California, the quaint little republic in which I resided until I moved to the United States for political asylum, is one of only eight^* “capricious issue” states, where every citizen’s right – or lack thereof – to carry a weapon for personal defense is up to the whim of law enforcement. Gun rights supporters frequenlty complain of the arbitrariness of this system, and the possibility that concealed carry rights may be doled out as political favors, while gun-grabbers lamely argue that the police should be trusted to use their “discretion.” Now, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has removed all doubt by revoking retired Capt. Ken Masse’s concealed carry permit for running against Baca.

The good news is that the Sheriff’s office has a sense of humor. While delivering the news of Masse’s loss of his self-defense privileges, Baca undersecretary Larry Waldie alleged that Masse’s campaign against Baca “may have damaged the public’s confidence in this agency.” Seeing Masse’s permit yanked for such a transparently political reason should do wonders to restore it, though. ‘Hat tip: Uncle.

^*Eleven states – Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island – have discretionary issue concealed carry laws. However, according to Dave Kopel, three of those states – Alabama, Connecticut and Iowa, which Kopel dubs “do issue” states – generally issue permits on terms similar to those of shall-issue states.

Hollywood is filled to the brim with would-be “environmentalists” who burn a Hummer-year of fuel every time they fly their private jets from coast to coast. They’re all hypocrites, of course, but at least Radiohead singer Thom Yorke has the decency to admit it.

Via Drudge.

Anyone have any ideas for how to get audio from your computer to a stereo system, preferably by a wireless route?

As you know, the recent “coulterversy” stems from a passage from Ann Coulter’s latest book in which she attacked the Jersey Girls for cynically manipulating their late husbands’ deaths toward political ends and, worse yet, appearing to derive some sick pleasure from it. Trading precision for pithiness, Coulter wrote:

These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparazzies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.

While 99.99% of Coulter’s critics would have been equally offended by any passage that criticized the Jersey Girls’ ploy, at least one critic insists that making an issue of deriving indirect joy from their husbands’ untimely demise was fine, the whole beef being over what the meaning of “isenjoy” is. To satisfy this contigent, Coulter should instead have written the following:

Said Womyn have amassed significant fortunes, both in a pecuniary and a non-pecunarary fashion. Popular media, including without limitation the media of television (including cable television, satellite television, local “over the air” television, and such other televisual media as may be employed from time to time) newspaper and newsmagazine articles, within and without the World Wide Web, have provided additional exposure to such individuals, who have reciprocated by demonstrating an apparent affinity for such untoward attention, even from some media sources whose manner of reporting may be viewed by some as unorthodox. Upon information and belief, and to the best of my limited memory, I have at no point in the past observed any individuals deriving such misplaced pleasure from the demise of their spouses, domestic partners, common law husbands or wives, directly or indirectly, or in any other manner express or implied.

It might not have sold her any books, but at least it would have kept the lawyers happy.

For those of you who like discussing Ann Coulter but are fed up with semantic hair-splitting over the meaning of “enjoy,” “dowdify” or “is,” you’re in luck. Patterico has finally found something in Ann Coulter’s book that’s actually worth criticizing, and John Hawkins has found something that’s actually worth quoting.

In her latest piece, the Ted Rall of the Right^TM stresses that it is liberal ideology, and not individual liberals, whom she considers godless. The Ted Rall of the Left is a bit less charitable than that, comparing his right-wing countepart to a space alien and … I’m not making this up … arguing that his 9/11 widows bit was not nearly as mean as hers.

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Just when it seemed as though Joseph Vento had proven himself to be Philadelphia’s biggest ‘hat, the Philadelphai Commission on Human Relations turned around and outdid him in spades. ‘Hat tip: Walter Olson.

When the next Democrat President or ex-President dies, the “Ted Rall of the Right” will not write any columns gloating about his death or speculating that he is turning a “crispy brown” in hell. Anyone care to place any bets?

UPDATE: Then again, it’s not a great postdiction, as Coulter does suggest in Chapter 1 that she wouldn’t be terribly wild about finding liberals in heaven when she dies:

Democrats revile religion but insist on faking a belief in God in front of the voters claiming to be “spiritual.” They can’t forthrightly admit they are Druids, so they “reframe” their constant, relentless opposition to every Biblical precept as respect for “science” or the “Constitution” — both of which they hate. Their rage against us is their rage against the Judeo-Christian tradition. I don’t particularly care if liberals believe in God. In fact, I would be crestfallen to discover any liberals in heaven. So fine, rage against God, but how about being honest about it? Liberals can believe what they want to believe, but let us not flinch from identifying liberalism as the opposition party to God.

So for those who think timing is the opposite of everything, and that making the same point is all that matters, then I suppose this prediction won’t prove anything – or will prove that Coulter = Rall after all. Oh well, at least Coulter hasn’t threatened to sue Rall … yet.

From my referral logs, it appears that some guy in Korea is attempting to download my entire archive. Bizarre.