rights of free citizens to defend themselves?

Keep praying, Dean. But some of us want other options.

Technical Difficulties

Kristen Helm, a TBI spokeswoman, said a software issue “crashed the server” at about 1 a.m. Monday morning, halting all gun sales in Tennessee for almost three days.

Not that there's a broader lesson to be learned from this or anything...

Fools Rush In

The Foolhardy Folk Circus, based at Church Road, Sprowston, organised the a toy gun amnesty outside The Forum in Norwich's Millennium Plain over the weekend encouraging youngsters to hand in their plastic guns in return for a toy duck and a heart.

Talk about a name that fits. And look at the "gun" in the picture. Good grief.

I don't know what it is today about the UK and toy guns, but I'm starting to think we need to airdrop some of these.

And then start air dropping some of these...

We're the Only Ones Making Kids Cry Enough

Eight-year-old Samuel England was left in tears after a police officer ordered that his toy gun should be broken in front of him.

And then they go back and harass the kid sister for driving her Barbie car. Good thing they have a handle on all the dangerous criminals so they can expend resources on this.

The implications of this are just so damned evil--here we have a neighborhood where kids are playing and happy and everyone is having a good time until Big Man Constable Coercion goose-steps in and threatens the citizenry to obey him or else. Hitler may as well have taken Europe, because the Nazis really did end up in charge.

[More from "The Only Ones" Files]

Like We Said: We're the Only Ones Permissive Enough

"It's up to them to provide us with sufficient reason for us to issue them a permit to carry a weapon when the everyday citizen doesn't have that right," Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Dan Bressler said...

"We feel like we're responsible if we give out a concealed weapon permit," he said. "Our sheriff wants to make sure we give them out responsibly, not just to anybody. He's quite cautious about it."

Because we're "The Only Ones"...

[Via Janet K]

We're the Only Ones Permissive Enough

The misdemeanor charge was dismissed about a month later in Superior Court in Manchester, leaving Goldberg, 29, with a clean record. But he will have to wait until May 14, 2009, for a hearing before the Board of Firearms Permit examiners, a civilian board that hears appeals on revoked or denied gun permits...

Kuck blames the State Police Special License and Firearms unit for mismanagement, arrogance and attempting to create its own laws on gun permits. The unit, composed of troopers, is responsible for the issuance of state pistol permits, oversight and regulation of firearm sale transactions, and issuance of licenses.

I don't know why anyone would be surprised that a group of "Only Ones" claiming "authority" to give "permission" for exercising a right would be arrogant.

I'd also be interested in finding out if Chili's is doing anything to make amends. An hysterical response to seeing a citizen with a gun from conditioned herd animals shouldn't surprise me any more, but it somehow always does.

This Day in History: October 8

Lieut Col Abijah Brown tried at a late General Court martial, whereof Col Hitchcock was presdt. -- for "endeavouring to defraud the Continent, in mustering two Soldiers, whom he at the same time employed in working upon his farm" -- The Court having duly considered the evidence, are of opinion that Lieut Col Brown is not guilty of any fraud, in endeavouring to have Harrington and Clarke muster'd, in the manner he did. But the Court are of opinion, that Col Brown is guilty of employing Harrington for fourteen days, and Clarke for eighteen days, out of Camp, upon his own business, yet are inclined to think it was done rather thro' Ignorance, than a fraudulent intent, and therefore adjudge that he be fin'd Four Pounds, lawful money, for the said offence.