WINNING THE WAR ON FIREWORKS: I’ve mentioned Henry Reed’s Journey before, in the context of nannyists trying to crack down on fireworks. But as Michael Graham notes, it’s still going on:

If you’re too dumb to handle a bottle rocket, then you’re too dumb to handle a ballot.

And brother, does state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan think you’re dumb.

Coan opposes a bill by Rep. Rich Bastien (R-Gardner) that would let Bay Staters do what people in 46 other states take for granted: Buy fireworks. Last year our fellow Americans bought 214 million pounds of fireworks — nearly $1 billion in revenue, according to the American Pyrotechnic Association — but not one in Massachusetts.

Well, given that Massachusetts has selected three felonious House Speakers in a row, he might have a point. . . But there’s some good news here:

Americans are using 700 percent more fireworks than in 1976, according to the APA. Meanwhile the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that, during that same period, the number of fireworks-related injuries fell by 90 percent. . . . In the mid-1990s, about 30 states had total fireworks bans. Now it’s down to four, and the citizens of those states just grab them on their summer road trips. Our so-called “ban” accomplishes nothing, except to annoy rational adults who hate being treated like children.

Massachusetts: Another anti-science, reactionary Blue State?

ELIE MYSTAL: “If the American Bar Association was serious about protecting its members, it’d be trying to do something to stop the influx of market-depressing new attorneys. America might need more lawyers willing to work for next to nothing to help those who can’t currently afford legal representation, but the last thing current attorneys need is even more law school graduates competing for the few paid positions available. Let the Obama administration start some kind of Americorps program for attorneys; the ABA should be concerned about keeping the supply of attorneys competing in the private market down around levels that come within shouting distance of demand. (Of course, the ABA is still trying to figure out how to keep member institutions from lying to the ABA. I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for the ABA to figure this one out.)”

THE LAW SCHOOL BUBBLE: An InfoGraphic.

JONATHAN LAST: Since the late 1970s, 163 million female babies have been aborted by parents seeking sons. Creating a woman-shortage for the sons who are born, which is no favor.

UPDATE: Reader Anne Butzen writes: “Nobody wants a daughter, everyone wants a daughter-in-law. You’d think that people as smart as the Chinese and the Indians are supposed to be, would have figured out that you can’t have one without the other.”

TAKING A SECOND LOOK AT THE NOTION OF A GENETIC BASIS FOR CRIME:

It was less than 20 years ago that the National Institutes of Health abruptly withdrew funds for a conference on genetics and crime after outraged complaints that the idea smacked of eugenics. The president of the Association of Black Psychologists at the time declared that such research was in itself “a blatant form of stereotyping and racism.” The tainted history of using biology to explain criminal behavior has pushed criminologists to reject or ignore genetics and concentrate on social causes: miserable poverty, corrosive addictions, guns. Now that the human genome has been sequenced, and scientists are studying the genetics of areas as varied as alcoholism and party affiliation, criminologists are cautiously returning to the subject. A small cadre of experts is exploring how genes might heighten the risk of committing a crime and whether such a trait can be inherited.

The turnabout will be evident on Monday at the annual National Institute of Justice conference in Arlington, Va. On the opening day criminologists from around the country can attend a panel on creating databases for information about DNA and “new genetic markers” that forensic scientists are discovering.

Meanwhile, the gun-theory hasn’t held up very well, as gun ownership has exploded while crime has dropped.

ANOTHER DAY, another shameless smear of Andrew Breitbart. “With the Anthony Weiner scandal, the story within was the lack of integrity of the MSM in their attacks on Breitbart and defense of Weiner. Here, we have several people associated with Netroots Nation showing the same lack of integrity, trying to tear down … the exact same man.”

AFRICAN VILLAGE uses DIY guns to fight rapists.

More here: “The Obo scouts represent a phenomenon found in many conflict zones. When government or occupying armies fail to provide security, vulnerable communities often organize their own forces. It has happened in northern Iraq’s besieged Christian communities, across Afghanistan and, most famously, in Sunni-dominated north-central Iraq, where volunteer ‘Sons of Iraq’ groups helped turn the tide against Iraqi insurgents. . . . The implications of Obo’s self-defense efforts are huge for vulnerable communities across Africa, for the rebel groups that threaten them, and for the central governments whose legitimacy erodes by the day, as everyday people build their own armies and intelligence apparatuses from scratch.” When governments fail to provide basic security, people resort to self-help. The results aren’t always pretty, but even the ugly ones are an indictment of authorities’ incompetence or unconcern. Note the comments on that last link . . .

SPEAKING OF REVISIONISM: White House Press Secretary Challenged On Obama’s 1996 Gay Marriage Questionnaire.

This afternoon, the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson and Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about Dan Pfeiffer’s recent claim that a 1996 questionnaire in which Barack Obama said he supported same-sex marriage was not written by the president, despite his signature being affixed to the bottom of the document.

The White House has since walked back the claim, insisting that Pfeiffer was referring to a different survey, and during today’s exchange, Carney reiterated that the document was, in fact, signed by Obama. “Dan was referring to another questionnaire,” Carney said. He would not say if Obama supported marriage equality in 1996.

Video at the link. Really, this was supposed to be the great-communicator administration?

UPDATE: Dan Savage is skeptical about evolution.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Did The Stimulus Prevent A Second Great Depression? Evidence Says No.

The conclusion is that in claiming to have staved off a Depression, the White House and its supporters seem to be engaging in a bit of historical revisionism.

Economists weren’t predicting a Depression.

White House economists forecast in January 2009 that, even without a stimulus, unemployment would top out at just 8.8% — well below the 10.8% peak during the 1981-82 recession, and nowhere near Depression-era unemployment levels.

In fact, it did worse with the stimulus than they predicted it would do without a stimulus, but I don’t think this helps the White House’s case.

NOT MUCH MEDIA COVERAGE, but the Thomas James Ball courthouse-steps immolation story is still getting lots of blog attention and appears to be creating a lot of viral forwarded-email traffic.

UPDATE: Patrick Hynes emails: “Dude – I live in NH and I didn’t hear about this.” Like I said . . .

JENNIFER RUBIN: A King, A Speech, And A New Constitution In Morocco:

On Friday Bashar al-Assad was slaughtering his own people. Iran continued to hold two Americans in prison. Moammar Gaddafi remained in power while the House of Representatives and President Obama bickered about the War Powers Act. And in Morocco a new “landmark” constitution guaranteeing equality for women, empowering an elected parliament and chief executive, and mandating an independent judiciary was rolled out. It’s a measure of just how much the squeaky wheel dominates the media and the U.S. government that there was virtually no U.S. coverage of the historic event, and that as of Sunday night the State Department had not issued a statement. . . . The constitution and the speech explode several myths: diversity isn’t possible in a Muslim country; tribal and ethnic divisions make a nation state problematic if not ungovernable; Islam and the secular rule of law are incompatible; and human rights will inevitably be sacrificed if democratic reforms expand in a Muslim country.

Read the whole thing.

MORE ON THAT ATF GUNRUNNING SCANDAL: Breaking Fast–and Furiously. “While the old school media was slow off the mark on this story, by this morning even the Morning Joe crew was covering it at MSNBC, so the lid seems to be well and truly off the pot.”

L.A. OBSERVED: Villaraigosa: Failure at home, mayor searches for friendlier surroundings.

KATHLEEN MCKINLEY: Let There Be Light: The Fight For The Regular Light Bulb.

Hey, it’s not too late to stock up!

IS THIS DIVORCE PREDICTOR really all that “surprising?”

A SALE ON noise-cancelling headphones for $59.99.

Also, dirt-cheap earbuds.

THEY HAVEN’T GOTTEN THEIR STORY STRAIGHT YET: Airmen, sailors in Libya receiving “imminent danger pay” despite WH claim of no legal “hostilities.”

WILL ISRAEL GET a flood of American immigrants? “Until America fundamentally restructures itself, a process that will take many years of very painful rebuilding, it will continue its economic decline. Compare that to Israel. Israel has a debt that is, according to the CIA factbook, 77% of its economy. This ratio is concerning, but not critical. The difference is that Israel has just discovered $1 trillion in natural resources off its coast.”

CHANGE: Poll Finds a Shift Toward More Libertarian Views. “Libertarianism has been touted as the wave of America’s political future for many years, generally with more enthusiasm than evidence. But there are some tangible signs that Americans’ attitudes are in fact moving in that direction.” Well, as the political class gets more obviously inept, people’s faith in them is bound to gradually dry up.

UPDATE: Dave Price thinks it may be situational. I’m not sure that cuts against my point.

SOME SUSPICIOUS EMAILS in Dane County, Wisconsin? Plus, an open records lawsuit. Hope it doesn’t wind up in front of Judge Sumi.

DAVID WARREN: The Deep Shame Of Vancouver.

Happily, there is a whole lot of serious mockery going on.

JAMES TARANTO: The New York Times celebrates fatherhood by cruelly invading a 3-year-old’s privacy.

APPLE TURNS “BIG BROTHER:” In today’s Post, I talk about the iPhone controversy. (Bumped).

BRANDI MILLOY ON PJTV: Gage Speaks: How an iPad and Innovative Thinking Gave Voice to an Autistic Child.

RICK PERRY UPDATE: Reader Al Harris writes:

I read this in the WSJ today: Rick Perry supported Al Gore in 1988.

Now I know that Ronald Reagan was early on a democrat and he always said the party left him. I believe his core beliefs always were for individual liberty, economic freedom and small government. No doubt the party left him.

Now you’re Rick Perry and have lived through eight years of the Reagan Revolution. Also you want us to believe your core beliefs are individual liberty, economic freedom and small government.

Yet you didn’t take the opportunity in the eight years of the Reagan’s term to jump ship from the democrats. You don’t affirm by your actions your core beliefs are individual liberty, economic freedom and small government.

You supported Al Gore in 1988……

So what was he waiting for?

I supported Al Gore in 1988 too. In the words of a great man, “When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.”

UPDATE: Reader Barry Dauphin writes with a good point: “The Gore of 2011 wouldn’t vote for the Gore of 1988.” And vice versa.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Will Franklin sends this Politico piece from 2009: Rick Perry: Al Gore Has “Gone To Hell.”

MORE: Reader David Block notes that Perry’s story isn’t unusual in formerly-Blue Texas:

There are few in the state in the Republican party who are life long Republicans. Many who are were Rockefeller transplants (like George H. W. Bush). Other groups include German migrants from 1840-1890. It took 102 years to elect a Republican governor (1876-1978). We had one Republican Senator thanks to LBJ being elevated to VP by JFK. Republicans did not sweep the statewide offices until George W. Bush and company in 1994. Republicans led in votes for Congress since 1990, but did not claim a majority in the Congressional delegation until the 2003 contested redistricting.

So, yes, most Republicans down here are Blue Dog converts-more conservative than many of the Blue Dogs today. Everybody has to have their own realization that the party has left you.

I was a descendant of German immigrants (1876-1890 arrival), and have been one of those life-long Republicans.

Yes, I remember Charles Black saying that he came from a part of Texas so Texan that he didn’t meet a Republican until he was 18 — a statement that would make no sense today. Today, Blue Texans are aberrations, not the norm.