ATF say medical marihuna users may not have guns or ammunition

No surprises here really. It's illegal under federal law [pdf] and that's the end of it as far as ATF is concerned. Furthermore in that the feds are the least accountable of the many layers of government we are afflicted with that is indeed that. Congress isn't going touch this issue with a ten foot pole and neither is the administration so unless ATF relents or some federal judge engages in some "judicial activism" this door is shut tight.

My advice to shooters that like to get high is this: Just grow your own, be discreet about it, and leave the feds the hell out of it. What this portends for local stoners with guns around here (especially those with Michigan-issued CPLs) is uncertain.  What is certain, at least to me, is that no amount of permits, licenses, and permissions slips from the bureaucracy is ever going make you free.

Weblog

Exotic Vietnam war "tunnel rat" pistol described  (Gun Nut blog)
"Tunnel rats quickly discovered that the Model 1911 .45 was not the ideal gun for the job—in an enclosed space its muzzle flash and report would leave a soldier deaf and blind. One solution was the Quiet Special Purpose Revolver, a highly modified S&W Model 29 .44 magnum. The standard barrel was replaced with a 1.372-inch-long unrifled tube, and the cylinder was bored out to accept six massive steel cartridges, each loaded with 15 tungsten-steel shot that developed a muzzle velocity of 750 fps."

The S&W "tunnel rat" special

An interesting notion here but a silenced Browning HP or a S&W Model 39  along with some night-vision goggles makes more sense IMHO. A sawed-off 12 gauge or sack full of hand-grenades would be even better. But dropping bricks of C-4 explosive down the holes from safely above ground sounds best of all.

The odd musical instruments behind classic scifi movie sounds (io9)
I've always wondered about how those sounds were made.

U.S. Rep.s Barney Frank and Ron Paul propose bill to end federal laws against individual marijuana use (New American)
This is how it starts. Like gay marriage, gun rights and other rights we're now on the verge of recovering after decades the struggle begins for public hearts and minds. Eventually the politicians will follow. First they'll feel the heat then they'll see the light.

weblog

Kook-ball televangelist Pat Robertson calls for marijuana legalization - RS
A secular Jew who hates Christmas - Wired
U-6: The real unemployment rate in America
U-6 is currently 17% (as of April 2010) reports the WSJ. The nominal rate typically reported in the media is defined using the strictest and most limited measure of what "unemployed" means and so is always way lower. Who says the media never reports good new?
No such thing as a "voluntary & consensual" encounter with the police -  AJFYA blog

Annals of democracy

Two blogging heads tell us why the think that the ballot initiative in California to legalize marijuana lost in last week's election.

Sign of the times...

Marijuana is coming closer and closer to being legal again. Even woebegone Detroit, Michigan is starting to get real about the consequences of the War On Drugs. And well they should. Public television station WKAR in East Lansing had the prime mover behind a ballot proposal in the city of Detroit that would effectively legalize possession of one ounce or less for those over 21 on it's public affairs interview show Off The Record recently. Notice how deftly this libertarian-oriented gentleman parries the predictable objections of the mainstream media reportorial types. Heh.

Sign of the times...

High times with legalized pot? It all depends - SF Chronicle

Hmm...yes legalization would bring in more revenue to California's local governments but you'd have to be crazy to think the price for an ounce of weed would stay at +/- $400. I predict after the dust settles it would be more like the price of a fifth of premium liquor, say $35-$50. Also too the massive Narco-Police-Prison Industrial complex could be cut back and and/or redirected toward different and better priorities and so IMHO legalization is a net positive.

What will the feds do? Just like with sanctuary cities, nuclear free zones, military recruiter bans and other thumbs-to-the-nose by state and local governments toward the feds it'll just have to play out. But given that California is a huge if not the biggest element in the Democratic party's coalition I doubt that Obama would really do that much. Some huff & bluster from the usual suspects and then....nuthin'.

Legalization is also a good hard kick in the balls to all the drug cartels too. Watch for them to dump cash into the hands of the anti-legalization forces. What else can they do? Drive-by shootings, bribery and rest of their normal tactics just ain't gonna work this time, eh?

weblog

Plummeting marijuana prices causing panic in California - NPR (podcast)

The new Hotmail: less clutter, more efficiency - Ars Technica

weblog

"The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears 'natural' today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth creation, the cult of privatization and the private sector, the growing disparities of rich and poor." - NY Review of Books (Tony Judt)

Congress outlaws all Caller ID spoofing - Ars Technica
The MPAA and RIAA have submitted their master plan for enforcing copyright to the new Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement - EFF
Federal agents working on Hollywood's clock? That's the plan folks.

Volcanic ash closes airports across northern Europe - LA Times

California politics: Pot Legalization More Popular Than Governor Candidates - LA Weekly

USMC making plans to garrison space colonies or something - Popular Mechanics

Sheep on Meth Are Shocked With Tasers - io9

If they build it, you will pay: the lies politicians tell when pimping sports stadiums - Wall Street Journal

weblog

What will really lead to the legalization of marijuana - Ann Althouse

The government's need for something else to tax.

Chinese state launches human wave attack on the Web - Ars Technica (Nate Anderson)

280,000 people paid to post in forums, blog and etc on the order and for the benefit of PRC apparatchiks.

Nevada Democratic Party disinformation campaign for Harry Reid unravels. (Yahoo News)

25 Things to always have on you "just in case"- Code Name Insight blog (h/t: LRC)

The poet laureate of modern American male loserdom - NY Review of Books

Facebook to automatically share all your stuff with sites you never signed up for? - TechCrunch (Jason Kincaid)

weblog

"Electric bicycles" are extremely popular and getting more so. - NY Times
Used to be called scooters, didn't they?
Robotic pack-mules being developed for the Army can carry 200kg in any terrain for 24 straight hours -Layer8 blog
Selective breeding of cannabis plants for a better high also makes them a health hazard for some
- Popular Science
Army to dispense with bayonet training in basic training; modern high tech soldiers don't fight that way anymore - Popular Science
OK but what happens if you run out of ammo or your rifle jams up then?
Is human knowledge likely to survive long term in digital form? - New Scientist
Data carved into stone can last a long, long time. Stuff stored on a HDD not so much.
Why some NYC parents are giving IQ tests to their four-year-olds. -iSteveblog
Steve Wozniak: Toyota accelerator problems are caused by software bugs. - Gizmodo
Patent trolls doing great: beats actually producing code. - Ars Technica

Surplus SKS rifles are cheap, rugged, dependable, plentiful.-Backwoods Home Magazine
"This handy little semi-auto is just the ticket for taking whitetails in the woods or groundhogs in the bean field—out to somewhat over 200 yards. While its 7.62 X 39 cartridge packs plenty of punch for the bigger bucks (especially with handloaded 150-grain bullets), its recoil is really pretty negligible."