DON KATES: Gun rights for felons?

UPDATE: Okay, this bit is worth breaking out, and has ramifications going far beyond the gun context:

In sum, the constitutional right to arms simply does not extend to people convicted of serious criminal offenses. By “serious,” I refer to the early common law – under which felonies were real wrongs like rape, robbery and murder.

Unfortunately, modern legislatures have added a host of trivial felonies. For instance, in California an 18-year-old girl who has oral sex with her 17-year-old boyfriend has committed a felony. The courts should rule that conviction of such a trivial felony can’t deprive such a “felon” of her right to arms.

I’ve written about this subject — the promiscuous creation of trivial felonies — in the past. I also would argue, though, that you shouldn’t restore felons’ right to vote unless you’re willing to restore all their rights, including the right to possess arms. Citizenship should be a package deal.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I see that others have made a similar point.

ALMOST AS GOOD AS A SWORD-CANE: The unbreakable fighting umbrella. Here’s their website. (Via GeekPress).

UPDATE: On further reflection, you need one made out of kevlar that, when opened, can also function as a bulletproof shield. Might be a bit more expensive, though. . . .

TOM SMITH ON BARACK OBAMA: “I’m just hoping BO is a faux lefty who will run to the center when he realizes that’s where the most power is. So, just a classier version of Bill Clinton. That’s my hope. If he turns out to take the things he is saying seriously, then it won’t be funny at all.”

UPDATE: Selling redemption.

GRAND ROUNDS IS UP! And it’s their 200th edition!

INSIDE THE NEW AREA 51: Mojave’s Desert Outpost Holds Space Flight’s Future.

IN THE MAIL: Greg Keyes’ The Born Queen. I haven’t read this series, but it’s well-blurbed, and the Insta-daughter thought it looked good.

“FAKE INTERVIEWS?” The presence of interviewer Greg Packer was a tipoff!

Much more here:

Barack Obama’s campaign trip abroad was thought to be an effort to show him operating freely on the world stage. Instead, it has been a carefully managed exercise, designed to expose Obama to no contrary or potentially embarrassing viewpoints, and most of all, to shield him against the possibility that the media might capture a gaffe. . . . For all intents and purposes Obama was play-acting the role of a traveling statesman, eating meals and smiling but doing and saying nothing of consequence with what veteran network correspondent Mitchell described on “Hardball” as an unprecedented level of press restriction and manipulation.

In other words, another training-wheels exercise in what has been a training-wheels campaign. But the media folks are beginning to grouse. They’re still covering for him, though:

For pete’s sake, the gaffe was in response to a question about whether Obama is too inexperienced in foreign affairs — which would include being too gaffe-prone when speaking without a teleprompter — to “lead the country at war as commander in chief from day one.” Can’t he reasonably be expected to answer that question without screwing up? And if he can’t, isn’t that in itself newsworthy?

You’d think.

TN POLICE OFFICIAL SUBPOENAS POLICE WHISTLEBLOWER BLOG: The News-Sentinel’s Michael Silence comments: “Well this has all the earmarks of being one juicy, entertaining controversy. I’ll put my money on the blog.”

Here’s the blog in question.

UPDATE: Here’s more on the story from the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

GOOD NEWS on saturated fat.

HMM: Dems Slip in Congressional Poll; McCain and Obama Now Tied. With all the help they’re getting from the media — and the McCain campaign — seems like Obama and the Dems ought to be doing better.

JOHN MURTHA BEING outfundraised by his challenger? Cool. (Via Let Freedom Ring.)

LONGEVITY RESEARCH UPDATE: Here’s more on SIRT-1 activators:

The new drugs are called sirtuin activators, meaning that they activate an enzyme called sirtuin. The basic theory is that all or most species have an ancient strategy for riding out famines: switch resources from reproduction to tissue maintenance. A healthy diet but with 30 percent fewer calories than usual triggers this reaction in mice and is the one intervention that reliably increases their life span. The mice seem to live longer because they are somehow protected from the usual diseases that kill them.

But most people cannot keep to a diet with a 30 percent cut in calories, so a drug that could activate the famine reflex might be highly desirable. . . . The Sirtris drug being tested in diabetic patients is a special formulation of resveratrol that delivers a bloodstream dose five times as high as the chemical alone. This drug, called SRT501, has passed safety tests and, at least in small-scale trials, has reduced the patients’ glucose levels.

The other drug is a small synthetic chemical that is a thousand times as potent as resveratrol in activating sirtuin and can be given at a much smaller dose. Safety tests in people have just started, with no adverse effects so far. . . . Mice on the drugs generally remain healthy right until the end of their lives and then just drop dead.“If they work in people that way, one would look to an extension of health span, with an extension of life as a possible side effect,” Dr. Guarente said. “It would necessitate changing ideas about when people retire and when they stop paying into the system.”

GlaxoSmithKline could put SRT501, its resveratrol formulation, on the market right away, selling it as a natural compound and nutritional pharmaceutical that does not require approval by the F.D.A. “We haven’t made any decisions, but that clearly is an option,” Dr. Vallance said.

Read the whole thing. And let’s hope this stuff pans out, though it’s merely a foretaste of what we’ll (probably) see in the coming decades. Meanwhile, here’s a transcript of Gregory Stock’s presentation on aging research at the UCLA Aging conference. “Certainly, if human lifespan is immutable, then more health is a great thing, but our true aspirations are not for compressed morbidity. They are for longer, healthier lives. What is amazing is that this aspiration is actually a plausible goal today. So, why not go for it? . . . More life without more health would not be of great value. And, ironically, this seems to be the focus of a great deal of medicine today.”

A PREDICTION: If Barack Obama is elected President, he’ll be far more warlike than President Bush, and far more warlike than his pre-election rhetoric suggests. Because before he’s elected President, attacks on America are just attacks on America. But after he’s elected President, attacks on America will also be attacks on Barack Obama.

And Keith Olbermann will describe the mushroom cloud over Tehran as “awesome in its rampant Technicolor beauty.”

A LIST OF THE best business books ever.

COUNTRYWIDE UPDATE: More “Friends of Angelo” are revealed. (Via Kaus, who comments, “Paul Begala, Friend of Angelo! … Plus: Holbrooke saved $15,000. … Suggested title for either man’s memoirs: ‘Dodd is my Co-Pirate!'”) Bottom line: “Through a program that provided loans on favorable terms to V.I.P. borrowers, the nation’s largest mortgage lender curried favor with politicians, government officials, and business partners who were in a position to influence policy, profits, or public opinion. While some may not have been fully aware of the special terms, many took the bait. Some, including Aldrich, appear to have skirted or violated conflict-of-interest rules or ethics policies.” Henry Cisneros is another Friend.

I like the instructions to avoid “junk” and “garbage fees” when serving V.I.P. customers — apparently, Countrywide saved those for the rest of us.

UNVEILING THE NEW CHEVY CAMARO: Is it just me, or does it look a lot like a Dodge Charger?

UPDATE: Here’s much more on the new Camaro.

A LOOK AT who pays the taxes in America.

DOMESTIC DRILLING: Pump TV. I think this will have some traction.

OVERFLYING the mass graves. And a look at an alternate history.

HOW MEGAN MCARDLE went from Naderite to libertarian.

Plus, the bogosity of comparable worth.

CHARLES WHEELAN: “Deferring gratification is essential to human achievement, but we may no longer be capable of it as a nation.” That’s the mark of a dysfunctional political — and cultural — landscape.

SOAKING THE RICH, with low tax rates?

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Top Obama Fundraiser Had Ties to Failed Bank. “Superior was seized in 2001 and later closed by federal regulators. Government investigators and consumer advocates have contended that Superior engaged in unsound financial activities and predatory lending practices. Ms. Pritzker, a longtime friend and supporter of Sen. Obama, served for a time as Superior’s chairman, and later sat on the board of its holding company. Sen. Obama has long criticized predatory subprime mortgage lenders and urged strong actions against them.”

Except, you know, when they give him money. More, um, piquant treatment at Protein Wisdom. Big quotes: “Superior’s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.” Plus, “It is a story with the potential to dwarf that of Obama’s ex-Veep vetter, James Johnson. But it would require the media to do some legwork to uncover whether — and to what extent — Penny Pritzker profited from the very financial wheelings and dealings Obama condemns on the campaign trail. So I am not holding my breath waiting for the follow-up reportage.”

TOM SMITH defends Starbucks.