I'm in the presence of genius

Like OpenBlog says, if he goes all the way with this satire, it could be funny:



Hee hee!

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More obligatory

I'll admit I don't keep up with zombie alerts, but this made me take note.

Created by Oatmeal

Closely related is this!

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stolen from multiple sources!

Obligatory

I've seen this quote around the blogs recently, so it must be popular (it is!). But I notice that most people are quoting this:

The cops don't get it. The Constitution does not say "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed unless such infringement makes an officer of the government feel safer."

That's true, but I think the more important bit is this one:

If these arrogant, uniformed employees of ours really want to treat us as the enemy, they may eventually get their wish, at which point they will discover they're vastly outnumbered -- and "backup" is never quite close enough to solve the problem they've created for themselves.

RTWT ...... it's right on the money.

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More reason to get out of UK

Found at WND is this article about an interesting requirement:

The boss of a British recruitment firm said she was told she could not place an advertisement for ''reliable workers'' at the local Jobcenter because it discriminated against unreliable people.

Now I can only laugh at these stories. It seems that the British have no one to blame but themselves.

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Winter storm came through ...

Ice, ice babee ...... !!!

Gotta call relatives to make sure they're ok.

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I'm not much on fine art ......

But this post, stolen shamelessly from Kevin, is truly awesome:



Read the FAQ on Kevin's site. Really.

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There's hope for the media

I would like to relay something that just happened to me, a good something.

A couple of days ago, the local ABC affiliate had a story about a marijuana bust, in which there was also a machinegun confiscated. Now, I watch ABC because it's the least objectionable network to watch, and the local affiliate has been hiring a great crop of eye candy (not to mention I'm pals with one of their reporters). And my ears perked up at the mention of 'machine gun'.

But when they went into the story, they listed the 'machine gun' as a "Mack 10".

WTF?

So I went onto the affiliate's web site to look further, and the ATF hasn't even decided on whether to charge the guy, so to me, it's looking like the firearm may not be full-auto after all.

Then Chris Cuomo was on the national news telling us how easy it was to get a grenade launcher. I wish!

So I bitched to the news director in an email, and got a rather frank response.

Apparently, the director says he can't do much about what ABC does, but he sent my e-mail to the others in the newsroom, having this to add:

Subject: FW: Comments about two stories last night (Jan 27)


I will give Mr. [redacted] a detailed reply, but first I want to share his note with everyone. It perfectly illustrates the point [redacted] and I have been making about the level of gun sophistication in the (...) viewing area and the requirement we face as journalists to rise to the challenge. To be clear, I am not saying we got the Mac 10 thing wrong – I’ll dig around on that question – just that we have many, many viewers who will not respect us if we regularly reveal a lack of gun smarts.

[redacted]

So maybe I'm not the only one sending pointy e-mails around.

In his reply, the director also notes that my e-mail comes at a time when the newsroom was already planning a gun education session with the staffers, and my comments only bolstered his case.

Now that seems like progress to me.

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I've got to pay better attention!

Saw this on a couple of real blogs yesterday, and just took a look:



I'm not sure an American reporter could pull this off.

h/t Ace, or Hot Air ..... whatever.

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Quote of the day

From John Stossel's column in WND:

There is a simple way to get corporate money out of politics: Get the government out of our lives and economic affairs. If government has no favors to sell, no one will spend money trying to win them. [emphasis added]

Follow the money.

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Keynes admits to voodoo!

Found at a couple of sites:



Worth your time!

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Keynes admits to voodoo!

Found at a couple of sites:



Worth your time!

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Hadn't heard this

I'd heard about the executive order, I just hadn't heard about the push-back:

Responding to an executive order by President Obama, a new push is under way for states to adopt laws limiting the use of their National Guard units unless there is an invasion, insurrection or other limited circumstance.

This may be old news, but it's the first I've heard.

I recently was discussing politics on Facebook, noting that the 17th amendment should be repealed. Someone took exception to that notion, and I had to explain basic civics about senators representing the states in a representative republic.

It's a shame that states must petition the feds for their own authority.

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Here's an interesting thought

Linked from The War on Guns, the Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner has these thoughts about terrorists and gun-free zones:

One of the biggest threats to a terror attack is a defender they cannot identify. This can be a plainclothes or off-duty law enforcement officer or an armed citizen. One obvious means to counter the possibility of a premature end to an attack is to simply look for a place that bans weapons.

The authoritah's are constantly telling us about the danger that terrorism poses, but their solution is to disarm you and I, and give us more money for counter-terrorism.

It pains me that no one at countless town halls have ever asked political types why they believe that criminals or terrorists will abide by that Gun Free sign?

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Must read!

Vin Suprynowicz hits a home run with his latest offering:

In fact, the states long set such a requirement [property ownership] as a wise prophylactic against the famous dictum, attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouse, that, "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury."

You really should read the rest of it.

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Prager fisks Johnson

I've only been to Little Green Footballs maybe twice, and wasn't impressed, but I have heard about the strangeness of the creator, Charles Johnson. Dennis Prager today fisks Johnson's 10 reasons for going bonkers:

So it came as somewhat of a shock to see your 180-degree turn from waging war on Islamist evil to waging war on your erstwhile allies and supporters on the right. You attempted to explain this reversal Nov. 30, 2009, when you published "Why I Parted Ways With The Right."

You offered 10 reasons, and I would like to respond to them.

Sounds like he's really gone off the deep end.

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I don't feel at risk

Saw this on WND today; seems like kids hear voices, but it mostly doesn't affect them:

Up to 16 percent of mentally healthy children and teens may hear voices, the researchers note in the British Journal of Psychiatry. While hearing voices can signal a heightened risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in later life, they add, the "great majority" of young people who have these experiences never become mentally ill.

A 'great majority' huh? I feel better now.

All though, my little girl claims that angels talk to her all the time while she's asleep ..... I have no reason to doubt her.

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Google brings teh funneez

You never know what you'll find.

Seems like this guy's had some interesting emails!

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'Cause I'm the taxman ......

I didn't want you to start your work-week off badly!



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Appropriate, I think

Found on my motorcycle groups' page, this story out of PA:

Local and state police scoured the hills outside rural Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after reports of three animal rights activists going missing after attempting to protest the wearing of leather at a large motorcycle gang rally this weekend. Two others, previously reported missing, were discovered by fast food workers "duct taped inside several fast food restaurant dumpsters," according to police officials.

Go to the link to see where the other one wound up .......

This is a case of benevolent neglect ........ if you're going to play with the bear, don't go calling for daddy when the bear bites!

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Make sure you've got pudding

h/t to Ace.



Blogging light today ... this is just a sop!

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Universal Soldier, here we come

All they need to do now is keep them awake for 48 hours at a time.



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Funny quote

I saw this over at Tam's site (go read, she's good); a comment by Turk Turon:

Democrat at the drive-up window: "I'll have an order of Big Government, please."

Republican: "I'll have a Big Government, too, with a side order of Jesus."

That about sums it up.

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Education ..... for the children!

Kellene at Women of Caliber has a different take on a story that broke a few days ago. Education is the key:

This is exaclty why I believe in educating children on the proper use of firearms. Firearms are life saving tools, not toys with a reset button.

Just like condoms ....... heh.

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Now THIS is why I like Ace!

Insight into butterscotch pudding, courtesy Ace's morons!

If you're not reading, you really need to.

Srsly.

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Ok, ok ... I hear you!

David admonishes me:

The last three points are identical to the Brady's "extreme" position. Brown evidently has evolved and come around in the past eight years, but I confess I'm in the dark on this, as I don't know why Gun Owners Action League felt he merited an "A+" rating.

Interesting ..... I know Scott Brown's relection is generally a good thing, but for firearm owners, maybe not so much.

Read the whole thing. Really.

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JPFO Alert

Will your combat knife cut an ammo can in half?

Fighting back

There's been a bit of controversy in Austin, TX about gun shows and the impression that the ATF and Austin PD have that firearm sales should be through FFL's - no private sales.

Sebastian has an excellent post up about some proactive things we can do about it:

I guess what I’m trying to suggest is: don’t get mad, get even. The way you get even with bureaucrats is to get the people who essentially pay them mad.

He has some specifics listed in the post, and he's right.

A long time ago, I read (and I can't remember where) that in grand scheme of things, politicians only want one thing - to get re-elected. That's your only reliable leverage when dealing with politicians. Sebastian is right on target when he says that gun owners need to show up in great numbers to town meetings to voice their displeasure.

Make noise, ask questions ...... make some people uncomfortable.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

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My head must be in the sand

I had heard nothing about this:

Christopher Bryan Speight, a 39-year-old security guard, surrendered to police at daybreak Wednesday after leading authorities on an 18-hour manhunt following the shootings at a house in rural central Virginia where deputies found a mortally wounded man and seven bodies.

The victims were four adults, three teenagers and a child.

The death of the 4-year old child is particularly tragic.

The article mentions that Speight was a 'gun enthusiast', and that neighbors had automatic weapons fire, and weapons fire at night.

My guess is that this man snapped, an the victims just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sad.

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It wasn't specifically a pact with the devil

Walter Williams (a pretty smart economist) writes in yesterday's WND column about the real reasons that Haiti is devastated:

As tragic as the Haitian calamity is, it is merely symptomatic of a far deeper tragedy that's completely ignored, namely self-inflicted poverty. The reason why natural disasters take fewer lives in our country is because we have greater wealth. It's our wealth that permits us to build stronger homes and office buildings. When a natural disaster hits us, our wealth provides the emergency personnel, heavy machinery and medical services to reduce the death toll and suffering.

The biggest reason for Haiti being one of the world's poorest countries is its restrictions on economic liberty.

It may not be a pact with the devil, but if the people aren't free to make a living and create wealth, it might as well be.

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A challenge to SCOTUS

Vox Day has a post about the link between abortion and breast cancer that's not as fuzzy as we have been lead to believe.

But that's not the challenge. In one of Vox's comments*, he states the following:

There is a reason, after all, that the term "emanations and penumbras" has become a sarcastic term among the sufficiently well-informed.

This from Roe v Wade.

So my challenge for SCOTUS (and more specifically, the conservatives): Try to work 'emanations and penumbras' into all of your opinions.

Wouldn't that be fun?!

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*The comment is the 5th one down.

Teh interwebz are broken!

Weather yesterday killed my internet connection - that's why no real blog posts yesterday.

It's feeling better today!

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Blogging maybe later today

Lots of medical testy stuff today ..... may get back to talk about Sen Scott Brown!

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This is why I didn't join the Army

Via WND, this piece on a soldier who is the victim of the Victorian Army:

In August the military began what it called a "child pornography investigation" into what the family calls "harmless pictures of a little girl". The pictures show her playing in a swimming pool and posing on Billy's truck and inside of a home. One we did not show on television shows her standing in the water with part of her buttocks [emphasis added] exposed from her bathing suit.

Part of her buttocks? Does anyone at the Army have any kids? Nekkid child pics are a part of the growing-up process, because children are innocent. I've got plenty of pics of my daughter nekkid, and she often runs around nekkid, because she doesn't like clothes (especially in summer). I ran around nekkid when I was a kid, too.

But I dare anyone to come and threaten me with my kids, 'cuz they'll have to deal with my wife!

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The waiting begins

Massachusetts polls open a 7:00am and close at 8:00pm.

I can't imagine any of the networks will call it early.

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Casus belli indeed

David Codrea ahs an Examiner post that shows how far some are willing to go to keep Republicans out of office:

Speaking about the surprisingly close race in Massachusetts to fill Ted...uh...the people's seat, Schultz told his radio show audience:

I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I'd try to vote 10 times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right. I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are.

I don't think David thinks too much of Mr Shultz ...... I don't either.

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Fw:Subject: An Open Letter to Jody Keeku on the Occasion of her Conduct Review Board.

Mike V would like this post to receive wide attention:

Thus, if you would like to chat about what you know of misconduct and legal malfeasance in the Olofson case, I urge you to find a US Attorney or a Congressman to rat the bastards out. They certainly have shown their disloyalty to you. And remember, as you well know, in a federal conspiracy, advantage always goes to the first conspirator to rat out the others.

This regarding potentional viloations of federal law by the BATFE in the Olofson case.

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JPFO Alert

Will the upcoming Supreme Court McDonald v Chicago decision be sabotaged?

I've got to take exception

Updated with a mea culpa: It just occurred to me that I used the wrong term when I went off on Sebastian. That's how the Affliction works sometimes.

Sebastian had a post where he illustrates PZTD (Prag Zero-Tolerence Defects):

Nothing like associating legal gun purchases of legitimate collector pieces (a gold plated Desert Eagle is a wall piece, the kind you lock behind a nice piece a glass in a nice felt lined display case) with a term generally associated with people who have large sums of cash and few ways to convert them into legitimate, untraceable assets (gang members and drug dealers).

All because a dealer called the 24k gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol in .50AE, a 'bling' gun? You mean, he told the truth. That doesn't fit into the NRA-approved PZTD commandments (Thou shall not make the gun community look like fools).

I read the whole article, and that comment was near the end of the article (where most articles put things that contradict the authors 'spin'), and I don't think it was out of place at all. A gold-plated Desert Eagle is a 'bling' gun.

But firearms dealers shouldn't talk to reporters? How would a curt 'No comment' sound to the general public? Or 'All the local gun dealers refused to talk to us about this (insert firearms-related issue here)'? Or maybe firearms dealers should go through some sort of guerrilla PR training before they talk to any reporters?

I personally don't know any actual pistol shooters who would buy a gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who does so is an individual with large sums of cash wanting to convert it into a legitimate asset. I can't see anything covered on soft, 24k gold being able to withstand the rigors of firing, and I'm sure that doing so ruins the collector value of the firearm. Even if I were to win the lottery, I can't see spending 2 large on something that's going to sit in a case, or on the wall. All of the firearms I own are meant to be shot, accurately and repeatedly.

Now this is not meant to disparage firearms collectors. I've always drooled over the commemorative .45's in gold plating - I just don't have the disposable income to start and fill a collection of them. But I can't see where in a collection, the gold-plated Desert Eagle fits, save a Desert Eagle collection, or a 'bling' section.

Someone enlighten me!

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Indeed, where are they?

David Codrea has an Examiner post about the apparent absence of the largest gun lobby:

A review of NRA-ILA's New Hampshire state gun laws page shows nothing about the bill, either in the "New Hampshire Updates" section or the "In the News" section. And a site search for either "HB1201" or "HB 1201" produces...well, you try it.

Maybe they were at Sebastians place working on their PR classes for FFL's - members only!

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This says it all

I'm stealing this from Protein Wisdom, 'cuz I can't do any better:

Then, at 2:15 PM, the Vice President will meet with Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board. This meeting is closed press.

'Nuff said.

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Feed the geek

Ok, since I've started to get some actual traffic (thanks honey, you can stand

down now!), I thought I'd get some sort of tracking thingy. I picked Sitemeter and got the free, bare-bones version. And boy am I glad!

Here we have a break-down of the operating systems of the folks who have visited my blog! Feed the geek!

Yes, I am from rural GA!

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Teh funneez ..... wi haz themz

Rachel Lucas had a blog .... e-i-e-i-o!

No, srsly ..... she has a blog, but she's just been really busy with grad school or something. So while she's ignoring her blog, she's updated the front page, and you really should go take a look! Here's a sample:










by nightfly

Ah yes .... teh funneez!

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Violence? Moi?!

Ok, this is important.

David Codrea (blogging at The War on Guns) has a post up about a column he writes at Guns magazine, and a reader who didn't like what he wrote:

In his last line, Mr. Codrea seems to be skating pretty near the legal edge of making threats of violence.

Really? Only "seems to be"? I haven't crossed over?

Now that criticism hurts.

In the future, I'll try to be more clear.

I know this makes the Prags nervous to hear this sort of talk. David, Mike V at Sipsey Street Irregulars, and Western Rifle Shooters Association (among many) have led the charge on holding officials of the alphabet variety accountable. 'No more free Waco's' is the rallying cry, yet at the same time, 'No more Ft Sumpters' are the watch words.

Ms Maddow, Mssrs Rall, Olberman and Matthews, and all the other liberals have it wrong .... dead wrong. If there is any threat intended by armed citizens it is this: Stay out of my business and leave me alone, or prepare to reap the whirlwind.

It's not a threat ...... it's a solemn promise.

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Release the hounds!

Coakley's brand in MA seems to be pretty much dead to me:

Big-name Kennedy endorsements for Martha Coakley appear to have been little help to the Democrat in the U.S. Senate race - and may have even hurt her with some voters, a new Suffolk University/7News poll shows. [emphasis added]

How does this help Brown? Like this:

Although Brown’s 4-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley is within the Suffolk University/7News survey’s margin of error, the underdog’s position at the top of the results stunned even pollster David Paleologos.

Hee hee hee! Allah has a more important point at the bottom of the post:

The Democratic sample is +24 — and Scott Brown still leads?

And I feel like that sample is legitimate, since this is Massachusettes!

Can't wait for Wednesday!

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ATF criminality?

David Codrea at The War on Guns has asked that this post be distributed far and wide ...... done:

Today we're going to document the probability that this [NFRTR inaccuracy] was not just an isolated case, but an indication of system-wide incompetence, negligence, deception and cover-up that reaches throughout and beyond the agency, extending to those charged with providing audit oversight.

This stems from several sources, most notably the Friesen case (where a man with a registered Sten was accused of selling that Sten, then making another to keep). JPFO interviewed Doug Friesen, and can be heard in Parts 1 and 2.

Beyond that, David asks that we put, and keep, pressure on elected officials to hold hearings on this malfeasance.

I'll do what I can!

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Those republican nasty republicans

From a Hot Air post that details the 'moneycarpetbomb' on behalf of Scott Brown, a cheeky spoof ad, aimed at the Democratically Democrat Martha Coakley, Democrat of MA:



Heh.

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'Automatic' machine guns?

Found at Uncles, this story on those extra-dangerous automatic machine guns:

Two men terrified a Plaid Pantry clerk in Southeast Portland by pointing an automatic machine gun and demanding money from the cash register.

Ah .... so they 'terrified' the clerk. That's how they knew it was an automatic machine gun, 'cuz automatic machine guns are extra-evil looking (LRRH-Grandma, what an automatic machine gun you have! BBW-The better to terrorize you with, my dear! Muahahahahaha!)

And these people vote, dude!

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Another Firearms Freedom Act?

But this one has teeth! Quoth David Codrea:


Come we now to the "Live Free or Die" state, New Hampshire, and more specifically, House Bill 1285, introduced on Jan. 6. In a nutshell:

This bill exempts firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured in New Hampshire from federal law and regulation.

And it adds teeth absent in counterparts from other states:

And those teeth are - state employees violating the law get a misdemeanor; Feds violating the law get a felony!

This could get interesting!

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This is good

Kevin has a great post about how well the microstamping procedures are going:

Number of shell casings collected by COBIS as of January 1: 258,700

Number of crimes solved because of COBIS as of January 1: 0

Stolen in its entirety from GUNPOLITICSNY.COM

That's a, what is the percentage here, lets see ....258,700 / 0 ..... wait, I can't do this 'cuz it's division by zero!

Go see this post, because Kevin links an earlier (2005) post of his that has a pretty good discussion of microstamping and why it will never work (and it has pictures!).

You can also see how the politicians don't care that it won't work, and that it can be shown to not work, and have it explained why it won't work ...... when it comes to your 2A rights, they don't want you to have any.

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More Coakley awesome!

Above-the-post update: Curt Schilling has more ..... much more!

Gabriel over at Ace's has the latest on Martha Coakley's serious lack of having a cluebat applied to her head ....... ever:

Coakley bristles at the suggestion that, with so little time left, in an election with such high stakes, she is being too passive.

“As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?’’ she fires back, in an apparent reference to a Brown online video of him doing just that.

Well yes, politicians go out to meet the voters even if it means standing out in the cold. At least politicians who want to win in Massachusetts.

Yeah, she's a typical MA I've-been-kissing-Kennedy-ass-for-so-long-that-I-deserve-to-get-this-seat-without-working-for-it Democrat.

Good luck with that.

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The 'educated' class

There's been some discussion lately about an op-ed piece by David Brooks, looking at the difference between the 'educated class' and the normal Americans. By far the best (at least to me) was this one:

To acknowledge this is to indict their own judgment, to face the fact they themselves may be less than insightful, that "talking like us" means next to nothing, and that writing for magazines doesn't equip one for greatness, or leadership. In fact, it only equips one to write for more magazines.

This reminds me of something that Dr Laura says ...... people won't say that the things they do are bad, even when they know they're bad, 'cuz then it makes them bad.

So don't expect anyone who sang Obama's praises to ever, ever admit that they were wrong about him.

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The snark is strong with this one

Another from David Codrea, a report from Lew Rockwell about a policeman who obviously got his panties in a wad, because a girl pushed him:

If Andrew Brennan were any part of a man, he wouldn’t have made an issue out of being pushed by a woman. If the soprano-singing pseudo-male had any gift for irony, or even a small measure of self-awareness, he would at least have dealt with the issue in a way that didn’t advertise his overdeveloped sense of entitlement and vast capacity for self-pity.

More snark at the link - rtwt. Personally, if I had to stand outside a police station holding a sign of that sort, I'd add something like 'because the panty-waist can't stand it when girls win'.

How long can this keep going?

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The new LE

I saw this on The War on Guns today, and I think it marks a milestone on the increased militarization of law enforcement:



I hope that in my rural GA area, the sheriff will pass on any of this technology, since if it comes to pass, there are lots of good 'ole boys who just might use massed fire to try to bring one of these down.

And I might be with 'em!

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Is this how an AG is supposed to act?

Hot Air has a post about an incident regarding MA Attorney General Martha Coakley:

John has a good idea who the thug might be, but I’ll let you check out his post at TWS for that twist. Irony alert: it might be the man sent by the DSCC to help with “messaging.” I guess he’s on the job, huh?

Here's the relevant video:



Now, I know that it will probably do little to no good, but you might consider sending an email to (or calling) the MA attorney generals' office. Email address is ago@state.ma.us ........ the phone # is 617.727.2200 (or 617.241.0200).

And if you're in MA, maybe a call to the Boston Globe would be productive.

And maybe call R senators? Never know if enough brew-haha gets raised to, oh, Eric Holder, maybe something might get done?

Nah.

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Update: Welcome MArooned readers!

Benevolent government

Found at WND, this article on a woman who fell through the cracks:

A 78-year-old Hallandale Beach grandmother ticketed for driving on a suspended driver's license spent 15 days in jail before authorities announced her license wasn't suspended and an outraged judge set her free.

And she is a wisp of a lady.

I'm not sure how I'd act if I saw police man-handling my 71-year-old mother like that ....... they might find that my mother is the least of their worries.

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And so it begins ....

Hot Air had this in their headlines, and I thought I'd pontificate:

Donn Janes, a candidate for Congress in the 8th District, confirms that he will not file to run in the Republican primary but as an independent in the general election as a ‘Tea Party’ movement aligned candidate.

Now it's not surprising that this comes from a nominal southern state, but what does it portend for the GOP?

As I see it, a majority of Americans are more libertarian in their thinking than anything else. Only the hard-corps libertarians support the Libertarian party, so the only option for small 'l's' to have real input are the Republicans (and I think that's natural).

But there are few actual conservative Republicans out there, and the party seems to actively drive them away ..... witness the ineptitude displayed by the National Republican Senatorial Commitee when they endorsed Charlie Crist oer all other comers right out of the gate (and that Rubio is now polling ahead of Crist).

Then along comes the 'Tea Party' movement (and the opportunity to run as a tea party 'branded' candidate) and suddenly there's hope of real conservatism getting elected (though not much probability!).

In fact, it's possible that the tea party movement serves as a spoiler to GOP efforts this fall, and shows them which side their bread is buttered on.

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Is the GOP paying attention?

Hot Air and Ace both report that Scott Brown's money bomb was, quite successful! Quoth Ace:

Bumped due to the magnitude of incredible mega double extra good chocolate swirl with bacon ball dipping inspiration here.

Total raised, over 1.3 million!


So, I gotta wonder if the national GOP is paying attention? At a time when the coffers are running dry and large donors are heading for the hills, you would think that someone high up would notice that people are obviously bypassing the GOP with their giving to political figures.

And this race to capture the seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy? For shame.

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Brits ..... it's over.

Via WND, this article about a British tv star who had the audacity to defend herself:

[Myleene Klass] grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away.

Hertfordshire Police officers warned Klass she should not have used a knife to scare off the teens because carrying an "offensive weapon" - even in her own home - was illegal.

Get out! Get out now!

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Good post .... of course, not by me!

Robb Allen has a great post about a man who is jailed for firearms his wife owns:

Here's the short story. Dude pulls a burglary in 1990 and is convicted. Does his time. Gets married, settles down, has a kid. Someone breaks into his home so he calls police. Police come, he shows them around, even points them to his wife's .22 and .380 she owned before they met.

He's now busted and back in jail.

Here's the money quote:

If you are such a danger to society that simply being in a home with a firearm is a crime, you should not be out loose in society. Period. We release people from jail because we consider them to no longer be a threat to those around them. If they are a threat, why are they out in the first place.

Go. Read.

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You don't say!

Via WND comes this economics piece about a well-connected CEO telling it like it is:

"Remember what happened. Through a series of events in the mid-1990s, Congress increased the supply of credit for home mortgages, through the institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They were essentially given too much money for political reasons.

"And then that was followed in New York by the repeal of Glass-Steagall which then allowed banks to use investment equity vehicles to create liquidity which creates very large amounts of money. So the banks are busy creating money and making a lot of money on that creation of money and the regulators were either, depending on your point of view, asleep at the wheel or did not have the tools to understand what was going on."

"Remember, many of these institutions privatised the gains and socialised the losses. [You could say] that the banking industry should not be regulated but it should also be able to fail — that’s called capitalism.

What the hell?! I can't believe that big bankers would take advantage of things!

Now this makes intuitive sense to me, that you can't have a sustainable economy based on debt. Let's say you want to buy a car, and an individual has one he'd like to sell. If it cost's too much for you to afford, the fact that you can finance it (making it cost more) doesn't help. Note that few car commercials tell you how much the vehicle actually costs (except in fine print). Nope ...... this much down and this much a month and we can put you in this brand new Escalade!

Banks, like all other businesses. need to fail if they're not making money on both sides of their transactions. And the gubmint needs to get the hell out of regulating things ...... it just gums up the works.

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First rule .....

Sorry I haven't followed it ....... hands have been bothering me (via The Affliction), so typing has been, uh, interesting!

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Strategy

I was looking at this SCOTUS blog piece (courtesy of SayUncle), and a couple of thoughts popped into my BHG (brain housing group):

The NRA maneuver brings further out into the open the strategic differences in pursuing the two alternative arguments..

And it occurred to me ...... why must our rights as citizens be subject to strategy?

This maneuver is a request by the NRA to get argument time on the McDonald case that's in front of the Supreme Court. I've also noted that the NRA has chosen the attorney who didn't want to represent Heller, and we know how that worked out.

Now, the NRA thinks Alan Gura's on the wrong track with his argument based on the Priviledges or Immunities clause of the 14th amendment, since a successful argument will require the court to overturn up to three precedents. To which I say 'So what? Can anyone say Jim Crow?'. If the precedents are crappy (and there are crappy precedents ..... Roe v Wade anyone?), why shouldn't they be overturned?

But the larger issue is this: why should we need a strategy to secure constitutionally protected rights?

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Wow ..... just, wow

Mike at Sipsey St has an interesting piece, that you really should read:

In January, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will propose universal voter registration. What is universal voter registration? It means all of the state laws on elections will be overridden by a federal mandate. The feds will tell the states: 'take everyone on every list of welfare that you have, take everyone on every list of unemployed you have, take everyone on every list of property owners, take everyone on every list of driver's license holders and register them to vote regardless of whether they want to be ...'

Casus belli, indeed!

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Justice perverted

Have seen this on WND several times, but was just moved to blog about it:

In brief, as an 18-year-old sailor in March 1996, Steven got drunk on shore leave in San Francisco and ended up at a co-ed dance club for the under-25 set.

There, a sexual predator with several priors offered him a ride back to the ship across the Bay Bridge, tricked him into coming to his apartment, likely drugged Steven, tried to rape him, refused Steven's pleas to stop and died in the fight that followed.

So now he's been in prison for 14 years, and despite being a model prisoner, was denied parole.

I don't like to talk about III'per things like this, but I think it needs saying (in a Mike Vanderbough warning sort of way). If the balloon ever goes up, there are a lot of people who, thinking they're above all of the mundane concerns of ordinary folks, will find out that there are a lot of long memories out here in the hinterlands.

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Reference iibrarians, meh ......

Ok, Breda always has the best stuff!

You don't say?

Via Sebastian, the Washington Times points out one of the dirty little secrets:

...but when an armed citizen stops an attack, the heroism rates barely a blip on the national radar screen. In this case, a search found just one television news story on the incident, and it left out the identity of the man who saved the day. In our confused times, murderers, it seems, are more interesting than heroes.

The quaint saying, 'If it bleeds .... it leads' never sounded more apropos.

Too bad it won't serve them very well.

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A novel idea ....

From WND comes this piece about the Swiss citizenry:

Switzerland is the safest country in the world to live in. It is not because it is a neutral country or anything of that sort.

I believe it is due to the fact that each male citizen is required to keep a firearm in his home.

I know, I'm lame since this is fairly common knowledge ..... sue me. And read the comments. Points made about not being issued ammo unless training, and while fighting. But I'm sure that you can get 5.56 in Switzerland!

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Interesting video

h/t Hot Air, from the comments -

America Rising: An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians
by Buckrush

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Kerfluffle-mania!

Seems like the firearms community gets bored with nothing to argue about!

Sebastian links to a Joe Huffman post that discusses more posts, about permit-holder databases and the comparison of firearms enthusiasts with Jews during the Nazi era.

Joe does an excellent job (as usual) going through the similarities between Jews and firearms owners, and how we firearms owners have endured many of the beginning travails that the Jews did in Nazi Germany.

Get thee hence, and read it!

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Obligatory - More guns, less crime

This is a few days old, but kinda newsworthy. Christian Science Monitor has a piece on new FBI data for the first half of 2009:

After several years of crime rates holding relatively steady, the FBI is reporting that violent crimes – including gun crimes – dropped dramatically in the first six months of 2009, with murder down 10 percent across the US as a whole.

Of course, the usual players are saying that guns make no difference one way or another, and maybe they don't.

What's for sure is that more guns don't equal more crime ...... more people willing to do criminal things equals more crime.

Must see E-TV

Not sure how many of you like the show 'Dirty Jobs' on the Discovery Channel, but I enjoy it. Mike Rowe does a fantastic job bringing many of the distasteful, yet necessary, jobs out in he open.


We-he-hell ......... lifted from TSM comes this speech by Mike Rowe, with his normal dry sense of humor. It's roughly 20 minutes long, but well worth your time.

I know I enjoyed it!



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Unpossible!

I thought rocket launchers were, like, illegal:

When officers went inside, they found something that made them concerned enough to call the bomb squad.

They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks.

I'll let the imbecilic stats on the capabilities pass, since most authorized journalists can't get simple firearms right, let alone light rockets.

But this was in Houston ....... probably got it at a gun show!

h/t WND

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I thought health care would be fixed?

From various sources comes this Bloomberg piece on how the Mayo Clinic is going to start turning away some Medicare patients:

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman.

Didn't I hear several folks mention that this might happen if ObameloseidCare passed?

Death panels, anyone? Beuller?

And here's a bit about how much money Mayo is losing by accepting gubmint rates for Medicare patients:

It lost $840 million last year on Medicare, the government’s health program for the disabled and those 65 and older, Mayo spokeswoman Lynn Closway said.

$840 Million?! The GOP wasted more than that on that traitorous wench Scozzafava.

No big deal.

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Open carry drama

From GeorgiaPacking.org, via Says Uncle, this story about a security guard attempting to disarm a citizen who was open carrying legally. It didn't go well for the security guard:

Security guard today just tried to physically dis-arm me. Grabbed my right arm with his left hand and attempted to grab my pistol grip with his right. Elbow to the face and a back step rear kick/shin scrape to his right knee/shin...turned and hit him with a full body roundhouse punch.

The guard has a broken nose, broken jaw, and a torn meniscus. Victim (the open carrier) is doing well, and the DA says (after looking at surveillance film) no charges to be filed against him.

But of course, it's started a whole new ferfluffle about OC, to or not to. With predictable responses.

I think the hardest thing to stomach is that the anti-OC folks always seem to couch their argument like this - 'I believe that open carry should be legal, but we civilized firearms owners would never open carry.'

Hey, next time the discusion comes up, you no-open-carry folks can look in my cooler, where you'll find a nice, cold can of STFU.

Enjoy!

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Happy New Year

I hope your new year is better than the last!

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