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Chris Knight's avatar

I will not vote for Amendment One.

Neither will I vote against Amendment One.

Because the more I have thought about it and the more that I have seen especially during the past couple of weeks across North Carolina, Amendment One is by far the worst thing that I have ever seen on a ballot in the Tarheel State. And that’s sayin’ something about this place…

For this blog’s readership in various and sundry places not between Manteo and Murphy, Amendment One is the measure on next week’s ballot that would make the Constitution of the state of North Carolina explicitly state that marriage will only be between one man and one woman. As you can probably imagine, this is widely perceived to be a measure attempting to circumvent the legality of “gay marriage”.

I’ve been wrestling literally for the past several weeks on how to articulate what I believe ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Been a might busy on numerous fronts lately so I haven’t had much of a chance to get in a game of Warhammer 40,000 in awhile (though that also owes to the fact that I’ve been building up my army of Orks, muhahahahahaha!!!)

Anyhoo, it’s from the world of 40K which this next item comes from. Seems that Swedish torrent-trackin’ site/political party/new religious denomination The Pirate Bay, which has already made a name for itself letting users search for songs, movies, video games and books, has now added 3-D models to its database.

Which means that through the ever-improving technology of 3-D printing, it is now possible to download physical objects via the Internet.

Here’s how it works: you download the model and using a 3-D printer, the computer lays down layer upon layer of plastic or resinous material, gradually building-up a physical object. Right now the technology is ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

In recent days I have been mulling over a notion for two related bits of possible legislation, and I would like to submit them for discussion.

It seems to me that there are some people in this land who refuse to acknowledge the right of others to seek after and call out to God as best they can, in sincere and dignified manner. I do not believe that the Founding Fathers possibly had “freedom of speech” or “freedom of expression” in mind when such individuals take drastic action to interfere with and even deprive their fellow citizens of coming together for purposes of solace and worship. In more polite days, such individuals would have been run out of town on a rail, if not outright shot for the publick good. But since the constabulary frowns on that sort of thing lately…

First, I would like to suggest the Racketeering Against ...

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Just three things:

First, I admit that I didn’t follow this trial at all up until Tuesday when the verdict was reached and announced. When that happened it was darn near impossible to read anything but about it. So I took it upon myself to study the case and now that some of the jurors have broken their anonymity and begun talking about it…

I have to say that the jurors reached the best verdict that they possibly could. And when some of them say that it anguished them that this was their verdict, I have to take them at their word.

Do I believe that Casey Anthony murdered her 2-year old daughter Caylee Anthony? My answer would be “Is there anybody who seriously believes that O.J. didn’t do it?”

But in our legal system, the burden is on the prosecution to prove guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. Not the ...

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But it shouldn’t have been passed by the House and Senate to begin with!

Y’know, I am getting mighty fed up with the sorry lot of politicians in Washington… in both major parties mind ya… who have NO respect whatsoever for the Constitution.

Obama’s “health care reform” was always unconstitutional. It was the most brazen violation of the commerce clause in perhaps all of United States history. Of course it was going to be struck down by somebody in the judiciary sooner or later.

That this was lost on too many members of the House and Senate, who persisted in advocating and then voting for Obamacare in spite of all sane understanding of constitutional law…

Grrrrrr…

Anyone else doubt that the political system of this country is hopelessly and irredeemably broken? I mean, if people like this are the only ones that we can expect to vote for… ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Now this could be a story about copyright issues that may wind up having a very happy ending…

It all starts with one Ryan Winzen, a 25-year old artist who claims to have no inclination toward video game programming but who has been creating custom maps for Blizzard’s Warcraft and StarCraft games since he was 13.

A few days ago Ryan sent shockwaves across the Intertubes when he went public with a lil’ project that he’s been working on…

Yup, “World of StarCraft”! Ryan is using the in-game editor and assets to create a StarCraft II mod that is… well, World of StarCraft. And it’s exactly what you’re thinking it is: a massively multiplayer online game that does for StarCraft what Blizzard’s mega-popular World of Warcraft has done for the company’s other well-known franchise.

Remember: Ryan used the StarCraft II editor and the game’s own assets to ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Just got the word from Matt Mittan that North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue – also known on this blog as “Worst Governor EVER!” – has suspended the rights of North Carolina residents to “to use or carry firearms outside their premises” during the state of emergency declared for Hurricane Earl, currently taking aim at our coast.

Here’s what really raised my eyebrows: this is apparently a STATEWIDE suspension, and not merely along the North Carolina coast. In other words, folks around Sylva, Waynesville and other fine places waaay out in the North Carolina mountains are also affected by the gun rights suspension… even though it’s extremely doubtful that they will be affected by Earl in the least bit.

What the hell is Governor Perdue thinking?!

I would like for someone to show me where this is just a matter for the coastal areas. But even if that were ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

If you’re going to attend the Mile High Music Festival this weekend in Denver, don’t even think about bootlegging the music. Merely considering the notion means you’ve already been sued by event producer AEG Live. The company has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against “John Does 1-100, Jane Does 1-100, and XYZ Company” for illegal bootlegging… which hasn’t even been committed yet. Since nobody exists (yet) to contest the lawsuit, it moves ahead in court. It also means that AEG Live can get “law enforcement involved by using the lawsuit to ask the court to order US Marshalls, local and state police and even off-duty officers to go ahead and seize and impound the bootlegged material.”

Techdirt has more about this legally ridiculous situation, including the full text of the filed lawsuit.

(How soon will it be before we start seeing companies like Viacom using this sort of tactic ...

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Two things that trouble me about California’s Proposition 8 – the “gay marriage” ban – being struck down yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker…

The first is that a single member of the federal judiciary is empowered to render null and void the vote of more than 7 million voters in a matter pertaining to their own state of residence.

The other thing is that even as this is being cheered in some quarters as a “victory” for certain individuals, in truth it is a dire setback for all individuals. I speak of the now decades-long erosion of jury nullification: the tradition that common people empaneled on a jury can acquit defendants and even overturn legislation in spite of legal and prosecutorial weight, if sincere conscience should so dictate. And even though jury nullification is generally a matter strictly relegated to affairs at trial, its principle...

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Chris Knight's avatar

…and decided that the Second Amendment really DOES apply to EVERY part of the United States. In other words, it affirmed that citizens do have a basic right to keep and bear arms for purposes of self defense (and, I dare say, as an incentive against government getting too big for its britches).

Glad to see the Supremes finally nodding toward something that’s been public knowledge only since the Bill of Rights was ratified.

But in any case, this is a major victory for gun rights. Perhaps the tide is turning after all in this land....

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