Arm the Iowa Hawkeyes

A Fort Madison Democrat by the name of Gene Fraise is the new chairman of the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee. Among other things,  this means he's the crisp-suited critter who can pretty much decide what public safety matters the other 49 senators can and can not vote on.

One proposal would amend the state Constitution to recognize the right to  use arms for  personal defense and, perhaps, depending on final wording, defense of your property.

Senator Fraise finds this chilling.  "I've always felt like we've got to be real careful about what we start sticking into the constitution," he said.

Danged straight, Senator. For instance, sticking all that stuff about freedom of speech and privacy rights and what-all into constitutions has caused all sorts of inconvenience for senators and presidents and so forth. It makes the proles uppity.

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Adding a 2A style amendment to the Iowa Constitution is part of the liberty wish list for the 2011 session. The askings include a move to adopt the Alaska/Arizona/Vermont philosophy. (By what right does a state have any business whatsoever hamstringing a right guaranteed by the federal Constitution?) 


Never mind, says Senator Fraise. "At first blush, I'd say I don't think we want to go down that road, but I'm open to looking at it, with reservations."  Translation:  "Not a  prayer, John Q.  Any such thing gets lost  in my blushing drawers."

Another proposal would forbid cities  to water down Iowa's new shall-issue law by restricting concealed or open carry in parks and public buildings. That gets city commissars nervous. For instance, Keokuk Police Chief Thomas Crew said "the last thing his city needs is irritable people openly carrying weapons when paying their parking tickets or handling other city business."

May I make a constructive suggestion, here, Chief? Thank you. Stop doing so much petty crap that tends to make so many of your subjects irritable.

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It's early in the lawmaking circus, so I of course have no idea how all this will end. But the GOP -- pretty libertarian on gun rights, if on little else -- recaptured the house, 60-40, and closed the senate Democrats gap to 24-26.

And Republicans in the upper house are led by a fellow whose sentiments are not in doubt.

"Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton", ... bought his wife a .38-caliber gun for their wedding anniversary.

Shaking Hands with Admiral Beaufort

(Or, "Where's the Furshlugginer St. Bernard When you Need Him?")

The century-old burr oaks shimmy in the wind.  I cannot see the  road some 250 feet away.

It is timely, therefore,  to think of the admiral's classification of winds. As the Camp J day progresses, we'll work our way up the scale.

First, Force 7:  Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind.

Then, Force 9:  Some branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over. Construction/temporary signs and barricades blow over.

(Those are the land conditions. For a further journey into mortal fear,  see the link for parallel effects asea.)

The six inches of snow today will add to the merriment as we progress toward a predicted low of minus 15.

If you care to have your sympathy further elicited, see it live.

Theocracy 101

The Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning may have been freed due to pressure from the slightly more civilized world, according to AFP and  the Vancouver Sun.

She was convicted of two crimes, involvement in her husband's slaying and sleeping around. The murder charge finally brought a 10-year prison sentence, but letting strange hands and whatever creep up under her abaya generated the death-by-stoning decree.

I submit that is all we need to know about governments which claim to have God's unlisted number on speed dial.

In Praise of Matt Dunham, AP photographer

I can't recommend highly enough that you look at Mr. Dunham's photo of Charles and Camilla under seige.   A less staid editor would have captioned it, "The Duchess needs fresh stepins."

This one will win prizes, and I'll give odds on it taking the Pulitzer in spot news photography.

His other riot shots aren't bad, either.