Snowflakes in Hell

Apparently Arizona has decided that the dubious science at work in linking California Condor deaths to lead ammo wasn’t good enough to screw hunters in The Grand Canyon State.

NRA has published a much better statement than their initial one in their latest Grassroots Alert:

Gun owners are understandably dismayed about the brief filed by the Department of Justice.

Although the DOJ brief was filed on the same day as “friend of the court” briefs supporting the District, it does not support DC’s position but rather its own unique point of view-a view with which the NRA still disagrees.

The District is asking the Supreme Court to reverse the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals and find that the Second Amendment does not protect a broad individual right. DOJ is supporting a different view-that the Second Amendment does protect an individual right, and that the case should go back to the lower court to apply a different standard of review. DOJ suggests applying a lower level of constitutional scrutiny than the Court of Appeals adopted. The NRA disagrees and believes the lower court’s ruling should be upheld.

NRA believes that the right to arms is a fundamental right; as with other fundamental rights, laws restricting that right deserve the highest level of scrutiny. The NRA and those seeking to overturn the gun ban believe that the scope of the Second Amendment is clear. Contrary to DOJ’s suggestion, this case is not about felons or machine guns. This case is about law-abiding people who want handguns and long guns for self-defense. The total ban on self-defense gun ownership in D.C. is so severe that it should be found unconstitutional under any level of scrutiny, and we will make that point in our “friend of the court” brief when it is filed next month.

Finally, while NRA strongly disagrees with many of the arguments in DOJ’s brief, there are a few areas of agreement. Notably, DOJ agrees that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, and that it applies to the District, even strongly hinting that under the lower “heightened scrutiny” it supports that D.C laws could be unconstitutional. This was not the position of the previous administration. In fact, Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno and Solicitor General Seth Waxman, along with other DOJ officials from the Clinton administration have filed their own brief in support of the District, arguing that there is no individual right at all to possess guns outside of government service.

DOJ also recognizes that the Second Amendment protects a right to self-defense, and that the right to arms was a pre-existing right protected, but not created, by the Constitution.
If you would like to express your opinion of this brief directly to DOJ, please call the Department’s Press Office at: (202) 514-2007.

Follow the link for some more background on the brief filers. This is a much better statement than the original one, and I am pleased that they had more to say on this.

From Marshall Manson:

In essence, Governor Huckabee yesterday repudiated the First Amendment and the concept of free speech by announcing that he would like to “outlaw” any political speech not expressly “authorized and approved by the candidate.”

According to Jawa’s Rusty Shacklford, the quote in question came from an interview with NPR yesterday morning. Rusty quoted Governor Huckabee as saying:

“I personally wish that all of this was outlawed. I think that every candidate should speak for themselves, and that every thing that involves the candidate’s name or another candidate’s name should be authorized and approved by that candidate, otherwise it shouldn’t be spoken….

“The point is that candidates can’t force these special interest 527 groups to stop. I wish we could.”

I really thought the basic tenets of Constitution were generally past debate. It never occurred to me that a candidate for President might simply come out against individual freedom. Even Senator McCain — no friend of free speech — has the sense to at least try to be subtle about it.

Read the whole thing.  I hate to say it, but I think I now have to rank Huckabee below Mitt Romney in terms of Republican candidates that I find to be completely unacceptable.  The question is, when the evangelical vote learns about what Huckabee is really about, will they still support him?  I hope not, but I’m not holding my breath.

Thanks to Megan for pointing me to this, which contains a link to this article:

Financial records from 1985 and 2001 show that Rockwell, Paul’s congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982, was a vice president of Ron Paul & Associates, the corporation that published the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron Paul Survival Report. The company was dissolved in 2001. During the period when the most incendiary items appeared—roughly 1989 to 1994—Rockwell and the prominent libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard championed an open strategy of exploiting racial and class resentment to build a coalition with populist “paleoconservatives,” producing a flurry of articles and manifestos whose racially charged talking points and vocabulary mirrored the controversial Paul newsletters recently unearthed by The New Republic. To this day Rockwell remains a friend and advisor to Paul—accompanying him to major media appearances; promoting his candidacy on the LewRockwell.com blog; publishing his books; and peddling an array of the avuncular Texas congressman’s recent writings and audio recordings.

Of course, now Paul’s Congressional Chief of Staff is coming out and saying it was indeed Rockwell who was responsible for the letters.  Trying to fan the flames of racial bigotry is quite despicable, and while I leave open the possibility that Ron Paul is not himself a racist, I have no problem with judging the man by the company he keeps.

Apparently dozens of towns in Texas reported a UFO sighting:

The reported sightings have become a catalyst on blogs and in chat rooms, triggering scientific and philosophical debates, religious inquiries, conspiracy charges and bad Texas jokes.

“It’s amazing how this has taken on an international profile,” said Kenneth Cherry, president of the Texas chapter of the Mutual UFO Network. “I’ve had calls from Japanese and British newspapers. I’m supposed to be doing ‘Larry King Live’ on Friday.”

All this thanks to reports of a strange, silent object over Stephenville, Texas, a town about 70 miles southwest of Ft. Worth.

No word yet on whether Jennifer W. Stein, PA CeaseFire Board Member and UFO researcher, was seen packing her car to head to the Lone Star State to investigate.

… this guy “won’t have the balls to try that again!“.   It would appear not.

It can be yours on GunBroker.  Current price is at $6200.00.

The 5,000,000th Ruger 10-22 was presented to the 4-H Shooting Program by Ruger President Steve Sanetti to help raise support and awareness of this vital program that provides 300,000 youths shooting instruction and opportunity each year.  Following the presentation, the rifle was turned over to the Ruger Custom Shop for further enhancements, resulting in one of the finest 10-22’s ever made.

Go take a look.  It’s certainly the nicest looking 10/22 I’ve ever seen.

Dave Hardy isn’t sure what the gutted version of HB89 really accomplishes other than allowing carry in State parks.

The news article says that it’s limited to CCW holders who have permission from the employer. But that’d make little sense — if you have the parking lot owner’s permission, anyone can store a gun there. So I have no idea what the Senate bill would do in that regard.

So what are the chances of getting rid of Georgia’s other carry restrictions at this point?

Bush is admitting the economy is in trouble, and will be laying out a stimulus plan:

Taxpayers could receive rebates of up to $800 for individuals and $1,600 for married couples under a White House plan. Although lawmakers were considering smaller rebate checks and more money for food stamp recipients and the unemployed, Bush told congressional leaders that he favors income tax rebates for people and tax breaks for business investment.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke entered the stimulus debate Thursday, endorsing the idea of putting money into the hands of those who would spend it quickly and boost the flagging economy.

I don’t think this is going to amount to much, but I won’t complain if Bush wants to cut me a check to send some of my money back to me. There’s only so much effect fiscal policy is going to have on the economy. To me this move is purely political, as it will make people feel better about the Administration, and Republicans in 2008. The Democrats will have to pass it, because if they oppose it, guess who the Republicans are going to blame for failing to pass the Presidents stimulus package? This move, I think, has a lot more to do with the 2008 elections than with the economy.

Anyone listening to Cam’s show last night to listen into The Other Sebastian’s interview got treated to some very poignant background noise.