QftD

Justice Thomas, dissenting from the odious Gonzales v. Raich:

If the majority [of the Supreme Court] is to be taken seriously, the
Federal Government may now regulate quilting bees,
clothes drives, and potluck suppers throughout the 50
States.

And here's another:

One searches the Court's opinion in vain for any hint of
what aspect of American life is reserved to the States.

He's pissed. I'm pissed. We all ought to be pissed.

QftD

Says Uncle:

Private firms should not have the legal powers that the police have. Most police should not have the powers that police have.

Anarcholibertarians assert, among other things, that most if not all functions of law enforcement could better be left to the private sector. Uncle's post linked here explains my disagreement. I don't support privatization of certain government functions, just as I oppose the nationalization of private industries or having the government provide certain services.

Commonplaces for early the 4th of June

I have seen it and it does not work as a pickup line:
I am an unemployed Polish insurance executive.
Equally poor comeback line:
OK, but what are you going to bullshit me about?
What, really, is so wrong about lies so obvious that they must be jokes? (Because for some people these lies are not obvious. There are people who have to really work at checking your high-and-tight against your claims and calling you on it. These must be representatives of Dr Sowell's subject, below.---Ed.)

What would Thomas Sowell have to say about country music?

There is something third-worldly about the smell of a taxicab. Even if you catch one in south-central Missouri, the smell can take you back to Uberlândia or Santiago if the humidity is just right.

Mr President, move this line

A recent Federal law allows police officers to carry concealed across State borders, even in States that have no concealed carry, even for retired officers.

I generally favor this kind of law, in spite of the separation of civilians into LEOs and non-LEOs, for one reason: it's a step towards rearmament of everyone. I'm a creeping incrementalist. The undecided see that cops and retired cops pose no threat. Next year, they'll see that interstate permit holders are no threat. The year after, they'll see that concealed carriers without permits are no threat. The year after that, maybe we can carry sharp objects on commercial aircraft again.

The people who conceived, drafted, and pushed this bill through appear to have sound Federalist instincts. They recognized that the law would need a Federal nexus, something in addition to the Privileges and Immunities clause. So they added a line that this law requires that the "firearm ... has been ... in interstate commerce" to apply.

Unless you make your own, almost from ore upward, it would be hard to conceive of a firearm that has not been in interstate commerce. The Institute for Justice includes just such targets on its hit list of Supreme Court cases it wants to reverse, such as wheat grown for consumption by the farmer rather than for sale. IJ has no particular pro- or anti-gun position per se, but RKBA folks should see common cause with them.

I would argue that the very moment a firearm is stamped with a serial number by a Federally licensed manufacturer, it enters interstate commerce, even if in intent only. No doubt a resourceful Federal prosecutor, if he's grasping at straws for a conviction, will make the same argument. Some have anticipated this argument and seek to counter it before it happens, and my hat is off to them.

I make this argument not to ruin a Federalist's day, nor to trash my own chance at building my own 1911 in the near future, nor the better to define where that line between private consumption and interstate commerce lies, but to move that line.

Where's my CRC handbook?

Can a transition metal have more than one peroxide, just as it can have more than one oxide?

Seems to me that it could. In that case, I presume that the peroxide should be treated as a radical, a covalently bonded whole that enters ionic bonds with metals. The peroxide radical simply contains two oxygens, covalently bonded together, in place of one, but bearing the same ionic charge as the oxide, all other things kept equal. Lead II oxide is PbO, so lead II peroxide would be PbO₂.

But then would lead IV peroxide have two peroxide ions---would it be PbO₄?

OK, then you understand my frustration with this question: given that iron III oxide is Fe₂O₃, would iron III peroxide be Fe₂O₆, or even Fe₂(O₂)₃?

impressive as hell

I built a website for my new team today on Army Knowledge Online. AKO beats the sh1t out of AF Portal, without working up a sweat.

The NCO's prayer

Father,

give me for today the wisdom and energy to lead American fighting men.

Out.

Privatization dead?

Now that I am reconnecting with the media somewhat, it appears that the urgency for privatization of Social Security is on the wane.

This is not frigging acceptable. Simply not acceptable. Of course a President must pick his battles, but I would advise that Dubya let the Senate GOP majority take on the issue of Senatorial advice and consent for his judicial appointments, so he can keep beating the drum for SS privatization.

And I agree with Ed Crane that the better selling point for privatization is simple human dignity, not some abstract solvency for SS. I don't give a rat's ass whether SS will be solvent in the year 2040. Most other people don't either. They and I will care whether there will be any money left in our estates to pass to heirs, whether we in our dotage will be draining the wealth of our children. Speak to that dignity, speak to that recurring fear among aging parents, Mister President. Privatization can solve that, if not for all of the Boomers at least for the wiser of them.

Back to the President picking his battles: the diversion to the Terri Schiavo matter was a mistake at the Federal level. I got off work early one day to attend a town meeting with my US Representative, to hear him promote SS privatization. When I got there, he wasn't, and some staffers and SS functionaries were holding the town meeting in his stead. The rest of the audience was comfortably past the age of 55, and there were enough of us that a thuggish little furball with an embroidered badge on his polo shirt saying Fire Marshall wanted to kick out those of us who couldn't find a seat.

My rep wasn't there because he had been called back to DC, to vote on a law to authorize Federal courts to hear Terri's whining parents. That day, that one day knocked the wind out of privatization because the GOP's eyes were taken off the ball.

Mister President, get your skinny ass back out there and sell this plan, and don't allow any distraction, even the Chinese launching on Taiwan. You have Rumsfeld for that.

Please. Sir.

Respectfully,
Fûz

. . . and they loaded up the truck and they moved to Laramieeeeeee

. . . County, that is. Drivin' wind. Antelope.

First week was a cluster for reasons I'd rather not recount. But I was hired to put things in order, after all, and that I will do.

A Quiz With No Known Correct Answer for all five of my regular devoted readers:

You might not know that at Air Force Bases, the Commissaries (subsidized grocers for the servicemembers) do not hire baggers. Volunteers bag your groceries, and work only for tips. A little box or jar right at the end of the cashier stand lets you drop in as much or as little as you will for your bagger.

While I was still at Golfball Prairie AFB, sometimes Barbaloot would text me a full shopping list and I would buy it and drive home with it. I'd make sure I had a couple of bucks---not $1 per bag like an airport skycap, Hey, I work for a living!---and give it to the bagger when she loaded it into my trunk. BTW, the baggers there are all Japanese or Korean. Wonder why . . .

On the other hand, there were times when I had no cash, and I knew I could get a tray of sushi at the Commissary, put it on plastic, and get back to work quickly, but chose not to tip the bagger because hell, it was only lunch. The bagger dutifully bagged it for me anyway. I had to concentrate to not feel like a heel for not tipping.

So it's crossed my mind every time I shop at an AF Commissary, either at Golfball AFB or now at Windswept AFB: who do you think tips best and who tips worst? Airmen, Junior NCOs, Senior NCOs, Company grade officers, or Flag officers? Married or single? Male or female? High-and-tight, or Post-modern?

If any genuine Commissary Baggers read this sheet, I'd like you to chime in.

OK, hybrid-ize this

Hybrid automobiles are catching on, and good luck to them. From what I've seen of the Prius, I'll keep my Malibu for a few more years. I wish that turbodiesels were more widely available for minivans---a VW Eurovan TDI would be killer.

Going on a limb here, it seems that the biggest challenge to making a hybrid gasoline-electric vehicle is making space for the batteries that store electricity, a place where the weight of the batteries has less impact on ride and handling. I'd rather solve a different problem, such as the need for the batteries at all.

So how about a smaller reciprocating engine like a Stelzer, integrated with an electric alternator. The frequency ("RPM"?) of the Stelzer can be high, in the kilohertz range, so the transformers built to step the voltage down or up can be smaller and lighter. The Stelzer has only one real moving part, and it can be made very compact. Each end of the piston carries a magnet, and windings surrounding the piston ends capture the pistons' reciprocation as alternating current.

From the alternator, cables run to smaller motors at each wheel. Perhaps these motors, optimized for the higher frequencies of the Stelzer-powered alternator, can be made smaller and lighter too. They'll be out at the wheels, needing no mechanical transmission or differential to deliver the torque to the wheels, and can provide all-wheel drive for better traction and handling. This arrangement can make all-wheel steering easier to implement too.

If the motors can be built to operate as alternators as well as motors, then the motors can be turned into brakes, recovering the energy from braking and converting it back into current. This current could be used to accelerate a flywheel mounted practically anywhere in the vehicle. When the red light turns to green, the flywheel is tapped for that energy, dumping it back to the wheel motors. This smoothes out the peaks and valleys of power demand so the Stelzer can run efficiently and cleanly at a more constant RPM.

This sounds to me like a system that can be retrofitted to existing vehicles. A Stelzer motor-alternator is not going to take up as much space as a V6 with transaxle. The flywheel might be a challenge: will precession become a problem? And I'm clueless as to how to get a Stelzer motor started---maybe using the alternator windings as motors? But most of the existing drivetrain, and a lot of weight, would simply be wrecked out.

Dishpan hands

I've taken a few days off recently to straighten up the house. We're almost done and ready to show the place off to interested buyers.

A lot of caulking of windows, sweeping of the garage and basement, and scrubbing of handrails and such.

Very busy.

What Screenwriters Want

Watching What Women Want last night, Barbaloot and I wondered whether the story line originated from a man or from a woman. After batting that thought around for a while, I wondered why Mel Gibson's character was not hearing any bitter, catty, harsh, or even downright evil internal dialog through his accidentally acquired womans'-thought-reading powers: "It's about time Nina found a few new dress. And those shoes!" "God these cramps are killing me." "Bill wants to get together tonight? Oh come on, he can't service a cat with that thing." "One or two more 8l0w708s on that guy in accounting and I can launch my suit and own this company."

It's as if women never think bad things---they're chronically misunderstood victims of the blundering inattention (or inattentive blunders?) of us competitive penis-driven Y-chromo-bearing oafs. I beg to differ. In fact, victimhood often begets evil, if one chooses to embrace victimhood and turn it to a claim against the world.

Barbaloot also noted that Shallow Hal is built on a very similar premise, that chronically misunderstood women not only think only wholesome thoughts, but that they are all wonderful people on the inside, regardless of outward appearance. (We both enjoy that movie, BTW.)

Hal saw only beautiful people, male or female, child through senior, because their outward appearances no longer distracted him from Humanity's Universal Internal Beauty. There were no hotties whom Hal saw as repulsive wart-ridden demons because their internal evil was visible only to him. This represents not an ability to see things as they are, a lifting of the veil so to speak, but trading glasses of one color for another color equally or more distorting.

So now there are two movies I'd like to see, instead of seeing What Screenwriters Want and how Shallow stereotypes are. A movie wherein the subject hears the bad as well as the good, and another wherein the subject sees the bad as well as the good. We don't mind whether the subjects turn out to be Really Nice Changed Guys in the end, or even whether they Get the Girl in the end either. In fact, such experiences are likely to challenge any person's ability to stay sane, let alone choose the right path.

If any cinephile knows of such films already made and waiting for us, Barbaloot and I would appreciate the pointer.

Moving

My kids are going to breathe the air of such giants as Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson.

I will cease paying state income tax.

I will be getting my antelope tags as a resident.

I will have a position on a great, tightly-knit, single-mindedly focused organization.





We are moving to Wyoming. The hard part is staying in Colorado long enough for the kids to finish their year of school. I can wait.

To all who offered their prayers and best wishes, thank you. They paid off.

And if you're looking for that extra kick of freedom---BAM!!---consider moving here too.

Can preen with the best

That oughtta be a bullet in my next EPR. We offer proof:

The Official Glamorous Full-Length Photograph of Fusilier N. Pundit





Annoying Mr. Hanson, Mr. Christopher Hanson . . .

Directors Cut

Here are my votes for the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association. These votes are guided by criteria that I set forth below, in no particular order or unifying scheme. We could redefine online advocacy if we gunbloggers examine not just our votes for such things, but the philosophies or rationales behind those votes. We should advance something more coherent next year than I offer as a humble start here.

All mentions of NRA Director nominees below are personal preferences on the basis of my criteria, and represent no official position from the NRA. The NRA has, in fact, told you their preferences, right there in the magazine, printed on the ballot. I exercise my right to express my personal preferences here, and encourage you to share mine, or to express and explain your own. Anything I write here about specific named individuals I base on what they have written about themselves in the ballot package's biographies, and my responses to what I found in them.

If you have any criticisms of my choices or criteria, put them in the comments and work with me to refine the criteria for next time around.

If you're an officer or Nominee of the NRA and you don't like my treatment of you or the subject, tough. If you can't stand this pathetic heat you're unfit for the job of protecting my HK from Chucky Schumer.

* * * *

First of all, one's presence on the NRA Nominating Committee's list carries less than zero credibility with me. I undertook this line of thought upon the untimely passing of Neal Knox, who offered his own list of nominees in loyal opposition. Not having Neal's recommendations this time around, I offer my own and seek the counsel of likeminded fellows.

In that spirit, I want to see a gun blogger on the BOD, and after getting his permission, I ask you to write in Jed Baer of unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado.

Next, a Director nominee should not tout his support of Operation Exile. That strikes Governor Gilmore.

Third, elected peace officers are OK in my book. Unelected cops, regrettably, are not. Sheriff Printz gets my vote, a bunch of Director nominees do not.

Fourth: professional lobbyists are not OK in my book. That strikes Mr Cors.

Fifth: if a nominee has taken the fight to the United Nations, he gets my vote. Hello Mr Dailey.

Sixth: if a nominee claims nothing more than competitive shooting or hunting in his vita, he offers nothing to the future of RKBA. For example, nothing in Mr Lanford's bio reaches out and grabs me. Conversely, if a nominee contributed his time or risked his life at the bleeding edge of the RKBA, he gets my vote. Mr Friedman taught emergency gun safety during the East LA riots.

Seventh: the NRA alone will not succeed in protecting the RKBA. All gunbloggers will agree that other organizations are needed as well. It is fitting for a Director nominee to claim membership in other orgs, as Mr Hollandsworth does. Mr Hollandsworth is also at the bleeding edge, as it were, in point six.

Eighth: Hollywood is not our friend. With some ambivalence, I assert that we need to cultivate the few friends there that we do have. Milius and Selleck, yes.

Ninth: there are times to embrace "diversity," if the diverse candidates also pass muster in raw merit. If antis complain that the NRA looks too GOP, too white-European-male, slam them with women and minorities. So we vote for Mr Innis.

Tenth: Have you defended RKBA in court as an attorney? Mr Stern gets the vote.

Senator Miller: Not sure. I liked his speech, as a Democrat to the GOP. However, Cathy Young's critique of that speech also must be considered. Enough doubt for me to withhold my vote.

Summary:
In the order in which they appear on my ballot, I vote for Selleck, Innis, Abrams, Dailey, Bennett, Friedman, Printz, Milius, Cotton, Cushman, Hollandsworth, Coy, Stern, Clark. Write in Baer.

I feel no particular pressure to vote for all 25 nominees that I am allowed. If that dilutes my vote in comparison to others, so be it.

Jot down yours in a comparable post at your place, leave a link in my comments, and please be prepared to pick this topic up again, with more circumspection, next January. Put it in your Palm if necessary. Do background on the nominees so we have more to go by than their bios, if that's your talent. If you attend the meetings, the votes of present Directors would also be useful.

State meme

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado* / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York* / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania* / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington/ West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Been to the States in bold, am living in the State italicized, lived in States that are underlined.

Now: the State I was married in bigger face. States where my children were born with an asterisk.

Which States I'd consider moving to.

I warned your asses. I warned you!

Rewind to my archive, about here:

Geekwitha45's comments and email to me disclose my embarrassing ignorance of BCRA. It does not regulate private activities, including bloggers, so my proposal does not incur the FEC's wrath.

OK, now scroll back to the present. The FEC is indeed now contemplating regulations, and the mechanisms to enforce them, against bloggers who participate in the national discussion of elections. HT to FreedomSight.

I propose a countermeasure.

Wish me luck

I wasn't joking in my description over there to the right, where I said "it's time to move to Wyoming."

The application package is going in. Cross your fingers for me. Salt over the shoulder. Blow me a kiss, if you're into that kind of thing.

And double your best wishes for my buddy Doug.

Martha is free

She should not have gone to jail in the first place, and I wish her well in her appeal.

I also agree with VC that she is turning her sentence and release into a public relations coup. It has softened her earlier image as a harsh, driven, er . . . capitalist. Not that it needed any softening to me, but I'm not her target market.

What could she do next? My guess: a program in her company to encourage hiring and training for women ex-cons.

Presidents' Day

The snow kept us from driving up Devil's Head Mountain, so we sneaked over to Roxborough State Park instead.





It's like Garden of the Gods, but a helluva lot closer and strictly on foot. We'll be going back.

Oh, by the way, it's posted against firearms, which I safely assume means CCW is unwelcome. Not a smart idea if there are hunting cats around.