Decrepit Old Fool left me a comment on this post. DOF is on my blogroll, and although he and I don’t see 100% agreement, he’s a good guy and a good friend.

Anyway, he links to this article over at Reuters.

A radical environmental activist has been indicted by a federal grand jury for demonstrating how to build a firebomb in a speech just 15 hours after a fire that his group claimed responsibility for destroyed a large apartment complex being built nearby.

Okay, now this is one of those “mixed feelings” things. I don’t hold a particularly strong affinity for radical environmentalists, but I do hold a strong position on the First Amendment, and this next part is scary.

Rodney Adam Coronado, a 39-year-old member of the Earth Liberation Front, was indicted on a charge of giving instructions on how to build a destructive device, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday.

…The law makes it illegal to tell others how to build destructive devices with the intent of having them commit crimes.

There’s that “thought crime” thing again. In my post below, several of us noted that we hold particular knowledge of how to use commonly available household chemicals in exciting and vigorous ways. Now, do you suppose that some ambitious young assistant DA might want to make a name for himself by taking OUR conversation and going to court? Sure, it’d be a battle that was easy for him to lose, but who among us is in a position to spend the time, effort and money to fight such a charge? One or two such cases would serve to really stifle conversations such as the one we had.

Equally frightening is this:

Three people who attended Coronado’s speech were jailed for refusing to testify before the grand jury about the content of the speech. All have been released.

By implication, not only was it unlawful for our tree-hugging bozo to MAKE the speech, but it was unlawful for people to LISTEN to it.

Laws upon laws upon laws. We are rapidly approaching the point where EVERY one of us will be guilty of transgressing one law or another. Then it’s just a matter of whom they want to prosecute…

Via Synthstuff, a daily read, through his blogroll, there’s Gizmodo, where comes this article where a dumbass inflates balloons with, of all things, acetylene and has them explode in his car.

When a deputy arrived to check it out, he found a white car that showed obvious signs of an explosion. All the windows were blown out, the vehicle doors were bent towards the outside and the roof was pushed about a foot higher than normal.

Okay, the guy KNOWS that acetylene is explosive:

They explained that they were taking a balloon to a Super Bowl party — a balloon filled with acetylene, a very explosive gas used in welding — so they could blow up the balloon while celebrating.

He didn’t know the possible effects of static electricity and the absurd sensitivity of acetylene:

However, on the drive, the balloon rolled across the back seat, possibly causing static electricity, and igniting the gas, causing it to explode.

At this point, a sane society would label the guy a verified idiot and let the news out, thus subjecting him to endless ridicule for the rest of his life. But we no longer have THAT sort of society.

Norman Frey, 46, faces a charge of possession, use, or removal of explosives or incendiary devices. He faces two to six years in prison.

Now, lest you be one of those ignorant bed-wetting liberal fools who needs to be protected from himself, here’s a quick list of “explosives or incendiary devices” around the average home:

Spray cans. Look at the propellant. Many are propane. You’re holding a small flamethrower. Add flammable contents, such as hairspray or spray paint, and you have an even MORE lethal device.

Pool chemicals. Many pool chemicals are powerful oxidizers. All you need to do is add a bit of moisture and a fuel, and you have a bomb. Syrup works. Don’t ask me how I know.

Gasoline. Comrade Molotov hung his name on something. Are they intending on jailing anyone with five gallons of gas and an empty coke bottle?

Rubbing alcohol: Has the advantage of the flame being almost invisible in sunlight.

Conclusion? Bad law. Stupid, stupid law. They can convict anybody with DA with an axe to grind and a jury full of dumbasses.

The dangerous thing is the mind…

Browsing through the blogroll this morning and I pass The Fat Guy who links and comments on this article. Seems tha mentioning the YEAR that Sam Houston defeated Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto is demeaning to Mexicans.

To some, 1836 might mean Texas independence. To others, it was the defeat of the Mexican army at San Jacinto and thus loss of some Mexican territory. Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia says 1836 might be sensitive to members of the Hispanic community and more.

Now let me get this straight: You are living in AMERICA becaue you LIKE it better than the thirid-world sh*t-hole you left. The REASON it’s better here is because in 1836 some AMERICANS whipped that fop of a general who wanted to keep Texas in Mexico. Otherwise, the land which now comprises Texas would be just one or more provinces of that “France of the Americas”, Mexico, and you’d have hauled your ass even farther north to someplace where a somewhat diminished Stars & Stripes waved in freedom’s breeze.

I bet these “guys” really wet their pants when they hear the Marine Corps’ “From the halls of Montezuma” because America also whipped their butts there…

I ain’t apologizing. America is a bright, shining city on a hill because we WON the Battle of San Jacinto. In 1836. And a lot more battles before and after that. So if 1836 gets your sensitive panties in a wad, then don’t read numbers like 1815 and 1865 and 1918 and 1942. You’ll be offended there, too, you moral-relativistic, educated beyond your intelligence liberal puke.

This is a very sore and tiresome spot for me. I’m American. I wore the uniform and stood on the line for America. I fail to see why anyone would spend the time and effort to come over here and then try to turn it into the rathole they left to get here. That’s why I have no patience for the ethnocentric bunch in academe, be they Latino or Afro-centric.

If you think that Mexico or Africa is so much more close to utopia, then, sunshine, the door works BOTH ways. don’t let it hit you in the ass on the way out…