Via Allahpundit at HotAir, there’s this vid of a truly inspiring sight. Over 1200 soldiers re-enlisted at a ceremony conducted by General David Petraeus:

Magnificent!

There are 76 freshly-minted fellow citizens who were being honored and welcomed today in a naturalization ceremony attended by the President of the United States. It’s a shame that people so blinded by their hatred of the President that they couldn’t do the decent thing and allow these people to have their moment without being forced to attend a protest rally just had to show up. Instead of a ceremony marking the happy occasion of their completing the monumental effort of becoming a citizen of this country they were a captive audience to a bunch of BDS-suffering morons with no common courtesy to their names.

Protesters made it hard to hear President Bush Friday as he welcomed new citizens and marked Independence Day at the home of Thomas Jefferson.

As is the tradition each Fourth of July, a naturalization ceremony was held at Monticello in Charlottesville, Va. This year, 76 immigrants from 30 different countries came to take the oath of citizenship.

But Bush repeatedly was interrupted as he welcomed the guests.

“That man is a fascist!” one protester yelled. Another swore at him.

The protesters later were removed from the ceremony by law enforcement officials.

“To my fellow citizens to be — we believe in free speech in the United States of America,” Bush said when the protesters started shouting.

Fascists are people who can’t bear the thought of another person actually being allowed to speak. Fascists are those who feel that forceful disruption is a perfectly valid response to anything that just so happens to tick them off. The President is not a fascist. The greatest likelihood, in fact, is that the people flinging that epithet at the President are more guilty of that themselves. (Want an actual reasoned explanation of why that is? Read Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. He’ll explain the situation far better than these idiots disrupting the ceremony ever will.)

There’s a time and a place for protest, even that conducted by people who can’t seem to successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas and must, therefore, simply scream louder in an effort to deny anyone they oppose their freedom of speech. There are also times and places where protests should not be. Funerals. Weddings. Graduation ceremonies. And, of course, citizenship ceremonies. These are all events commemorating something specific and general political protests - to say nothing of clueless moonbat protests - just aren’t appropriate. A little common decency and - wow! - empathy for our fellow citizens and particularly new fellow citizens should be all that’s required to see that. The selfish, “my baseless name-calling is more important than anything!” attitude of these protesters should be denounced by every true patriot in the land, left or right. I’m not holding my breath.

To those 76 new citizens, I offer my congrats and my welcome to this, the greatest nation on earth. You’ve overcome much to get here and your commitment to become citizens speaks well for you. I ask that you please not allow the actions of a few jerks to make the sweet smell of your accomplishment turn rancid. Some people here don’t know how good they’ve got it and take every chance they can steal to complain that the nation isn’t letting them have their way. I assure you, we’re not all like that. Enjoy this day and all of the days of your citizenship to come. Welcome aboard!

Update: See for yourself at the Washington Examiner.

The 418-foot Coast Guard cutter Bertholf is the first of her kind and she’s entered formal service, patrolling the Pacific coast.

“The bubble that’s around this ship that we can see and hear and respond to is much larger than any cutter we’ve ever built,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard, referring to the range of the guns, fast boats, and helicopter aboard the Bertholf.

The helicopter has guns and sniper rifles mounted on its sides and infrared equipment under its belly. The infrared allows pilots to scope out boats from miles away.

“We can count how many people are on board, we can determine how many engines based on the heat signatures,” said Lt. Steve McCullough. “If we’re lucky, we can determine if there’s contraband on board prior to even getting over the vessel.”

The Coasties have needed something like this since the remainder of the cutter fleet started getting retired or, unfortunately, “upgraded” to the point of being unusable. There are a couple of links in the story to Fox vids of the vessel. She looks pretty nice. But, then, I’m an aviation nut, so what do I know?

Well, I’m f*%@ing glad they got that sorted out.

Former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina died at 1:15 am today, according to the web site of the Jesse Helms Center. He was 86 and was fighting the growing list of ailments that eventually forced his retirement. It’s said he died of natural causes.

Godspeed, Senator Helms. Our prayers are with your family and friends and with you as well.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

With these words, men who were patriots in the truest sense pledged to stand both with each other and behind the principles they so carefully spoke of. It is a lesson that we, 232 years later, would do well to remember. We enter into that most fractious time of the campaign to elect a President to lead us. We may disagree, as did those men 232 years ago, and we be loud in doing so. Today reminds us to never lose sight of the qualities we share and the desire we long for - to live in the most prosperous, free, and vibrant nation that has ever graced the face the earth.

Happy 4th of July, America.

HoodaThunk? reader Not Jeff W. has asked on a couple of occasions why we don’t register guns like we register cars. I want to thank him for his patience on the matter as I was hoping to get something posted on his request some time ago. In researching this question, I came across 2 articles that laid out this question quite nicely. So, in the spirit of not re-inventing the wheel, I’m going to link to each of them.

This article deals with the notion of registering guns as actually being in violation of the 5th Amendment. You really have to read the whole article, because it’s extremely good, but I’ll summarize for you a bit. Basically speaking, the right to avoid self-incrimination as detailed in the 5th Amendment makes it unconstitutional for someone to demand you register your gun - but only if you’re a criminal or someone not permitted by law to own a gun. All of you law-abiding types will get held to a higher standard and be required to do so.

Sound crazy? Yes, I think so as well but the article explains it all.

The second article is more germane to the actual question and suggests that the comparison is usually made by someone who doesn’t actually think we should be registering guns “just like we do cars.” They’re looking to hold firearms to a much higher standard. Cars, you see, are registered for the primary purpose of taxation, not law enforcement. That the registration process provides a unique ID for law officers to use, is incidental to the purpose. From the article:

We license drivers to collect taxes, and to be sure that drivers have mastered the rather complex set of motor skills to actually operate a vehicle and to be able to safely navigate amongst the other cars they share the road with. There is also a large body of laws that specifically proscribe complex legal behavior while operating a vehicle on a public roadway – dotted yellow lines, solid yellow lines, double yellow lines, etc. We also license drivers to be sure that they don’t have any physical impairments that would make them a hazard on the road to other drivers. Having a physical impairment rarely prevents anyone from shooting a gun. In fact, they may have a greater need for a gun than those who don’t have physical handicaps and can run away or fight back against an assailant.

Now, recognizing those above-mentioned reasons for registration and licensing, it should be noted that there is no requirement for either if a car is not going to be driven on public roads. That is, if one only drives their vehicle on private land, there is no requirement for registration or licensing. If you want to buy a classic vehicle and park it in your garage and admire it, there is no requirement for registration or licensing. If you choose not to use a car for a year or more, you do not have to license it and you are not at risk of having it confiscated. And, you can buy as many cars as you like, with as powerful an engine as you like, with the only restriction being what you can personally afford. Again, driving a car is a legal privilege that only requires registration and licensing if used on public roadways. By analogy, anyone wanting a gun for self-defense in their home or business should not have to register their gun or obtain a license.

Again, read this whole article to get the details. It’s a large component of the argument against registration. The real resistance to gun registries from the gun-owning community comes from an understanding of the history of such actions in other countries at other times. While the registration of guns was often done with clear assurances that they’d only be used in law enforcement actions, they have almost invariably wound up being used by governments to confiscate weapons and disarm populations. And when the population is disarmed, governments have a nasty tendency to reduce their concern about the citizens’ complaints about further intrusions into their liberty. Consider the ongoing efforts by communities that had gun ban laws in place before the Heller decision in the Supreme Court. They have become far more concerned about the “rights” of bureaucracies than in the rights of the citizens.

The hour being late, this is the best suggestion I have for interested readers. Read these 2 articles to gain a better understanding of what’s being suggested and what the problems are. We can all go from there, if need be.

The Ashburn-based Beaumeade Gun Club special exception has received the final approval from the Loudoun Board, clearing the way for the private firing range, situation simulator, and fitness center to be built.

The Loudoun Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the application for the Beaumeade Gun Club Training Facility, with many supervisors stating they were pleased the facility owners had chosen to locate in the county.

“I look forward to it becoming a part of our commercial sector,” Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) said.

This is the facility I wrote about last month. Chairman York drops a major hint to anyone considering starting a public firing range business here in Loudoun:

Many supervisors Tuesday also encouraged other businesses to come to Loudoun with a public firing range that would be open to all residents.

“I am not going to get into telling someone how to do business, but if there is a market, then the market will take care of itself and a gun club will come that is affordable to the community and open to the community,” County Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large) said.

Yeah, that’d be nice. I’ll keep my eyes open for that and just hope for the best. Meantime, there’s always Blue Ridge Arsenal, as long as you’re not trying it in rush hour.

In July 2000 the one and only Concorde to crash went down in Paris, crashing on takeoff and killing all aboard along with 4 on the ground. Up to that point the fleet of 20 Concordes, flying under British Airways and Air France colors, had maintained a perfect safety record. As a result of the crash and escalating operations costs, the fleet was retired in late 2003. Since then, no commerical aircraft with a cruising speed of Mach 1 or better has been brought to the market.

Almost 8 years after that crash, a French court has ordered a trial to commence in the matter naming Continental Airlines (CO), 2 of their employees specifically, and Aerospatiale (the immediate ancestor of Airbus) and 2 of their employees as defendants. The prosecution has argued that a CO mechanic improperly installed a strip of titanium to a CO DC-10 which took off immediately ahead of the Concorde, which was operating Air France (AF) flight 4590. The strip fell off and was left on the runway at AF5490 was to use. When the Concorde was in its takeoff roll, it ran over the strip which damaged its main landing gear tires. The tread on the tire came away from the rest of the tire and was violently snapped around as the wheel kept rolling at takeoff speed. The loose tread hit the wing of the Concorde like a wrecking ball, causing damage to the wing surfaces and fuel tanks. The fuel caught fire which caused the plane to explode and crash into a hotel off the end of the runway.

I can’t really say at the moment whether the prosecution has a valid point or not; there are too many questions unanswered. They are, of course, pursuing the line of reasoning that the CO mechanic (and his boss who approved the work) either failed to follow proper procedure and/or should have known the installation wasn’t going to hold up. The Aerospatiale folks are being accused of knowing there were problems with the Concorde’s fuel tanks and did nothing to fix them. So, did the mechanic install a part that was OK to install on a DC-10? If not, was he using an approved alternate? If not, did his boss simply OK it anyway or did he not know? These are all questions that will come out at trial. As we hear more about it, I’ll pass it along.

Good Lord above, this is just wrong.

Wrap your mind around the concept of: Krispy Kreme bacon cheeseburgers.

(Humanity will not survive…)

Hat tip to Instapundit for the early warning.