Found this via Drudge:

“The situation has got so tough that there don’t seem to be many options left for us,” Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.

The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who are starting to pack their bags…

Good. That’s the point. Come here legally, learn the language, become an American first, and I welcome you as a great friend to this wonderful country. Jump a fence, break the law, receive the benefits of this country illegally and I don’t care if you’re a one-legged invalid with the saddest sob story on the planet, you’re a criminal. Everybody suffers and struggles at some point and the suffering and struggling of an illegal alien makes me angry, not sympathetic.

Came across this in the Courier Post:

In March, Officer Kevin Parry shot James Cohen, 26, after Cohen allegedly threatened the officer with a semiautomatic handgun in the Whitman Park section of the city.

I guess being threatened only “with a handgun” isn’t enough to justify shooting the perp. If it’s a “semiautomatic handgun” well hell, that sounds MUCH more scary, now doesn’t it?

Crap! Gangbangers aren’t using flintlock pistols anymore! Police are out-gunned!

Am I retarded, or have semi-auto pistols have been around since pre-1900. Browning, right? Is this just PSH-lite, stupidity, or some idiot trying to sensationalize news that isn’t really all that compelling?

Mother Slits Son’s Throat

Police recovered a 13-inch knife that they believe was used to kill the boy, said Bernie Weisenfeld, spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office. A legally registered handgun also was found in the home.

Two points. First, my initial reaction is that I hope she dies a horrible, violent, painful death at least equal to what her son went through. Her son Jared was 6 years old. They also have a 9 year old daughter.

Second, why mention the gun at all? It wasn’t the weapon of choice, it had nothing to do with the crime, the fact that it’s legally owned doesn’t indicate that these are people with criminal records. Why not say, “A legally owned chainsaw was found in the garage,” or “A legally owned dishwasher was also found in the kitchen?”

Perhaps the journo responsible for penning this piece was convinced that the gun was present in the home and shooting out it’s mind control rays, which made this woman use a 13-inch chef’s knife to murder her young son the moment she took her tinfoil hat off and gave in to the power of the dark side.

“A murder happened! She slit his throat! There was a GUN IN THE HOME!”

Because they ban them, right?

So why would police in London be interested in what’s going on in Cincy?

In the world of policing, news travels fast. So when the city of Cincinnati, Ohio managed to reduce its murder rate from 89 in 2006 to 55 in 2007, police forces in both America and the UK took notice.

Officers with the Metropolitan Police, plagued by their own deadly gang problems, decided last summer to pay a visit to learn more.

That’s impossible. London can’t have “their own deadly gang problems” because guns are banned, aren’t they? You’re not permitted to go around shooting and killing people … that’s … against the law.

But it happens anyway. Cincy’s solution?

The force uses a model of policing that involves arranging a ceasefire between warring gangs identified with help from the criminal justice department at Cincinnati University.

“We bring these individuals together in a face-to-face meeting and we tell them in no uncertain terms that when the next body falls, if they’re part of the group responsible, we will give them a VIP service - that’s Very Intense Prosecution - that we will get the shooter as well as all the members of that group,” said Mr Baker.

“We tell them we know who they are, where they hang out, even who their girlfriends are. They take notice.”

Fascinating stuff. There’s no “we ban guns” in there. Restricting purchases, micro-stamping, all that stupid crap that doesn’t mean a damn thing to a thug who doesn’t give a shit about a “no guns” zone just like he doesn’t give a shit that he can’t read past the 3rd grade level.

“There’s one strand that focuses on the ceasefire, another on enforcement, and another on community involvement. For the model to be effective, the community strand has to be adequately supported and resourced.

It’s sad that I find it refreshing when somebody points to a largely social reasoning behind violence instead of just pointing to the gun and screaming their heads off. I don’t agree with huge social programs designed to “reach out” and make people love the police, but I’m thankful it isn’t another one of those ridiculous “gun buyback” programs they’re touting.

And if you want to find out how to fail at something, look no further than Boston, Mass:

The Cincinnati strategy was first developed by Harvard University professor David Kennedy and was implemented in Boston in the 1990s. However, after initial success, the murder rate rose again.

Some say this was because the community strands were not given enough prominence and that Boston police were too focused on enforcement.

That’s kind. They’ve changed their tune though, now they just want to ask politely when they show up armed at your door ready to conduct a warrant-less search in your home.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Keith J. Midgen:

There are many Americans who are passionate about the right to own handguns, assault rifles and any kind of semiautomatic weapons in any amount. They cite the “right to bear arms” clause of the Second Amendment, which provides for protection of citizens against oppression by our government. It doesn’t seem to matter that the overwhelming might of a ruthless, determined government could crush any nascent rebellion quite quickly whether the “people” are armed or not.

So tiresome.

This is one of those ridiculous stalinist excuses in regards to gun control. It’s right up there with “Shootouts in the streets,” and “Wild, wild West.”

Keith is what we call a “surrender monkey”. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstance, no matter the threat, these are people who are more than happy to cower in a corner and cry than to fight for themselves, their family, and their liberty.

What kind of logical conundrum must you tangle yourself in to make the argument that the document this country is founded on indeed says that there is a right to bear arms, then turn around and explain one reasoning for this right, and complete that thought process with, “but why bother?” It’s fake but accurate syndrome. By that logic we might as well get Bush and Hillary mating so we can commence with the whole Royal Family thing and get this new-found rebellion-crushing monarchy started.

I’m happy for Mr. Midgen that he’s so willing to be enslaved by the ruling class of elitists in our government without putting up any kind of fight. I’d want to go through a few thousand rounds before coming to that.

But wait! There’s more …

It is worth considering that, according to the Violence Policy Center, there were more than 130,000 homicides in America involving firearms from 1990-1997. By contrast, fewer than 5,000 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, during Desert Storm and the war against terror over a similar period of time. Unbelievably, there are more than 65 million handguns in private hands in this country.

Ooooh, watch it, liberal-boy … don’t go minimizing the Left’s mostest favoritest statistic!

The CDC has nearly identical data - 130,072 homicides between 1990 and 1997. I don’t have the stats, but I’m guessing there are probably the same amount of cars on the roads in the United States as there are handguns owned by private citizens, and automobiles account for 346,219 deaths in that same time frame. Nearly three times as much and most of them “accidental.” And you’re not even counting RIFLES, Keith!

Accidental gun deaths in that timeframe? 10,483.

Face some facts here. Driving is a privilege, not a right. And it still kills more people than firearms. How inconvenient.

Second, would it be too much to ask if we would be prepared to submit to random searches, just as we do at the airport? Security guards could also focus on teenagers who appear to be bulkily dressed or, more important, those who wear camouflage fatigues and Army boots.”

The sheer stupidity of these arguments is just … sheerishly stupid. “those who wear camouflage fatigues and Army boots?” I … just don’t know what to say.

Yeah it would be too much to ask to turn America into a Monarchy and a police state loaded with disarmed citizens doing the government’s bidding. Do people really think like this?

And anyway, are you suggesting that security guards not frisk randomly? I can imagine this liberal shangri-la turning upon itself as every classification of nationality and religion claims racial profiling. It would be fun to watch on TV. And I’d still do all my shopping online anyway.

Additionally, it might be helpful if parking lots could be patrolled by part-time undercover police officers whose powers of observation should be more refined than other casual spectators. After all, a potential user of a rifle would have to retrieve it from inside the trunk or interior of a car. He would find it difficult to drive with one stuck up his jacket.

“Drats, officer, I was going to go into the mall and start my seven-state killing spree whilst wearing a camouflage uniform and these army boots, but as I went to retrieve the rifle from my car, your superior sixth sense confirmed that I was going to start shooting people as soon as I went through your metal detector and you stopped me! Golly gee-willikers shucks!”

Keith. You are a dumbass. For even suggesting any of this. I don’t remember the last time I’ve read something so staggeringly inane.

Let’s stop playing out the farce that the Second Amendment represents. Do we really think that America could be a dictatorship or that the Bill of Rights is inherently precarious? If we do, maybe we need to flee to Mexico, like our retirees, while the going is good.

Farce? Apparently you think it could easily be a dictatorship, after all by your account they could squash any kind of rebellion quite easily. You think they don’t because they’re being kind? Because they’re afraid of votes?

Every blossoming dictatorship first disarms it’s citizens. Remember that.

The Founding Fathers didn’t trust everyone to vote directly; they shouldn’t have trusted some of us to have guns, either.

I think it was far more dangerous of them to trust you with free speech.

Here’s Mr. Midgen’s bio. Notice that:

Keith J. Midgen was born and educated in London, England.

And there you have it.

Back here, Ahab released the secret of his Best Cup o’ Joe Evah, and being a freshly minted coffee snob with nowhere serious to go for a fix, I was at that exact time actively stalking a few different coffee makers.

Knowing for a fact that badly brewed coffee tastes about what I would expect a donkey’s ass to taste like, I give a great deal of importance to the invention that takes beans and turns them into yum-juice.

I decided to give that Toddy system a try. It arrived while I was walking around Jersey in a T-shirt in 46 degree weather (yeah, they look at you funny, but they’re from Jersey, what’s the difference). I arrived home from my mini-vacation last night and started the brew process. This morning, I removed enough snow off my driveway and walk to cover 10 football fields in inch-thick white stuff. So I came in exhausted and frozen, and commenced with the first cup.

Sweet Caffeinated Mother Of All That Is Holy And Good!

That was down-right farking delicious. Consider me a convert. Smoothest cup of coffee I have ever had and I can’t wait to screw with the recipe and have more. What surprised me the most is that it was not at all bitter - and if you’ve had burnt Starbucks anus-extract, you know what I mean. All I had as a sweetener was that “Sugar in the Raw” turbinado stuff. I’m eager to try a cup of this with some heavy cream and a better sweetener.

So thank you, Ahab! And … uhhhh … I was just kidding about the baby thing.

Blizzards in Vermont SUCK. Highest friggin’ taxes in the United States and they have … like … ONE stinking plow. How do those thieves get away with it?

By comparison, New Hampshire has the second lowest tax burden in the country (Alaska has the lowest), and I was stuck behind DOT vehicles going 10 miles an hour for no reason for the entire trek home …

Proving that even when faced with an array of options, there is in fact NOTHING I won’t complain about. So there.

By this time tomorrow, New Jersey will be but a faded memory, and I’ll be back in the land of living free. All in all, a great visit and a great vacation in spite of everything I found to be prohibited. I’ve filled up on cheesesteak and tastykake … and now for a little music for the long way home: