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Walter rubs two sticks together, makes blog
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:: Saturday, May 31, 2003 ::

More New Reading

A readable lefty blog, Badattitudes Journal. The author is a former newspaper reporter, but he seems to be able write pretty well anyway.
While politically I don't find right-wingers any more palatable than lefties, I have a hard time finding lefty blogs worth reading. I'm still trying to put my finger on why the left-wing blogs annoy me so. Blogs listed on the left side of this page include some notable exceptions.

:: Walter 10:15 PM [+] ::
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:: Friday, May 30, 2003 ::
Walking the Talk

Pamela White, editor of the Boulder Weekly, wrote a story last August describing her own harrowing experience of being at home when two would-be rapists broke in, armed with knives. She called the police, and she was very fortunate that they made it in time to save her.
After pondering the incident for a decade, she wonders what might have happened if she were in possession of a firearm that night.

"If I'd had a gun, I'd have shot them both in the face," I told Gary.
I visualized myself doing just that-holding the gun, firing at the filthy, leering smirk on the men's faces, watching their heads split like melons.
Not long after the break-in, I shared those thoughts with a former professor of mine, now a friend and mentor.
"If I'd have had a gun, I'd have shot both," I told her.
While sympathetic and full of compassion, she wasn't impressed, so I explained further.
"I would be better for me to kill them then let them attack me."
Her response, to the best of my recollection, was this: "Certainly it would be horrible if they had done what they wanted to do, but if you had shot them it could have cost you your soul."


[long snip]

The nightmares have ended, as has the fear of being alone. The desire to buy a gun passed long ago. But I've never written about the handgun issue because in so many ways I'm a fence-sitter.
If someone tried to break into my house again, I'd probably still call the guys who pack heat for a living. I won't carry a gun. I let them carry one for me. Second Amendment supporters would say that makes me a hypocrite or even unpatriotic.


She writes much more concerning the spiritual reasons she wouldn't use a gun.

Ari Armstrong, of the Colorado Freedom report and contributor to the Boulder Weekly, thought she had an unreasonable fear of guns and of using them for self defense. He challenged her to learn more by taking a firearms self defense course.
She took him up on the dare. It was an emotionally challenging event for her, and she writes of her experience in this week's Boulder Weekly:

Ari tells me he hopes two things will come out of this weekend. He hopes first of all to demystify guns so that I come to see them as tools, as opposed to little metallic monsters, the embodiment of violence and evil. He also hopes to combat stereotypes I might have about people whom we in Boulder might simply call "gun nuts."

I won't tell you how it turned out. You'll have to read the article.


:: Walter 2:43 PM [+] ::
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:: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 ::
In the News

"Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he would be
willing to serve another term. Greenspan went on to say,
'Where else would I get a job in this economy?'"
--Conan O'Brien

:: Walter 9:33 PM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 ::
Drug War Talk

This post over at Talkleft generated an interesting debate in the comments section. The post concerns the Harlem no-knock drug raid that resulted in the death of an innocent woman. (I discussed that incident here)

Poster Cliff comments on the post on this blog:

Walter - Yes, good to know that there have been 19 screw-ups. How many were successful though? Like with cat food, you have to know the overall effect.
For example, I HATE DUI roadblocks. The courts have said that they are constitutional (depending on your state and how they're done) but I have to admit that the statistics show that they cut down on DUI related accidents and fatalities admirably.
As for the 'no one is endangered by drugs' argument, well, let's just say that though I basically agree with you, that's simply not how the law is written so it's not an effective argument.


To which I responded:

In the context of the war on drugs, no knock raids are a failure almost every time. I say 'almost' since there is a chance a raid will accidentally net an actual criminal, such as a murderer or burglar. Even when they go as planned they only contribute to the violence and elevated crime rate that drug prohibition brings us. So those nineteen dead were killed needlessly, really worse than needlessly. And that number is only a very imprecise count of one small category of drug war victims.

Cliff's rebuttal:

I already said I agreed with you on the drug laws. But you're simply not supplying any numbers, just a fair amount of emotion and some well crafted words.

Well crafted! You're too kind. Really. But you've mistaken my remarks as an analysis of the efficacy of no-knock raids. I don't care if they are effective in catching drug dealers. I'm discussing morality. And morally, I find it unjustifiable if one person is killed in the pursuit of a useless drug war.
I think it's telling that you use the DUI roadblock programs as an example of useful law enforcement techniques. Even if they do cut down on DUI cases, (and I tend to believe the decrease is because of a better informed public rather than roadblocks) they are still an egregious violation of the plain language of the fourth amendment, muddle-headed court rulings notwithstanding. Citing them as an example of good law enforcement is sort of like saying, 'Mussolini wasn't so hot, but he got the trains to run on time!'

As for drugs being a danger to people, I never said otherwise. Pretty much anything is a danger to someone, and illegal drugs are no exception.


:: Walter 9:19 PM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, May 25, 2003 ::
Here Ya Go

People seem to want an analysis of Annika Sorenstam's performance at the Colonial PGA event. I have to say it went about like I suspected it would. She is a tremendous ball striker, and proved it on Thursday when she hit the ball almost perfectly all the way around the course. She hits it well enough to play on the men's tour, I think. However, if a tour caliber player hits the ball that well s/he must be able to take advantage by scoring well, and she didn't. The one-over par 71 was disappointing when she was playing from the fairway most of the day. That inability to score wears on a player, and Friday when she didn't hit the ball quite as well it showed. A few mistakes off the tee and she wasn't able to scramble well enough to keep her score down.
There's a simple explanation for all that. Course conditions on the PGA tour are generally tougher than the on the LPGA. The greens are firmer and faster, the rough is taller. Additionally, Annika hits the ball so well she doesn't often have to scramble to win on her home tour. It would be interesting to see if she could adapt to PGA tour conditions if she became a regular player there, but she says she has no desire to do so.
I had predicted a score of 150 for her two rounds, and she was five better than that. The Colonial course played a couple of shots easier than in past years, witnessed by a lower cut line than the previous average. I don't know if that was because of wetter, softer course conditions or if they didn't set up the course as tough as they usually do. I'd hate to think the latter was the case. And I hope Annika changes her mind and tries it again.

:: Walter 12:11 PM [+] ::
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New-To-Me Blog

Silver Rights. A pro-civil rights blog, except for one important right. Guess which one didn't make the cut. That's not so remarkable, plenty on the left share that same blind spot. But in one case, while discussing the potential repeal of 'assault weapons' legislation, blogger 'J.' puts this in print, er, pixels:

But, ultimately, this will not be a laughing matter. The widespread availability of assault weapons results in incredible carnage. Instead of being allowed to lapse, the ban should be stiffened and extended to more guns.

Sorry, but availability of weapons of any sort and 'carnage' has no correlation in this country, except in reducing violent crime. I'm sure the blogger would disagree with me on several fundamental philosophical issues but when it comes to issues of fact, as in firearms = violent crime, we can debate actual numbers.

Professors John Lott, Yale, and William Landes, University of Chicago Law School, published a paper concerning right to carry laws and their effect on public shootings, including this passage:

[W]e find that deaths or injuries from mass shootings remain fairly constant over time
before the right-to-carry law is passed and falling afterwards (though the before law trend is only
significant for the number of shootings) ....[long snip]...
The other gun related law variables generally produce no consistent significant impact on mass
shootings. One exception is the impact of laws limiting a purchaser to no more than one-gun-amonth.
All the estimates imply that limitations on purchases increase multiple shootings, though the
statistical significance of this variable is driven solely by its impact on the number of injuries. The
point estimates on the waiting period variables are not consistent. In some equations, a longer
waiting period increases the risk of mass public shootings, in others it decreases the risk, and in
only one equation is the variable statistically significant. A safe storage law has no significant effect
in any equation. The imposition of additional penalties for using a gun in a crime significantly
reduces the number of murders, but the impact on injuries and the number of attacks is statistically
insignificant. Nor were any of the joint F-tests on the gun control variables statistically significant.
In sum, there is no evidence that these laws systematically reduce multiple shootings.


So, if gun control laws don't reduce mass shootings, why would the repeal of the same increase shootings?

(Lott & Landes paper entitled 'Multiple Victim Public Shootings' available here, PDF file. Quoted here from pages 10 and 11.)

:: Walter 8:06 AM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, May 22, 2003 ::
The FDA Story

Jim Babka of a group called Downsize DC (great name) documents how the FDA hurt more than it helps. His story is called How the FDA Helped Kill My Dad. Here's a teaser:


His cancer started as a renal cell carcinoma (kidney) that spread to a vein, and from there to the rest of his body. Carcinomas produce a tiny vascular system of their own that steals blood flow from the organ they inhabit. They also produce dramatically increased amounts of a substance called COX-2. Inhibiting COX-2 retards the creation of the cancer's vascular system and starves the tumor.
COX-2 also seems to play other key roles in the development of cancer cells, but no successful, cancer-specific COX-2 inhibitors are on the market. Instead, doctors rely on chemotherapy and radiation.
Alas, a COX-2 inhibiting cancer drug does exist. It started its clinical trials for FDA approval in 1999. In Phase I, the FDA concluded that the drug Endostatin (by Entremed, Inc.—NASDAQ: ENMD) has no apparent toxicity. Compare that with chemo or radiation. The drug is currently in Phase II of clinical trials. The research, much of which I studied in my father's final weeks, shows great promise, but the FDA wouldn't let my father have it.
This drug might have saved my father's life, and it almost certainly would not have killed him, but the cancer certainly did.


Babka goes on to cite studies that show tens of thousands have died while waiting for various drugs to be released by the FDA. It makes for worthwhile reading.

:: Walter 6:37 AM [+] ::
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:: Monday, May 19, 2003 ::
I Missed One

While researching the story below I ran across a Cato Institute piece that lead me to this story about a Houston man who was shot to death in a botched drug raid in 1998. I suspect that I've missed many such stories. They don't seem to get much coverage in mainstream press.

Let me update the Drug War Bystander Casualty Count: Nineteen dead, four wounded.

:: Walter 8:19 PM [+] ::
...
Another little oopsie

Police in Harlem executed a drug warrant Monday with a surprise dawn raid, breaking down the front door and throwing a flash grenade to stun the apartment occupants. One small error, though. They had the wrong apartment. Not surprisingly, the unfortunate woman who was the resident of the raided apartment went into cardiac arrest a few minutes after the raid and never recovered.

Drug war bystander casualty count: eighteen dead, four wounded.

:: Walter 4:24 PM [+] ::
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:: Sunday, May 18, 2003 ::
Wie to Play Boise Open

13-year-old Michelle Wie has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in a Nationwide Tour event in September. This is perhaps more remarkable than Annika Sorenstam playing in next week's PGA tour event. Wie is only in eighth grade, and she'll be on the course competing against grown men. Good luck to her.

:: Walter 8:56 AM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, May 15, 2003 ::
We Can All Sleep Easier Now

Because Tommy Chong has been busted and pleaded guilty to selling drug paraphernalia. As Talkleft notes, this will not make one whit of difference in drug use rates. In a perfect world, this prosecution would be considered a criminal waste of taxpayer money and the feds responsible would be facing lengthy prison sentences themselves. [ You just wrote 'feds responsible.' Isn't that some kind of oxymoron? -Ed.]

:: Walter 6:25 AM [+] ::
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:: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 ::
Nigerian E-mail Scam Update

The latest version of the classic spam e-mail came to me a few minutes ago. I'm sure you'll get it soon, if you haven't already.

Dear Sir,
I have made this contact to you with the hope that you can help me out in this my dilemma / problem. I was the personal aide to the Iraqi minister of education and research. Dr Abd Al-khaliq Gafar. That died in the war. Before the war, we had traveled to France to negotiate a contract payment deal on behalf of the Iraqi government on procurement and payment of educational materials and components for the ministry, which entailed him to pay off our customers by cash for onward delivery of the goods via Turkey. Because of international / UN monetary restrictions /sanction on Iraqi. Since our entire operating bank accounts had been frozen.
In gust of this he had cleverly diverted this sum ($28.5m) for himself and secured it properly with a security vault in Spain for safekeeping. As he had kept these documents in hidden and secret with my knowledge. Now that he is Dead and I was able to escape to Egypt for safety on political asylum with this document with me now. Hence I am left with these problems of how to recover and collect this fund for re-invest in a viable venture in your country with your assistance and cooperation. Because of oblivious traveling restricts and sanctions as an Iraqi.
I would really want us to do this deal together if only you can be trusted with this information and project. For more details do reach me via my direct email : mustapha_el@mail2guard.com for further instructions and details. I most remind you that my entire life depends on this fund so please do not relay this top secret to a third party if you are not interested.
I await you immediate response.
Remain Blessed.
Regards
El - Mustapha


I was laughing so hard by the time I finished reading this that my first thought was this isn't real. It's a spoof on a scam. Whoever wrote it has my congratulations. Obliviously.

:: Walter 9:26 PM [+] ::
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:: Thursday, May 08, 2003 ::
No Surprise

Liberator Online, the e-mail publication sent out by the Advocates for Self Government, includes this news item:

In a surprise move that has shocked many conservatives -- and outraged gun rights activists -- the Bush administration has announced support for keeping the infamous Clinton-Feinstein-Schumer gun ban on the books.
The law, which bans common household firearms, is set to expire in September 2004. Most gun rights advocates assumed President Bush would let the law die. Though Bush said during the 2000 campaign that he supported the current law, it was unclear whether he favored extending the ban. Furthermore, he ran on a strong pro-gun-rights platform and may have won the election due to pro-gun voters in several close states.
But on April 12, White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan was quoted in the Washington Post:
"The president supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law."


Some libertarians continue to turn a blind eye toward this Republican administration, which is as anti-liberty as the previous Democratic one, and perhaps more so. On the other hand, I can't see why leftists are so unhappy with Bush. Aside from the war, they're getting everything they want out of the federal government these days. Instead of enjoying their good fortune they argue over irrelevancies like the tax cuts. It seems that partisan hatred runs so deep that they can't tell when they're winning. The same can occasionally be said for conservatives.

:: Walter 6:44 AM [+] ::
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:: Saturday, May 03, 2003 ::
Bill Bennett is a Hyp- well you know what he is

Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute hosts a weekend talk radio show on the most popular station in Denver. As I write this, he's discussing the revelation that Bill Bennett probably has a gambling problem. Eight million he's laid out in the casinos. Bennett claims he's mostly 'broke even.' (snort!) Caldara counts him as a colleague and political ally, and the mostly conservative callers are covering for Bennett, saying the story is a 'liberal media attack' and that the gambling is no one's business. That last bit is correct, of course. But none of that is the real reason this is an important story. I sent an e-mail to Caldara:

Here's crux of the matter, as far as this long time Bennett detractor is concerned. It's the hypocrisy of having a destructive vice, and when confronted he says it's no one's business. He's right. But when it comes to other people's vices, he isn't so lenient. In the case of drugs, he says 'get thee to jail, and quick.'
The bottom line is, Bill's vices are OK, everyone else with a vice can go to hell. Or prison.




:: Walter 10:06 PM [+] ::
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Great Moments in Statist History

David Carr recounts another one, the Road of Bones.

We will never know for sure how many lives were sacrificed to this 'glorious people's project', but by repute, every metre of the road cost one human life. The road is 2000 kilometres long.
There are still many people in the world today who subscribe to this terrible, anti-human, homicidal psychosis.
Never forget. Never forgive. Remain vigilant and, above all, never ever, ever apologise for fighting back.
- from Samizdata.


:: Walter 9:27 PM [+] ::
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The World Wide Runt

Entered the world today, via C-section. Go ahead, send Nicky and Andy your best wishes. Everybody loves a happy ending.

:: Walter 4:49 AM [+] ::
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