Ms. Miller decided to buy a gun after she was the victim of a home invasion while dog and house sitting for friends in 2010:

I want a gun. I don’t feel safe living in Washington, D.C. and want to protect myself. I’m starting today by going down to City Hall to find the gun permit office to tell them, “I want a gun.” This series will follow me as I navigate the city bureaucracy and outdated rules in order to legally buy a firearm.

My desire for a gun started when I had to face down over a dozen criminals on an empty cul de sac in Washington, D.C., armed only with a Blackberry.

It was New Year’s Day 2010, and I’d been staying in the house to dog sit for friends who were on vacation. I’d returned from walking the dog when I saw a man coming from the house. “What are you doing?” I asked, sensing something was off with the situation. The Golden Retriever just stood next to me with a slack leash.

“We’re here to clean the pool,” the man said. He looked nervous and his eyes were blood-shot.

I was pretty sure my friends hadn’t called in a swimming pool emergency during the middle of winter. “No, we didn’t call for you,” I said.

“Oh, then it must be the house next door,” he said, smiling nervously. He turned and walked away quickly.

I’d left the front door unlocked since I was walking the dog for less than ten minutes. (I know, lesson learned.) After the man left, I was still suspicious so I went inside, grabbed my Blackberry and clicked on the icon for the camera. I walked down the street, and as I turned the corner, I saw about 15 scruffy young men standing around two pickup trucks. We were at the end of a woody, dead-end road.

I nervously held up my Blackberry to take a quick photo of them and the license plates. Suddenly, the blood-shot-eyed guy darted out, blocking the shot. “What are you doing?” he asked. I looked around at all the men staring at me and was suddenly scared. “Nothing, I’m um, just going now,” I said as I put my Blackberry down instead of taking the picture around him and went home.

To me the single most striking thing about Ms. Miller’s experience, is that the process just buy a pistol in our nation’s capitol is virtually identical to the process for obtaining concealed carry permit in most other jurisdictions. There’s simply no logical reason for making that difficult just to legally purchase a firearm.

I’m all for reasonable restrictions like background checks, waiting periods, but forcing someone to go through a complex multi-step process, that takes months to complete and is virtually identical to the one for obtaining a concealed carry permit almost anywhere else is insane. The reason for it to discourage law-abiding citizens from exercising their Constitutionally protected rights… And let me clear about this, this isn’t simply a second amendment issue, everyone one of us has a God-given right to feel safe in our own home and to protect ourselves, our families and our property from those who would do us harm. There’s an old cliché to says when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

It’s true if you live in densely populated urban area the average response time to a 911 call around 7 minutes… But rural areas it can often take 20 minutes or more for police to arrive.

Anyway, Ms. Miller recently reached something of milestone in quest to legal obtain a handgun: She put done her money and ordered a Sig Sauer P229 in 9mm. Now all she has to do is a few more hoops before she can legally take possession of her pistol:

And, that is the “but” in this story. Although I have paid and ordered the gun, I can’t take possession of it until it is transferred to Mr. Sykes, and I get an approved registration certificate.

In order to get this certificate, I still have to do the following: take a written test on the city’s firearm laws; get Mr. Sykes to fill out the application form; have the eligibility form notarized; get two passport photos and prove that my eyesight is better or equal to the driver’s license requirement (20/70 in best eye and field of vision of at least 140 degrees).

Next, I have to take all the forms to the registry office; pay $60 in fees; wait five days for the application to be approved; wait an additional five days for Mr. Sykes to be able to release my gun; and take the gun to the police for a ballistics test.

Finally, if I pass all of these steps, I should be able to take possession of the gun that I already bought.

The sad truth is, Washington D.C. is one of  America’s most violent cities. The district’s arcane, restrictive gun laws haven’t made anyone safer, in fact one could argue that all the district’s decades old de facto gun ban has accomplished is to insure that criminals have largely defenseless population to prey upon.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said the “good and welfare clause” gives Congress the authority to require individuals to buy health insurance as mandated in the health care bill. However, there is no “good and welfare clause” in the U.S. Constitution.

During an interview Capitol Hill Friday, CNSNews.com asked Rep. Conyers, “The individual mandate in the bill requires individuals to purchase health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that never before in the history of the United States has the federal government required any one to purchase any good or service. What part of the Constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to mandate individuals to purchase health insurance?”

Conyers said: “Under several clauses, the good and welfare clause and a couple others. All the scholars, the constitutional scholars that I know — I’m chairman of the Judiciary committee, as you know — they all say that there’s nothing unconstitutional in this bill and if there were, I would have tried to correct it if I thought there were.”

The what??? There is no “good and welfare” clause in the Constitution… the word “good” appears just once in Article 3, Section 1, which deals with the Judicial Branch:

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

The word “welfare” appears twice once in the preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

And again in Article 1, Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Neither instance gives Congress the authority to force private citizens to purchase health insurance. It’s a sad state affairs when our elected leaders… who have sworn to defend the Constitution either don’t know, or don’t care what it says. The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Federalist Papers and the Debates of the Constitution should be required reading for every high school student — and politician in America.

Update: Be sure to follow the related links below for a couple great analysis’ of the situation… Kerry Picket at The Washington Times points out then President James Madison’s March 3, 1817 veto of a federal public works bill. Madison, one of the architects, of the Constitution explains the limitations of  the “to provide for common defense and general welfare” clause. And Allahpundit has a good synopsis of the legal issues at Hot Air.

Related

• Conyers fabricates constitutional law citing ‘good and welfare’ clause – Kerry Picket, Washington Times
• Conyers: O-Care is constitutional because of the “Good and Welfare Clause” – Allahpundit, Hot Air

Step 1: Break folk singer Dave Carroll’s guitar.
Step 2: Give Dave the run around for 9 months before finally telling him to get stuffed.
Step 3: Leave Dave so frustrated that he writes song called “United Breaks Guitars”, records it and then produces a music video that he posts on YouTube on July 6, 2009:

1.4 million views and counting later United is apologizing and offering to make things right.

Background Dave’s story here and here (including United’s response).

Bottom line Dave Carroll’s story should be a lesson for every organization large and small… Social media is a game changer that can turn bad customer service into a PR disaster that can be far more costly than making things right in the first place.

I’d love to give United a hearty at-a-boy for offering to do the right thing but I don’t believe for a minute they’d be offering to make things right if they didn’t have a major PR disaster on their hands.

H/T: Alex Eckelberry.

Dr. LeRoy Carhart, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions, called on the federal government to treat as hate crimes all activities by “anti-choice domestic terrorists,” compared the slain Dr. George Tiller to Martin Luther King and said planting crosses was equivalent to actions by the Ku Klux Klan.

“This is the equivalent of Martin Luther King being assassinated,” Dr. Carhart said of the May 31 slaying of one of America’s best-known late-term abortion providers. “This is the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitania and any other major historic event where we’ve tolerated the intolerable for too long.”

Dr. Kings niece, Dr. Alveda King, pastoral associate of Priests for Life, said in a statement that Carhart’s remarks “offensive beyond belief”:

“For LeRoy Carhart to mention the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who worked through peaceful and non-violent means, in the same breath with that of George Tiller, whose work ended peace and brought violence to babies in the womb, is offensive beyond belief,” said Dr. King.  “The analogy is just wrong.”

“Dr. Carhart also speaks of hate crimes,” added Dr. King.  “I would simply ask him, is it not hateful to regard an entire class of people as non-human because they’re unwanted?”

That pretty much covers it.

Dr. King was a peaceful man who believed in equal dignity for everyone. George Tiller was a man who dedicated his life to taking the lives of innocents. They could not be more different in act or deed.

Make no mistake Dr. Tiller’s murder was the detestable act of a detestable man and it can not be excused or justified in any way. But comparing Dr. Tiller’s murder to the assassination of Martin Luther King is indescribably offensive.

From AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Popular US breakfast cereal Cheerios is a drug, at least if the claims made on the label by its manufacturer General Mills are anything to go by, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.

“Based on claims made on your product’s label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug,” the FDA said in a letter to General Mills which was posted on the federal agency’s website Tuesday.

Cheerios labels claim that eating the cereal can help lower bad cholesterol, a risk factor for coronary heart disease, by four percent in six weeks.

Citing a clinical study, the product labels also claim that eating two servings a day of Cheerios helps to reduce bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, the FDA letter says.

Those claims indicate that Cheerios — said by General Mills to be the best-selling cereal in the United States — is intended to be used to lower cholesterol and prevent, lessen or treat the disease hypercholesterolemia, and to treat and prevent coronary heart disease.

(sigh)

Of all the things the FDA could be doing to ensure that our food supply is safe this is what they chose to focus on?

Idiots.

What’s up with Arizona politicians?

Arizona Sen. John McCain made the dubious claim Friday that Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States through Canada — just days after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona, said the same thing.

Napolitano retracted her claim on Thursday after Canadian officials chided her for the remark, calling it an unfortunate misconception. Napolitano admitted Thursday that she made a mistake — since the 9/11 Commission concluded that the hijackers entered the U.S. from overseas.

But when asked about the gaffe on FOX News Friday, McCain said: “Well, some of the 9/11 hijackers did come through Canada, as you know.”

This drew an instant retort from the Canadian embassy, which re-issued Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson’s public comments from Tuesday, in which he said:

“Unfortunately, misconceptions arise on something as fundamental as where the 9/11 terrorists came from. As the 9/11 Commission reported in July 2004, all of the 9/11 terrorists arrived in the U.S. from outside North America. They flew to major U.S. airports. They entered the U.S. with documents issued to them by the U.S. government. No 9/11 terrorists came from Canada.”

Idiot, Senator you might want to review the 9-11 commission report… The 9/11 hijackers DID NOT enter this country through Canada. They entered the country directly from overseas with documents issued by the U.S. Government.

Got it? Good.

The report provides no specific information on potential threats, instead it relies on broad generalities to paint roughly half the country as kooks (emphasis mine):

(U) Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

If you follow DHS’ logic Texas Governor Rick Perry is an extremist for backing legislation affirming Texas’ 10th amendment rights:

You can read the text of the bill here.

The bottom line here is that DHS is using overly broad generalities that effectively, even if unintentionally, lump mainstream grassroots conservatives together with extremists. Believing in traditional Constitutional principles like states rights does not make someone an extremist… Advocating the violent overthrow of the government does!

Update

AJ Strata has an interesting post on the DHS report (be sure to read Colin’s comment)… For the most part I agree with him, I disagree with his characterization of Michelle Malkin’s comments though. Yes, Michelle tends to use hyperbole to make her point, her point though is basically the same as mine or AJ’s:

This report isn’t a particularly useful intelligence assessment; it provides no new information or specifics on potential threats, and worse still it uses overly broad generalities that effectively, even if unintentionally, lump mainstream conservatives in with extremists.

Related

• Watch Out For Those Crazy Right Wingers! – John Hinderaker
• Federal agency warns of radicals on right – Washington Times

Morrow was suspend on Feb. 5 after other students observed prop rifles used by her Young Marines drill team in her Dodge Durango which was parked at the Aurora high school campus and alerted school officials.

Cherry Creek Superintendent Mary Chesley ruled Friday that Morrow could return next Wednesday. Students will be off Monday for President’s Day and Tuesday for a teacher in-service day.

Morrow won’t be in class until Friday. The senior plans to visit the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., which she hopes to attend after graduation.

Her case got plenty of attention from the mainstream media and talk radio.

“I stayed positive throughout the whole thing,” she said. “It was mainly dealing with the media, doing interviews and all that stuff. I miss everything about school right now.”

She was bounced from Cherokee Trail on Feb. 5 after officials, alerted by other students, found prop rifles in her Dodge Durango parked at the Aurora high school campus.

Morrow, commander of the Douglas County Young Marines drill team, kept them in her vehicle because her drill team is preparing for an April 18 competition at the Air Force Academy.

The length of her expulsion was the six days she already has been out of school.

“They gave her time served,” said her mother, Jenifer McGrew. “We are thrilled this whole entire ordeal is over. It’s been a crazy week.”

The school district’s decision came a day after Morrow’s expulsion hearing, by an independent hearing officer. During the hearing, Morrow was praised by Cherry Creek Schools officials, Parker’s mayor and retired military personnel as a bright, focused and highly responsible student who simply forgot she left the prop guns in her vehicle.

But a “zero-tolerance” state law requires expulsion of any student seen with a “dangerous weapon” on school grounds or at school events unless the student has permission. Under the law, dangerous weapons include facsimiles that could be mistaken for real ones. Read the rest…

These ham-fisted zero tolerance, zero intelligence, zero commonsense laws have to go there was no reason for Morrow to be suspended much less expelled.

Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

BEAVER DAM (WKOW) — Beaver Dam school officials placed a middle school teacher on administrative leave after discovering a photograph of the teacher with a gun on the teacher’s Facebook page.

In the photo, teacher Betsy Ramsdale is training a rifle at the camera.

Ramsdale emailed 27 News in response to our inquiries saying she “removed the photo immediately” and that she is not “interested in any controversy.”   Ramsdale did not comment on her motivation for posting the photo.

Schools superintendent Donald Childs told 27 News he is unaware of any sinister intent on the teacher’s part and said the use of the photo “appears to be poor judgment.”

Childs said the Facebook photo was brought to the attention of school district officials by a concerned staff member at Beaver Dam Middle School.

Pisses me off to no end.

Did Ms. Ramsdale do anything illegal or immoral? No! Did she encourage her students to do anything illegal or immoral? No! All she did was post a photograph of herself with a rifle on her personal Facebook page… Something she has constitutionally protected right to do.

The only “sinister intent” I see here is that public officials have chosen to destroy a Ms. Ramsdale’s good name and career because she was publicly identified as a gun owner.

David Codrea has the photo and commentary at Examiner.com.

On a related note Nicki Fellenzer at The Liberty Zone points out the story of 17 year old Colorado high school student who is facing expulsion because she had drill team rifles in her car. The rifles — props really are made of plastic, wood and duct tape.

A local school district has suspended a member of the Young Marines youth leadership group after students saw drill props in her vehicle.

Marie Morrow, a 17-year-old senior at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora, is serving a 10-day suspension. Her punishment could be extended at an expulsion hearing later this month.

Morrow is a student leader in the Douglas County Young Marines, a group dedicated to teaching leadership and life skills.

Cherry Creek Schools suspended Morrow after other students reported seeing guns inside her SUV, which was parked outside school while she was in class.

The school also called police, who seized the three drill team guns made of wood, plastic and duct tape. Police told Morrow to claim them in time for her after-school drill practice off-campus.

School administrators, however, were less understanding. The guns were declared “authentic representations of genuine weapons,” triggering a mandatory expulsion statute in state law.

These brain dead Zero tolerance, Zero intelligence policies have to end… These policies aren’t about protecting students they’re about giving public officials the cover to ruin young woman’s life over what should have been a non-event.