:: walterindenver ::

:: Thursday, October 24, 2002 ::

Gun Control at Work

Turns out that our alleged sniper owned guns illegally. From CNN:

Authorities said he was under a restraining order in a domestic abuse case at the time which would bar him from owning any gun.

I could wait anxiously for gun control advocates to learn a valuable lesson here, but experience tells me that their ideology trumps logic.

:: Walter 3:35 PM [+] ::
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Blogger Pro

I upgraded to the pay Blogger service a couple of days ago. Since then, my archives have disappeared, along with a longer post on Oct. 14th. Help!

:: Walter 6:48 AM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day

Today's winning letter to the editor appears in the Houston Chronicle, courtesy of Anne Sanders. She writes:

I read the Chronicle's Oct. 18 article several times on the replacement of punch cards with electronic voting machines and the instructions on voting machines. I hope that Harris County officials realize how many people in this county have never used an electronic machine in their life.
If people think there were problems before when people had trouble punching a hole through the paper vote, just wait until this election is over.

Electronic voting machines, for those of you who've never used one, are about as hard to use as light switches. Do we really want to have people voting who can't understand how to press a button?

Then again, that does explain how many politicians get elected.

:: Walter 8:59 PM [+] ::
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How Not to Waste Your Vote

Ed Quillen's column in yesterday's Denver Post discusses minor party candidates:

There are a few office-holders in Colorado who belong to minor parties, but only two come to mind who were elected in partisan races, and they're both in San Miguel County, where Sheriff Bill Masters is a Libertarian and one county commissioner, Art Goodtimes, is a Green.
Both initially took office as major-party candidates, though - Masters as a Republican and Goodtimes as a Democrat - then changed affiliations before re-election.
Masters, as you might expect, is a strong critic of the War on Drugs. When he spoke at the state Libertarian convention in Leadville last May, he pointed out that the Drug War is a gross invasion of our privacy and other civil rights. He also explained that, from a law-enforcement perspective, it diverts resources from real threats to our peace and safety just to lock up people who aren't hurting anybody except, perhaps, themselves.
Greens have a reputation for being in favor of more governmental regulation, so I was somewhat surprised at the reply from Art Goodtimes a couple of years ago when he was running for re-election. I asked what his major accomplishment in his first term was, and he said it was eliminating most building and zoning codes in the west part of the county, his district.
"Around Telluride, we need them," he said. "But it's basically big farms and ranches out on my end, and we don't need the rules. So why have them?"
Sensible attitudes like those of Goodtimes and Masters could get more minor-party candidates elected, which would be a blessing in itself. But minor parties are important for another reason - they do the thinking for the major parties....
Whenever I announce my intention to vote for a minor-party candidate, I am invariably told that "you're throwing away your vote." But if there are things you care about, then a vote for a third-party candidate is hardly wasted. It's actually the best way to get the attention of the major parties.

Quillen is an eccentric fellow who lives in a small mountain town in Colorado and writes a regular column in the Post. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the state Libertarian convention this year. He's always entertaining and sometimes even correct.
It's worth clicking on the link to this article just to see his picture. That's what he looks like when he's cleaned up.

:: Walter 5:19 PM [+] ::
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ILTE of the Day

The El Paso (TX) Times carried this letter today, from Keith Walker of West El Paso.

I would like to respond to Steve Smith's letter, accusing President Bush of blundering.
I guess Smith thinks we should stand by and wait for another attack on our country from dictators who hated us long before the president was elected....
Smith provides more rhetoric from a party with sore losers who are still smarting over the presidential election.
Smith needs to start watching the Fox news station so that he can become more informed about what's going on in the world today.

Ah, yes, Fox News. Television is the answer. Granted, Fox is a different, and welcome viewpoint, but is that the first choice for building a well rounded view of the world? Literacy, anyone?

:: Walter 9:21 PM [+] ::
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Global Warming

The question isn't so much if warming is happening, but if that warming is caused by humans or other factors. I don't know if War Liberal understands this.

:: Walter 8:44 PM [+] ::
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Timely

Instapundit linked this morning to the archery story found here last Friday. Folks, if you want to keep up with the really important stories you have to visit Walter in Denver regularly.

:: Walter 9:44 AM [+] ::
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