And you're surprised...why?

Ruth Davis banked on looking like just another granny in the slow lane.

But the 65-year-old Floridian was on business. A high-dollar delivery -- 33 pounds of premium pot -- was locked up in the trunk of her rented Chevy Impala. She set her cruise on 74 as she headed north on Interstate 95 through Johnston County, bound for New York.

A North Carolina trooper got in her way that morning last December and, by chance, stumbled across a new type of drug mule.

"I'm not someone you'd think would be doing this," Davis said this week during an interview at the Johnston County jail. "I guess that's why it was such a brilliant plan."

Well, obviously it wasn't all that brilliant....

The thing that I find notable is the air of surprise that's prevalent in the article. Davis doesn't think she'll be caught, the cops seem amazed that a "senior citizen" would be running drugs and so on.

You know, 40 years ago (in 1968, the heyday of the Counter Culture), these people were 25 years old, selling, running and using drugs. Why are people so surprised that they're still in the business?

And no, I don't have any sympathy for the story that she was trying to pay her medical bills. Like the old TV show--"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

Olofson convicted

I haven't been blogging the ordeal of David Olofson, the man who loaned out his AR to an acquaintance, who then suffered a malfunction, leading to his and Olofson's arrest for possessing an illegal machine gun. Others, such as David Codrea have been doing an excellent job, and there's no need for "me to-ism".

Jed reports that Olofson was convicted yesterday. (The acquaintance rolled over for the ATF.) Gun owners, you're now on official notice that if your gun malfunctions and fires more than one shot with a single trigger pull, you're toast. Codrea has an interesting email from Len Savage with his take on the subject (among some other things).

I'll be watching for an appeal. And like Savage, I want to see if the NRA weighs in on this, especially since they have a big bully pulpit at this weekend's national convention. Yo, Mr. LaPierre? My next membership renewal is yours to lose.

Still voting for McCain?

I know it's petty of me, but I wonder if the "I love my country more than I hate John McCain" crowd are still feeling the love:

Senator John McCain on Monday threw his support behind the idea of placing mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions. He called for the United States to lower its emissions to "at least 60 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050."

Now Kim, explain to me again just how voting for this turkey is better than a Democrat in the White House--because I'm not seein' it.

Your Sunday Firepower Video

Helecopters vs. terrorists--not even a contest.

Something to consider

I would ask you to go here and watch the sideshow in the banner. Any company that thinks like this can have my business.

Am I evolving?

I'm constantly amazed at the places I wind up, and their effects on how and what I think on a given subject. A Computer World article on Asperger's Syndrome in IT professionals leads to a video by Amanda Baggs, which leads to a Google search on Amanda Baggs that leads to a Wikipedia article on her. From there, it's on to a Wired article on autism. And now, I'm forced to reevaluate my positions on several things, including autism, on my own mental makeup, and possibly that of my kids. Heck of a way to spend your lunch, I'll tell you that. My lasagna's cold already.

I installed a zillion CCTV cameras...

and I could only use them to solve 3% of crimes. But then, yours truly suspects it never was about crime solving anyway.

I wonder how the UK will play this news? Do you suppose they will dismantle this expensive boondoggle, or use the numbers as proof that they must "do more", and expand the system even further?

Of course, I believer that the private ownership of firearms and the ability to carry concealed, combined with the repeal of laws that render citizens liable to arrest if they defend themselves, would go much further toward solving the problem. (Pictures of some dead bad guys wouldn't hurt, either.) However, I can't see the UK nannies allowing anything like that.

It's a damn shame to have to watch the mother country sink into the muck voluntarily.

Not getting the message

In local politics, Randolph County (NC) voters rejected a sales tax increase in the May 6 voting. A disgruntled County Manager Richard Wells said:

We only have two ways to raise money. This was one and property taxes are the other. The people have just voted themselves a property tax increase.

Mr. Wells, you might need to get your hearing checked. They didn't vote for a property tax increase, they voted NOT TO HAVE THEIR TAXES RAISED! You butthead.

You have to wonder what it takes to get through to these people--especially the unelected bureaucrats.

McCain's problem

(Link via the Drudge Report)

In yesterday's primaries, 27% of Republican voters in North Carolina voted against John McCain, while 23% of Republican voters in Indiana pulled the lever for candidate "not McCain". Now remember, this occurred in primaries held after McCain has already picked up enough delegates to be the party's nominee.

I wonder if the party is listening? Sadly, I doubt that it is.

More Cavalry Arms news

(Via Pirate 4x4)

And yes, you should prepare to be pissed. (Why do you expect differently when BATF is involved?) The BATF is apparently auctioning off all of the inventory they seized from Cavalry Arms. Before a judgment, before a trial, before anything that looks like "legal process".

Welcome to the kinder, friendlier BATF under Mike Sullivan. Remember that the "Always Think Forfeiture" gang is not your friend , should you ever get that knock on your door.

(Edit: Be sure to check the comments on this one. Jed has some good info.)

Well, this will set off a firestorm

Providing, of course, people actually notice it:

Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won't get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.

Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn't be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia.

I'm impressed that the subject is actually being publicly considered at all, given its nature. Our American society is inclined to pull out all the stops to treat that sick child, even where the odds are 1 in a million against a cure. We don't euthanize our terminally ill, even when it would save them from extraordinary suffering. It goes against our sense of "fairness" to say that anyone, no matter what the situation, will receive less than every possible treatment in an effort to save them.

But in reality, we do this all the time. It's called "triage", and it isn't only about choices for medical care. We are practicing a form of triage every time we decide on Option A over Option B because B is too expensive, takes to long or is simply too much trouble.

I expect that this discussion, if it becomes widespread, will be very interesting to watch play out.