Notice: California Gay Marriage Ruling Will Go Up Tomorrow at 10am PST

Put on your best fighting face tomorrow. The California Supreme Court is about to piss somebody off.

These are consolidated cases brought by the City of San Francisco and civil rights groups who challenged California statutes that restrict marriage to a man and a woman. The Supreme Court’s Notice of Forthcoming Finding (PDF) summarizes the issue:

This case includes the following issue: Does California’s statutory ban on marriage between two persons of the same sex violate the California Constitution by denying equal protection of the laws on the basis of sexual orientation or sex, by infringing on the fundamental right to marry, or by denying the right to privacy and freedom of expression?

Several weeks ago we discussed a rumor that the opinion would be written by the Chief Justice and would be “boldly” pro-gay marriage. However, the rumor was that the case would come down on Friday, May 23rd. If you’re interested, extensive debate about gay marriage was had in the comments there.

I’ve got an event pretty much all day tomorrow and all day Friday, so you’ll probably know how this goes before I do and I won’t have time to post about it. One thing to keep in mind, there will be a traditional marriage amendment on California ballots this November. Even if the Court rules in favor of gay marriage, voters may put an end to it just six months from now.

There Are Depths, Depths

It’s been a rough few days in the comments to the political posts here as many place the blame for the generally downward trend of Republicans on a lack of ideological purity in our elected officials. I think a couple of events came together at just the right time to provoke the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I have to admit that you guys are really depressing me.

So I went looking for something to cheer me up on the political front and hit paydirt with John Aravosis absolutely losing his shit over the Democratic nomination contest. No linky for Aravosis because he’s, well, nameless, fatherless scum–a subcreature deserving of neither aid nor pity nor, for that matter, the traffic you bring. He’s the fellow who, among other things, viciously attacked and mocked Mary Cheney when she was working with her father.

And I do so love to hear him cry in a Crockerian post entitled “Go away you horrible human being“:

IT’S NOT CLOSE. YOU FREAKING LOST THE NOMINATION, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Good God. What is wrong with her? The Clintons and their campaign staff don’t give a damn that they are now hurting our electoral chances in the fall against McCain and against the Republicans in Congress. Their campaign isn’t happening in some vacuum, and they know it. Our candidates can’t fundraise because of her. Obama can’t focus on McCain because of her. Obama is wasting money on HER, rather than spending it on McCain, because of her. EMILY’s List, and AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers and others are wasting their members’ money on her now-failed race - money that they could be spending, should be spending, on other real races, races that haven’t already lost. She can’t win, the math says she lost the nomination, but she doesn’t give a damn. She’s going to stay in the race like some spoiled hateful egotistical brat.

Why is the media even covering her? The only stories that should be written about Hillary Clinton is how much damage she’s causing our party. How she’s hurting fundraising at the DNC - they even admitted it, they’re not raising the money they need to fight John McCain because of this woman. Why don’t you write some stories about how she is hurting our candidates who can’t fundraise because of her? How she has forced EMILY’s List and AFSCME and the AFT to waste their money because of her. How she has caused a civil war in the Netroots. Five months ago we all felt that we had 3 great candidates. Now, far too many of us loathe Hillary Clinton, and she has done her racist best to ensure that her supporters can’t stand Barack Obama either.

Ahhh. Like soothing balm for my soul.

Postville ICE Raid Round-Up

390 people were detained in Monday’s raid, making it the largest single-site raid to date. That’s more than a third of plant workers. Most will be removed for entry without inspection or using false identification. Others face criminal charges for aggravated identity theft or illegal reentry. Agriprocessors managers and owners are being investigated for labor law violations.

As I wrote Monday, locals were tipped to the raid when ICE rented a nearby fairgrounds. According to one detained worker, her supervisor told her three weeks ago to find “more realistic” identification papers. A loudspeaker announcement warned plant workers that ICE was in the building. Some tried to hide; some tried to run.

Workers who were released for humanitarian reasons–mostly medical or child-care issues–are being monitored and will be required to appear at their hearings. About 40 were released “with supervision”:

ICE’s warrant says that Agriprocessors has been a known problem for over two years,during which time DHS noted over 700 immigration or criminal violations. Complaints have included claims that employees were operating a meth lab and that supervisors were physically abusing illegal workers.

Another plant worker told federal officials that undocumented workers were paid $5 an hour for their first few months before receiving a pay increase to $6 per hour. The minimum wage in Iowa is $7.25 an hour.

Postville, a town of only 2,300, was mostly empty yesterday. The mayor thinks that people are still hiding from ICE or have fled. He worries that if Agriprocessors closes, Postville will become a ghost town.

Finally, criminal proceedings have begun against the workers using the fairgrounds’ ballroom as a makeshift courtroom. Preliminary hearings are being conducted in groups of about 10. Those not charged with crimes still face removal.

Hey, Did You Know There’s a Primary Today?

Some Gazans didn’t forget. They’re busy getting out the vote for their man Obama.

REPORTER: It may be hard to believe, but working in this tiny Internet cafe in Gaza City may just be one of Barack Obama’s biggest fans.Before every U.S. primary, 23-year-old Ibrahim Abu Jayyab gathers 17 of his friends to try and rally support for Obama’s campaign in the U.S.

So why does a young Palestinian living in Gaza spend so much of his time and money on an election thousands of miles away?

ABU JAYYAB: [translated] It all started at the time of the U.S. primaries. After studying Obama’s electoral campaign manifesto, I thought, ‘this is a man that is capable of change inside America.’ As for potential change in the Middle East, he can also do that. I think he can bring peace to the area, or at least this is what we hope.

Transcript from Campaign Spot.

West Virginia polls close in just over three hours. Clinton is expected to win by 30% or so.

Giant Bull Terrorizes England

It is a UK daily, so I suppose this could be a photoshop:

Chilli the giant bullock stands at 6ft 6ins and weighs well over a ton.Despite his grand stature, Chilli only grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat.

The heifer, who is almost as high as he is long, lives at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, after he was left on their doorstep aged just six-days-old.

Nine years on, Chilli has kept on growing, and staff believe the giant will smash a record for Britain’s tallest ever cow.

He eats Swedes? AWEsome!

Et tu, Johnson? Pledged Delegates Not So Pledged As We Were Led to Believe

An Obama-turned-Clinton supporter, Jack Johnson, was selected in consultation with the Clinton campaign to be a pledged delegate for Maryland at the convention. That was February. Now, he’s changed his mind.

“I cannot in good conscience go to the convention and not support Barack,” Johnson said in an interview. “She ran a great campaign, but she fell short of the line.”

This is Johnson’s second change of heart in the race. He had allowed his name to be listed as a supporter by the Obama campaign in December.

Unlike superdelegates, who are free to endorse either candidate, Johnson is one of 28 pledged delegates who have agreed to represent the 36 percent of Maryland Democrats who voted for Clinton on Feb. 12.

Johnson was mad in love with Obama in December, but couldn’t pass up the chance to be a pledged delegate for Clinton. He got what he wanted and now it’s time to drive home the dagger. His reasoning:

“My job is to bring unity, and we will not have unity in Maryland if Barack Obama is not the nominee,” he said.

I’m going to miss it when this farce of a nominating contest is over.

Making Some Changes

Things may be appearing and disappearing as I try some new things. I wasn’t all that happy with the look before (and I’m not all that enthusiastic about my options for changing it). But I am getting what I’m paying for!

The idea was to make it a little more readable, which means I was hoping for a simple template, fixed width, with black text on a white background. Everything they had was less than acceptable, though, and once that went out the window, I just got lost.

I suspect that I’m on a slow migration towards breaking out of WordPress, but we’ll see. Suggestions are appreciated.

ICE Raid in Postville, Iowa Today

It’s still in progress at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant. ICE says is investigating aggravated identity theft and fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, among other crimes.

600 to 700 arrests are expected, although no one’s been bused away yet. Workers and their lawyers were tipped off to the impending raid (though not necessarily the targeted workplace) when ICE rented a nearby fairgrounds last week. It did the same thing in December 2006 before the Swift plant raids.

DHS seems to be learning from the most common objections to those early raids:

Larson [a driver for the meatpacking plant] said the agents told workers to stay in place then separated them by asking those with identification to stand to the right and those with other papers, to stand to the left.“There was plenty of hollering,” Larson said. “You couldn’t go anywhere.”
When asked who was separated, Larson said those standing in the group with other papers were all Hispanic.

ICE spokesman Harold Ort in Postville did not confirm or deny that anyone had been detained, but went on to say that the children of those detained would be cared for and that “their caregiver situation will be addressed.”

“They were asked multiple times if they have any sole-caregiver issues or any childcare issues,” Ort said.

In 2006 and 2007, ICE was criticized for targeting Latinos specifically (rather than seeking identification from everyone in the plant) and for being unresponsive to child-care and medical issues.

UPDATE: See my Postville Raid Round-Up for more up to date information and links.

Happy Mother’s Day

To all our motherly readers, we love you and we’re grateful you’re in our lives. Thank you for all the things–big and small–that you do for us. And speaking of…whatever happened to having breakfast ready when I wake up in the morning? ‘Cause that was the shit. I mean, I only visit three or four times a year now, how hard is it to get up and cook me some pancakes?

No, no, really. Just kidding. Thank you, mothers, for always looking out for the best interests of your children. Like the way you’d flip on the porch light when I was trying to get my hand under your daughter’s sweater. My teenaged self didn’t like that very much, but it taught me how very important it was to take your daughter to that park with all the creepy guys standing in the bushes instead.

Ha! I’m just messing with you. Mothers can always be counted on to ride to the rescue when something has gone wrong. Mom, remember the time you came to school to bring me clean underwear in front of all my friends ’cause you realized I had no fresh laundry? It was last week. The Dean of Academics still laughs every time he sees me.

Okay, I guess the love we have for mothers has to be pretty damn secure. Like that nursing home on 12th Street.

This is Why the Left Must Lose in November

I’ve been taking some flak from commenters for insisting that McCain must win in November. As I’ve said before, it’s not because McCain is going to make a great president or achieve much for Republicans. It’s because the alternative is so very much worse.

That’s what crossed my mind when I saw the following. What follows is the type of thinking that you will see in the White House should the Democrats win in November. WARNING: it is a concentrated example of the half-truths, distortions, and outright lies that passes for foreign policy discussion on the Left. And if you’re anything like me, it’s really going to make you mad.

So let’s recap the scene: the US military and its Iraqi “allies” are laying siege to a sprawling neighborhood in Baghdad housing roughly 2.5 million Iraqis, launching air strikes, artillery attacks, tank shells and other assorted ordnance, shutting down hospitals and bombing others, cutting off the supply of food and walling off entire sectors of the embattled region, causing a refugee crisis by their actions - and now actually pursuing a policy with the intent of creating a larger refugee crisis!

Witness the liar’s casual blend of truth and falsity, used to imply malicious intent that doesn’t exist. It’s true that U.S. and Iraqi forces are fighting to take and keep control of portions of Sadr City and that one hospital was shut down and another damaged in a bombing. It is also true that the U.S. is building a concrete barrier through the city.

It is absolutely false that the hospital was bombed intentionally–as the liar implies–or that the U.S. has cut off food to the city. In fact, the article he links to (which we will, for now, assume is accurate) notes that the U.S. military is distributing food and medical supplies. This is curiously omitted from the liar’s post, given how concerned he is about the residents of Sadr City. According to the article, the Red Crescent estimates that only 6% of the city’s population have experienced food, water, or medical shortages during the weeks of fighting. More than that, it also notes that the “refugee crisis” which he blames on the U.S. and Iraqi forces hasn’t actually materialized.

It is also manifestly untrue that the intent of the U.S./Iraqi operation is to create a “larger refugee crisis.” In fact, the idea is to put an end to mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, U.S. military bases, and civilian areas which are coming out of parts of Sadr City.

Confusion about the difference between purposeful goals and regrettable, unintended, but unavoidable consequences is not unusual on the Left. The twisted morality that disregards intent makes claims of moral equivalence so much easier.

The liar’s most pernicious distortion comes next:

For what reason: because a majority of residents in these regions support a political movement, and militia, that oppose our presence. Can’t have that. Because we have to keep 150,000 troops in Iraq to safeguard the Iraqi people. After all, whose gonna set up the tents in the refugee catch basins we so magnanimously helped set up to receive the overflow from our relentless assault on political movements that would make it harder for us to stay in Iraq. To safeguard the Iraqi people.

He thinks that the U.S. is targeting Sadr City merely because a “political movement, a militia” that opposes the U.S. hides in its slums. He makes no mention of the roadside, car, and market bombings, and rocket and mortar attacks that the Mahdi Army has committed. He ignores the Mahdi Army’s attacks on Sunni mosques and attempts to “cleanse” a portion of the city of Sunni Arabs. Conveniently forgotten is journalist Steven Vincent who was killed almost certainly by members of that “political movement.”

This distortion, wherein the Left imputes political animus to the U.S. government, is shameful, dreadful stuff. It is a mild flavor of conspiracy theory. The obvious purpose–American and Iraqi authorities want the Madhi Army to stop killing people–is disregarded in favor of a dubious, but oh-so-satisfyingly nefarious one: the Americans and their Iraqi stooges are “relentlessly attacking political groups.” Another Leftist recently in the news, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, would no doubt agree. He’s also fond of malicious government conspiracies.

This is the type of person you are inviting to enter the center ring when you say “we can wait ’til 2012.” Democratic voters, Democratic thinkers, Obama’s staff and advisers–these are the people you are flirting with when you say “McCain will do so much damage to the Republican Party.” Consider for a minute how much damage these people will do to the United States.

This is why the Left must lose in November. I’m not asking you to vote for John McCain. I’m asking you to vote against having a Leftist in the White House.

Rasmussen to End Democratic Daily Tracking Poll; Declares Obama the Nominee

When even the pollsters think it’s time to stop caring, you’re toast.

[W]hile Senator Clinton has remained close and competitive in every meaningful measure, she is a close second and the race is over. It has become clear that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nominee.At the moment, Senator Clinton’s team is busily trying to convince Superdelegates and pundits that she is more electable than Barack Obama. For reasons discussed in a separate article, it doesn’t matter. Even if every single Superdelegate was convinced that the former First Lady is somewhat more electable than Obama, that is not enough of a reason to deny him the nomination.

With this in mind, Rasmussen Reports will soon end our daily tracking of the Democratic race and focus exclusively on the general election competition between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Barring something totally unforeseen, that is the choice American voters will have before them in November. While we have not firmly decided upon a final day for tracking the Democratic race, it is coming soon.

That sounds an awful lot like a value judgment.

Burmese Junta Seizes Aid Shipment; U.N. Calls Off Relief Effort

Surprised? The junta wants to distribute relief itself. More than anything it wants to keep outsiders from reaching the population. Baldilocks has the goods:

It’s pretty easy to see why Myanmar’s government wouldn’t want the UN and especially the US coming to the aid of its suffering citizens. The relationship between dictators and their subject population is like that of an abusive marriage. Dictators can’t be seen as impotent or powerless under any circumstances and are insanely jealous–they would rather see their people die that allow them to realize that other forms of government are infinitely better equipped to assist them in their time of dire need. And dictators have behaved this way from time immemorial.

More rain is on the way. There is some concern that the disaster will keep rice farmers from planting in time for the growing season. Food shortages later in the year could follow.

Is this the Twenty First Century, or what?

FREE AT LAST!

Well, that’s it for school. Graduation, here I come.

Some States Considering Gas Tax Holidays

Two weeks ago I wrote that a federal gas tax holiday wouldn’t help consumers much because at least half of the benefit would go to sellers. I called it a pander and a waste of time, and I suggested that if we really wanted to help consumers by reducing high prices at the pump, the quickest way would be for states to have a gas tax holiday:

One avenue that should be explored is cutting state gasoline taxes. Of course, this would require action in the state legislatures, and then McCain couldn’t hold himself out as some kind of hero of the people. State and local gas taxes are typically larger than the federal tax. More importantly, state gas taxes overwhelmingly increase the price for consumers more than they do for sellers.

A state gas tax holiday would work better than a federal gas tax holiday because it is much easier for gas companies to avoid high-tax, high-regulation states than it is to avoid federal taxes and regulation. That makes the supply much more elastic at the state level than at the federal level.

The last time we talked about this, I was challenged in the comments that an 18.4 cent decrease in gas taxes would result in an 18.4 cent decrease in the price at the pump. That’s not the case because taxes are shared between consumers and sellers in proportion to the elasticities of supply and demand for the product. I estimated that at the federal level, about half the tax is paid for by consumers and half by suppliers. And now, I have numbers to back that up (PDF). The study also supports my contention that state gas tax holidays are where we can find a greater benefit for consumers.

Now, I’m pleased to see that states are considering gas tax holidays, including Florida, Missouri, New York, and Texas. When you get right down to it, the average savings will only be between $10 and $80 (depending on state) for the average consumer over the summer, but at least the state legislation has a chance of actually achieving what it’s aimed at, especially in high-tax, high-regulation states: substantially lowering the price at the pump.

The Morning After

Last night’s Indiana contest was a bit of a rollercoaster and at the end of it pundits on the left and the right loudly declared that Clinton’s campaign was over. She disagrees.

“This candidacy and this campaign continue on,” Howard Wolfson, the communications director for Sen. Clinton, told CNN on Wednesday morning. “We do have to do well in the remaining contests,” he acknowledged, describing West Virginia, where she is expected to win as handily as she did in neighboring Ohio and Pennsylvania, as “a critically important swing state.”

Heh. Last week, Wolfson called Indiana a critical turning point for Clinton, but no matter how much Wolfson spins, Indiana did not help her. Morale and money is low at Clinton HQ. Obama has an overwhelming fundraising lead, one she can’t make up even by giving herself $6.4M. She’s searching for untapped donors, but coming up empty.

Aside from her morale and money problems, she’s lost all control of the press. A wave of rumors was started last night when Tim Russert announced that Clinton had cancelled her morning show appearances today. In a cross-network game of telephone, that was warped into claims that she was cancelling all her Wednesday appearances. This morning, the Baltimore Sun took it one step further and claimed that she cancelled her morning appearances and returned to Washington, pointed-tail between her legs.

Clinton passed up appearances on the network morning shows today and returned to Washington with no public events on her schedule. There was inevitable speculation about whether her candidacy was nearing an end, but her campaign announced that she would fly to West Virginia, South Dakota and Oregon for rallies tomorrow.

In fact, she’s in West Virginia already and will be tomorrow, too. She changed her schedule last night after “Turning Point” Indiana. It is Obama who is taking the day off from campaigning to get some work done in Washington.

Another Case of “Don’t Piss Off the Judge”

If they think you’re being evasive, they’ll send you on a wild goose chase.

Federal judges grew increasingly impatient and sometimes angry Tuesday as they questioned government lawyers on why the United States denied asylum to three women who suffered genital mutilation in Guinea.The three judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must decide whether the Board of Immigration Appeals was right to deny asylum to the women and permit them to be returned to Guinea.

[...]

At the hearing, the judges seemed particularly upset at a conclusion by the government that it was fair to return the women to Guinea because they could not suffer further persecution since mutilation had already occurred. At times, all three judges raised their voices or cut off lawyers to make a point.

[...]
After lengthy arguments, the judges ordered lawyers to submit written records to show if the government had ever encountered an asylum case that was denied on the grounds that the same leg could not be amputated twice or the same organ removed again.

I doubt they’ll find any, and it’s going to be embarrassing to have to tell the panel that. But the DoJ lawyers here can be forgiven for having some trouble answering the judges; they’ve got a very tough case, one that’s already been lost in the Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits.

The problem is that sometimes lawyers are asked to defend arguments that are, well, indefensible and to do it without irritating the court can be difficult. The ruling in this case was a foregone conclusion from Day 1, but the lawyers still have to make the best case they can make.

A brief discussion of the legal mumbo-jumbo:

There’s actually two things going on here. First is the issue of what the law actually says. The second, more interesting point, is how things are set up so that the DoJ may have to fight this battle in every circuit.

(BTW, this can be a bit gruesome to discuss or contemplate. Please don’t think I’m cold-hearted or cavalier about it, but I think it’s better to talk about it without a lot of dancing around than to obscure the issue behind euphemisms or delicate language.)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) as a foundation for asylum claims has been gaining steam for the past ten years and more. That FGM is a form of persecution is not controversial. The sticking point is whether it can indicate a well-founded fear of future persecution since it is a one-time event.

When a person applies for asylum, one of the things that he or she has to prove is that they have a well-founded fear of persecution if they were to be returned to their country. One way to do that is to prove that persecution had occurred in the past. Then the government has the opportunity to rebut that by showing that the circumstances have changed so that they could not have a well-founded fear of persecution in the future.

In FGM cases, the women are cut as girls and eventually find their way to the U.S. Whether they’re here because of the abuse or for other reasons is immaterial to their asylum claim. They don’t want to be removed and so cite the FGM. DHS attorneys then point out that the circumstances have changed: the women no longer have anything to mutilate and so cannot fear future persecution of that type.

The argument on the other side is that FGM is a “continuing harm” and part of an on-going practice of subjugating women. That argument has been winning in the circuit courts, but it’s usually based on federal caselaw that doesn’t bind the BIA. And that brings us to the second point:

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)–that’s the appellate court for the Immigration Courts–has so far agreed with DHS that the past persecution makes an identical form of persecution in the future impossible and so cannot be the basis for a fear of future persecution. But starting in 2005, the federal courts of appeals began rejecting that argument. And it led to a peculiar situation. The immigration courts are bound to follow the precedent set by the BIA. But they are also subject to review and bound by the decisions of the federal courts of appeals in which they are located.

So when the Ninth Circuit rejected the BIA’s rule that FGM could not be the foundation for a claim of future persecution, immigration courts within the Ninth Circuit had to follow suit and the BIA had to affirm those decisions if they were appealed. But anyone who brought an FGM asylum case outside of the Ninth Circuit was still bound by the BIA’s old rule. Later the same year, the Eighth Circuit rejected the BIA’s rule (based on a different theory than the Ninth!–as if it couldn’t get more confusing) and so FGM asylum cases brought in the Eighth Circuit will be granted, too. Then the Tenth (also 2005) and then the Fourth (2006) followed. The case that led to this post is in the Second Circuit, where I have no doubt the BIA will be overruled again.

Unfortunately for DoJ lawyers, as long as DHS digs in its heals and insists that it’s interpretation is correct (and as long as the BIA agrees), they will have to fight this case–and likely lose–in every other federal circuit. Which puts the particular lawyers involved in a difficult position.

Guns Are Back; Dems Are Easy Targets

This type of thing cracks me up. Two democrats with identical records when it comes to guns (ban them!) and identical policy proposals for next year (let states and localities do the dirty work) are bashing each other in the hunt for votes from gun owners. Neither can actually claim to be good when it comes to gun rights–no one would believe them if they tried–so both are trying to cast the other as quite bad.

This never would have happened if the Democratic contest had ended on Super Tuesday. Obama and Clinton are scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for atypical voters–for Democrats, anyways. This is great news for Republicans.

First, Democrats have been hiding from the issue during Bush’s presidency. Al Gore’s virulently anti-gun primary campaign is partially blamed for his loss and for many down-ticket losses in 2000. Democrats realized that as long as they shut up about guns Republicans couldn’t use the issue to bludgeon them. Their lack of support for new gun control measures has been especially useful as many of President Clinton’s anti-gun laws expired.

Now that Democrats are ready to talk about guns again, we should be hitting them hard on the issue. Neither Democratic candidate can move all that far to the right on guns–not as long as the primary continues–and McCain should be taking this opportunity to stake out a vocal pro-Second Amendment position. Seriously, it’s as simple as a little patriotic music with McCain reading the Second Amendment crosscut with Clinton and Obama saying “Leave it to states to make that decision.”

Second, when Democrats (and the legacy media) talk about guns, they invariably get something wrong. Clinton, who seems particularly fond of negative anti-Obama mailings, made a bit of an oopsie with this one:

This is a little nit-picky for my taste, but the Politico’s Ben Smith gives it to Clinton with both barrels:

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s mailing attacking Sen. Barack Obama’s record on guns appears to include a striking visual gaffe: The image of the gun pictured on the face of the mailing is reversed, making it a nonexistent left-handed model of the Mauser 66 rifle.To make matters worse, a prominent gun dealer said, it’s an expensive German gun with customized features that make it clearly European.

“The gun in the photo does not exist,” said Val Forgett III, resident of Navy Arms in Martinsburg, W.Va. Forgett’s company was Mauser’s agent in the United States when the gun was released, and it sold Mauser guns here again in the 1990s. “The bolt is facing to the left side of the receiver, making it a left-handed bolt action rifle, indicating whoever constructed and approved the mailer did not recognize the image has been reversed.”

Forgett said the error would be obvious to sportsmen.

Are Hoosiers really going to care that some PR flake flipped the image when they made the mailer? Of course, Democrats have long distorted the facts on guns. You’d think Clinton would have taken more care.

Tree Worshipers Take Switzerland; Lawnmowers To Be Outlawed as Weapons of Mass Destruction

Henceforth, humans must take care to protect the dignity of plant life and respect its independence. The plant community may not arbitrarily be deprived of life and scientific experimentation involving plants will be subject to rigorous ethical review. Individuals who fail to follow the law regarding the dignity of creation could face criminal charges.

No, really.

At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the “dignity” of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called “plant rights” is being seriously debated.

A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring “account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms.” No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out. The resulting report, “The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants,” is enough to short circuit the brain.

A “clear majority” of the panel adopted what it called a “biocentric” moral view, meaning that “living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive.” Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim “absolute ownership” over plants and, moreover, that “individual plants have an inherent worth.” This means that “we may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily.”

Ents, nymphs, and dryads can breath a sigh of relief as their long nightmare comes to an end.

You Really Don’t Want to Run Against Clinton, Do You?

This post is an expansion of an earlier post so that it was more appropriate for AoSHQ. Pardon the redundancy.

Following up on eddiebear’s post (lot of good comments over there, too), I have to agree that more concern is warranted. And I know Ace disagrees with me about this, but propping up Clinton is a bad idea. Sure, we want the Democratic contest to continue, especially when it looked like she was in danger of dropping out. But she’s looking a lot stronger now.

We’ve got to keep our eyes on the ball. She’s the stronger of the two in the general. McCain will wipe the floor with Obama. Typically Democrats do not win without Pennsylvania. Guess who absolutely bombs in Pennsylvania? Democrats always make a fight of Ohio and Florida. Guess who got whooped in Ohio and Florida? And why? Because a large segment of Democratic blue-collar voters cannot bring themselves to vote for Obama.

Quinnipiac has a new poll that confirms this: McCain does better against Obama in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania than against Clinton. These are crucial states if we want to get to the magic number. Look:

Florida: Clinton tops McCain 49 - 41 percent; McCain gets 44 percent to Obama’s 43 percent;
Ohio: Clinton beats McCain 48 - 38 percent; McCain gets 43 percent to Obama’s 42 percent;
Pennsylvania: Clinton tops McCain 51 - 37 percent; Obama leads McCain 47 - 38 percent.

Now, lets not get too bent out of shape about the exact numbers. That’s all subject to change in the general. The important point is that Clinton does better than Obama in these three key states, due largely to Obama’s inability to connect with working-class white voters. That weakness is not going to magically go away, especially with Rev. Wright and Bittergate hanging around his neck.

It’s time to stop playing around with this and conjecturing about a hypothetical Democratic crackup that may not even happen. People have started to believe their own propaganda. But the numbers don’t back it up. At least as far as last month goes, 28% of Clinton supporters say they’d jump to McCain if Obama was the nominee, compared to only 19% if the situation were reversed. Now I know that’s subject to change, and we all expect Obama supporters to riot on the floor of the convention if their guy loses. But what if they don’t? Why would we take a risk on something like this?

If we can count to 270, the Democratic superdelegates can too. Pick your states. Why are we thinking about giving up Pennsylvania? What about Wisconsin and New Mexico? Them too? If she wins, we’ll have have to fight Clinton for Ohio…in a year when the economy is going to be foremost on the minds of voters. That just doesn’t make any sense.

Democratic Senator Threatens Blacks With Slavery

I love state legislators. No, really, they are often the craziest and most outspoken politicians. For example, my own home state’s Sally Kern is just the tip of the iceberg. I volunteered for a state rep’s campaign for state senator back in college and by the time election day rolled around, I was hoping that he would lose. He did.

But Brian at Snapped Shot has a Pennsylvania state senator that has Kern beat:

A state senator told a black pastor testifying at a committee hearing that, given the chance to cast secret ballots, his fellow legislators would vote to legalize slavery.

Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, D-Philadelphia, made the comments Tuesday during a hearing on a Republican-sponsored bill to amend the state Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriages and civil unions, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site Wednesday.

“What you are advocating here is that we take away the rights of a minority. And I don’t think that’s right,” Fumo, a staunch defender of gay rights, told the witness, Gilbert Coleman Jr., senior pastor of Freedom Christian Bible Fellowship in Philadelphia.

He added, “If we introduced a bill on slavery, it might pass. That doesn’t make it right.”

Coleman, who was testifying in favor of the measure, responded: “I doubt that sir.” “Oh, don’t bet on it in this General Assembly,” Fumo countered. “I know some people up here, especially on a secret ballot, it would be almost unanimous.”

The emphasis is Brian’s, though this isn’t actually all that surprising. A Democratic politician calls his fellow legislators racist? Snore. Like I didn’t see that one coming a mile away. Brian has the real juice though:

What do you think the headline would have been if this were a Republican’s remarks?

I’m betting on, “Republican Senator Threatens Blacks With Slavery.”

Click over to add your suggestions in his comments.