Titled:   Gun 'Microstamping' Bill Passes California Senate

The California Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would require the "microstamping" of semi-automatic handguns -- giving cartridges fired from those guns a unique imprint, which according to gun control advocates, would help police solve crimes.

Supporters say microstamping would turn spent cartridges into potential evidence in civil and criminal cases. According the California Million Mom March, "when the police retrieve the bullet casing at a crime scene, they can quickly track down the legal owner of the handgun that fired it."

Nonsense, say Second Amendment supporters, who view the bill as yet another attempt to burden gun manufacturers and further restrict gun sales in the state. They say that gun makers, faced with the added expense of microstamping semiautomatic weapons, would either stop selling their wares in California or drastically raise prices.

The bill (AB 352) would "expand the definition of unsafe handgun to include semiautomatic pistols that are not designed and equipped with a microscopic array of characters, that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol, etched into the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol, and which are transferred by imprinting on each cartridge case when the firearm is fired."

Watch the revolver become the "weapon of choice" among street gangs in CA.

But the California NRA Members' Councils says the microstamping would create false evidence trails.

"Micro-stamped cartridge cases fired and abandoned at government agencies facilities or private shooting ranges could be gathered and used to 'seed' crime scenes with the with 'evidence,' implicating law enforcement officers and citizens" in crimes they had nothing to do with, the group said in an analysis on its website.

The gun-rights group also said microstamped cartridges could not be recycled because they might implicate secondary users of reloaded cartridges. "Millions of pounds of metals will be turned into scrap and require expense disposal requirements imposed so it will not enter landfills."

And without the ability to sell and recycle used (microstamped) cartridge cases, the cost of firearms training will increase for government agencies, the gun rights group added.

Second Amendment supporters also note that microstamps can be easily defeated by replacing parts of the handgun that have been stamped; polishing the microstamp with abrasives or modifying the stamp; and in some cases, the stamped markings may be filled in with residue produced by normal firing of the gun.

Titled:   The Fertility Gap

Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections.

I'm not sure it's fertility either - I would think that Dems and Repubs are about equal in ability to get pregnant and have children - abortion and choice to remain childless seem to be a liberal trait.

Of course the Dems have an opinion on that:

As one liberal columnist in a major paper graphically put it, "Maybe the scales are tipping to the neoconservative, homogenous right in our culture simply because they tend not to give much of a damn for the ramifications of wanton breeding and environmental destruction and pious sanctimony, whereas those on the left actually seem to give a whit for the health of the planet and the dire effects of overpopulation."

Maybe the conservatives just put a greater value in the sanctity of life, the value of families and realise that bringing up intelligent, happy kids is the only hope for the future of mankind?

Reasons aside, this will have a huge effect on future voting patterns:

A state that was split 50-50 between left and right in 2004 will tilt right by 2012, 54% to 46%. By 2020, it will be certifiably right-wing, 59% to 41%. A state that is currently 55-45 in favor of liberals (like California) will be 54-46 in favor of conservatives by 2020--and all for no other reason than babies.

Kising babies may be a little easier for one party in the future...

James Taranto of Opinion Journal even has a name for this - The Roe Effect - a good read from 2004 that looks at this effect in depth.

Titled:   Brits break speed record

A BRITISH team has broken the land speed record for diesel-powered engines.

The JCB Dieselmax team averaged a speed of 328.767 mph, officials confirmed.

The team jetted out to Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to undertake their feat yesterday afternoon. 

The car, driven by Wing Commander Andy Green, was powered by a version of the same engine used in JCB diggers.

The team beat the previous record of 235mph which has stood for more than 30 years.

In 1997, Green became the fastest man in the world when he drove ThrustSSC through the sound barrier to a speed of 763.035mph.

It's good to hear someone still has some character over there...

A traffic stop in Detroit has led to serious suspicion, police said.

Detroit police officers pulled over a vehicle near Atkinson and Second streets on a traffic stop. When officers questioned the driver, the man said he was from West Africa.

In the trunk of the vehicle, police found license plates from different states, identifications cards and Arabic literature, Local 4 reported.

 

The man was taken in to custody on a traffic violation. Police will not comment on the items found in the vehicle, but did say they are working with federal authorities.

 

Titled:   LPG conversion costs jump as motorists scramble for rebate

The Australian government decided to subsidize LPG conversions for motorists. Hours later, the costs of converting to LPG mysteriously rose almost as much as the subsidy:

The cost of converting a car to LPG soared by hundreds of dollars in just a few hours yesterday as WA motorists rushed to take advantage of windfall government subsidies.

Gas conversion specialists across WA were flooded with inquiries from motorists who were keen to book their cars in and claim the $3000 in State and Federal government payments.

The increased demand drove prices up about $200 to $2800 at most businesses, with the RAC claiming some installers were quoting a staggering $4850.

A survey by The West Australian showed many installers appeared to have simply taken their phones off the hook, while others let them ring out. One installer’s answering machine message told callers he had stopped answering the phone because he could not get any work done.

The RAC was forced to bring in extra staff after a 600 per cent surge in calls to the motoring group’s advice line — which included claims that installers had refused to deal with new inquiries until January.

“We would certainly be watching out for any profiteering that might occur,” RAC manager vehicle policy Mike Upton said. “We wouldn’t want that to happen, there’s no reason for it.

Another example of unintended consequences proving just how bad the idea was in the first place.

Hat-tip to Samizdata

An Irish technology firm issued a challenge to the world's scientific community on Friday to give its verdict on technology it says smashes one of the basic laws of physics by producing "free energy."

Dublin-based Steorn said it had placed an advertisement in The Economist magazine seeking 12 top physicists to examine the technology -- based on the interaction of magnetic fields -- and publish their results.

...

"We put in a small amount of mechanical energy and we get a large amount out ... but until this thing is validated by science we won't be doing anything commercial with it," he said.

Titled:   Woman Faces Charges in Flight Scare

In a recent post I mentioned a frequent propensity for "Peace Activists" to very quickly go off the deep end.

True to form, another one has made a complete fool of herself on a trans-Atlantic flight:

A woman on a trans-Atlantic flight diverted to Boston for security concerns passed several notes to crew members, urinated on the cabin floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed Thursday.

Catherine C. Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vt., appeared in federal court Thursday on a charge of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

She was dressed in a Rolling Stones T-shirt and socks without shoes for the hearing and was ordered held pending a detention and probable cause hearing next Thursday.

Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was "just barely lucid" when they spoke. "She's got some very serious mental health problems."

Mayo's son, Josh, 31, described his mother as a peace activist and said she had been in Pakistan since March. She traveled there often since making a pen pal prior to Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The pen pal hasn't been allowed to visit the U.S., he added.

Peace Activist / Pakistan / frequent bathroom trips / unruly behavior / banned substances / London / Dubai / Vermonter...

Yup - fits the M.O.

Titled:    Anti-Tailgating Strategy Backfires On Interstate 5

An anti-tailgating strategy on Interstate 5 backfired in the form of unexpected traffic jams, state transportation officials have discovered.

Officials from the state Transportation Department and Washington State Patrol planned to meet Monday to reassess the $35,000 Two Dots To Safety pilot program on a two-mile stretch of the freeway north of this Thurston County town. Similar programs are in use in Maryland, Minnesota and Pennsylvania.

Road crews painted dots 80 feet apart and posted signs telling drivers to stay at least two dots - 160 feet - from the vehicle ahead, based on the traffic safety principle of being at least two seconds behind another vehicle when going 60 mph.

Long backups developed Saturday, the day after the program began, when drivers slowed down because of heavy traffic and continued to maintain the two-dot separation, although that much distance was not necessary at slower speeds, said Lisa Mordock, a Transportation Department spokeswoman.

Road crews covered the signs later Saturday pending reconsideration of the program, including the wording on the signs, Mordock said.

The government tells us how to drive better and the law of unintended consequences takes effect.

But couldn't you just tell this was going to happen?

People tailgate because they are in a hurry and the roads lack sufficient capacity. Anything that slows them down or reduces the road capacity is only going to make things worse.

Besides, it's hard to count dots when you're eating your burger and talking on the phone...

Hat-tip to Wizbang

What is so wrong with ballistic fingerprinting Sure, I’ve heard the argument that gun barrels can be replaced or modified. As a parallel to actual fingerprinting, criminals sometimes wear gloves or alter their fingertips, but that doesn’t discourage us from collecting this kind of forensic evidence.

The ATF tracing initiative has consistently shown that less than 1 percent of gun dealers are linked to a majority of firearms recovered from criminal enterprises. While most of these traces may have involved legitimate transactions, ATF investigations have uncovered thousands of federal law violations by these dealers. Unfortunately, recent congressional legislation significantly limits public and law enforcement access to gun-tracing information, thereby shielding rogue dealers.

Aside from some paranoid view of government intrusion, what really is the danger of firearms registration or of background checks on all gun sales We register automobiles, and qualify and license drivers; why not do the same with guns and their owners It makes no sense to prevent law enforcement from tracking firearms transfers that fuel the illegal market. We could even install LoJack-style, GPS devices into new guns to curtail trade in stolen firearms.

Titled:   Hybrids might make you feel good, but why?

The well-respected auto research firm, CNW Marketing in Brandon, Ore., recently found after a two-year study collecting data on the ''energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose'' of the cars, that the hybrids don't stack up well.

CNW found that hybrids use more total energy in their lifetime than their gasoline-powered cousins. Even a Hummer, the ultimate bane of the environmentalist world -- uses less total energy over its lifetime than any hybrid (including the halo special, the Prius), Car and Driver magazine said.

Maybe that is one of the reasons for the recent poor showing of hybrid sales:

Despite all the hype and the recent spike in gas prices, sales of hybrids have dropped every month this year compared to the same month last year. So much that manufacturers like Ford are backing away from earlier politically motivated commitments to produce so many of them...

Oh, the pressure to look like you're doing good!

It reminds me of the time that everything had to be printed on recycled paper to "Save the Trees". Recycled paper takes more energy, produces more pollution during the re-pulping and bleaching stages of production, consumes more water and even results in less trees being planted.

And don't even get me started on polystyrene cups, which turn out to have a lower environmental impact than any other type of beverage container, yet are frequently vilified as man's worst enemy.

When you want to "make a difference", whether for the children or otherwise, please do your homework first so you actually make positive impact rather than help destroy what you were planning to save in the first place.

Titled:   Some of them do get it - it's just the MSM can't bring themselves to say it 

I wrote earlier about a cop who was reported to have said:

"We commend him," Higgins said. "But we don't encourage people to take that kind of risk. He could have been hurt."

This was in respect to a CPL holder that subdued a knife-wielding maniac that had just stabbed a number of people. 

It seems that the cops words were twisted by the MSM filter. He actually said something different:

The Sarge said that he had no problem with permit holders but if it were someone who had no training with firearms, did not know the law and had just grabbed up a gun it might not be a good idea.

Which I think we would all agree with.

He praised Mr. Cobb as a genuine hero from start to finish saying he acted in a totally professional manner through-out the entire ordeal. He then continued to say that concealed permit holders were top notch and he’d rather have some of them “…..backing me up than some police officers I know”.

Not the kind of thing they like to report, huh?