I ran across this article by John Stossel that has a 2003 quote by a federal appeals judge named Alex Kozinski. Perhaps it's because Judge Kozinski is an immigrant from Eastern Europe that he has such an astonishing grasp of the purpose of Second Amendment. Here is the quote:

The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed -- where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbably these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.

Wikipedia has an interesting writeup of the Second Amendment. Included is some of the history of the debate around the Bill of Rights. It has some of the "draft" versions of the amendment that were shuffled between the House and Senate prior to passage. Some of the versions have a definition of militia. Specifically, it says, "A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people...." It seems inescapable that anyone with an original intent view of the constitution would say the right to bear arms is an individual right, not just a collective right.

A few years ago I created an LLC to encapsulate some business that I do. I went shopping around to find somewhere to open a bank account for the LLC. I checked with the credit union I normally use for my personal finances, but they didn't offer any sort of business account at the time (they do now). Compass Bank was advertising "free checking for small businesses" so I thought I'd give them a try.

The terms of the free checking account seemed ok. I could make up to 150 transactions per month (I see it's 500 now) before I would get hit with a fee. That was plenty. About the only thing I had to pay for was to have the checks printed. Fair enough.

Then I got my August statement.... Read on...

Several days after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf coast, New Orleans is finally getting some help, but it still looks like a scene out of Escape from New York. I heard last night that the race warfare pimp Jesse Jackson is heading there. I wondered how long it would take before he quit smooching the ass of Hugo Chavez, the communist thug in Venezuela, and head to the next place where he could get his mug in front of a camera.

I was going to post this as an update to the earlier story, but thought it was too important and deserved its own story.

It appears the law enforcement incompetence was even worse that I mentioned in my last story on this topic. Rather than reproducing it here, I'll just provide a link to a list of the screw-ups on Neal Boortz's web site. I normally wouldn't "Monday morning quarterback" a group that puts their lives on the line like the police, except these screw-ups cost four lives and one serious injury.

This is yet another old rant I've migrated from my old web site to Geeklog. This one is about something a lot of companies seem to think they need to have: Vision Statements (and/or Mission Statements).

The news today has been filled with the account of how Brian Nichols, a man on trial for allegedly holding and raping his ex-girlfriend for three days, went berzerk and killed the judge, court reporter, a deputy, and seriously wounded another deputy. As I write this, he is still at large. Hopefully he will be captured soon, but I'm not hopeful as long as he is in the Atlanta area, as law enforcement has not been very effective so far. Read on...

Second Lt. Ilario Pantano is the U.S. Marine who may be charged with murder for killing two "insurgents" in Iraq on April 15, 2004. For more details, go read Is the Marine Corps P.C.? by Mona Charen on townhall.com.

I find it completely disgusting that these charges are even being considered. Our men in uniform should be given the benefit of the doubt in these cases. To do otherwise will plant seeds of doubt in their minds as they perform their duties that their own life or freedom may be on the line later. That doubt could cause a momentary hesitation that could kill them.

Lt. Pantano's parents have set up a web site where people can donate money to help in his defense.