Reason Morning Links: Afghan Opium Prices Drop, Sex Offender Laws Fail, Getting a Gun in D.C.

- Sex offender registry, monitoring programs failed to stop Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping.

- Afghan opium prices drop to an eight-year low.

- A Washington Post reporter navigates the maze to gun ownership in post-Heller D.C.

- Hints that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens may be nearing retirement.

- AG Holder's decision to investigate terror interrogations gets vote of support from . . . Alberto Gonzales?

Comments

[John-David]

There is no better way to discredit Holder's investigation than to have Gonzo applaud it.

[Abdul]

A Washington Post reporter navigates the maze to gun ownership in post-Heller D.C.

I've read lots of articles like this one. Egghead journalist dips into the world of firing a gun and finds that its really not a gateway drug to becoming a canibal or Dirty Harry.

WTF? 39 % of americans are gun-owners; 67% report having fired a gun. It's not that unusual of an experience! By contrast, only 4-10% who are vegetarian, about 5% who are gay. How come there are no WaPo articles about what it's like to eat organic cous cous for the first time? Or the first time crusing a truck stop?

Seriously, do they make you hand over your testicles when you apply to journalism school?

[Nick]

39 % of americans are gun-owners

And it would be higher if not for laws like the egghead had to navigate.

[T]

39 % of americans are gun-owners

I always wonder about that number. I suspect it's higher, because I know a lot of paranoids that wouldn't answer the question in the affirmative if some random stranger asked them.

[SugarFree]

Will Wilkinson approvingly linked by Feministing

Without even knowing what or why it was, I was heavily influenced by gay culture, which provided me, and many other straight young men, a wide variety of templates for manhood that are at once unmistakably masculine, playfully ironic, aesthetic, emotionally open, and happily sexual. You can be manly and care about shoes!!! I'll confess that I used to periodically regret my heterosexuality because there seemed to be greater scope for constructing a distinctive and satisfying male identity within gay culture. I think that's telling.

So do I.

[Fred]

The reason we are guaranteed the right to bear arms is to protect the republic in which we live. Protection from what you Ask? Protection from being taken over by an over zealous and controling Federal or State Government.

[Nick]

You can be manly and care about shoes!!!

We call them sneakers and cleats and they serve more than an aesthetic function.

[Rhywun]

I'm gay and I dress like a slob. Guess what? People vary. But he's still a faggot if he cares that much about shoes.

[Xeones]

I would argue that hetero and homo are just the endpoints of a sliding scale, but that still doesn't explain Warty.

[T]

I would argue that hetero and homo are just the endpoints of a sliding scale, but that still doesn't explain Warty.

You should know better than to characterize any complex human activity on a 2D scale, X. I'm not sure how many dimensions you need for Warty, though. Maybe those 29 dimensions those e-Harmony ads keep blathering about?

[Warren]

Fred | September 2, 2009, 9:35am | #
The reason we are guaranteed the right to bear arms is to protect the republic in which we live. Protection from what you Ask? Protection from being taken over by an over zealous and controling Federal or State Government.

That would be a good point if Waco hadn't provided irrefutable proof that no amount of privately owned fire power can protect you from an over zealous and controlling government.

[Xeones]

Maybe those 29 dimensions those e-Harmony ads keep blathering about?

I don't know. Is there a number smaller than 1?

[Xeones]

That would be a good point if Waco hadn't provided irrefutable proof that no amount of privately owned fire power can protect you from an over zealous and controlling government.

We're libertarians, though. We believe we should be allowed to have shoulder-mounted TOW missiles if we want.

[Warty]

Shut the fuck up, Xeones.

T: For any set of binary-classified data of dimension D0 that is not linearly separable, there exists some projection of those data into a feature space of dimension D1, where D1>D0, in which the points are linearly separable. This is known as the kernel trick. Think about that, faggot.

Post Reporter, Chris Davenport, goes through the bureaucratic and legal process of purchasing and owning a handgun in D.C., but struggles with the moral implications of having a weapon in his own home.

Christ, what a pussy.

[Art-P.O.G.]

You can be manly and care about shoes!!!

Yeah, if you have to have the freshest Jordans or Air Force Ones or whatever the devil the kids are wearing these days. All I need is s pair of black-and-white Chuck Taylors, some boots, some running shoes and some basketball shoes.

I do agree that most gender/sexual orientation stereotypes are woefully inadequate at describing most real human behavior. Except for the shoe thing, because as a male, if you care too much, you're either "urban", metrosexual or gay.

[WWJGD]

Christ, what a pussy.

By the end of the article, I wanted to punch the guy in the face. He decided to return/sell the gun because his wife was crying about it and he was slightly scared of it. He did say he was going to go to the range more though. Still, a pussy.

[Warty]

You can be manly and care about shoes!!!

I kind of want a pair of Vibram FiveFingers. It'll be too cold to go barefoot soon.

[WWJGD]

I saw those on Lifehacker awhile ago but can't find a good review of them before I buy.

[R C Dean]

WTF? 39 % of americans are gun-owners; 67% report having fired a gun. It's not that unusual of an experience!

I find those levels depressingly low. I suppose if you correct for minors, the percentages go up a bit. In my family, we run about 50%. Me, my wife, and my father own guns. My mother, my (liberal) brother and his (liberal) wife don't.

Although my brother is an excellent natural shot. Damn him.

[WWJGD]

So is Gonzales approving Holder's plan because he knows that the investigation really won't accomplish anything?

[Citizen Nothing]

Perhaps Stevens believes Obama will be a one-termer, or sees Republican gains in the senate next year, so he'd best bail now.

[John C. Randolph]

$833 bucks to get the DC government to allow you to exercise your human rights?

This is begging for more litigation. Those fuckers are doing all they can to avoid complying with the law.

-jcr

[Citizen Nothing]

I wish I could care more about shoes, just to piss on the stereotypes. But god help me, I cannot.
I do kind of like show tunes, though.

[kinnath]

No guns, but I do have a pair of functional swords.

[John C. Randolph]

By the end of the article, I wanted to punch the guy in the face.

Beating up a masochist is way too easy.

-jcr

[Warty]

Swords? They'll cut your fucking throat wide open.

[Jesus Haploid Tap-Dancing Chr]

Oh,

The first shots are an absolute shock, a full-body experience I feel in my shoulders, hips and knees. The gun doesn't fire so much as explode, kicking back ferociously, releasing a hot whiff of air and a bright red flash from the muzzle. It's louder, more violent and more cannonlike than I expected, and I realize that part of me is more than nervous. I'm a little scared.

This clown doesn't want a gun, he wants a ball gag and fist up his ass.

[John C. Randolph]

What kind of hoops does DC make you jump through if you want to collect swords?

-jcr

[Michael Ejercito]

That would be a good point if Waco hadn't provided irrefutable proof that no amount of privately owned fire power can protect you from an over zealous and controlling government.

How did that play out in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[Meta4]

"$833 bucks to get the DC government to allow you to exercise your human rights?"

Rather like a poll tax, eh?

[T]

For any set of binary-classified data of dimension D0 that is not linearly separable, there exists some projection of those data into a feature space of dimension D1, where D1>D0, in which the points are linearly separable. This is known as the kernel trick. Think about that, faggot.

Grumpy little deviant this morning, aren't you? We're arguing about what order of dimensionality is sufficient to describe your rather.. unique set of perversities. The math should fall out neatly from there.

[Warty]

Good question, T. How many perversions are listed in the DSM?

[R C Dean]

No guns, but I do have a pair of functional swords.

Me, too. In the unlikely event I run out of ammo. . . .

[Jordan]

That would be a good point if Waco hadn't provided irrefutable proof that no amount of privately owned fire power can protect you from an over zealous and controlling government.

Huh? The Branch Davidians hardly offered any resistance at all. And of course one measly compound full of people can't do shit against the government.

[Abdul]

Christ, what a pussy.

Warty distill's my post into a four word koan.

[short, fat bastard]

Me, too. In the unlikely event I run out of ammo. . . .

Ammo is unnecessary when you're a stealth warrior like myself.

[T]

Good question, T. How many perversions are listed in the DSM?

I dunno. I quit paying attention to the DSM after they started trying to make every single behavior exhibited by a human being diagnosable as a condition.

[Warty]

Anyway, if there are P perversions, then you would need P dimensions, assuming that all perversions are independent. That is probably a poor assumption, so the real fun would be figuring out which perversions predict each other.

[Warty]

Also, fuck Xeones for making me think about math.

[Mike M.]

Egghead journalist dips into the world of firing a gun and finds that its really not a gateway drug to becoming a cannibal or Dirty Harry.

And the guy came oh so close to going all the way, but after all that time and effort he went to, at the very end he wussed out and instead of bringing his scared liberal wife out to the range with him like he should have, he let her boss him around into getting rid of the gun, even though from the tone of the piece you could tell he didn't want to.

[Groovus Maximus]

This clown doesn't want a gun, he wants a ball gag and fist up his ass

Bring in The Gimp!!!!

No guns, but I do have a pair of functional swords

One was sufficient for Bruce Willis.

[Spartacus]

Warty--

"Projections" usually refer to a mapping into a space of smaller dimension. Do you perhaps mean "embedding"? Also, is there a reasonable upper bound for D1? Because otherwise, for a finite data set, it seems like a pretty trivial theorem as long as you can let D1 be really large.

[hmm]

? A Washington Post reporter navigates the maze to gun ownership in post-Heller D.C.

Would I, as he raises his gun, be able to fire mine?

If you have to ask yourself that question you don't need a weapon. You have already agreed to become a victim.

Does the gun indeed provide a much-needed layer of security in a dangerous city, or does it merely provide the perception of security?

It's an illusion or a perception of security for him. He answered his question with the previous insight. Good thing he plans on leaving it at the range. It would do him about as much use as a Yellow Pages if he needed to protect himself or his family.

The level of not willing to be responsible for something is scary. The fear of his own inabilities and responsibilities is ridiculous. He's like some 13 year old emo kid.

[hmm]

Tag fail.

[ransom147]

n the end, I got my gun. But I keep it locked in a box in my dresser. Because despite the fact that my government trusts me to own a gun, I'm not sure how I feel about having a weapon that can send a piece of metal the size of a thimble hurtling through space with such speed that it could make someone's head explode.

that's very telling. you are a good little subject!

[T]

Seems to me there's a hell of a market in getting an FFL and undercutting the guy who charges $125 for a transfer.

Of course, can't he buy from an FFL in a neighboring state? Anybody know the federal rules on that one or is this some DC specific nonsense?

[Groovus Maximus]

Good question, T. How many perversions are listed in the DSM

These are the Axis I (medical DXs) group of psychiatric sexual dysfunctions.

Paraphilias:

Exhibitionism.
Fetishism.
Frotteurism.
Pedophilia.
Sexual Masochism.
Sexual Sadism.
Transvestic Fetishism.
Voyeurism.
Paraphilia NOS. (Not Otherwise Specified)

[Groovus Maximus]

Given those, applying the perversion calculus to Warty's immense "appetites" should prove quite exhausting (no pun intended).

[hmm]

Like I said before in so many words. The guy is a fucking pansy. And that is insulting to cute little flowers.

He shouldn't own a gun. If he doesn't have the self control or trust his own abilities and actions there is no sense in his acquiring such an item. The "do more harm" idea is bullshit he has been fed all his life and just an excuse not to face one of his fears.

If he would have had the guts to stand by his position that guns are a social ill and therefore, he doesn't want one in the house I would have more respect for him. Instead he whines and pisses and moans about trusting himself and his own ability.

Seems to me there's a hell of a market in getting an FFL and undercutting the guy who charges $125 for a transfer.

It takes a physical location, not a home or garage, that is a store to acquire a class III FFL. Around here it's $20 for a transfer FFL to FFL from most shops. But we all a bunch of gun nut rednecks around these parts. Handguns can't be sold out of state by class III FFL holders to non FFL holders. You can only buy a handgun in the state of residence.

[SugarFree]

I apologize for the re-run, but we may be able to DSM classify Warty based on this:

"Have mercy, sirrah," Dagny begged, looking up at the shadowed face of the debauched Count Warty, "me bumhole is frightful sore and spattered." Tears tracked trails in the dirt of her urchin face.

Count Warty leaned over and spat into her open mouth. "You will do as a I say, bumwhore," he growled. His monocle fell from his one unruined eye and dangled, glittering in the flickering light from the coal gas streetlamps.

Dagny pulled up the hem of her tattered dress, exposing a dark thatch of damp pubic hair the size of a velocipede's seat. Count Warty reared back from the smell. He gestured with his cane for her to turn around, his tumescence already outlined against the fine cut of his trousers.

"I dunno. I quit paying attention to the DSM after they started trying to make every single behavior exhibited by a human being diagnosable as a condition."

I got the crazy legs! I got the crazy legs!

[T]

It takes a physical location, not a home or garage, that is a store to acquire a class III FFL. Around here it's $20 for a transfer FFL to FFL from most shops. But we all a bunch of gun nut rednecks around these parts. Handguns can't be sold out of state by class III FFL holders to non FFL holders. You can only buy a handgun in the state of residence.

Yeah, the going rate here is $20-$30 normally or $15-$25 with a CHL. I forgot the handgun rules are different, since I usually do rifles when I transfer.

[ransom147]

"Seems to me there's a hell of a market in getting an FFL and undercutting the guy who charges $125 for a transfer."

i thought the same thing.

but,

there's also a hell of a market for not having to live in a cesspool. as much as that piques the entrepenurial drive, i'll have to pass.

[TrickyVic]

"""How did that play out in Iraq and Afghanistan?"""

Many Iraqis and Afghans defending from government intrusion are killed almost everyday by superior government firepower. If they are not killed, we hunt them down, then kill/capture. So it's not really working for the individual rebels.

[ad homynym attacker]

SF's a splendad writer...

[ransom147]

crap.

[Citizen Nothing]

SF's a splendad writer...
There goes my theory that he's actually L. Neil Smith.

[R C Dean]

Frotteurism.

???

But no way am I googling that from my work computer.

[T]

there's also a hell of a market for not having to live in a cesspool. as much as that piques the entrepenurial drive, i'll have to pass.

I grew up in Fairfax County. The thought of returning to that area to live makes me twitch violently. Someone else can reap the rewards.

[T]

But no way am I googling that from my work computer.

For specific terms, I find wikipedia or a good dictionary site better options from work. Google is a catalog of horrors at times.

[SugarFree]

Frotteurism

Rubbing your penis against unwilling strangers in public. i.e. subway humpers.

[ransom147]

Frotteurism

oh good, i was afraid they were gonna name it after me...

[JB]

Seriously, do they make you hand over your testicles when you apply to journalism school?

Journaleasts in general are retarded human beings.

[Dagny T.]

Sug, do I get, like, royalties every time you post that delightful tale?

[SugarFree]

You're so vain, I bet you think that story is about you, don't you?

[SugarFree]

But Dagny is right, there is other Warty data I could have offered up:

With the last grating pass of the razor, Lindsay looked up at Warty expectantly. Warty tossed the razor away and turned under the harsh glare of the klieg lights. The corn oil dripped from his elbows and penis onto the layer of shower curtains the servants had put down.

"Ah gawd," came Lindsay's effete Southern drawl, "You look good enough to eat for Sunday dinnah." Warty playful flicked oil at him as Lindsay squatted in the gloom outside the powerful lights. The oil was heating up under the them and the room filled with the scent of tacos and immigration.

Lindsay finished rubberbanding his penis and testicles into a genital bouquet and slowly inserted one then two then three tiny liquor bottles into his anus. They clacked together when he stood. He carefully shimmied toward Warty while flashing his shittiest of shit-eating grins.

Lindsay said, looking deep into Warty's waiting eyes, "Ah wish you were a nigrah."

Warty fainted dead away.

[Spartacus]

I'm really glad I had lunch early today.

[Dagny T.]

Sugar, I walk everywhere like I'm walking onto a yacht.

[Warty]

Spartacus, I don't think there's an upper bound to D1. There's just a space of some dimensionality that can separate any data set. The usefulness (there, you can tell that I wasn't a math major) is that it allows you to use a linear classifier to act as a nonlinear classifier.

I believe this is the first thread about me. I LOOM LARGE.

[SugarFree]

I'm going to start calling you "Dagster."

[SugarFree]

I LOOM LARGE.

You make giant rugs. BFD

[T]

Sugar, I walk everywhere like I'm walking onto a yacht.

You try to time your steps to match the rolling of the ocean? How drunk are you?

[Nipplemancer]

From the WaPo gun article's comment section. I had to report this guy to the administrators as a cancer on our society.

"cat001 wrote:
Gun Lovers need to move to a less civilized country. They want to keep the USA in a permanently primitive state. They need to be stood up to. I carried an automatic rifle in Vietnam. If they refuse to give up their fire arms I would gladly take them away from them. If they want a fight I'm ready. They make me puke. They're a bunch of small minded bullies who need to stood up to. They need to be taught a lesson. The way I see it if they want to have a gun anyone who wants to shoot them should have a right to. They pervert the constitution and claim to understand their rights. They don't know crap. They are the ones that go around being proud of being ignorant. If this country is going to progress this has got to stop. If it were up to these people we would fall into decay where we stand.
9/2/2009 12:24:29 PM"

[R C Dean]

The way I see it if they want to have a gun anyone who wants to shoot them should have a right to.

Ponder the cognitive dissonance packed into that sentence like the ligero in a fine, handrolled cigar.

[Spartacus]

I believe this is the first thread about me. I LOOM LARGE.

They're all about you. We just speak in code most of the time so you aren't aware.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Ponder the cognitive dissonance packed into that sentence like the ligero in a fine, handrolled cigar.

GIGO springs to mind. "Sentence...too...retarded...can't...process...arrghhh!"

[T]

Oh, a final note on the number of perversities.

I obviously haven't been as far afield on the Internet as I thought, and my Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices is obviously sadly out of date.

[hmm]

Rule 34. Not just a theory, a fact.

[hmm]

The way I see it if they want to have a gun anyone who wants to shoot them should have a right to.

Think of the potential for increasing the viability of the US gene pool with nothing more than self defense.