Hutaree and me

I reserve judgment. Some of these guys seem to be guilty enough of something, but from the evidence so far shared with us it seems to max out at giving life to nocturnal emissions inspired by bad teevee movies and cheap video games. If they're what the cops imply, fine, take them off the streets, but it would be nice to see evidence of some specific crimes beyond extended emotional adolescence and aggravated Bubbaness.

It's useful to remember that "conspiracy" is about the easiest charge to level against some kook you don't like.

The wires emphasize the alleged perps began undergoing military training a couple of years ago.

If so they're pikers. At age eleven the Boy Scouts put me in a khaki uniform with a dangerous knife sheathed behind my right hip. We saluted the flag a lot. We had a special hand shake, and we pledged ourselves to religious values and to The United States of America. Every day at summer camp we marched to the rifle range for basic training in careful one-shot marksmanship.* A couple of times a year we'd even have a potluck with our parents present, and they would applaud as older men awarded us badges and medals for various militaristic achievements which could easily be turned against established authority. Shooting. Fire building. Stalking. Orienteering. And so forth.

No wonder we turned out to be such problems for the more elevated and sensitive elements of our society.

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*I really miss those Mossy 144LS rifles, especially the one I bought and then idiotically sold. If you happen to have one, talk to me. I have cash aquiver for even a reasonably decent example.

Gurgle Gurgle

The Kiwanis station wagon sleeps with the fishes as of some time this afternoon, making my earlier arrogant prediction only semi-moronic.

If John lost money he should consider it a cheap reminder to avoid believing known liars.

Iowa Shall-Issue CCW Law: Got It.

The Iowa House has approved the shall-issue bill 81-16. Minor amendments sent it back to the Senate which approved them 36-4.

It 's now up to Gov. Chet "Ya Big Lug" Culver, and virtually everyone is assuming he will sign it.

It may be of more interest to most readers that an apparently good reciprocity provision is part of the bill. While I haven't seen the final wording, it appears to be a straightforward invitation to come strapped if you have a permit from your own state. The House beat back an effort to complicate things with a state-by state review to make sure your permitting laws are as wonderful as ours.

Some details are here.

The Glory that Was

You can get your morning giggle in the day's opening business report where Reuters predicts your stocks will go up because Greece is selling some bonds to finance its spending habit. All the cool cats in the European business rackets helped arrange things because Greece, like Bernie Madoff, is just to big to fail, its experience at the hands of Rome a while back to the contrary notwithstanding.

Imagine that. Your RGR and SWHC going up or down based on whether Pappa Papadopalos can borrow enough for another shot of ouzo.

Are we absolutely sure this globalization business is such a good idea? :)