• From the “Yes, but” Department – A new study claims that men and women show love for their spouses in different ways.  According to scientists in Texas, men tend to show love by initiating sex, doing household chores, and enjoying leisure time together.  Women, on the other hand, are said to express love by being less antagonistic.  I tend to agree with the findings for men, but not for women.  Irish Woman is affectionate, both with me and with the children.  She also shows her love, and will admit to it if questioned, by cooking certain dishes, doing household work so that I won’t have to when I get home, and not putting up a fight when I say I’m going off to do something for the day.  Honestly, it’s usually her suggestion that I get to the range.   My opinion is that if the only way you can tell that your wife is expressing love is expressing her love for you is that she eased off on starting fights or making pithy comments for a while, maybe you need to re-evaluate your whole “I know she loves me” analysis methods. 
• From the “Ummm, No” Department – A man in Oklahoma is appealing his sentence for shooting and killing a would-be robber after he had already shot him and the man was down.  Basically, two guys started to rob the store, the man pulled out his gun, shot one of them in the head, causing him to drop.  The other robber ran out of the store with the man in pursuit. The man then returned to the store and shot the already wounded robber to death.  He’s claiming that his Asbergers syndrome made it impossible for him to make a good decision in the chaotic situation.  To this I say:  You should have thought of that before you put the gun in the holster that morning.  You can’t look back on a shooting and say “Wasn’t my fault because I didn’t have the capacity to make a good decision”.  I’m pretty sure that most states have a question to the effect of “Do you have any conditions that would make you unsafe to carry and use a deadly weapon?” on their concealed carry license application.  If you answered honestly, then you shouldn’t have been carrying the gun.  Either that, or you’re grasping at straws because you didn’t control your anger and adrenaline, which I’ll grant is very difficult.  But that’s the responsibility you take when you say “I am responsible for my own safety and security, and a firearm is the tool I am going to use to do it.”  After being shot in the head and laying on the floor bleeding, the deceased was no longer a threat, and neither was his buddy that you chased after he left the store.  Coming back and finishing off the guy you just shot makes it murder, not self defense. 
• From the “Mother of the Year” Department – A woman in Utah, along with a man in Oregon, are under arrest after the man provided the 13-year-old daughter of the woman with an iPhone loaded with shirtless pictures of himself, and the mother assisted the girl in taking nude photos of herself with the phone and sending them to the man.  Apparently, the mother was OK with this sick situation, and claims that she and the man had agreed that he and the girl would refrain from physical sexual contact until she turned 18.  Well, thank the Lord for small favors!  Hopefully both of the adults in this case are sent somewhere dark, damp, and dirty for a very long time over this, and the young girl gets as much psychological support as can be had.  She’s got a long way back to something approximating “normal” if this is what her mother has been doing to raise her.
• From the “Atrocity” Department – A 24-year-old man in Colorado has been arrested after police claim he threw a gas or smoke grenade into a theater showing the latest Batman movie, then opened fire on the audience.  Reports are that 12 people are dead and 50 were injured in the attack.  Police are searching his apartment, which appears to be booby-trapped and the suspect claims contains explosives.  I’m not going to go over the detailed and hotly argued self-defense implications of this scenario because I’m sure better minds are already going over that, but my first instinct would be to grab the wife and kids and run.  My gun will be used to clear any threats that are between my family and the exit, not to engage an attacker that is not impeding our progress.  I’d rather be a live coward with an intact family than have people opine about how brave I was to stand between the attacker and the bodies of strangers at my wake or the at my daughter’s hospital bed.  We all have hero fantasies, but this isn’t one of mine.  All of us will be keeping the people hurt by this in our thoughts and prayers.  If you’re of a mind to, please do so as well.  Of course, the normal gang of idiots are clamoring for the government to tighten gun laws.  Basically, murder with guns is bad, so we have to make murdering people with guns more illegaler.  To those who will use this tragedy for gain, on either side of the argument, all I can say is “Shame on you”.  Before you start pushing any agenda, give the families time to bury their dead and heal their hurt.  Oh, and Mayor Bloomberg, there are precisely zero things that a president can do to deter or stop things like this from happening unless you totally disarm the civilian population and put a heavily armed policeman or soldier every few feet in all public spaces.  Even then, it’s no guarantee.  Danger, even the danger of something horrific happening, is the cost of liberty.  In order to take away the right that this monster abused from other monsters, you would have to take it away from all of us, and I will not let anything, even the deaths of children, do that.

• From the “Free Enterprise” Department – Experts are warning that the legalization of marijuana in states such as Colorado could drive down the price of marijuana across the country.  Apparently this is perceived to be a bad thing.  To me, it’s a meh thing.  If people want to get high, they will find a way.  Sniffing gasoline, smoking weed, snorting household cleaners mixed with cold medicine, or whatever it takes to get stoned have all been done, and will continue to be done until the sun cools.  Prohibition on the use of an easily grown plant has been less than useless, and legalization will not only lower prices, but it will also ensure that the drugs that people are using are at least as safe as the bourbon, coffee, and tobacco they use every day.  Great googly moogly, we’ve been arguing about smoking rope since 1965.  Can we please just drop the issue and move on to something new?
• From the “FREEDOM!!!” Department – A judge in Oregon has acquitted a man accused of exposing his genitalia illegally during a protest against the TSA.  The man in question was asked to go through “enhanced screening” and since he’d probably already had his hernia and prostate checked for the year, decided to strip to the buff instead.  We here at DaddyBear’s Den wish this man well and congratulate him on sticking it, or at least showing it, to the man.
• From the “HeadDesk” Department – George Zimmermann, the man accused of second degree murder after he shot a teenager he claims was trying to beat him to death, went on television with his lawyer today.  That sound you hear is me gnashing my teeth.  Get.Off.The.Television.You.Dolt.  Your lawyer should know that anything you say at this late date will be at best useless, and you all should be concentrating on getting on with your trial.  And to be honest, I don’t care if you pray for the guy you shot, his parents, the Queen of Zambia, or the Space Pope.  Quit making it harder for your lawyer to get you an acquittal.
• From the “AR 670-1” Department – A group of soldiers are showing off their love for a television cartoon by wearing rainbow patches on their uniform.  Before I go on a rant about grown men watching a cartoon meant for little girls, I will remind myself that I enjoy cartoons at least as much as the next guy.  And I have to admit something:  I painted a two foot picture of Homer Simpson next to my name on my track once.*  But guys, it’s a uniform, not your pajamas.  Want to wear that kind of stuff off-duty and out of uniform?  Have at it.  Want to put nifty patches on your uniform?  There are schools for that in such places as Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, and Fort Campbell.  The two should never mix.
• From the “Fighting Words” Department – Senator Charles Schumer, senator from New York and collector of artisanal coprolites, has called for curbs on the First Amendment in his arguments for passage of the Disclose Act.  Apparently forcing political donors into the limelight is the same as restricting the yelling of “FIRE!” in a crowded theater.  Personally, I hope the good senator wakes up with a horse’s head tomorrow, but let’s not speak of his wife in this space.  You know, I’m pretty sure that blatant violation of the First Amendment would be the “line in the sand” for a lot of people to get off their asses and start lighting their torches.
• From the “Cold Dead Hands” Department – Two men were arrested recently when they tried to cross the border from Canada carrying contraband.  No, it wasn’t weapons or drugs. It was chocolate eggs with a toy in the middle.  Apparently Mama Gubmint has decided that we might choke on the small pieces or something and has made them verboten.  To this I say:  You may take our lands, you may take our lives, but you’ll never take our KinderEier!

*It lasted for about 72 hours before I was out there with a stencil and some spray paint putting it back the way it was before I got creative.  Who knew the Sergeant Major would look at all four sides of the vehicles during an inspection?