Go read this piece in Asia Times Online by Spengler. It is one of the most important articles you will read this week. This bit will whet your appetite:

…In return for the sanctity of individual rights, Americans are freed from the constraints of traditional society and made responsible for their own actions. For an American presidential candidate to refer to traditional society as the model for the solution to American problems has no precedent. It is one thing to denounce American errors while upholding American principles. Never before has America considered electing a president who prefers the alternative, and that might just be the most dangerous thing to happen to the United States since its Civil War.

Eric S. Raymond is blogging again after two years absence. I have greatly enjoyed his writing over the years and his new posts continue that trend. His bit on Heller and its possible effect on the election was right on.

A side note; Randy and I had the pleasure of taking him to the range during the ‘99 Atlanta Linux Showcase.

Over at The Corner we find this gem:

An official from the aptly-named group By Any Means Necessary is quoted today in the Omaha World-Herald, on why her group is trying to disrupt the signature-gathering efforts of Ward Connerly, who is leading an effort in Nebraska (and Colorado and Arizona) to pass a ballot initiative that would ban preferences based on race, ethnicity, and sex:  “The key to defeating the initiative is to keep it off the ballot in the first place. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”  The Left, as you know, favors democracy, power to the people, and nondiscrimination, except when it doesn’t.

Update: Bear in mind as you watch this that U.S.S. Kitty Hawk is 1,069 feet long, 282 feet wide at the deck, and displaces over 80,000 tons. Her flight deck is sixty feet above water, making that wave approximate to a seven story building.

Found at Strategy Page: Last April 9th, at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, two soldiers were driving a rented SUV about five kilometers from the part of the range used for live firing. It was at night, and an F-16 that thought it was firing at something in the live fire area, lit up the SUV instead. Only 70 20mm rounds were fired. Fortunately, the two people in the SUV were only injured (both from flying glass, the passenger got a dislocated shoulder as he rapidly exited the vehicle when it quickly turned off the road and stopped.) The investigation of how this happen has not been completed.

Sigur Ros is a band from Iceland with an interesting sound.

Rights panel rejects action against Maclean’s

JAMIE KOMARNICKI

June 27, 2008

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed a complaint against Maclean’s magazine over a controversial article on the future of Islam, magazine officials said yesterday.

Meanwhile, a decision from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over the same issue isn’t expected for several months.

The Canadian Islamic Congress launched the dual complaints over an article by Maclean’s journalist Mark Steyn. The article, The Future Belongs to Islam, came under fire by Muslim critics who claimed it spreads Islamophobia.

Earlier this month, closing arguments were made before B.C.’s Human Rights Tribunal over the article, which appeared in Maclean’s in October, 2006.

The Tunguska Event took place one hundred years ago today.

According to this article in the lefty UK paper, “The Independent,” the ice at the north pole is melting, and they of course blame global warming. However, I also noticed this article about volcanic eruptions shaking the Arctic Ocean floor lately. I wonder if a volcano right underneath an ice cap might have more to do with it melting than a fraction of a degree increase in global temperatures?

Update by sammy: The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has this response up at their site regarding the media kerfuffle over ice melt claims. Here is their opening paragraph:

The media is once again hyping an allegedly dire consequence of man-made global warming. This time the media is promoting the ice loss of one tiny fraction of the giant ice-covered continent and completely ignoring the current record ice growth on Antarctica. Contrary to media hype, the vast majority of Antarctica has cooled over the past 50 years and ice coverage has grown to record levels since satellite monitoring began in the 1979, according to peer-reviewed studies and scientists who study the area.

That is the title of another excellent piece on Heller and its effects over at SCOTUSblog written by David Kopel. This observation particularly interested me:

One aspect of the Heller majority opinion that has not yet attracted the attention of commentariat, but may be greatly important of the long run, is the presence of natural law.

Heller reaffirms a point made in the 1876 Cruikshank case. The right to arms (unlike, say, the right to grand jury indictment) is not a right which is granted by the Constitution. It is a pre-existing natural right which is recognized and protected by the Constitution:

“it has always been widely understood that the Second Amendment, like the First and Fourth Amendments, codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it ’shall not be infringed.’ As we said in United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 553 (1876), “[t]his is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed…”

and a bit further down…

Heller moves self-defense from the shadowy limbo of the Ninth Amendment into the bright uplands of the Second Amendment. It is now beyond dispute, in an American court, that self-defense is an inherent right, and that it is protected by the United States Constitution.

For those of you interested in Second Amendment law, and that should be all of you, Run on over to The Volokh Conspiracy. The past two days have had a running commentary related to Heller better than anything I’ve seen elsewhere.

This is an interesting read. An email from Bill Gates to Jim Allchin regarding Microsoft product usability. My favorite bit:

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

Charles Krauthammer has a good piece on Barack Obama over at National Review Online. His ending line is worth a quote:

Not a flinch. Not a flicker. Not a hint of shame. By the time he’s finished, Obama will have made the Clintons look scrupulous.

Ouch…

As you probably know, it is currently (almost always) illegal to carry a weapon in a National Park, even if you have a concealed weapons permit. Georgia recently changed the law for state parks, and National Forests follow local state law. In response to a letter from 51 U.S. Senators, the Department of the Interior has published a proposed change to the National Park and National Wildlife Refuge rules. The proposed change is a big improvement, but it doesn’t really go far enough. They are currently calling for comments and you have until the end of the month to make them. Here is a suggested comment from VCDL:

The proposed rule falls far short of what Senator Crapo’s letter to DOI on December 14th, 2007 requested. The letter, signed by 51 Senators, asked that National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges assimilate the host state’s gun laws.

The rule also falls far short of the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Petition for Rule Making sent to DOI and dated January 19, 2008. Like Senator Crapo’s letter, the Petition, representing over one million gun owners, requested that the gun laws for the host state be assimilated.

The proposed rule needs to assimilate state law in a similar manner as National Forests do for the lawful carry of weapons for self-defense. That would make the rules for such carriage of self-defense weapons in National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and National Forests the same and consistent with the laws of the state surrounding the parks and refuges.

Please change the wording of the rules as follows, which would make the regulation of carry commensurate with standards of the host state, while removing the nebulous and confusing wording about “similar lands.” Existing poaching laws will serve to deter poaching in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges, just as they do on state land:

“A person may possess, carry, and transport loaded, and operable firearms or other weapons within a national park area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport loaded and operable firearms or other weapons in the state in which the federal park, or that portion thereof, is located, provided that such possession, carrying and transporting otherwise complies with applicable federal and state law.”

And for National Wildlife Refuges:

“A person may possess, carry, and transport loaded, and operable firearms or other weapons within a national wildlife refuge area in the same manner, and to the same extent, that a person may lawfully possess, carry, and transport loaded and operable firearms or other weapons in the state in which the federal wildlife refuge, or that portion thereof, is located, provided that such possession, carrying and transporting otherwise complies with applicable federal and state law.”

Click here to submit comments and view the full text of the proposed changes. There are only a few days left, so go ahead and send your comments right away.

Posted here recently was the tragic story of a man who was, I believe, wrongly convicted in a self-defense shooting incident. Part of the reason he was convicted is that he spoke with police before consulting with an attorney. Many people believe (and the police will encourage this belief) that if you haven’t done anything wrong, you should go ahead and tell your story. If you believe this, watch the following two videos.

Part 1, Professor James Duane:

Part 2, Officer George Bruch:

This is up over at Professor Stephen Bainbridge’s blog:

The Poker Players Association has an urgent action item:

Tuesday, the House Financial Services Committee will review a bill, H.R. 5767, that would block the implementation of UIGEA regulations. In order to get this bill out of Committee on onto the House Floor, we need your help. We need you to contact the committee and express your support for H.R. 5767, as well as the King amendment which will refine the bill language. PPA strongly supports H.R. 5767 and the King amendment, but this important bill and amendment won’t pass without your help!

Call or Fax the House Financial Services Committee* Democrats’ Committee Office:* Ph: (202) 225-4247 - FAX: (202) 225-6952 Republicans’ Committee Office:* Ph: (202) 225-7502 - FAX: (202) 226-4301

Click Here To Contact Via E-mail

The UIGEA regulations will demand that banks block “unlawful internet gambling” but there is no definition of this vague term. Banks will be forced to block millions of transactions that are not in fact illegal. As a result, you may not be able to play poker or any other game of skill online. HR 5767 will prevent this regulatory nightmare. The King amendment will force the regulatory agencies to define “unlawful internet gambling” through a formal rulemaking, with due process and opportunity for input from affected parties.

Groups that oppose your right to play poker are working to defeat this important bill. Don’t count on someone else to take action for you – call today, there’s no time to waste!

HR 5767 is sponsored by Barney Frank and Ron Paul:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and senior Financial Services Committee member Ron Paul (R-TX) have introduced legislation to prohibit the federal government from issuing regulations called for in the called for in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. The legislation, H.R. 5767, will forbid the Secretary of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulation that requires the financial services industry to identify and block internet gambling transactions.

“These regulations are impossible to implement without placing a significant burden on the payments system and financial institutions, and while I do disagree with the underlying objective of the Act, I believe that even those who agree with it ought to be concerned about the regulations’ impact,” said Rep. Frank.

“The ban on Internet gambling infringes upon two freedoms that are important to many Americans: the ability to do with their money as they see fit, and the freedom from government interference with the Internet. The regulations and underlying bill also force financial institutions to act as law enforcement officers. This is another pernicious trend that has accelerated in the aftermath of the Patriot Act, the deputization of private businesses to perform intrusive enforcement and surveillance functions that the federal government is unwilling to perform on its own,” said Rep. Paul.

Firefox 3.0 has been released. The Windows, U.S. English version is here. Walt Mossberg recently declared it to be the best browser available. Mozilla, the creators of Firefox, are trying to set a world record for the most downloads in a 24-hour period, so help them out with their record and help yourself by getting a great web browser. For other languages, MacOS or Linux, or to learn more about the new version, click here

Some questions to ponder over at The Corner…

Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?

Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn’t solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?

Why isn’t the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?

Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?

When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a “vanilla” Iowa, because that’s the way God wants it?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of cannibalism?

Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?

How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

…but I have done this: