Annals of Democracy, cont'd.

I don't know how "well-regulated" they are but this factoid is worth noting: The combined firearm deer hunters of just three states (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan) when added together would be the eighth largest army in the world, if they were a military force. (That's 2 million fifty thousand people with rifles or shotguns to get specific.) So claims this blogger anyhow and he may have a point. Only North Korea, China, India and the U.S. have larger armed forces.

weblog

Founding father of the modern paramilitary police trend dies - LA Times

Ex-LAPD chief and the man who invented the SWAT Team concept Daryl Gates is dead.

The case of Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns: How a highly paid athlete goes broke - Detroit News

Rash of suspicious fires hits Ann Arbor prior to Fire Department lay-offs - Michigan Daily

Why do so many crack-pots happen to be engineers? - Bloggheads.tv

John Horgan and George Johnson discuss.

What your deer rifle says about you - American Hunter (Ben O'Brien)

What your hunting style is. Or how much money you have to spend. Or what you inherited from your grandfather. Or something. An interesting read anyhow. (Via The Daily Caller)

A cogent analysis of the disgruntled white working class - Song Writers Notebook (David Rovics)

"If the so-called progressives of this country can't snap out of their Obama-induced slumber, take to the streets and vocally break ranks with both corrupt parties that are driving this country into the ground – if the left can't offer a serious, grassroots, anti-elitist alternative to rightwing populism, but insists on maintaining the ridiculous illusion that we live in a democracy, then the future will indeed be bleak, and ugly, and filled with 'patriots'. ”