Yesterday the assault weapon ban expired, and now it seems all Republicans are making excuses for not renewing it. This moring on NPR I heard Elizabeth Dole, a North Carolina senator, quoted as saying she thought there should be more research done on the issue before a new ban is implemented. Apparently, she thinks that it's more important for the U.S. government to examine whether the ban has had a real impact on crime before making any decision about reinstating it. Well, it is an election year, and I guess it's been long enough for her to have forgotten asking, "“Can you think of any reason a family needs an AK-47 or an Uzi to protect their family or go hunting?” Back in 1999, when Chris Burrit, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, caught the question, Senator Dole "favored child safety locks on guns and instant background checks on people trying to buy guns."

There's also been some talk about "a new ban doing more to harm gun control than help it." Hmm, interesting concept -- probably sounds great to anyone belonging to the NRA or someone who actually thinks FOX news is reliable.

I just don't get it. President Bush goes on and on about making our country safe from terrorism, and now we're back to allowing automatic and semi-automatic weapons as legal property. Well, hell, now we can actually fight those terrorist when they bring the "war" to us. I know I'll be prepared when they come crashing through my door -- probably on election day -- when the Terror Alert Level has been raised to Radioactive Red.

Just when one thinks he couldn't go any lower or be any more repulsive, the little W pulls something even more disgusting out of his ass. Or perhaps it's more amazing that he gets so much done by doing nothing.

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And since I'm so mad, I may as well go ahead and mention another admirable story about Republicans conveyed to me during a phone call this weekend with my mom (who could take Elizabeth Dole any day of the week).

Apparently, due to the strong winds of Hurricane Frances, a number of people lost power to their homes in Lagrange, Georgia (a town not far from where I grew up.) One powerless woman (a friend of one of my mother's colleagues) called up the power company to have her lack of electricity remedied. A repair crew came over to her house, but when they saw a sign in her yard supporting John Kerry & John Edwards, they refused to complete the work order until she removed the placard from the premises. The woman, more intent on getting her power back than stirring things up, complied.

That's one Grand Old Party -- a veritable bunch of compassionate conservatives!

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Pretty soon it'll be legal to hunt long-haired hippies with AK-47s.

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This whole thing about assault weapons reminds me of an old, old Gary Trudeau Doonsbury cartoon I read years ago. I have no idea why it left such an impression on me back then, but I suspect the strip's subject matter actually had something to do with debate over the original implentation of the assault weapon's ban.

Two hunters are out in a forest or field and they're conversing. One fires off a couple of rounds from his machine gun, and in the last panel you see the moustached figure standing in and looking down into tall grass, saying something like, "Hey, Jake, come over here and help me look for the rest of the deer I just shot. I think I found a couple of pieces of it's antler."

Not particularly funny, but it drives the point home that there clearly is no need for anyone to own an assault rifle. Elizabeth Dole knows it, too, but she's playing a silly game called election-year politics.

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Let's refuse to turn George Bush's power back on in November. By voting for Kerry, we'll at least be acting in accordance with U.S. law.