Wow!

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Phil Kadath

This editorial appeared in the Seattle Times. I almost fell out of my chair as I read it, wondering if I had blinkered myself into Bizarro Seattle or some such thing.

Here is a list of beliefs in the biomedical and climate sciences that must not be questioned if you’re applying for a government grant:• That global warming is caused by humans;
• That AIDS is caused by a virus;
• That radiation, cigarette smoke and other toxins are dangerous in proportion to their strength, no matter how small the dose;
• That heart disease is caused by saturated fats;
• That cancer is caused by mutations.

This is part of a list offered by a University of Washington professor of surgery, Donald W. Miller, who is a heart surgeon at the VA Medical Center in Seattle. Miller believes that all the above ideas may be false, and ought to be tested. Whether they are false, I don’t know. I have thought they were true, but that is only a belief — and it is the business of science to test such beliefs.

But much of science runs on government money. Some people find the stink of bias only in private money, and see government as free of it, but they are mistaken. Government likes certain beliefs. To get its money, you have to get the approval of the scientists it selects, and you are less likely to get it if they think your idea wrong.

I expect the LttE will be full of outraged spittle over this bit of opinion.

Posted in Color me confused | 1 Comment

Heller is the First Case, not the Last

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Alaska

My prediction: 7-2 in favor of an individual right, with NO MAJORITY OPINION but two or three concurring opinions from groups of justices varying in whether or not they prefer a lenient “rational-basis” standard of review (Stevens, Souter), a “strict-scrutiny” standard (Thomas), or prefer not to address the standard question at all (Roberts).

Regardless of the ruling, this is the first in a series of cases chipping away at the various State and Federal laws infringing on our Second Amendment rights. The next several years will be interesting.

For a graphic depiction of why this is so very very important, see here. 

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | 2 Comments

RNS Quote of the Day, 03/19/08

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Alaska

Lots of gnashing of teeth all over the gun blogosphere about how Gura “threw machine gun owners under the bus,” etc., etc.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. This commenter at Kevin Baker’s got it exactly right:

Machine guns were brought into the argument to scare the conservatives. I don’t think it worked.

The individual right wins at least 5-4. The narrower the decision is scoped, the more additional justices it will carry. It could go all the way to 9-0, but I fear that would be a pyrrhic victory for gun-owners as it would likely be incredibly narrow (although the ban would probably still be out).

Even a narrow win is better than a reversal. It firmly puts the individual right in place, and the argument then goes to scope. For those of us living under the 9th Circus – that will be a huge improvement. Also, this was how Marshall as a litigator overturned Plessy – by starting with small wins before the home run in Brown. Be patient all – our opponents learned years ago that the death of a thousand cuts was how to kill the 2nd. We must use the same approach to build it up.

–juris_imprudent

Posted in Quote of the Day | 5 Comments

This is what your MBR is for

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Alaska

Squeaky noticed this almost unbearably creepy robot. Click the link, watch the video, and be amazed. This is not Hollywood special effects — this is the real thing. The technical achievement is astounding — it rights itself when kicked or when it slips on ice, and can even leap. With a 200-lb.-plus payload, it can also carry a SAW and a bunch of ammo.

The mobility is what’s scary. We’re used to ROVs like bomb-disposal robots that are, frankly, clumsy and slow. If armed, with wireless remote control or decent target-recognition software, a pack of these things would be very very hard to stop. I know my capabilities as a rifleman, and there’s no way I could be sure of hitting one of the legs at any significant distance — or even close up, as fast as this thing moves. So to take it out, you’d have to put holes in the chassis. With that payload capacity, you could surround the brain with sufficient armor to stop .223 rounds at least. Those .30-06 Garands are looking better and better….


 They’ve already armed the aerial robots. Now this takes care of the land part of the equation. The future’s here, folks. Now it’s just a matter of allocating the funds to build ’em.

Posted in Armageddon, Life in the Atomic Age | 2 Comments

Even California Gangs are Wearing Green

Posted on March 19, 2008 by Alaska

…and it wasn’t for St. Patrick’s Day, either.

My wife works at an affluent high school that “buses in” students from one of the most gang-infested cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of those students wear gang colors — typically red and blue.
Last week, my wife noticed something new and thought to ask about it. She wrote:

“Is it me or have others noticed that students are no longer wearing
“red” but “green” these days?? Maybe in the past you didn’t notice but
now that you’ve read this email you’ll see what I am talking about…”

Is it a new gang? Have the existing gangs become environmentally conscious? Has Greenpeace or the Green Party started a more aggressive recruiting drive?
The answers, plus the entertaining cluelessness of the school staff, are below the fold….

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

RNS Quote of the Day, 03/18/08

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Alaska

From the oral argument in Heller, where counsel for D.C., Mr. Dellinger, faced a “hot bench:”

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: What is reasonable about a total ban on possession?

MR. DELLINGER: What is reasonable about a total ban on possession is that it’s a ban only on the possession of one kind of weapon, of handguns, that’s been considered especially — especially dangerous. The —

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So, if you have a law that prohibits the possession of books, it’s all right if you allow the possession of newspapers?

Roberts.jpgI can’t adequately convey the sarcasm, but trust me, it’s there. Go Chief!

Transcript is here.

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel, Heroes, Comrades and Brothers | Leave a comment

General Announcements

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Phil Kadath

My apologies for not “Officially Recognizing” Saint Patrick’s Day here at RNS yesterday. As I replied to those who asked about why I’d forgotten, I’ll just state that everyday can be Saint Patrick’s Day here as we’re always wearing our Green here (No, that doesn’t mean we can pretend we’re in Butte, MT everyday too).

One very nice bit of history that I found was Ronald Reagan’s visit to Pat Troy’s “Ireland’s Own” restaurant in 1988. Extreme Mortman has a transcript of the Dutch’s speech here.

Lastly, an most unimportantly, I’m gonna get my chest CT scanned tomorrow morning. And since I have no idea how long this will delay my arrival at the RNS Tacoma Blogstation (aka: Home), posts may be later than usual tomorrow.

Nothing to fret about, though I think every woman in my life is going to do so anyway. She of the cold stethoscope, Frau Doktor just wants to rule something out before proceeding down a certain medical path, so through the big donut I go.

Have a good day, everyone. Its an important one. Make it memorable.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

I’m with Clayton

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Phil Kadath

And I quote

Pray for Alan Gura, the attorney representing us before the Supreme Court Heller. He is carrying a considerable responsibility, and this is his first case that he will argue before the Supreme Court.

Found via Ahab.

The most important issue to step in front of the Supreme Court of the United States in a very long time is going on as you read.

I’m still searching for the audio link that, if I remember right, the AP will be putting up of the arguments. When I get it, I’ll post it.

UPDATE: Here you go. (Not the AP, but it doesn’t really matter)

Posted in Have Gun, Will Travel | Leave a comment

So I take it

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Phil Kadath

That this happens often?

On the one hand, I guess it’s a plus that they at least repair the damage they do to innocent people’s homes. That’s more than can be said for many police departments across the country.

On the other hand, it’s unfortunate that mistaken raids happen often enough that they’d need one. The fact that there’s a permanent unit in place to deal with wrong-door raids (and the reporter’s seeming nonchalance about it all) suggests that we’ve reached to the point where innocent people occasionally getting terrorized—and should they have the temerity to reach for a gun to defend themselves—possibly killed, is basically an understood and accepted consequence of fighting the drug war. That’s pretty unsettling.

Unsettling? Hmm.

That isn’t the word I’d use.

Found via Reason Magazine

Posted in Order of the imperial upraised middle finger. | Leave a comment

When you’re right

Posted on March 18, 2008 by Phil Kadath

You’re very right

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe

On the eve of the Normandy invasion in 1944, General George S. Patton, addressing the men of the US Third Army, delivered a speech that would become legendary long before George C. Scott reenacted it on a Hollywood soundstage.

“Americans love a winner,” Patton growled, “and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win – all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. . . . The very thought of losing is hateful to an American.”

Nowadays, the thought of losing a war isn’t as hateful to some Americans as the thought of losing an election. Recall MoveOn.org’s infamous “General Betray Us” ad last fall, which was intended to undercut the commander of US forces in Iraq. Think of Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s insistence that “this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything,” or Barack Obama’s unbudging claim that the “strategy is failed” and we must “get our troops out,” or Hillary Clinton’s vow that “starting on day one of my presidency, we will begin . . . to withdraw our troops within 60 days.”

Were Patton alive today, his opinion of such defeatism would assuredly be unflattering – and unprintable. But his conviction that Americans have no patience for losers would be reinforced by the public’s mounting confidence that the war in Iraq will be won.

This article, quite probably, made Jacoby the most hated man in Boston for the day.

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | Leave a comment