Quotulatiousness

June 9, 2011

Arizona’s First Police Armoured Division goes into action

Filed under: Law, Liberty, Media, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:08

Earlier this year, facing a looming threat, with ordinary police procedures considered too ineffective, Arizona teamed up with Hollywood for a solution. Rather than sending a squad car to serve the warrant, Maricopa County unleashes the awesome armoured power of the 1st SS Panzer division police plus actor Steven Seagal:

We have previously followed the feudal system created by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona. Arpaio’s insatiable desire for media attention has led him to turn over areas of his office to Hollywood producers. Last week, Arpaio’s unhinged administration gave the public another bizarre scene as Steven Seagal was seen attacking a home with a tank, armored cars, bomb robot, and dozens of SWAT team members. The crime? Suspected involvement in cockfighting.

The police acknowledge that there was no evidence to suggest that the man was dangerous or that he was armed. He was indeed arrested without a struggle and no guns were found in the house. Well, without a struggle on his part. The armored Seagal attack blew its windows out and caused the neighborhood to think that an invasion was afoot. The huge operations (and its attendant costs) was basically a stage set up to give Seagal good footage for his reality program, “Lawman.” Seagal is shown riding in the tank in the assault on the suspected cockfighter.

H/T to Jon, my former virtual landlord, for the link.

December 5, 2010

“People talk about how knives are dangerous, and then they go in the kitchen and they have 50 of them”

Filed under: Bureaucracy, Law, Liberty, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:54

Marc Lacey looks at the non-firearm right-to-carry movement:

Arizona used to be a knife carrier’s nightmare, with a patchwork of local laws that forced those inclined to strap Buck knives or other sharp objects to their belts to tread carefully as they moved from Phoenix (no knives except pocketknives) to Tempe (no knives at all) to Tucson (no knives on library grounds).

But that changed earlier this year when Arizona made its Legislature the sole arbiter of knife regulations. And because of loose restrictions on weapons here, Arizona is now considered a knife carrier’s dream, a place where everything from a samurai sword to a switchblade can be carried without a quibble.

Arizona’s transformation, and the recent lifting of a ban on switchblades, stilettos, dirks and daggers in New Hampshire, has given new life to the knife rights lobby, the little-known cousin of the more politically potent gun rights movement. Its vision is a knife-friendly America, where blades are viewed not as ominous but as tools — the equivalent of sharp-edged screw drivers or hammers — that serve useful purposes and can save lives as well as take them.

[. . .]

“People talk about how knives are dangerous, and then they go in the kitchen and they have 50 of them,” said D’Alton Holder, a veteran knife maker who lives in Wickenberg, Ariz. “It’s ridiculous to talk about the size of the knife as if that makes a difference. If you carry a machete that’s three feet long, it’s no more dangerous than any knife. You can do just as much damage with an inch-long blade, even a box cutter.”

[. . .]

“We had certain knives that were illegal, but I could walk down the street with a kitchen knife that I used to carve a turkey and that would be legal,” Ms. Coffey said. “I’d be more scared of a kitchen knife than a switchblade.”

She said switchblade bans were passed in the 1950s because of the menacing use of the knives in movies like “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause.”

November 8, 2010

Vikings doze for 3/4 of game before waking up

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:40

Yesterday’s game started (and continued for most of the regulation time) with the Arizona Cardinals looking like the better team. The Vikings didn’t appear to have any interest in being on the field, with a few notable exceptions like Percy Harvin. After 55 minutes of play, the Cardinals had a two touchdown lead and the game seemed to be pretty much done. As did the season. As did head coach Brad Childress.

Then, something amazing happened — the Vikings finally woke up:

By the fourth quarter, it appeared the prudent thing would have been to ignore Wilf’s advice. Chants of “Fire Childress” had been heard in the stadium, and under-fire coach Brad Childress’ seemingly lifeless Vikings trailed Arizona by 14 points with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left.

So, of course, in a season in which the abnormal has become the norm, a giddy Wilf ended up greeting players at the door to the locker room repeating “Great heart” over and over following the Vikings’ 27-24 overtime victory over the Cardinals.

Brett Favre set a career high with 446 passing yards and tied his career best with 36 completions. Percy Harvin had nine catches for a career-high 126 yards, and a defense that hadn’t had a sack in three games had six against Cardinals quarterback Derek Anderson, including two on the opening possession of overtime.

When Ryan Longwell connected on a 35-yard field goal on the Vikings’ first possession of overtime, Childress’ job appeared safe for at least another week. And the Vikings (3-5) pulled out of a last-place tie in the NFC North.

Percy Harvin had a great game, with 214 total yards and moving the chains at key moments, but also had a costly fumble to start the second half. Brett Favre had 446 yards passing, setting a different kind of record: he’s gone nearly 17 years between 400+ yard games.

November 4, 2010

Uh-oh. This week they both picked Minnesota

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 17:14

“They” being the Two Scotts, of course:

Arizona (plus 9) at Minnesota

Feschuk: Another business-as-usual week for the Vikings, who released their most talented receiver because he didn’t finish his lunch. In other news, I went to a Halloween party last Saturday and at the last minute decided to go as Charlie Sheen’s hotel room. I ripped up some jeans, covered myself in flour (cocaine) and drew a closet door on my shirt pocket, inside which I placed a photograph of a cowering porn star. It came together nicely enough — but that wasn’t my original plan. My intention was to dress as Brad Childress, but the costume store had run out of moustaches and incompetence. Pick: Minnesota.

Reid: It will be interesting to see what fresh bit of shrewd decision-making Brad Childress has planned for this week. Will he hand over a prized draft pick for the rights to Plaxico Burress? Name Adrian Peterson the team’s new place-kicker? Lend money to Randy and Evi Quaid? Of all the people in the NFL having a bad year, Childress deserves to be their Mayor. Even Obama must be thinking: Sucks to be me but at least I’m looking better than that sorry sonofabitch, Chili. He even has to take his marching orders from a guy who sends out pictures of his Jolly Roger. It’s not the most humilating thing in the world. But not everyone can be Charlie Sheen. Pick: Minnesota.

July 16, 2009

Rephrasing Ben Franklin’s old aphorism

Filed under: Liberty, Politics, Quotations, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 11:04

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as having said “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”. Here’s a modern rephrasing, “The more you cede your own well-being to an 800-pound gorilla, the more that 800-pound gorilla is going to act like a thin-skinned asshole.“.

(Cross-posted to the old blog, http://bolditalic.com/quotulatiousness_archive/005589.html.)

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