Pervasivelight 5.0

…marijuana is a gateway drug to libertarianism.

It was exactly one year ago today, that I rolled into Texas, fittingly enough on Texas independence day.

The American Civil Liberties Union has “always supported explosive detection as a good form of security that doesn’t really invade privacy,” said Jay Stanley, an attorney and privacy expert with the organization.

I have a gun. If someone wants to take issue with my being gay, I can present my own argument.

Just want to wish the two people who still visit regularly a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year

Here’s a pic from Maine a few years ago.

I’ll never miss that white stuff but it sure is pretty.

The Instapundit says “Surprisingly sympathetic treatment from the NYT.”

unfortunately not so sympathetic from the District Attorney…

A law enforcement official said that the district attorney was considering a possible misdemeanor weapons charge against Mr. Augusto, indicating that he did not have a permit for the shotgun.

“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

— Benjamin Franklin

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people’s money.”

—Margaret Thatcher

from the WSJ…

HT to Hsoi for digging up a great story by John Mackey founder of Whole Foods (Austin’s original crunchy granola supermarché)

“It’s free money!” said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.

“Thank God for Obama. He’s looking out for us.”

…

Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards.

We’re doomed.

archived here should the original go down the rabbit hole.

I am convinced that this design will greatly reduce the ability of it to be used to puncture or unlawfully cause stab-like injuries. I would like to encourage the designer to press forward with this product, as I genuinely believe it can reduce both accidental harm within the kitchen and stab-like injuries in general.

Detective Inspector Mark Clarkson. MPS Anti – Knife Crime Unit “Operation Blunt” Violent Crime Directorate. TPHQ

What the hell is he talking about you ask?
Continue reading ‘quote of the day’

As a result of the bag search, a variety of suspicious items were found.

I’m gonna guess a bottle of water and a fingernail clipper. Am I right?! Am I right?!

And, no, the fact that the guy detained was in fact a baddie doesn’t make me hate the TSA any less.

aah the joys of the coming police state.

US Customs agent #1: What’s in the box? What kind of camera? How much did it cost? Do you have paperwork for it? I could seize it you know. Make you pay a duty on it. Certificate of origin. Blah Blah Blah. Check the box for commercial merchandise. I’m doing you a favor by letting you in.

Me: … (remember don’t talk to the police).

US Customs agent #2: Form please.

Me: I was told to check the commercial merchandise box…

US Customs agent #2: By who? Number 17? She’s a moron. <quotes seemingly random string of numbers and letters> Tools of the trade.

Me: Thanks, I’ll remember that. <smile>

Can anyone tell me why Canadian immigration officers sitting behind a desk in the secure zone of an international airport would need to wear bullet proof vests and?

Also, if you feel the need to tell me three times (without prompting) that I have NOT been singled out for harrassment, the odds are good that I HAVE been.

despite it being dis-proven again and again and again the “Evil guns from teh United States are taking over Mexico” story persist.

A bill by state Rep. Leo Berman exempting Texas-made firearms, gun accessories and ammunition sold within the state from federal regulation and law — including registration — was heard in a House committee on Monday.

The bill also provides for the Texas Attorney General’s office to defend Texans who run afoul of the federal government because of this law.

“Under the 9th and 10th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, states have responsibility for regulating intrastate commerce,” Berman said. “The federal government has no role.”

Ian Tomlinson was attacked from behind by a police officer during the G20 demonstrations in London

More information here

and here

Just got back from the Austin, TX Tax Day Tea Party (My very first protest. WOOT!)

Crowd was around 5,000.

gallery of photos below

poster win!

Another one of those DHS ‘Right Wing Radicals‘.

More info directly from the Governor

From USA today

A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

Workers with dwindling wages are paying for groceries, yoga classes and fuel with Detroit Cheers, Ithaca Hours in New York, Plenty in North Carolina or BerkShares in Massachusetts.

Ed Collom, a University of Southern Maine sociologist who has studied local currencies, says they encourage people to buy locally. Merchants, hurting because customers have cut back on spending, benefit as consumers spend the local cash.

From the Washington Post in 2006

Norfed struck the first gold- and silver-backed coins — which, to avoid charges of making its own money it calls “rounds” — in 1998 at its private mint in Idaho. Today the group claims to have more than $20 million in Liberty coins and notes in circulation, and about 2,500 merchants who accept Liberty Dollars for goods and services from doughnuts to tattoos.

But there’s a potentially more sinister side to all this. A 1999 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center calls Norfed a far-right anti-government group that has “long claimed that American dollars are . . . part of a vast conspiracy by international bankers to defraud the rest of the world.” The center links some Norfed devotees to far-right hate groups.

There’s your hopey changey right there.