Today I ran into the Michigan Coordinator for the Michigan Chapter of the Second Amendment Sisters. I was reminded of what a great origination that is. If you are interested you can find out more about them from their main site or if you are from Michigan you can check out the Michigan Chapter here.

I love their Mission Statement. So simple yet so powerful.

"Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. is a women's advocacy group dedicated to promoting the basic human right to self-defense, as recognized by the Second Amendment.

We believe in personal responsibility, education, and enforcement of laws against violent criminals."

I ran across a new Blog, well new to me, called "Of Arms & the Law." It looks like its going to be a great resource for those of us interested in the the preserving the 2nd Amendment. This post "A complete understanding of the Second Amendment" is a great place to start. Read it.

Do you use the Firefox browser? If so you may want to check out Fire Tune. Its a free application that will optimize your browser for you. I didn't try the before and after test so I can't verify any difference it may have made.  

The Christian Science Monitor has a piece up titled "Why tolerance is fading for zero tolerance in schools." The issue of Zero Tolerance has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time now. I haven't said much about it on this Blog (yet) but it has been discussed several times on the Liberty1st Forum. I think the last time it came up it was discussed here, which is a great example of zero tolerance stupidity. Don't you think?

Did you know Michelle Malkin has an Immigration Blog? No. Well she does. You can check it out here.

Titled: The unlikely ACLU-gun-nut alliance

When the American Civil Liberties Union and gun-nut lobbies make common cause, it is time to pay attention. That is exactly the case with the new Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, an improbable coalition of liberal and conservative - nay, arch conservative - organizations cobbled together to contest the thoughtless renewal of the Patriot Act that President Bush has called for.

Why are the pro gun lobbies described as nuts? And why does the ACLU get a nuttiness pass? Could it possibly be a bias on the part of the author?

The ACLU is bedded down here with, among still more, the American Conservative Union, the Eagle Forum, the Free Congress Foundation and Citizens for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Republican former congressman Bob Barr chairs the unlikely affair.

I get the feeling this author don't think much about those of us on the conservative side of politics.

Unlikely but welcome. Slammed through Congress in panic and without serious hearings or debate in just six weeks after 9/11, the act mowed down traditional civil liberties wholesale and concentrated new, dangerous powers in the executive branch.
  
Key provisions, particularly ones dealing with surveillance, are scheduled to sunset at the end of this year unless Congress extends them. Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales are pushing for a quick endorsement of the act as it is.

Blah blah blah

Some of the innovations in the act are reasonable and probably were overdue even before the terrorist attack - roaming wire taps under judicial supervision, for instance, that focus on the subject and are not limited to just this or that form or place of communication.
  
But many provisions are way over the top. Section 802 defines terrorism so broadly it could be used to criminalize ordinary political activity and subject citizens who are exercising protected political rights to secret surveillance and their political organizations to police infiltration.
  
Section 215 allows the government to rummage through citizens' medical, library and gun-purchase records without probable cause and without informing the subject of the snooping. Section 213 allows secret searches of homes and businesses - "creep and peep," in opponents' shorthand. Gag orders keep even legal challenges to parts of the act secret, a truly Orwellian scenario.
  
Barr's organization argues that America "can wage an effective war on terrorism without locking up its own citizens without access to their families and attorneys, and without trial or charges."

Yup.

Barr was one of the howling right-wingers of the GOP's Gingrich generation, but out of office he has become arguably the leading conservative voice for principled defense of individual liberties and for protecting citizens' besieged zone of privacy.

So why all the "attacks" on conservatives in the beginning of this article?

Conservatives should oppose much of the Patriot Act just on principle alone. However as the author of this article pointed out not all of it is bad and some of it is way over due.

I think the preservation of Liberty is one area where conservatives, libertarians and liberals should join forces. Save the "attacks" for the social security debate.

Titled: Concealed Pistol Permits: Renewal Date

This is a great bill, and much needed. There is no reason why a renewal CPL cannot bear an issue date that is the same as the previous CPL's expiration date. Other licenses, such as drivers' licenses, do exactly this. With passage by the House in a vote of 109-0, MCRGO is confident that the Senate will also agree.

BRIEF SUMMARY: The bill would set the issuance date of a concealed pistol permit as the same day as the expiration of the preceding permit, if the permit were renewed prior to its expiration date.

Source: MCRGO. The full text of the bill can be read here.

If, like me, you find yourself with a pre release Windows XP x64 ISO file and you are not sure what to do with it. Here is a step by step guide for burning that image to a CD and then installing it onto your hard drive.

I installed XP x64 last night without incident. Plug and play managed to correctly identity and install drivers for all my devices. I did have to download the Radeon beta drivers for x64 before I was able to run Doom3. The ATI setup program quits before the drivers install correctly but you can manually install them by browsing to the location they were extracted to. I haven’t really had a chance to install many applications yet but the ones that I have all seem to work fine.

I believe the final release is due sometime in April. I have also heard that Microsoft is going to allow registered users of XP to download it for free. I haven’t been able to confirm that from any source other then from the guy at the local computer shop though. I’ll let you know.

Say Uncle outed me a couple of days ago. My first reaction was that I better get some content posted to earn his recommendation. And that is what I intended to do. But then I bought one of these

And one of these

That's right. 64 bit. I haven't done any extensive testing on it yet but so far it seems wicked fast. I am actually a little surprised on how fast 32 bit XP seems to work with it. Especially when you consider in clock speeds I went from a 2500+ to a 3000+ which is not that big of a jump. In the past I have made much bigger jumps without hardly any noticeable difference in performance. I know those numbers don't represent actual clock speeds but they are the only numbers I have at the moment.

Anyway I have to go create another partition for 64 bit XP and install all my applications. I'll be back later with new (some) content. See you then.

Titled: Michigan and South Carolina Sign CPL Reciprocity Agreement

MCRGO has just been notified by the Michigan Attorney General's office that Michigan and South Carolina have signed a mutual reciprocity agreement. This should become effective when the information is posted on South Carolina's web page. (Michigan already recognizes South Carolina CPLs, as long as the licensee is a SC resident.)

.....[Snip].....

South Carolina is thus the 28th state where Michigan CPLs are valid. Congratulations to all, especially to Attorney General Mike Cox, who from the very earliest moments of his 2002 campaign for AG promised MCRGO that he would work aggressively to obtain all possible reciprocity agreements for Michigan's citizens. He has certainly kept his promise!

28 states now. That is great news for CPL holders who like to travel. The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners keeps an updated map of states with reciprocity agreements with Michigan. As of now this is how it breaks down.