aubreyturner.org

Interesting…..

Jonah Goldberg has a few things to say about Cynthia McKinney. 

He also has a few things to say about the so-called warnings about the attacks on September 11th:

Not to be too blunt, but getting a warning that Muslim or Arab terrorist groups are interested in hijacking American planes is roughly equivalent to being “warned” that bears are “interested” in crapping in the woods. This is the normal state of things. Quick: Here’s another warning for you, it’s very possible that this summer will be what meteorologists like to call “hot.” Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Finally, a church after my own heart.

Now I’d go spread the gospel if I weren’t so damn apathetic….

After hearing about the EAA Witness series from L. Neil Smith and from other sources, the bug finally bit me and I picked up a Compact 9mm EAA Witness at the Big Town Gun Show in Mesquite on 5/4.

I took it to the range last week and put 150 rounds through it.  There were no failures of any kind.  My coworker put another 50 rounds through it after me and had no problems either.

I was impressed at how good the gun feels in your hand and how well it shoots (although I did everything in single-action mode—I didn’t try double).  The trigger pull was smooth and the gun was quite accurate (more accurate than me, anyway).  Felt recoil with the 115-grain FMJ Wolf was quite mild (although I must confess I had been using my 45ACP Kimber Ultra CDP-II before hand, which might bias me a bit).

All in all, this is a nice gun.  The fit and finish were good and it shoots well.

Impressive, given the gun only cost $335.00 (with tax) NIB.

Just got a TiVo Series 2 DVR.  Why didn’t I do this before?  Now I don’t have to worry about when something comes on.  I just let the TiVo do the work.  And I don’t have to hang around waiting for something, which was leading me to watch a bunch of time-wasting crap.

If you haven’t filled up the hard drive with recordings, it has a neat feature where it scours the TV listings and records things that it thinks you might be interested in.  As you watch shows and use the “Thumbs-Up” and “Thumbs-Down” buttons it starts to learn what you like.  It now knows that I like Law & Order and it’s putting a lot of those in the recommendation sections. 

So far it has proven to be a fairly well-polished bit of technology.  It does one thing and it does it well.

Now maybe I can put TV in its place and get around to that pile of unread books that I’ve been meaning to tackle.

This article details a run-in with the petty tyrants of the Farmington, New Mexico police department. 

The author’s mistake?  Not bowing and scraping before their “authority.”

Joseph Sobran has an interesting article (LewRockwell.com) about all those people who have accused him of being ‘Anti-American’.

I don’t always agree with his views (too much preaching), but this time he’s right on target.  Some of us don’t agree with our government or what is being done in our name.  He makes a good argument that perhaps we’re more ‘American’ than our disparagers.

This article at Fox News details the nefarious plan by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) (who is bought and paid for by the recording industry) to require “digital rights management” in all digital devices.

Consider the following excerpt from the bill: “It is unlawful to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies.”

To paraphrase Charleton Heston’s character in Planet of the Apes:

“Keep your grubby laws off my computer, you damn dirty senator.”

More background:

Slashdot article—“Senator from Disney”

Downloading can’t be stopped—Why the music (and film) industry will lose this battle.

Dell now claims that they don’t discriminate against anyone and that the government made them do it.  I still don’t trust them and I still won’t do business with them (especially given their stupid CHL policies), but I guess there’s nothing more to be gained by flogging Dell.  The marketplace will sort them out eventually.

Read on for Dell’s last email.

Dear Valued Customers and Friends:

We appreciate the opportunity to clarify the facts regarding a customer

issue reported in the media and Dell’s position on political or social

issues that many of you care deeply about.

Regarding Handgun Rights/Handgun Control….

Dell is a publicly-traded, customer-focused company with customers,

shareholders and employees on both sides of many public, social and

political issues. Our place is to serve our customers rather than to endorse

or support one position over another in public debates outside the scope of

our industry.

We do not discriminate against any business, regardless of the products or

services they sell, nor do we discriminate against individual customers. We

do, however, respect the right of any organization or individual to have

their own point of view. We follow all laws, rules and regulations.

Regarding allegations that Dell supports Handgun Control organizations

through the Dell Affiliates program…

Dell as a company remains neutral on handgun rights and handgun control.

Dell customers can support causes and organizations, if they choose, through

Dell’s affiliates program and charitable websites such as igive.com and

progressivefunds.com. These sites feature links to Dell’s website. Dell’s

affiliates program provides a way for customers to support the cause or

organization of their choice through their Dell purchases. Affiliate

participants, such as igive.com and progressivefunds.com, include

organizations and causes on different sides of nearly every social issue.

Some of the organizations participating through Dell affiliates such as

igive.com and progressivefunds.com., promote handgun rights, others promote

handgun control. Handgun Control Inc. (HCI) has been reported as one

organization that participates in this program. Others including The Gun

Owners Foundation and the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners

Foundation, Inc. also participate through Dell affiliate igive.com.

The only organizations prohibited from participating in Dell’s affiliates

program are those that promote sexually explicit material; promote violence;

promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality,

disability, sexual orientation or age; or promote illegal activities.

Regarding the assertion that Dell cancelled Mr. Jack Weigand’s order for a

notebook computer because of his firearm association…

We made a mistake. Mr. Weigand’s order was improperly cancelled because we

did not gather the additional information required by U.S. law to process

his order. Dell flagged Mr. Weigand’s order (initiated under his company

name Weigand’s Combat Firearms) for additional follow-up (and then we failed

to do so) because of the word “combat” in his company name. This internal

control is in place to ensure that a domestic purchase is not redirected to

an end user for a prohibited use (such as the creation and development of

weapons of mass destruction) or to a country that has been restricted from

receiving U.S. technology exports (such as Libya, Syria, Iran and Iraq).

This due diligence is required by U.S. law. We also review orders for words

such as “nuclear,” “missile,” and “plutonium.” Dell’s process excludes

reviews for “guns” or “firearms.”

The mistake was ours because we failed to follow our process. We failed to

call Mr. Weigand for information that would have satisfied legal

requirements and ultimately would have resulted in completion of Mr.

Weigand’s transaction. We have apologized for this mistake directly to Mr.

Weigand. We have tried to make it right with our customer by giving him a

free computer for his trouble and inconvenience.

Dell has many customers and employees who are handgun owners and

enthusiasts. We know that gun owners and advocates, such as Mr. Weigand, are

law abiding Americans, and as such, can understand and appreciate our

efforts to comply with American export laws, while serving all customers.

We have heard from many of you over the last few days, and we appreciate the

opportunity to speak with you directly about these issues. Your

relationships with us, and your feedback about our products and services are

crucial to our success.

Sincerely,

Tom Green

Senior Vice President,

Law and Administration

Dell Computer Corporation

Dell has opened up a can of worms with America’s firearms owners.  It all started when they cancelled an order for a laptop from Jack Weigand, owner of Weigand Combat Handguns Inc.

Their reason?  The word “Combat” in the name of his company.

Dell claims that due to export restrictions they must screen all potential buyers.  They claim that their only mistake was failing to contact Mr. Weigand to confirm that he wasn’t going to use the laptop for nefarious purposes.  However, this event has exposed their profiling scheme and how it is being used against law-abiding Americans.

However, it appears that the problem runs much deeper.  Another case has just surfaced on tx.guns where a potential customer was told that he was on Dell’s “undesirable customer” list because of his membership in pro-rights (NRA, TSRA, etc) and pro-hunting organizations (Trophy Game Records).  This leads to some troubling questions.  What does Dell consider to be a desirable customer?  How did they determine his membership in these organizations?  What business is it of theirs anyway?

Links:

• Jack Weigand’s Dell page
• Article from Newsbytes
• Article from Wired
• tx.guns posting concerning Dell’s “undesirable customer” list
• Armed Females of America’s Boycott Dell Page

I fired off an email about this to Dell. Their response fails to answer a single point that I raised in my original email. It is a perfect example of how not to handle a response to this kind of problem.