News Roundup

• From the "Good News" Department - A federal court in Washington DC has awarded Dick Heller more than $1.1 million to pay for his legal fees in his famous case against the District for violating his rights to keep and bear arms.  Looks like the Second Amendment Foundation will be getting some of the money it spent on the case back so it can continue its good work.  
• From the "Bad News" Department - The Government Accounting Office reports that the total amount owed by the American people in the form of Social Security and Medicare, if we were to set aside money now to pay for future use, is $33.8 TRILLION dollars.  The Washington Post puts that in a great perspective by pointing out how that compares to the value of the New York Stock Exchange and the total of all homes owned by Americans.  Folks, this isn't a blogger or a guy on a late night AM radio show pointing this stuff out.  It's a mainstream media outlet.  The numbers are getting so bad that even those who might want to ignore them are finding it hard to do so.  Remember my investment advice - .22 Long Rifle, canned goods, and shotguns.
• From the "Scary News" Department - A young Louisville girl is healing after being attacked by two dogs in the street.  She says she was riding her bike when she was knocked to the ground and bitten.  She is reported to have multiple bites on her arms and legs.  Her mother pulled her to safety in the bed of a truck while her uncle chased the dogs off.  The owner of the dogs is expected to appear in court, so these weren't strays.  These were someone's pets that were running loose.  Folks, it's not always the human predators you have to worry about.  Carry your darn guns.
• From the "Mother of the Year" Department - A woman in Louisiana has been arrested and her foster children taken by child services after she left them at a playground and went to a nearby casino to gamble.  Mama needs more than a new pair of shoes.  She needs a good attorney and a maternal instinct.
• From the "Officer of the Year" Department - A policeman in Cincinnati has been fired after asking a prostitute for child pornography.  He claims he was trying to investigate a child pornography ring, and his co-workers say he told them that was what he was doing.  The police department claims he was not authorized to be running such an investigation, and he never took his suspicions or plans to his superiors.  He is over course trying to get his job back, with the support of his union.  Here's the kicker:  He was employed by the police department for four years, and had been disciplined 17 times.  That's a little more than once a quarter, for those of you doing the math in your head.  If I got written up 4+ times a year, I'd have been fired long ago.  Now that's some good unioning going on right there.
• From the "Qel Surpris" Department - Manufacturers of artificial marijuana seem to be keeping one step ahead of the law.  They have changed the formula for the chemicals in their 'herbal incense' enough that it is no longer illegal under the drug control laws earlier forms of the product were violating.  Gee, who would have thought that a chemist would have looked at the law forbidding a specific chemical, changed the formula for his intoxicant just enough that it was no longer that chemical but still had the desired effect, and then started using the new concoction.  I wish state officials luck in this particular game of whack-a-mole.  A law broad enough to make every possible intoxicant like this illegal would be so broad it would never stand up in court.  But it's all worth it because we have to keep people from getting high, no matter the cost.
• From the "So Much Fail" Department - A man in Florida is recovering after shooting himself with a .410 shotgun shell out of the pistol he kept under his pillow.   He had heard his dog barking in the night, and grabbed his gun to take with him when he investigated.  Wow, lots of stuff going on here.  First, he kept his gun under his pillow.  One of the reasons I keep a pistol safe in the nightstand is so that I have a few moments to wake up before I touch a gun.  Second, either he put his booger hook on the bang switch while it was still pointed at his head, or he kept the gun in such a way that bedding or the pillow caught the trigger, causing it to go off.  Not going to comment on his choice of gun.  Maybe it's the gun he can afford, and any gun is better than no gun. Also not going to comment on using .410 shot as a defense load.  No-one wants to leak.  I'm just glad it hit him in the arm and not in the neck, or this would have brought on yet more of the anti-gunner blood dancing, and I don't need that right now.