Titled:     Supersoaker flamethrower

And probably fairly dangerous too, but it sure looks like fun:

Supersoaker flamethrower

Hat-tip to Say Uncle

Titled:   Man charged in road rage incident

A 36-year-old Lansing man has been charged in an incident that ended with a gun being pulled outside a Burger King.

Two drivers heading north Monday on Cedar Street got into an argument, according to the Ingham County Sheriff's Office. The Lansing man struck the other vehicle with his own. Both men then stopped and got out of their cars. The Lansing man approached the other driver with a baseball bat. That man - who has a valid concealed weapon permit - pulled out a gun and ordered the man to drop the bat. The driver with the bat was arraigned on two counts of felonious assault, authorities said.

A CPL holder uses a gun to stop and diffuse a violent incident without injury to either party. And the police seem to have understood the situation and arrested the aggressor. And the local press has covered it.

Maybe there is hope after all.

Titled:     Evangelical teens rally in S.F.

More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."

The Board of Supervisors resolved that the crowd aimed to:

"negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city."

Yup - the city that welcomes all manner of people in the name of tolerance shows it can't tolerate a crowd of peaceful Christians.

Titled: Granholm Signs Guns Transport Bill

Today Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM signed HB 4642 into law (Now Public Act 75), a measure that would allow an individual to carry, possess, use, or transport a pistol belonging to another individual if the pistol were properly licensed and inspected under the law and the individual carrying, possessing, using, or transporting the pistol had obtained a license under the law to carry a concealed pistol.

More at the MCRGO's Web site.

Titled:   St. Paul City Office Boots Easter Bunny

A small Easter display was removed from the City Hall lobby on Wednesday out of concern that it would offend non-Christians.

Tyrone Terrill, the city's human rights director, asked that the decorations be removed. Terrill said no citizen had complained to him.

Council Member Dave Thune called it a shame.

"This has just gone too far,'' he said. "We can't celebrate spring with bunnies and fake grass?''

The council president, Kathy Lantry, said the removal wasn't about political correctness.

"As government, we have a different responsibility about advancing the cause of religion, which we are not going to do,'' she said.

Maybe they should take a few minutes to learn about the Easter Bunny:

The original Easter Bunny myth comes from a pagan holiday which was celebrated on the Vernal Equinox. According to Pagan legend, Ostara, the goddess of spring, turned a bird into a rabbit. The rabbit was supposedly able to fly as fast as the bird could fly, but it was still dissapointed that it was a rabbit and not a bird. Ostara had pity on the creature, and one day out of every year, on the Vernal Equinox, she allowed the rabbit to lay eggs like a bird. Due to the proximity of Easter and the Vernal Equinox, converted pagans continued to associate the myth with their new holiday, and the idea has been passed down ever since.

As a Christian, I find it at least mildly offensive to use an Easter Bunny in the first place. Certainly not enough to go banning a popular symbol that children enjoy. I hardly see how the display of a pagan symbol of fertility is going to offend non-Christians.

In the same manner, it always bemuses me that they often ban Christmas Trees from government sites - again a pagan tradition - to protest against establishment of Christianity.

Don't even start me on Santa, Candy Canes and all the other traditions.

Happy early Easter!

Titled:   Nation sees a sharp drop in gun dealers

The number of licensed gun dealers in the US is down.

People who held the government's most basic gun-dealer license totaled nearly a quarter-million in 1994. Last year, the number fell to fewer than 55,000, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Violence Policy Center, based in Washington.

The gun-grabbing VPC are quick to grab onto this as a victory, believeing it one of the few in a time when they are losing battles left, right and center:

"The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important - and little noticed - victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America," said Marty Langley, a policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center.

What they won't say though is that this is mostly due to increased fees under Clinton-era reforms ($30 up to $200) and ATF pressure on dealers that due to local ordinances couldn't get suitable business zoning for their houses.

Many of the kitchen-table top dealers who bought and sold a couple of guns a year to friends baulked at the increased costs, legal hurdles and the photos and fingerprinting required and handed in their licenses.

I see this as a victory in some ways for regular gun owners. All this has done is drive gun sales off the books, with less registration, vetting, tracking and logging by the ATF. Licensed dealers are required to run background checks on new purchases, whereas in most states, unlicensed gun owners can buy and sell rifles and shotguns without checks.

This forms the basis of the mythical "gun-show loophole" in which owners and dealers gather to buy and sell firearms. The gun-grabbers are annoyed that all show sellers don't have to run checks.

Isn't it ironic that the very victory claimed by the VPC is the basis of one of their big headaches?

According to the ATF, the number of guns in the United States was at an all-time high last year, with an estimated 223 million firearms.

Titled:    Luck strikes, a world apart

Every now and then there seems to be a sting of good luck stories in the press. Here are tales of two of them, both concerning men that have survived against the odds.

The first is the story of Jim Loney. He, along with three colleagues were in Iraq to protest the American presence when, as seems to the pattern these days, they were kidnapped. It seems that the terrorists insurgents that captured him in November weren't that impressed with their sad plight and threatened to execute them if Iraqi prisoners weren't released.

Tragically, the one US citizen of the group, Tom Fox, met an untimely end at the hands of his captors. He was found dead in Baghdad on March 10th.

The remaining three were rescued by the very multi-national teams they were there to protest. In a well-planned rescue today, US and Iraqi forces moved in and secured their freedom.

There is still no word on whether they are graceful enough to thank their rescuers rather than condemn them. So far the only quote has been from a Toronto-based colleague:

In Toronto, the co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams expressed delight the three had been released without violence.

Isn't it funny how they forget the violence that is kidnapping, threats and the killing of Tom Fox, and focus only on the potential wrongdoings of the US forces?

In the second case of good luck I noticed today, Matt Suter had a record-breaking escape for almost certain death. This Missouri teen was sucked out of his family's trailer by a tornado and awoke in a field a quarter-mile away.

Suter said he remembered nothing about his flight over the pasture. He landed about 25 feet from a gravel road and a barbed-wire fence. A piece of paper from the trailer lay next to him.

Suter has no idea how he survived.

“The way it tore the walls and roof out of the trailer, I’m sure it sucked me up into the wind,” Suter said. “I’m really glad I was unconscious.”

Tom Grazulis, a Vermont meteorologist who studies tornado behavior, said he knew of no person who traveled as far as Suter and survived.

“It’s a pretty awkward record to have,” the 19-year-old senior at Fordland High School said.

Apart from a minor cut on his head, he was able to run back to his damaged home to help his injured but recovering relatives.

Titled:   This ID project is even more sinister than we first thought

As we look East to the UK's slow slip into serfdom, as expected, the ID card project continues to become more sinister by the day. The Observer, not know for wild conjecture, brings news of the latest changes, rumors and talk:

It became clear last week that the government will do anything to get this bill through parliament, including ignoring its own manifesto pledge to make the cards voluntary, a fact that we should remember as each of us entrusts the 49 separate pieces of personal information to a national database.

Remember that lesson - agree to something as long as it is voluntary, and soon it is mandatory.

Oddly enough, the compulsory provision of personal information to the government database is not the greatest threat to our freedom, though it is in itself a substantial one. The real menace comes when the ID card scheme begins to track everyone's movements and transactions, the details of which will kept on the database for as long as the Home Office desires.

Lesson two - the initial purposes of the system - preventing terrorism - is soon forgotten as new uses are discovered.

Over the past few weeks, an anonymous email has been doing a very good job of enlightening people on how invasive the ID card will be. 'Private businesses,' says the writer, 'are going to be given access to the national identity register database. If you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for a swipe. If you want to apply for a London underground Oystercard or supermarket loyalty card or driving licence, you will have to present your card.'

You will need the card when you receive prescription drugs, when you withdraw a relatively small amount of money from a bank, check into hospital, get your car unclamped, apply for a fishing licence, buy a round of drinks (if you need to prove you're over 18), set up an internet account, fix a residents' parking permit or take out insurance.

Lesson Three - Soon enough you will not be able to live a normal life without the "voluntary" card.

One of the most chilling passages in the bill is section 13 which deals with the 'invalidity and surrender' of ID cards, which, in effect, describes the withdrawal of a person's identity by the state. For, without this card, it will be almost impossible to function, to exist as a citizen in the UK. Despite the cost to you, this card will not be your property.

Lesson Four - Even if you have a card, they can take it away, effectively crippling your ability to function.

ID cards are coming this way too, such as those disguised as federally-approved driver's licenses in the Real ID Act of 2005. Note also that cards of this type are mandated for air travel in other bills up for consideration such as the H.R. 4439: Transportation Security Administration Reorganization Act of 2005. This bill seems to require a passport or ID Card for all air travel, domestic or international.

Remember - it's only voluntary until it isn't.

Titled:   Portland jail empty, despite rise in crime

The Seattle Times tells us of one part of this story:

The Wapato Facility, in the city's northern outskirts, took $59 million and two years to construct. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building.

And the New York Times brings us the second part:

Especially in the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined.

There seems to be a pattern here. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that if you lock up enough criminals, there is a decrease in crime. And if you leave them loose on the street, more crime happens.

Yet both media outlets seem to transfixed with the idea that if the crime rate is dropping, you should start releasing existing offenders and refrain from locking up new ones.

The Progressive Community may believe that "prisons are no cure for crime", but I can guarantee you that a prisoner, while locked in prison, is not committing crimes on the streets.

Hat-tip to Opinion Journal

Titled:   Recently Released Pre-Iraq War Documents Tell of bin Laden/Iraq Link

Wizbang blog is following the release of thousands of captured documents from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many are being translated and published, giving new problems for the makers of "No Iraq / Bin Laden Link" protest signs.

Excerpt:

In the Name of God the Merciful

Presidency of the Republic

Intelligence Apparatus

To the respectful Mr. M.A.M.

Subject: Information

Our source in Afghanistan No 11002 (for information about him see attachment 1) provided us with information that that Afghani Consul Ahmad Dahestani (for information about him see attachment 2) told him the following:

1. That Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan are in contact with Iraq and it that previously a group from Taliban and Osama Bin Laden group visited Iraq.

2. That America has proof that the government of Iraq and Osama Bin Laden group have shown cooperation to hit target within America.

3. That in case it is proven the involvement of Osama Bin Laden group and the Taliban in these destructive operations it is possible that American will conduct strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

4. That the Afghani Consul heard about the subject of Iraq relation with Osama Bin Laden group during his stay in Iran.

5. In light of this we suggest to write to the Commission of the above information.

Please view... Yours... With regards

Signature:......, Initials : A.M.M, 15/9/2001

Foot note: Immediately send to the Chairman of Commission

Signature:.............

And so far, none look like they were produced in Word.

Titled:      Human guinea pig 'in coma for a year'

As we read of things going wrong on another medical trial, it is time to consider the methods and motives behind the use of human volunteers for medical testing. Drug development is a costly and time-consuming affair and this is often used as a defense for the cost of drugs when they reach the consumer.

Pharma spend many years sifting through existing compounds and creating new chemicals to search for likely candidates. This is followed by lab testing and further study to weed out the most promising candidates. The next step is usually animal testing, which is conducted under great secrecy and security and finally human trials. These come in two flavors: firstly, tests to see which level of dose is safe to administer, which is done by giving increasingly higher doses to healthy volunteers until adverse side effects are seen. Secondly, it is given to those volunteers with the targeted disease or condition, to see how effective a cure or treatment it is.

With increasing pressure to reduce animal testing and political moves to reduce the costs of drugs, it is more likely, not less, that drugs will be tested on humans earlier in the process than traditionally done, despite careful oversight.

In this case everything looked great up until the time human dose testing began:

"Now we're being told that Ryan might be in this coma for six to 12 months. He can't even breathe on his own."

Yesterday it was reported his head had ballooned immediately after being given the drug and his limbs turned purple.

The previously healthy men had volunteered to test a drug designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, leukaemia and multiple sclerosis.

Dr Suntharalingam, clinical director of intensive care, said: "There is an inflammatory process going on that seems to have been triggered by something."

I would guess that "something" that caused his head to balloon and body to turn purple would be closely linked to the administration of an experimental drug?

We need more treatments, we need more volunteers and we need the best testing procedures available to make sure drugs are safe and effective.

Putting undue pressure on drug companies is not going to make it any easier.

Titled:   Democratic Underground Quote Of The Day: Christians Shouldn't Be Allowed To Have So Many Children

From RightWingNews:

Odin2005: It's things like this that make me support population control. Theocons have no respect to the enviroment, Gawd told them to multiply like rabbits and that protecting the enviroment isn't needed because they think Jebus is gonna come down a rapture them. These people are dangerous and should not be allowed to have more kids then secular people do.

Probably not representative, but an insight into how some people would welcome a Chinese-type population control policy.

Update: House Bill 4642 goes to Governor

HB 4642 has passed both House and Senate and is now on it's way to be signed into law by the Govenor. This Bill would allow "an individual carrying, possessing, using, or transporting a pistol belonging to another individual (or spouse) if the other individual's pistol is properly licensed and inspected under this act and the individual carrying, possessing, using, or transporting the pistol has obtained a license to carry a concealed pistol."

Lifted from the MCRGO web site.