conservatism

David Codrea at The Examiner:

“An FBI Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force handout being distributed to Colorado military surplus store owners lists the purchase of popular preparedness items and firearms accessories as ‘suspicious’ and ‘potential indicators of terrorist activities,’” an exclusive report by Oath Keepers reveals.

The levels of irony here are a little hard to keep track of, and also a little creepy. We’ve got the Federal Government classifying people who are prepared for disaster¹ as potential terrorist. That has tones reminiscent of a police state. It sorta makes me want to prepare (for the possibility of political instability). Adding to the irony, we have the Federal Government also telling us to be prepared for disaster. In fact there’s even a nice handy website at ready.gov.

Binyamin Appelbaum and Helene Cooper at The New York Times:

The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.

I’m sure this new department will pick up the slack where the the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor, and Office of Personnel Management are failing. No redundancies there.

I love the name Department of Competitiveness. It sounds so Laissez-faire.

Mark Bowes at The Richmond Times Dispatch:

Virginia’s bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.

The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper’s request.

And overall, the crimes that occurred during the law’s first year were relatively minor, and few of the incidents appeared to involve gun owners with concealed-carry permits, the analysis found.

Just one more piece of evidence that more guns yield less crime.

Michael A. Memoli at The Los Angeles Times:

New data posted Sunday shows that 39% of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, while 54% disapprove. Both are the worst numbers of his presidency.

Terence P. Jeffrey at CNS News:

Eighty percent of Muslim Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president, according to a newly released survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center

It’s also noteworthy that this is the highest approval rating of any major religion. I think this is worth talking about because the religion of Islam is opposed in whole to our system of free will and capitalism, and also calls for the extermination of the Jewish people from the face of the planet.¹