Snowflakes in Hell

Check out this link w/photo of an iPod that saved a soldiers life:

My wife’s uncle works in a military hospital and told me about this. Its pretty amazing. Kevin Garrad (3rd Infantry Division) was on a street patrol in Iraq (Tikrit I believe) and as he rounded the corner of a building an armed (AK-47) insurgent came from the other side.

The two of them were within just a few feet of each other when they opened fire. The insurgent was killed and Kevin was hit in the left chest where his IPod was in his jacket pocket. It slowed the bullet down enough that it did not completely penetrate his body armor. Fortunately, Kevin suffered no wound.

Pretty cool.  Apparently Apple got wind of this and is replacing his iPod for him.

Dave Hardy is looking for some ideas for promoting his documentary In Search of the Second Amendment. I’ve seen it. If you haven’t, you should too.

Now, I’m not a marketing type. But I do know there’s no such thing as bad publicity. It’s well known that a sure way to sell copies of something is for someone to try to get it banned. This might be a bit tough, since I doubt the Brady Campaign would be willing participants in this endeavor. But there’s always pissing off the right! Maybe Christina the Stripper would be willing to pose topless with a copy of the documentary (you can use your imagination on the pose). That will surely get James Dobson’s attention. A condemnation of the documentary would surly follow, and I doubt Dave could stuff the envelopes fast enough after that.

The other option would be to slip it into the car of some celebrity or professional athlete. The headlines practically write themselves after that:

Famous actor arrested while soliciting a prostitute. Found in his vehicle were 30 grams of cocaine, a loaded pistol, and a copy of the documentary “In Search of the Second Amendment” by Dave Hardy.

As soon as that hits the papers and screens, the post office in Dave’s town will have to hire extra people just to keep up with the extra volume!

It’s April 5th, and yet I look out a window at work and see snow coming down.  I don’t have windows in my lab, which is good, because I’ve quite enough of winter, and don’t want to look at it anymore.   This late frost is going to suck for gardeners.

My currently fermenting “Bitter Bitch IPA” it turns out would be illegal in the State of Alabama, since it’s original gravity reading predicts it will have about 6.7% alcohol by volume.   Check this out:

The Alabama House said “no” Tuesday to a bill that would have increased the alcohol content allowed in beer sold in Alabama. Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, sponsored the bill, which he said would have allowed the sale of some imported and gourmet beers that have a higher alcohol content than the 6 percent now allowed. Jackson’s bill would have increased the allowable alcohol content to 14.9 percent. …

“I can’t see us doing something that’s going to encourage people to drink more and get drunk faster,” said Rep. DuWayne Bridges, D-Valley. Bridges said the measure would increase the problem of teenagers drinking by making more potent brew available to them. “Our children don’t need to increase their alcohol consumption,” Bridges said.

Read the whole thing.

I think Alabama is the only state in the union where home brewing is still illegal.  So you won’t find me moving there unless pigs grow wings and begin to fly.

From Alan Gottlieb:

“The murder of Rebecca Griego was a horrible tragedy that did not have to happen,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “Unfortunately, liberal politicians who dominate Seattle government feel more comfortable trying to harass law-abiding firearms owners than looking for dangerous illegal aliens in our midst. Rowan was a prime example of why such ordinances should be abolished. It is because of policies like this – that protect people like Rowan – that honest citizens want to arm themselves.”

Immigration may have something to do with crime, but it has nothing to do with gun rights. Let’s keep it, and other right wing issues, out of the debate.

An FBI agent was killed in a shootout with bank robbers in New Jersey. Not much in the way of details yet, as the agents family has yet to be notified.

UPDATE: It’s looking like the agent may have been killed by friendly fire.  That’s a real tragedy.  The death of an agent is bad enough, but the other agent who shot him will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

“Special Agent Bush and his team were in pursuit of heavily armed serial bank robbers who are believed to be responsible for four bank robberies,” according to a statement from the bureau. “In two of those robberies, the suspects, armed with assault weapons, fired rounds while inside the bank.”

I had heard about these robberies.   All the suspects were from New Jersey:

Prosecutors filed charges in federal court Thursday night against three people in the attempted robbery. Wilfredo Berrios, 28; Michael Cruz, 21; and Francisco Herrera-Genao, 22, all of New Brunswick, New Jersey, were charged with attempted armed bank robbery and with use and carrying of a firearm during a crime of violence.

These guys need to go away for a long time.   I question how they were able to get assault weapons, when they are illegal in New Jersey, and illegal for a New Jersey resident to buy anywhere.

I have to second Bitter’s statement that the NRA-ILA needs to lay off the unrelated-to-guns political statements. The NRA is about gun rights, it’s not a clearing house for various other kooky or non-kooky right wing thinking. Do you really want to alienate the more progressive gun rights folks? It’s not good politics for our issue, and whoever is doing it needs to stop.

Ahab has a good post up on Knife Carry:

With regards to the self-defense needs of carrying a knife, I do still carry a knife when I’m not carrying a pistol. However, carrying a knife changes my self defense strategy quite significantly. While a knife certainly qualifies as a force multiplier, it also requires me to get right up on top of my attacker. If my attacker is armed with a knife, we are both going to get cut. That’s what happens. You always get cut.

I carry a Leatherman on me at all time, which has a 3 inch blade.  I don’t carry it with self-defense in mind, though I suppose it could be used that way in a pinch.  When it comes to force less than a firearm, I prefer Fox OC spray.  I don’t carry OC all the time with me either, but it’s useful to have options all the way up the force continuum.  I’d much rather OC an attacker than get into a knife fight.  Faced with a knife wielding attacker, and having only my Leatherman, I think I’d take Ahab’s run like a little girl option.   I’m not too proud for that.

From Slashdot, the Brits are talking about installing CCTV which can scold scofflaws through a loudspeaker.

Home Secretary John Reid told BBC News there would be some people, “in the minority who will be more concerned about what they claim are civil liberties intrusions”.

“But the vast majority of people find that their life is more upset by people who make their life a misery in the inner cities because they can’t go out and feel safe and secure in a healthy, clean environment because of a minority of people,” he added.

I don’t know about you, but having a camera who can lecture an attacker doesn’t exactly help me feel more safe.  When you surrender your safety and security to the government, this is the kind of result you can expect.  We need to make sure this idea never makes it across the pond.

Pew released their latest poll:

Each year since its occurrence in 1999, the April 20 anniversary of the Columbine High School tragedy renews debate about the desirability of stricter controls on firearms. Recent surveys, however, find Americans less disposed to gun control than they were in the years surrounding the shootings.

For example, Americans have a better opinion of the National Rifle Association these days than they did in the mid 1990’s. Over this same period, public calls for stricter gun-control laws have also quieted somewhat. A recent Pew nationwide survey found a 52%-to-32% majority of respondents holding a favorable opinion of the NRA, which will hold its massive annual convention on April 13-15 this year in St. Louis. While this is the first time since 1994 that the favorability rating of the group has crossed the 50% mark, positive views of the NRA have been inching upward in Pew polls in recent years.

I’m not generally one for touting poll numbers, because you can make a poll say whatever the hell you want, but at least according to Pew, the NRA seems to be doing something right. Read the whole thing.

State Rep Sam Rohrer is asking Pennsylvania residents to sign his petition to oppose any new gun control laws in the Commonwealth.  I would ask everyone to do so, if you are from Pennsylvania.

Plus, if my family is to be believed, this guy is a relative of mine.  I don’t know him from Adam, but according to them, anyone with a name derived from “Rohr” is somehow related.  Good to see I’m not the only gun nut in my “family”.