And the Best Acting Award Goes to...

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded for forgiveness from his family and his constituents Wednesday in an emotional televised speech, his delayed response to recently revealed racy text messages that contradict his sworn testimony that he did not have a physical relationship with a key aide...

"I am the mayor. I made the mistake," Kilpatrick told Detroit residents, looking into the camera. "I am accountable."

No, a "mistake" is when you're adding and forget to carry a number over to the next column.

Perjury is a deliberate, premeditated felony, not an accident. Especially when both of you falsely testify to the same lie under oath. Then it also becomes conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

You're not trying to be accountable, you're trying to evade by being pathetic to evoke sympathy. And the way your supporters, particularly women and those in the "religious" community, are rushing to your defense is representative of the type of willfully blind enabling that makes so much crime possible.

But it's easier to blame the guns, isn't it?

RELATED READING

Ron Paul on National Defense

This "Open Letter to Neal Boortz Listeners" has a lot of good summary information that those of you holding out ought to carefully evaluate.

One other point I'd like to make to those of you who argue there hasn't been another (major) terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11--first off, we don't know, as a lid is being kept on things, but there were credible reports that among these have been some of the devastating western wildfires.

But even that's not the point.

If you look at the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, Bill Clinton could make the same claim about his presidency--that his competent and effective national security policies kept us safe until George Bush took over.

No?

[Via SameNoKami]

We're the Only Ones Pimpin' Enough

A 13-year-old runaway returned home with a horrific account of being forced into prostitution by the kind of person who should have instead come to her aid: a city detective.

And I wonder--
I wah-wah-wah-wah-wonder,
Why,
Why, why, why, why, why she ran away,
Yes, and I wonder,
A-where she will stay-ay,
My little runaway,
Run, run, run, run, runaway.
Run, run, run, run, runaway.
Run, run, run, run, runaway.

[Via SameNoKami]

[More from "The Only Ones" Files]

["Runaway" by Del Shannon]

The Company He Keeps

There's one other point I wanted to make about last night's debate.

John McCain said:

I'll rely on people to judge me by the company that I keep.

and

I hope that some people judge me by those that are supporting me.

Fair enough.

Senator McCain: You recently announced you were supported by Sylvester Stallone, who not only endorses government confiscation of firearms, but also jokes about how he "injected [a former girlfriend] with [his] fist."

Comment? Should we judge you by him?

Senator...?

A Numbers Racket

I took last night's CNN republican debate transcript and crunched some numbers. I pulled it into Word to get aggregate totals using the "Find" utility with "Match Case"--as candidates speaking were presented in upper case. Here's what it showed:

ROMNEY: 49
MCCAIN: 45
HUCKABEE: 16
PAUL: 9

A bit of a disparity there, don't you think? And I couldn't help but notice Jim VandeHei from Politico initiated only one question to Dr. Paul. Janet Hook from the LA Times didn't even acknowledge he existed.

Here's something else that bothered me:

PAUL: ...But I would like to take one minute, since I didn't get a chance to answer this discussion on conservative versus liberal.

COOPER: We're going to have -- I promise you we're going to have -- you're going to have another opportunity to do that. I promise you, coming up in like two minutes or two questions.

Go ahead and find where Anderson kept his promise.

We've talked before--several times--about how the "Authorized Journalists" are marginalizing Dr. Paul by omission. He needs to do a better job of not allowing that to happen, particularly in debates where he has some immediate control--by gently but firmly protesting being ignored, and insisting on equal time for all candidates.

I think if, during commercial break, he and Huckabee decided to walk out in protest when the cameras came back on, they'd not only have their own impromptu mini-debate/news conference with plenty of reporters, but it would be today's major headline, completely overshadowing the meaningless posturing, pandering and prevarication that went on last night between establishment darlings Romney and McCain. That's a guerilla move--millions of dollars worth of free publicity that would also set them apart in a way, I believe, that many Americans who are sick of the same old BS and manipulation would admire.

We're the Only Ones to Catch a Predator Enough

Connecticut state authorities say a Norwalk police lieutenant has been arrested on charges he had sexual relations with teenagers...

According to the arrest warrant affidavits, authorities say the 46-year-old used computer Web sites and chat rooms to entice the boys to his home, where he allegedly showed them pornographic materials and engaged in sexual intercourse.

"Cummings"?

Why don't you take a seat?

[Via Declan]

[More from "The Only Ones" Files]

The Pen is Prohibited as the Sword

A child was suspended for 3 days because he was writing with a pen that had a Glock logo on it in Georgia.

I haven't seen anything on this from the "Authorized Journalists," but that means less and less these days. So we'll assume it's on the up and up.

I'd like to know the name of the school and the name of the bonehead Vice Principal. An email address would be nice, too.

[Via HZ]

Civil Disobedience

The Bush Administration does not want convicted felons to to lawfully own firearms. What if the convicted felon's only crime was the civil disobedience of an anti-Constitutional, anti-gun law?

The Liberty Belles' Jennifer Freeman brings up something every gun owner needs to think about. The sad thing is, there will be no shortage of "enforce existing gun law" heroes on the gun boards who will tell you anyone who disobeys knew there were consequences and deserves what he gets, makes us all look bad, and should work to change laws they disagree with and obey them in the interim.

The question we should ask ourselves is whether we think these forum warriors are instrumental in--or obstacles to--securing real liberty.

A New Gun Claim

The gun used to shoot and blind a TTC bus driver two years ago has been shuffled between criminals, Toronto police said yesterday, and is implicated in four other crimes, including the 2003 murder of youth worker Kempton Howard.

You know what would solve that?

A registry of legal owners. That and forbidding the "law-abiding" to own them.

Don't you think?

And here's a new one on me from the "Authorized Journalists." They've told us about guns that go off and guns that kill, but I believe this is the first I've heard about guns that "claim sight."

You learn something new every day.

Almost Heaven, West Virginia

Seventh- through ninth-graders could opt for instruction in topics ranging from survival skills to gun safety, but the weapons would have dummy ammunition or be disabled. Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill this month, doesn't envision students firing real guns during class time.

It's a step in the right direction, but that's why I used "almost."

This Day in History: January 31

Lafayette’s 1779 memoirs record his January 31, 1778, meeting with the Board of War. According to Lafayette, at dinner in Gates’s quarters that evening, he embarrassed the guests by asking them to drink to the health of the commander in chief.