So everything I said last night about the Second Amendment also applies to the rest of the Amendments, generally: they do not enumerate rights, they place extensive limitations on the government.  The First Amendment protects the free speech of American citizens.  There generally isn’t as much confusion of interpretation of this Amendment as there is with the Second.  Yet, as clear as this protection is, our society is now one something called “Hate Speech” exists, and once labeled as such, can be silenced by the government.  This is so blatantly unconstitutional it’s disgusting.  Any law prohibiting or punishing so-called “hate speech” directly violate’s the protections of 1st Amendment.
If you think the way I do, you’ll understand that “hate speech” is the only speech that actually needs protecting.

N.P.: “Collapsing New People” – Die Krupps

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about gun rights and gun ownership recently, and I try not to get upset at their ignorance.  “It’s not their fault,” I tell myself, “They were educated in the American public school system…they can’t help it.”  That’s what I tell myself.  But it usually doesn’t work.  I usually end up in some bar, pounding whiskeys and muttering darkly about middle-school civics teachers needing to be shot in the balls.
So here’s Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States:  “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  That’s it.  One goddamn sentence.  And though it’s a diatribe compared to the guttural monosyllabic grunts one finds in what passes for journalism these days, it’s not even a particularly long or complex sentence.  I’m sure that many otherwise intelligent and educated contemporary Americans might have trouble deciphering some of the syntax, but I think the real confusion comes from a lack of philosophical perspective.  That lack, coupled with the confusion that arises when trying to decoct some sort of meaning from any Amendment in isolation, without reading and understanding the rest of the Constitution, is no doubt the genesis of the fundamental misunderstandings of many Amendments.  The first thing one must do is jettison the notion that the government “grants” rights.  It doesn’t.  Anything that you can’t do unless the government grants you permission is not a right, it’s a privilege.  Your rights to free speech, to keep and bear, to be free from unreasonable search and seizure…those are all inherent: you were born with them.
So to hear members of the herd bleating about the 2nd Amendment “applying” to hunting rifles or assault rifles or handguns is disheartening at best, terrifying at normal.  The 2nd Amendment, like so many other Amendments, restricts the government from having anything to do with citizens’ right to keep and bear.  And that is up to including forming a militia that is both armed and trained enough to keep the government itself in check.  You don’t have to like it, but that’s what it says: the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  Which means that all the regulation, the limitations, any gun control law, all of it is blatantly unconstitutional.
There are politicians presently running for office actually discussing compulsory buy-back programs and other euphemisms for governmental gun confiscation programs.  The foolish implementation of any such idea would mean immediate civil war.

N.P.: “When Worlds Collide – Re-Recorded” – Powerman 5000

Okay, so the new studio isn’t technically up and running or online until Halloween, but the reality is that I was in the new studio all day today, and have no intention of working in the old place anymore.  It’s still there, still fully functional, ready to go in case of emergency, I guess.  But the new studio is just someplace I want to be, whether I’m working or not.
Ugh…it’s late…gotta crash.  But meet me here tomorrow, dear reader…we’ll school some youngsters on some civics.

N.P.: “Twist in My Sobriety” – Tanita Tikaram

As part of some sort of perverse and ill-advised police reform plan, a career politician suggested yesterday that police be trained to shoot people in the leg.  I think that if one is going to put oneself in the position of regulating firearms usage at any level, one needs to have had at least some experience with firearms.

N.P.: “I Got You” – Split Enz”

More studio stuff today.  I appreciate vendors who will overnight parts, even on the weekend.

N.P.: “House of Pain” – Faster Pussycat

Spent the day working on the new studio.  It’s taking shape.  It’s going to be a bit cramped, but probably not as cramped as I was worried about it being.  It’s totally wired for sound.  Most of the lighting is done…I have some LED strips to install.  After that, it’s just a matter of finishing building the computer, and the Death Star will be fully operational and online.  Official day of completion: Halloween.  Fucking right, Halloween.

N.P.: “Astrid” – The Encounter, Street Cleaner

California has become the miasmic toilet that it is because of corrupt and incompetent governance.

N.P.: “Like Flames” – Berlin

Still no time, dear reader.  Same deal as yesterday…iots going on.  Also, today I’m in a bad mood.  The seasonally inappropriate heat is not helping anything, mood-wise.  The heat and The Angst…always a dreadful combination.

N.P.: “The Race” – Yello

What’s happening, dear reader.  No time to talk tonight…lots going on.

N.P.: “I’m An Adult Now” – Pursuit of Happiness

Today’s depressing headline is: “More Humans Are Growing an Extra Artery in Our Arms, Showing We’re Still Evolving.”  The author of the article couples the increased artery growth with a relative decrease in wisdom teeth in newborns as yet even more evidence that (wait for it) “humans are still evolving.”  Gasp!
The story appeared in numerous publications, but the one I saw it in had “science” in its name.  That any entity professing to be “scientific” is treating the ongoing evolution of humans (or any other living thing, for that matter) as a newsworthy revelation is not only wrist-slittingly depressing but yet another example of the sort of scientifically impoverished and temporally provincial and myopic horseshit that seems to have taken over all academic discussions this century.  I see things like this, and my jaw drops…this got published in a science magazine?!  Then it gets worse as I realize that the reason it was published is that to the beard-curating Whiteclaw-swilling cretins that comprise this rag’s readership, it’s actually news.  They’re so egocentric as to think that they really are the apex of human evolution.  They’re also convinced that the world’s going to end during their lifetimes (it won’t), and that they are witnessing climate change far worse than anything that’s ever happened before (sorry Kevin, not even close).   It’s tempting to lampoon America’s embarrassing public school system here, but I don’t think it’s their fault…I don’t know.  Maybe.  I figured out continental drift the same year I learned how to tie my shoes.  The difference was someone had to show me how to tie my shoes.  There are some things that should just be rather obvious to anyone who’s spent more than a couple of years on this rotten planet, but I guess not.  Alas.

N.P.: “Gravel Road” – Clutch