Anti Second; Anti First

Conor Clarke in Can You Carry A Gun Near Barack Obama? tries to use the "fire in a crowded theater" argument.

...This isn't complicated. Let's say we have a crowded theater. And let's say I exercise my seemingly enumerated First Amendment right and shout the word "Fire!" And let's say that several dozen people are grievously injured in the ensuing chaos. (Let's further assume that many of these people are recipients of generous, reliable Medicare benefits, so the state bears a cost.)

The fact that this situation is so preposterous is exactly why the law prevents it from happening: courts have created common-law doctrines like "fighting words" and "clear and present danger" for the obvious reason that the exercise of a right can have dire consequences, and some consequences are too costly to bear. Will might think that in this circumstance the cost is not prohibitively high, but there's nothing silly about a suggestion to the contrary.

For Clarke and all the other anti gun rights ignoramuses out there, the correct quote is "You cannot falsely shout fire in a crowded theater."

It was penned by Oliver Wendell Holmes writing for the majority in Schenk V United States (U.S. 47 1919) in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled it was illegal to distribute fliers opposing the draft during World War I. Holmes argued this abridgment was permissible because opposing the draft presented a "clear and present danger" to the government's recruitment efforts for the war.

Misusing a clearly anti First Amendment decision in an anti Second Amendment argument reveals an ignorance of history and a lot about the real goals of the writer.

When is Enough, Enough?

Once upon a time I might have agreed that putting nutritional information on vending machines is a good idea. However, seeing how the nanny fascists abuse every power they can get I have to agree with this:

It’s enough to make me want to have a dinner that consists only of a steak the size of an actual Holstein and two beers so dark and rich they form their own food group. Then, a dessert with more calories than the average NFL lineman eats for breakfast. I’ll give my meal plenty of time to settle because I’ll be smoking the fattest cigar I can find — one that required the efforts of an entire Dominican village to make. Then, I want to hop into a 1966 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500, crank up Van Halen’s version of “You Really Got Me”, drive 100 miles an hour until I get to the nearest left-wing, totalitarian bastard of a Congressman and slow down just long enough for him to figure out that I’m flipping him the bird.

More at Keep Your Hands off my Vending Machines, You Damned Dirty Bureaucrats!

Reminds me of Edgar Friendly (Dennis Leary) in the classic* movie Demolition Man

You see, according to Cocteau's plan I'm the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder - "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-o all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to, okay, pal? I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener".

*well it should be

Ted Kennedy is Dead

I wasn't going to comment on this. Who cares if an old brain dead collectivist troll dies? Maybe the family of Mary Jo Kopechne. Then I remembered a guy I went to college with. His brother died on Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. He might be dancing now.

So here's my comment: Good riddance.

Billy Beck's Eulogy
Mike Vanderboegh has some comments

More on the Window Breaker

Infoshop indetifies Schwenkler as a transgender known as Arial Attack

Ariel Attack, a Denver-based anarchist, was arrested at 2:27am Tues, 24 here in Denver for allegedly smashing 11 windows of the Democratic Party headquaters at 777 Santa Fe Drive.

Apparently heesh* made bail

*Heesh: A person of indeterminate sex. With apologies to Poul Anderson.

Medical Opinions on Deathcare

Originally found here: The AMA On Health Care Reform

---

The American Medical Association has weighed in on the new Universal Health Plan.

• Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
• The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.
• The Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.
• Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
• Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!"
• The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.
• Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
• The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."
• The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.
• The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say "no".

In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.

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False Flag Operation?

Several windows at the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters were broken Tuesday morning. A suspect, Maurice Schwenkler, is in custody.

1 suspect in custody following Dem HQ vandalism in Denver

Immediately the State Democratic Party Chairwoman, Pat Waak, blamed the vandalism on "other side".

"We ought to be having a serious, conscientious debate about what's best for the country," Waak said. "Clearly there's been an effort on the other side to stir up hate. I think this is the consequence of it."

According to this article at the Denver Westword Blogs the suspect may be a liberal activist.

[I]n his mug shot, Schewenkler looks more Sonic Youth than Reagan-youth. Plus, it turns out that someone bearing his exact name -- a fairly rare one, to say the least -- was once an employee of a progressive political action committee based in Colorado.

According to campaign finance records, someone named "Maurice Schewenkler" was paid $500 on November 6, 2008, by a group called the Colorado Citizens' Coalition. Judging by the contributors, this 527 political organization falls on the liberal side of the spectrum.

Peter Marcus reports in The Denver Daily News that Schwenkler may be connected to leftist groups.

Originally assumed by many that the incident was committed by Republicans angry over the reform proposal, a trail of evidence connects Schwenkler to ultra-liberal groups investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

A woman listed as a resident of Schwenkler’s home in the 1000 block of Lipan Street was once questioned by investigators over various protests, including plans to disrupt the 2004 Republican and Democratic national conventions and the 2004 presidential election.

More at Gateway Pundit and People's Press Collective

[Update] Mike Vanderboegh, naturally, has some commentary at Sipsey Street Irregulars including,

Breaking windows was and is the job of the Sons of Liberty, which is say, it is our job. And now, a young SEIU sponsored "progressive" has gone and done what Three Percenters should have been doing for years to both parties. I don't know whether to hang my head in shame or cheer, "Go get 'em, Maurice!"

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency

Received in E-mail

Washington,
DC -- May 28, 2009

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months.

It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted.

Mr. Obama was informed by email this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time.

Gurvinder Singh, a tele-technician for Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2009. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, NY. Thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month, but no health coverage or other benefits.

It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily at night. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center", stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview.

"I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President." A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as President Obama had never been familiar with the issues either.

Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson.

"President Obama has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about."

Obama will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two-week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 26 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit.

Mr. Obama has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Mr. Obama may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during his lifetime.

A greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Obama's extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as his special smile.

Between this and the Jokerbama poster, perhaps history will remember him as Barack "Rodney" Obama. Even Jimmy Carter got more respect.

DNA Evidence can be Falsified

Once the stuff of science fiction, faking DNA evidence is a reality. The New York Time reports that some Israeli scientists have found a way to fabricate DNA evidence.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

This is the part that concerns me:

The other technique relied on DNA profiles, stored in law enforcement databases as a series of numbers and letters corresponding to variations at 13 spots in a person’s genome.

It is unlikely a petty criminal will have access to the necessary profiles but, more persons being put into government DNA databases, all DNA evidence can now be challenged as suspect.

Summary: Authentication of forensic DNA samples

Jokerbama Artist Unmasked -- Sort of

Obama Joker artist unmasked: A fellow Chicagoan

Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.

Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.

Mr. Alkhateeb did a "jokerization" of a digital image of the October 23 Time Magazine cover. The still anonymous creator of the poster that began appearing in Los Angeles about a month qago apparently downloaded that image and removed all the extraneous references before adding the word "Socialism". He remains at large.

The guerrilla uses the tools at hand and adapts them to his purpose. The Jokerbama poster had proven so far to be an effective tool for ridiculing the current administration and that, ladies and gentlemen, is what this about.

Further comment by Mike Vanderbeogh at Sipsey Street Irregulars

The Jokerbama Arrives in Florida

This is how to do street propaganda.

CLERMONT, Fla. -- A vocal and graphic Internet campaign attacking President Barack Obama just hit Central Florida and one of its first targets was a U.S. Post Office (see images). Several Lake County residents called WFTV when they spotted the 'Joker' posters on stop signs and saw workers scraping them off the post office in Clermont. [more]

California will not accept its own IOU's?

Frankly this look like a good argument to stop doing business with the state government.

From Courthouse News Services

Small businesses that received $682 million in IOUs from the state say California expects them to pay taxes on the worthless scraps of paper, but refuses to accept its own IOUs to pay debts or taxes. The vendors' federal class action claims the state is trying to balance its budget on their backs.
Lead plaintiff Nancy Baird filled her contract with California to provide embroidered polo shirts to a youth camp run by the National Guard, but never was paid the $27,000 she was owed. She says California "paid" her with an IOU that two banks refused to accept - yet she had to pay California sales tax on the so-called "sale" of the uniforms.

The class consists mostly of small business owners, many of whom rely on income from government contracts to keep afloat. They say California has used them as "suckers" as it looks for a way to bankroll its operations while avoiding its own financial obligations.

"Instead of seeking funds through proper channels, the State has created a nightmare," the class says. "Many of these businesses will not survive if they are required to wait until October 2009 to have these forced IOUs redeemed by the State."

The class claims the state is violating the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. It demands that California be ordered to honor its own IOUs, plus interest. They are represented by William Audet.

Complaint (PDF)

Jokerbama Goes Viral

and judging by the Bobots reactions I'd think it was the fictional rage virus.

Here Noel Sheppard points to some very unflattering images of George Bush including the Vanity Fair depiction of Bush as the Joker!

Obama Joker Poster Stirs Outrage, Bush Joker Poster Not So Much

Oops!

Maybe the real problem here is the Bobots are just too thin-skinned to play outside.

Poster in 8 ½ X 11 PDF format
Color PDF
Grayscale PDF

More on the Jokerbama

Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face


The image of Obama as the Joker with the "socialism" label is undoubtedly a powerful visual statement. I didn't think it would amount to much but it has obviously struck a nerve with the Bobots. I wonder if articles like the one linked above are not just a lure to the unknown artist tempting him to reveal himself. I hope he (or she) resists the temptation to grab fifteen minutes of fame because, more likely, it will be days of misery as the Bobots drag him through whatever mud they can manage to make stick.

Bureaucrashers at work?

Obama 'Joker' Poster Causing a Stir in L.A
Obama Joker Poster Popping Up In Los Angeles
April 25 article from Bedlam Magazine
Photoshopped?

From the first article linked above:

"Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery," says Hutchinson, "it is mean-spirited and dangerous."

Mean spirited? Maybe.

Dangerous? It's a picture you idiot! Are leftists afraid of pictures now? Can we expect to see demands for registration of art supplies? Background checks for Photoshop? Waiting periods to install the Gimp?

I have no idea who is behind this piece of work and I think it works better that way. However, it does not indicate real trouble for Obama. He is using the momentum of an already entrenched Amsoc to hurry events to their logical conclusion. The image is, I suspect, just an indication that some people know what that conclusion will be. Remember the Joker was an unprincipled, murderous thug.

Bureaucrash Website