Archive for 2012
March 7, 2012
CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Overturning Of Maryland Gun Law Likely To Withstand State’s Appeal. “Constitutional lawyers said Tuesday that a recent federal court decision overturning a portion of Maryland’s gun-control law will likely be upheld on appeal and called the ruling groundbreaking given the liberalism of the state from which it came. The decision, made public Monday, relaxed state requirements for carrying a gun and broadly interpreted the Second Amendment’s ‘right to bear arms’ as extending beyond the home. The analysis surprised some, who were used to seeing states like Maryland, which has a restrictive approach to gun rights, limit firearm use and possession.”
BEN SMITH RELEASES SELECTIVELY-EDITED OBAMA TAPE. Well, the Media Matters folks say he’s in their pocket, so . . . .
HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME more tornado-resistant.
WAIT, I THOUGHT SLUT-SHAMING WAS BAD: RFK Jr: Inhofe is a “Call Girl” for Big Oil. “So, let’s see if we can’t update the media professional best practices and standards handbook, shall we? ‘Slut’ is a no go, but ‘call girl’ is OK. Check. ‘Prostitute’ is verboten, but … what was that word Bill Maher used for Sarah Palin again?”
It’s much simpler than that. Call Republicans whatever you want, then go all have you no decency??? if Republicans dare return the favor.
MICKEY KAUS: Is Obama Scared Of Occupy? “Is Obama worried that front-page Occupy-style protests might be starting to hurt his reelection campaign? That’s one obvious explanation for the sudden shift of the G-8 summit to Camp David from Chicago.”
MORE ON THE EXIT POLLS: Super Tuesday Explodes Two Myths About The Tea Party.
FEDS SEIZE FOREIGN SITES: Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable. Not a lot of respect for Internet freedom in this administration.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST. We’ve certainly learned a lot about the Wisconsin judiciary over the past year. Wisconsin Judge Who Signed Walker Recall Petition Rules on Walker Recall. Plus, the opinion refers to “Justice William Scalia.” Not very impressive. And to think that Wisconsin used to have a clean good-government reputation. Not so justified, apparently.
A REPORT FROM NEW YORK’S Breitbart memorial.
HEAR THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE JAPAN SUPER-QUAKE.
In these YouTube videos, the seismic data is also displayed on a graph.
“By combining seismic auditory and visual information, static ‘snapshots’ of earthquake data come to life,” Georgia Tech’s Zhigang Peng and his colleagues write in the March-April edition of Seismological Research Letters. “In addition, this approach allows the audience to relate seismic signals generated by earthquakes to familiar sounds such as thunder, popcorn popping, rattlesnakes, gunshots, firecrackers, etc.”
The researchers say that seismic audifications can make it easier to explain the concept of distant quake triggering to general audiences, and that they also provide a tool for experts to identify and understand such seismic signals in other regions.
Audio at the link.
SCIENCE: Amateurs Are New Fear In Creating Mutant Virus. “Some of the equipment that scientists use to work on viruses has grown so inexpensive that it is no longer limited to university labs. Devices for duplicating pieces of DNA sell for a few hundred dollars on eBay, for example.”
THUGGERY: IRS Accused of ‘Intimidation Campaign’ Against Tea Party Groups. “The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) says IRS requests for information about the groups included ‘probing questions’ that violate the free speech and freedom of association rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
HOW VITAMIN D BOOSTS AMYLOID REMOVAL FROM THE BRAIN: “If this works as claimed then better to get the vitamin D decades before enough toxic junk proteins accumulate enough to cause clinical symptoms of brain damage. . . . What I wonder: does an aging immune system contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s Disease and other diseases that are the result of accumulation of damaging compounds in the body? Once we can rejuvenate the immune system will the incidence of many diseases go down just because more trash will get taken out?”
Faster, please.
UNVEILING THE NEW Apple iPad.
WELCOME TO the Sugar Daddy Recession. “Call it what you like — an arrangement, a delicate excuse for sex work or modern love at its most upfront — there are hundreds of thousands of men all over the world looking for it, and as the job market explodes, more and more women are desperate enough to take them up on it. The women call themselves sugar babies; men like Rian are known as sugar daddies.”
Love in the era of Hope And Change. Just don’t call them sluts.
THE POLITICS OF HATE: Dems Incite Death Threats Against Limbaugh. And Limbaugh’s already had to call the bomb squad to his house. That’s their approach. Marginalize, then brutalize.
When will President Obama speak out against this hatred and extremism? Probably never. But since it’s been established that this sort of thing happens via close coordination between the White House and Media Matters, etc., there’s no denying responsibility now. I call upon the President to denounce his supporters’ hateful violent rhetoric, to promise not to engage in or encourage it again, and to apologize to Limbaugh for stirring up this cesspit of hatred among his followers. A President is supposed to lead, not incite violence
Maybe we should start posting Obamicons with “HATE” instead of “HOPE” until he does. . . .
UPDATE: Reader Paul Stinchfield writes: “Is it time to remind folks again that Dutch libertarian Pim Fortuyn was murdered by a Green Party member, and that this murder was incited by the European Left? Or to recall the American Left’s open and unashamed fantasies of assassinating George W. Bush?” Yes, I think it is.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Hope is what he promised. Hate is what he’s delivering.
IN THE MAIL: Free Market Fairness.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Is the European fiscal treaty DOA? “The reality is that Europe still has no realistic plan for dealing with its currency crisis.”