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New York Times:The Senate Energy and Commerce Committee approved a measure on Wednesday to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas production, moving it an important step closer to becoming official. The committee...

Jesse experiences an earthquake....

Brazilians Reject Proposed Gun Ban

Brazilians soundly rejected a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum Sunday, striking down the bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates following a campaign that drew parallels to the U.S. gun control debate.

With more than 92 percent of the votes counted, 64 percent of Brazilians were opposed to the ban, while 36 percent backed it, said election officials, giving the 'no' position an insurmountable lead. The proposal would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition except for police, the military, some security guards, gun collectors and sports shooters.

There are a number of interesting ramifications and issues associated with this - aside from the primary fact that the Brazilians were not willing to cede full responsibility for personal protection to an all too ineffectual governmental system.

Some Brazilians said they resented the referendum because they feel the government is ducking its responsibility to keep the peace. "It's immoral for the government to have this vote," said Pedro Ricardo, an army officer in Sao Paulo. "They're putting the responsibility on us, but ... the way to cut down on violence is to combat the drug trade and patrol our borders."

Hmmmm. Sounds sort of familiar doesn't it!? Enforce borders? What a concept!

About 39,000 people in Brazil are killed by guns each year, compared to about 30,000 people in the United States, although the U.S. population is about 100 million more than Brazil's, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hello? Come again? Does anybody know what the US Centers for Disease Control is doing collecting data on gun deaths in Brazil? One shudders to learn the answer.

With an enemy behind every URL, one cannot be too careful in his choice of friends. Professor Schaff beards me for the following comment:I do not think that there are any constitutionally permissible grounds for preventing homosexuals from adopting children....

A couple of other conservative bloggers have just thrown in the towel on the Miers nomination. A couple weeks ago the Chief's doubts tipped the scale away from her nomination, and I've seen nothing since then to change my mind.

First, Jon at SD Politics has tipped over the Kool-Aid pitcher:

I have waited until I saw the whites of her eyes, but I can keep the powder dry no longer (forgive the mixed metaphor). The Bush administration must withdraw from consideration the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

He goes on to note coverage of some speeches she gave that tipped him over into opposition. He alos notes this posting over the line in Minnesnowta on the PowerLine site where they are similarly concerned over a lack of quality, and questionable content as well.

Hopefully she will be out of the picture soon, so we can get down to the hard business of political harball to get a real, identiiable strong originalist in noimination. Hopefully Dubya's got it in him to do it - but will he let it out! Stay tuned.

Last week my colleague here at SDP Jason mentioned an article from the Argus Leader which detailed some of the complaints levied against Pine Ridge Tribal Chairman Cecelia Fire Thunder. Friday's Rapid City Journal has another article which allows Fire...

LGF: The American Friends Service Committee is planning to hold a series of parties all across the country when the 2000th US soldier is killed in Iraq: Not One More Death. Not One More Dollar. (Hat tip: Politics and Religion.)...

Stephanie Herseth voted against House Resolution 3893, Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005: To expedite the construction of new refining capacity in the United States, to provide reliable and affordable energy for the American people, and for other purposes....

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