Teenager builds gauss rifle

A Russian teenager has designed and built a Gauss rifle. The Russian military has expressed interest and asked to test the weapon. Here in the US the kid would have already been expelled for violating his schools zero tolerance weapons policy and ordered into counseling.

H/T to the Duck.

Another zero tolerance moment...

A five year old in Washington is expelled for making making a gun with his hands. When questioned Dr. John Irion of the Yakima School District said...

When students are at school they should be concerned about learning….safety shouldn't be a concern at school, we have a zero tolerance policy

The five year formed his hands into the shape of a gun you fucking twit. He didn't bring a gun to school and try to off the jackasses running the show. I know it's easier to default to policy than think but Dr. Irwin you work in a school. I assume at some point in your career you actually taught students. The students in your school have a right to expect more from you. Maybe what we need is a zero tolerance policy toward this kind of high-handed bureaucratic stupidity.

H/T To John Lott.

Another zero tolerance success story.

A seventh grade girl in Kentucky was given a tab of Adderall by another student. The girl wanted nothing to do with the drug and gave it back. Granted, she didn't turn her classmate in but the reward for just saying no? The girl was suspended for five days because she touched the drug. Had she turned her classmate in the result would have bee the same because she touched the drug. The school administration you see had no choice because it was their policy. Zero tolerance is what you get when bureaucrats are too cowardly to examine the facts and make an informed decision.

Quote of the Day

From Doctor Zero

Citizen access to firearms has reduced crime rates time and again, but this is more than a matter of practicality. It’s a question of principle. The people of an orderly nation surrender the business of vengeance to the government, replacing it with the rule of law. They cannot be expected to surrender the right of defense. The right to protect yourself, and your family, from injury and death is an essential part of your dignity as a free man or woman. Without the First Amendment, you are a slave. Without the Second, you are a child.

H/T to Phil.

Al Gore coming to Duke University

Former Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr., who received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of environmental causes, will give the 2010 spring Duke Environment and Society Lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 8.

Sponsored by Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, the free public lecture will take place in Page Auditorium on Duke’s West Campus. Tickets are required for admittance. Ticket and event information are available online at www.nicholas.duke.edu/deanseries.

Just in case you have an interest in the subject matter here is how you can get tickets.

The Cruxshadows

Quicksilver

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter...

...by Seth Grahame-Smith



I was scoping out the library and noticed this title. It'll do until Baen puts out Larry Correia's next. A movie is already in the works.

Why Are Gun Control Advocates Assholes?

I'm not a coffee drinker and if I were Starbucks' product is too expensive for my wallet on a continuous basis but I damn well will buy something from them this Saturday just to show my appreciation for their neutral stance on the gun issue and to thumb my nose at these assholes who just don't get it.

H/T to Sebastian.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight

I was a late comer to Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had seen the campy, crappy movie and thought little of it. So I let the first season come and go. At some point in the middle of the se3cond season I caught an episode, was hooked, and followed it and Angel to their eventual conclusions. Like a lot of genre television companion novel and comics books popped up. I was never attached to the novels. I looked at and never felt the need to read or collect. The art was generally nice but the stories didn’t really meet the expectations created by the series. Then came Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight, a comic book. It continues the adventures of Buffy and the gang and is every bit as good the the original series. Joos Whedon oversees the production and I suspect the creative process of the series has been transferred to this new format. What was originally planned as 24 issues is now up to issue 33 and I understand a ninth season is planned. It’s good stuff. Yeah, I’d like to have the series come back to television but the likelihood was always akin to a snowball in hell. This will do and though the format has limitations they are less than you would think and you don’t have to worry about the lead actress opting out. The comic is published by Dark Horse Comics and the back issues are available in trade paperbacks.

Romney and Letterman discissing Sarah Palin

“Now what about that Sarah Palin," says Letterman, who had to apologize for an off-color joke about the former Alaskan governor's daughter last year. "She’s not ready to be president, is she?”

She’s terrific,” Romney rapidly replies to derisive audience laughter. “She really is! She’s terrific. She’s got energy, passion – by the way, you know, be careful what you say about her.”

Letterman says he knows.

Romney adds with a smile, “She has a rifle, you know.”

That's funny.

The transcript...

...of oral arguments in McDonald v. Chicago. Gura and Clement were on their game. Feldman not so much. David Hardy thinks we got a majority. I'm hopeful.

Arguments for McDonald v. Chicago...

...are before the Supreme Court today. From everything I've read it looks like we've got a good chance, the best chance in years, to have the 2nd applied to states and municipalities. I hope and pray that this is so, but there's always that pesky law of unintended consequences. It's especially prevalent in the judicial areana.

The Story In Yor Eyes

I’ve been looking at the BBC series Life on Mars on DVD the last couple of weeks. God bless Netflix. In the second season at the beginning of the fourth episode I heard a song that I liked and went on a hunt for it. First stop was the official website. They kindly provided a list of the tunes in each episode with one slight problem. The song on the DVD was not the song they had listed. Dead end or so I thought. I was talking to a friend of mine at Books Do Furnish A Room and let him listen to the song. Almost before the music began he nailed it: The Story in Your Eyes by the Moody Blues. Good stuff.

Mousetrap

Worthless lying...

Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public, Pelosi said in an interview being broadcast Sunday the ABC News program "This Week." "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress," she said. "We're here to do the job for the American people."

Welcome to the nanny state. Guess who's applying for the job of chief nanny?

Oh, and Tam was right. The word you were searching for, Madame Speaker, was "on" not "for".