I absolutely love this thorough debunking of "Fritz" Mondale's acceptance speech. Bleat on, Mr. Lileks!

It was refreshing to hear the top story of the eleven o'clock news on the all-talk radio station here lead with the World Series standings tonight. While there are plenty of things to worry about, a return to something close to normalcy--if only for a day or so--is welcome.

It's incredible that Tacoma, where we live, is a nexus of the investigation into the “Serial Sniper”. Apparently, a 42 year old former soldier stationed in Fort Lewis near here and his stepson are “persons of interest” in the investigation. The ex-soldier is wanted on Federal firearms charges.

Apparently, the sniper asked that authorities deposit ten million dollars to the account of a stolen credit card that was taken in an armed robbery in September. Sadly, a person was killed and another person was wounded in that event.

There will be lots of speculation on who these people are, and their connections to the actual sniper, assuming that the soldier and sniper are not one in the same.

Army Ranger and Special Ops forces train at Fort Lewis. Apparently, sniper training is part of the program at the base here. However, I think that there is another theory that may apply here.

Suppose that the soldier stole weapons and ammo from the base prior to his discharge, and that he has been selling them to groups like the “Camp Ground Zero” militia group that runs the training base in Alabama that is also a subject of today’s investigation. Suppose further that the sniper bought a weapon and ammo from the militia base, and was trained in rudimentary marksmanship there. The ex-soldier and his stepson may not be the perpetrators, but may be accessories to a horrible sequence of crimes.

I sincerely hope that the authorities are onto the sniper and will make an arrest soon without further loss of life, unless it is the sniper’s.

One thing you can always count on: nothing ever stays the same forever.

I'm sure that someone said those words, or words to that effect, better before now. The departure of Lou Pinella, the guiding force behind Mariners baseball in Seattle, is now a fact, not a rumor. The Seattle Times does a fine job of conveying some of what Lou has meant to this city. It is arguable that the Seattle Mariners would have moved to some other city had Lou and the "refuse to lose" team of 1995 not energized the city as never before. The 116 game season in 2001, division and wild card championships, and 300 wins in the past 3 years are hallmarks of a team and manager who strove for excellence year in and year out.

Mariners fans everywhere will miss Lou terribly. Those who appreciate his achievements while he was here shouldn't selfishly seek to deny him the chance to be closer to his family, especially to his parents and grandchildren. The fact that it is so hard to let him go without such thoughts is a testiment to what he has meant to us all.

Godspeed, Lou, and thanks for the memories.

I don't currently own a gun, but I respect the rights of those who choose to do so. As many have pointed out, criminals will be ingenious in their efforts to defeat "fingerprinting" of weapons.

In fact, if the criminal doesn't wish to steal a gun, deface the rifling, exchange the barrel, etc., they have other options.

Lead poisoning is a concern for police and military shooters--as well as range operators. So-called "frangible ammo" was developed in part to provide lead-free ammunition with the additional benefit that the bullets virtually destroy themselves on impact, reducing the risk of injury from richochet. The unintended consequence is that a smart sniper with the means to obtain frangible ammo can fire, say, a .223 cartridge at 4,000 fps (most standard loads shoot at 2,000-2,500 fps) with almost no concern for recovery of the spent shell--it would be reduced to little more than tiny copper/tin fragments.

Here's a link with some additional information on frangible ammunition.

I'm not trying to educate the bad guys or frighten the rest of us. Like most bloggers, I think that the issues need to be thought through carefully before jumping head first into solution space.

I'm glad to see that he's finally got a blog of his own. I hope he keeps 'em coming as regular as second helpings at Mama's.

This man is a complete and utter fool, and the very embodiment of Stalin's term, "useful idiot".

I live in the Northwest, in Tacoma. I volunteered for duty in the Air Force and served from 1976 until 1979 in Texas and Colorado. I served with many Vietnam vets who were proud of their efforts in the war while I was stationed at Randolph AFB. They--and I--would willingly defend the USA again if asked--I'd wager that is as true now as then for those who are still with us.

Seattle's Congressman has no shame, and has no business calling himself a veteran. He is a traitor to everything he swore to in the oaths he took upon entering the armed services and the Congress of the United States.

Who would have believed that New Jersey would elbow Florida aside to become the new butt of political jokesters nationwide? Now that the state court has ruled in favor of the Democrats, those pols must be kicking themselves for not dealing with this in a primary election earlier this year. The real worry is that this sort of thing could become a regular tactic of party bosses in the future.

Sure is funny to see the Democrats going to state court about a federal election--again. The argument to grant an exception from the New Jersey statute that requires candidates to remain on the ballot if not replaced more than 51 days prior to the election is weak. If Torricelli hadn't realized he had no chance to win, and decided to resign in order to try to save the Senate for the Democrats, this mess wouldn't have happened. The Democratic leadership should have forced this issue to a head weeks ago and kept the resolution of the problem within the law.

I look forward to seeing how this plays out over the coming weeks.

Well, the enriched uranium story has apparently turned out to be a hoax--the reports from Turkish authorities even got the weight of the material wrong.