New Gun Range in Detroit Area? Warning - Major Hypocrisy Revealed

Eight Mile Road - the same one made famous by Eminem's movie - is the northern border of Detroit. It was also the northern-most point of the Northwest Territories back in the infancy of the United States.

It is (hopefully) soon to be the sight of a new target shooting range, on the north (Oakland County) side of the street, in Southfield.

Now, mind you, Michigan (and in particular, the Detroit area), has been in a sharp recession for a few years. Finally, someone will come down, do their part to end urban blight and restore a vacant building. All with the blessing of the police and planning commission.

The facility - originally known as the Moving Target gun range - is proposed at the vacant site of the former Studio of Creative Design. Owner Jim Bahri said the 9,900-square-foot will have 14 lanes of 25 yards for target shooting, classrooms and a retail outlet for firearms.

Plans for the gun range have been approved by the police department. "Southfield has a large contingent of hunters and target shooters," said Joseph Thomas Jr., who as chief of police is required to review the proposal.

"Currently Southfield doesn't have a safe target range," the chief said, "and we have to advise them (gun enthusiasts) to go elsewhere to train."

The Southfield Planning Commission has also approved the proposal. "The exterior is certainly an improvement of what's there now," said Commissioner Roy Bell, "and it would put a business into what is now a vacant building."

Great, right?

Wrong. Guns are bad. Just ask the city council.

"We have some things to discuss," said Councilman Sidney Lantz. "Some people object to the sale of guns in Southfield, and I'm leading the charge. If people want to buy guns, let them do it elsewhere."

[...]

"I don't think it's the right fit for Southfield," said Councilman Donald Fracassi. "I might feel differently if it was a full-service sporting goods store. But I don't feel comfortable with just a target range and gun shop."

Fortunately, someone with a brain sits on the council as well.

City Councilman Bill Lattimore, however, considers a target range and gun shop to be a legitimate business that would bolster the city's economic base. "Some people don't want guns to be sold in Southfield," he said. "But I don't see it that way."

WARNING! HYPOCRISY ALERT!

Lantz, Fracassi and Lattimore each owns a pistol as well as a permit to carry a concealed weapon! Yet two of the three council members are of the "guns are bad" crowd.

Another council member had an interesting comment:

Councilwoman Joan Seymour said she is concerned about Southfield's image. "Personally, I'm not enthusiastic about a gun range or gun shop. But if they (the owners) meet all the requirements, I don't know what we can legally do to stop them."

Seymour said she doesn't own a gun. "If I ever bought one," she said, "it would be for my personal protection - in which case I'd need a range like this one."

Which Republicans - if any -- Will Shoot Machine Guns At GOP Fundraiser?'

Great article, written by John Longnecker.

The problem with most Republicans is that they won’t stand up for what they stand for.

Let’s find out who is anatomically correct and who can reach around behind and locate their backbone.


I am speaking, of course, of the Republicans’ ability not to shoot their mouth off, but the inability to take sides. Candidates are not elected to be even-handed or to compromise – they are sent to Washington to be partisan, and right now, they stink at it.


This is a wonderful opportunity for Republicans to articulate what personal guns are all about and how they stand up for what guns are all about.


Gun Control and the repeal of all gun laws is conspicuously absent from the debates. Get it in the debates.


If they even understand. From reports of Rudy Giuliani’s stand on regulation of guns, it seems only one or two of them comprehends what the Founders had defeated and what they wrote to protect against forever. But who will show up to shoot a machine gun? I understand that one simply cannot.


The Fundraiser is a shoot August 5th in Manchester, New Hampshire, and it offers the chance to shoot machine guns, reportedly. The funny thing is that it’s not even about Guns – it’s about Liberty. Somebody take video for me.


Contact the Manchester Republican Committee at 603-867-6191. Praise to that Chapter for standing up for our values – Mainstream American values, as it turns out.


Toward this, I’ve donated some money to the cause so that, if Hizzoner Rudy Giuliani doesn’t attend, as reported in a news item which prompted this article, someone else can. In fact, five others can. I sent a paltry $125 for five 2008 Candidates to attend – you have to buy your own ammo – or, for the Fundraiser to pick someone else to take their place.


And the same must happen in Washington: If you don’t take the job, because you won’t take a position and stand behind it, then give up your seat and let someone else have it.


For cryin’ out loud, you’d think it was offensive or something to shoot a gun at a fundraiser. That’s some of that compromise and even-handedness. It’s a trap, of course, the liberals goad candidates into.


In fact, some of the Democrats – who are not anatomically incorrect and who are most partisan, can find their backbones and have no problem articulating their position. They’re wrong - Patriotism and understanding Original Intent is never in bad taste - but they have no problem enunciating that it is.


It’s a chance to learn more of what weapons are all about in this country, and for 2008 Candidates to show how much or how little they know. If they don’t understand what guns stand for, then they don’t understand who they work for, and are likely to wind up nonpartisan, ineffective and deaf.


Let me put it simply: Guns in this country are the legal and lethal force which backs citizen authority under our system. Any attack on weapons is a direct attack to undermine that citizen authority by undermining the force. There can be positively no law against this legal force backing your authority. there is no such thing as a sensible gun law. There simply isn’t any moral reason or legal reason good enough for undermining that force backing the authority of the electorate. With me so far?


Crime is one such way of undermining that force by say, political sway, convincing people that guns are bad, that resistance is bad, and that self-defense must somehow be excessive or in anger — which is how the Liberals constantly attack our way of life and authority through laws which haven’t worked, but that depends on your goals: they certainly work fine for increased political power. Now, I know you follow that.


In short, Americans are talked out of their liberty, and some of that talk is backed by official force – usually liberal force.


But does it reach criminals? Never has, so far, never will. Follow me?


The Founders hated such abuse of due process - Good Lord, they knew all about it - they wrote the law to forbid it forever when they recognized the citizen as supreme authority, and wrote that this legal force which backs our authority shall not be infringed.


One can criticise the Fundraiser Shoot as offensive, but it only reflects a poor understanding of what Gun in thic country are all about. Which explains why so many Democrats own weapons.


Let somebody else have your tickets. Let’s see if it’s constituents who take them.

End The Blather

An excellent editorial out of Toronto, Canada, by Michael Coren.

Another murder in a Canadian black community, this time the victim being 11-years old. And it took only moments for white liberal politicians to blame law-abiding handgun owners and, yes, the United States of America.

Handguns have to be banned, they cried, and American gun laws are too soft. This has to be a first. Canadian leftists blaming a murder in Toronto on President George W. Bush. Orders of Canada and CBC T-shirts all round.

Such drivel does not, however, explain how Norway, with one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, manages to have one of the lowest crime rates.

Or how Israel, a society where guns are extraordinarily common, has so few criminal shootings.

Or how Britain with some of the most stringent gun control laws in the world has a violent crime rate that is virtually out of control.

It's too late to play silly games any more. If handguns are the cause of all this we have to ask why there are so few shootings in, for example, the Dutch, Ukrainian, Irish, Portuguese, Korean, Hindu or African communities. Why, in fact, there are so few shootings in any community outside of the West Indian and specifically Jamaican.

Oh Lord, the man must be mad. Silence him, stop him, call in a Human Rights Commission before it's too late!

Yet there is nothing racist about seeking answers that might save the lives of young black men and much that is racist about refusing to ask basic questions for fear that politically correct credentials be damaged.

Read the rest here.

Quote of the Week, July 22-28

"Law-abiding citizens are left at a disadvantage - caught between a criminal class that disdains the law and a ruling class that disdains the Constitution."

- Joe Sobran

Gee, I Feel Safer

Police in Kalamazoo collected 120 guns with their buyback efforts.

Public Safety Chief Dan Weston said the buyback makes the city safer. "While it is impossible to know what violent crime(s) may be avoided because these firearms have been destroyed, we do know that these 120 weapons are no longer available to cause injury or death,'' he said in the press release.

Yep. That'll solve the violent crime problem. Especially when they offer amnesty for turning the gun in!

People can turn in weapons, ammunition and explosives to the police without penalty.

Residents can receive $25 for nonworking, single shot and or .22 caliber firearms; $50 for working handguns and multiple shot long guns; $75 for high capacity hand guns and $100 for assault weapons.

Of course, it was only open to residents turning in "unwanted firearms," not to criminals.

Residents can turn in unwanted firearms at two local events.

I'm glad they made that distinction. Although, I am a little confused. What was the point of this exercise?

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is striving to remove firearms from the streets and keep them out of the hands of criminals.

How is Joe Citizen, by turning in his lawfully-owned weapon, removing firearms from the streets? Big Brother isn't pulling any shenanigans, is he?

Of course, Kalamazoo is in the west side of Michigan. Over here in Detroit, we did our gun buyback at a church... which, ironically, must have been in violation of state law - which prohibits guns at a church or other place of worship.

Galaxy Zoo

If you watched television at any time over the last 35+ years, you probably saw a certain show (or one of it's derivations) that would boldly go where no one has gone before. I'm not a Trekkie by any stretch, but I enjoyed much of the Star Trek franchise.

How would you like to explore the galaxies? No, it won't be on the Enterprise, but you'd be an explorer nonetheless.

Astronomers at Oxford University are enlisting ordinary internet users in a project called the "Galaxy Zoo." They hope this project will help them unravel mysteries by peering into corners of the universe that no human has seen before. They aim to categorize a million galaxies out beyond the Milky Way - basically, it will be the largest galactic census and a major astronomical advance... but still just a sliver of the more than 100 billion galaxies astronomers believe are in the observable universe.

Yes, they provide training - and, no, you don't have to be an astrophysicist or brainiac astronomer to qualify. In fact, you don't even need a degree.

The Galaxy Zoo team hopes at least 30,000 people will log in to their website, peruse pictures of galaxies from the SDSS, and determine whether the galaxies are elliptical or spiral--and, if spiral, which way they seem to be spinning.

The SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) is a fantastic new technology that's given astronomers many more galaxies to study - in fact, too many. That's where the 30,000 research assistants come in.

If you are interested, slip on those Mr. Spock ears, set your phasers to stun, and go over to GalaxyZoo.org.

Girl With A Gun

Out of Lansing (Michigan's Capital), from the Lansing State Journal, a story from an anti-gunner who faced her fears and found out guns aren't scary:

Emily Smith | NOISE

A few months ago I realized that although I was born in America, raised in a hick town and once even dated a guy whose pickup truck was so big I needed a stepstool to get into it, I had never shot a gun.

Alerting the NOISE office of this was the right thing to do because as soon as our editor got notice of a gun event specifically for women, he sent me out.

I guess I have mixed feelings about guns. Growing up, I was never exposed to them. The first thing I learned about guns was how dangerous they were. From there, I just heard about kids accidently shooting kids or kids shooting kids on purpose. It's hard to see "Bowling for Columbine" and understand why guns are even legal. But all of that just added up to me being scared of guns.

But there is another side to guns and their use - an estimated 80 million Americans own them for protection or sport - and I was ready to see it.

On a very muggy night last week, I headed out to the National Rifle Association's Women on Target event at the Capitol City Rifle Club.

Kay Lockwood, a club member, said the group has been holding women-only events for the past eight or nine years.

"The purpose is to provide women with a low-stress, safe, friendly environment for them to learn basic firearm skills," she said.

I was a few minutes late, so when I pulled up a group of women, most older than I was, were already gathered and watching a demonstration by Lockwood. As the plastic gun demonstration was nearing an end and I put on my ear and eye protection, it started to sink in: in a matter of moments, I'd be shooting an actual gun. In all honesty, I was scared.

There were already a few women shooting guns with another instructor when we approached. Two rectangle card tables held handguns and multiple boxes of bullets with bright green Wal-Mart price tags on them.

The women were aiming toward paper targets on plywood placed in front of a large dirt hill.

To start, Lockwood had us load magazines, which hold the bullets for automatics. That was easy. Once that was done, she was ready for the first shooter. We started with a .22.

Before I took my first shot, I watched a few women begin firing. It didn't seem so bad. But watching someone shoot a gun is totally different than actually doing it. I later found out that most of these women had done this before.

I considered briefly about passing on it all together but then I'd be without a story and without a new experience. I had to do it.

I stepped up.

Lockwood must have known I was nervous. I wasn't shaking but I was sweating far more than the average person, even for a muggy night. In a few simple steps, the gun was loaded and ready to go.

I braced myself, probably looking like the most awkward person to ever hold a gun - and fired.

I'm not sure what exactly I expected but it was OK. I shot 10 bullets, none coming close to hitting the target and then I was done. The gun felt as though it was welded to my hand as I started to lower it to the table.

Surprisingly, I felt a sense of relief. But you don't stop with a .22 at the Women on Target events - you've gotta move up.

Next we shot a 9 mm. It definitely had more of a kickback. After that, Lockwood wanted us to try the .22-caliber revolver. To me, the revolver is the stereotypical gun. The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was Russian roulette. Not inspiring. But I'd come here to shoot guns, so I went for it.

I thought it had more kickback than the 9 mm but one of the instructors said it was all in my head, which may have been true.

After most of the guns had been sampled, a lot of women gathered around and starting chatting about their experiences. Some of them were skilled competitors. They talked about the process of buying guns and which guns are specifically made for women. At this point, it was more like a Tupperware party than a handgun tutorial but still interesting.

Before the class ended, I wanted to give the .22-caliber automatic another try. By the end of the night, I felt comfortable with that. After a few pointers, I ended up hitting the target with almost two rounds of bullets.

I was proud but ready to go.

I doubt I'll ever be as into guns as some of these women were but I am glad they are there to help women like me lessen their fears and try something new.

The Evolution of American Foreign Policy

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
John Adams, circa 1770







Give me liberty or give me death.
Patrick Henry, circa 1776








War - An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.
George Washington, circa 1790








The American continents... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.
James Monroe, circa 1817







America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln, circa 1861









Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.
Teddy Roosevelt, circa 1900







Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima...The force from which the sun draws its powers has been loosed against those who brought the war in the Far East.
Harry S Truman, circa 1945

The Soviet Union does not have to attack the United States to secure domination of the world. It can achieve its ends by isolating us and swallowing up all our allies.
Harry S Truman, circa 1951





Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
John F. Kennedy, circa 1961




Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
Ronald Reagan, circa 1982

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan, circa 1987







America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
George W. Bush, circa 2004









The war in Iraq is lost!
Harry Reid, circa 2007








This war has been a tragedy and a grotesque mistake.
Nancy Pelosi, circa 2007

I bring a message of peace from Syria.
Nancy Pelosi, circa 2007





The fact is, this is a very bad situation...This is an utter disaster. This worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States.
Al Gore, circa 2007







Our message to the President is clear. It is time to begin ending this war -- not next year, not next month -- but today... the right strategy before the surge and post-escalation is the same: start bringing home America's troops now.
Hillary Rodham (Clinton), circa 2007


You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work.
Barack Obama, circa 2007










The President is guilty. He has committed war crimes.
Cindy Sheehan, circa 2007

Ms. Pelosi must do her Constitutional and moral duty by July 23 (impeach President Bush)
Cindy Sheehan, circa 2007

This Guy Gives Me Hope

From The Collegiate Times, one of the best pro-2A editorials I have ever read, bar none. This piece, written by Jonathan McGlumphy, is so sensible, even a fraternity brother could understand it.

I read with interest last week’s column on the issue of concealed carry on campus (“Guns on campus would be disastrous”, CT, July 12). I have my philosophical disagreements with the article, but first I would like to point out several pieces of information that were either misleading or flat-out incorrect. Let me also qualify this by saying that I am a holder of a Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP), so I can truthfully say I know what I am talking about.

Point #1: There is not one single statute banning CHP holders from carrying on campus. The so-called gun ban is a Virginia Tech policy that applies only to students, faculty and staff. The maximum penalty for violation of this policy is expulsion for students or termination for faculty and staff. There is no criminal penalty whatsoever. Additionally, Virginia’s Attorney General has opined that the Board of Visitors has no legal grounds to prohibit the general public from concealed carry on campus.

Point #2: The author of last week’s column writes “I don’t trust someone to walk around with something that can kill me just because he has paid the permit fee and has a piece of paper that says he is competent with a handgun.”

First of all, to get that “piece of paper,” I underwent eight hours of classroom training (including instruction from a law enforcement officer), as well as spending an entire day at the shooting range demonstrating that I understood firearms safety. Secondly, you don’t just “pay the permit fee.” You undergo an extensive criminal background check, so much so that they ask you to provide every physical address you’ve had for the past five years.

Point #3: The author describes a situation in which someone has a gun in his or her bag and accidentally drops it, resulting in a discharge. Guns do not simply “go off” because they were dropped. Someone must put his or her finger directly on the trigger and squeeze with anywhere from 4 to 12 pounds of force. Any instance of someone getting shot accidentally is not because the gun “just went off.” It is because someone broke the cardinal rules of firearms safety and had his or her finger on the trigger with the barrel pointed in a non-safe direction.

Point #4: The author writes, “...logic says that more guns mean more gun-related incidents.” I cannot provide any hard data on the number of firearms in Virginia because we do not have gun registration. However, I will point out that in 1995 — the year that Virginia became a “shall-issue” state — there were only a few thousand CHP holders in the Commonwealth. Currently there are over 120,000 CHP holders.

Now let us consider the level of violent crime over that same time period. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) the rate of all violent crime in 1995 in Virginia was 361.5 per 100,000 residents, with the rate of murder being 7.6 per 100,000.
In 2005, the UCR reported Virginia’s rate of violent crime as being 282.8 per 100,000, and murder 6.1 per 100,000.

So my question is that if we now have significantly more CHP holders as we did 12 years ago, why has the rate of violent crime has not skyrocketed? Obviously, armed citizens are not the only factor that affects crime rates, but the author’s claim that more guns automatically lead to more crime is questionable in the face of these numbers.

The author also seems to think that a student who is armed would casually take a life over something so petty as a poor grade in a class. Let’s consider Utah, where concealed carry on campus by CHP holding students is allowed by state law. I am not aware of any incidents in recent history of a legally armed student committing a firearm assault at a Utah university.

Having gone over the facts, let me insert my own opinions. The author claims to be a believer in the Second Amendment. I am a believer of all 10 Amendments listed in the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment. However, I don’t go calling for restrictions on free speech when someone prints a column full of misleading information.

Let’s go back to Point #1: that the firearms ban only applies to students, faculty and staff. What if Virginia Tech were to enact a policy of “free-speech zones” restricting or prohibiting what students can say and where they can say it? I don’t think there would be too much support for that. So why is it OK to restrict one civil liberty but not another?

The author further derides CHP holders by insinuating that we are cowboys just itching to get into a gunfight. In my experience, this could not be further from the truth. One of the very first things I was told in my CHP training was to do my very best to avoid any situation where I might even need a gun. CHP holders are taught that a firearm is to be used only in the very gravest extreme, when all other options of saving your life — or someone else’s — have failed.

I do agree with the author on one point, though. He says that we as a culture need to move away from the notion that violence is a solution to our problems. It does bother me that violence is glorified in our news media, entertainment industry and even our federal government (only then it’s called war).

However, there is a difference between aggressive violence and defensive violence. I will not sit and wait for the police to arrive and save me when the Chos and Morvas of the world come around. The police are neither legally obligated to protect citizens (according to the Supreme Court) nor are the always able. Self-defense is both an individual right and an individual responsibility.

Having a gun available is just one of many options of self-defense, brains and wits being the first and foremost.

Bear Is Innocent Until Proven Guilty

I don't watch much television, but Man vs. Wild was one show I'd stop and watch eagerly. For the uninitiated, the show features Edward "Bear" Grylls, a former British Special Air Services member, and youngest man to climb Mt. Everest - and live. The series features Bear being dropped by parachute into some of the most inhospitable places on earth (the Amazon, the Chugach Mountain Range in Alaska, etc.). He then shows viewers how to survive.

A two-person camera crew are the only people that follow him, and they have instructions to not help him in any way unless he runs into a life/death situation.

I always knew the show wasn't exactly what it claimed to be, in that they had to stage certain actions for production value. No biggie. But according to the BBC, the show is basically a fraud. If these allegations prove true, I'll feel like a kid who just learned pro wrestling is fake. I love the show and Bear is a cool guy with a likable personality.

Born Survivor featured British adventurer Bear Grylls dealing with "perilous situations" in the wild.

But a crew member told the Sunday Times some nights were spent in hotels.

[...]

American survival consultant Mark Weinert, who was recruited by Diverse Productions, told the paper Grylls claimed to be stranded on a desert island on one occasion.

However, he was actually in Hawaii and spent some of his time there in a motel, Mr Weinert alleged.

Another time, he added, Grylls was filmed building a raft by himself, whereas the crew had actually put it together and dismantled it beforehand, to ensure that it worked.

And in a further episode, supposedly "wild" horses rounded up by Grylls had come from a local trekking facility, he claimed.

Channel 4 [the UK station airing Man vs. Wild] said in a statement that Born Survivor was "not an observational documentary series, but a 'how-to' guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments".

"The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls' experience is one of unaided solo survival.

"For example, he often directly addresses the production team, including the cameraman, making it clear he is receiving an element of back-up."

The broadcaster said Grylls carried out his own stunts and did place himself in perilous situations, "though he does so within clearly-observed health and safety guidelines required on productions of this kind".

"However, we take any allegations of misleading our audiences seriously and will be looking into this further with Diverse over the next few days."

Bear is innocent until proven guilty, and I hope evidence comes out that exonerates him soon.

Detroit - 40 Years Later

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the infamous Detroit riot of 1967.

There are a lot of things I can write about it, but I really can't add much to the historical record.

I don't remember too much about the riot - I was too young to pay much attention. Sure, I knew something was up because I couldn't go outside - and it was summertime in the 60s, so I spent most of my time outside. Stray gunshot fire also gave me a clue something bad was afoot, but pre-riot, I was actually much more worried about the Soviet Union invading than my city erupting in violence. Remember that Red Threat? It scared the stuffing out of me. Walking through the city? It didn't. Sure, there were areas to avoid, but life wasn't scary in Detroit.

In many ways, Detroit never recovered. Certainly, the Murder City title from the 70s and 80s didn't help, nor did the infamous Devil's Night fires in the late 80s and early 90s. While the riot was not a race riot in technical terms (Whites and Blacks didn't fight each other, and members of all races took place in the looting), Detroit kept it's reputation to this day as a racially hateful and dangerous city ever since. While Detroit isn't the safest place in the world, I think the vast majority of the "danger" hype is just that - hype.

I hear a lot of talk about Detroit as a washed-up city, and I can understand it - but there is no reason to remain chained to the nasty part of our history. Detroit was also the Motor City, literally helping the world grow up with the production of the automobile. Detroit was the manufacturing center of the US during World War II, producing for the war effort, and a large contributor to the success of our GIs. Detroit was a leader in economic development after the war. Then we lost it all, because we lost two traits: forgiveness, and self-responsibility. The city failed when people (of all races) tossed these traits by the wayside. These traits, alive and well and exhibited in the thoughts, plans and actions in a future generation, can make the city great once again.

Jihad Bee

I thought nothing could get worse than the so-called childrens' programming I see when I flip past the Cartoon Network. I was wrong.

Out of Israel:

The latest character on the children’s show Tomorrow’s Pioneers on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television station is Nahool the Bee, who encourages young children to follow “[the path] of Jihad” and to become “Jihad warriors” in order to “liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews.”

In the latest episode, Nahool the Bee repeatedly reminds the children that the Jews are guilty of murder – particularly of murdering children and the elderly.

Below are excerpts from the latest episode:

Nahool: “You and we will liberate the sad Al-Aqsa that is waiting for us. Yes, we will liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews, who killed my grandfather, and killed Farfur, and history will bear witness to that…”

A young caller, Sabah, is asked what she wants to be when she grows up.

Sabah: “Journalist.”
Saraa', girl in studio: “Wow, journalist! Nahool, we need journalists.”
Nahool: "Why? So that… so that they will photograph the Jews when they are killing Farfur and the little children?
Saraa’: “Yes, Nahool.”
Another young caller says: “We will go on [the path] of Jihad when we grow up.”
Nahool: “Yes, we are all Jihad warriors.
Saraa’: “Allah willing.”

[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 20, 2007]

[...]

Nahool the Bee is only the latest cartoon character like manifestation to appear on Hamas TV. Prior to Nahool’s appearance, Arab children received anti-Israel indoctrination from Farfur, a character very much resembling Disney’s Mickey Mouse. The New York Daily News dubbed the character “Terror Mouse,” while Walt Disney’s daughter Diane described it as “pure evil.”

In Farfur’s final appearance on Tomorrow’s Pioneers, he was beaten to death at the hands of an Israeli interrogator, thus becoming a Shahid - a martyr for Allah - and a role model to countless Arab children.

One Small Step For Man...

JFK set the timetable. Put a man on the moon within the decade.

July 20, 1969 - it happened.

It is an interesting date. People who lived before the moon walk are still amazed by it. People born after the date tend to think, "Yeah, I guess that's cool, but it's a little ho-hum. Hand me my IPOD, will ya?"

It is still one of the greatest engineering achievements of all human history - in spite of the silly conspiracy theories. Speaking of conspiracy theories - how come the same people who think the moon landing never happened believe that Stonehenge was built by aliens from outer space? Just curious. Anyways, I digress.

So, in honor of one of the coolest events (to date) in history, enjoy these.
All pictures © NASA, except the New York Times paper, which is © NYT






The 2Valuable (borrowed) Photographic History of Apollo 11

Launched - July 16, 1969 at 13:32:00 UTC

Lunar Landing - July 20, 1969 at 20:17:40 UTC


Landed on Earth - July 24, 1969 at 16:15:35 UTC

Crew

Neil Armstrong, commander

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, lunar module pilot (who retired as a Colonel)

Michael Collins, command module pilot (who retired as a Major General)

Best Catchphrases:
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

And still on the moon, the lunar module, with this plaque:

Narc

A Detroit police narcotics officer, trusted to handle seized drugs as evidence, has been suspended under suspicion that he stole 6 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of about $2.4 million from the department's property room.

Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said Thursday that the veteran officer, on the job since 1989, ran a scheme in which he signed out the drugs from the property room as evidence and replaced them with a substance that looked like cocaine.

On the bright side, neighbors reported he threw the best parties on the block and had the biggest mirrors you've ever seen inside his house.

Quote of the Week, July 15-21

Quote of the Week, July 15-21 2007

"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over."

- Benjamin Franklin

What are You?

I saw this on Patrick's site, Born Again Redneck Yogi, and couldn't resist clicking. I am a libertarian conservative, or in fancier language, an anti-government gunslinger (although I'm not anti-government, I'm simply anti-unconstitutional government).

My Conservative Identity:

You are an Anti-government Gunslinger, also known as a libertarian conservative. You believe in smaller government, states’ rights, gun rights, and that, as Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com

This is no surprise. Many, many years ago - before the dawn of daily Internet use (GASP! - it used to be the exclusive domain of scientists and the military) - I took The World's Smallest Political Quiz. It may be hard for today's youth to believe this, but we used to read and write things on paper.

Anyways, I haven't changed too much. This is what I was classified as:

Shark Week

My favorite week of television kicks off on July 29 - the Discovery Channel's Shark week!

Sharks scare the stuffing out of me. I can watch them on TV with no fear, but in the salt water - yikes! The thought of sharks munching me for dinner is just a scary thought, one that I'd never considered until I saw JAWS back in the 70's. Speilberg's classic movie scared me so bad, I didn't even want to swim in a pool.

But in spite of my shark phobia, I am plain interested in the creatures. They are amazingly diverse, and I have a great time learning about them - and watching footage of them eating something other than me.

Back when I was new scuba diver, I went diving with some buddies. About 15 minutes into it, sharks swam by. I mean, real close. While I focused on bladder control, my buddies (all more experienced in diving) took it all in. After we surfaced, they whooped and hollered about how awesome the experience was. One had been diving for 15 years and never had seen a shark during his dives. Me, I could dive forever, not see a shark, and be happy. When those two sharks, both bigger than my car, passed by at spitting distance, well, those were among the most spiritual moments in my life. I can't recall many times when praying harder.

Anyways, Shark Week always has great programming. I can't wait for the end of the month!

Michigan Tickets - Spend Some Time In The Big House

There are still some tickets available for U of Michigan football games. Admittedly, the best games are sold out. But, hey, if you want to take your kid to a 105,000+ fan game, there are still seats left.

Appalachian State - September 1, 2007, noon EDT
Eastern Michigan - October 6, 2007, time TBD

More info at MGOBLUE.COM

Go Blue!

Invasion of the Refugees

Federal government incompetence is continually hurting my state.

Now a new one - the Bush Administration would like to place 15,000 Iraqi refugees in Warren and Sterling Heights. Warren is Michigan's third largest city and shares a part of Detroit's north border. Sterling Heights is directly north of Warren (and is Michigan's sixth largest city).

Warren is the home of Michigan's newest mosque, which opened earlier this year.

Democratic Mayor of Warren Mark Steenburgh complained right away, even appealing to President Bush to stop the madness.

Steenbergh said two-thirds of the applicants for refugee status indicated that they have relatives in the area.

"I've been told that these refugees will be given assistance in locating housing and in learning English," Steenbergh said in a statement.

"Will the City of Warren receive assistance for the burden placed upon our services with so many people set to arrive?"

Of course, in our politically correct, socially responsible world, the Mayor is called a racist.

"All the stuff he put in his press release is inaccurate," said Martin Manna, head of the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce. "It's all inaccurate. It smells of bigotry."

U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., called Steenbergh's statements "inaccurate and misleading."

I don't know if the mayor is racist or not, but I do know he is right - we can't absorb the costs associated with such a plan.

Of course, the Feds are denying there will be that many people transferred here. That's nice. But let me ask President Bush, why is your Administration bringing Iraqi refugees here to the US? Isn't part of your brainy war plan making Iraq safe for Iraqis?

How smart is it to bring people over to the worst economy in the United States, where citizens are losing their jobs right and left - and have been for two years? The jobs have already moved to China - how are the Iraqi immigrants supposed to get a job here?

The Warren Consolidated School District already doesn't have enough money to operate. They've drawn out of the rainy-day fund and let go a bunch of teachers when school got out in June. Now the school district is supposed to absorb these costs? There is nothing humanitarian about brining people into this situation, placing them on welfare because there is no work, and feeling like you've done the world a favor.

No Bull

A Spanish man who took his 10-year-old son bull running during the annual Pamplona festival last week has had his visitation rights to the boy taken away by a judge.

The youngster's mother complained to police after seeing a newspaper photograph of her ex-husband leading their son by the arm just a few feet in front of the bulls, El Mundo reported on Tuesday.

A member of the mother's family said they didn't want the boy to lose touch with his father, but added the man needed to be taught a lesson.

"We want him to get a warning, so that he realizes that his main duty is to look after the boy's well-being," the relative said.

The judge in the town of Fuenlabrada, south of Madrid, ordered police to find the boy, who had been spending his holidays with his father, and return him to his mother immediately.

The Real Bionic Man

Remember the Six-Million Dollar Man? The great show back in the 70's, when $6 million was a lot of money and not the annual paycheck for some shlub batting .159 in the major leagues.

Lee Majors played test pilot Col. Steve Austin who augers his Northrop M2-F2 into the ground during a test flight. Then the famous words:

Steve Austin: astronaut. A man barely alive.

Then we hear Oscar Goldman, the OSI boss announcing

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.

Ah, what a series. That was TV excellence.

Steve Austin could do lots of cool things due to his bionics - like run faster than cars. His left eye was replaced by a cool bionic eye that had night vision and something like a 20:1 zoom.

Plus he had a hot wife in Jaime Sommers (played by Lindsay Wagner).


Bionic Man circa 1975 © ABC and a Bionic Man circa 2007 © The Scotsman








Anyways, out of Scotland,

Yesterday a Scottish company, Touch Bionics, also declared: "We have the technology," with their announcement that they had successfully developed the world's first commercially available bionic hand. While the i-LIMB Hand may not bequeath its user with the strength of Mr Austin, it has transformed the lives of patients around the world and comes with a more reasonable price tag of £9,000.

The prosthetic device offers greater mobility and authenticity than any previous artificial hand. It allows users to perform far more nimble tasks such as holding a card or turning a key in a lock. The hand has five individually powered digits that can bend like natural fingers and has revolutionised the abilities of patients.

Among the first to use the i-LIMB were members of the American military, where amputations have increased dramatically as a result of the Iraq war. Juan Arredondo, a retired Sergeant with the 2nd Infantry Division, 1/506 Destroyer Company, lost his hand in 2004 after his patrol vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

"Every day that I have the hand, it surprises me. Now I can pick up a Styrofoam cup without crushing it. With my other hand, I would really have to concentrate on how much pressure I was putting on the cup. The i-LIMB hand does things naturally. I can just grab the cup like a regular person."

[...]

In the 1970s a new form of prosthetic arm was developed using a technology called myoelectric, which connected the muscle signals in a patient's arm to an artificial hand which could then open and close at will. Unfortunately this device was rudimentary, and was often shaped like a claw or pincer. Although it allowed a person to hold an object, there was little subtlety of movement.

By comparison the i-LIMB Hand offers a unique, highly intuitive control system that uses the traditional myoelectric signal input to open and close the hand's lifelike fingers, but has more facilities. Myoelectric controls use the electrical signal generated by muscles in the remaining portion of a patient's limb. This signal is picked up by electrodes that sit on the surface of the skin. As a result users of existing, basic myoelectric prosthetic hands can quickly adapt to the system.

The system does not involve surgery. Two small electrode plates, which detect the minute electrical signals generated by the remaining muscles in the limb stump, are placed against the skin to pick up signals. Traditionally, one electrode is placed on the top of the forearm and one on the bottom.

Patients usually have a sensation that their hand still exists despite it being amputated, something often referred to as phantom feelings. When encouraged to generate a strong signal, patients are often asked to move and flex their missing hand to generate a strong control signal. Before too long, these reflexes become intuitive, and the i-LIMB Hand and patient interact in a symbiotic way.

As each finger can move individually it offers each person a different range of grips such as using the index finger and thumb to pick up small objects, while the addition of a rotating wrist enables the patient to turn keys in a lock, an impossibility under the previous system.

Sandusky Register's Error-filled List of CHL-holders' Private Info

Fine work from the Buckeye Firearms Association:

As if declaring war on gun ownership by publishing the private, confidential information of more than 2,700 Ohio concealed handgun license (CHL) holders wasn't bad enough, an investigation by the Buckeye Firearms Association has confirmed that the Sandusky Register has another problem - the newspaper's database contains false information!

When Ohio's concealed carry law was passed by the legislators, it was never conceived or designed to have a central or regional records management function for CHL records, which are considered confidential under Ohio law.

With truly public records, the records management function is usually overseen by a records or registrar's office. The purpose of this office is to manage the additions, changes, deletions, modifications, printing, and distribution of these official records, lists, and reports. Another important role for this office is to accept responsibility and accountability for the integrity of the records it manages. This role becomes especially critical when information is made available on the internet.

Read the rest here.

Make Your Own Gun-Free Zone

New Michigan Predator

During the 70's, Dutch Elm disease ate away the trees on my parents' property. Then the Emerald Ash Borer ate up my ash trees a few years ago. Now Michigan has a new invasive pest - just north of Detroit. It isn't pandemic - but it looks like it might be a giant pain in the backside.


PLEASE NOTE: This press release was issued jointly by the Michigan Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture.

July 16, 2007

The Michigan departments of Agriculture (MDA) and Natural Resources (DNR), along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), today announced the confirmation of Sirex Woodwasp in Macomb County. A single specimen was collected from a trap on July 6 and later identified by the USDA.

Sirex Woodwasp is a wood-boring insect native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa and is a potentially serious pest of commercially produced pine trees. It was first detected in North America in Oswego, N.Y. in 2004, and has since been found throughout central New York, northern Pennsylvania, and southern Ontario.

The larvae of this exotic pest are responsible for damaging the tree. It severs the trees' conductive tissues, interrupting the transport of water and nutrients. Adult females lay their eggs in two- and three-needled pine trees, including: Austrian, jack, red, and Scotch pines.

"At this point, we don't know whether this is part of an established Michigan infestation," said MDA Director Mitch Irwin. "We don't anticipate this pest to have a major economic impact on the state's nursery, landscape and Christmas tree industries. We will, however, vigorously monitor this exotic pest and its potential to impact our forest systems."

The trap is one of more than 250 trapping locations established throughout Michigan through a cooperative effort that includes the USDA, MDA, DNR, Michigan Technological University and Michigan State University. This work is part of an international effort to delimit the extent of the infestation in North America.

"Since the Sirex find in New York we have been monitoring Michigan's pine resource," said DNR Director Rebecca A. Humphries. "The network of traps and trap trees established across Michigan will provide excellent data. This information will be used by the workgroup to assess and develop a pro-active response."

Sirex Woodwasp is not expected to significantly impact healthy landscape pine trees in the state. Its impact on vigorous, well managed pine plantations in Michigan, while not yet fully defined, is likewise not anticipated to be severe.

For more information on this pest, please visit www.aphis.usda.gov.

Negligent Discharge

It's a bit old, but another reminder that the professionals need to be careful, too.




I bet that perp crapped his pants. I bet her partner did too.

Bizarre

Courtesy of the AP - a truly bizarre story

Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a 14-year-old girl and ended in a group hug.

It started around midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing dinner on the patio of a District of Columbia home, authorities and witnesses said. That’s when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the girl’s head.

“Give me your money, or I’ll start shooting,” he said, the witnesses told the Washington Post.

Everyone froze, they said, but then one guest spoke up.

“We were just finishing dinner,” Cristina Rowan, 43, told the man. “Why don’t you have a glass of wine with us?”

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, “Damn, that’s good wine.”

The girl’s father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told him to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese and put the gun in his sweatpants.

Then the story got even more bizarre.

The man with the gun apologized, the witnesses told the Post.

“I think I may have come to the wrong house,” he said. “Can I get a hug?”

Rowan stood up and wrapped her arms around the man and the four other guests followed.

The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. No one was hurt, but once he was gone, the group went inside, locked the door and called 911.

Police said Friday that the case was strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect.

“We’ve had robbers that apologize and stuff, but nothing where they sit down and drink wine,” Cmdr. Diane Groomes said. “The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged them.”

Safe Campuses?

Feeling safe - is not actual safety. I am amazed at the lengths colleges and universities go to so everyone can "feel" safe.

The Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents voted unanimously, by telephone, to fire President John Fallon. His termination -- two years into a 5-year contract -- comes on the heels of a report that blasted EMU officials for their handling of a student's death in December.

The U.S. Department of Education report said the university failed to alert the public of the rape and killing of Laura Dickinson, and that it violated federal law by underreporting and misreporting other crimes on campus since 2003. It was roughly 10 weeks before EMU announced that there may have been foul play in Dickinson's death on Dec. 15.

A fellow student has been arrested and charged. His trial is set to begin in October.

Hunting Lands in Michigan

As NRA-ILA reported:

House Bill 4597, sponsored by State Representative Matthew Gillard (D-106), passed the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs on Wednesday, June 13. This “No-Net Loss” legislation would ensure that today's total acreage of public hunting lands would not be reduced.

HB4597 now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. Please contact your State Senator and respectfully urge him or her to pass HB4597 to protect Michigan’s hunting heritage.

As you might expect, the bill is a bit more complex than listed in their brief squib. You may find it online here at the Michigan Legislature website.

Particularly of concern is Section 504 (2)(a), which nebulously states

The department shall do all of the following:
(a) Keep land under its control open to hunting unless the department determines that the land should be closed to hunting because of public safety, fish or wildlife management, or homeland security concerns or as otherwise required by law.

Why is this of concern?

First, subdivision-mania. People like building their big houses next to wooded tracts of land, then, through legislation, banning hunting, farming, etc. around their pristine little sub.

Second, DNR management has been, shall we say, strange over the last few years. Take, for example, the management of the deer herd. The deer herd is huge in Southern Michigan, but deer hunting now stinks in the Northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula. Too many antlerless deer permits issued, too thin a population up north. For crying out loud, I don't even see road kill north of Flint on I-75 anymore. It wouldn't take much to shut down large tracts of land as part of their poor management program.

Third - homeland security concerns? What the heck does that mean? Is al-Qaeda going after the deer herd? Perhaps the turkey? This seems like an open-ended statement ready to invite disaster anytime some anti-gunner or anti-hunter wants to take advantage of this wording.

And since the Humane Society, SPCA and PETA have already teamed up to remove one hunting season from our hunters (doves), it isn't a stretch to say they'll take advantage of nebulous language in a bill.

Quote of the Week, July 8-14

"The one absolute certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to be become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."

- Teddy Roosevelt

Camping

I'm going camping, so I won't be posting until Monday. You all have a great weekend. - Jay

Go Tigers.

No Guns

From my lovely home city of Detroit:

Seeking the attention of presidential candidates taking part in the NAACP national convention, concerned parents and activists said that they plan to conduct a “lie-in” today to protest weak gun laws, particularly on college campuses.

Thirty-two volunteers clad in black and representing the 32 people killed in a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech earlier this year will participate in the event at 11:45 a.m. outside of Cobo Hall. Activists hope to draw attention to how easy it is to buy a gun in America and force the next president to address the issue.

The protest is one of a nationwide series organized by Virginia resident Abigail Spangler to honor the Virginia Tech victims and help their loved ones. [...]

First of all, what "weak gun laws, particularly on college campuses"? Campus security is all about "feeling safe" - not actual safety. And lest the protesters forget, guns are already banned from most college campuses. Murder is already illegal, too. In fact, I am pretty sure it is illegal in all 50 state and in DC. So since there is already gun control on campus, why push for gun control on campus - I mean, unless there are other agendas?

By the way, gun control, or for that matter "campus safety", doesn't deter rapists, does it? No. Rape is an epidemic on college campuses, both date rape and run-of-the-mill standard thugs. And they don't use guns. Of course, colleges protect the "right" of students to get high or drunk all they want, even though these actions contribute to so many times to sexual assaults.

And is it easy to buy a gun? There are already 20,000 gun laws on record.

Nunatak

Nunatak rehearsing for the Live Earth Concert

Photo © Wikipedia and NPR.

Here is some fun trivia from Wikipedia:

Nunatak is the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station’s house band. The five person indie rock band is part of a science team investigating climate change and evolutionary biology on the Antarctic Peninsula.

On 7 July 2007 as part of Live Earth, Nunatak played to a sell out crowd of 17 (the entire population of the BAS research station Rothera) making up the Seventh Continent contingent of the Live Earth concerts. Lead singer Matt Balmer, 22, said of the event that the band "expected to spend our Antarctic winter here at Rothera quietly getting on with our work and maybe performing at the occasional Saturday night party. We could never have imagined taking part in a global concert."

The band's name is the Greenlandic word for a mountain top protruding from an ice sheet.

Live Earth - a Success or Flop?

I know that few people ever gave a rat's back end about this subject to begin with, and of those few, only a small percentage even care about any follow-up. But in case you are one of those people...

"Live Earth" was dead weight for NBC this weekend.

The three-hour prime-time telecast of the event, designed to raise awareness of climate-change issues, drew just 2.8 million viewers to the network. It was the least watched show among the major broadcast networks Saturday night, trailing repeats of Fox's "Cops," which averaged 4.2 million, and "America's Most Wanted" (4.7 million), and ABC's broadcast of the 2001 movie "Monsters, Inc." (3.4 million).

NBC's telecast included live coverage of musical acts at New Jersey's Giant's Stadium as well as taped bits from concerts around the globe.

But the news was not all bad for "Live Earth" organizer Al Gore, according to ratings spinmeisters at NBC Universal: 19 million people watched at least six minutes of the concerts that aired throughout the day on its networks NBC, Bravo, CNBC and Telemundo. (Nielsen does not measure ratings for Sundance Channel, which also televised the concert.)

Bravo's 18 hours of coverage, beginning at 9 a.m., averaged 740,000 viewers, double what the network usually brings in on a Saturday, and peaked at 9 p.m. with an audience of 1.3 million.

Many television sets were dormant this past holiday week as indicated by the historically low ratings for the broadcast networks. [...]

And

In all, users streamed 30 million videos of Live Earth concert footage on MSN live and on-demand as of Monday morning, said Rob Bennett, GM of entertainment, video and sports at MSN.

Bennett also said that with 237,000 users logged on around midday Saturday, MSN's Live Earth webcast broke the record for most simultaneous viewers of an online entertainment event. The previous record was 175,000 streaming users for Live 8 on AOL.

Bennett said that the on-demand offering of the concert will be available for 90 days and should account for a "majority of the streams" when all the numbers are crunched. He did not have a specific projection but said that the company would provide a recap of the available data at week's end. [...]

Again, while I'd be thrilled with such results, these are paltry compared to the 2 billion viewers that Live Earth believed would tune in.

The real test will be if any viewer actually take any action because of these concerts. Anyone who's been in charge of recruiting people for any kind of activity knows that it is hard to spur anyone to action. And let's face it - the current generation of rock fans are more apathetic than previous generations. This isn't the 60s, and this wasn't Woodstock. If you go to an Eagles concert (who didn't perform at Live Earth), chances are Don Henley would make some plea to get involved in some kind of political or social action - and chances are tmany fans would get involved. But subtract a few decades to the fan base and the activism just isn't there. You can't tell me Kelly Clarkson, Ludacris, and The Smashing Pumpkins have a fan base as political or socially active as Don Henley's.

And because someone likes an artist's music, it doesn't mean they vote the way that artist would vote. I like Pink Floyd and I like The Police, but that doesn't mean I have the same political views as Roger Waters or Sting.

Man Floats at 11,000 Feet With Balloons and Lawn Chair

Photo © Pete Erikson/The Bulletin

Kent Couch sailed with his 105 balloons (4 feet in diameter each) early Saturday morning. He was climbing at roughly 800 feet per minute to a cruising altitude that averaged 11,000 feet. He traveled 193 miles in eight hours and 45 minutes. The trip cost about $5,000. Helium alone cost $2,400 for 49 tanks.

And this is the second time he's tried such a stunt! He reached 15,000 feet during his first trip.

Mr. Couch was inspired to try this flight after watching the “MythBusters” episode about the infamous Larry Walters balloon and lawnchair flight - which ended up interrupting air traffic to LAX for several hours. Since "Mythbusters" proved it could be done, Mr. Couch figured, "why not me?"

It's a cool story, if you want to read it.