Witness for the Prosecution

Using technology to track a person's location is nothing new. For years, police have been able to trace cell phone signals and use other dashboard devices such as automatic toll-collection systems to confirm a driver's whereabouts.

But the growing popularity of GPS systems — in cars, cell phones and other handheld devices — gives authorities another powerful tool to track suspects.

And best of all, you pay for it!

Don't have one? Wait a few decades--it'll be a standard requirement.

And since we all agree driving is a "privilege" (we all agree that, right?) that should be licensed, why it stands to reason that legislation must be introduced to make disabling or otherwise interfering with such devices to be a crime--and probably a federal one at that, since cars are products of interstate commerce.

Besides, if you're not doing anything wrong, what have you got to hide?

The Revelation of St. Michael

Michael Moore: Hurricane Coming During GOP Convention 'Proof There Is a God in Heaven'

I don't suppose it occurs to these zealots that they are very sick people indeed?

Knowing there are those who lust for the destruction of their political opponents with religious fervor is all the proof I need to never let them disarm me.

"You're No Hillary"

Thank goodness for that. One is quite enough.

Am I sensing desperation? The junior marxist traitors are getting all petty and whiny and bitchy and indignant and everything, although with Van Jones, that's pretty much his whole shtick anyway.

I'll say this for Palin--in just a few short hours alienated conservatives are starting to feel like they might have a horse in this race. I'm starting to see a lot of excitement and interest, as opposed to the cynical resignation I was seeing before. That might even translate into involvement and votes.

At the very least, the self-righteous hostility is entertaining to watch.

The Calm Before the Storm

Gun, ammo sales are brisk ahead of storm...

Fool me once...

When Big Bird Goes Bad

Birds as big as human beings are breeding out of control near Germany's Baltic coast, giving a shock to sparrows, blackbirds and other small-fry native species.

...Thanks to German nature-conservation laws, the pushy nandus can grin at hunters, because no one is licensed to kill one.

It's not like they don't know what the problem is and it's not like they don't know what the solution is.

Just like us.

[Via cycjec]

[Big Bird photo obtained from here. I don't know if it is the original source.]

We're the Only Ones Trying to Ram Things Down Your Throat Enough

On or about March 23, 2007, in the Southern District of Texas, in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, defendant SAMUEL B. KENT did knowingly attempt to causeanother person to engage in a sexual act by using force against that other person, to wit: defendant KENT, at the United States Post Office and Courthouse in Galveston, Texas, attempted to cause Person A to engage in contact between Person A's mouth and defendant KENT's penis by forcing Person A's head towards defendant KENT's groin area.

Gosh, first Mulder and now this. If we can't believe in leading men and "Only Ones," who can we have faith in?

In fairness, I hesitated posting and commenting on this one--nothing has been proven, and it's not like workplace and relationship vendettas don't exist. I also have a problem shielding the identity of accusers unless extreme special circumstances are present.

I guess the reason I'm skeptical is because I just don't know what kind of adult would submit to something outrageous like this without going into full on-the-spot-create-a-scene mode. Inappropriate comments should always be immediately put down with unmistakable seriousness. Unwelcome physical contact warrants a physical response, or at the very least, an attempt to escape screaming followed by an immediate police report.

I just can't imagine trading in your dignity for something as temporary a job.

Still, if true, it's understandable why some judges would want guns not used for protecting them prohibited in their courthouses. Because if that abuse was ever tried on some of the women I admire, Person A would be forcing something hard into the defendant's mouth.

[Via Stephen S]

Meanwhile, Across the Pond in Sarah Brady Paradise...

Firearms: cheap, easy to get and on a street near you

You know what they need over there?

Gun control!

Oh, wait...

The XXX Files

David Duchovny has entered a rehabilitation center for sex addiction...

Aside from the fact that clinically, there's no such thing, here's something else you should know about him: He was one of the Hollywood Illuminati who signed "An Open Letter to the National Rifle Association," a full-page ad taken out by Handgun Control in USA Today on June 9, 1999 (p.5D). As I wrote in my GUNS & AMMO piece, "Six Degrees of Hypocrisy":

[The letter] demanded limiting handgun purchases to one a month, banning "assault weapons," magazine capacity limits, gun locks and "a 'cooling off' period...[that] might just save the life of a child..."

Mr. Duchovny evidently feels he cannot control himself without outside intervention. I want to believe it would be best for all concerned if he turned his focus inward, and stopped worrying about controlling the rest of us.

The Kwame Bodyguard Loophole

Federal experts are examining a handgun reported lost in a restaurant bathroom last year by a former bodyguard of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and recently found in possession of a convicted felon. They are looking into whether the gun was used in other crimes.

Quick--somebody tell Mayors Against Guns!

Cruel and Unusual

"I cried my eyelashes off," she said in the bowels of Invesco Field, moments after Obama accepted the nomination for president before an estimated 84,000 people.

I think anyone who mentions "Oprah Winfrey" and "bowels" in the same article is just plain looking to cause trouble.

This Day in History: August 30

We have Accounts that a Number of Vessels have sailed lately from Boston, which we apprehend are designed to plunder the Stock along the Coast. The General Assembly have ordered it all to be removed from all the Islands in this Colony excepting Rhode Island. We have now about Three Hundred Men employed in that Business. I am requested by the General Assembly to apply to you to give Directions to the Commissary General that all the Stock taken from these Islands that are fit to kill be taken for the Use of the Army in Preference to any Stock which is secure in the Country. The Drought hath been so severe along the Sea Coast this Summer that there is no Possibility of providing for this Stock in any other Way.

Palin

John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Sarah Palin on Gun Control

I am a lifetime member of the NRA, I support our Constitutional right to bear arms and am a proponent of gun safety programs for Alaska's youth.

This doesn't tell me all that much. But I've heard some good things about her.

If this is confirmed by an official announcement, McCain made the best choice he could have, all things considered with the existing field.

Who knows what about her? Comments?

UPDATE:Structureless first impression rambling to follow. Saw her intro and speech. From a strictly political standpoint, this is a brilliant move--beautiful family--Norman Rockwell Americans--likable--people can identify with them. As for attacks on experience, she has more as an executive in charge of a government than Barack. Schumer is gloating he wants to see her debate Biden--ditto--I think she'll kick his ass. Concerns were raised in comments about a scandal to exploit--if it's the trooper deal, evidence says she wasn't directly involved, the guy who did was disciplined, she has cooperated with the dems leading the charge making subpoenas unnecessary, plus it sounds like the guy was a true 'Only One'.

On first glance, I'm impressed, but admit most of it is emotional rather than analytical--like I said, politically, I don't think McCain could have done better. I imagine a Mitthead choice and compare him to her and the visceral reaction says there is no comparison.

For some reason I'm conjuring up a cartoon of her standing behind McCain at the inauguration getting ready to pop a blown up paper bag.

UPDATE: Some partisan rah-rah that makes some valid points about political viability...

A Sick, Mad Dog Bastard

“When I turned 16, that’s when I basically started shooting people, putting in work and all. In my neighborhood, people feared me. They feared me because I didn’t have no problems with taking a life. I mean, you know, you disrespect me or do something wrong to me, you’ll die for it.”

Can you imagine what kind of sick, mad dog bastard would require another human being to be defenseless with defects like this running loose?

We're the Only Ones in Hot Pursuit Enough

The Hudson Police Department is eager to recover two police badges, an identification card and a pistol taken from a detective's unmarked squad car this month.

They'd better hurry.

The mall opens just a few minutes from now...

On the bright side, if people see the thief with the gun, they'll assume he's an "Only One" and won't resist--just like they're conditioned to react. Instead, they'll give him what he wants.

That's a good thing, isn't it?

We're the Only...Oh, Yeah, Do it, Baby...Hey, Sarge, Check this Out! Enough

Although casual users cannot see the previous user’s search history, authorities such as the police will be able to access it if necessary.

And, of course, the "Only Ones" get to decide what's necessary.

What could go wrong?

Don't Resist and Give Them What They Want

He said the hooded men had carried on beating the monks even though they offered no resistance.

Maybe that's what they wanted...

Do you think that would have happened to Gabriel Possenti?

Speaking of Bloomberg...

An obituary of very-much-alive Apple founder Steve Jobs has been accidentally published by the respected Bloomberg business news wire...

Bloomberg, which was founded by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and prides itself on its accuracy and transparency, later published a note acknowledging the story's retraction on its wire.

Thank goodness they were able to correct it so quickly, before any real harm was done. But people incorrectly classified on another list Bloomberg endorses might not be so fortunate.

Not that we should expect that moral cripple to care...

Meanwhile, Back in Bloomberg Paradise...

New data indicate New York City residents are contracting the virus that causes AIDS at three times the national rate.

This is just a backdoor attempt at...ah...no, I'd better not go there...

It's but one manifestation of a much wider problem. The urban areas in this nation, where people are most directly affected by and dependent on choice-controlling government, have been incubators for enabling destructive individual choices. It's a directly observable phenomenon.

Who among us does not know that unprotected promiscuous sex has consequences? Or that putting toxic crap into your body is self-destructive? Or that it's wrong to hurt people?

The answer is not extending state control over those of us who neither need nor want it. But that's what they're determined to do.

[Via Avg Joe]

We're the Only Ones Making History Enough

"He gave me some additional (non-public) information that was enough for me to deny the permit," Pulkrabek wrote in an e-mail circulated this week to other sheriffs. "The rest is history."

Yeah--so the guy shot himself with a rifle.

Nice intercept there.

Let me get this straight: The "Only Ones" get to define my rights based on isolated abuses by the most aberrant among us?

Tell you what, sheriff: You let me worry about me. When it comes to suicide prevention, I'd say you have bigger problems.

[Via Michael G]

About Last Night...

The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.
(APPLAUSE)

It's official. The Lightworker just promised a new "assault weapons" ban.

I suggest making preparations without delay if you haven't already, because on a personal level, he comes across so much better than "My friends" McCain--it reminds me of the Kennedy/Nixon telegenic factor.

If you didn't hear the speech, watch it on the Internet or read this transcript. Look at everything he promises, and then compare it to what this authorizes him to do.

Not that I believe McCain's pledges would fare much better under such scrutiny.