The Last Ephor

There's been some talk about gun rights and restrictions on DL. Mike W. and another Dana arguing pro and JadeGold against. Gun control advocates usually say they simply favor "reasonable" restrictions. They want to keep the guns from people who are either incapable of handling them properly (children, mentally ill) or criminals. Frankly, I don't know of anyone who opposes such restrictions. The problem is that JadeGold believes DC's restrictions fall into the zone of "reasonable". They are tantamount to a total ban. No handguns permits have been issued in 30 years. Long guns may be kept in the home provided they are locked and unloaded. They may not be carried in public either. There are no gun stores in DC and zoning laws prohibit them from even existing. This is a de facto if not de jure ban. I made the argument that putting those same restrictions on blogging would be considered a ban on free speech and not "reasonable" restricti...

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation. We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is in the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Governm...

My libertarian instincts sometimes fail me. Here's a prime example; Man Ticketed For Wearing Speedo On Beach

I keep hearing this term. Windfall. Leftists/liberals are enraged by windfall profits. They want to take them away from the recipients and give them to people who will vote for Democrats. As with most things in politics (especially things that annoy liberals) it remains undefined. It is just accepted as fact that any person or entity making a certain amount of money is undeserved or unearned. Since said persons or entities are very wealthy to begin with the government is allowed to take that money in the name of "fairness". They won't miss it after all, they have plenty. I googled for a definition of "windfall" profit. The best I could come up with is this: Windfall Main Entry: wind·fall Listen to the pronunciation of windfall Pronunciation: \ˈwin(d)-ˌfȯl\ Function: noun Date: 15th century 1 : something (as a tree or fruit) blown down by the wind 2 : an unexpected, unearned, or sudden gain or advantage Windfall Definition Money received...

Radley Balko has an article about criminal justice here . Reade Seligmann, who had an iron-clad alibi to counter District Attorney Mike Nifong's accusation but was nonetheless dragged through the mud, added, "I can't imagine what they do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves." Exactly. Conservatives often dismiss complaints about the imbalance of the justice system. Liberals often decry the system as racist. It isn't. It not about race, it's about class. There is rich man's justice and poor man's justice. There are a great number of minorities in prison but I'd wager that in terms of class the imbalance of poor vs. rich or even middle class is even more pronounced. With the advances in technology to review DNA evidence and other forensic procedures we need to set the bar ever higher for conviction especially in capital cases. I would go so far as to require manditory review of old cases that have blood or other DNA evi...