For all the talk of the decline of the British Empire, even the most red-blooded American has to admit that somehow, they managed to relieve themselves (dare I say excrete?) the creature from their brave little island, and we seem to be stuck with it.

If I were the Obama administration, I would blame this (as on all else, now four years since the end of his disastrous dictatorial reign) on George W. Bush, but sanity and honest compels me to lay it at the foot of the cable news network formerly, and currently known as the Cable News Network. Which is one of the many reasons that I (and judging by the ratings, many others) find it less than indispensable.

…is more popular, and less unpopular, than Barack Obama.

[Update a while later]

The president’s nonsensical gun proposals. Either he’s profoundly ignorant, or he thinks we are.

Rahm Emmanuel:

“I don’t mind being yelled at, like verbally abusive, fine,” he said. “But I think the mayor — and I made this point in an email later to his staff, clearly crossed the line by grabbing me.”

Hastings said that he has interviewed “terrorist leaders…dictators…a lot of politicians…a lot of angry people,” but that no one had ever put their hands on him. The journalist also claimed that Emanuel didn’t seem to be “in full control of what he was doing” during the exchange.

I’d love to see him charged with assault. But you know the cops would ignore it.

And I agree with Glenn: “I think one reason why these people support gun control is that they assume everyone else is as unstable as they are.”

Nicholas Johnson writes that the agenda is to take all the guns, regardless of their lies (and many of them remain quite up front about it). And it’s aided by the sophistry and ignorance of the media:

I disagree with his premise, though, that the president is smart. On some things (e.g., economics and business), he seems unremittingly stupid.

And there’s this:

If you listen just to media reports, you would think that guns used in crimes come mainly from straw sales or the “gun show loophole”. But these sources account for only a small fraction of the illegal gun supply. Most crime guns come from a black market that is supplied by theft. On average about 500,000 guns are stolen each year. So publication of gun owners’ addresses is a wonderful public service …. to gun thieves.

As demonstrated by this:

Thieves ransacked a house that features on the gun map published by the Journal News, just days after another home on the list was also targeted.

Burglars broke into the house in New City, New York, on Wednesday and pried open two safes, before leaving with another one.

The criminals escaped with two handguns, two pistol permits, cash, savings bonds and jewelry. The firearms were in the stolen safe.

I hope they sue the paper, and take them to the cleaners.