Don’t Pee On My Leg And Tell Me It’s Raining

and don’t tell me that the item you don’t have in-stock is something you can’t give me a price or delivery timeframe on w/o calling the manufacturer, and that “it’s a pretty long lead time because they are made to order” when Amazon will have one on my doorstep TOMORROW. You have other products from that company sitting in the case in front of me.

OK – you don’t want to carry the overhead of stocking them, they don’t move enough volume to justify carrying, the margin is too narrow, they aren’t operator enough (and this place screams “Please have your Tier I card ready for admittance”).

Just say that. You’re a local business and I try to support local business more than the next guy. I’m literally standing there saying

 

but if that’s what you want to do, I’ll spend it elsewhere. No worries.

This Seemed Applicable To Me

“… it’s about damn time someone appreciated my brilliance and singularity, and that wasting my time should be a federal offense.”

Yup. Well, maybe.

Certainly the time-wasting thing – the reason I’m not particularly nice to many people is because I can already tell they are going to be time wasters, and by running them off preemptively I am saving time. I only have so much of it left, after all…

Insert Laughter Here.

http://news.yahoo.com/greenpeace-crew-shock-russian-jails-111632682.html

Greenpeace crew members detained in Russian jails for two months over their open-sea protest against Arctic oil drilling are “close to shock” over their conditions, a rights activist said Tuesday.

The 30 detained are being held in pre-trial detention centres in the cities of Murmansk and Apatity, which are nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) north of Moscow and above the Arctic Circle.

All but four of the activists are non-Russians from countries including Britain, the United States, Finland and Argentina.

Russia has jailed the activists from Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise protest ship without charge pending an investigation into alleged piracy, after several scaled a state-owned oil rig on September 18.

The activists have complained of cold cells and a lack of suitable clothing and food, said Irina Paikacheva, the head of a state-connected regional prisoners’ rights watchdog.

“Many of them are in a state close to shock,” she told AFP after visiting the prisoners. “They had never expected that they would face such consequences for their peaceful protest in a democratic state.”

The foreign detainees are struggling to make themselves understood since virtually none of the prison staff speaks English, she said. One of the activists has consulted a psychologist.

Several of the foreign nationals have been placed in cells with Russians even though this breaches Russian law, Paikacheva added.

A Polish activist is sharing a cell with four Russians, while one of the British activists has two Russian cellmates, both accused of robbery.

Several non-smoking activists also complain of being placed in cells with chain-smokers.

Greenpeace spokesman Aaron Gray-Block said in e-mailed comments that several of the detained activists “need prescription medication”.

“A number of others are taking over the counter medications such as paracetamol for problems such as mild arthritis and back pain,” he said.

A young Finnish female activist is a vegan and unable to eat prison food, Paikacheva said, adding that prison officials had denied her request for vitamins to be delivered to her.

Under Russian law, prisoners have to hand in their watches and wear shoes without laces. The Finnish activist lacks a thyroid gland and needs to take medicine regularly — hard to do without a watch.

“They had never expected that they would face such consequences for their peaceful protest in a democratic state.”

Let that sink in.

“…detained in Russian jails…”

“…in a democratic state.”

 

Another Politician Fails At The Internet

“I’m sorry if I offended anyone,” Salazar said in the statement. ”That was absolutely not my intention. We were having a public policy debate on whether or not guns makes people safer on campus. I don’t believe they do. That was the point I was trying to make. If anyone thinks I’m not sensitive to the dangers women face, they’re wrong. I am a husband and father of two beautiful girls, and I’ve spent the last decade defending women’s rights as a civil rights attorney. Again, I’m deeply sorry if I offended anyone with my comments.”

If there is a camera present – and there ALWAYS is unless you are in your own home – it can wind up on the internet, which is an archive. Never say anything in the presence of a recording device, or in an electronic medium, that you aren’t willing to have read out loud in court  or reviewed by HR. Oh, and politicians – we’re paying attention. If you say it in a legislative session (see camera remarks above) we’re going to hear about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sums It Up

I’ve stayed out of the whole “Is gunblogging dead?” (since I’m not really a gunblogger per se) and “Will the blogosphere crash and burn because Robert Farago got a blogging award?” (it won’t) and “Is Farago a tool who scrapes content and then hides behind a shaky interpretation of fair use?” (he is), but then Emily Miller popped up in a thread over at Sebastian’s with a comment that sums up the entire TTAG thing as I see it.

“He was very creepy and jumpy, which made me nervous. I should have trusted my instincts”

Pretty much describes every interaction I’ve seen with this fellow to date.

Because I Can’t Let Well Enough Alone

I noticed that the ever-well-reasoned, thoughtful and politely handled OC v. CC discussion broke out at ENDO-Mike’s place.

Now I usually avoid internet drama (except when I wade in to an argument to point out the logical fallacies and poor use of rhetorical devices with no intent of adding to the actual discussion, just being that guy *g*) but this one pops up regularly and annoys me. In this case the anti-OC folks have no facts whatsoever and freely admit it. They stoop to name-calling and unsupported statements and assume that is actually making a valid point. This is the case more often than not in this particular argument even when Heap-Big-Famous-Firearms-Instructors™ are involved.

Yes, you can find the extremely rare case where someone open carrying is attacked immediately. The last time I really got into one of these discussions the other guy could only name incidents where it was clerks/owners at gun stores, and I would posit that if you have made up your mind to rob a gun store while someone is there, you’re probably already willing to shoot someone. But mostly it just doesn’t happen.

If you are going to OC – use a decent retention holster; don’t let people close enough to you that they can try to snatch your gun;  if that can’t be avoided (such as a crowded place) be hyper-vigilant, and if you have an interaction with someone who is bothered by it or an LEO be polite. Other than that – carry how you want.

Oh, and to everyone who thinks that OC hurts gun rights by “frightening the sheep” and that California open carriers got OC banned there – f*&% off

because let’s face it, this topic ALWAYS requires some drama 😉

Oh, Look – “Reasoned Discourse”!

So the The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is staging an event called Truth Telling: The Media’s Role in the Conversation on Guns. 

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence & Opus2 International are pleased to present:

Truth Telling: The Media’s Role in the Conversation on Guns

 OCTOBER 25, 2012 | 6 – 8:30 PM
UC Hastings College of the Law
Louis B. Mayer Lounge
198 McAllister Street | San Francisco

RSVP REQUIRED

Free to Members, UC Hastings Students and Faculty
$12 All Other Students | $20 Non-Members
The Law Center reserves the right to refuse admittance.

Following an hors d’oeuvres and wine reception, a diverse group of journalists from local and national news outlets will share their perspective on the role the media plays in the national conversation on guns, particularly in an election year.

As the “information age” has become incredibly fast-moving and complex, the media’s power to inform, educate, and persuade has also grown. Meanwhile, the topic of gun violence in America remains complicated and fueled by passionate beliefs from all sides.

What are some of the challenges journalists and news agencies face when trying to tell the truth about America’s gun laws? What impact does the national political debate have on the media’s approach to this issue? How is “new media” affecting the way in which this conversation is cultivated?

Please join us to find out the answers to these questions and more. Come and ask your own questions for our panelists!

JOINING THE PANEL:

• MARK FOLLMAN, Senior Editor, Mother Jones
• KRIS HUNDLEY, Staff Writer, Tampa Bay Times
• BOB EGELKO, Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle
• SCOTT JOHNSON, Violence Reporting Fellow, The Oakland Tribune
• ABBY STERLING, Producer, CBS 5 San Francisco

MODERATED BY:
RORY LITTLE, UC Hastings Professor of Law

Did you catch this part? The Law Center reserves the right to refuse admittance. 

So Josh Berger, a director at the Calguns Foundation, buys tickets. And this happens:

 

 

No dissenting opinions allowed, thankyouverymuch. We already know the truth so your version of it need not apply.

H/T to No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money.

 

 

Oh Hell No

“Former Copyright Boss: New Technology Should Be Presumed Illegal Until Congress Says Otherwise”

Whenever possible, when the law is ambiguous or silent on the issue at bar, the courts should let those who want to market new technologies carry the burden of persuasion that a new exception to the broad rights enacted by Congress should be established. That is especially so if that technology poses grave dangers to the exclusive rights that Congress has given copyright owners. Commercial exploiters of new technologies should be required to convince Congress to sanction a new delivery system and/or exempt it from copyright liability. That is what Congress intended.

Somehow I doubt that. Not that it would be the first time a governmental body thought that we should have to ask permission to do something perfectly legal. I’m thinking that trend can stop any time now.

H/T to Uncle, the King of the Links.

I Can Now Completely Ignore You

Once you use the phrase “…hate groups as defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

This tells me enough about your willingness to research an issue that your opinion on it is useless.

Doubling Down On Douchebaggery

Charles Carreon does it. Surprised, I am not. Oh, and I am now reading Censoriousdouchebag daily *g*.

H/T to Ken at Popehat for staying on top of the funny, funny, sad-but-still-funny coverage.