Of course we all listen to music when "working" and I started off with the blues of Chicago's great Son Seals, but then moved on to RUSH. I really believe Big Money is one of the great albums but Distant Early Warning (never mind the politics) is one of my 3 or 4 favorite songs. And I guess that song sums up my mission here:

"The world weighs on my shoulders, but what am I to do,

It sometimes drives me crazy, but I worry about you,

I know it makes no difference to what you're going to do,

But I've seen the tip of the iceburg, and I worry about you..."

...I will be working on the technical side of Alphecca, as well as updating the other four sites of mine. Yes... I own five domains and am now going to improve them. I have my once-a-month weekend off and I want to organize this endeavor of mine. Get out the tiny violin because as you probably don't know, I use no helpers such as FrontPage, DreamWeaver, etc. Everything is hand-coded directly onto the index page and such. My goal is to actually learn HTML properly. Eventually, my goal is also to learn Style Sheets and PHP, and lastly MySQL. Anyway, I just use a simple HTML text editor, PageSpinner, and sometimes BBEdit, to code everything. That's why my sites look so lame. (This is the point where you are supposed to rush to email me and say, "gosh, Jeff, Alphecca and company look GREAT!"

Be that as it may, I am re-organizing the Alphecca structure (seperate directories for photos, etc., ) to make it easier for tired oldsters such as myself to maintain the site. My website host, Hosting Matters, has been rather lame with website statistics of late but I'm averaging about 629 hits (about) per day and over 203 unique visitors a day (for the month of November.) And Alphecca has grown beyond where I can just FETCH everything up and try to keep track of it all in one directory. Time to build some structure into the file directories before there are too many files to do that with. I also know that the blurry type in my homepage photo is bugging some of you so I'm going to work on a new top-photo as well. And I want to update my links list.

So that's how I plan to spend this Saturday (and it's snowing and the first day of hunting season, a beautiful day indeed but I'm going to spend it in front of the computer) and will return with my sparkling commentary tomorrow morning.

One more thing... This is a labor of love, an outlet for my rants and raves. All I ask is that if you enjoy Alphecca, and you have your own blog, please provide a link to me so my hyper-inflated ego can enjoy a wider readership. And please let me know if you do, by email, and I promise I will add a link to your blog. Thanks, everyone!

In Palm Beach County, Florida, a jury has a awarded the widow of a teacher shot by a disgruntled pupil $1.2 million dollars from a gun distributor. Now trial lawyers (and I do distinguish them from other lawyers) do try to select the stupidest, most easily swayed people from the pool to serve on a jury. And we've already seen (judging from the past couple elections) just how bright Florida residents are. Anyway, here are parts of the AP story from Click 10.com:

Pam Grunow's lawsuit accused Valor Corp. of distributing a gun that was "unsafe, defective and lacked features that would have prevented a minor from using it."

The case stems from the murder of teacher Barry Grunow by one of his students. Nathaniel Brazill shot Grunow to death two years ago in a West Palm Beach classroom.

Pam Grunow's lawyer asked for $76 million. But the jury found gun distributor Valor Corporation 5 percent liable for Grunow's death. The owner of the gun and the school board held most of the liability, the jury found.

The jury didn't find any liability for Nathanial Brazill, who pulled the trigger. Brazill stole the unloaded gun and bullets from a cookie tin stashed away in a dresser drawer of family friend...

So here we have in the civil case, in ultra-liberal Palm Beach County, a jury finding that the criminal himself, the punk who STOLE the gun and SHOT his teacher, not at all liable. The gun distributor (who is also probably the manufacturer) five percent liable. The school, and the owner of the gun liable. But not the fucking mutant punk kid who committed the crime. The only satisfaction I have, is knowing that this punk kid, in the criminal trial, was sentenced to 28 years in prison. If you remember the details, this piece of crap claimed that -as he was pointing the gun at the teacher in the hallway- he didn't actually mean to shoot the teacher but the gun went off accidentally. Subsequent examination of the gun showed no defects in it's operation.

You should know that the jury reduced the award to $24 million dollars from the three parties. The school board has to pay $10.8 million because I guess, "they should have known" this would happen. The owner of the STOLEN gun has to pay $12 million dollars I guess because, "he should have known..." that this punk would ransack the house and find the unloaded gun in a cookie tin in a dresser drawer...

Let's use a simple analogy. A punk steals a car off the street. He runs down someone. This jury finds the manufacturer of the car responsible, the city responsible, and the owner of the car responsible. But not the punk who stole the car and committed the crime.

If there's any good news to this, I suppose it's that the jury found the gun distributor only five percent responsible. But all of the manufacturing sector needs to take notice. Car makers, liquar makers, swimming-pool makers, et cetera, need to take notice. You can make a perfectly legal product that meets all current safety standards, and someone can abuse or misuse that product and YOU will be held responsible. I also feel sorry for the school and the owner of the gun. They did nothing wrong and yet are caught up in this nightmare of litigation perpetrated by the trial lawyers of this country. Would that other, legitimate lawyers, start to speak out against their colleagues. (Yes, I know that some of them do, here in the blogosphere. But what about in the real world?)

Folks, when are we going to stop making excuses for brain-defective criminals? When are we going to stop being a nation of babies? Not that long ago people accepted responsibility for their actions and errors. Our great nation is being bankrupt by litigation and we all seem to sit back and shrug our shoulders as if nothing can be done. And so it begins... What cannot be legislated can always be litigated. We will lose our rights in the courts, not in congress. I am, and you should be afraid.

Just a reminder that I'm the new guy around here. I very much appreciate folks (bloggers) who link to me. If you have installed a permanent link to me, please let me know (comments -at- Alphecca.com) and I promise you I will add your blog to my link list.

As with all giant news-gathering organizations, Alphecca receives a ton, -A Ton I tell you- of snail-mail. Today we received a veritable flood of letter. Why, here it is now:



Thank you very much for riting in.

In an unsigned editorial in yesterday's USA Today the NRA is accused of having stood in the way of legislation that would have helped capture the DC Snipers sooner. As with most editorials in the left-leaning paper, there's plenty of innuendo and half-trueths. Oh gosh, let's take a look:

Whenever a new shooting spree sparks a public outcry for tougher gun laws, the powerful National Rifle Association fires back with a stock reply: The remedy isn't new laws, but better enforcement of the laws already on the books.

Considering this terrible event (the sniper shootings) happened just before the election, and considering that NRA backed candidates did very well in this election, I'd say the preceeding statement is just-plain wrong. There was no public outcry. Most rational voters had much bigger things on their minds and realized that these mutant snipers were just plain psychos who had no respect for laws and having more gun control laws wouldn't have helped. The only "outcry" was from the left-leaning media. Here's more:

* Punishing dealers. The Tacoma gun shop that once owned the sniper rifle has a history of sloppy record keeping, according to The Seattle Times. Two years ago, the shop could not account for 150 guns, as required by law, but it kept on doing business. Now investigative sources say a federal inspection has found that another 100 guns are missing from the shop, which raises the risk that guns are falling into the hands of criminals.

Such lax monitoring can be traced to a 1986 NRA-backed law that hampers the ability of federal authorities to inspect dealers and prosecute violators. The measure limited inspections of shops to once a year, reduced penalties for dealers who failed to keep proper sales records and added new burdens on prosecutors bringing criminal charges. That helps explain why in 1999 federal agents found 21,000 guns missing from dealer inventories, but revoked just 20 licenses.

But wait a minute! If inspections really are limited to once a year, and TWO years ago the Tacoma gun shop was in violation of the law, then why was the store never prosecuted and closed? 150 "missing" guns? The ATF had two years to go after them. How would new laws have helped if the laws already on the books weren't enforced?

If a cop pulls over a drunk driver and lets him drive off with a warning, and that drunk driver then proceeds to kill someone in an accident, how would enacting more laws against drunk driving have helped?

But here comes the clincher:

Now the NRA is blocking moves to set up a national ballistic-fingerprinting system that could be used to tie bullets found at crime scenes not only to a particular gun, but also to the gun's owner. The system would require that each new gun be test-fired by the manufacturer so its unique markings could be placed in a national database.

But just a few paragraphs earlier in the same editorial, USA Today said:

Many of the 23 shootings and 15 deaths linked to the snipers were committed with the same Bushmaster rifle that was traced to a Tacoma, Wash., gun store. While police are still trying to figure out how the gun ended up in the hands of accused snipers, one thing is clear: Laws were broken or poorly enforced. When suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested last month, records could not be found showing the gun's path from the store to the suspects. That prevented police from determining whether the background-check system broke down, the gun was stolen or a third party helped the snipers purchase it.

Is it just me? Help me out here folks. The police are still trying to determine how the snipers got hold of the Bushmaster rifle. They still don't have a connection between the gun in the store and the gun in the suspects' hands. There is no record of transfer. How on Earth would ballistic fingerprinting have helped catch these guys? What would have helped prevent all this is if all the laws -already on the books- had been enforced.

I've already posted two articles, here and here on this subject. Look, the simple fact is that if the gun store in question broke laws -for what ever reason, say money- more gun laws wouldn't have stopped them. As for the mutant snipers, they're criminals. And guess what? Criminals don't obey laws; that's what makes them criminals! All the laws in the world wouldn't have deterred them.

Lastly, the NRA is, among other things, a lobbying group looking out for the interests of law-abiding firearms owners. That's their job. Would USA Today have jumped on AARP for defending the rights of the elderly because one ninety-year-old had mowed down a pedestrian in an auto-accident? USA Today should be ashamed of themselves for such pandering and faulty thinking.

Because here at the world-wide headquarters of Alphecca International our teams of reporters and statisticians are dedicated to compiling endless tables of news you can't possibly use.

As a brief recap for new visitors, Yahoo has a gun control debate page which you would think presents a balanced view of arguments for and against gun control. Here is a continuing tally of just how balanced that page is. I cull the results from the News, Opinions, Features, and Audio catagories. Note that I've expanded the table to include items I found relatively neutral.

Yahoo Gun Control Debate Articles
Sample Date	Pro More Gun Control Or Anti-Gun	Not More Gun Control Or Is Pro 2nd Amendment	Neutral Articles
11/13/02	14	2	3
11/7/02	17	4	-
10/26/02	21	4	-

I think if we all study this very carefully we should be able to spot a pattern emerging...

...at UVM (University of Vermont) and things went well. There were some protests of course. Russel Henderson at The Vermont Reactionary has the story. Russel is a student at UVM and is a member of the UVM college GOP. He's been providing very good coverage of events at the liberal college. He also has good, intelligent political commentary. Check out his blog.

Good business. Bill Quick's Daily Pundit is back up and running. That's a good thing.

I am a blabbermouth. I have an opinion on, something to say about everything. And I drive everyone crazy. When I was a teenager in the late sixties, I discovered science-fiction, the perfect escape for a dreamer like me who wished he was anything other then a teenager in the late sixties. I started a fanzine (Exit) using a ditto-machine (remember THEM?) It allowed me to (besides printing other's works,) express my opinion on the current state of SF. And I (living at the time in Northern N.J.) took the bus and train into the Bronx and helped Charlie and Dena Brown type up and mimeograph Locus. And Charlie let me do a couple book reviews and express my opinions. None of these things made me any money. But they allowed me to express my opinion, something my high-school friends really didn't want to hear.

When I was in my late twenties, I discovered computers. I quickly started a BBS (there was no WEB in those days) and while most of my BBS (The Arena) was dedicated to "gay personals" I managed to write an editorial every day about my thoughts and feelings. Now before you all become completely disgusted and say, "hey Jeff, Bill is the one hurting right now," I'll get to my point.

Bill, I have a feeling I'm a lot like you. Or at least I aspire to be a lot like you. You were one of the first to start a real blog that dealt with more than, "oh, I'm so depressed" type issues and unlike THOSE blogs, you actually gained a following. You have (not had) opinions you need to express. They're smart, witty, knowing opinions. And you've been an inspiration to countless other, more recent bloggers. Most blogs are lucky to receive a hundred hits a day. Daily Pundit receives much more then ten times that. Because you have opinions and people want to read them. Not someone else's, yours.

You have not and probably never will make any money at this, almost no one does. But something inside you drives you to try to straighten out all the idiots out there and to help enlighten everyone else. Daily Pundit is nearly an institution. You certainly are.

As someone who didn't know a stick of HTML a month ago and is learning it from a book called, "HTML in 24 hours" I can tell you that computers suck, and the programming sucks. And no matter how big you are, things get fucked up on your web page. Just look at The Drudge Report; at least once a week his tables are completely fucked up and the page is out of kilter. So what, life goes on. You have far too much to offer everyone, and too many fans out here to quit now. Sorry, you're going to have to keep going. We insist.

The drug of public discourse won't let you go that easily. It's addicting, not only for you, but for your readers and fans. Out of your vast readership there are certainly plenty of people who will willingly help you figure out what went wrong. For free. Because you're a great guy and we all like you A LOT. And none of us want to go through a day without our QUICK FIX.

And more then that, you're an inspiration. I've only just started in this latest incarnation of money-losing propositions to get my opinions out "there." And your last posting was about me, about Alphecca. And I just happened to tune in right after you had posted it and it was the ultimate "ego-boo" I can tell you. An icon (that's you) giving me a compliment and making me feel good about what I was doing. The perfect encouragement. That's worth more then all the money anyone could donate to me.

And then I checked back an hour later and you had thrown in the towel. Well Bill, here's your towel back. Take a day off, but then get back to work. We all want you to continue. The computer problems will sort themselves out. But the QUICK FIX can only continue if you do. We want you to. There's a reason why so many log onto Daily Pundit everyday, instead of some of the countless thousands of other blogs out there. You're important and needed. But maybe we all failed to give YOU that much needed pat-on-the-back. We'll try harder in the future. Because you deserve it.

Please don't go. Please stay. You'll figure it out.

And there are a lot more newbies out there who want your opinions, your critiques, your how-to "blogging 101 course" and your encouragement. So please hang around.

Yours,

--Jeff Soyer

...but I only receive two TV channels. There is no cable in my town and a satellite-dish is more then I want to spend right now. So I make do with Vermont Public Television and WNNE, an NBC affiliate. That limits my Sunday dose of talking-heads. I can stream C-Span on the computer (I live a block from the Verizon station so my modem logs on at a solid 54K.)

So Will Vehrs' Pundit Watch is a valuable service to me. Every Sunday he gives a wrap-up of what happened on the Sunday morning talk-fests on TV. Most of you who come here from political blogs are already familiar with him but those of you who found me through some of the other listings (such as "gay-blogs" listings) should check him out. And don't forget his and Tony Andragna's QuasiPundit.

Anyway, he mentions Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) appearence:

... but Senator John Kerry, on This Week, was in full-throttle campaign mode, although insisting he had not yet decided to run. Prodded by host George Stephanopolous, Kerry painted a bleak picture of the United States on the brink of collapse, nationally and internationally. He repeatedly mentioned defeated Senator and fellow veteran Max Cleland (D, GA) and dared Republicans to campaign against him on patriotism, as he charged they did in Georgia. Kerry seemed to mention his status as a veteran with almost every breath and one has to wonder if voters might tire of that if he continues.

So already it's starting. I could just tell you all to read my posts over the last few days since the election but let me sum it up again: If the Democrats really think the way to recapture the voters' hearts is to swerve to the left and continue with their campaign of fear, they will get trounced in 2004. And let me just say that Kerry has one of the worst voting records on gun control issues. There can't be enough restrictions on firearms to please him and remember, he supported The Million Mom March including:

* "cooling off" periods and background checks;
* registration and licensing of handgun owners;
* safety locks for handguns;
* a limit of one-handgun purchase per month per person;
* enforcement of current laws.

Democrats made a show of support for the Moms with a hearing on May 15 called "Cease Fire: End Gun Violence Now." Co-chairing the hearing was Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Senators Byron Dorgan, Barbara Boxer, and John Kerry...

He also supports "ballistic fingerprinting."

He's a true liberal. Here's a quick take on his position on SUV CAFE standards:

For instance, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)Ý had proposed a 35-mpg standard for all vehicles by 2013, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a very similar proposal, which proponents claim would cut U.S. oil consumption by more than 1 million barrels a day.

I present the above without comment. It's an admirable goal. But for those who understand how CAFE works, foreign auto makers will do very well and U.S. auto makers will get creamed. Remember, the standards apply to the average of all the vehicles a manufacturer builds.

So if Chevy currently sells a lot of trucks and SUVs, they would have to stop building them and produce many more small cars, even if people didn't want to buy them. And if Mazda currently produces mostly small cars, they could produce a lot more trucks and SUVs and charge whatever they want for them. The American consumer will be the one who suffers. As well as the labor force in Detroit.

The list goes on but it's late and I'm tired. To recap this rambling post, for the Democrats to have any chance in 2004, they must find a MODERATE. In fact, a LOT of moderates. For me, the number one issue I vote on is respect for the Second Amendment. Democrats will never get my vote unless they run someone who supports it entirely, and can prove that they always have and are not just pretending for the sake of votes.

Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief of The New Republic has written an excellent editorial on the Democratic losses in the elections of 2002. He brings up some of the same points I have (is my ego large enough or what?) but raises many more that I hadn't thought of. Here are some excerpts from the article:

The Democratic candidates--most affectingly Max Cleland in Georgia, most reflexively Fritz Mondale in Minnesota--put themselves in hock to the labor movement when they promised to support the insupportable: that a Homeland Security Department be unionized. This is tantamount to running the Air Force under a collective bargaining scheme. I am not aware of a single Democratic candidate who demurred from this mad orthodoxy.

And:

As Democratic luck would have it, Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the height of the campaign. Suddenly, all the mortifying foreign policy images of the Carter presidency--not to mention double digit inflation and unemployment and interest rates--surfaced in the glow of Oslo, which had more than a tint of anti-Americanism. For a few days, it even seemed as though the election would become a contest between Jimmy Carter's view of the world and George Bush's. But that, frankly, is no contest at all: Bush wins hands down.

Read the entire article. Once upon a time I was a subscriber. I let my subscription lapse about three years ago when the magazine became hysterically leftist, when Gore could do and say no wrong and candidate Bush could do and say no right. Look friends, I'm rather conservative but I don't mind HONEST, non-knee-jerk discussion from the left. Martin Peretz presents an honest evaluation of this past election. What a relief after listening to shills such as Terry McAuliffe and Tom Daschle over the past few days.

I'm mellow enough tonight (two glasses of wine will do that to me) that I'm not going to tackle anything heavy. Besides, I'd like to mention some others, and their work, that I've been admiring.

For you short-wave listeners, I've been a fan for several months of WBCQ -- The Planet, a short-wave station broadcasting (primarily) on 7.415mhz from Monticello, Maine. WBCQ presents a varied line-up 18 hours a day from the far-right to the far-left. Most of the shows pay for their time. One that doesn't and that I go out of my way to catch, is Radio New York International, hosted by John P. Lightning, a gregarious, witty, rather leftist (not that there's anything wrong with that) talk-show host. He is the quintessential New Yorker and is as professional as anyone on commercial AM radio. He also has a terrific store of jingles.

He's on-the-air every Sunday night from 8-Midnight EST. Check him and his buddies out! For those who are radio-challenged, you can stream it here. or somewhere (I think) here...

I'd also like to mention that besides Blogfather Glenn Reynolds, the first Blogs that mentioned me and coded permenent links to me were The Bitch Girls which is a lot of fun and has some great stuff on it (and I'd like to meet Bitter Bitch at the range sometime) and Aubrey Turner who has a great (and hate-free) site for gun/shooting enthusiasts. He was also generous enough to send me an email with corrections to my Java-script. His site is always interesting and I recommend it highly.

...TV pundits -- before the election -- constantly told us that President Bush had no coat-tails and his campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates wouldn't help. Why I guess they were just

Wrong!

Dispite the wishful thinking of all the leftish TV commentators, the majority of the voting public DOES like and approve of G.W. Bush. Here's a quote from the AP today:

When given a list of factors in the election and asked which were major reasons for the GOP's success, those questioned in a Newsweek poll were most likely to point to the president's popularity and his handling of possible military action in Iraq.

Other top reasons were more faith in Republicans to handle the campaign against terrorism, Democrats' failure to offer a clear alternative position on Iraq, to the tax cut and to Bush's economic policies.

Democrats, with their soon to be new House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, would do well to remember that -- before lurching to the left in search of issues to oppose the President on. Let me add that Republicans should also be wary of lurching to the right. The VAST majority of Americans are much closer to the center then given credit for. They inhabit (both physically and emotionally) the middle of this country. Moderation, please...

Well, I'm off to work (yes, on a Sunday.) Back tonight.

Just a quick note to thank Tim Blair and William Quick for their kind words about Alphecca. Although I'm starting a new week here and have consigned last week's posts to the archives, I'll leave up the last few postings for newcomers. All previous posts can be read in the archive links in the side-bar.