One of the coolest Christmas presents I received this year was a package of five uncleaned coins from Dirty Old Coins.  It’s been a lot of fun to spend the past few days cleaning centuries of dirt and gunk off of them in order to reveal…

well, nothing.  Looks like all of the five coins I received are what are called “slugs”, coins worn so smooth that no detail remains. 

Still, they’re old.  Ancient even.  And being the history buff that I am, it’s pretty neat to hold a little bit of history in your hand. 

The first in an ocassional series.

If dad gives me a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and then forgets to wipe off my face afterwards, I can smear peanut butter all over his sweater and he won’t notice until he gets to work.  Fun!

Okay, I think I’m projecting.  This is probably a life lesson from me.

Guitar Hero 2 has a Spinal Tap song (Tonight I’m Gonna Rock Ya).  How cool is that?  I’ll be able to educate young Andrew in the classics without him even knowing!  Right now he and his friend are playing along to Spinal Tap, and just finished playing something by Motley Crue (Too Young To Fall In Love, I believe). 

Hee hee… my son the metalhead.

The New York Post has a story talking about all of the things  New York City has banned (or tried to) this year.

* Trans-fats.

* Aluminum baseball bats.

* The purchase of tobacco by 18- to 20-year-olds.

* Foie gras.

* Pedicabs in parks.

* New fast-food restaurants (but only in poor neighborhoods).

* Lobbyists from the floor of council chambers.

* Lobbying city agencies after working at the same agency.

* Vehicles in Central and Prospect parks.

* Cell phones in upscale restaurants.

* The sale of pork products made in a processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., because of a unionization dispute.

* Mail-order pharmaceutical plans.

* Candy-flavored cigarettes.

* Gas-station operators adjusting prices more than once daily.

* Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

* Wal-Mart.

Paging Nurse Bloomberg… paging Nurse Bloomberg to City Hall.  So far Twinkies and Ring-Ding’s haven’t been banned yet and the city needs your help!

This is funny.  Apparently Paul Helmke recently made the following statement:

“I absolutely don’t want to do anything to make it harder for the legitimate hunters or gun collectors or anybody who even wants it for personal protection.”

Now Wayne LaPierre’s called him out.  Wonder if Helmke will respond? 

The first in an occasional series. 

If you eat Crayola Color Explosion paper, it turns your face blue.  The good news is it’s non-toxic.  The bad news is it takes awhile for the color to wear off.

My son looks like he’s been eating Smurfs, apparently.  I’ll see if I can get Elaine to send me a picture.

- anything longer than a 15 minute car ride requires a Dramanine for Andrew.  This means you cannot go to Best Buy without dosing him.

- you forgot that Best Buy has “24″ on sale… $19.99 per season.  That means you could have bought two seasons of “24″ for the same price that got you one season of “The Office”.  And no matter how funny “The Office” is… it doesn’t have Jack Bauer.

Here’s hoping your Christmas is filled with laughter, joy, reverance and appreciation.  As a special gift to my family… here’s Catherine playing dress up with a couple of her presents.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good day!

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Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the house

the kids were determined to make their Dad grouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

I have no idea how we fit seven stockings up there.

I in my hoodie, and my ballcap

was in no way going to get a long winter’s nap.

With James helping type, and Catherine trying too

I send this Christmas wish from me to you:

Merry Christmas, and thank you again for visiting the blog. 

I suppose not unheard of, but centered on Midwest City? 

Something tells me McCarville has some explaining to do.

After seeing that Robert Ferrigno (author of Prayers for the Assassin left a comment, I feel bad that I found his book at the local library and didn’t actually buy it. 

I will say that I started reading “Prayers” instead of the Joel C. Rosenberg books that I also found at the library last night, and I’m really enjoying it.  I’m only about six chapters in, but I didn’t start reading ’til close to midnight.  I was doing the whole “watch TV and read at the same time” thing, but that wasn’t working out so well.  Robert, you’ll be happy to know that I turned off the tv so I could concentrate on the book.  I was hoping to pick it up again today but the twins had other plans for me. 

By the way, when I was at the library last night, I had to take a picture of their “new political releases”.  Get a load of these.

and these…

Note the Noam Chomsky.  And my favorite…

“No One Is Illegal”.  Not even the stranger in my home at 3 a.m.? 

And the sad thing is, this is about as conservative as it gets around here, unless I want a two hour commute. 

Anybody else amused by the fact that the “Gun Guys” blog is arguing that the names of right to carry holders should be public while they’re blogging anonymously?

Not that it’s any big secret that the blog is bought and paid for by the Joyce Foundation as part of their funding of the anti-gun group Freedom States Alliance.  I still get a kick out of it. 

And, just for the record, their arguments are nonsensical.  But I’ve addressed that elsewhere.

John at Wiredhub fixed the problem lickety-split, so I think we’re back in business. 

To celebrate… here’s a pic of Andrew, since Kevin said he hadn’t seen him in awhile.

Okay, the hosting company is aware of all the wordpress problems.  Not only can you not leave comments, I can’t see them even if you could.  Hopefully this will get fixed sometime today.

I was going to upload a picture of Andrew… but I can’t even do that!  Bah.  Stupid blog.

Via Uncle, comes word that a writer for the Argus-Leader of South Dakota is trying to justify printing the names of all concealed carry applicants in the state.

Honestly, after reading the piece by Jeff Martin, I still don’t understand the justification.

We print the names of people in the news because that’s our business. Our pact with readers is that we’ll tell them what is going on in Ames and Story County. That means we’ll tell them not only what’s happening at the city council and at Iowa State University, but also who is arrested, who is having babies, who is selling his house (and for how much), who has died (and of what cause). People expect that from us.

If we leave out just one name, just one fact, we have failed in our mission and damaged our credibility.

That’s why we printed those gun permits in Iowa.

It’s the kind of journalism that goes to the heart of the First Amendment.

It was then, and it is now.

Speaking academically, that reason excuse is what we call Bovine Excrement.  Martin says they print the names of people in the news.  You betcha.  Concealed carry permit holders aren’t in the news, unless of course you’re talking about an armed citizen story. 

Martin says they print the name of “who is arrested, who is having babies, who is selling his house, who has died.”  All of those are newsworthy things, to one degree or another.  Is Martin actually trying to argue that someone applying for a concealed carry license in South Dakota is newsworthy?  And keep in mind, the legislature passed a law last session blocking media access to these names.  What Martin is actually stating is that someone who applied for a concealed carry license six months ago is a newsworthy figure.

That’s just crazy.  You might as well publish the names of everyone in the state who went to church last Sunday!

Or maybe you should publish the story about the bank teller who’s having an affair with the underwriter.  Or lets name the people who show up at the gay bar in Grand Rapids on Saturday night! 

There are various reasons why newspapers don’t do these things, of course.  The bottom line is this:  responsible journalists don’t set out to create problems.  They highlight problems.  But no one is suggesting that concealed carry is a problem in South Dakota.  There haven’t been any attempts to repeal it.  Even the bill blocking media access to the names of concealed carry applicants only had four dissenting votes in the state House.  No one thinks this is a problem… except for the Argus-Leader.

So, because Mr. Martin and the Argus-Leader want to show the Legislature that they can play tough, they’re willing to jeopardize the safety of every resident in the state.  See, this doesn’t just affect concealed carry holders.  In fact, I’d say this affects those who don’t carry concealed even more.  Now the bad guys know who’s a target, at least when they’re out on the street. 

The sheer arrogance of Mr. Martin really pisses me off.  I’ll admit it.  I’ve always had an idealist streak in me.  I believe in journalism that can help right wrongs, that stands up for the little guy, that wears the white hat.  When I was a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist.  As soon as I realized that meant years and years and years of school, I decided I wanted to be a journalist.  I still do.  I love my job, but I hate people like Mr. Martin who cheapen my profession. 

There’s no reason at all for the Argus-Leader to publish these names.  It’s not newsworthy, it’s not timely, it’s just mean spirited and small minded. 

Mr. Martin, you should be ashamed.  If all you learned from your big-city boss is to be a bully, that’s a sad legacy for him to leave and he should be ashamed as well. 

First of all, I’m having some problems with WordPress that’s affecting my ability to see any comments that might be in the moderation queue.  I’m working on it, but I don’t know when it’ll be fixed.  Sorry ’bout that.

This post by Glenn reminded me that I haven’t mentioned I bought Orson Scott Card’s Empire. 

I found the first 2/3′rds of it to be pretty good, but the ending left me flat.  It seemed rushed for some reason.  Maybe I was just expecting more of a Harry Turtledove-style trilogy (or octagony as the case may be with Turtledove), but I would have liked to see the plot stretched out for another book. 

I’d also forgotten about Ferrigno’s Prayers for the Assassin, which I’d meant to pick up when it came out.  Might be time to head to Barnes and Noble tonight.  I’m on vacation and I have nothing new to read, which seems like a good excuse to buy a few books… regardless of how soon Christmas will be here.

I seem to recall a series of books that explored similar themes, but for the life of me I can’t think of the name of the author.  Joel Rosenberg sounds familiar, but I know it’s not this Joel Rosenberg… although he’s a great science fiction writer in his own right.

Nevermind.  Found it.  Joel C. Rosenberg.  The Last Jihad.  The Last Days.  The Ezekiel Option.  Woohoo… sequels!  If not Barnes and Noble, I’m at least headed to the local library. 

That’d be Bloomberg, not McCarville.

Bitter has a great offer for those wanting to hold Bloomberg’s feet to the fire.  Just head here for more information.  It’s really a great idea.  Behold the power of the blogosphere.

Otherwise known as “I haven’t posted pictures of the kids lately, so it’s time to get the family off my back”. 

Any time the twins are awake and we’re on the computer… it’s open season.  Here’s Elaine giving up on work in order to amuse the kids with noggin.com.

Yes, she looks thrilled, doesn’t she.

Catherine’s developed something of a hat fixation… even the goofy kind.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to get pictures of James because he’s always moving.  I caught him in a rare moment of quiet repose at dinner tonight.

Yes, I know that it looks like he’s got a mouthful of Skoal.  It’s actually ham and cheese quesadilla. 

And yes, I do know how lucky I am. 

It’s what Wayne LaPierre is saying. 

I’ve talked to a number of attorneys on the show, and none of them can explain to me how it’s legal for someone to go in and lie on the paperwork about who the actual buyer is, regardless of whether or not some civil suit is going to be filed later on. 

I mean, if I knew of a drug house next door and I went over and actually bought meth or cocaine, then sued for damages in civil court, I’ve still bought drugs, haven’t I?  Criminal charges are one thing, but Bloomberg doesn’t appear interested in conducting an actual law enforcement investigation. 

I really look forward to hearing what ATF has to say. 

I take a week of vacation… and I get sick on the first day.  Oh well, at least the audience doesn’t have to put up with me sounding like a sick moose. 

So says the rumors.  I’d like to see him run, because I’m not that thrilled (understatement of the year) from what I’ve seen of McCain and Guiliani to date.

I also find it interesting, because I’ve long thought that Brad Henry would make an excellent vice-presidential candidate for the Democrats.  In fact, I think the veep candidate for the Dems will be a western Democrat governor.  Schweitzer in Montana might have a leg up on Henry, but if the Dems are smart they’ll take a look at Oklahoma’s governor.

Dave Hardy’s new documentary is available for purchase now.  And just in time for Christmas! 

Sorry for the lack of updates.  My wireless connection at home has been very spotty as of late, and it’s just been a frustration to get something posted.  I will persevere, however, especially because this story.

Needham High students no longer will get to see their names in the newspaper when they are placed on the Honor Roll for academic achievement.

High School principal Paul Richards has ended the practice of sending the list to the local media.

In an e-mail to students and parents, Richards said that Needham’s high achievement levels have a dark side, creating a competitive culture among students where grades are compared within groups and argued over with teachers.

It’s not just anti-gun folks that like to blame the inanimate object, is it? 

The local paper has a mealy-mouthed editorial on the issue.  Great headline, pretty sorry op/ed. 

I say this as a guy who made the honor roll a grand total of ONE time in high school.  There’s nothing wrong with kids feeling bad about not doing their best.  In fact, isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?  We’re more concerned with self-esteem than self-reliance these days, and that’s a bad trend. 

Conversely, there’s nothing wrong with praising kids who get good grades.  There’s nothing wrong with rewarding excellence.  Instead, we seem to be satisfied with mediocrity or less these days.  It’s disappointing.

Over at On Tap we’re handing out our end of the year awards.  First category:  Destined for Political Stardom.