Watching CNN recently - was it last weekend? - I saw a sublimely ridiculous segment on the dangers of a commercially available .50 cal rifle. The reporter noted that the gun is illegal in California but that one could buy the gun from a private seller without even going through a background check. So this reporter gets online and finds a site featuring classified ads for firearms, and finds someone in Houston selling the gun. He flies to Houston, buys the gun with cash, and flies back home with it.
He then takes it to a firing range, camera in tow, and proceeds to demonstrate how dangerous the gun is by shooting it at a salvaged airliner emergency exit door. Of course, the bullet passes cleanly through the door, as I imagine just about any rifle bullet would. Then he places a steel plate behind the door, and a round punctures both. Read here for a more detailed look at the segment.
All this is to suggest that terrorists could purchase the .50 cal rifle, plant themselves at the end of a runway, and take out an airliner on approach. Even a novice shooter like me knows what bunk that is. The reporter remarks on the weight of the rifle as he hefts in on camera. It's a bolt action gun, and the ammunition is rather large. I can't imagine that a shooter could get many rounds off as an jet passes close overhead, and trying to hit a fast moving target with that thing would be pretty tough. You would have to have a pivot mount of some kind, probably on the back of a truck, to have much chance of hitting an aircraft. The shooter in that situation would be easy to spot.
Not to mention that even if you hit the airplane, you wouldn't likely do any serious damage. A jetliner can withstand a small puncture fairly easily, especially at low altitude. All this adds up to this weapon being a very unlikely choice for a terrorist, at least for attempting to down an airliner. The CNN piece was designed to scare gullible people, and it had me rolling my eyes as I watched.
What has happened since then has been a joy to watch. If you read the gun blogs you know what I'm talking about. It seems that CNN and its reporter violated one or more federal gun control laws - felonies - as they made the story. The feds have been notified. Normally I'd rather not see a person be prosecuted for violating one of the set of labarynthine federal gun laws. It's too easy for a gun purchaser or seller to commit a felony without even realizing it, and without any criminal intent. It looks like the folks at CNN may be realizing this now.
But they have generally been in favor of more gun control, and this story is one example of the bias they will inject into their reporting in order to advance an anti-gun agenda. So if they get in serious trouble via laws that they support, well, that really is justice.
Will Wilkinson on American 'liberals:'
"The American Society for the Preservation of Historic Welfare Programs."
Longtime Denver Libertarian activist David Aitken has started a blog. Good move.
Radley Balko is reporting from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and quotes Phillis Schlafly today saying some outrageous things, including,
"The majority of people getting a degree at the University of Texas are illegal aliens."
That's so stupid that I can believe she misspoke, was misquoted, or is too roaring drunk to know what she was saying.
Radley writes, "I'm almost certain most of her [speech] is outright bullshit, but I don't have time to research it at the moment."
I have the a spare two minutes, so I found ethnicity statistics for the student body at UT.
2003-2004 school year by percentage.
White 60.6
American Indian 0.4
African American 3.6
Asian American 17.0
Hispanic 14.3
Foreign 3.5
So over 60% of the students are white. So unless she's talking about some mass illegal immigration from the Ukraine then it's safe to assume she's off her rocker. I suspect her other statements are similarly easy to debunk but my two minutes are up.
The indispensable Pete Guither reports from the Illinois Legislature on the debate over a medical marijuana bill being considered there.
It's astonishing how the anti-drug advocates repeatedly resort to misinformation when arguing their side. Federal Drug Czar John Walters makes an appearance - money quote - He then said he was not here to "improperly influence legislation."
Also, check out this profile of medical marijuana user Irvin Rosenfeld, who's been using for twenty-plus years.
Irv's a real dynamo. He's a successful stockbroker working in a fast-paced industry while smoking marijuana every day. He's an outstanding public speaker, and the entire room is drawn to him. He's a terrific asset to the medical marijuana movement -- not only as a good speaker, but because in the end, when the drug warriors claim that medical marijuana is dangerous, Irv stands in front of them proudly and strongly and demands:"Explain me!"
I just heard the news - Babe Lind died on Monday. He was a friend and mentor of mine.
David Kopel, The Klan's Favorite Law: Gun control in the postwar South
In a few months, the Klan triumph was complete. One freedman recalled that the night riders, after reasserting white control, "took the weapons from might near all the colored people in the neighborhood."The same dynamic existed throughout the South. Sometimes militias consisting of freedmen or Unionists were able to resist the Klan or other white forces. In places like the South Carolina back-country, where the blacks were a numerical majority, the black militias kept white terrorists at bay for long periods.
RTWT.
To skip out of work for a while today. The US opens World Cup final round qualifying with a game against Trinidad and Tobago. Yes, both of them, wiseguy.
ESPN2, 12:30 Mountain.
Update Strong US showing on the road. Casey Keller comes up big, but the team looks tired and gives up a late goal. A few tense moments at the end but the US wins 2-1.
Government designations aside, would you consider Superbowl Sunday to be a holiday? My impression of most native US citizens is that if they work on Sundays, they would like to have this day off to relax and watch the game. Many do take the day off.
I would say yes, and note that we certainly don't need anyone to create holidays for us. They will develop naturally on their own.
Whereupon I attempt to write something coherent using the parameters described here.
They had never met before, but Avi was
certainly happy, although a bit reluctant, to put a face on the
nickname '1o3' used while commenting, with that nonchalance
which had come to characterize him. Although he found it somewhat annoying that '1o3' would not give any other name. Nonchalant in person, too, thought Avi.
But given the events of the last few minutes there were many questions to occupy his mind. Avi barely had time to wonder how this long-time weblog commenter had managed to find him. He could not recall ever writing about exactly where in Montana he was living, and with the internet a thing of the past, there was no way to go back and refresh his memory. Avi had scarcely had any news from the outside world and he was grateful for what news his guest brought. Most everyone had died in the epidemic - perhaps a tenth of the population was spared, his guest surmised.
Avi had purposefully cut himself off from the outside world. He found solace in his solitary life in the Montana back woods, so different from the Miami neighborhood where he grew up. He found a ranch to use as a residence, and gained permission from the owner to live there as a caretaker over the winter. It was more of a summer house, the owners were Californians who spent the short warm season in Montana. They were happy to have someone to watch the place. Avi was happy to have a place to stay. He did not need a paycheck, and was so eager to avoid human contact that he refused to stay in the house and took up residence in the barn. He ventured into the house only to update his blog.
It was on one such occasion that he first heard of the catastrophe. A virus, a new form of some flu or other, was spreading quickly around the world. Avi, like most of the world's populace, did not immediately recognize it for what it was. In fact he was one of the very last to know. Two weeks after he first read the news of the disease, phone service to the ranch was cut off. He had not been online in the interim. The next nearest phone he could think of was in town, about ten miles away. He fired up the old pickup and headed into town, crashing through unplowed snowdrifts as he went, getting stuck, digging out, driving on.
Still, the thought of the disease had not occured to him. He saw no tire tracks in the snow until he approached town. Every building was dark. Nothing moved. Avi parked the truck and got out. Peering through windows and locked doors his curiosity grew. Did everyone leave town for the winter? Even the grocery store was closed, and for the first time Avi felt a twinge of fear. He was not sure if he had supplies to last the winter, and if the pass had not been plowed...
He heard a noise, the sound of a diesel engine. He walked toward the source of the sound, toward the edge of town. As he got closer he saw a bulldozer pushing a mound of earth into a freshly dug pit. Other than the dozer operator there was no one in sight. He approached the man and waved.
Avi saw the man atop the machine startle and jump, and the next thing he saw was a shotgun leveled at his head.
"Don't get any closer!" the man's voice was hoarse and cracking.
At the same time Avi got a glimpse into the pit. Bodies, frozen, some already half buried. Dozens of them were visible. He stared for some moments, until the man on the bulldozer spoke again.
"Where did you come from?" The shotgun had not moved.
Avi stammered out an explanation. The other man sat quietly.
"What happened to these people?" Avi finally asked.
"The flu got 'em. You haven't heard?" The man's voice softened a bit. "I'm the only one left," he added, and lowered the gun. Avi thought he had better not get any closer, anyway. His mind raced, trying to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing. He remembered, now, the flu he had read about online two weeks before - could it have spread so fast, been so deadly?
He turned around and walked back into town, and the man returned to his grim task. That night Avi stayed in town, sleeping in an abandoned house. In the morning he tried to drive over the pass, but it took him several hours to make it only a mile or so, and he realized it was futile. By the time he made it back into town the man with the bulldozer was nowhere to be found. Avi broke into the grocery store, but found the shelves almost bare. He loaded some canned peas into the truck, and a few cases of beer, and headed back to the ranch. There was nothing else to do.
The next few weeks passed as do years. Avi was waiting for spring, but what then? What was left outside the little valley which now trapped him? He took the hunting rifle the homeowners had left in the house and he managed to drop an elk, but he saw precious little game. Of course he had learned to shoot in his years in the service, but he knew little of hunting. He thought he should hang the elk to cure it, that is what you do, right? He hung it from the rafters on one end of the barn and let it bleed, away from where he slept, and cut off pieces of meat as he needed them. He busied himself hunting, cutting firewood, and chopping through the ice of the nearby stream to refill his water supply.
One sunny day as he worked he looked up to see a lone figure trudging through the snow on the road up to the ranch. He wore a plain parka, snow boots, a backpack, and - to Avi's astonishment - a snowboard strapped over the pack. It occured to Avi that he should protect himself in case this fellow should be carrying the flu, but dismissed the thought. If most every one else is dead, why should he care?
As the man came closer Avi called out to him.
"Hello!"
"Hello, Octavio."
Octavio! No one called him that. Most did not even know him except by his nickname.
"I am 1o3." said the stranger, smiling, pronouncing it one- oh - three. It took a few seconds for Avi to recognize the name. The commenter from the blog!
"How....?" He could not say any more. The stranger just smiled.
That evening they shared some elk meat and beer in the barn, along with some fresh bread the stranger had brought with him. Avi's guest showed no interest in going into the house, not even asking why they would sleep in the barn. Avi, in return, tried not to pry, even though he could not imagine how his new friend had found him out there in the woods, carrying fresh bread, no less.
They spoke of the epidemic, and '1o3' confirmed that it was a worldwide event. But he did not care to elaborate. He spoke instead of snowboarding. Would Avi take him to the mountains nearby? Avi was now numb to further surprises, and found himself agreeing to the request.
The next morning they set out, Avi on snowshoes, his guest trodding along in boots, but having no problem keeping up. They found a north facing slope, with some space between the trees, and Avi found a sunny place to sit and watch his friend take run after run. Avi did not know much about snowboarding, but it was obvious to him that the fellow was talented, effortlessly gliding around trees and through glades, even taking some jumps off cliff bands. In early afternoon '1o3' took a break and pulled some sandwiches and wine out of his backpack.
Where did that stuff come from? - Avi wondered to himself.
A few more runs and the pair headed back to the ranch, not wanting to be caught outdoors as temperatures dropped after sunset. They were about halfway back when Avi felt his snowshoe catch a tree root hidden under the snow. His knee popped audibly, and he hit the snow face first. His was not at first conscious of the pain, but he knew he was in trouble. They were still an hour's worth of hiking from the ranch, and if he could not walk....
"Let me help," was all his guest said. He picked up Avi and began to carry him piggy-back.
Avi started to protest, "There's no way you can..." but the pain quickly became to much for speech. The rest of the hike was a blur to him. Back at the barn they opened a few beers and Avi drifted to sleep.
The next morning Avi's guest was up and donning his backpack as Avi first opened his eyes.
"Let's head into town."
"What? I don't think that's a good idea." Avi rolled off his cot and tested his injured knee, and found it not so sore."Well, maybe I'll be OK. You know there's nothing there, right?"
"I would like to see it."
They piled into the truck and Avi took the wheel. The road leading to the highway was covered in over a foot of snow, but the truck plowed through easily. Once they were at the highway, Avi was in for yet another surprise.
The highway was plowed.
When they got to town they found the roads clear of snow, and the lights were on in many buildings. Figures were visible inside the grocery store, and Avi thought he saw a glimpse of someone walking a dog a few blocks away.
"Let me see something." said Avi, embarrassed now. He had told his friend about the empty town and the mass grave. How to explain this? He drove to the pit where he had seen the bodies being buried. The earth was freshly turned with mounds of dirt poking up through the snow, as if someone had uprooted giant potatoes from the ground.
"This was where the people were buried. Must have been just about the whole town!" he exclaimed.
"Yes, I know," said his friend, smiling. "They were."
________________________________
Copygodd and Michelle play, too.
Russell Roberts points out the obvious - preserving Social Security is a conservative policy. Not to mention, why would you want to?
Iran's Ayatolla Ali Khamenei still wants Salman Rushdie dead.
Oliver Willis says all the black people supporting Bush are paid for.
According to Linda Seebach, the National Conference of Editorial Writers are asking these questions of their members:
How do you screen columnists and editorial cartoonists?
Do you have an ethics policy?
What policy do you follow if contracted columnists/cartoonists violate standard journalism ethics (regardless of where you have an individual ethics policy)?
Do you have a fact-checking process for columnists? How does it work?
When editorial writers or editors find a factual error in a column or cartoon, what effective means can be used to communicate that error and have a correction made?
Since Linda is on the editorial board of one of our local papers I wonder what their answers will be?
Via Instapundit.
A few days ago I made some throw-away remarks about Ward Churchill, the Colorado University professor of questionable character.
Well, I thought the post was unimportant, but Google disagreed. I've seen almost five thousand readers here to read on the subject as of this hour. And boy, did they leave comments. Not the usual thoughtful comments I read here, no. Mostly vitriol and bigotry. So I thought I should respond in the comments there, and reproduce it here.
I've seen quite a collection of questionable logic in this series of posts. My original post about Prof. Churchill was brief, as the error of his statement is obvious to anyone with a smidgen of ethical sense. But since we've seen a number of similarly misguided souls spouting ignorance on this page I think I'll set about to state the obvious, and here it is:Each individual in those towers is responsible for his or her own actions. None of them bombed anyone, none of them are murderers. If you want to argue otherwise you'd better have extensive and persuasive documentation of specific crimes. NY being a Democratic stronghold, many or most of them would have voted for anti-war candidates had they survived 9-11. You may believe this country has perpetrated atrocities around the world, but slaughtering thousands in the WTC is a depraved and indefensible act. Churchill went ahead and defended the act anyway. And no, he wasn't taken out of context. His writings have been quoted at length both here and elsewhere.
Furthermore, (and this next bit is sure to grate on the commenters here) most of the businesses in the WTC were financial. Churchill thinks this makes the victims especially culpable, but the last decade or so of more liberal global trade policy has increased wealth in nations around the world. WTC workers were part of this process. The truth is exactly opposite of what Churchill argues.
I will also assert that Americans are people of general good will toward other countries. We'd like to see prosperity and peace around the globe. This is true of most of our political leaders as well. They have made errors in judgement - some of them egregious and disastrous - but both Republicans and Democrats are usually looking for positive outcomes from foreign policy decisions, and if you don't understand that you really don't understand this country. This isn't to say there aren't criminals and evil people here, and as a libertarian, I think even our well intentioned policies are usually stupid and counterproductive.
Ward Churchill doesn't understand any of that, nor do many of these commenters.
I am very sorry to have to cancel my forthcoming tour in the United States. I have decided to cancel further to what I consider to be completely unreasonable demands from the US Embassy in France in order to renew my working visa.In order to obtain this new visa, the rules have once again changed since November 2004 and I would now have to not only fill in an exceedingly probing application form, but also be interviewed by a member of the Embassy staff, and provide proof of ownership of my house, details of my bank account, my mobile phone records, personal information on all my family members and more. I consider these demands to be a complete violation of my privacy and my civil liberties and I refuse to comply.
I am horrified by these new regulations and feel really sad that this is what some call freedom and democracy.
It has now become almost impossible for an artist to come and perform in the United States. And until this new legislation changes I will unfortunately refuse to comply with this nonsense.
Thank you for your understanding.
Laurent Garnier
Well sure, Laurent is French, but still...
h/t Boing Boing.
Today is Ayn Rand's 100th. Bryan Caplan promises
So tune in to my next three posts and see if I can't give you a good reason to raise your glass to a precocious, wide-eyed girl born in Czarist Russia a hundred years ago today.
My biggest beef with Rand and her later adherents is the association with libertarianism -although Rand distanced herself from the term. Randians faults become libertarianism's faults in the minds of some critics.
Check back here later.
Sometimes it's just nice to see it on a graph. It seems obvious, as we know that government doesn't produce efficiently, so the smaller government is the better the economy works.
When the economy produces more wealth, well, that's a good thing, no? Less poverty and associated misery? As Patri Friedman writes, "... our mission should not be to argue the left away from their ends, but educate them away from their means."