Remember, the 2nd Amendment is only a FEDERAL limit...

The U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from restricting your right to bear arms (notice I didn't say it gives you the right to them...rights are part of all human life, and the Constitution only prohibits infringement of them). However...state and local laws are free game, as we saw yesterday:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Voters approved ballot measures to ban handguns in San Francisco and urge the city's public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters.

The gun ban prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, and makes it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses.

Only two other major U.S. cities - Washington and Chicago - have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.

Yeah, and it worked great for those two "low crime" cities, eh? Hey, SF...prepare to have your crime rate double, now that criminals know you're unarmed when they break into your house.

Update: Even the SF police didn't want the ban.

In space, no one can...catch your touchdown pass?

Fringe benefits of an astronaut:

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) -- Two spacewalkers installed a camera on the outside of the international space station Monday and tossed overboard a surplus data-collecting device, sending it spinning off into the void like a spiraling football.

"How's that for a Hail Mary pass?" American astronaut William McArthur Jr. radioed.

"That was pretty impressive," Mission Control responded.

The "F" word?

And in other news....just keep voting for your bloated idiot-filled parties. They'll keep coming up with ways to take your money. Democrats? Social programs out the wazoo. Republicans? Oh, here's a new one....Senator Grassley of Iowa thinks we need to tell the corporations HOW to spend their PROFITS? Sounds like a joke but it's not:

Grassley is now on record as wanting (the rhetorical equivalent of "demanding") that oil companies "donate" 10 percent of their profits to help poor Americans pay their heating bills. Grassley sent letters to oil companies outlining his request; letters he claims to have sent to "embarrass" the oil companies into contributing to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Embarrass? I don’t think so. The right word here would be "intimidate."

When government owns everything, it's tending towards socialism. When private busineeses own with government control....yeah, that's FACISM. Might as well just direct-deposit my paycheck into the US Treasury at this rate. I'm hoping the younger generation has a better grip on free market ideas (and reality).

Fire the "laser"....</DrEvil>

From my friend Joe....new cool toys that Katy would kick my ass for buying:

You, too, could own the weapon of the future with this handheld laser gun from Information Unlimited. With a blasting power of 500 Joules, the Laser Ray Gun can fire 120 to 150 shots on a pair of AA batteries, burning holes in most materials.

For $20, you can buy the plans to build one of these babies in your garage, or you can drop $1,750 on a fully assembled unit. (You can also buy the kit and assemble it yourself to save a couple hundred bucks.) But whichever option you choose, you'll have to return a signed hazardous equipment affidavit before the company will send you any hardware.

Factoid of the day...

I leave you with this for the weekend. Who know that the solution to violence in Israel was to give the Palestinians more room to blow themselves up?

"For the first time since the start of the intifada, more Palestinians have been killed in internal violence since the start of the year than those who have died in clashes with Israel, according to an official report published Thursday."

You have the right to....er, do you?

Not as exciting as my parents protesting back in the day....but hey, could I actually catch a raft of shit from the government for all the political crap on my site? That would be too funny. Apparently possible under that wonderful campaign-finance reform law passed a while back (thank you McCain...I almost thought you were the perfect politician ):

"But bloggers don't necessarily work for a campaign or a political party and thus should not fall under McCain-Feingold, right?

Don't be too sure. Bloggers often endorse candidates or parties in an election. Those endorsements are of value to the candidates and may end up being treated as a campaign contribution, subject to limits and disclosure. Bloggers may also contribute to a campaign by linking to a candidate's website or republishing a candidate's press release."

I'll have to make sure near the next election to put lots of "killbushkillbushkillbushkillbushkillbush" on the website. Oh wait. I just did. :)

Would you like fries with that subpoena?

Finally your over-controlling/protective government is trying to pass a bill for people to be responsible for their own lives, namely eating habits. Whodathunk?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would block lawsuits by people who blame fast-food chains for their
obesity.
The "cheeseburger bill," as it has been dubbed in Congress, stems from class-action litigation that accused McDonald's of causing obesity in children.
...
"As one judge put it, if a person knows or should know that eating copious orders of super-sized McDonald's products is unhealthy and could result in weight gain, it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses..."

Waste not, want not?

Random link: Help find fluff in your gov't! List of all the departments and agencies....lets find ones we don't need:

• "Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements" (er, textile companies can't agree on textile trade w/o these guys?)


• "Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds" (yeah, like the ones in the White House?)


• "Institute of Peace" (not working very well, apparently)
  
• and finally, the "President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency"(clearly a wasted effort)

Paranoia of the day....

1.) Big Brother is watching you. EFF finally breaks the code in the "invisible dots" that come out of your office printer....so the bad, scary government can track all those emails you print. :)

2.) One of the best simple toys ever made: The Mind Molester (read a review). It beeps. That's it. Hide it, and people will go nuts trying to turn it off. I'm ordering at least 3, I think.

Glad we have 2 of them....

In the "who else can be pissed at us" department...The Guardian is reporting that the EU, obviously unimpressed with the US's refusal to relinguish control of the Internet, will be forming several comittees and forums to look at forcibly removing control of the Internet from the United States:

"Old allies in world politics, representatives from the UK and US sat just feet away from each other, but all looked straight ahead as Hendon explained the EU had decided to end the US government's unilateral control of the internet and put in place a new body that would now run this revolutionary communications medium. The issue of who should control the net had proved an extremely divisive issue, and for 11 days the world's governments traded blows. For the vast majority of people who use the internet, the only real concern is getting on it. But with the internet now essential to countries' basic infrastructure - Brazil relies on it for 90% of its tax collection - the question of who has control has become critical."

Quick, Al! Invent us another one! :)