Recently in National Affairs Category

From SCOTUSblog: Court: A constitutional right to a gun

"Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.

We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

It is so ordered.

Justice Scalia
Opinion of the Court, District Of Columbia et al. v. Heller

NPR : Appeals Court Overturns D.C. Gun Ban

A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

Well, some good news this week. Still working on tracking down the ruling and the dissent, but if this analysis of it is accurate:

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a state.

Then it should be a hoot to read. I do so love watching mental gymnastics. It will be funny, not to mention appalling, if the dissenter tries to maintain that the other provisions in the Bill of Rights also don't apply to DC because it's not a state.

Now, I have no illusions that this is over yet. This is almost certain to head to the Supreme Court. Even if it is upheld, I fully expect the D.C. city government to try to throw up whatever roadblocks it can think of to discourage people from exercising their rights. But it's a start, and a welcome one.

wcbstv.com - Bill Banning iPods In Crosswalks Slated For Albany

So what's next? Legislating looking both way before crossing the street? Requiring all pedestrians to have an escort? What's particularly aggravating is I'm sure there are other laws on the books that could be used to pursue people who do something stupid in traffic because they aren't paying attention. Instead of enforcing those, we have a legislator who thinks what we need is another law.

(From Engadget by way of Digg)

The aircraft that was the icon of U.S. Naval aviation for three decades has completed its last deployment:

Squadron Homecoming Marks End of Era for Tomcats

There's an interesting story behind how the F-14 got its name. In the mid 1960s, the McNamara Defense Department was trying to push the F-111B on the Navy as their next carrier based fighter. The only problem was the F-111B was woefully unsuited for the job. It was too heavy, had poor visibility, and was underpowered for the role. Despite the Navy's objections, the DoD persisted.

During a congressional hearings on the plane, a senator asked if more powerful engines could overcome some of it's deficiencies. Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly, the Chief of Naval Operations, replied "Senator, all the thrust in Christendom won't make a fighter out of this aircraft." That was the beginning of the end for the F-111B and Connolly's chances of ever getting a fourth star.

With the F-111B canceled, the Navy was able to opt for the Grumman F-14 to fill the fleet air defense role. The Navy has a long tradition of naming aircraft after felines, and Tomcat is perfectly in keeping with it. But it's not a coincidence that Thomas Connoley, the admiral who sacrificed his career to stop the F-111B, flew under the callsign Tomcat when he was a naval aviator.

A friend of mine recently wrote (message in its entirety, ellipses in original):

Subject: Write your representatives, guys...

...not that it'll do much good with the idiots this state keeps sending to DC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7195164

Pay particular attention to the percentage difference opening up the reserves would make...a whopping 2.5%...and even the most pro-oil estimates say there's only 18 months worth of oil in there.

I'm actually rather fond of some of the people we send to DC, but that's beside the point.

We can kick the 2.5% total consumption number around for a while. What number you get depends on which estimate of the year we hit peak oil production from ANWR you match up with which estimate of our total oil consumption for that year. Taking a few at random, I'm getting numbers from around 2.5% to 5%. So I'll concede the 2.5% point.