America or England?

I remember waking up the morning they passed the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" in California, and thinking I had awakened in the USSR. Well, the USSR is gone but that unconstitutional affront to freedom is still on the books. Now comes this case from Oakland of a man defending himself and his family. He was accosted by a mob of young toughs on his own lawn. When one of them went to draw a gun, he shot the assailant in the arm. So what does he get in return?

McCullough was arrested on suspicion of felony assault and is free on $15, 000 bail. Prosecutors are deciding whether to file charges against him or any of his assailants. McCullough has no criminal record and does not need a permit to keep the gun, which he purchased legally, on his property.

"I expect we'll be making a decision next week," said Deputy District Attorney Jim Lee.

If the DA decides to press charges, it'll be official: We're living in England. And, if so, just why did anybody bother with that little ruckus in 1776?

CSPI Follies

Remember how any country with "people's" in the name wasn't? So it goes with the oxymoronically-named Center for Science in the Public Interest. Not content with ignoring science and what's really in the public interest, I wonder if they even have a center. At any rate, these elite buffoons know what's good for you, and what the government should do about it. Now they're suing to get the Feds to regulate salt.

Japan is Grey and Lonely

Not sure what to make of this story, but it's both sad and funny.

"If you lead an orderly life, Yumel will be in a good mood, singing songs or pleading with you to do something like buying him toys," Kiriseko said.

Some days I really don't understand the Japanese.

Monday Potpourri

Don't miss Derb among the Pod People.

Diversity is, in short, a cult; and I started to feel that if I hung out in that room much longer, I should be in need of some serious deprogramming. In any case, it was time for my own event. I snuck out quietly, leaving the pod people all ululating in happy unison at someone's mention of Larry Summers.

John Merony gives me new respect for Howard Hughes.

Fifty-three years ago this week, Howard Hughes found himself locked in a battle against powerful political forces he believed were bent on undermining the free-market system. The billionaire industrialist, airplane manufacturer, and filmmaker became so passionate about the fight that he summoned all his emotional and physical strength to overcome a crippling fear of the public so he could make his case for what he saw as truth, justice, and the American way.

Your calendar may say 2005, but for the California Assembly it is now 1984.

It’s an old story with leftists of course, pretending to be champions of unpopular ideas and free speech while in reality being first to censor and punish those whose ideas differ from theirs. Any conservative graduate of a major — or minor for that matter — American university in the past 20 years can testify to the left’s stultifying intolerance known unapologetically as “political correctness” — a phrase straight from Stalin’s lips to your ears.

I suspect that at least one young woman is going to be a better mom now that she has tried three times to kill her child
only to have him live.

The boy was delivered in hospital after his 24- year-old mother changed her mind about wanting the child after feeling it move on the way home from an abortion clinic.

A study shows that depriving children of animal food products permanently
damages them. The results were so startling that it led to the claim
that it is unethical to ise children as vegans. But who are you going to believe? A leading nutritionist or "Sir" Paul McCartney?


And finally, neither Reuters nor Amnesty International seem to care a whit for their credibility. Try to read this without laughing.