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Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Happy Caturday, chums! (I’m sure you’re sharked, sharked to find that punning is going on here.)

you on probation, son photo youonprobationson_zps00f5cdea.jpg

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Good morning and rain on the way!

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Once again, stupidity reigns in California:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/california-652651-law-microstamping.html

“California’s sales ban on new semiautomatic handguns that don’t stamp identifying information on the cartridge when a bullet is fired was upheld by a federal judge.”

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

Lovely.

The law doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment because gun owners don’t have a right to specific types of firearms, U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento said in her ruling.

“Plaintiffs insist they have the right to determine the precise way in which they would exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Mueller said. The insistence upon particular handguns falls “outside the scope of the right to bear arms,” she said.

I guess the “shall not be infringed” part of the Second doesn’t mean what it clearly says. But then, I’m just an ign’ant clod who lives in flyover country.

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Hai, Sven!

Jim and the guys are scrambling to attempt mitigation of a pretty bad condo leak (broken drain pipe or coupling which we’re not responsible for) on a building we roofed 11.5 years ago.

Due to a number of unfortunate factors, they didn’t call us when this leak first evidenced itself, which is too bad as we would have properly diagnosed the cause at that time. Instead, they had someone else do a half-assed repair which didn’t address the actual issue. And it got much worse.

With a bit of luck, we can fix it before there’s any significant precipitation today, as we have to open up the roof deck (meaning there’s no roof whatsoever in the repair area until the plumbing’s fixed and the roof is resealed).

If not, we’ll do a rather haphazard emergency repair by temporarily sealing the drain, which will cause water to accumulate in that area of the roof and has the potential of causing other problems.

It’s pulse-pounding, heart-racing fun!!1!

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Go get ’em, Fatwa!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist
Reply to  Just Sven

Heh. There’s not much I can contribute to the effort except as a communications nexus. I’m like the roofing equivalent of The Control Voice on “The Outer Limits”.

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

This morning I woke up to the Tubes White Punks on Dope echoing in my head.

We’re white punks on dope
Mom & Dad live in Hollywood
Hang myself when I get enough rope

I think when I go to sleep, some govt agency is transmitting songs into my brain. Bastards. As long as they don’t start beaming in rap or hip hop or any Beatles tunes…

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

I rather liked The Tubes for their quirks and social critique.

Hope the gummint doesn’t start beaming any Bubblegum or Disco, either.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

Happy Caturday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Sven and Fatwa!

In re: California’s latest 2nd Amendment stupidity, I quote from the majority opinion in Heller:

Just as the First Amendment protects modern forms of communications, e.g. , Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U. S. 844, 849 (1997), and the Fourth Amendment applies to modern forms of search, e.g., Kyllo v. United States, 533 U. S. 27, 35–36 (2001), the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.

Seems pretty clear to me, but then again, I’m just another subject of the King.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  Mac

By jove, I think he’s got it!

Fatwa Arbuckle: Misanthropologist

Hai, Paddy and Mac!

Seems pretty clear we’re all subjects of the King; our Congress doesn’t even qualify as jesters at this point, since they dasn’t dare criticize His Royal Heinous.

THE KING IS A FINK!

“An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.” -- Thomas Jefferson

It is beyond doubt that’s what we currently have.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  Mac

There has been talk about just such a thing for many years now. Once the technology becomes more reliable, I see CA jumping on that bandwagon, too.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

Hai, Mac!
I hope you and Little Mouse are staying safe and warm.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

I’m reading through the majority opinion in Heller (a thorough fisking of every anti-gun argument you’ve ever heard and a slap-down to the justices making those arguments) and I was surprised to see a reference to United States v. Miller and the holding that certain weapons could be regulated if they were “not part of the ordinary military equipment or…could contribute to the common defense.”

Miller informs us that, contrary to the arguments of the gun-banners, the 2nd Amendment specifically protects weapons designed for use by the military and only allows regulation of sporting arms, not the other way ’round.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

The majority opinion in Heller takes notice of the fact that Miller could be read to invalidate the NFA’s restrictions on machine guns, then indulges in a bit of circular logic to explain why this is not so (members of the militia assembled bearing arms supplied by themselves and in common use at the time. Machine guns are useful to a militia, but since they are not commonly in use by civilians [due to regulation], they may be regulated).

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  Mac

The majority opinion in Heller made clear that the 2nd Amendment included the right to fight our government, but then, as if realizing the implications of what they were saying, concocted reasons why it was acceptable to regulate the use of military arms.

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

The Miller case is very interesting and the fact that its opinion is quite short, like 2 pages if I recall, it’s easy to read.

And the thing about Miller is that only the govt presented its case before the Supreme Court. Miller’s attorney could not find him, Miller being already dead at the time, and without a client he opted not to present a case in part because of the strong ruling in their favor at the lower court level.

Regarding microstamping in CA and the recent ruling, the lead attorney is Alan Gura who won both Heller and McDonald before the SCOTUS. Expect an appeal upwards.

Just Sven
Editor
9 years ago

Filled my truck up this morning. Gasoline prices have risen close to a dollar a gallon in the past month with increases occurring almost nightly. Part of that is blamed on the summer blend of gas; some it is blamed on a refinery explosion; and then there’s this new save-the-planet- greenhouse gas tax thing that Arnold, the asshole, signed into law. Schwarzenegger is also the asshole that signed the microstamping law.

As bad as Jerry Brown is, Arnold was probably worse.

Anyhow, low gas prices were nice for the couple of months they were around.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago
Reply to  Just Sven

The local newspaper had an article this morning that talked about the $0.60 per gallon increase since 1/30, but when I look at the average price per gallon for my county I find that it was $2.43 on 1/30 and it’s $3.46 now. That’s a $1.03 increase in less than 30 days -- 66% more than in the article!

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
9 years ago

If I look at the price charged at my very-lowest-price-I-can-find-somewhere-along-my-regular-route station, gas has gone up $1.10/gal in less than a month.