Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sure Glad We're in Post-Racial America

Sure Glad We're in Post-Racial America

I was looking to see what other signs there were that Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) was less intelligent than my cat, and I found this depressing reminder that racism is alive and well, from the March 30, 2010 Fox Channel 5 in Atlanta:
ATLANTA - The defense called former DeKalb County officials to the stand Tuesday in an effort to disprove claims of racial discrimination by Vernon Jones.

The former CEO -- along with other county officials -- are charged with trying to replace white managers with black managers during his tenure.

...

Plaintiffs in the 2004 lawsuit accuse Jones of ordering a top subordinate to "dig up dirt" on top white managers because he wanted a "darker administration" to reflect the county's racial makeup.
The federal appeals court has refused to dismiss this suit.

How Stupid Can A Member of Congress Be?

How Stupid Can A Member of Congress Be?

HotAir has this clip of a member of Congress
, Hank Johnson (D-GA) who expresses concern that overpopulation of Guam might cause it to capsize. And no, it doesn't appear that he is trying to being funny.



I confess: I've finally seen a member of Congress who makes Rep. Lynne Woolsey (D-CA) seem intelligent.

I love how calmly this Navy admiral explains that they "don't anticipate that" happening. You can tell he just wants to tell Rep. Johnson off. Sadly enough, the March 31, 2010 The Hill covered this remarkably stupid question and felt a need to explain:
Like other islands, Guam is attached to the sea floor, which makes it extremely unlikely that it will tip over, even if there are lots and lots of people on it.

Iowa About to Go Non-Discretionary

Iowa About to Go Non-Discretionary

From March 30, 2010 KCRG-TV:
DES MOINES - The Iowa House and Senate have both signed off on a bill that reduces sheriffs' ability to deny permits to carry a gun.

The bill essentially changes the law from saying sheriff's "may" issue gun permits to they "shall" issue permits. If the governor signs the bill, people must still pass a background check, but sheriffs will only be able to reject permits for a few specific reasons.

...

Most sheriffs in Iowa disagree [with the new law] and fear this new legislation could lead to more guns on the streets and less monitoring of the weapons.

"I think it's unfortunate the NRA was able to come in, push the legislature around and get them to go along with this,” Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said.
Hmmm. We've heard the same thing in state after state--and within a year or two? All the whining from the sheriffs stops.

The Bombings in Moscow

The Bombings in Moscow

I haven't had much to say on this--but as bad as Russian actions were in Chechnya, it does not justify the murder of civilians. Ever. For centuries, Muslims have been ranting about the massacre of non-combatants at the end of the siege of Jerusalem in 1299. The massacre at Limoges during the Hundred Years War, when the English army murdered three thousand civilians at the end of the siege, was also completely unjustified. Both of these horrifying crimes were contrary to the Church's Peace of God obligation imposed on all Christians. When I tell my students about these horrible atrocities, everyone is rightly disgusted.

Al-Qaeda and its affiliates will go down in history as barbarians, and with good reason. That Russian security forces have frequently engaged in pretty barbaric actions doesn't excuse the Chechnyan response. "An eye for an eye will blind the world," to quote Gandhi.

UPDATE: View From the Porch points out that the Chechnyan terrorists are poking the wrong bunch:
If I had to guess which country was most likely to take the path of systematic genocide as a terrorism fix, Russia would be my candidate. They've killed their own people in boxcar lots within living memory and, unlike Germany, haven't had to deal with fifty years of international tongue-clucking and scolding because of it. (Not that caring what others think has ever been a defining characteristic of Russian leadership anyway.) The Chechen separatist strategy doesn't strike me as very bright, poking this particular bear with this particular stick.
He isn't justifying the Russians doing horrible things--just pointing out the incredible stupidity of it. Of course, the objective of terrorists is to provoke an overreaction, so that people start to regard the terrorists as "victims."

Animation of Rifling Stabilizing A Bullet?

Animation of Rifling Stabilizing A Bullet?

If I could file some animation of how rifling spin-stabilizes a bullet, it would be quite useful for my class. (Rifling is a Renaissance invention.)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Marketing Christianity

Marketing Christianity

My wife and I have been increasingly disturbed over the last 15 years by how Christianity has become marketed like a consumer product. The flyer below captures this McDonaldization of Christianity so perfectly that I almost wanted to see if it came from The Onion--but no, it's a real church.


Monday, March 29, 2010

30 Years

30 Years

My wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary today. My, how the world has changed since we both said, "I do."

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Upgrading My Vertical Mill

Upgrading My Vertical Mill

I bought a used Sherline Model 5000 vertical mill several years ago. I've mentioned in the past the problems that I have had with the limited capacity of the standard mill vise that comes with this vertical mill, and my mildly clever solution to the problem. However, the problem remained that the Model 5000 only has about 3" of travel in the Y-axis--and except for the very smallest workpieces, that just isn't enough. You can reorient a part to do the movement in the X-axis--but that only goes so far.

Anyway, I was thinking a few weeks ago about replacing the base (on which the Y-axis moves) and the lead screw as a way of expanding the Y-axis travel--but then I searched to see if anyone offered such an upgrade. Sherline will sell you what seems to be the Model 5400 base, which gets you a couple more inches of travel--but it's expensive, especially compared to the A2Z Corporation's extended travel base and lead screw, which cost me $255 plus shipping.

There were no instructions with it, and it took a couple of emails back and forth to figure out how to install the lead screw correctly with the existing wheels. But it does work, and works well. As you can see from the attached picture, I now about 9" of Y-axis travel--enough that I would need to add more height extenders between the mill column and motor/quill assembly to take advantage of all that travel.

Pretty obviously, as you add more extenders, you are likely compromising vertical accuracy. I probably will never use all the travel that this base gives me--but if I needed more travel in exchange for less Z-axis accuracy, it's available. The longer base also weighs a lot more, and makes the whole assembly more stable. (You can bolt the base down to a table, but then you lose the flexibility of being able to pick it up and move it to another work location.)

Nigerian Scammers & Check Clearing

Nigerian Scammers & Check Clearing

After mentioning the Nigerian scammer strategy of sending too large a check--which is a forgery or otherwise invalid--and then taking a refund check from the victim, a reader pointed me to this case. At first glance, it doesn't seem like the defrauded lawyer has much of a case--but Citibank apparently told him the $367,500 check he had deposited had cleared--when it hadn't (nor could it).

Which Races Should I Be Contributing To?

Which Races Should I Be Contributing To?

I'm interested in contributing money to a number of Congressional or Senate races across the country. (No, not thousands of dollars, but certainly hundreds of dollars.) I don't have the expertise to know which races are considered most promising in terms of unseating Democrats. I'm relying on my readership to give me some suggestions. My criteria:

1. Conservative or libertarian Republican. Someone who uses really extreme rhetoric (at least, extreme relative to their district) isn't likely to be a success, but I'm not terribly interested in funding RINOs.

2. They should have some realistic chance of success. It might be a longshot, but not a campaign being done for "educational" reasons, or because the Republicans need someone to show the flag in a token campaign.

3. Ideally, they are trying to remove a DINO (like Rep. Walt Minnick, who represents me in the House), or a liberal Democrat who represent a fairly conservative district, and is therefore vunerable.

I've mentioned Pia Varma, who is running in Pennsylvania Congressional District 1 before as perhaps one example. Care to point me to others? I'm not interested in contributing to anything that is associated with the Republican National Committee--these guys are a lot of what is wrong with the Republican Party--the sort of special interest politics that completely runs the Democratic Party, and almost completely runs the Republican Party.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Narrow-Minded Fascist Bigots!

Narrow-Minded Fascist Bigots!

Oh dear! Those narrow-minded bigots are upset about a film concerning the "transgendered." They want it banned! No, not Christian fundamentalists. From the March 27, 2010 New York Times:

A film selected for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival called “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives” hasn’t been screened there yet, but it’s already had that very effect on members of the transgender community and their supporters, prompting an advocacy group to call for the film’s removal from the festival lineup as well as a rapid defense from its creators and festival organizers.

In the official online listing for “Ticked-Off Trannies,” a comedy by Israel Luna that is making its world premiere at the Tribeca festival, the film is described as a “campy homage to the exploitation films” in which “a group of transgender women are violently beaten and left for dead,” but then “the violated vixens turn deadly divas.”

That summary alone was enough to prompt many angry comments at the tribecafilm.com Web site. One commenter who gave her name as Marie wrote, “This movie trivializes people dying for being who they are. You need to consider whether you want to be remembered for such transphobic trash.” Another commenter named Margaret B wrote, “I can’t imagine a more offensive film to denigrate and demean a minority group. Please remove this film from your line up.”
Part of what infuriates me is the manner in which the left portrays conservatives as narrow-minded bigots for expressing disapproval of offensive material--such as the protests about the film The Last Temptation of Christ--while failing to recognize that when it comes to an inability to deal with offensive material, the left is at least as intolerant as anyone on the right. They're just upset about different offensive material, that's all.

I just love that word "transphobic." If you are sufficiently messed-up that you think a sex change is going to solve your problems, go ahead. But shut up about it, and pay for your confusion with your money. Any guesses how long before the "transgendered" are going to be demanding--and the Democrats agree--that the government force insurers to pay for the ultimate in elective surgery?

Critical Mass Takes Control of Washington

Critical Mass Takes Control of Washington

Critical Mass in San Francisco
was one of those reminders that I didn't belong in California anymore. Every month or so, the arrogant, rude, and holier-than-thou bicycling sorts would intentionally create traffic jams by ignoring all the traffic rules at rush hour. It was part of liberalism's belief that if you don't do things our way, well, then you are some sort of immoral and depraved person who needs to get slapped across the face a few times.

Now I see that the same crowd is in charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation. From the March 27, 2010 New York Times is this report that Secretary of Transportation LaHood was announcing the end of "favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized":
The new policy, which was introduced a few days after Mr. LaHood gave a well-received speech from atop a table at the National Bike Summit, is said to reflect the Transportation Department’s support for the development of fully integrated transportation networks.

It calls on state and local governments to go beyond minimum planning and maintenance requirements to provide convenient and safe amenities for bikers and walkers. “Walking and biking should not be an afterthought in roadway design,” the policy states.
Look, I enjoy bicycling and walking. I occasionally bicycled to work when I worked for HP. When I lived in Irvine, I often walked the three miles to work--even though, in a liberal controlled city--there were often no sidewalks. (Everything had been "planned" for bicyclists--not pedestrians.)

I've found the experience of sharing the road with automobiles scary enough that I am generally sympathetic to laws requiring automobile drivers to behave as though bicyclists are humans, too. There's a place for bicycling and pedestrian travel as part of a city. But the arrogant assumption that anyone who drives an automobile is lazy, stupid, or an environmental criminal--that's the subtext of what Critical Mass and their friends like Secretary LaHood are saying.

Somehow, I'm not expecting bicycles to replace trucks for transporting merchandise anytime soon, nor is bicycling or walking a realistic alternative for most commuters. The only that it could be would involve the sort of totalitarian control that liberals seem to love: "You are going to live here. And if you find a job across town that works better--you are going to have to move--or arrive drenched in sweat (or snow) 90 minutes later."

More Not Quite Successful Scams

More Not Quite Successful Scams

One very favorite type of scam is to order products and then send a check for too much--and then have the vendor issue a refund check. An order comes in for $5000 worth of stuff, with $200 worth of shipping. The order comes with a $6000 check or credit card number--and only after you you have shipped the product, and issued an $800 refund, do you find out that the $6000 check is a forgery, or the credit card number wasn't authorized by the card holder.

One of these scams arrived in my email today:
Hello Sir/Madam,
This is Scott Harrison,with regards to your Company I am sending this email regards to order some Tilt Vise, from your company.I will like to know the models and prices you have available for sales, excluding shipping so that I will tell you the quantity I will be ordering,and also if you accept credit card as a method of payment.Thanks and hope to hear back from you as soon as possible.

Warm Regards,

Scott Harrison
W133 N4960 Campbell Dr.
Menominee Falls, WI 53051
USA
I don't sell anything called a "Tilt Vise." For someone who lives in Wisconsin, his English is astonishingly poor. It is hard to imagine that many businesses fall for something this transparently fraudulent--but some must, or I wouldn't have this stuff filling up my inbox.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This Is Most Curious

This Is Most Curious

I've learned to regard with some skepticism many of the more bizarre claims made about President Obama--but this comes straight from the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois. Barack Obama surrendered his license to practice law in 2008:
Voluntarily retired and not authorized to practice law
What? Why, exactly, would someone who is running for president of the United States surrender his license to practice law? This seems...peculiar.

UPDATE: Just to clarify: President Clinton didn't give up his law license when was elected. He did afterwards--but that wasn't voluntary.

UPDATE 2: A reader who is a retired Texas lawyer says that the difference between inactive and retired isn't dramatic, and it is plausible that Obama just figured that he wasn't ever going to practice law again.

UPDATE 3: A number of readers have pointed out that Michelle Obama also went inactive in 1993, and suggest all sorts of disciplinary reasons for this. However, the August 4, 2009 World Net Daily (not exactly part of the Obama fan club) points out:
James Grogan, deputy administrator and chief counsel for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois, or ARDC, has been with the commission for 30 years. He told WND that on July 1, 1994, the Illinois Supreme Court entered an order allowing Michelle to be transferred to inactive status pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court rule 770.
The ARDC website explains, "Prior to November 1, 1999, former Supreme Court Rule 770 provided for a proceeding in the Court for any voluntary transfer to inactive status, whether because of some incapacitating condition or solely as a matter of the lawyer's preference because the lawyer would not be practicing law."
Grogan explained, "At the time, the only way to go on inactive status was to do what she did – which was to file a petition in the Illinois Supreme Court."
He said attorneys often filed a petition for 770 when they wanted to pursue other careers, retire or begin raising a family.
There's nothing to this story, really.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Corvette

The Corvette

I mentioned several weeks ago that the Corvette's differential was leaking--and the dealer told me that it might be $485 to repair it--or it might be $1985. They wouldn't really know until it was well under way, because they weren't sure if they could remove the differential without dropping the transmission.

Fortunately, I found a Corvette specialist who has a more realistic view of what his time is worth--and who knew that he could remove the differential without dropping the transmission. He charged me a bit more than $500 to replace the two leaking seals. (There was so much dirt that the dealership missed one of the leaks.)

Anyway, if you are in need of car repair in the Boise area, let me recommend All Things Automotive at 617 N. Linder Rd., Meridian, ID. Mathew Lenord runs it, and while he is a Corvette specialist, he won't turn his nose down at repairing lesser automobiles.

Another Reminder That Women Weren't Allowed To Do Much Long Ago

Another Reminder That Women Weren't Allowed To Do Much Long Ago

I was looking for some scholarly work on the Statute of Labourers (1351), which was the English government's response to the scandalous rise of peasant wages after the Black Death. I found what is sometimes called "posthole history"--the very detailed, very comprehensive study of documents that might seem terribly narrow, but provides the research information for broader histories. In this case, the book is The Enforcement of the Statutes of Labourers During the First Decade After Black Death, 1349-1359. The book is by Bertha Haven Putnam, Ph.D., who taught at Mount Holyoke College. Any guesses before you click the link as when this book was published? 1908.

There are a lot more women doing "men's jobs" back in the day than many feminist polemicists would want you to believe.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Need a Lawyer?

Need a Lawyer?

In some ideal world, there wouldn't be a need for lawyers. In that same ideal world, there wouldn't be a need for door locks, car keys, police, jails, or handguns. But now and again, it's darn useful to have a lawyer to represent your interests.

I recently needed a lawyer to persuade a company that owed me a big chunk of money to cough it up. Andrew T. Schoppe did this--and did it in a way so clever and yet completely ethical that it impressed me. (When a lawyer impresses me with cleverness, that's pretty startling, and no, I'm not going to tell you the nature of what made his actions so clever.) Mr. Schoppe is licensed to practice law in both Idaho and California. If you need someone to handle a civil litigation matter, here's his website.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Pia Varma for Congress

Pia Varma for Congress

This isn't really an endorsement, since I haven't spent much time investigating--but someone is working very hard (and successfully) to mix the MTV sensibilities that elected the Zero with libertarian/conservative policies in a very attractive package! Pia is the daughter of East Indian immigrants from Britain who apparently found its socialist ways too hard to handle, and came to America. If you live in Pennsylvania's First Congressional District--take a look!

Snowflakes in Hell had some nice things to say about her
--essentially, she doesn't stand a chance, but wow, what an impressive effort! I'm glad to see someone making the effort.

I somewhat regret not making another attempt at unseating Tim Corder for Idaho State Senate, but realistically, there's no way for me to do that. I'm too busy teaching and working full-time, and Corder, being fairly liberal, is a good fit for district 22. Idaho has a largely undeserved reputation for being conservative, and Boise and Elmore Counties, very clearly are not conservative. I see that Marla Lawson in Lowman is challenging Corder in the Republican primary this time around, so Corder will have to justify his support for various liberal bills, but realistically, much of the population in this district doesn't much care what the government does, and those that do, tend to like Corder's RINOism.

Other Target Online Sites Besides PajamasMedia?Other Target Online Sites Besides PajamasMedia?

Other Target Online Sites Besides PajamasMedia?

Unfortunately, PajamasMedia gets a lot of submissions, and many pieces that I think would be a good fits they don't take (such as the one below, about the Koran). Do you know of any other online sites like PajamasMedia that:

1. Pay.

2. Don't require you to be nationally famous for them to publish you?

I've completely given up on print publications. Gun magazines (with the exception of Shotgun News and very occasionally, American Rifleman), simply aren't interested in anything that I have to say, and the only conservative magazines left won't publish stuff by me.

The Koran

The Koran

When the first reviews of Luxenberg's Die syro-aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache appeared, it seemed like an intriguing and potentially revolutionary work. I didn't have the expertise to know whether Luxenberg's claims were valid or not--and some of the negative reviews, because of both location and tone, made me suspect that some of the hostility was driven more by the general pro-Islamic tone of much of the academic world.

Since I am teaching Western Civilization this semester, and Islam is most definitely part of that class, I thought I would go ahead and read the English translation: The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran: A Contribution to the Decoding of the Language of the Koran. This is probably the most exhausting book that I have read since calculus. Whoever translated it from German either was not a native speaker of English, or was trying to capture the fussy, pedantic nature of how I would expect a book like this written in German to be.

Regardless of style or tone, this is intrinsically a demanding book to read--not light entertainment, by any means! It must have been a proofreader's nightmare, because it includes not only sections in Arabic (as well as transliterations into English), but also in Syro-Aramaic. This is another Semitic language, written in Kufic script--in which the very oldest manuscripts of the Koran are also written. In addition, Luxenberg highlights the problems of how to read the standard Arabic version of the Koran by showing how various scholars have translated particularly troublesome passages into English, German, and French.

Now, let me start out by saying that I don't know Arabic, I don't know Syro-Aramaic, and I have no intention of learning either. There is no chance that I will become sufficiently fluent in both languages to know whether Luxenberg is right about his claims. Still, he makes a rather clever solution to what seems to be a very real problem: the Koran is full of bizarre contradictions.

For example, the Koran says that Islamic paradise will have couches with perpetual, black-eyed virgins--and it also says that paradise has "boys of perpetual freshness" or in some translations "boys of eternal youth." (The count of 72 perpetual virgins, while traditional, seems to be extra-Koranic.) Nothing in the Koran says that the boys are there for the sexual use of Islamic men in paradise--but you would have to be blind to the context to not figure that this is reason that the boys are perpetually "fresh." If Islam were reasonably tolerant of homosexuality, this wouldn't be too shocking--but Islam is at least as hostile to homosexuality as Judaism and Christianity used to be.

According to Luxenberg, since at least the 10th century A.D., Muslim scholars have been wrestling over problems with the Koran's text, including words that don't seem to be of Arabic origin, and that do not appear elsewhere in Arabic. Complicating this matter is that there is very little written Arabic before the Koran is traditionally written down in the 7th century (Luxenberg, 23).

One of the core problems is that the earliest Koranic text lacks written vowels—as did other Semitic languages in their earliest forms. The use of diacritical marks solves the problem—but these marks are very easily damaged during copying—and Luxenberg argues that the Koran’s text was perhaps written at least partly in Syro-Aramaic. Trying to read Syro-Aramaic as Arabic produced some of these contradictory verses.

As an example, imagine if Icelandic and Danish were both written with consonants, and only little dots to indicate what the vowels should be. Now, imagine that someone gave an Icelander some Danish text with only funny little vowel dots—and told him, “This is Icelandic.” He would find a lot of words that are the same (because these languages are in fact, quite close). He would find a lot of words that had the same consonants, and some of the vowels would match, and some would not (for example, for fish and bread). It would not take long, however, before the subtle differences would produce something that did not make much sense—and the Icelander would start to modify those vowel dots, and change some consonants to fix the original text’s “mistakes.”

Luxenberg argues that if read as Syro-Aramaic, the Koran’s paradise is not perpetual virgins, but grapes (a symbol of Heaven commonly used in Syrian Christian writings of the time), and not “boys of perpetual freshness,” but iced fruits—which seems like an apt metaphor for paradise if you live in a desert. (Luxenberg, 272-288)

Perhaps most astonishing of all is that Luxenberg argues that much of the text of the Koran appears to have been written as a Christian missionary text aimed at the pagan Arabs of the desert. I find myself wondering if, a century or more later, it was misread, perhaps intentionally, as a method of providing a unifying text for Arab nationalism. (There is considerable scholarly agreement that the Koran’s final text was not codified for at least a century after Mohammed.)

As I said at the beginning, I don’t have the expertise to know whether Luxenberg is right or wrong. But I do know that there are parts of the Koran that are shockingly contradictory—and Luxenberg’s theory is certainly thought provoking. If Luxenberg is right, Islam is built on at best a severe misreading—and at worst, a cynical manipulation by Arab political leaders more than a thousand years ago. It would certainly force a great many Muslims to rethink their faith—and wonder if Mohammed was actually trying to Christianize the polytheistic desert dwellers of Arabia.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Those Boxy Little SUVs

Those Boxy Little SUVs

The Scion started this fashion trend. Some people find them cute; I don't agree. I did get a good laugh, however, on the way to the work. I saw one of these little cinder-block shaped vehicles with the bumper sticker, "AERODYNAMICS ARE OVERRATED."

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Ugly Parts of History

Ugly Parts of History

There are many aspects of the High Middle Ages that are really quite nice. But there are some ugly parts, too. The Inquisition. The blood libel. And worst of all--the blood libel is still being passed around by Muslims who must (or should) know better. At least well educated Europeans recognized it for garbage at the time, such as the commission Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II organized to look into the claim, and Pope Innocent IV.

Things That Make My Blood Boil

Things That Make My Blood Boil

I was looking for some drawings illustrating strappado, one of the torture techniques of the Holy Office (popularly known as the Inquisition). I have seen woodcuts from the medieval period that illustrate it well enough to capture the cruelty of it. (That this, and other methods even more barbarous were approved and done at the direction of the Catholic Church should cause it enormous shame.)

It's disgusting--but what disgusts me even more is that when I searched for such medieval illustrations, what I found, outnumbering such, perhaps 10:1 or more--are images of strappado being done today, very clearly for the sexual excitement of people who find this exciting. (And yes, the text associated with the pictures, and that the women are all naked, leaves no question.)

When someone conflates torture, pleasure, and sex, they are profoundly sick. Yeah, I guess that I am just hopelessly old-fashioned and narrow-minded.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

California Really Is Getting Poor

California Really Is Getting Poor

From the March 10, 2010 Idaho Statesman:
THERMAL, Calif. — They say crime doesn't pay. For one robber in California, it did - but not much. Authorities in Riverside County say a woman with a gun robbed 11 customers at a market and got away with $6.

Salt Ban

Salt Ban

From March 11, 2010 Fox News New York:

MYFOXNY.COM - Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.

"No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises," the bill, A. 10129 , states in part.

The legislation, which Assemblyman Felix Ortiz , D-Brooklyn, introduced on March 5, would fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation.

"The consumer needs to make their own health choices. Just as doctors and the occasional visit to a hospital can't truly control how a person chooses to maintain their health, neither can chefs nor the occasional visit to a restaurant," said Jeff Nathan, the executive chef and co-owner of Abigael's on Broadway. "Modifying trans fats and sodium intake needs to be home based for optimal health. Regulating restaurants will not solve this health issue."

Look, there are people that use too much salt. I suspect that if you eat out all the time, salt might be a problem. But if you eat out that much, you have bigger problems. There are items that people eat/smoke/drink that in moderation, are not a problem. A beer a day won't endanger your health. Lightly salting your food won't be a problem either. On the other hand, I doubt that there's a safe level of tobacco use, and so far, the evidence suggests that there isn't a safe level of marijuana use (I mean, if you want to remain sane). Salt is is definitely in the "use in moderation, not a problem" category.

Education Comes From the Barrel of A Gun...

Education Comes From the Barrel of A Gun...

Weasel Zippers reports
on a new federal procurement contract from the U.S. Department of Education:
(FedBizOps.gov) The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14" - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14" LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
Okay, okay, I know that the educrats need to be able to kick in doors and wave short-barreled shotguns around when they investigate fraud involving federal education funds, but it doesn't exactly sound like what you were expecting from the National Education Association's Cabinet department, does it?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

More Signs That Pot May Not Be Good For History

More Signs That Pot May Not Be Good For History

One of the many self-righteous comments at that article of mine was this:
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson occasionally exchanged “hemp smoking mixtures”.
“Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda,
smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.”
- Thomas Jefferson
August 7, 1765: “–began to seperate (sic) the Male from the Female Hemp at Do–rather too late.”
- George Washington (from his diaries)
I’ve searched for all occurrences of “hemp” in the Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Library of Congress. There is no such quote from Jefferson, and only six references to hemp, all concerning its commercial use for rope. Nor is there any reference to the phrase “hemp smoking” in the George Washington Papers. Washington certainly did separate the male from female hemp plants, but at 1:340 in The Diaries of George Washington, the notes explain:

HEMP: Cannabis sativa, a highly profitable fiber crop, providing work in the off-season. After the 1720–22 sessions, the General Assembly offered a bounty of 4s. for every “gross hundred” of hemp, water-rotted, bright, and clean, to encourage production (HENING, 4:96–97). GW speaks of separating the male and female plants. “This may arise from their [the male] being coarser, and the stalks larger” (CALENDAR [1], 457). In the 1790s he experimented with a variety from India.

Got that? Not to smoke them. (One sex, I guess, is preferable for smoking.)

Some guy named Bill Perron's comment was a worship of marijuana that almost reads like a joke:
Wait there is more, hemp is also a fantastic food, has all the essential amino and fatty acids the body needs in a very easily digestible form. Both Washington and Jefferson farmed hemp, Ben Franklin published his newspapers on hemp, Betsy Ross made our first flag from hemp, Guttenberg printed his bibles on hemp, and both the U. S. CONSTITUTION and DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE were written on hemp. Anything that can be made from wood or petroleum can be produced better and cheaper from hemp. Our country needs new home grown industries, hemp grows in all fifty states, it can help to save the forests, clean our air, create new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
I'm waiting to see the 2x4s made of hemp. Perhaps if you smoke enough of it, you can persuade yourself that the house stands up, instead of falling over.

UPDATE: And I think it does some harm to the software responsible for searches in books.google.com! I searched for the word "marijuana" in books published before 1920, and a surprisingly large number of the matches are actually to the name "Marquand." How do you get software stoned?

UPDATE 2: Of course, as a reader points out, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are written on parchment, not hemp. Hemp-based paper was widely used into the 20th century, and was very high quality paper--but hemp good for fiber is generally not so good for getting high, and vice versa.

A Great Quote--But Bogus?

A Great Quote--But Bogus?

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. -- George Washington
The problem is that when I search the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress--it isn't there. Searching books.google.com, the earliest example is from Christian Science Journal in 1902--and there's no citation.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

On Decriminalizing Marijuana

On Decriminalizing Marijuana

I wrote a piece for PajamasMedia
on why I no longer support decriminalizing marijuana, because of the large number of studies demonstrating that marijuana use precedes schizophrenia, and the enormous social costs that this imposes. Not surprisingly, there are several groups commenting:

1. People arguing (sometimes quite calmly) that the social costs of prohibition are higher than the social costs of having it legal.

2. People arguing that this is all lies, marijuana isn't a problem at all! (Acolytes of the herb god, I think.)

3. People arguing that we should let mentally ill people die in the gutters if marijuana causes them mental illness problems. The libertarian ideal is so strong to such people that they do not realize that most Americans do not buy this argument.

4. People arguing that marijuana laws don't have any influence on behavior--no matter what the laws are, the same number of people will smoke pot. Yet, at the same time, they acknowledge that having it illegal drives up prices, attracting the violent criminals into the trade. Somehow, rising prices don't affect demand or consumption.

One of the strongest arguments for keeping marijuana illegal is to prevent it from getting such a strong toehold that, like alcohol, it becomes impossible to keep from becoming dominant, with the negative consequences of widespread use. It would appear that perhaps it is too late--that is already, like alcohol, a fundamental part of our culture.

UPDATE: By the way, this recent article in Archives of General Psychiatry, "Association Between Cannabis Use and Psychosis-Related Outcomes Using Sibling Pair Analysis in a Cohort of Young Adults," also concludes that marijuana use, especially prolonged use, increases the risk of psychosis:
Compared with those who had never used cannabis, young adults who had 6 or more years since first use of cannabis (ie, who commenced use when around 15 years or younger) were twice as likely to develop a nonaffective psychosis and were 4 times as likely to have high scores on the PDI. Further analyses demonstrated that these findings were not due to a small group of individuals with psychotic disorders nor to individuals who were acutely intoxicated with cannabis when completing the PDI.

While the study agrees that there are people with mental illness problems who use marijuana for that reason, it also points to a feedback loop:
The nature of the relationship between psychosis and cannabis use is by no means simple. In keeping with previous findings,33 we confirmed that those with early-onset hallucinations were more likely to have longer duration since first cannabis use and to use cannabis more frequently at the 21-year follow-up. This demonstrates the complexity of the relationship: those individuals who were vulnerable to psychosis (ie, those who had isolated psychotic symptoms) were more likely to commence cannabis use, which could then subsequently contribute to an increased risk of conversion to a nonaffective psychotic disorder.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

McDonald v. Chicago Oral Arguments Today

McDonald v. Chicago Oral Arguments Today

The oral arguments were held today. You can read it here. It's pretty clear that "privileges or immunities" isn't going anywhere with the Court--but the Second Amendment is likely to be incorporated through the due process clause instead. From reading the questions, it is pretty clear to me that:

1. A number of the justices recognize that Slaughter-House Cases (1873) was wrongly decided, but are reluctant to overturn all the existing precedents that are derived from that.

2. Even those justices who don't like the Heller decision don't want to rock the boat on due process incorporation, preferring to come up with a narrower definition of the right for the states.

Why? My guess is that the conservative members of the Court recognize that declaring that Slaughter-House was wrongly decided would unleash more lawsuits trying to relitigate questions that have already been decided under due process than there are enough lawyers in America to handle--and in many cases, no net change in result. The liberal members of the Court may be reluctant to challenge incorporation for fear that if a fight turns this into a "P or I" dispute, with the generally more conservative tendency of courts now, a lot of the liberal causes decided under due process reasoning (Roe v. Wade, Lawrence v. Texas, among many) would get relitigated and perhaps not do as well.

The net effect is that Alan Gura did a nice job of defending what I think most justices know is the right argument (PorI), but they are going to incorporate the Second Amendment through the due process clause. Feldman, representing Chicago, presented his case very poorly. Admittedly, he's trying to defend an absurd position.

Justice Breyer, however, when he starts arguing that the Second Amendment should be subject to a less level of protection than freedom of speech because there are human lives involved in contest with an abstract concept of rights--where, exactly, did Justice Breyer go on the abortion cases? Oh yeah, that's right.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Only Slightly Silly

Only Slightly Silly

With all the money wasted on the stimulus, a proposal comes across my desk:
“Dear Mr. President, Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the "Patriotic Retirement Plan": There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations: 1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed. 2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed. 3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed. It can't get any easier than that!! P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their taxes...Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on Social Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!”
1. At a million dollars each, for 40 million workers, that's $40 trillion. That even makes Obama's budgets look "reasonable." But let's trim down the number of workers and the amount of buyout.

2. Actually, it would not take a million dollars a piece to get many to retire--even $250,000 each would be more than sufficient. Many of those are married couples, and with half a million dollars (assuming that you aren't deeply in debt), it is possible to retire, if not "lifestyles of the rich and famous" at least well enough off that they would not need to work. That gets us down to

3. And yes, it would open up a lot of jobs. Indeed, it might open up so many as to cause a crisis--so perhaps retire only five million a year.

3. The requirement to buy a new American car would actually have to be phased in over a five year period, or it would cause inflationary pressure on the car industry.

4. Buying houses? Most of the over 50s probably already own a house, so this would mostly cause mortgages to be paid off, reducing demand for mortgages and lowering interest rates even more. Not a bad thing, really.

Still, consider what would happen if the federal government had decided to "buy out" five million American workers with $500,000 each, with similar requirements. It would

The Guy The FBI Thinks Did The Anthrax Mailings

The Guy The FBI Thinks Did The Anthrax Mailings

Remember, shortly after 9/11, someone was mailing anthrax to government offices? A few people died, a lot of people were scared witless, and many people assumed (and not without reason) that it might be al-Qaeada related. It is beginning to look more it was liberal pervert related. From The Smoking Gun:
MARCH 1--After the Department of Justice last month formally closed its probe of the 2001 anthrax attacks, the FBI released the first batch of documents detailing the years-long investigation that ended with officials concluding that Bruce Ivins, a government scientist who committed suicide in July 2008, was responsible for the mailings that killed five victims. The records, released pursuant to Freedom of Information Act requests, portray Ivins as becoming increasingly unhinged as it became clear that he was the principal target of the FBI's "Amerithrax" probe. Additionally, the memos--a selection of which you'll find on the following pages--reveal how agents examined every aspect of Ivins's life, monitored his e-mails, searched his trash, and were even surveilling his Maryland home at the exact time he was inside overdosing. Despite being an FBI target, Ivins was often forthcoming about the details of his strange obsessions and private life. For example, as seen below, when agents executed search warrants in late-2007, an FBI supervisor asked Ivins if he was worried about those raids. Ivins said he was, noting that he did things a "middle age man should not do," adding that his actions would "not be acceptable to most people." He then noted that agents searching his basement would find a "bag of material that he uses to 'cross-dress,'" according to an interview report. During a January 2008 meeting with agents, Ivins described his bizarre decades-long "obsession" with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and detailed how he broke into two KKG chapters to steal ritual books used by the group. He also told of "another of his obsessions, blindfolding or bondage." Three months before his suicide, surveillance agents sifted through trash Ivins left at his curb and discovered that the beleaguered scientist was disposing of pornographic magazines, fetish titles, and 15 pairs of stained women's panties.

...

In a July 2008 e-mail, Ivins wrote that "Dick Cheney scares me. The Patriot Act is so unconstitutional it's not even funny." He added, "I'm voting for Obama!"

The 1849 California Constitutional Convention & The Right To Keep and Bear Arms

The 1849 California Constitutional Convention & The Right To Keep and Bear Arms

Back when I was writing Black Demographic Data, 1790-1860, I spent a lot of time trying to find the 1849 California Constitutional Convention debates. (If that seems a leap--the same guy that got Oregon the add a "no free blacks" provision to the 1857 Oregon Constitution tried, and failed, to get one added to the 1850 California Constitution.) I never could find it--no matter how many dusty library shelves I tried. But now I see by reading the comments over at Arms and the Law that the debates are available online--and there was actually discussion of whether to add a right to keep and bear arms provision. From John Ross Browne, ed., Report of the Debates in the Convention of California on the Formation of the State Constitution... 47:

Mr. Ord offered the following :

Sec. 16. Every person has a right to bear arms for the defence of himself and the State.

Mr. McCarver moved to amend by saying, " provided they are not concealed arms." He did not think, however, that this was a proper subject for the Constitution. No attempt should be made to prevent the Legislature from regulating matters of this kind.

Mr. Sherwood was of the same opinion. To make a positive declaration that a man has not this right would be null and void, inasmuch as it would be in opposition to the Constitution of the United States, which provides that " a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right oí the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Mr. Botts was surprised that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Sherwood) should object to any provision here, because it was contained in the Constitution of the United States. After taking half-a-dozen provisions from that Constitution, word for word, such an objection came with rather a bad grace. He (Mr. Bolts) would himself prefer having this provision under the legislative head. A bill of rights is a general declaration ; the Constitution is a specific declaration. It is an admitted rule of construction that the bill of rights, or preamble, is of inferior force, and succombs to the Constitution. If there be in the Constitution a clause which conflicts with the bill of rights, the latter falls to the ground. He (Mr. Bolts) desired to see all great principles involving the rights of citizens brought into direct operation in the body of the Constitution. He saw no necessity for mere declarations which could have no force or effect. For this reason he had voted against the subject of monopolies ; and for the same reason he would vote against this.

Mr. Sherwood was not aware of having voted in the bill of rights for any provision which was directly secured to the people of California by the Constitution of the United States. But ¡f he had done so, it was with the good example before him of the gentleman from Monterey, who had voted for a provision in regard to the law of attainder. That provision he would find in the Constitution under the limitation of the powers of Congress. It was introduced here to limit the powers of the Legislature. But Mr. Ord's proposition directly touches the rights of every citizen.

The question was then taken, and both the amendment, and amendment to the amendment, were rejected.

I had always thought that the reason California's Constitution had no right to keep and bear arms was because so many of the early settlers were Iowans--and Iowa's state constitution did not have (and still does not have) a right to keep and bear arms. But apparently it wasn't just an oversight.

It is rather interesting that some delegates argued that it was inappropriate, apparently because it was too broad (and needed to leave authority to the legislature to regulated concealed carry), and others thought that it was superfluous. But it would also appear that some delegates thought it was wrongly placed in a Bill of Rights, and perhaps some felt that the state legislature needed authority to regulate the bearing of arms.

This isn't going to be very useful for those arguing for a right to keep and bear arms under the California Constitution--especially because debates on the 1879 Constitution did not even get around to rejecting such a proposal--but still quite interesting, nonetheless. I suspect that the McDonald decision, when it comes down, is going to make the whole question about a right under the California Constitution moot.