Friday, June 13, 2003

Iraqis Buying and Hoarding Guns, Grenades. 'We're taking all heavy weapons out of circulation, such as RPGs, (rocket-propelled grenades) grenades and howitzers,' said Lt. Col. Duncan Bruce, Commanding Officer of 1 Battalion, Duke of Wellington's regiment, which controls much of rural southern Iraq. The 'weapons amnesty' runs from until June 15, but many say it is more of risk to hand over their arms than to keep them. 'We've always had weapons. Even under the brutal regime of Saddam, we had weapons. It's a tradition that goes back decades. I will not give up my weapons, especially not now, when the only security I have is my weapon,' said Ali, who runs a cigarette kiosk in Basra. [FirearmNews.com] Freedom isn't something you can just give a person, like an ice cream cone. A certain way of thinking is required to actually be free--and it seems like the Iraqis are pretty close to it, to the dismay of their conquerers. In fact, by refusing to give up his weapons, Ali proves that he's more free than most Americans. 7:45:56 PM    comment () Evil That Knows No Bounds. I think I'm starting to understand how Andrew Sullivan felt about Howell Raines. Via Gene Healy, I learn that two barbers in the Bronx, eager to comply with Nurse Bloomberg's directives, stepped outside their own barbershop to have a smoke. They were promptly ticketed for loitering. [Hit & Run] Or to put it another way, they were ticketed for "peaceably assembling." The nerve! 6:58:44 PM    comment () Home-schooling standoff in Waltham. "We have legal custody of the children and we will do with them as we see fit," DSS worker Susan Etscovitz told the Bryants in their Gale Street home. "They are minors and they do what we tell them to do." [...] Both sides agree that the children are in no way abused mentally, physically, sexually or emotionally, but legal custody of the children was taken from Kim and George Bryant in December 2001. The children will remain under the legal custody of DSS until their 16th birthdays. [The MetroWest Daily News] Clearly nobody with children should go to Massachussetts, lest they be kidnapped by the government. Actually, it's probably best if Americans avoid going there regardless, as any state which would engage in such evil doesn't deserve tourist dollars from decent people. 10:21:12 AM    comment ()

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