Friday, November 30, 2007

Global Warming Wealth Redistribution Update

And now the truth is revealed.

Bali: now the rich must pay
A fair and global effort to tackle climate change needs wealthy states to take the lead in CO2 cuts

Read the complete socialist tripe here.

So the plan goes something like this: the "rich" countries (i.e., the USA) will cough up hundreds of billions (that's billions with a "b") which will then be distributed to the "poor" countries in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This, we're told, will Save The Planet™.

There's no mention of who, exactly, will be in charge of redistributing the hundreds of billions of dollars but I suspect it will be the United Nations. And why not the UN? They've done such admirable work in the past, of course they would be the logical choice to administer the largest global wealth redistribution scheme in history.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The One Amendment That Guarantees All The Others

All the news that's shit to print:

The Court and the Second Amendment
NY Times: November 21, 2007

By agreeing yesterday to rule on whether provisions of the District of Columbia's stringent gun control law violate the Second Amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court has inserted itself into a roiling public controversy with large ramifications for public safety. The court's move sowed hope and fear among supporters of reasonable gun control, and it ratcheted up the suspense surrounding the court’s current term.

The hope, which we share, is that the court will rise above the hard-right ideology of some justices to render a decision respectful of the Constitution's text and the violent consequences of denying government broad room to regulate guns. The fear is that it will not.

At issue is a 2-to-1 ruling last March by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that found unconstitutional a law barring handguns in homes and requiring that shotguns and rifles be stored with trigger locks or disassembled. The ruling upheld a radical decision by a federal trial judge, who struck down the 31-year-old gun control law on spurious grounds that conform with the agenda of the anti-gun control lobby but cry out for rejection by the Supreme Court.

Much hinges on how the justices interpret the Second Amendment, which says: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." [emphasis mine]
Here's how I interpret the Second Amendment: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Just like it says. It's right there, in the Bill of Rights, in black and white. As I've asked recently, what part of "shall not be infringed" is unclear? Only in the bizarro world of Liberal America is it considered to be a "radical decision" when a federal judge actually reads the fucking document. Let us continue:
A lot has changed since the nation’s founding, when people kept muskets to be ready for militia service. What has not changed is the actual language of the Constitution. To get past the first limiting clauses of the Second Amendment to find an unalienable individual right to bear arms seems to require creative editing.
Only if you're a fucking retard. For the rest of us there is no "creative editing" required - it says what it says. And if you're unsure of what the founders meant when they said it, go to your library and dust off a copy of the Federalist Papers. Or just click here.

Why is it that elitist leftoids consider only certain parts of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to be "living and breathing" (i.e., the parts they don't like which inconvenience their Master Plan) while other parts are set in stone and unassailable (such as the free speech clause of the First Amendment, which leftoids love because it gives them license to spew whatever nonsense they please)? Using the Times' own "logic" one could argue that a lot has changed since the nation's founding with regards to speech. For example, in this day of the Internet and instant global communications it is possible, say, for a treasonous group of anti-Americans posing as a "news" organization to instantly transmit state secrets to this country's enemies in time of war under the guise of journalism, in order to bring about the defeat of our troops fighting overseas. Perhaps this will prompt the New York Times editorial board to call for the Supreme Court to reexamine and "interpret" how the First Amendment, and it's so-called free speech clause, should be applied based on a more modern outlook. Yeah, right...

The "fear" of the New York Times and their ilk is of a well-armed populace. My fear is of a government that disarms its own law-abiding citizens. Based on recent history, I'd say that my fear is a bit more justified:

The Turkish Ottoman Empire established gun control in 1911. It then proceeded to exterminate 1 and a half million Armenians from 1914 to 1917.

The Soviet Union established gun control in 1929. Subsequently, from 1928 to 1953, 60 million dissidents were imprisoned and then exterminated.

China enacted gun control laws in 1935. After the communist takeover, from 1948 to 1952, 20 million Chinese, unable to defend themselves, were murdered.

Nazi Germany fully established gun control in 1938. That helped the government to round up 13 million defenseless Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill and impaired human beings. Many were imprisoned in concentration camps, then destroyed.

Guatemala passed gun control laws in 1964. Then, from 1964 to 1981, 100,000 defenseless Mayan Indians were exterminated.

Uganda established gun control measures in 1970. Predictably, from 1971 to 1979, 300,000 defenseless Christians met a similar fate.

Cambodia established gun control measures in 1956. Subsequently, from 1957 to 1977, 1 million Cambodians met their deaths.

Can the New York Times justify its fears by citing a single example of dictatorship and genocide in a nation which affirms its citizens' right to defend itself? I didn't think so.

Tomorrow in the Times: A study that shows firearms cause global warming.

Don't. Tread. On. Me.

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2001 Canadian Grand Prix

Photos from the last Canadian Grand Prix I attended - and will likely ever attend, because after 13 visits in 14 years I grew increasingly tired of French-Canadian assholes. Too bad, really, because Montreal is such a beautiful city. If le douchebags Québécois really dislike stupid, ugly Americans so much then I suppose I'll have to find another vacation spot to spend my stupid, ugly American dollars. But I digress...

The race was all about The Brothers Schumacher, with Ralf beating out Michael in the end. Mika Hakkinen finished third, and some rookie named Kimi Raikkonen ended up fourth. Photos taken with a Canon EOS Rebel 2000 35mm SLR + Sigma 100-300mm zoom lens; these images were scanned from prints (which is why they suck).

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1994 Canadian Grand Prix

The two races leading up to the '94 Canadian GP were pretty depressing - first Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola, then Karl Wendlinger's F1 career-ending crash at Monaco. This weekend saw the first F1 start by a skinny kid named David Coulthard, called upon by Williams to fill Senna's seat (DC finished a respectable 5th in his maiden race). Michael Schumacher won his first of a record seven Canadian Grands Prix in the Benetton-Ford that would carry him to the first of a record seven F1 championships. Race results here.

Peter Bauer managed to secure pit credentials for Oliver and me through the good offices of Mercedes-Benz motorsports honcho A.B. Shuman. We really had no business being in the Sauber garage during Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, but the team pretty much let us roam around and take all the stills and video we wanted. Oli took these amazing photos with his Canon EOS Elan 35mm SLR; the video I shot from this weekend is coming soon to an internet near you. I scanned Oli's prints years ago with a crappy old flatbed scanner; someday I will have the negatives scanned with a proper film scanner, but until then... enjoy!

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Watkins Glen Vintage Weekend 2004

Photos now on Flickr.

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Breaking News: I Talk Like I'm From North Jersey.

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Northeast
 

Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.

Philadelphia
 
The Inland North
 
The Midland
 
The South
 
Boston
 
The West
 
North Central
 
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Had to answer about a dozen questions for them to figure this out. They could have done it with just one question: "Do you use the word 'fuck' as punctuation?"

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Gary Moore

The Loner, played by the master.



OK, the 80's hair and heavy metal posturing makes us all cringe in retrospect, but sweet Jeezus... if Guinness could bottle that tone, I would buy it by the keg.

Twenty years (and apparently many doughnuts) later, Gary is still burning.

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