Sebastian – Page 1424 – Shall Not Be Questioned

What is This? Pre-Soviet Russia?

Can we get the political establishment to please banish the term Czar from the vernacular?Â Â Can we get people to agree to toss politicians who suggest we need a [insert favorite issue here] Czar out of their asses?

Via Hit and Run:

A leading critic of China in the U.S. Senate called on Sunday for creation of a new American “import czar,” saying the current maze of federal oversight has failed to protect consumers against harmful Chinese imports.

A statement issued by Schumer’s office said federal agencies including the Food and Drug Administration have proven ineffective at protecting American consumers from dangerous Chinese products including pet food and toothpaste tainted with industrial chemicals.

“There are more than a half dozen federal agencies responsible for monitoring, testing, and blocking dangerous or tainted shipments,” the Schumer statement said.

It’s bad enough we have a drug czar.Â Do we need more?Â I’m starting to think I’m mistaken in my impression I live in a free country.Â Kerry Howley tears that one apart. Â Read the whole thing.

Sicko Blogging

As long as some of us are blogging about “Sicko”, I thought I’d link to two great health care posts from my favorite econ blogger here and here:

In the United States, government at its various levels now accounts for roughly 45% of health care spending. (And by “now”, I mean 2004, the latest year for which OECD data are available. In 2004, of course, the government provided little prescription drug coverage. Remember that fact; it will become important later.) The United States spends about 15.3% of total GDP on healthcare. That means, for those following along at home, that government spending on health care consumes about 7.7% of GDP.

Canada spends 9.9% of GDP on healthcare. France spends 10.5% of GDP. What is the magic route by which we are going to cover all the people not currently covered by government insurance for 2.2-2.8% of GDP?

The answer to that I think is easy:Â the government is going to ration health care down to that level if it’s determined to only spent 10% of GDP or thereabout on health care.Â I doubt voters will be that determined, however. Â Read the whole thing.

Drink to Failure

I’ve thought up a way to celebrate the failure of our jihadist friends, thanks to their own incompetence, combined with quick effort on the part of Glasgow firefighters.Â Â Sure, we can fight the terrorists, but it’s good to make fun of them too.Â And what better way to do that this July fourth, than with a stiff drink.Â This one is named in their honor:

“Flaming Jihadist”

Take one British style pub glass.Â Substitute any wide mouth glass if you don’t have one.
Fill glass part way up with some McEwans Scotch Ale, such that when a shot glass is dropped in the glass, it almost but doesn’t quite come over the top of it.
Fill a shot glass with Johnny Walker, or other blended scotch.Â Using a single malt for this makes you an infidel.
Light the shot glass on fire and drop it in the pint glass
Say in the best GroundsKeeper Willie voice you can muster “May ye burn in hell”
Drink the beverage such that you don’t burn yourself. Â The ale should extinguish the flames.

I won’t be held responsible for any mishaps. Â Drinking flaming beverages, of course, is dangerous, and probably stupid. Â If you are a jihadist yourself, you should remember that you are forbidden from drinking alcohol, and instead I should suggest pouring the bottle of Johnny Walker on yourself, and having a smoke.Â Â It’s the only Allah approved method for enjoying the drink.

Flaming Jihadists

No, it’s not a drink (but maybe it should be!). It seems to me that we’re seeing the c-list Al-Quada types carrying out these operations. The cars were loaded with gasoline, which is not an explosive. I think these guys watched a few too many movies. If you want to set something on fire, gasoline is good at that, but you’re not going to do much damage to anyone other than yourself, especially at an airport, where firefighting equipment isn’t exactly in short supply.

The police officer trying to put the guy out was following the instincts any civilized person would. Had they had suicide vests on, that could have been a fatal response. I’m not in agreement with the bystanders who shouted “let him burn”, but I wouldn’t have blamed the officer for dispatching him with a shot to the head, in fear that he might be a suicide bomber.

Open Thread

I’ve never done an open thread before, but there’s a first time for everything.Â I don’t have much this morning, so I’m hoping you all can give me ideas for something to blog about.

This Month’s E-Postal Match is Up

Conservative UAW guy has this month’s e-postal match up.Â Â Looks pretty good to me!Â I suck at one handed shooting, so we’ll have to see how I do.Â Everyone should submit an entry.

Kicking it off Early

July is National Ice Cream Month.Â Â Bitter and I kicked it off a bit early last night with a really fantastic vanilla shake.Â After making some home made vanilla whipped cream, we made up a nice, thick shake, and then added two ounces of caramel flavored Bailey’s and two ounces of Godiva While Chocolate Liqueur.Â It’s a great way to make a milkshake.

Ratted Out By a Six Year Old

In my five years of being licensed to carry a gun, I’ve never once been “made” or had someone notice that I was carrying a firearm in public.Â So today we spent with Bitchy Mom and Bitter’s six year old nephew.Â Â We took him to the Air and Space Museum Annex right next to Dulles first.

Bitter’s sister-in-law is a nutty anti-gun type who doesn’t even let the kid make a gun out of his finger, so we thought his next stop should be the NRA’s National Firearms Museum in Fairfax.Â Â Bitchy Mom thought a nice “pop” gun would be a fine souvenir for him to take him and show mom *grin*.

After we dropped them off so they could head back to Roanoke, he gave Bitter a big hug goodbye, and then came over to hug his new uncle.Â I wasn’t expecting what was coming next:

“Why do you have a gun in your pocket?”

I look around nervously to make sure no one from the nearby wedding party was around to hear that.Â I had my Makarov at 4:00 in a leather holster, with an unbuttoned button up shirt covering it.Â Does a great job of concealment from people looking at it straight on.Â Not so good a job from someone of rather short stature who’s looking up at you. Â I’ll have to remember to untuck the t-shirt next time children are about, or I’m packing at a midget convention.

“I keep it in my pocket so I can get to it if I need it”

I was hoping that would be enough to answer the question.

“Why do you have a gun in your pocket?”, he asked again.

How do you explain these things to a six year old?Â There wasn’t time anyway. Â Earlier we had seen the Enola Gay, the B29 that dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.Â It was a special B29, but also something you can’t really explain to a six year old.

The funny thing is, I was embarrassed that I had been “made”. Â Maybe I should suggest to Michael Nutter, you don’t need the whole “stop and frisk”.Â Just get some six year old to go up to gang banger looking types and give them a hug.Â “Have you hugged a drug dealer today?”Â It’s the kind of touchy-feely crap that’s right up their alley!

What I’m Reading

John Lott’s Freedomnomics in my spare time, which sadly is not as plentiful as I would like.Â Now I’m off to Virginia to see Bitter.

Street Fiddles

I think now I have to call him John “I’m doing my job” Street. After reading this article, it’s pretty clear that despite his assertions, that no, he is not. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I decided to leave the office for a day to stand in line for an iPhone?

UPDATE: Well, at least John Street had the decency to pull up a chair and wait in line with everyone else.Â Mayors of some other towns didn’t even have the decency to do that.