Final Protective Fire

Thursday, October 31, 2002

 

Here is a story about a totalitarian state where people are imprisoned for handing out pamphlets. This totalitarian state is called Canada. Now I found this link on Eugene Volokh's site and he deliberately doesn't say much about it - saying that its for Canadians to discuss. But I'm quite speechless about this, although I already knew that there was no freedom of speech in Canada. Notice that as punishment the defendant is forced to study Islam under the tutelage of a muslim teacher who has him read Islamic tutorials no less filled with hatred than his own pamphlets.

Robin 8:09 PM

 

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled on the shameless Democrats' lawsuit about absentee ballots. The Democrats mostly lost as the Minnesota Supreme Court did not give them what they wanted, but rather agreed with the Republican position that only people who requested new absentee ballots should be sent them. And the Minnesota Supreme Court only authorized the use of mail to send replacement ballots. The Democrats may spin this as a victory but the reality is that this is a real setback for them. The decision does not provide speedy enough returns for absentee ballot to be returned by voters. Mondale's campaign must now find a way to get all their absentee voters to immediately request absentee ballot replacement, fill them out and return them for them to count in the election that is only three postal service working days away. Link courtesy of Crooowblog.

Robin 4:13 PM

Wednesday, October 30, 2002

 

The NAACP is registering convicted felons to vote in Florida. The natural Democrat constituency of course.

Robin 2:16 PM

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

 

I love good French bashing.

Robin 11:03 PM

 

In honor of this contest, I need to post some bloodthirsty warblogger comments to up my score.... hmmm, that's difficult today because mostly I'm running a high level of disgust for the despicable actions of Democrats as we approach the election. As a result, its hard to refocus on what should be the important issue of our progress on the war on terrorism and the impending invasion of Iraq. I'll try to refocus later today.

Robin 11:25 AM

 

Evidently, Wellstone's surviving family are as classless as Democrats come, disinviting Vice President Dick Cheney from today's memorial. Good job confirming my opinion. Link from Drudge.
UPDATE: I channel-clicked into the memorial service for Wellstone a few times tonight and was disgusted by what I saw. The worst was Rick Kahn but he wasn't alone in turning a memorial service into a campaign rally. It is becoming more obvious that they have no shame whatsoever. I hope that Minnesotans do not reward this despicable behavior.

Robin 10:32 AM

Monday, October 28, 2002

 

Here from History News Network, is a rebuttal by Prof. Jerome Sternstein of The Nation's ludicrous defense of Michael Bellesiles. Other prizes awarded to Bellesiles are being reviewed. And HNN askes these outstanding questions. This is an opportunity for the academic community to stand up for integrity or stand up for partisan, political screeds based on falsehoods. Weiner of the The Nation has done that latter already.>.

Robin 4:56 PM

Sunday, October 27, 2002

 

The California Angels have won the World Series. I hope Gene Autry got to see it.

Robin 9:22 PM

 

Clayton Cramer is kind enough to link to this blog, and copies a rewrite from Usenet of the St. Crispian's Speech which celebrates Bellesiles' downfall.

Robin 9:14 PM

Saturday, October 26, 2002

 

The ever-dishonest "Violence Policy Center" still has this essay which cites Bellesiles' long discredited work. Link courtesy of Jane Galt.

Robin 7:14 PM

Friday, October 25, 2002

 

To my surprise, Emory University seems to have finally done the right thing to regain some credibility. Today, it announces Michael Bellesiles' resignation. This is a great vindication of the many people who worked hard, and took abuse such as that ladled out by the Nation recently, to expose the fraudulent nature of Bellesiles' book Arming America. Bellesiles' statement continues to misrepresent both his own past statements about the controversy and the findings of those who investigated his work. The report of Emory's review committee is here. Original link courtesy of Crooowblog.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds comments and Clayton Cramer comments.

Robin 2:27 PM

 

Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife and one of his daughters have died today in a light aircraft crash. This is a great tragedy and my condolences go out to his friends and family.

Robin 12:39 PM

Thursday, October 24, 2002

 

Patrick Michaels gives us a response here to a UN report that claims that global warming will become a financial catastrophe. Dr. Michaels shows that this UN report is directly contradicted by the UN's panel on climate change's own report. The IPCC reports have specifically denied that the establishment of any link between global warming and increased catastrophic weather. I especially enjoy seeing the UN report include earthquake losses in its calculations. For more on the lack of credibility of UN pronouncements on global warming, see John Daly's website Still Waiting for Greenhouse.

Robin 5:01 PM

 

Democrats repeatedly demand more campaign finance reform. Here's a thought, how about teaching Democrats to obey the existing laws for once, instead of passing new ones for them to break? Link courtesy of Crooowblog.

Robin 11:17 AM

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

 

Brian Mickelwait of Samizdat gives us this dead-on response to the No Blood for Oil mantra.

Robin 10:13 PM

 

Just Two Days 'Til St. Crispian's Day:

The beginning of the St. Crispin's Speech in Shakespeare's Henry V resonates with me as I read the vapid natterings of those who oppose the fight against Terrorism:

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

 And the rest of the speech:

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Robin 9:03 PM

 

The news on the sniper is getting more bizarre every day. With this we learn that the sniper wants money and has been frustrated at the supposed incompetence of police staff in answering the telephone.

Robin 9:49 AM

 

Dave Kopel is the man. He and Paul Blackman deliver the devastating but unsurprising news that the misnamed "ballistic fingerprinting" is a fraud. ( By the way, don't forget Clayton Cramer's discussion of this topic ). The scheme would be hideously expensive to set up, hideously expensive to run, and hideously expensive to search for matches. What could be the purpose of this? Why, stealth gun registration - nothing else..

UPDATE: I should have also linked Steve Milloy's piece.

Robin 9:05 AM

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

 

Australian Red Cross.

I don't have to say more, do I?

Robin 8:37 PM

 

Ah, if only it were true. I think the idea of the Democrats doing so poorly in New York as to be relegated to the third line of every ballot for the next four years to be completely hilarious. Fingers crossed that the Clintons' pet candidate fail so spectacularly.

Robin 8:37 PM

 

There simply is no better reason to vote against every Democrat candidate than the fact that the Democrats cannot intelligently discuss the War Against Terrorism. A party that cannot put forward candidates who can discuss this very serious issue like adults cannot be taken seriously as a party. In Colorado, Tom Strickland - running for the Senate seat currently held by the adult Wayne Allard - said this:

"The real enemy we have is not a particular terrorist group or a particular extremist philosophy. It's the hopelessness and despair that so many people around the world feel. We've got to be a partner with the rest of the world in addressing those concerns with other nations."

Plainly, Strickland is an Idiotarian and should not receive the vote of any informed voter. Just lie louder, Tom.

Robin 8:29 PM

 

I should find it ludicrous that Little Green Footballs was accused of being a "hate site". See here and here and at points between. Then again, it was MSNBC - the network that thinks Donahue is relevant.

Robin 8:17 PM

 

File under Democrat Agitprop:
I'm getting more than a little pissed off at the brazen lies we see the Democrats using to try to regain ground politically. It is of course bad enough, probably actually worse, that the Democrats are both too cowardly to actually debate foreign policy with any honesty and too anti-American to actually support a policy they refuse to publically debate with any seriousness. But what they do instead is try to undermine us with outright lies about the economy. We see Tony Foresta trolling with the typical Democrat lie here. Specifically he addressed this tripe at me:
You can dance around all you want but, math is always beautifully objective. Numbers never lie. You do the math. American workers traded a $300.00 rebate for most of their 401k's and any dreams of retirement. Lay, and Cheney, and Bush, may be optimistic about the economy, (it is an exceedingly opportune moment by the way to be wealthy and liquid with rates and prices so low, and demand so soft), but most of Americans are pinched hard at every turn. Bush insolence, selective blindness, and obdurate refusal to seriousl address economic concerns is not very comforting, to a public worried about loosing their jobs.

You Robin "continually post falsehoods" attempting to defend Bush wealth redistribution schemes and overt favoritism toward of the super rich and the mega corps over and beyond the interests of the working children, women, and men of America. You resort to the same typical issue evasion, personal attack strategies and robopathic responses Karl Rove taught all the fundamentalist republicans. Next, you will be calling me communist or un-patriotic. Your speak is old, not mine. Your math is fuzzy, not mine. Fling all the lies and insults you want, numbers do not lie.

It is quite infuriating to see this nonsense. First of all, President Bush dedicated his administration from the beginning to addressing the recession that had been laid at his feet by events but had begun before he could act. The graphs in the previous link show that industrial production had begun its decline in September of 2000. These are the real numbers, not Foresta's bizarre inventions that violate Einsteinian relativity. Foresta whines about people afraid of losing their jobs, but evidently is ignorant of the fact that employment statistics show that unemployment is down from the previous quarter in all categories (see "Unemployment rates" in this link). It is really astonishing how mild the recession has been given the long period of growth before it and the immense bubble that collapsed toward the end of the Clinton administration. Could this soft recession be credited to President Bush? That would be an interesting debate but usually I discount the influence of Presidents on economic matters in the short term.

But the political strategy is evident, the Democrat strategy: lie, lie and when caught lying then just lie louder.

Robin 8:07 PM

 

Howard Fienberg revisits the topic of CAIR's propaganda about hate crimes. His piece discusses how analysis of the claims of CAIR show that America is really a very tolerant society despite the visitation of Islamist terror to our shores. Link courtesy of Crooowblog/Henry Hanks.

Robin 7:23 PM

Friday, October 18, 2002

 

Glenn Reynolds and Clayton Cramer have been savaging a patently dishonest attempt by The Nation to rehabilitate Michael Bellesiles' reputation. Once again we see that the gun control extremists will tell any lie, defend any liar, to maintain their mythology.

Robin 2:49 PM

 

Jacob Sullum describes the misrepresentations of the gun control extremists in light of the D.C. area sniper. Link courtesy of Glenn Reynolds.

Robin 2:29 PM

 

Steve Milloy weighs in on the myth of "ballistic fingerprinting". Link courtesy of Glenn Reynolds.

Robin 2:28 PM

Thursday, October 17, 2002

 

Suman Palit gives us more evidence that the FBI's search for the sniper is dominated by incompetent, time-wasting harassment. On some firearms boards there have been stories, of unknown veracity, of firearms owners being telephoned or visited by FBI. Granted, this kind of shooting spree is difficult police work, devoid of any substantive leads. However, that kind of inane, brainless brute-force sweep seems to be the FBI's only tactic these days.

Robin 2:40 PM

 

Recent news on the D.C. area sniper: CNN reports that the information regarding a "cream-colored" van and the description of the sniper's weapon as an "AK-74" are not credible and that the police may charge the witness with supplying false information. I didn't believe the "AK74" comment when I first heard it since no one, not even me, can identify that model from any other AK varient unless holding the rifle in our hands. Link courtesy of Daily Pundit.

Robin 2:13 PM

 

This is what freedom of speech means to the Democrat Underground.

Robin 1:20 PM

 

Jay at The Daily Rant has listed this blog under "Must Read". A very kind gesture that is greatly appreciated.

Robin 10:26 AM

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

 

Here Eugene Volokh comments on Clayton Cramer's discussion of the practical reasons why the misnamed ballistic "fingerprinting" is expensive, and a dubious waste of money. It is both this dubious utility and the fact that it becomes a gun registration scheme that is the source of my opposition to these schemes.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds has collected some more discussions on why this isn't going to work.

Robin 9:15 PM

 

Ed Stein is what they call an editorial cartoonist at the Rocky Mountain News. Here is an example of his work. I don't find this editorial comment, I find it simply slander. Stein hasn't gotten the message that the gun control extremists' agenda has been shredded by the public's recognition that they are irrelevant.

I emailed Ed Stein and the editors of the Rocky Mountain News at the email provided and stated that I found that Stein's work "portraying the NRA as responsible for the crimes of the sniper in the D.C. area is a despicable bit of slander on Stein's part. Stein makes this slander based on absolutely no evidence or other connection between the sniper and the NRA. Just Stein's vicious hatred of anyone who doesn't share his ludicrous agenda of gun prohibition. There simply are no reasons to believe that any gun control measures that would have had the slightest effect on the conduct of the D.C. area sniper. Stein is obviously incapable of shame."

Stein's response to me was that I had misread the cartoon. "Try reading the caption under it and recognizing it as a metaphor for the NRA's opposition to meaningful gun control."

Its not a metaphor, Stein, its slander. Cheap shots don't substitute for talent or for a message...
UPDATE: A letter to the editor of the Rocky states: "After seeing Ed Stein's cartoon of Oct. 11, it appears there are two lunatics on the loose - one with a gun and one with a pen. " Well said sir.

Robin 8:41 PM

Monday, October 14, 2002

 

Here's more on the alleged email that Krugman relied on to attack Secretary of Army White. The bit toward the end where Salon describes how it attempted to verify the source of the email from the reporter who first claimed it reminds me almost word for word of the bizarre inventions of Emory's Bellesiles.

Robin 9:48 PM

 

Tim Blair has an assortment of posts on the terrorist bombing in Bali. Included are some pithy comments about Fisk and his ilk as well as some very sad items about the agony of having a loved one missing. My deepest sympathies to the many Australians who have lost loved ones, as well as those of all the other myriad nationalities who have lost to the vile islamic terrorists. And keep up the good work Tim.

By the way, others have blogged it, but be sure to read an email Tim posts as well as his comment on it.
UPDATE: Tim emails me a nice note that says that Australians are hurting very deeply at this event. We know, Tim. We really do know. And we hurt with you.

Robin 12:00 AM

Sunday, October 13, 2002

 

Kim Du Toit discusses the calls for banning "sniper" rifles, rightly pointing out that the gun control extremists are in essence calling for the banning of ordinary hunting rifles.

Robin 11:43 PM

 

Man Without Qualities gives us a sharp and accurate take on the Nobel Peace Prize for Jimmy Carter. Carter used to take a great deal more care in public comments to support the current administration and for that - even when I disagreed with him - I respected him. Evidently he needs to relearn some of the humility he claimed in the past.

Robin 11:09 PM

 

I was saddened to learn today of Stephen Ambrose's death. He was a fine man and a good historian. The recent flurry over his alleged "plagerism" was a great shame as the controversy was greatly overblown ( unlike Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ambrose had footnoted the passages' source but omitted actual quotation marks ). His works were wonderful stories of America's greatness, the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the building of the Trancontinental Railroad, the great liberation of Europe and more.
We will miss you Mr. Ambrose.

Robin 11:03 PM

Saturday, October 12, 2002

 

Glenn Reynolds points us to some more lying by the gun control extremist group VPC.

Robin 4:38 PM

Thursday, October 10, 2002

 

Think of it as Evolution in Action.

Robin 2:27 PM

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

 

Thanks to Crowblog, we have this story illustrating once again that Democrats and their union co-conspirators are just thugs. Seems they think a Republican filming Sen. Paul Wellstone's remarks should be harrassed and beaten. This is the true Left.

Robin 11:12 AM

Tuesday, October 08, 2002

 

More evidence of Ann Coulter's thesis:
In Michelle Ames' story of October 6, "E-mail stings state Dems" in the Rocky Mountain News, Jessie Rowley would like to know how a $50 contribution to the campaign against Amendment 30 makes one into a white supremacist. Amendment 30 is a proposed amendment to Colorado's Constitution that would allow same-day voter registration.

There is of course an easy answer: today, Democrats have abandoned all discussion of substance and adopted the rhetoric of slander.

In the story, we learn that the Colorado Democrat Party forwarded to its email list a news release that - wholely without basis - claimed that opponents of Amendment 30 were associated with white supremacists. The state Democrats have no apology for forwarding such vile slander and the originators of the slander ( the NAACP, La Raza and unbelievably the League of Women Voters ) only repeat it and re-endorse it.

Its long been a common tactic of the Left to associate all its opponents with the most vile element. Now we see that the tactic is accepted by the organizations above in lieu of going to all that hard work of actually forming a coherent argument. We see the same in the despicable acts of Democrat Reps. David Bonior and Jim McDermott who even delivered their slanders against President Bush from the capital city of our enemy. There Bonior and McDermott called our President a liar and claimed that Saddam Hussein's word should be trusted. Too few Democrats condemned them for it. Decent people should consider long and hard the despicable nature of these people and reward such vile slander as it deserves by voting against every Democrat candidate who does not immediately, clearly and without equivocation condemn these slimy tactics.

Robin 8:53 PM

 

David Tell at the Weekly Standard describes what he calls lying at the New York Times regarding its "reporting" on its push poll with CBS. Unfortunately, Tell's link goes to a later story at CBS on the polling. I found the transcript of the polling here instead. I think Tell pushes his point a bit too far on how the NYT article spins Question 3, since if you add up all the "domestic" issues it is barely greater than those who list just "Terrorism/War/Security" and "Iraq". I think overall however, Tell does show us that the NYT is being intentionally deceptive in their "reporting" - more damage to an already almost nonexistant reputation..

Robin 3:43 PM

 

The Group Captain discusses the newest proposal in Britain, the banning of replica guns. It appears that banning real guns just isn't satisfying enough if someone might be able to pretend they still have one. The Group Captain has also included a bunch of links to earlier postings of his on the subject.

Robin 12:07 AM

Monday, October 07, 2002

 

I have returned from being out of town on my family emergency, although I've not completely recovered the blogging spirit. Thanks to all well-wishers.

Robin 7:56 PM

 

This debunking by Robert Musil of the claims that Katherine Harris acted illegally in qualifying for the primary for a Congressional seat is quite interesting and amazingly complete.

Robin 7:54 PM