MatthewMaynard.net

The Democrats are crowing about their new agenda, but I don’t see the number one issue facing the country on the list: terrorism. So much for defending what we believe in.

Some bright Democrat will probably take note of the lack of an anti-corruption part to the plan, and try to point out how Democrats are better than Republicans on the ethics issue. But that means they will have to explain why William Jefferson had to be forcibly removed from his seat on House Ways & Means, while Tom Delay voluntarily left his seat in Congress.

This is the first book by Robert Ferrigno I’ve read, as he’s done mostly mystery novels up to now and that’s not my favorite genre (I was spoiled on AC Doyle in my childhood, and I don’t think most of what’s published today measures up). That being said, it is like the techno-thriller in many respects, and the plot kept my attention.
Read more…

I just don’t understand lawyers sometimes.
Judge overturns SF weapons ban

A state trial judge on Monday overturned a voter-approved city ordinance that banned handgun possession and firearm sales in San Francisco, siding with gun owners who said the city did not have the authority to prohibit the weapons.

Measure H was placed on the November ballot by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors, who were frustrated by a rising number of gun-related homicides in the city of 750,000. San Francisco recorded at least 94 murders last year, a 10-year high.

The National Rifle Association sued a day after 58 percent of voters approved the law.

In siding with the gun owners, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge James Warren said a local government cannot ban weapons because the California Legislature allows their sale and possession.

As much as I like it when an unconstitutional gun ban is overturned, regardless of the majority that voted for it, I have to wonder at the reasoning behind the NRA’s agrument and the Judge’s decision. Shouldn’t the argument have been that the 2nd Amendment was the overriding law in this case?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also is considering a challenge to a similar handgun ban in the District of Columbia that alleges the law violates a Second Amendment right of individuals to bear arms.

The NRA lawsuit here avoided those allegations.

I would love to know the reasoning behind the strategy, and why it worked. After all, this is San Francisco, Calfornia, and the 9th Circus Circuit.

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office unsuccessfully defended the law before Warren, said the city was mulling whether it was going to appeal.

“We’re disappointed that the court has denied the right of voters to enact a reasonable, narrowly tailored restriction on handgun possession,” Dorsey said. “San Francisco voters spoke loud and clear on the issue of gun violence.”

But the law speaks more loudly. If you want to give up a right, at least do it the way the Constitution specifies. Amend it, don’t try and do an end-run around person A’s rights just because you are threatened by the abuse of said right by person B.

Better yet, throw person B in jail, where he belongs.

Wow.

Steve Benson wasn’t always a left-wing nutter. Way back when, he would take swipes at everyone, not just the right. He once drew Sen. Kennedy in a car, underwater, saying “Bork would relegate women to the back seat.” He also once drew a huge rocking chair and huge cowboy boots, occupied by a miniature Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen, respectively – apparently he felt they couldn’t fill the JFK+LBJ roles.

But you could tell Steve didn’t exactly love the right, either. In April of 1987 he accused the Marines of leaking secrets from the US Embassy in Moscow. To the tune of the Marine Corps Hymn, from his collection Back at the Barb-B-Que:

From the halls of our own embassy, to the girls of the KGB
We pass our country’s secrets to break the monotony
first to let them bug our offices, and to steal the codes they’ve seen
you had better change the guard tonight – he’s a United States Marine!

He left Phoenix for Seattle, then came back shortly thereafter. Ever since then, he’s been a bit off-kilter – Bush and the Right have been his favorite targets since then. I’ve not enjoyed the change, and gladly welcomed Cox & Forkum as a replacement for his left-wing lunacy.

Here’s another reason to thank God for coffee.

Drinking coffee might help prevent liver cirrhosis among heavy drinkers, according to a study published Monday by Kaiser Permanente Oakland.

“For heavy drinkers, the more coffee they drank, they less likely they were to get the diagnosis of cirrhosis,” said Dr. Arthur Klatsky, an investigator with Kaiser’s Division of Research and lead author of the study.

Researchers followed more than 125,000 Northern California Kaiser members between 1978 and 1985. Participants, none of whom had liver disease at the outset, filled out a questionnaire that included their alcohol, coffee and tea-drinking habits.

By the end of 2001, 330 participants had been diagnosed with liver disease, and of those, 199 had alcohol-related cirrhosis.

Those who drank one cup of coffee per day were on average 20 percent less likely to have cirrhosis, despite heavy drinking. Drinking two to four cups of coffee reduced risk by 40 percent.

I’m not a heavy drinker, but I do have (and make) wine from time to time. It’s nice to know that, like all other things God has made, the use of caffeine and alcohol as He intended has positive effects. Of course, you could claim that about marijuana, but I don’t think God intended hemp to be used for its intoxicating effects. He probably intended it for use as rope, like we originally used it for.

Win the War
Republicans: “We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan. We will stand up a new government under an Iraqi-drafted constitution. We will defeat that insurgency, and, in fact, it will be an enormous success story.” – Vice President Dick Cheney
Democrats: “The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home.” – John Murtha, D-PA-12

Confirm the Judges
Republicans: “Republicans will confirm judges who will follow the law – not make the law – by ensuring timely up-or-down votes for all nominees on the Senate floor.” – Senate Republican Conference
Democrats: “All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at [Henry Saad's] confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there,” – Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, in a statement on the Senate floor widely seen as slandering Judge Saad without cause.

Cut the Taxes
Republicans: “Wiping [the death] tax from the books is a matter of principle,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
Democrats: “We’re going to take [tax cuts] away from you on behalf of the common good.” – Hillary Clinton

Control the Spending
Republicans: “… nor do I want to complicate their negotiations. But I’ve laid my marker down very clearly, that we’re not going to spend more than the President asked for.” – John Boehner, House Majority Leader
Democrats: “When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I’m going to earmark the [redacted] out of it,” Jim Moran, D-VA-8

Secure the Border
Republicans: “The Border Patrol is actually doing a tremendous job against incredible odds. Not only is the Border Patrol underfunded, understaffed, outmanned, and outgunned, but the rest of the federal government actually works to make its job harder by actually making it easier for illegals to settle into American life.” – J.D. Hayworth, R-AZ-5
Democrats: “Insufficient enforcement is not a root cause of the immigration crisis. A root cause is that our laws do not match a market of willing workers and employees with the economic demands of our country.” – Raul Grijalva, D-AZ-7

Lesson 1: Vote Republican. Even if you think they’re spineless wusses, they’re better than the alternative.
Lesson 2: People who think there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats aren’t paying attention.

Aside from the obvious double entendre of the headline, there’s this news from Fox re: Z-boy’s expiration (emphasis added):

Revising what military officials said Thursday, Caldwell said it now appears there was no child among those killed in the bombing. He cautioned that some facts were still being sorted out.

He said three women and three men, including Zarqawi, were killed.

Excellent news to remember when the lefty noisemakers scream that we killed innocent children. Too bad the relevant paragraph was at the end of the story instead of the beginning, but that’s a minor quibble.

I browse and occasionally post over at rifle-company.com, where I once saw someone describe Somalia as Clinton’s Bay of Pigs.

It isn’t. It is his Vietnam, as a microcosm. In Vietnam, we did well, had a few failures, and the politicians freaked and pulled us out. The country then collapsed, and the bad guys won.

Well guess what.

In Somalia, we did somewhat well, despite the hamstringing limits of blue helmet control, had a failure, and the politicians freaked and pulled us out. The country then collapsed, to the extent that there was any structure left to it, and the bad guys moved in and won.

These two incidents show how the concept of “limited” war, implemented as a means of limiting casualties, undermine the military effort by restricting the good guys from completely overwhelming the bad guys.

Those who would argue that now that Zarkman is dead, we should pull out and abandon Iraq have not learned the lessons of Vietnam: that little by little, success comes here and there, but the individual littles lead to a big, sudden event. If we persist in the littles we will eventually have enough suddenlys that we can declare final victory. Today’s win is not the end, nor is it the beginning. It is the middle. We should not tire of being in the middle, but instead be glad that we are approaching the end.

We should now begin the search for a successor to George W. Bush who will continue his legacy of perseverance.

Fedora tip to Michelle for the head’s up a few days ago.

Zarqawi: Dead
Iowahawk: Screwed

Seriously, though, this is great news. Too bad Lt. Ehren Watada didn’t think it was worth participating in. Oh well.

But its bad news for James Taranto. Now he doesn’t have anything to write about, since Al Qaeda which has nothing to do with Iraq in Iraq which has nothing to do with Al Qaeda, has lost its head honcho. But then again, now the left will be screaming even louder for our withdrawal from Iraq, since there are no terrorists there anymore. But that means there were terrorists there before, which would have justified our invasion, along with the Hussein threat -

Wait, I’m applying logic to liberal argument. You’re supposed to apply emotion, only then can you understand what they want.

One thing’s for sure, some Air Force zoomie just earned himself a DFC, and rightly so. Good job all around to the military forces involved! Raise a toast to the host!

This is just too cool.

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings.

The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing – making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.

“Who are you?”
“I’m Batman!”