WE Blog

Well Mom it is just because you have missed Doug Feith all over the airwaves!
He knew what was best, it was everyone else who was wrong! Rumsfield was a great military leader and the world had not seen his like since Alexander the Great.
Colin Powell was the one whom put a monkey wrench in the whole thing and if the State department had kept their fat nose out of it. Everything would have gone fine, oh yeah its Paul Brimers fault too, he was given clear instructions and went his own way!
(Yet funny is the case that no one above Brimer called him on it when it might have made a difference?)
Yeah Feith is a Neo-con and pride of it under the lavender sky in his world.

It s a catch 22, I want to hear what they have to say. Their explaining their actions and logic. But within about ten minutes I shake my head and want to go back to bed!

This could have ramification in the future on other types of legislation including abortion. If the legislature is allowed to stop future legislatures from governing where does it stop?

Lobbyists create a bill that prohibits government oversight.

Attorney general says lawmakers can’t touch state-run gaming.

The eagerness of the Kansas Legislature and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to embrace gambling as a way of paying for growing government expenditures drove legislators to pass an expanded lottery bill in apparent violation of the Kansas Constitution.

The passage of the bill required lawmakers to do a lot of fancy footwork, including rushing through a vote on a gutted bill created by the gaming industry without debate. Now all of that may have come back to trip them up.

Rep. John Faber, a Brewster Republican and member of the House Rules and Regulations Committee, said Assistant Attorney General Mary Feighny informed committee members this week that they could face misdemeanor charges if they attempt in any way to influence the Gaming Commission or the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission.

The commission would, in effect, become an autonomous government agency not subject to conventional checks and balances, including, Faber said, legislative oversight.

Faber said committee members were discussing the possibility of sending a letter to the Gaming Commission when Feighny alerted them that such correspondence could put them in jeopardy under Section 31 of the expanded lottery act.

That section makes it a Class A misdemeanor for members of the Kansas Legislature and other specified parties to attempt to influence the state’s gaming regulators.

“Basically with this we can’t even visit with them about the lottery without facing a misdemeanor charge,” Faber said.

Faber, who opposed SB 66, said the current predicament reflected the haste with which legislators rammed through the expanded lottery act last year.

“The original bill was written by the Kansas gaming industry and the legislators who carried it didn’t know what was in it. There were no committee hearings, and they just basically did a gut-and-go on the House floor to get the thing through,” he said.

If, when or how the situation will be resolved is anybody’s guess.

Faber said he expected the attorney general to issue a formal opinion on the impact of Section 31 within a month or so. Until such an opinion is forthcoming, he said a strict interpretation of the bill as written will force the Rules and Regs Committee to take a hands-off approach to the gaming industry.

If that opinion concludes that legislators in fact are in jeopardy of misdemeanor charges if they engage in their oversight responsibility, Faber said it was possible the expanded lottery act could be revisited.

He believes that scenario is highly unlikely, however.

“If they opened up that bill again, it might pass the House but it would never get through the Senate,” Faber said.

In the meantime, the Kansas Supreme Court is expected to review the constitutionality of the expanded lottery act that allowed state-owned gambling facilities.

Faber said he was eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision.

“I think they’ll say it’s constitutional, but I want to see if they can say it with a straight face,” Faber said. Faber pointed to Article 15, Section 3 of the Kansas Constitution, which states, “Lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets are forever prohibited.”

The Supreme Court is under no deadline to hear the case, although then-Attorney General Paul Morrison asked when he filed the action that the high court act expeditiously.

Too sunflower5, you are correct. The State is notorious for setting up Legistation and selling it out after the fact. “INSIDER TRADING IS INSIDER TRADING”". KPERS was set up as the, Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. It was regulated directly by the States Legislature. It was under Insurance Commissioner Sebelius. It was a State Office. It is know private with “”ZERO”" Legislative Control, Regs or Jurisdiction. The State Treasurer advises to use it for Vision Quest for Public School 401K’s.They then pull accredidation from schools and “re-appropriate” the schools sources to include diverting the 401k”s. Bussinesses force us to use KPERS or we cannot work therre. They buy in and abuse their staff with these lies. Again, the State tells me “they have ZERO Regs, Jurisdiction or say so over this Private Company, KPERS, they are self Regulated”. In this, I cannot get a proper State Disability Check. I have “ZERO” State Representation to fix this problem. I agree, nothing should be privatized, after the State fattens it up thru Extortion/Racketereeing. These are forms of “Racketeering and Etortion”. Herbert West III, opinionist. west.herb@yahoo.com

Oh, and to quote Alanis “isnt it ironic” that the spam/porn bot put a porn post on the old thread of “blog registration coming”?

goodness. Just trolls and spammers left here after the multiple nics narrowed their numbers.

Steven Davis, if you are reading here…

This is the link I was looking for in regards to electoral college votes. Thanks to Rage for posting the link.

As you can see from both maps, mccain leads both obama and clinton. But last week, clinton was ahead in e.c. votes. It changes frequently.

something for the superdelegates to consider.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Obama/Maps/Apr13.html

MH, I’m thinking it’s got to be a registered user to be so effective. Someone with a grudge against the WE or the editors or the blog?

“ksfarmgrrl” asks –

“…on obama’s comments regarding those rural penn people. Could this be a turning point? Could the honeymoon be over?”

I was surprised that “Meet the Press” aired the whole comment, in context, which would have been altogether different had Obama said “…embraced religion and guns…” rather than “cling to.”

Hardly sounds like a Jerry Ford “Poland isn’t ‘oppressed’” moment. Now that was a screw-up; and positively prescient considering that a few years later the Polish people were in the vanguard of bringing down the Soviet Union.

Whose definition is it? “A ‘gaffe’ is when a politician inadvertantly tells the truth.” Something like that.

We see the small-town lower-to-middle-middle-class frustration Barak talks about every day in this forum. Obama’s “bitter” comments are a metaphor for his candidacy. He was raising money from Silicon Valley millionaires and trying to explain how not all of us are shopping for hot and cold Maseratis. It’s odd that the Clintons — who’ve earned $109 Million since Bill left office — can accuse Obama of “elitism.”

The poster previously known as “J R” represents the frustration Obama speaks to. Like Richard Farinia, he’s “…been down so long it looks like up.”

I understand and respect your objection to Obama based on the McClurkin thing. It’s stinky. But I suspect there’s a sisterhood thing behind your support for Senator Clinton. I understand that, too.

Thing is, I’m such a goddamned moderate I’m perfectly willing to do everything in my power to get a Democrat elected in November. As always, I think Senator Clinton is best fit as a leader in the Senate. I think Obama is the better candidate for lots of reasons. But we’ll see.

We’ll see if the voters of rural Pennsylvania have heard from a candidate who gets it or not.

I know why she’s doing it but have a problem with Senator Clinton trying to convince people she’s an avid duck-hunter. Puh-leeeeeze.

#
Monkeyhawk
Posted April 13, 2008 at 9:24 am | Permalink

“ksfarmgrrl” –

I’m still not convinced that “Pee Public Pee Public Pissing” isn’t “Regular.” Or “Sex With Dogs Dog Sex Have Sex With My Dogs And I’ll Shoot you” isn’t really “Nathan.” “Gay Teen Sex with Gay Teen Dogs,” of course, is Parkay.
————————

What a lovely sentiment.

Actually, you dumbkopft Libs, it’s the trackback messages that are spamming the blog. Disable trackbacks and the problem is solved.

P.S. MH’s comments, of course, were thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.

Sincerely,
Dog Sex Animal Woof Woof

#
Rage
Posted April 13, 2008 at 11:49 am | Permalink

P.S. MH’s comments, of course, were thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.

Sincerely,
Dog Sex Animal Woof Woof
———————
Yeah, when a Lib like MonkeyHock makes a comment like that it’s “tongue-in-cheek.”

Lesser inflammatory comments by someone from the right is classified as flaming, trolling behavior.

Double standards anyone?

writercat ;-),

Look at the “latest comments” section on the left side of the screen. The spammers routinely target old posts. Don’t click on the names or you’ll end up in Spamland.

Trackbacks by themselves don’t cause spam, but it’s one thing spammers like to use to spot “fresh meat,” so to speak!

Rage, I havve noticed that my level of spam porno email has gone down since the Blog went to Sign-in/Registration… IF somebody had managed to hack the Blog for email adfdresses, maybe that has stopped — at least for now…

if (username) {
username = username.split(”%7c”)[0];
username = username.split(”%7C”)[0];
if (username != “.threshold”) {
insite_name_pref = “0″;
usercookie = readCookie(”userinfo”);
var fnamepos = 1;
var lnamepos = 2;
email = readCookie(”userinfo”).split(”%7C”)[0];
}
}
email = email.replace(’%40′,’@');

switch (insite_name_pref) {
case 1:
username = usercookie.split(”%7C”)[fnamepos] + ” ” + usercookie.split(”%7C”)[lnamepos];
break;
case 2:
username = usercookie.split(”%7C”)[fnamepos];

PRN>chas.txt

Here I thought the official language of Kansas was English… now we got putereze… LOL

“It looks like he’s just walked off,” Stover said.

So, Clinton hired a contractor and is now responsible for everything that contractor has ever done?

Lies, Lies, and yet more Lies!!

The WE today had an interesting article (it is an AP article):

“Salmonella found in recalled cereal”

In the article we find:

1. People are getting sick after eating the cereal.

2. Malt-O-Meal is doing a voluntary recall after finding contamination during routine testing.

People are getting sick and this was found during routine testing. Wow.

Then if you look at the “best if used by” dates being recalled you wonder about these “routine test”.

“best if used by” dates being recalled: April 8, 2008 to March 18, 2009.

It appears the “best if used by” date is 12 months after processing, so this stuff has been on the market for 12 months and they are just now doing “routine test”. Or maybe they have known about this for a while and were hoping it would just go away; along with a few dead people.

I would laugh but this is just a little serious.

I’m hoping everyone from this most corrupt administration gets to experience all of life’s difficulties (or worse). It’s the least they all deserve!

“Sigh. . . Yes , that’s who I am, Ma’am! Now do you want fries with that?” :)

Obama is an elitist snob, who will ban the guns of the bitter small town people in America!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/13/obama.clinton/

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. …

“And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not,” he said.

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” he also said.

Guns, guns, and more guns… goes along with the Lies, lies, and more lies!!

Doesnt look like Obama said anything wrong there, Max…

It is interesting that Max seems intent on proving Obama right.

“What’s the matter with Kansas?”

Where did Obama say he wants to take away guns?? Doesnt look like that to me!!

Here’s a parable on how best to handle the “dirt” Max loves to dish out:

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old, that the well needed to be covered anyway and that it just wasn’t worth retrieving the donkey. So he invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quietened down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off! Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.

linda - and Max’s kind of ‘dirt’ makes real good fertilyzer.

good point … and might be toxic to boot …

Why did it take 10 years to stop the rape and kidnapping of 400 plus children on 1700 acres in “W”s backyard?? “No Child Left Behind my Ass”!!! Herbert West III, opinionist. west.herb@yahoo.com

Most are familiar with the pending US Supreme Court case DC vs. Heller. This is perhaps the biggest Supreme Court challenge to the 2nd Amendment in the history of the USA.

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/?s=dc+v+heller

Did you know that Clinton and Obama BOTH failed to support the Individual Right to Bear Arms in this case?

Here is the Summary from the Amicus Brief (friend of the court opinion) signed by 55 Senators and 250 House members who do support the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

For some reason, this wasn’t important enough for Clinton or Obama to sign.

And here’s a link to the actual Brief:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ … 8020800127

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

The Second Amendment provides: “A well
regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Congress adopted that wording and proposed it to the States in 1789. It became part of the Bill of Rights which the States ratified in 1791. As the text and the drafting history demonstrate, the Amendment was intended to guarantee the right of individuals to possess and keep ordinary firearms.

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Feder … px?id=3451

John McCain DID stand up for the 2nd Amendment. He signed the Amicus brief.

Max, you are living in fantasy land.. You WANT to have a ban on guns, so you can fight off the government… You WANT to take on the Feds, Max. THAT’s why you and your kind are dangerous…

Show us some link that wants to take your guns… All I have ever supported are controls on gun owners… you know, like cars, and motorcycles, and other items that can kill people… even accidentally…

I hope an opportunity arises where Clinton and Obama are asked these questions:

Let’s hear about Obama and Clinton’s positions on Gun Control.

1. Will they ban hand-guns?
2. Will they ban high-capacity guns, and if so, what is high-capacity?
3. Will they ban semi-automatic guns?
4. Will they sign another Brady Gun Ban Bill?
5. Will they sign bans on ammunition like hollow-points?
6. Will they restrict sales in any way?
7. Will they support nationwide concealed carry?
8. Will they work to ban concealed carry in all states?

Look how Hillary has flopped in order to disguise her gun ban position on the 2nd Amendment:

http://www.issues2000.org/2008/Hillary_ … ontrol.htm

Backed off a national licensing registration plan on guns

I believe in the Second Amendment. People have a right to bear arms. But I also believe that we can common-sensically approach this, and backed off a national licensing registration plan.

Source: 2008 Democratic debate in Las Vegas Jan 15, 2008

License and register all handgun sales

Hillary Rodham Clinton offered her support for a legislative proposal to license hand guns. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Charles Schumer, would require anyone who wants to purchase a gun to obtain a state-issued photo gun license. “I stand in support of this common sense legislation to license everyone who wishes to purchase a gun,” Clinton said. “I also believe that every new handgun sale or transfer should be registered in a national registry, such as Chuck is proposing.”

Source: CNN.com Jun 2, 2000

Hillary and Barrack are Gun-shy of the gun issue. Funny, they aren’t shy about anything else.

They are afraid of alienating the 100 million gun-owners in America. If their true colors are shown by the mass media, they cannot win the election in November.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4303968

But so far, the Democratic presidential hopefuls have offered no solutions or preventive measures to combat this problem. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., offered his sympathies, but specified no new ideas to enforce gun control in his home state of Illinois. “I’ve said before, and continue to believe, that we need to do a more effective job of enforcing our gun laws,” he said, speaking in Milwaukee, Wis., on Friday.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., offered similarly vague statements. “We just have to figure out how we are going to get smart about protecting our kids,” she said.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Organization, a grassroots effort to prevent gun violence, says we need leadership from both Clinton and Obama on this issue.

But the candidates are quick to remember what happened to Al Gore in 2000. Gore lost West Virginia, in large part, because of negative ads paid for by the NRA. “I think a lot of candidates and politicians are afraid of getting the gun lobby upset,” said Helmke. “They fear that talking about guns, it’s gonna lose them elections.”

HillaryClinton.com is noticeably gun shy; she lists her views on plenty of issues, but not gun control. However, she’s spoken out about protecting the Second Amendment — the right to bear arms.

Obama and Clinton are trying SO HARD to stay out of the gun control debate - less their gun-ban agenda be exposed.

You see this? The “illegal guns” cause the crime. The person shooting the gun is not responsible. Implication - Get rid of the guns.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/edito … n_control/

Clinton said this year in a Nevada debate, “Illegal guns are the cause of so much death and injury in our country. I am also a political realist and I understand that the political winds are very powerful against doing enough to try to get guns off the street, get them out of the hands of young people.”

Damn, diahrrea of the keyboard Max… Geez!!

You listed these >>>>

“SA1615 Cop Killer Bullet Ban Vote against gun owners.

SA1620 S.397 Exemption for Children Vote against gun manufacturers.

SA1623 Gross Negligence Amendment Vote against gun manufacturers.

SA1626 Child Safety Lock Act of 2005 Vote against gun owners.”

Those look like GOOD votes Max… You gun owners are fanatics… Anybody with an ounce of brains would vote against cop killer bullets… and vote for mandatory child safety locks… And votes against certain gun manufacturer proposals…

Good grief, BAR OWNERS have to live with, and work around “cram shop laws” — They can be a nuisance… but they are there for the SAFETY of the general public, as well as the drinker at the Bar!!

After all, the 2nd Amendment DOES use the words “well-regulated” Without regulation, there would be sheer chaos!!

So what gives with max?
——————-

max who?

You mean whoever that is that posts so many long uninteresting posts we’re in danger of exhausting our supply of scroll grease?

Shake off the dirt and step up!

FIREARMS LEGISLATION IN THE 110th CONGRESS
Analysis by Gun Owners of America
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102
Springfield, VA 22151
(703)321-8585, fax: 321-8408
House Bills
H.R. 73 (Bartlett): This bill would affirm the right of Americans to keep and bear arms for defense of themselves, their families, and their homes.

H.R. 96 (Castle, Shays, Kirk): This bill would require Instantchecks for private transactions at gun shows. If the sponsor “knowingly” fails to notify every attendee of his responsibilities under the Brady Law (new 18 U.S.C. 932(a)(2)(D) and new 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(8)(B)), every board member of the sponsor could be fined $250,000 for every person not notified and sent to prison for five years per violation. And, while the “knowing” requirement is an improvement over earlier versions, it is far from certain that a Brady-Law-pamphlet-distributing guard who intentionally leaves his post during a busy time for a bathroom break would not (1) be interpreted as “knowingly” failing to notify attendees, and (2) be interpreted as violating the law vicariously as an agent of every board member of the sponsoring organization. Obviously, at the hands of an anti-gun administration, this has the potential of permanently putting an end to all gun shows.

H.R. 171 (Lee and 16 others): This bill, which would authorize additional funds for school mental health counselors, makes a finding about the need to reduce the number of weapons in schools. Such a finding would demonize Utah teachers and administrators — who are allowed, by law, to possess firearms in schools — as well as, other heroes (such as Joel Myrick of Pearl, Mississippi) who have used firearms to stop school massacres and, thus, save the lives of students.

H.R. 203 (Rothman): This bill would interfere with the discretion of states by requiring that police seize firearms of persons suspected of domestic violence, based on “probable cause,” even though no court has heard the case. In addition, it allows a court to permanently bar an individual slapped with a “protective order” from possessing a firearm and to order a search of his home, even though, unlike current federal law, the order was an “ex parte” order with respect to which the individual had no notice, no right to be present, no right to be heard, and no right to an attorney.

H.R. 226 (Stearns): This is the NRA-backed reciprocity bill, which would set a “national standard” allowing persons who have obtained concealed carry licenses to be granted reciprocity in other states. Residents of Vermont, which does not require a license for concealed carry, would not be granted relief under this legislation.

H.R. 254 (Jackson-Lee): This bill would amend the hate crimes law — which prohibits using a firearm to cause bodily injury to any person on account of race or religion — to also include sexual orientation.

H.R. 256 (Jackson-Lee): This bill would:

extend current provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(x) (making it virtually impossible to legally teach your children the safe and responsible use of firearms) by (1) raising the across-the-board age to 21, (2) covering semiautos, and (3) increasing the penalties;
require FFL’s (including small FFL’s) to keep guns in a government-approved storage facility;
require you to lock up all firearms (making them unavailable for self-defense) — or face a three-year prison sentence if a child gets hold of the firearm and causes bodily injury;
prohibit unaccompanied minors at guns shows; and
spend more money on anti-gun “education” programs.
H.R. 297 (McCarthy): This bill provides, in the form of grants, about $1 billion to the states to “provide the National Instant Criminal Background Check System [NICS] with all records concerning persons who are prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm under subsection (g) or (n) of section 922 of title 18, United States Code, regardless of the elapsed time since the disqualifying event.”

Covered under this bill are records pertaining to the Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban, lists of persons under indictment, mental health records, records relevant to the identification of illegal aliens and other records.

NICS is the system used by the FBI to conduct a background check prior to a firearm sale by a federally licensed gun dealer. Most people are aware that NICS records include a list of convicted felons, but there are many other categories of persons who are prohibited from possessing firearms for which computerized lists may not be available. It is these categories that are targeted by this bill.

For instance, the bill expands upon the unconstitutional Lautenberg misdemeanor gun ban [18 USC 922 (g)(9)]. This gun ban, passed as an amendment to a 1996 omnibus spending bill and signed into law by President Clinton, was originally introduced by leading anti-gun Senators Frank Lautenberg, Dianne Feinstein, and Edward Kennedy.

Under the Lautenberg ban, people who have committed very minor offenses that include pushing, shoving or, in some cases, merely yelling at a family member can no longer own a firearm for self-defense. The Lautenberg gun ban should be repealed, not expanded.

The bill also seeks to computerize records of persons “under indictment for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.” Such persons, though not even convicted of the crime in question, are prohibited from possessing a firearm.

The gun grabbers are seeking to force the states to provide the federal government all of these indictment records, updated quarterly. Given the maxim among those in the legal profession that prosecutors can get a grand jury to “indict a ham sandwich,” this, too, is a gun prohibition that should be repealed, not expanded.

Mental health records are also covered under the McCarthy bill. This could have a significant impact on American servicemen, especially those returning from combat situations and who seek some type of psychiatric care. Often, veterans who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder have been deemed as mentally “incompetent” and are prohibited from owning guns under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4). Records of those instances certainly exist, and, in 1999, the Department of Veterans Administration turned over 90,000 names of veterans to the FBI for inclusion into the NICS background check system.

Mental health records can also have a future impact on young people, as this country trends closer to mandatory mental health screening for students. In a 2003 report by a subcommittee of the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, the author states that “The problem of emotional disorders in children is large — 20% of all children are affected — and it seems to be growing.” It is unknown how these people will be categorized in the future.

The fact that metal health ‘experts,’ a notoriously anti-gun community, would have a say in who is allowed to possess a firearm is, quite frankly, frightening. Many in the profession would just as soon consider anyone who owns a gun as ‘mentally incompetent.’

Another sobering thought is how computerized data are often mishandled. Consider the disturbing news reports that 25 million Social Security number records of veterans were hacked. The more that our private data gets added into government computers, the more likely we are to have our identity compromised.

Perhaps the provision that would lead to the greatest number of ‘fishing expeditions’ is that related to illegal aliens.

Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from owning guns. The bill requires all relevant data related to who is in this country illegally. But what records pertaining to illegal aliens from the states would be relevant? Perhaps a better question would be, what records are not relevant?

In order to identify illegal aliens, “relevant” records could allow the FBI to demand state tax returns of all citizens, employment records, library records (we’ve already seen how these have been deemed relevant to terrorism investigations), DMV and hospital records — all in the name of making sure that you’re not an illegal.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, is one of the most virulent anti-gunners in the entire Congress. Of the 32 cosponsors of the bill in 2006, 31 were GOA “F” rated, one was rated “D.”

H.R. 354 (McCarthy): This bill would spend $965 million a year on trying to figure out why and remedy the fact that schools that ban guns are not safe from “gun violence.”

H.R. 428 (Towns): This bill would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban realistic toy handguns.

H.R. 623 (Rangel): This bill would allow a “nonviolent offender” to have his record expunged if he has complied with a variety of conditions, including obtaining a GED, performing a year of community service, staying free of substance abuse for a year, and not committing any other state or federal offense in the future. A “nonviolent offense” is one which does not involve “the use of a weapon or violence.”

H.R. 660 (Conyers): This bill would dramatically expand federal funding for law enforcement resources to guard federal and state judges, prosecutors, jurors, and other persons involved in the judicial process — and would expand criminal penalties for certain related offenses, including, for instance, placing a false lien on a judge’s home.

H.R. 861 (Stearns): This is the NRA-backed version of national concealed carry reciprocity. It would set “national standards” for recognition of concealed carry permits, but would provide no relief in cases of states like Vermont that don’t require permits as a condition of concealed carry.

H.R. 880 (Forbes, Wolf, Chabot, Coble, Franks, Gallegly, Goodlatte, Pence, Smith): This bill would subject guns to the same sort of mandatory minimum sentencing currently applied to organized crime. You would be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison if “a formal or informal group or association of 3 or more individuals” (such as your family), in relation to the group (e.g., protecting them), commit two or more “gang crimes,” one of which constitutes a “crime of violence” (which could include brandishing a firearm in order to protect your family from a robber). “Gang crimes” include driving within 1000 feet of a school with a firearm and training your kid how to use a handgun without first writing a letter of permission for him to keep on his person while you are training him. Other anti-gun provisions in this bill are section 109 (making it harder for a person charged with a “firearms offense” — including paperwork violations — to be released), section 114 (upping the mandatory penalties for simply owning a gun if you are convicted of a crime of violence — including trying to defend yourself when state law mandates that you retreat), and section 115 (allowing your kid to be prosecuted as an adult if you train him to use a handgun, but he fails to possess a written letter of permission while you are doing so).

H.R. 1022 (McCarthy): This bill would reauthorize the ban on semi-automatic firearms more or less verbatim. It would change the list of explicitly banned firearms to include:

a much broader list of named firearms which are banned;
a semi-auto rifle with detachable magazine capacity that has any one of the following: folding stock, threaded barrel, pistol grip, forward grip, or barrel shroud (the previous ban requires two of these features);
most semi-autos with fixed magazines with more than 10 rounds;
a semi-auto pistol with detachable magazine capacity that has any one of the following: second pistol grip, threaded barrel, barrel shroud, or detachable magazine capacity outside the pistol grip (the previous ban requires two of these features);
a semi-auto shotgun with a revolving cylinder or with folding stock, pistol grip, detachable magazine capacity, or fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds (the previous ban requires two of these features);
many frames, receivers, or conversion kits;
a military- or police-design semi-auto rifle or shotgun not suitable for sporting purposes.
It would also add four additional anti-semi-auto provisions. These would:

expand to semi-autos the provisions in 18 U.S.C. 922(x) making it virtually impossible to legally teach your kid the safe and lawful use of handguns (subjecting you and your kid to a prison sentence, for example, if he does not have a written permission letter from you on his person at the time you are training him);
expand and make statutory an import ban on semi-auto magazines;
require that transfers of semi-autos be through FFL’s; and
prohibit transfer of “any assault weapon with a large capacity ammunition feeding device” and require that an FFL transferring a grandfathered “large capacity ammunition feeding device” report to the Attorney General.
H.R. 1096 (Paul): This bill would (1) repeal the Brady law and the Instantcheck system; (2) repeal federal provisions discriminating against firearms which the government determines to have no “sporting purpose,” and (3) repeal the requirement that trigger locks be purchased by anyone purchasing a handgun from a dealer.

H.R. 1141 (Cannon): This bill would grant amnesty to any veteran with a pre-1968 unregistered automatic firearm.

H. R. 1167 (McCarthy): This bill would prevent anyone whose name turns up on one of the government’s secret “no fly” watch lists from possessing a firearm.

H. R. 1168 (McCarthy): This bill would reverse the Supreme Court’s U.S. v. Small decision by prohibiting firearms possession by any person who has been convicted of a felony in a foreign court, including political felonies by Nazi, Communist, and other totalitarian regimes.

H. R. 1399 (Ross, Souder): This bill would repeal the D.C. gun ban.

H. R. 1582 (Schiff, Bono): This bill would treat your family as a “criminal street gang” if you committed two gun-related offenses — including driving 1,000 feet from a school with a gun in your glove compartment.

H. R. 1592 (Conyers, et al.): This bill would reauthorize federal “hate crimes” legislation extending protections to homosexuals and transvestites and providing for a ten year federal prison sentence for anyone who uses a firearm to “attempt” to cause bodily injury.

H.R. 1593: This bill would reauthorize and expand upon transitional programs for reentry of prisoners into society, focusing particularly on drug offenders.

H.R. 1784 (Engel, McCarthy, Kennedy, et al.): This bill would essentially allow the Attorney General to ban most ammunition by defining as “armor-piercing” any ammunition which may be fired by any type of handgun and is “capable of penetrating body armor” — in accordance with tests in which the AG would solely determine the angle, the distance, the firearm, the number of shots, the quality of the body armor, and the number of penetrations required. H.R. 1791 (Gingrey, Paul, McCotter, Musgrave, Sessions, Rogers, Boozman, Jones, Goode): This bill would require BATFE to make videorecordings of firearms and ammunition testing. H.R. 1859 (McCarthy): This bill would reinstate the ban on “large-capacity” magazines. H.R. 1874 (Andrews): This bill would require firearms importers and manufactures to microstamp all firearms (or insure that they are microstamped), and would require ballistics resting of any firearm in the custody of the U.S. that is suspected of having been used in a crime. Such results would have to be computerized. H.R. 1895 (McCarthy): This bill would:

repeal current appropriations language prohibiting the disclosure of firearms trace information — thereby opening the door to new lawsuits against large firearms dealers;
require that all firearms used in crimes go into the trace database;
apply federal racketeering laws to “prohibited persons” violations.
H.R. 1897 (Paul): This bill would prohibit any federal regulation banning the possession or carrying of a firearm based in whole or in part on the fact that the possession or carrying occurs within a national park.

H.R. 2013 (Blackburn, et al.): This bill would make “technical corrections” in the current federal language prohibiting state regulation of toy “look-alike” guns and replicas.

H.R. 2074 (King of New York): This bill would potentially allow the Attorney General to make anyone on a federal “watch list” a “prohibited person” and to withhold information on why they are prohibited from possessing firearms.

H.R. 2093 (Meehan, Shays): This bill, which is almost identical to legislation GOA helped successfully defeat in the Senate as it pertains to GOA, would require reporting of “grassroots lobbying” (i.e., efforts to influence public opinion) by any group that hires a consultant to influence the public (by, e.g., doing radio broadcasts) and which spends an aggregate of over $100,000 a quarter to influence public opinion.

H.R. 2325 (Gohmert et al.): This bill would:

enhance and federalize crimes dealing with attacks against judges, court personnel, and their families;
allow judges and prosecutors to carry guns and insulate them from some types of liability.
H.R. 2424 (Paul): This bill would repeal the 1996 “gun-free school zones” law, which prohibits, in many instances, bringing a gun within 1000 feet of a school.

H.R. 2640 (McCarthy et al.): This bill would dramatically increase the number of personal records on Americans handed over to the FBI Instant check center in West Virginia and would, for the first time, statutorily make a battle-scarred veteran, a troubled school kid, or a senior with Alzheimer’s a “prohibited person” based solely on a diagnosis.

H.R. 2666 (Rush): This bill would require a firearms license for any person possessing a handgun or semi-auto (whether or not subject to the expired semi-auto ban). The license would be issued by the Attorney General, who would require a thumbprint, a certificate that the person has passed an exam, and a certificate that the firearm will be locked up, among other things. The license will have to be renewed after five years, and all information on transfers will have to be submitted to the Attorney General. Private sales of firearms without an Instant check would be outlawed. In addition, the bill provides for firearms lock-up requirements, unlimited inspections of FFL’s, various and sundry additional firearms-related crimes, and, of course, an exemption of police from its requirements.

H.R. 2726 (Forbes, Gohmert, Smith, Chabot, Buchanan, Boozman): This bill would expand, in modest ways, the circumstances under which current law enforcement personnel (e.g., Amtrak police) or retired law enforcement personnel (after 15 years of service, with firearms certification during the past year) are authorized to carry outside their jurisdiction (with the exception of machine guns and silencers).

H.R. 3142 (Reichert): This bill would:

establish civil penalties for FFL’s who engage in both “minor” and “serious” violations of federal gun laws;
dramatically expand penalties for gun offenses — increasing penalties for —
certain repeat “prohibited persons” offenses to twenty years (and a minimum sentence of 15 years in some cases);
“conspiracy” to commit a federal crime from five years to twenty years (unless this exceeds the penalty for actually committing the crime);
certain racketeering, illegal alien, murder-for-hire, and “other felony crimes of violence”;
expand the rebuttable presumption against release of persons (such as PTSD veterans charged with firearms possession) who have been charged with “firearms offenses,” but who have not been convicted of anything;
extend the federal statute of limitations for “violent crime offenses” and terrorism offenses to ten years.
H.R. 3156: This substantial rewrite of many provisions in the federal crime code would, inter alia, include “criminal street gang” language which would treat many minor gun offenses like criminal “racketeering” crimes.

H.R. 3305 (Paul): This bill would prohibit any federal agency from prohibiting a pilot from carrying a firearm in order to protect his craft.

H.R. 3436 (Reyes): This bill would allow courts to act more leniently with respect to firearms offense sentencing in cases of persons who are “authorized to carry” firearms in connection with their jobs.

H.R. 3462 (Lampson): This bill would:

expand penalties for violent crimes committed during drug trafficking crimes;
expand the rebuttable presumption against release of persons (such as PTSD veterans charged with firearms possession) who have been charged with “firearms offenses,” but who have not been convicted of anything;
extend the federal statute of limitations for “violent crime offenses” and terrorism offenses to eight or ten years, respectively.
H.R. 3474 (McNerney): This bill would expand funds (by $10,000,000 a year) for dealing with “gang crimes,” but would not expand substantive law to attack guns in the same way as other gang-related legislation.

H.R. 3547: This bill would include “criminal street gang” language which would treat many minor gun offenses like criminal “racketeering” crimes.

H.R. 3766 (Norton): This bill would authorize up to $100,000,000 a year for “gun buyback” programs.

H.R. 4128: This bill is a comprehensive rewrite of the federal criminal code, comparable to the one that was killed in 1982 by GOA and NRA because of its dramatic expansion of criminal liability for gun owners.

H.R. 4818 (King of New York, Rangel): This bill would:

impose a 20 year prison sentence on the sale of two or more firearms, e.g., to a “prohibited person” (such as a veteran with PTSD);
expand penalties for things like possession of a stolen firearm or a firearm with an obliterated serial number during the commission of a felony;
expand sharing of gun trace information.
H.R. 4900 (King): This bill would do the following:

Section 101: Current subsections 18 U.S.C. 923(e) and (f) allow BATF to revoke FFL’s, after notification and the opportunity for a hearing. Section 101 would create a bifurcated structure:
“non-serious” violations could trigger civil penalties of up to $1,000 ($5,000 per inspection) and a suspension of not more than 30 days;
“serious” violations could trigger $2,500 civil penalties ($15,000 per inspection), up to 90 days suspension, or revocation. “Serious” violations would consist of, inter alia, actions which could result in the acquisition of a firearm by a prohibited person or interfere with a criminal investigation. There would be a five-year statute of limitations, and there would be procedures for contesting penalties (before an administrative law judge in the case of minor penalties and before a court in the case of revocation). These procedures would be relatively pro-defendant — with a bar to bringing a civil charge after an unsuccessful attempt at a criminal prosecution.
Section 102: This section would allow an FFL applicant to supplement his application, in the case of problems, before final denial.
Section 103: One of the big battles in McClure-Volkmer was over “scienter” (state-of-mind) requirements. In particular, there has been a tendency to diminish what is required for an individual to act “knowingly” or “willfully.” This section would define “willfully” to mean “intentionally,” which is about the most culpable state-of-mind requirement in existence.
Section 104: This section would require BATF to establish guidelines for conducting investigations.
Section 105: This section would prohibit purchaser information concerning a non-prohibited person from being shared with any other agency –unless the agency agrees not to share it with anyone but a court, prosecutor, or law enforcement agency.
Section 106: This section would give an FFL with a revoked license 60 days (with the possibility of an extension) to liquidate his inventory.
Section 107: This section would allow more flexibility in permitting an FFL with a revoked license to transfer his business to another FFL without automatically assuming that the violation giving rise to the revocation continues — and with an opportunity for the acquiring FFL to cure any defects.
Section 108: This section would decriminalize a non-material (i.e., minor and irrelevant) “false entry” in FFL records.
Section 109: This section broadens federal supervision of state oversight of explosives.
Sections 201 through 210:
make minor non-controversial corrective changes to federal gun law;
allow testing and security corporations to test machine guns without getting a license;
make the Smith amendment permanent;
eliminate the provision of 18 U.S.C. 922(x) which would allow a parent to be prosecuted because his son possessed a handgun without a written permission slip — even if the parent were physically present;
limit sharing of trace information;
expand the ability to import gun parts; and
limit access to inactive licensee information.

Senate Bills
S. 77 (Schumer): Most importantly, this bill would allow the Attorney General to inspect gun dealers as many times as he wants for any purpose. In addition, the bill tweaks the Firearms Trace System on issues of confidentiality and coordination, and doubles many gun-related prison sentences for a wide variety of offenses.

S. 368 (Biden et al.): This bill would massively expand federal funding for (and hence control of) local law enforcement.

S. 376 (Leahy, Specter, Kyl, Cornyn): This bill would tweak the police concealed carry reciprocity law to, for example, (1) expand its provisions to retired police who had served 10 years (rather than 15), and (2) allow competency certification by “a certified firearms instructor” (as opposed to the state).

S. 378 (Leahy, Specter, Reid, Durbin, Cornyn, Kennedy, Collins, Hatch, Schumer): This bill would dramatically expand federal funding for law enforcement resources to guard federal and state judges, prosecutors, jurors, and other persons involved in the judicial process — and would expand criminal penalties for certain related offenses, including, for instance, placing a false lien on a judge’s home.

S. 388 (Thune, Nelson, Sununu, Inhofe, Coburn, Burr, Martinez, Crapo, Baucus, Cornyn, Dole, Craig, Lott): This is the NRA-backed version of national concealed carry reciprocity. It would set “national standards” for recognition of concealed carry permits, but would provide no relief in cases of states like Vermont that don’t require permits as a condition of concealed carry.

S. 456: Although differing in details, like H.R. 880, this bill would treat firearms offenses like Mafia crimes.

S. 607 (Vitter): This bill would create a 15-year prison for “forcibly… resist[ing]” law enforcement personnel during an emergency with a “weapon.”

S. 1001 (Hutchinson et al.): This bill would repeal the D.C. gun ban.

S. 1237 (Lautenberg): This bill would, at the sole discretion of the Attorney General, make you a “prohibited person” if he “suspects” you of being a terrorist. The Attorney General is specifically authorized to refuse to tell you why he has made you a “prohibited person.”

S. 1316 (Feinstein): This bill would overturn U.S. v. Small and would make persons convicted of felonies in foreign courts — including political offenses and actions not unlawful in the U.S. — a “prohibited person” unless they can affirmatively establish that the conviction violated “fundamental fairness” or that the activity would be legal (and not just a felony) anywhere in the U.S.

S. 1331 (Feinstein, Kennedy, Levin, Menendez, Mikulski, Clinton, Durbin, Boxer, Lautenberg, Schumer, Dodd): This bill would treat a rifle firing a .50 BMG caliber cartridge like a bomb, grenade, or missile for purposes of federal law.

S. 1860: This comprehensive crime bill contains a number of anti-gun provisions, including sections which would:

expand penalties for certain “prohibited persons” offenses;
expand the rebuttable presumption against release of persons (such as PTSD veterans charged with firearms possession) who have been charged with “firearms offenses,” but who have not been convicted of anything;
extend the federal statute of limitations for “violent crime offenses” and terrorism offenses;
include “criminal street gang” language which would treat many minor gun offenses like criminal “racketeering” crimes;
dramatically expand federal abilities to enact civil and criminal forfeiture.
S. 2237: This bill, which would dramatically expand the role of the federal government in going after ordinary street crime, contains, inter alia, “criminal street gang” language which would treat many minor gun offenses like criminal “racketeering” crimes.

At minimum an unhealthy obsession.

Does, as someone pointed out upthread, prove Obama’s recent statements.

Did anyone actually read those posts? Thought not.

H.R. 2424 (Paul): This bill would repeal the 1996 “gun-free school zones” law, which prohibits, in many instances, bringing a gun within 1000 feet of a school.

I was worried about that one max not enough kindergarteners get to bring they’re tech 9’s to show and tell.

“But what the NRA was counting on was that the issue would blow over. After all, the bill’s primary constituency — the police — were, up to that time, close friends of the NRA and they were disorganized as a lobbying organization and split between rank and file and the officers.

But the NRA miscalculated the effects. While the NRA had long publicized its close relationship with the police, now it was the opposition’s turn, and Handgun Control was running ads in police trade magazines calling on the police to “Help Stop the Cop-Killers.” The campaign was successful and the NRA reacted in it’s standard manner (see “The Ultimate Lobbying Machine”) — it sent a mailing to its membership claiming the effort was part of the plot to separate gun owners from their guns:

“Mark my words, the so-called ‘cop-killer” bullet issue is a Trojan Horse waiting outside the gun owners’ doors. If the anti-gunners have their way, this highly publicized and emotionalized issue will be used to enact a backdoor, national gun control scheme…. The anti-gun forces will go to any lengths to void your rights to keep and bear arms…”/3/
Meanwhile, in an effort to lessen the damage the NRA position had its relationship with the police and because it wanted their support in its primary legislative goal of gutting GCA’68 that was starting as the McClure Volkmer Bill (it would be passed several years later, with some modifications, as the Firearm Owners’ Protective Act of 1988), it sat down behind closed doors with the officials from the Treasury and Justice department to craft a minimalist bill. This bill was presented to the the police as a take it or leave it bill (they weren’t told it had been authored by the NRA) and, with the Biaggi bill going nowhere, they supported the “administration” measure. In spite of the “as is” demand, the bill eventually passed with little fanfare.

The NRA calculation that the damage its opposition had caused might have been correct, except for two problems: 1) it taught the police a lesson about organized lobbying, and even as it was trying to mend fences, it was launching new attacks on specific police officers who opposed its efforts to block “plastic guns” and McClure Volkmer.

It was Police Chief Neil Behan (of Baltimore) who was puzzled by the NRA’s claim that police organizations backed McClure-Volkmer. He checked and found no such support had been given. Recalling the battle over the cop-killer bullets, he organized an umbrella organization, the Law Enforcement Steering Committee (LESC), to provide for coordination and cover for the individual officers and chiefs.”

http://www.saneguns.org/gunlobby/nra_cops.html

1. Cop killer bullets are treated with a teflon-like substance so that they can easily penetrate bullet-proof vests.

They have no purpose other than killing law-enforcement personnel, hence the name “cop killer,” but thank GOD! the NRA makes sure they’re legal and available.

2. Max,

Fer heaven’s sake, man. Slow day in Iowa.

Dumb question . . . every day is a slow day in Iowa.

3. Both FrmGrrl and Max work up fake outrage over Obama’s “bitter rural people” comment.

Nice company you keep there, Grrl.

Max only wrote this much >>>>

“Max Grobnik wrote:
Well, Obama:

Favors banning 1/2 the guns sold today.
Favors more gun laws restricting gun sales.
Favors free health care and raising all our taxes.
Even favors Welfare, Medicaid, and Social Security for illegal immigrants.
Favors an amnesty program for illegal immigrants.
Went to both Muslim and Catholic schools and now attends the United Church of Christ?”
[Des Moines Newspaper -- 200?]

Hehehe, Chas.

That’s the semi-er0tic fantasy fetish every NRA type has–one brave guy with his personal arsenal fighting the US government which has been taken over by gasp! gun hating Godless communists!

Think of that loser “Dale” on the “King of the Hill” show. That’s freaking MAX.

Nevermind that if the US government decides to declare war on American citizens, it’ll just do what it’s doing now: illegal wiretaps, secret prisons, torture, and holding people indefinitely without trial.

Ys, CapN — I do see the resemblance!! :-)

We should start calling Max “Dale” from here on out.

Some classic Dale-isms:

DALE: One shot on the way down eliminates the Gribble problem. Then the Cuban robot soldiers have only Steve Wynn standing between them and Wichita.

HANK: Dale, there are no robots and there are no Cubans.

DALE: If there are no Cubans, how do you account for Desi Arnaz?

DALE: You know, you used to be on my list of trustables, and it was a very short list. I wasn’t even on it. But now, I just don’t know. I guess you’re not my friend.

HANK: Dale, if I could do it again, I’d… hey, what the heck is that? I am too your friend. I’m as good a friend as a weirdo like you is ever going to have.

DALE: If you’re going to shoot me, I want Bobby Hill to take the shot, because he’ll put me down clean.

BOBBY: Okay.

You know if you water this stuff down a little bit it could be sean or micheal or rush,

y Imperial Kludd Joe Johnson of the ORION Knights Ku Klux Klan.

Here we stand in the year of our Lord 2003, an embattled remnant,
soldiers of the cross, duty and honour-bound to serve and obey our
Lord God and King, Jesus Christ!
All around us and arrayed against us are the myrmidons of madness,
loyal citizens of evil empires and puppet heads of state commanding
blood-thirsty legions of guard dogs. (Vicious, rabid, unreasonable
dogs whose minds are darkened by years of social engineering and
perverse entertainment, trained and supported by governments gone
mad, governments which are in open and bold defiance to our Lord God
and the Laws of God). The nations are truly mad. The current
governments now in power are tyrannical, oppressive and insanely
ignorant. The former nations of Christendom are lead by a pack of
self-serving, degenerate, reprobate, arrogant maniacs.
They and the subjects they rule are quite literally insane, and are
living proof of the depraved state of human nature since the fall of
Adam. John Calvin, John Knox and other Protestant Reformation
ministers stand fully vindicated in their doctrinal beliefs about the
corrupt, depraved, fallen nature of man. The current New World blah blah rednecks are great…

Good one, Annie!! LOL

It’s those strob lights that bother me. They might remind WSClark of his psychedelic days, but I don’t care of light pollution.

WIND POWER EFFECTS HEALTH TOO:

“At the heart of the dispute: Just how healthy is the noise from wind turbines? Complaints about illnesses caused by the sounds that emanate from turbines are just beginning to be studied.
One researcher calls it “wind turbine syndrome,” a collection of symptoms that include headaches, anxiety attacks and high blood pressure. Doctors in some other countries have done research on people who live near turbines and say the sounds they emit make them sick.
Several researchers suggest that turbines should be set back from homes, schools and hospitals by more than a mile. Kenneth Smith, a Kansas City area audiologist, says such low-frequency sounds can cause health disorders — but cautions that much more study needs to be done on turbines.
Once the blades started turning, he had another set of complaints. Porter said his family, including his 11-year-old daughter, has suffered from headaches and sleeplessness. “It’s like somebody swinging a rope over your head,” he said. “Some days, it’s worse than other days. The only way you can get away from it is to drive into town.”
In addition, powerful strobe lights come on at dawn and dusk, lighting up the inside of his home.
Porter said he has had the property up for sale for a year, but can’t find a buyer.
Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician who has taught at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, has found a consistent cluster of symptoms associated with people living under wind turbines, including sleep problems, headaches that increase in severity, dizziness, nausea, exhaustion, anger and irritability. She calls it “wind turbine syndrome” and says it appears to be an emerging problem. “A setback of 1.5 miles from homes, schools, hospitals and similar institutes will probably be adequate … to protect people from the adverse health effects of industrial wind turbines,” she recommended to the New York legislature.
Pierpont is close to completing a clinical research study, which could be the first on the subject.
Doctors in other countries, including Canada, England, France, Australia and New Zealand, have written papers about similar illnesses in people who live near wind farms. Amanda Harry, a medical doctor in England, said in a research paper that she first realized there was a problem with low-frequency noise from turbines from a couple living near a wind farm in Cornwall. The distance from their home to the nearest turbine was about 1,300 feet.
At the New University of Lisbon in Portugal, professor Mariana Alves-Pereira has found that sounds occurring at or below the frequency band 500 Hz could cause “vibro-acoustic” disease.
A spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association said she was aware of the sound issue. “But we don’t have any information that this is a big issue,” said Christine Real de Azua. But, he said, before anyone can conclude that the wind turbines are harmful, a major study must be done.” KCstar.com

Better do the research BEFORE advancing with this one.

“It’s those strob lights that bother me. They might remind WSClark of his psychedelic days, but I don’t care of light pollution.”

Grow up, AmWay, now you’re just being a troll like your buddy McCluer.

Clark! You ARE here! I was kidding you. Lighten up man. That paranoia is gonna give you ulcers or a heart attack! (pass-pass puff-puff)

“That paranoia is gonna give you ulcers or a heart attack! (pass-pass puff-puff)”

Kiss my ass, AmWay.

AmWay… why do you wing nuts always bitch about something that will save EVERYBODY a whole LOT of money?? THERE IS NOTHING HARMFUL ABOUT WIND TURBINES!! And yet you guys would go all out for a pollution creating, unhealthy, coal plant?? Makes NO sense!!

“something that will save EVERYBODY a whole LOT of money”

Save money? Do you think the energy corporations are going to build those wind turbines - or any energy services for free? Do you believe the carbon tax will be paid for out of CEO’s pockets too?

Chas we will ALL enjoy higher utility bills for these ventures.

Do leftnuts really believe you get improvements for free and there is a money tree out back?

AmWay, I have seen the wind turbines up close and personal… I dont need some tape recording to tell me that the sound from a wind turbine is almost non-existant… Have you ever walked up to one of those peaceful giants??

Chas, yes I have seen a wind-turbine. I saw the space shuttle launch once too, but that doesn’t make me an expert on space travel.

Reuters) - The price tag to build new power lines to bring plentiful wind power to Texas’ biggest cities could range from $3 billion to $9 billion, the state’s electric grid operator said in a report filed with regulators The boom in Texas wind generation has already created congestion on the existing grid, leading to some service disruption and recent wholesale price volatility. New cost estimates are “significantly” higher than the 2006 projection of $3 billion, due to increased costs for steel and other equipment, ERCOT said. In Texas, transmission costs are paid by customers in areas with the most electric demand;

The switch to “clean green” energy sources will cost households up to 40 per cent more on their power bill, Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has said.Mr Macfarlane said it was inevitable there would be “big jumps” in power bills, but said most people were unaware of the looming increases. “I don’t think the consumers fully understand the price tag associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions,” he told The Courier-Mail in an exclusive interview.
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
AUSTIN — Texas ratepayers could be on the hook for $3 billion to $6.4 billion to build new transmission lines so wind-power turbines can connect to the state power grid, according to preliminary estimates released Wednesday. The eye-popping cost projections by operators of the Texas power grid could equate to as much as $320 for every man, woman and child getting power from the grid, although the impact on individual bills remains unclear.

“Too late. Already started.”

Yes and I am leaving. Apparently, if your views do not equal someone else’s on this blog - it is a cause for personal attacking and intolerance.

Too nice a night for fighting on this blog.

Funny MonkeyHawk!! LOL

http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i30/30b00101.htm

From the issue dated April 11, 2008

OBSERVER
Prophet and Pastor

To his former professor, congregant, and friend, Jeremiah Wright has been both.

By DR. MARTIN E. MARTY

Through the decades, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. has called me teacher, reminding me of the years when he earned a master’s degree in theology and ministry at the University of Chicago — and friend. My wife and I and our guests have worshiped at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where he recently completed a 36-year ministry.

Images of Wright’s strident sermons, and his anger at the treatment of black people in the United States, appear constantly on the Internet and cable television, part of the latest controversy in our political-campaign season. His critics call Wright anti-American. Critics of his critics charge that the clips we hear and see have been taken out of context. But it is not the context of particular sermons that the public needs, as that of Trinity church, and, above all, its pastor.

In the early 1960s, at a time when many young people were being radicalized by the Vietnam War, Wright left college and volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps. After three years as a marine, he chose to serve three more as a naval medical technician, during which time he received several White House commendations. He came to Chicago to study not long after Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder in 1968, the U.S. bombing campaign in Cambodia in 1969, and the shooting of students at Kent State University in 1970.

Wright, like the gifted cohort of his fellow black students, was not content to blend into the academic woodwork. Then the associate dean of the Divinity School, I was informally delegated to talk to the black caucus. We learned that what Wright and his peers wanted was the intense academic and practical preparation for vocations that would make a difference, whether they chose to pursue a Ph.D. or the pastorate. Chicago’s Divinity School focuses on what it calls “public ministry,” which includes both conventional pastoral roles and carrying the message and work of the church to the public arena. Wright has since picked up numerous honorary doctorates, and served as an adjunct faculty member at several seminaries. But after divinity school, he accepted a call to serve then-struggling Trinity.

Trinity focuses on biblical teaching and preaching. It is a church where music stuns and uplifts, a church given to hospitality and promoting physical and spiritual healing, devoted to education, active in Chicago life, and one that keeps the world church in mind, with a special accent on African Christianity. The four S’s charged against Wright — segregation, separatism, sectarianism, and superiority — don’t stand up, as countless visitors can attest. I wish those whose vision has been distorted by sermon clips could have experienced what we and our white guests did when we worshiped there: feeling instantly at home.

Yes, while Trinity is “unapologetically Christian,” as the second clause in its motto affirms, it is also, as the other clause announces, “unashamedly black.” From its beginning, the church has made strenuous efforts to help black Christians overcome the shame they had so long been conditioned to experience. That its members and pastor are, in their own term, “Africentric” should not be more offensive than that synagogues should be “Judeocentric” or that Chicago’s Irish parishes be “Celtic-centric.” Wright and colleagues insist that no hierarchy of races is involved. People do not leave Trinity ready to beat up on white people; they are charged to make peace.

To the 10,000 members of Trinity, Jeremiah Wright was, until just a few months ago, “Pastor Wright.” Metaphorically, pastor means shepherd. Like members of all congregations, the Trinity flock welcomes strong leadership for organization, prayer, and preaching. One-on-one ministry is not easy with thousands in the flock and when the pastor has national responsibilities, but the forms of worship make each participant feel recognized. Responding to the pastoral call to stand and be honored on Mother’s Day, for instance, grandmothers, single mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, gay-and-lesbian couples, all mothers stood when we visited. Wright asked how many believed that they were alive because of the church’s health fairs. The members of the large pastoral staff know many hundreds of names, while hundreds of lay people share the ministry.

Now, for the hard business: the sermons, which have been mercilessly chipped into for wearying television clips. While Wright’s sermons were pastoral — my wife and I have always been awed to hear the Christian Gospel parsed for our personal lives — they were also prophetic. At the university, we used to remark, half lightheartedly, that this Jeremiah was trying to live up to his namesake, the seventh-century B.C. prophet. Though Jeremiah of old did not “curse” his people of Israel, Wright, as a biblical scholar, could point out that the prophets Hosea and Micah did. But the Book of Jeremiah, written by numbers of authors, is so full of blasts and quasi curses — what biblical scholars call “imprecatory topoi” — that New England preachers invented a sermonic form called “the jeremiad,” a style revived in some Wrightian shouts.

In the end, however, Jeremiah was the prophet of hope, and that note of hope is what attracts the multiclass membership at Trinity and significant television audiences. Both Jeremiahs gave the people work to do: to advance the missions of social justice and mercy that improve the lot of the suffering. For a sample, read Jeremiah 29, where the prophet’s letter to the exiles in Babylon exhorts them to settle down and “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.” Or listen to many a Jeremiah Wright sermon.

One may properly ask whether or how Jeremiah Wright — or anyone else — experiences a prophetic call. Back when American radicals wanted to be called prophets, I heard Saul Bellow say (and, I think, later saw it in writing): “Being a prophet is nice work if you can get it, but sooner or later you have to mention God.” Wright mentioned God sooner. My wife and I recall but a single overtly political pitch. Wright wanted 2,000 letters of protest sent to the Chicago mayor’s office about a public-library policy. Of course, if we had gone more often, in times of profound tumult, we would have heard much more. The United Church of Christ is a denomination that has taken raps for being liberal — for example for its 50th anniversary “God is still speaking” campaign and its pledge to be open and affirming to all, including gay people. In its lineage are Jonathan Edwards and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr, America’s three most-noted theologians; the Rev. King was much at home there.

Friendship develops through many gestures and shared delights (in the Marty case, stops for sinfully rich barbecue after evening services), and people across the economic spectrum can attest to the generosity of the Wright family.

It would be unfair to Wright to gloss over his abrasive — to say the least — edges, so, in the “Nobody’s Perfect” column, I’ll register some criticisms. To me, Trinity’s honoring of Minister Louis Farrakhan was abhorrent and indefensible, and Wright’s fantasies about the U.S. government’s role in spreading AIDS distracting and harmful. He, himself, is also aware of the now-standard charge by some African-American clergy who say he is a victim of cultural lag, overinfluenced by the terrible racial situation when he was formed.

Having said that, and reserving the right to offer more criticisms, I’ve been too impressed by the way Wright preaches the Christian Gospel to break with him. Those who were part of his ministry for years — school superintendents, nurses, legislators, teachers, laborers, the unemployed, the previously shunned and shamed, the anxious — are not going to turn their backs on their pastor and prophet.

Martin E. Marty is a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a panelist for On Faith, of Washingtonpost.com. His most recent book is The Christian World: A Global History (Modern Library, 2008).

http://chronicle.com
Section: The Chronicle Review
Volume 54, Issue 30, Page B1

Copyright © 2008 by
The Chronicle of Higher Education

Chas,

Almost every single type of round that we use in hunting rifles can penetrate a cops body armor.

That is why when people like you say that all ammo which can pierce a cops body armor should be banned are fools.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

I dont believe in Cop Killer Bullets regardless of what kind of gun they are used in… They are only designed for one thing — to kill another human being… Sorry if you cannot grasp my repugnance with such people that keep on defending such a ridiculous position on a repetitive basis… excuse me, I think I need to puke!!

Nathan, what percentage of “hunters” would you say use any kind of handgun in hunting??

Chas,

You don’t need to puke, you need to get your facts straight on weapons and ammo before you comment on them.

Why do people insist on “NON LETHAL” weapons being carried by the Police? People push and complain that the Police should not carry “LETHAL WEAPONS”. The police get shot at and hit with “LETHAL WEAPONS”. They still carry and develop “NON Lethal Weapons”. What does the general public need a bullet that leaves a hole the size of a basketball for? How much deer meat is left after a basketball size hole is in it? Why do we need guns that shoot 30 rounds in 30 seconds? How bad a shot are hunters?Why do I need ammo that can penetrate a vest? What deer ever wore a vest? What rabbit ever wore a vest? If deer hide is so tough and bullet proof, why dont they make vests out of their hides? What daily situation are we in that requires large caliper, basketball sized damage weapons? Cops deal with problems of severe nature daily. We see it rarely. I have personaly saw, maybe, 25 too 30 wild situations in 41 years. I have been in about 3 in 41 years that i was scared. I never had to use a weapon to see 41 years of age. I am not special. I am the norm. We dont need uzi’s and IED’s and Bazzokas too walk around the streets of America. We have the police. They have control, protocal, and justified meens. They retire daily without ever shooting anyone in the line of duty. Lets follow their lead, we dont need large caliper WMD to live, we need responsibilty and respect for eachother. Herbert West III, west.herb@yahoo.com wen2k.com

You want to at lest TRY to answer my question, Nathan, or do you just want to lob your ad hominems?? eh??

Chas,

I have no idea what percentage of hunters use a handgun for hunting.

I know alot have and do. The question you should ask is what percentage of all hunting involves the use of a handgun.

What on earth does that question have to do with banning all ammo which could penetrate a cops vest like you said?

Why don’t you answer my questions?

You mean you cant figure it out, Nathan?? I have known a LOT of hunters in my life time… I have never met ONE of them who brought home a deer shot with a hand gun… or a pheasant, or duck, or Elk, or MOOSE… NONE of them… Why do you need cop killer bullets for hand guns?? They wont be used to hunting wild game!!

You just want cop killer bullets for your handguns for ONE REASON — TO KILL HUMAN BEINGS!!

Chas,

You made no distinction earlier in rifle and handgun ammo when you said all ammo which could penetrate a cops vest should be banned.

All guns, can kill a human being, regardless of the caliber or type of ammo.

When you keep using the word “cop killer” I have no idea what you are talking about.

There are no cops that I know of which have been killed by any such “cop killing” ammo.

So please define for me what you mean when you keep using that term?

Elroy, thats a crock… You can use your rifle to kill the critter, if you only wounded it… What a bunch of BS… I HAVE been hunting before… I just dont use guns… sorry!!

http://www.handgunhunt.com/

http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Firearm/Beginners_Guide_to_Big_Game_Handgun_Hunting_10120412.html

Chas,

Type handgun hunting into google and you can read about it all night long.

Chas
Posted April 13, 2008 at 8:06 pm | Permalink

You just want cop killer bullets for your handguns for ONE REASON — TO KILL HUMAN BEINGS!!

The only reason I carry a handgun today is TO KILL HUMAN BEINGS!

Human beings that might wish to do great bodily harm to me or mine! But I don’t use ammo that would penetrate a bullet proof vest. I use ammo that will expand in the body and not make an exit wound. (less danger to innocent bystanders)

Human beings that might wish to do great bodily harm to me or mine!

What is it you are doing that puts you and yours in SUCH peril?

Chas.,

Of course you can use your rifle to finish the poor critter off, read what I said:

“Having a drawn handgun is a handier, safer and cheaper way to administer the coup de grace.”

I no longer hunt. I do however, carry concealed.

Chas, just let them have at it - they will argue day and night - and every word that you “use” in the wrong context, etc, will be used against you.

Just let them go for it - perhaps we need a “all guns, all the time” thread to keep them amused.

In the meantime, Chas, just drop it, because you will never convince them that ANY restriction is appropriate.

WS Clark,

I simply expect someone to know something about what they are talking about.

Of course I will hold that against you in an argument when you don’t.

It definately isn’t any worse than your pointing out to me all my obvious typos as spelling errors.

“Just want to be able to defend myself.”

From what? From who?

Why would someone want to hurt you and yours?

Evidently, Chas has never hunted in Texas where there are a lot of rattlesnakes. A handgun comes in handy. :)

It also comes in handy when you work on a ranch and two-legged poachers come in unauthorized. :)

Ya can’t deny Monkeyhawk.

Obama’s remarks were incredibly inept politically.

I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.

By the way, MH’s comments seemed to be based on a stereotype more appropriate for, say, American Way (you know, the guy who doesn’t attack anyone! :) ).

Granted, where AW sees the shiftless working-class welfare loafer, I think MH sees the hardworking, noble shop steward, a persistent victim of neocon greed, downsizing, offshoring, and outsourcing.

Well-meant, but patronizing nonethless. Not because there isn’t a grain of truth to it, but rather because it suggests that you believe as you do because of who you are, rather than from your personal intellectual assessment of the situation.

I’m still mulling over my own assessment of the situation, myself.

“Of course I will hold that against you in an argument when you don’t.”

Well, excuse the Hell out me, Price, I am soooooooo sorry that I spoke up.

Forgive me, your high and mighty one.

How do you stand having to live in a world with “little people” like liberals and working men and women?

BTW, not even in TX are poachers given a death sentence anymore… Get real Regular!! You shoot a poacher down here, you gonna do some hard jail time!!

BlueJay.. I’ve seen the lettuce pickers at work in New Mexico… doesnt look like good work, even at $50/hour

BlueJay — on a hot day, it can get up to 116 in the shade out in the fields in New Mexico!!

Regular, if they arent shooting at YOU… since YOU arent what they want to poach… you shoot them, you gonna go to jail!! Assault with a deadly weapon… These TX Sherriff’s are pretty smart cookies now days!!

In fact, our local Sherrif was one of our Communion Elders at the late service this morning!! :-)

Chas,

In my last punchclock job as an aircraft worker, temperatures in the area where I worked in Summer time often exceeded 130 degrees.

Now I had a union and benefits and made 20 bucks an hour.

Illegals, they can’t get a union. They in fact help their greedy exploiters bust unions.

#
WSClark
Posted April 13, 2008 at 8:56 pm | Permalink

“When poachers ignore the no trespassing sign, cut the chain to your front gate, travel down the dirt roads with their head lights off and shoot blindly into the dark - sorry they don’t get a second chance.”

I bet that happens a lot to you, up there in NE Wichita.

How many poachers have to bagged so far?
—————–
I said poachers Clark, not vermin like yourself.

(chortles)

Well, you got a point there… but at least in the aircraft plant, you had a roof over your head.. Those pickers are out in very bright, and very dry, HOT sun at 116!! That heat is REALLY hot, Blue Jay… Even normal AC doesnt work out there… They use ‘SWAMP COOLERS’ OR ‘WATER COOLERS’ for us northerners..

“I’d be GLAD to pick lettuce for 50 dollars an hour.”

There was a time I would have, 50 dollars ain’t what it use to be, I wouldn’t take the cut in pay today!

Remember a few minutes ago when I asked you why you were afraid of someone hurting you and yours there “elroy”?

You just answered my question.

MOST crime is a result of social and economic injustice. Your gun can’t correct that.

It can only protect your station in the problem.

Given how things are going?

Buy lots of ammo and get good at summary justice.

#
WSClark
Posted April 13, 2008 at 9:02 pm | Permalink

So, McCluer, when you were a rancher down it Tejas, how many pesky poachers did ya’ have to pick off, pad-ner?

Did ya’ string them up at the gate to yer ranch as a warning to the other varmints or did you leave them where they lay for the coyotes and armadillos?

Did you keep the skulls, after the insects picked off the meat, so that you could mount them on yer mantle?
—————————
Actually, I was a ranch hand that worked during the summers there in High School.

While you were smoking pot and waving around picket signs in Detroit - I was in West Texas earning money.

Nothing like throwing a roll of barbed wire on your burlap sack covered back and walking in a few miles to fix a few water gaps where the floods had washed them out. :)

“Actually, I was a ranch hand that worked during the summers there in High School.”

Well, my goodness, McCluer, you have damned near done everything and anything - why you are a modern day Renaissance Man.

Or, you are just full of shit.

Let’s take a vote………………………..

#
WSClark
Posted April 13, 2008 at 9:12 pm | Permalink

“Actually, I was a ranch hand that worked during the summers there in High School.”

Well, my goodness, McCluer, you have damned near done everything and anything - why you are a modern day Renaissance Man.

Or, you are just full of shit.

Let’s take a vote………………………..
———————————-

Sorry you have led such a sheltered, pathetic life Clark. Some of us have lived it to the fullest.

Must be sad to be like you Clark, only to know the four walls of a room and the inside of your own foul, diseased mind.
—————————
—————————
#
WSClark
Posted April 13, 2008 at 9:13 pm | Permalink

By the way, McCluer, what happened to you going down to Mississippi (forever) to help rebuild the Gulf Coast?
—————-
—————-
—————-
Zoning restrictions - no projects could get started, because of environmental and safety restrictions. However, I did have some fine meals and caught a few catfish. :)

Thanks Nathaniel. I see where it is caliber instead of caliper. Herb West III west.herb@yahoo.com wen2k.com

“They’re afraid of people around them who speak Spanish.”

There’s that Obama arrogance again.

Jay, I gotta point out that there are , in fact, plenty of working-class people out there–and not just Republicans–who react to Mexicans that way, right here in Tucson. I’ve met them.

Yeah, they couch their concerns in talk of illegal immigration, but they seem curiously unable to make that distinction when they see a Sonora license plate or, yes, when people are speaking Spanish around them.

One Democrat ran for the Congressional primary in 2006 under the slogan “Stop the invasion.” Like it was War of the Words or something.

I see there is no honest conversation possible with you Clark. You always want to get the edge by using what a person tells you (even in casual conversation) against them.

With that, I’m out of here.

Hate talking to moaners and groaners who wouldn’t know which end of the mule gets the hay.

“You always want to get the edge by using what a person tells you (even in casual conversation) against them.”

Getting awful touchy there, McCluer.

Does this mean that you are gonna swear off the personal attacks?

Naw - that just wouldn’t be in you.

I don’t know if anyone put this up, I’m sure these rounds are making their way into the states probably with afgan opium.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20060829.aspx

Iran’s Cop Killer Bullets
August 29, 2006: Iran recently announced that it has begun manufacturing, and issuing armor piercing bullets for the AK-47 type assault rifles used by their infantry. Iran claimed that these new bullets could penetrate protective vests. Actually, they can, and can probably penetrate over 10mm of armor. The Iranians claimed that these bullets can penetrate 20mm of armor, which is only true if you are using low quality armor. There’s a lot of that in the region. But the ceramic plates used in American protective vests can stop at least one of these armor piercing bullets. These more expensive bullets have to be fired at close range (under a hundred meters) and in large quantity to guarantee they will overwhelm the body armor typically worn by American troops. However, if any American troops do get hit by this new Iranian ammunition, it will cause a stink that may prove expensive to the Iranians. The new Iranian bullets will, however, penetrate most protective vests worn by police.

“Hate talking to moaners and groaners who wouldn’t know which end of the mule gets the hay.”

Actually, Grandpa tilled his fields with mule drawn plows - sometimes I would “help” him feed the mules.

Of course, I had no memory of it until he told me about it forty years later.

Of course, I had no memory of it until he told me about it forty years later.
—————————–
Something killed off that memory eh?

I remember gathering eggs and feeding chickens at the age of four. Cracked a few eggs, but it was a way to learn and earn my keep. :)

We sent medical teams; search/rescue teams & dogs; Food convoys(Loaded Semi’s) All kinds of things… only lately have we been rebuilding structures… But its all part of the rebuild process… You would probably have a difficult time on putting up structures… but I am sure they need paper shufflers, and housing coordinators, and food servers…

I do hope Wichita avoids any storm damages this storm season… It would be a major setback for the whole City and County(and even the State)…

Well, my calendar says this will be a long week!!

Good night; Good luck; and God bless;
Whatever you conceive God to be!!

Blessings ALL!!

What difference does it make where Max Grobnik is from?

I mean you Libs certainly have a nose problem and sticking it in to where people live and where they are.

I could live the rest of my life not knowing who Steven E. Davis is, where he lives or what he does. In fact, I could care less.

It’s a blog, nothing more, nothing less.

Steven I’ve taken a break from the blog for a few days, can you tell me how you know this is the same Max?

If you plug “max grobnik” into the google search engine you’ll find some interesting links. The Max posting on Topix is probably the same Max who posts here, or his twin brother. Don’t worry about invading his privacy. He lives for it.

Steven I’ve taken a break from the blog for a few days, can you tell me how you know this is the same Max?

Because

(1) He was griping about not being able to keep his previous nic. I assumed at the time it was him, and he didn’t deny it.

(2) There was a previous Max Grobnik on WEBlog.

(3) He rants just like Max, and on the same subjects.

Occam’s razor, Pmom. Now, if he came out and said “No, I’m not that Max!” I would (in this instance, reluctantly) give him the benefit of the doubt. I do think there’s been far too much second-guessing going on. Since registration has forced some name changes, I may “wink” at someone I recognize–but I’ll leave accusations out of it, thank you!

As for the Iowa thing, it’s possible he posts there too and lives in, say, Colorado or something. Who cares?

P.S. During a period of time when Capn America was changing nics every few days (he wasn’t trolling–it’s a long story), I made sport of seeing how quickly I could spot him.

It was easy.

“Something killed off that memory eh?”

Yeah, dumbass, the pain of being taken from my grandparents by my birth mother and dumped at an orphanage in Detroit.

You are truly a son of a bitch, McCluer.