Hutchinson, Kansas is dropping its ban on concealed carry in local parks.
Good to see some common sense every once in a while.
A bird’s eye view of an incoming snow storm. That’s pretty cool.
I haven’t been putting the Deal of the Day stories on the blog, but I’m going to start trying. Today’s Deal of the Day comes from Decatur, IL.
Seventeen-year-old Terrell A. Adams was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison on his guilty plea last month to one count of armed robbery for the Jan. 30 holdup of the Hard Hat Inn, 1464 E. William St.
Adams was 16, a freshman at Eisenhower High School and on juvenile probation when he held up the tavern three times between Oct. 31, 2005, and Jan. 30, 2006.
Macon County State’s Attorney Jack Ahola asked Associate Judge James Coryell to sentence Adams to 20 years in prison, noting, “I’m not sure he can ever be rehabilitated.”
Defense attorney Chris Bradley asked for the minimum sentence of six years for the Class X felony, noting that Adams had been a big help at home to his grandmother and, with the exception of the robberies, had followed the rules of his juvenile probation.
I love that last line. Besides the armed robberies, he didn’t violate his parole, Your Honor!
And the ten year sentence isn’t a ten year sentence. From the story:
Ahola said Adams can receive day-for-day good time in prison. With the 360 days he already has served in the county jail, Adams could be out on parole in less than four years.
Prosecution asks for 20 years, he’ll be out in four. Oh goody.
Today’s a big day for me. The new NRA Gateway page has launched, and I think it looks pretty great. You can check it out by going to any of the NRA pages. If you want to get to NRAHQ or any of the other NRA sites, just click the blue box in the middle of the gateway page and you’re there. In the meantime though, I hope you check out some of the archive stuff, especially the new stuff from SCI.
and huntin’. Man, the SCI show is pretty neat. I can’t afford 75% of the stuff exhibited here, but it’s still a very cool show. Getting to meet Tom Selleck for the first time yesterday was a cool experience, and we’re working on getting a few more of the celebrities that are here on the show… including a former Boston Red Sox pitcher.
I’m amazed at the number of outfitters and guides that are here as well. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they could help you hunt in almost any country in the world. I spent a few minutes talking with one of the Scottish outfitters yesterday. How fun would it be to head into the Highlands to do a little hunting? I might have to start saving up.
Whew. Where to begin?
-Missed my flight out of Washington this morning, so I was two hours late getting to Boston.
-Love the folks at Enterprise Rent-a-Car. LOVE them. They were quick, extra nice, and even gave me a free upgrade.
-I thought driving up to Bangor and back in a day wouldn’t be bad. And honestly, it wouldn’t have been… except for the &*(!# snowstorm that kicked in about thirty miles into my drive back to Boston. Ever drive 190 miles into a snowstorm at night? Not fun. I feel like my eyeballs are going to pop at any moment.
-I really have some work to do, but good golly it’s been a long day.
-I’m also really glad I went. As soon as I stepped in the door, I knew it was where I was supposed to be today. My brother was loved, and that was obvious by the number of people who came to pay their respects and celebrate his life.
So tomorrow morning it’s back on a plane to D.C., and then on to the studio to do the show. Then it’s off to Reno for the SCI convention on Thursday and Friday. Good thing I’m already bald, or I’d really be pulling my hair out.
Oh, and OldeForce… I’m picking the Colts, just so they’ll lose.
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Okay, so I’m officially pulling for both underdogs in today’s conference championship games. I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the Saints ever since I did sports-talk radio many years ago and my producer Ken lived and died for the Saints. For you, Kenny, I will be cheering on Drew Brees, Reggie Bush, and the rest of the Saints as they take on the Bears. May Rex Grossman look like… well, Rex Grossman.
I’m a little nervous about the Pats/Colts game, but I still think my beloved Patriots can pull it out. Just don’t let it come down to a last second field goal for Vinatieri.
Or nefarious. From Marshall:
Yesterday, Democratic House Leader Steny Hoyer introduced a proposed change to House rules that would allow Delegates and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to vote on the floor of the House.
Delegates and the Resident Commissioner represent U.S. territories and other possessions in the House. There are five: one delegate each from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and Guam, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico.
Needless to say, four of the five are Democrats.
Under House rules, delegates and the Resident Commissioner are currently allowed to cast votes in House Committees. (A practice that I believe is also contrary to the Constitution.) At present, they are not allowed to cast votes on the floor.
If the Democrats get their way, that will soon change.
The Democrats can violate this clear Constitutional instruction owing to a quirk in the manner that the House usually does its business. When the House considers legislation on the floor, it usually refashions itself as the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union.
Hoyer’s rule change would allow the delegates and the Resident Commission to cast votes in the Committee of the Whole, as it is usually called.
This isn’t the first time the Democrats have done this. They pushed through a similar rules change in 1993. The Republican majority removed it in 1995.
But the reaction to the 1993 effort is enlightening. The New York Times said about the proposal, “This maneuver is nothing but shameless political tyranny.”
The Chicago Tribune opined that, “This amounts to a blatant end-run around the Constitution, which allows full voting status only to the representatives of the states.”
USA Today warned, “House Democrats, always eager to grab more power, are expected to open Congress’s new year Tuesday by making an end run around the Constitution.”
Hoyer’s proposal will likely be brought to a vote sometime in the next few days.
Marshall suggests calling the freshmen Democrats and asking if they’ll support the Constitution.
All,
I apologize, because there’s probably not going to be a lot of updating on the blogs for the next few days. My oldest brother passed away on Thursday night, and I’m heading up to Maine for the service on Monday. I’ll be back Tuesday afternoon, and then it’s off to Reno on Wednesday for the SCI Convention.
But I’ll try to chime in here as often as I can. Feel free to check out On Tap while I’m gone. I’m sure Jim and Marshall will entertain you.
Good news for bloggers.
Recently, I mentioned the book “Prayers for the Assassin” on the blog, and was shocked to see the author respond in a comment.
I emailed Robert Ferrigno afterwards to thank him, and asked if he’d be willing to answer a few questions about the book. Despite being on deadline for his sequel, he was gracious enough to do so. Before I get to the interview, a little background on the book, taken from Publishers Weekly:
Taking post-9/11 conspiracy theories that blamed the attacks on Zionist agents as the seed for this unusual thriller, Ferrigno (The Wake-Up) posits a nuclear terrorist onslaught in 2015 on New York City, Washington, D.C., and Mecca that has all the earmarks of a Mossad operation. The blue states are moved by these horrors to convert to Islam, while the red states break away from the Islamic Republic, forming a Christian republic in the South. By 2040, three major parties struggle for control in the Islamic Republic: the moderate State Security forces, under Redbeard; the Black Robes, a fundamentalist religious police force; and the top-secret Assassins, under the Old One. When Sarah Dougan, Redbeard’s niece and a respected historian, reinvestigates the 2015 attack for a new book, The Zionist Betrayal?, the Old One sics his deadliest assassin on her. Running from Seattle to Vegas, Sarah has a protector in her lover, an ex-fedayeen soldier named Rakkim Epps, whose agnostic POV anchors the novel. Fans of instapundit politics will love this thriller, which has the cinematic motion and atrocity F/X of a good airport read. However, Ferrigno’s gimmick—the transformation of America into a cartoon version of Islam—lends the proceedings a damaging air of implausibility.
If it’s a gimmick, it’s a good one. When I read fiction, I want to be entertained… and “Prayers” entertained me a great deal. I’d strongly recommend the book to anyone who likes a good thriller/alternate history tale.
Without further ado, here’s the interview with Robert Ferrigno:
Cam: It seems like the Islamic Republic has elements from different Muslim
societies. On the surface, it would appear to have much in common with
Turkey, with the addition of the religious police that we see in more
strict Islamic cultures. Was there one country that was the inspiration for
the Islamic Republic?
Robert Ferrigno: I see the US, like many countries that “adopt” Islam, as altering the faith to fit the people and their pre-existing society. ie, the Nigerian version
of Islam draws heavily on the animism that previously was the dominant
religion. Nigerian Catholicism also was altered this same way. (it should be
noted that some Nigerian imams are trying to introduce shar’ia law, but with
varying degrees of success.
My vision of an Islamic America is probably most closely modeled after Iran
during the time of the Shah. Islam was dominant but it wasn’t the strict
Wahabism of Saudi Arabia, but Shia Islam, which prior to the Ayatollah
Khomenai, was more liberal and tolerant. Women had more freedom in terms of
dress and education, and lovers could still hold hands in the street, The
tension in Prayers comes through the fact that the nation is in a state of
flux, from a more tolerant Islam to a more fundamentalist Islam.
Cam: There are a few references to Osama bin Ladin in the book, but you never
really detail what happened to him. In the world of “Prayers”,what ever
happened to OBL?
Robert Ferrigno: He has disappeared. No body, no reports of his death, no video howdys. He
actually gains power through this mystery and becomes linked to the “Hidden
Imam” of Shia theology, the 12th Imam who disappeared in 874 AD, and is roughly analgous to a Muslim messiah who
is believed by the faithful to return to earth during the end times. Iranian
President Ahmadinejad is a strong believer in the Hidden Imam, which
promises to make the next few years very interesting.
Cam: What has been the reaction of the book from the Islamic community, both
here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world?
Robert Ferrigno: I have been very surprised so far. Muslims have been very positive about the
book. One of my first foreign sales was to a very large publisher in Turkey.
The book has been bought by many countries, most with some substantial
Islamic population, ie Turkey, Thailand, Romania, Hungary and Russia and
Egypt. I’ve gotten many emails from Muslims from around the world, all of
them favorable. I think it’s because I respect faith and Muslims are true to
their faith, something I can not say for the watery Christianity that
permeates Western culture. That’s really the rationale behind Prayers, that
when two civilizations are locked in a decades long conflict, the
civiliztion that will win is the one with the stronger faith and will, not
the stronger weapons..Recent events have only made me more certain of this.
What did surprise me was the reaction to many in the West to the book. My
original US publisher rejected the manuscript, France and Germany and Italy,
where publishers had bought all eight previous crime novels rejected the
book, citing their fear of political and physical reprecussions. Almost all
of my books have been optioned by Hollywood film studios. They ran from
Prayers as though persued by a ravening beast. kind of funny. I wrote about
this on my blog.
Robert’s blog, by the way, can be found at http://www.prayersfortheassassin.com/robertsblog/.
Also, the paperback version of “Prayers” (which is out now) also includes the first two chapters of the sequel. I have so far resisted the urge to read them, because I will then be annoyed at having to wait until the sequel’s actually published. 
Wonder how long of a commute I’d have if I lived in Delaware. I am NOT happy about this.
It could be worse, I suppose, but doesn’t some party have to be against raising taxes?
He says it’s Charlie Rangel.
Gag.
Hmm… I seem to notice a topic missing from National Review’s Conservative Summit.
Maybe the 2nd Amendment really is starting to be seen as a bi-partisan issue. Either that or the folks at NR see it as a settled issue (and if that’s the case, I’d have to respectfully disagree).
Oh, and what’s up with this?
Debates on the war in Iraq, the role of the Religious Right, immigration, and energy policy; panels on foreign policy, social issues, domestic policy, small government, and quotas, blacks, and the GOP.
I’m fairly sure that the discussion is on “quotas, blacks, and the GOP”, but it took me a minute to read it that way. Someone call out the grammar police before NR’s accused of just having a panel on Black Folk in the 21st Century.
Update
Jim responds to this post at On Tap. I think Jim’s a little grouchy, because he’s “taking me to the woodshed” for noting that the 2nd amendment is nowhere to be found at the summit. I did offer a couple of explanations as to why that might be, but Jim’s thrown down the gauntlet by suggesting that it’s simply not important enough. At least, not as important as a cage match between Ralph Reed and Ryan Sager that will once and for all settle the debate between religious conservatives and libertarian-minded conservatives.
Normally the twins take about a three hour nap, which would have given me plenty of time to watch last night’s “24″. But nooooo, not today. Today they decided to wake up with about 40 minutes left, so it’ll be tomorrow before I find out what happens.
Bah. At least they’re in a cute and happy mood… but I gotta tell you, “Go Diego Go” is no “24″.
Awesome news from Wayne. There’s one less mayor in Bloomberg’s anti-gun coalition.
Not “24″ Questions, I guess… but questions about “24″. Is it just me, or did the dialogue last night seem kinda weak? Both Elaine and I noticed they were really pounding the “Boy, the president sure gave up a lot to get Jack released” plotline. I think three characters mentioned this in about five minutes.
Also, where’d the terrorists get the key to Jack’s handcuffs?
And last but not least, the guy who played the contractor that wanted to beat up Ahmed seemed really familiar, but I can’t place his name. Any ideas?
The search for a missing child ends successfully when police find him AND another child who’s been missing since 2002.
The story is here.
May the mutant who did this rot in hell, and may the media show SOME restraint in letting these families reunite in relative peace before they swoop down like vultures.
There’s so much to see and do at the SHOT Show, there’s no way I could see it all. Here’s a pic of about 1/5th of the convention floor.
On the show today, the latest offerings from S & W, Beretta, Springfield Armory, Savage Arms, Daisy, and Sig… plus a lot more.
Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days. Farrah’s been in town and we’ve been hanging out. Now I’m getting ready to head to Orlando, site of the 2007 SHOT Show!
Beginning tomorrow, we’ll be broadcasting live from the SHOT Show at a special time. Log on to NRAnews.com at noon Eastern for a special live broadcast on Thursday and Friday. We’ll be replaying the broadcast online and on Sirius Patriot 144 at our normal show time of 9 p.m. Eastern as well.
This is my first SHOT Show, and I’m really excited. Hoping to meet Chris Muir of Day by Day fame while I’m down there (he’s a guest of one of the firearms manufacturers), getting to see all the new guns and gear that aren’t out yet.. Glenn can have the Consumer Electronic Show. I’m glad I’m going to SHOT.
Looks like chefs in Chicago aren’t afraid of the foie gras ban. Good for them, I say.
There’s apparently a new movement calling for babies to be potty-trained shortly after they’re born. It’s called Elimination Communication, and the advocates believe it’s not right for babies to sit in wet or dirty diapers.
Where’s this taking place? New York City, of course. Surprisingly, there’s no mention of Mayor Bloomberg in all this. I guess he wants us all to be a bunch of babies.
lock the library from 2:45 to 5 pm on week days, reports the New York Times. Librarians complain some students “fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, scrawl graffiti on the walls, talk back to librarians or refuse to leave when asked.” On average, they call police twice a day to deal with students.
What. The. Hell? What are these parents doing when informed about their child’s behavior? I know when we’ve gotten calls from Harrison’s school about him disrupting class (which happens far too often for my liking… usually once every couple of years), there are some consequences. Are the parents just ignoring this behavior?
Joanne also notes the Fairfax County Library System is getting rid of classics, while keeping newer books on the shelf. I confess, I haven’t checked out any classics from the Fairfax County Library System since I moved here in ‘04. Then again, I have many of them on the shelf at home. The other day Harrison came home and said he needed a copy of “Lord of the Flies” for English class. It took Elaine ten seconds to go to the bookcase, grab the book and give it to Harrison.
I typically use our local library to get books that I know don’t have a long shelf-life (most political books, for instance, I check out rather than buy). I’ll also peruse the new release section for books by authors that I haven’t heard of before. I’ll check out a book, and if I like the author, I’ll usually go to Barnes and Noble and buy one or two of their other books.
I understand the desire to have the classics on the shelf, but if they’re not being read, then it’s kind of a waste of space, isn’t it? Miller’s assertion that:
If public libraries attempt to compete in this environment, they will increasingly be seen for what Fairfax County apparently envisions them to be: welfare programs for middle-class readers who would rather borrow Nelson DeMille’s newest potboiler than spend a few dollars for it at their local Wal-Mart.
Instead of embracing this doomed model, libraries might seek to differentiate themselves among the many options readers now have, using a good dictionary as the model. Such a dictionary doesn’t merely describe the words of a language–it provides proper spelling, pronunciation and usage. New words come in and old ones go out, but a reliable lexicon becomes a foundation of linguistic stability and coherence. Likewise, libraries should seek to shore up the culture against the eroding force of trends.
Of course, that means that fewer people will actually use the library, but never-you-mind. Maybe I’m just one of those middle-class readers on “library welfare”, but I like the fact that I can find stuff there that I don’t have at home.
From The News-Leader in Virginia.