Skattershooting again by popular demand:
 

• The gun debate has now turned very entertaining. First, we have Charlton Heston holding a rifle above his head at the annual NRA convention and yelling "From my cold dead hands". If that wasn't good enough, we have the always irritating Rosie O'Donnell form the Million Mom March against firearms only to have it discovered two weeks later that her private body guard had applied for a concealed weapon permit from the state of Connecticut.
• Speaking of the Million Mom March, it is my understanding that the organization has a tax exempt status as a charitable organization under section 501 of the tax code. It seems like there is a problem since a charitable organization may be tax exempt only if they do not engage in political activity. See IRS Code § 501(c)(3).  Sure sounded political to me.
• Newsweek reports that support for the death penalty has dropped from 82% to 66% over the last 15 years.
• During the Timothy Richardson Highland Park murder trial a couple of weeks ago, a couple of victim's advocate representatives were reportedly "working the phones" in the hallway with their state representatives in order to repeal the law that allows the "sudden passion" defense. That defense, if accepted by a jury, reduces the range of punishment in a murder case to two to twenty years. Leave the law alone. The sudden passion defense is appropriate in some cases and, besides, the Richardson jury rejected it.
• One way to guarantee a front page headline is to have a news story involve hypocrisy: A child molesting priest, a bribe taking public official, a murder in a rich neighborhood, and the list goes on . . .
• I hate the NHL and the NBA.
• Did you see that DPS, after thirty years, has discontinued its practice of predicting the number of traffic deaths that will occur over a holiday weekend? In a morbid sort of way, I think I'll miss it.
• There is not a funnier man alive than Sport Radio 1310's Gordon Keith ("The Ticket" - KTCK).
• As Memorial Day approaches, consider the fact that every man in America under 45 years of age has never owned a draft card.
• Best crime over the last 10 years: A man, apparently suffering from family problems, robbed the passengers on a Philippine Airlines flight to Manila. He then ordered the plane depressurized and jumped out with a parachute at 6,000 feet. All the passengers survived.
• After seeing interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20, Michael J. Fox's condition because of Parkinson's Disease is simply frightening.
• Yesterday Congress passed a $15.3 billion package of financial assistance for farmers. Get this: Even though the government has sued the tobacco industry left and right, the package included $340 million in direct relief to tobacco farmers. Anyone want to explain that one to me?
• For those that care: Lake Bridgeport will be in sad(der) shape this summer. Over the last eight years, I have never seen the lake as low as it is right now (down about 16 feet). What's troubling is that the long, hot, and dry summer is only beginning.
• I'm not sure about the father, but the mother of JonBenet Ramsey gives me the creeps. Every time she says "there's a killer out there and we will find you", the memories of O.J. Simpson uttering the same words come rushing back.
• A year ago I predicted, boldy, that George Bush would not be the next president of the United States. Call me crazy, but I'll let that bet ride.
• ABC's Nightline always plays the most recent round of released audio tapes of Lyndon Johnson's secretly taped telephone calls. It may very well be the most fascinating piece of history ever documented. For example, in a conversation with Martin Luther King, Johnson requested King to find a simple example of discrimination (i.e. where a black prospective employee is required to recite the Bill of Rights) and "repeat it, repeat it, repeat it". It was a successful tactic of Hitler, LBJ said, repeat your position as often as you can and the people will follow.