Saturday, July 09, 2011

That Pesky 2nd Amendment

That pesky 2nd Amendment in in the news again, this time yet again from that cesspool of political corruption and crime known as Chicago. As Dave Kopel wrote over at Volokh Conspiracy:
The Seventh Circuit’s decision in Ezell v. Chicago is a tremendously important case for Second Amendment doctrine. The key rules from Ezell: use originalism from both 1791 and 1868 to determine if an activity is within the scope of the Second Amendment right. If it is, apply First Amendment doctrine, and make the standard of review more stringent when the activity is closer to the core of the right, and when the government is prohibiting rather than regulating.
There is plenty more here, with a link to the decision itself, which is lengthy but quite interesting for its reasoning. Well worth a read.

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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Some People Have a Rainy Day Fund...

...and some prepare for the whole monsoon:
MUMBAI, India — A court-ordered search of vaults beneath a south Indian temple has unearthed gold, jewels and statues worth an estimated $22 billion, government officials said Monday.
The Rainy Day Fund "is believed to have been deposited at the temple by the royal family of the princely state of Travancore...Some of the vaults under the temple have not been opened for nearly 150 years, temple officials have said."

Clearly le local royal didn't let their kids out on long enough leashes. Any self-respecting six-year-old in my old neighborhood would have into the basements and had half the loot stashed under their beds before Mom called them in for graham cracker snacks.

They are still poking around: "On Monday, searchers started to unseal “Section B” of the vaults, a large space that was expected to reveal another sizable collection".

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Rail in Honolulu

Panos Prevedouros, a UH professor of civil engineering, and a leading opponent of Honolulu's march to bankruptcy via a new rail system, continues his fight over at the Hawaii Reporter.

If my admittedly pathetic math is correct, and if the 20 mile system ends up costing $7,200,000,000, it will come to only $360,000,000 per mile, or $14,000 for every person on Oahu, few of whom will be served by the system. What's to worry about?

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Independence Day in Hawaii

Yesterday I was too busy prepping for our celebration of the Illegal Revolution of 1776 to post about it.

Nonetheless, while I am patiotically delighted that our forefathers, and apparently a few foremothers, took up largely privately owned weapons and used them to gun down the troops of the legally constituted government until said monarch was overthrown in the 13 colonies, I am also glad that it was some 235 years ago and not something which I am likely to have to participate in myself.

Three huzzahs for the Illegal Revolution of 1776!

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