Peggy West: A model Midwesterner

I took a quick walk shortly to the north to find that elected officials there not only don't read things before they act on them, but they're also idiots and when they open their mouth. Highland Park High school's basketball team, in IL boycotted Arizona, their economy was obviously devastated. Stupid ultra lefts think that Arizona's law is terrible, but none of them have even read the law they're so against! This ignorance showed when Peggy West said this when contemplating a Milwuakee boycott of Arizona:

If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this

Peggy was regretful that her idiocy caused her so much grief and offered this equally ill thought out response to her ill thought out statement:

What I intended to say was other states like Texas have many more highly populated cities along their borders. The large population centers of Arizona are much further from the border. It's clear that I made a mistake last Thursday

What I find great about this statement, is that she's obviously never tried to verify her shabby excuses, and is now crying about the amount of people mailing her to point out that she's a huge idiot. Well add me to that pile, I'm not mailing though, I'm blogging, and if it hurts Peggy West's feelings, all she has to do is read AND COMPREHEND the Arizona immigration law, realize that it gives law enforcement no power they don't already have, then stop pushing for ridiculous government actions of force against another state. Here's a population density map in case you don't believe me about her being an idiot... measure the distance from the border to the highly populated portions, then say it with me: "Peggy West, stop cramming cheeseburgers down your face, and start reading the stuff you believe so firmly against to call for a boycott."

A Great guide on what to do at a Roadblock

Because these roadblocks are getting so common, I went to look for any online guides to deal with them. This is the best one I could find over at Road Block Registry (www.roadblock.org). They also offer a little more backing to my previous assertion that drug sniffing dogs are being used inappropriately.

Often, an involuntary search is preceded by another form of search, the once-over by the urban myth known as the infallible drug sniffing dog. Old Bowser can be relied upon to find drugs anyplace the police want to find drugs. (Yes, the dogs can detect drugs, but they can be easily manipulated or tricked into "sensing" drugs where no drugs exist, at least prior to the roadblock stop.)

Go check it out! Be safe, and play smart if you are at a roadblock!

Roadside "safety" checks

Tonight was a busy night, I rode a motorcycle 100 miles to go do some work, then 100 miles back.   It was a really nice day to ride, the sun was out in the day, the temperature was just right, and driving was uneventful.   On the way back, it was a little chilly, and I got sucked into a Roadside "safety" check in Palatine at Harper College.   Upon pulling in they asked me to get off my bike, and I complied, taking off my gloves, then helmet so I could have the dexterity to get my license from my pocket.   Handing them the license, they seemed surprised that there was a little "M" on it as they examined it for what seemed to be minutes.   They held on to it while they asked me a bunch of questions, seemingly harmless, but I know better than to assume that.  The conversation went something very similar to this:
Officer: "Where are ya' coming from tonight?"

Me: "From work, just heading home."

Officer: "Where do you work that you're driving so late?"

Me: "Sir, it's kind of late, I'd like to get home, am I free to go?"

Officer: "Not quite yet, this is a roadside safety check, we need to make sure you're wearing your seatbelt,
and you're not driving impaired."

Me: "Since it's a motorcycle and it has no seatbelt, and I am not impaired, am I free to go?"

Officer: "Why are you in such a hurry, are you hiding something?"

Me: "I would just like to get home, that's all, may I go now?"

Officer: "What's in your backpack?"

Me: "My belongings."

Officer: "What exactly is in the bag."

Me: "The exact belongings I chose to bring with me today."

Officer: "Since you're not hiding anything, you wouldn't mind if I took a look at your belongings, would you?"

Me: "I would mind very much, I do not consent to any searches."

Officer: "What are you hiding that you don't want me to look?"

Me: "I'm hiding nothing, I simply don't consent to any searches."

Officer: "Wait here, I have to get the sergeant for this."(officer leaves for 15 minutes, talks to another officer, the new officer walks over to me)

Officer 2: "I understand you're hiding something in that backpack sir!?"

Me: "I'm sorry, there seems to be a communication meltdown sir, I am hiding nothing, I simply will not consent to any searches, I apologize if this bothers you, am I free to go now?"

Officer 2: "No, you're not free to go yet!"

Me: "So I'm being detained?"

Officer 2: "No, we're just not done with the safety check."

Me: "I fail to see how anything inside my backpack could be related to my riding safety, so since I'm not being detained, am I free to go?"

Officer 2: "No, we aren't done here."

Me: "Well, I'm done here, so if I'm not being detained, we're already passed what I think is an acceptable amount of time for a Terry stop.

Officer 2: "Look, whatever you think you know, you're the reason this stop is taking longer than necessary."

Me: "Why?  What is so tantalizing about my off-limits bag of mystery?"

Officer 1: (returns with a dog) This dog is looking for drugs.

Me: "How well trained is he in sniffing out drugs?"

Officer 1: "He can sniff out even tiny amounts!"

Me: "That's really cool!  Has he found any tonight?"

Officer 1: "quite a few tonight."

Me: "Great!  So why isn't he going crazy with that scent around?"

Officer 1: "Umm..  he.. uhh...  knows those aren't illegal?"

Officer 2: "He's a remarkably trained dog"

Me: "Since we're obviously just going to be making stuff up all night, I'm going to head home, you guys have a good night, I hope your busts go really well."

Officer 1: "umm there is umm"

Officer 2: "We've completed the safety inspection, thank you for wearing a Helmet sir, I know it's optional, drive safe now."

Officer 1: Have a good night sir.


-------------End of Interactions---------------


What bothers me the most, is they are using something mysterious like dogs, and then lying about what the dog tells them.   Had I not called them out on their bluff, they would have told me something like: "The dog signaled, we have to search your bag."  The dog "signal" has never really been defined so that the public would know what it is, and the police use this fact to their advantage.   They also seem hell-bent on searching everything on everyone.  I saw a number of cars come in, and the police went through the whole car, the people didn't even resist a little.... but were quick to call out bullshit when they got cuffed.

You're losing your right to be secure in your own belongings Illinois... this is your warning!

Journalistic Asshole: Mark Karlin

Today I'm taking a look at the Journalists who report against liberty, and analyse their "beliefs". Mark Karlin is a Chicago area journalist who was not terribly happy with the supreme court decision that Chicago's handgun ban was unconstitutional. So let's look at his own words that fall like drool from his fingers, seething with unintelligent drivel.

It's about white males in America feeling threatened by becoming a minority and the gun is their last psychological reassurance of entitlement power against an encroaching demographic change in our democracy.

Mark Karlin thinks handgun ownership in Chicago is about white males. When I walk around Chicago, and look at the people who would benefit from protection from criminals with guns, white males doesn't seem to come to mind. I theorize that Mark Karlin is most afraid of good citizens who are black owning handguns. He portrays this fear by bashing white males, while skirting the "race" and gender issue altogether about how he feels about black males owning guns, or white females, or Hispanic females. I am entirely in support of every good citizen of this country being able to own a gun and protect themselves, and possibly others. The more good people with guns, the more the scale is shifted towards the side of good. Mark Karlin with his Yale degree, and six figure income must not understand that very much, he probably only associates with like-minded individuals with nothing intelligent to say.

After all, the City of Chicago allows citizens to own rifles, so there never was a ban on guns in Chicago; there was a ban on a certain type of gun, which didn't even exist at the time the Constitution was written.

This tender gutted sack of  slow moving white meat then attempted to claim Chicago allowed you to have rifles.   Sure they did, if you jumped through some registration permit hoops, and made sure to buy a rifle that wasn't on an expansive "assault weapons" list and you could justify for hunting purposes (hint: Illinois doesn't allow rifle hunting).  Keep in mind, the most common home defense weapon ever, the Remington 870 shotgun is on the Chicago list of assault weapons.  In fact, if you could fire a rifle without getting burned by it, you weren't allowed to own it in Chicago

"A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel,"

Then of course Daley turns around and decides his armed thug squad needs some of these banned items.   Mark shows his lack of historical knowledge by making the claim that handguns did not exist at the time the constitution was written.  Really asshole?  Then what is this you tubby piece of future worm food!?

That sure looks like a concealable handgun to me, Circa 1780!?  A full eleven years before the constitution was penned!   Or how about this nice 1750 model?

Apparently a Yale education isn't worth the price, because this man has officially printed lies.  This coming from some asshole who wants his readers to go to his site to see the news through a "pro-democracy lens."   I hope Mark realizes that in a democracy, the majority could vote to take his overstated paychecks away from him just for being an asshole.  What Mark doesn't realize, probably due to his substandard, overpriced education, is that America is a Republic.  This is a nation that was supposed to exist of laws that protected people from the harsh controls of the government.... So what if that backfired, and now we have Pan-troglydyte's like Mark Karlin preaching about how great democracy is, and how we had no handguns in the late 1700's so no one could conceive of controlling them.  Congratulations Mark, you're an asshole!