My Eulogy for Aaron Zelman

I never met Aaron Zelman so I only knew him through his writing, filmmaking and second hand accounts from others who did know him personally. I had enormous respect for his efforts with the JPFO. It wasn't just about guns with him; he was an uncompromising advocate for freedom in just about every aspect of human life. He didn't just know the words of the Bill of Rights but also understood the ideals behind it and, I think, he believed it was the best effort Mankind has made so far at achieving a free society.

The Christmas season hasn't been a good time of year for me for decades. I've learned to live with it and not impose my peculiar depression on family, friends or co-workers. But this really strained that resolve. This is about the crappiest way to end the year I can imagine. Gun rights are finally getting some respect and there is a glimmer that freedom may be on the ascendant again. It is terribly saddening to me that one of the men who made that possible did not live to see it happen. I haven't seen this kind of perverseness in the Universe since Willey Ley died less than a month before Armstrong walked on the Moon.

OK, I stopped expecting life to be fair shortly after I figured out the joke about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. However, there has always been the wish that, if it can't be fair, at least it doesn't have to be so damned obstinate about it.

On the other hand, if wishes were nickels I wouldn't have to work for a living.

Multas per gentes et multa per aequora vectus
advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias,
ut te postremo donarem munere mortis
et mutam nequiquam alloquerer cinerem.
Quandoquidem fortuna mihi tete abstulit ipsum.
Heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi,
nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum
tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,
accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,
atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.*

-- Gaius Valerius Catullus

Hail and Farewall, Aaron Zelman. Rest in Peace.

*English translation

Aaron Zelman Died

Just saw the link on Claire Wolfe's Blog

His obituary is from here

Zelman, Aaron S. December 21, 2010, age 64 years, of Erin, WI. Beloved husband of Nancy Zelman (nee Soderlund). Dear father of Erik and Jeremy Zelman. Further survived by other relatives and friends. Funeral services 11:00 AM Friday, December 24, 2010 at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, 2909 W. Mequon Rd., Mequon. Memorials to JPFO, P.O. Box 270143, Hartford, WI 53027 or Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue are appreciated.

Excuse me. I need to be sad for a while.

---

Other notes of his passing:
SipseyStreetIrregulars
David Codrea

TSA Bumper Stickers

Found these over at The Unwanted Blog

Testicle Squeezers at San Diego International

The blog <Insert title here> has a first person account of an encounter with the Testicle Squeezing Authority at San Diego International Airport.

TSA encounter at SAN
More about my TSA encounter at SAN

Just another incident in that long train of abuses hurtling head long to a place intelligent people don't want to go. I sometimes wonder if the govgoons described in the above postings really are as stupid as they appear. It makes no sense that they would provoke citizens the way they do unless the are just too stupid to see where it is leading

Or, maybe, they want to go there.

TSA

Testicle Squeezing Authority

Spread the meme

Other commentary here.

Blogger Bob from the TSA

Blogger Bob who seems to troll blogs looking for anything remotely critical of the TSA poked his head out of his hole to respond to a question about the treatment of passengers who don't care to be scanned by one of the Government's newest invasive toys, the Whole Body Imaging Scanner:

Anon, I'm posting about this because it is relevant. One of the top questions on this blog is about AIT safety.

Also, there is no fondling, squeezing, groping, or any sort of sexual assault taking place at airports. You have a professional workforce carrying out procedures they were trained to perform to keep aviation security safe.

Please keep pat-down discussions in the Enhanced Pat-down post and let's keep on topic with AIT safety here.

Thanks,

Blogger Bob
TSA Blog Team

While thinking about a proper response to the above tripe I found a gem by Billy Beck:

Dear Bob

You are an unconscionable idiot. You don't have a clue in the world what's going on out there. I would not hire you or your perverted goons to take out my trash, and I would rather take my chances with the terrorists. Those bastards don't look me in the face and lie to me like you do.

I can't wait until you're out on a winter-blown sidewalk, starving and trying to sell pencils for a living. I'll spit right in your face as I walk by. I promise.

Some might think that sounds harsh. After all, he is just following orders; just trying to feed himself and maybe a family. I'll bet he is kind to small animals and children, too.

So what? People like Blogger Bob and his team represent a modern example of how evil becomes banal. They actively defend actions that decent people recognize as wrong. They work to normalize ugly and degrading acts and make them routine. They endeavor to get you to accept being treated like a domestic animal as being "just the way things are".

And they do it with a smug sense of moral superiority.

Billy is right. Blogger Bob and his accomplices deserve no consideration or pity. What they are doing is not a tragic mistake they might be forgiven for. They are institutionalizing the degradation of the citizen and defending it with high sounding rhetoric and scientific charlatanism.

If he were freezing to death, I wouldn't piss on him lest it warm him up a little.

Harrison Bergeron come to the Screen

Family Security Matters has a review of 2081 a short film based on the dystopian short story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Trailer

The reviewer compares the story to John Rawls influential book, A Theory of Justice

I wonder how many readers remember John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice, that scholarly paean to egalitarianism and institutionalized envy, from 1971. How would one dramatize, in visual and auditory concretes, its high-blown, insidious principles?

That's not a bad comparison,

I first read Vonnegut's short story at least 40 years ago. The story is a simple and brutal cautionary tale of the principle of equality taken too literally and carried to absurd extremes. That is the simple part. The brutal part is because those who accept those extremes as proper moral behavior have the power to force compliance and the effects of that are devastating. While I admit I only half understood it at the time, the images of athletes bound by weights and the best human minds interrupted in their thinking by discordant noises acted as an inoculation against later temptations to let a blind application of a principle override my intelligence.

John Rawls' conceptions of justice and fairness are rooted in the Platonic notion that there is a moral order imposed on the Universe by cosmic or supernatural forces and that human morality is measured by how closely it conforms to this ideal. This is convenient for the philosopher because it allow him to "discover" these laws using thought experiments based on purely imaginary scenarios.

Perhaps this explains why one of Robert Heinlein has one of his characters describing philosophers as scientists with no thumbs.

The simple fact is that the moral nature of human beings arises from the evolutionary and intellectual history of our species. Understanding these dual influence requires more than lying about discussing made up principles within a framework of made up scenarios. To understand the evolutionary side requires some knowledge of biology and evolution. To understand the historical side requires a knowledge of history.

It takes what we used to call in Engineering, "skull sweat", a phenomenon much lacking in modern philosophy and apologetics.

H/T to Western Rifle Shooters Association

Have I Finally Arrived?

I saw this in the statistics for Atheist with a Gun:

I'm not so egotistical to really think this is someone from GSA keeping tabs on me. After all, after nearly a year-and-a-half, I've seem less than 1,500 hits. I'm probably not that dangerous.

Still it was comforting to think, if just for a moment, that I'm actually worth watching.
 

Atheist with a Gun Visit 1,412
Domain Name		gsa.gov (U.S. Government)
IP Address		199.75.180.# (General Services Administration)
ISP		Level 3 Communications
Location		Continent  :  North America Country  :  United States State  :  California City  :  San Francisco Lat/Long  :  37.7645, -122.4294 Distance  :  361 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 7.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.2)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution  : 1920 x 120 Color Depth  : 32 bi
Time of Visit		Nov 1 2010 9:32:46 am
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Visit Entry Page		http://parabarbarian...n-assault-rilfe.html
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Visit Number		1,412

More Thoughts on the California Election

Election Day is the real Day of the Dead. Dutiful citizens rush to the polls to choose between a blood-sucking vampire and a brain-eating zombie. They do this knowing full well that each is lying about wanting to suck blood or eat brains.

Occasionally a candidate arises who honestly neither wants my blood in a glass nor my brains on a plate. However, I am repeatedly assured that such a candidate cannot win. Furthermore, if I choose such a candidate on Election Day I am wasting my precious vote and acting against the natural order. Without the vampires and the zombies civilization as we know it would cease to exist.

Thoughts on the California Election

Two Parties, both lacking in dignity,
In fair California, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd candidates make their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their election continue their parties' strife.
The fearful passage of deceptive campaigns,
And the continuance of their parties' rage,
Which, but their candidates election, could nought refrain,
Is now the many word traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

(Originally the Prologue from Romeo and Juliet)

Table for Adding NRR Values

The Decibel scale is logarithmic so when using more than one kind of hearing protection, you cannot just add the NRR ratings together to arrive at the total. The table below can be used to find the combined NRR rating when two different methods are used.

+	NRR A
NRR B		19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
	19	22	23	23	24	24	25	26	27	28	29	29	30	31	32	33
	20	23	23	24	24	25	25	26	27	28	29	30	30	31	32	33
	21	23	24	24	25	25	26	26	27	28	29	30	31	31	32	33
	22	24	24	25	25	26	26	27	27	28	29	30	31	32	32	33
	23	24	25	25	26	26	27	27	28	28	29	30	31	32	33	33
	24	25	25	26	26	27	27	28	28	29	29	30	31	32	33	34
	25	26	26	26	27	27	28	28	29	29	30	30	31	32	33	34
	26	27	27	27	27	28	28	29	29	30	30	31	31	32	33	34
	27	28	28	28	28	28	29	29	30	30	31	31	32	32	33	34
	28	29	29	29	29	29	29	30	30	31	31	32	32	33	33	34
	29	29	30	30	30	30	30	30	31	31	32	32	33	33	34	34
	30	30	30	31	31	31	31	31	31	32	32	33	33	34	34	35
	31	31	31	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	33	33	34	34	35	35
	32	32	32	32	32	33	33	33	33	33	33	34	34	35	35	36
	33	33	33	33	33	33	34	34	34	34	34	34	35	35	36	36

Even moderate pressure cartriges like the 45 ACP or 38 spl will generate 155 dB near the muzzle. High pressure cartridges like the 9MM, 40 S&W or 357 magnum will produce 160 dB to 165 dB. The report from a firearm is highly directional so the sound pressure level (SPL) you as the ooperator experience out of doors may be 10 Db to 15 Db less. However, in an indoor range, reflections will intensify the sound and lengthen the time your ears are exposed to damaging sounds levels.

Also the NRR is an average value measured over a range of frequencies. Depending on what frequencies dominiate the report from your particular gun, some ear plugs and/or muffs will be more efffective than others even if the NRR is the same.

Aaron Zelman Tells it Like it IS

The NAACP is Run by Hypocrites, Liars and Morons.

By Aaron Zelman, Founder and Director of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

Copyright 2010 JPFO

(This is my personal opinion and does not necessarily represent every member of JPFO. I personally will not bow to, or take the poison of, political correctness.)

The leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has recently claimed that the Tea Party harbors racist factions. http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/19/2332666/naacp-releases-report-accusing.html - (archived article on JPFO).

It’s called playing “the race card” and the “anti-Semite card”, and you can bet it will surface more and more as elections grow closer. JPFO cannot endorse any political candidate or political party, but when a group like the NAACP (or any other entrenched special interest) uses its media access, or political correctness grandstanding to endanger the FOUNDATIONAL American civil right, the G-d given right to self defense, JPFO can and will step up. The NAACP is filled with liars.

The leadership of the NAACP continues to display a disgusting and dangerous level of blatant hypocrisy and deceit. The NAACP claims it stands for equality, but has, for decades, been at the forefront of policy and legislation that continues to make African Americans, as well as all other Americans, second class citizens. The NAACP also brims with hypocrites.

JPFO challenges any and all black leaders to have the intellectual and moral honesty to view our film “No Guns for Negroes” (see it free online at www.jpfo.org). JPFO challenges all black Americans to make themselves aware of the truly dangerous racists in your midst: anybody who wants to keep you disarmed and keep you on the government welfare plantation. Many of your brothers and sisters have been duped. Some are even back stabbers who are selling you out for personal gain and prestige.

Disarmed citizens are effectively slaves. Only armed citizens have the means to protect and preserve their freedom and safety. Only a moron could fail to see the connections between “gun control” and servitude. The NAACP must also be swarming with morons.

Now is the time for the honest and courageous black leaders of America to stand tall and confront the insidious liberal doublespeak. Where are the courageous and honest black leaders who understand where the far more serious dangers lie? It’s time for the NAACP to be cleaned out and become a legitimate “civil rights” organization … or close its doors. Kick out the Uncle Tom puppets of the liberal victim disarmament pushers. Wake up to reality. Your very lives may depend upon it.

The continued trampling of the Bill of Rights by the Obama administration and the NAACP, especially the right of self defense, has set back race relations in America by decades.

I ask all who read this personal opinion piece to pass it along to eighty million gun owners.

Psychological Screening of Gun Owners

In his latest Gun Rights Examiner column, David Codrea looks at this report in World News Australia.

Prospective gun owners would have to pass a mental health test before being granted a firearms licence[sic] under recommendations submitted by a NSW coroner.

This is one of those proposals that sounds reasonable at first. After all, does anyone want a "mentally ill" person to have a gun? In fact, does anyone want a mentally ill person to have a drivers license? For that matter, why would anyone want the mentally ill voting?

The abuse of "mental health" screening has a long and distinguished history. It was used by the Soviets to quell dissent by simply declaring that anyone who opposed the Communist Party was mentally ill then locking them up for reeducation. Institutional psychiatry was a willing and enthusiastic servant of the fascists in Italy and Spain. Hell, the Italian fascists invented Electo-Shock Therapy. The abuses of the label "mentally defective" was used by the National Socialists as a precursor to disposing of the labelee.

The average public school graduate may dismiss this as a Slippery Slope argument. However, the Slippery Slope is an informal fallacy only if the stated connections cannot be established. If the logic of the first step can be connected to the logic of the next then it is a legitimate argument. This makes it vital to reject any destructive principle with a demonstrated and logical identification with its worst implications.

The voice in my head tells me this is bad idea

Animal Graffiti

See it here

I especially like this one

I can only hope that some of the taggers here in the Southern California are inspired to climb into the White Rhino enclosure at the San Diego Zoo and spray paint their message on the hide of one of Creation's gentlest creatures. I hope they have a video camera to properly immortalize their efforts.

News at eleven. Video on You Tube.

If the prospect of spray painting an herbivore is too daunting then maybe they could try their art on one of these cuddly critters.

Do we really need more evidence than the no pressure video to know that the greeniots are out of touch with reality?

Duty to Retreat?

Expanded commentary on my reply to Should you have a legal duty to retreat from an intruder or attacker? by David Codrea

Current Pennsylvania law according to The Bulletin in Philadelphia, allows individuals

to use deadly force in self-defense if they are threatened with death, serious bodily harm, or kidnapping. They are also allowed to use deadly force to protect other individuals from the same risks.

Current law also requires an individual to retreat from the threat before using deadly force if the individual is in a public place

A proposed Castle Doctrine law, HB 40, being debated in Pennsylvania,

would remove that requirement, allowing an individual to use deadly force if the individual has a right to be in the place where he is attacked and if the individual has a reasonable suspicion the attacker intends to commit serious bodily harm.

The above sounds perfectly reasonable to me. The opponents of a sensible Castle Doctrine always try to make it look like an otherwise peaceable individual will whip out his "shooting iron" (or shooting tupperware) and gun down anyone with the temerity to cast a shadow on him. It's almost like these idiots learned about life by watching Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo in The Princess and the Pirate.

A goblin intending to harm me already has the advantage of surprise and advance planning. Even when the crime is one of opportunity, the attacker has made the decision to attack before I can make a decision to defend. This disparity already tilts the odds away from me -- the intended victim -- and towards the aggressor. Imposing a duty to retreat or a no brandishing requirement on self defense only adds to whatever advantage the bad guy already has. That is only a "sensible gun law" if the goal is to favor the criminal over his intended victims.

Open Letter to the US Postal Service.

Grant Cunningham of the The Revolver Liberation Alliance writes an open letter to the USPS telling them they are losing business by:

1. Not following US law with regard to shipping firearms. The law requires only the recipient have an FFL but the Post Office insists both sender and receiver have one.
2. Using archaic design criteria for their website. Apparently the site only works well with Internet Exporer and requires the user to download Adobe Reader to print a label.

The first bit of bureaucratic silliness cost me an extra $50 when I had to ship a rifle back to Browning from some minor work. I can see how that could add up quickly for a gunsmith who deals with customers all over the country. Even sending through UPS or Fedex is a hassle because I had to go to a Regional Center to send it instead of just dropping it off at a local shipping point.

Perhaps Congress needs to be reminded that the Commerce Clause was intended to facilitate commerce, not inhibit it.

I see the second in many web environments. I think it is a side effect of using IDE's that make it easy to plug in pre-written objects without any review of the underlying code. While it is true the Macintosh and most Linux distributions now have perfectly good tools to handle PDF files, Adobe Acrobat was the "standard" for a long time in Internet Years. The developers probably have some legacy code that relies on Acrobat being present and have never bothered to change it to match the changing web client environment.

Not too bright but, despite the appearance of being an independent corporation, the USPS is really an arm of the Federal Government. Change may make for a good campaign slogan but in the real world, governments change slowly and only with great resistance.

Tasteless, Terrorist Street Art

I don't know the context of this yet. I could be harmless.

H/T to Burn The Koran For Freedom and Urban Infidel

Edited to add:
Thank to USA2RKBA for the link to Fresh Stuff from Bunny Bin Laden. I guess whomever Bunny Bin Laden is he or she thinks this is funny. Like the hooker in Saigon who charged fifty cents for a blowjob, her taste was all in her mouth.

Holy Smoke!

The good folks over at BurnTheKoran link to an article on HillBuzz criticizing General David Petraeus out for his comments on Pastor Terry Jones' threat last month to burn a Koran as part of his September 11 observances. In one of the comments, someone named Aussie writes in part:

The Koran is seen as a 'holy book' and it should be respected as such.

It is never a good idea to hand an Armed, Godless Heathen a straight line like that.

In the interest of fairness I propose a test: I'll burn a Douay Bible, a King James Bible, a Book of Mormon and a Koran. My hypothesis predicts that:

1. Some Catholics will call me names.
2. Some Protestants will call me names.
3. Some Mormons will call me names.
4. Muslims will go ape shit and riot.

Any takers?

Why Police need HiCap Magazines

WeHo liquor store clerk narrowly escapes shooting after robbery

West Hollywood, California (October 3, 2010) - A Los Angeles Sheriff deputy responding to an armed robbery call this morning in West Hollywood fired eight shots at a man whom the deputy believed pointed a gun, missing him.

A Los Angeles Sheriff deputy responding to an armed robbery call this morning in West Hollywood fired eight shots at a man the deputy believed pointed a gun, missing him.

No one was hurt, detectives said, and all eight rounds hit a building across the street, breaking windows.

Only after firing the rounds did deputies discover that the robbery suspects had escaped and they had fired upon the store’s clerk.

The incident occurred at 1:15 am at a liquor store on the 8200 block of Santa Monica Boulevard (at Havenhurst Ave.).

According to Lt. Haselrig at West Hollywood Station, “there were shots fired outside,” the liquor store as a result of a successful armed robbery.

Lt. Alicia Ault told WeHo News that the eight rounds were fired when “a deputy responding to a call of an armed robbery encountered a man who he believed was pointing something at him.

“The deputy fired eight rounds and missed him,” said Lt. Ault. “Ultimately, deputies determined that the man the deputy fired upon was the store’s clerk who was pointing to them trying to get their attention.”

Read the rest here.

10/10 or Die!

Pajamas Media contributor Zombie report on a 10/10 video designed to promote the idea of reducing carbon emissions.

Global Warming murder fantasy nabs prize as most honest political ad of all time

Link to the video on YouTube (warning this is a NSFW graphic Video)

In case You Tube takes it down, try here

Link to the source file.

Time and Again

Cathy L.Z. Smith, whom I believe is L. Neil Smith's wife, has a new artice on Intellectual Property entitled Time—Going, Going, Gone. Go there and read it if you're interested.

The Intellectual-is-the-same-as-Real Property arguments have always struck me as kind of silly. Carrying Ms. Smith's argument to a logical conclusion would means the design for the 1911 was stolen from Browning (when the Government expired his patent) and all the clones makers are now profiting from that theft. Seems it would also mean that Smith and Wesson might not have not been able to make their first revolver since Colt owned that Intellectual Property. If so, since S&W owned the IP for the drilled through cylinder, the metallic cartridge might not have replaced the cap and ball.

I don't know offhand who owned (owns?) the IP for the metallic cartridge.

Even Ayn Rand recognized the need for an expiration date on IP. An expiration of IP happens because patents and copyright are not property as we normally think of property but represent a debt owed to the creator by people that copy the invention or book. However, debts are not eternal so patents and copyrights are limited.

I think I'll just leave the Smiths to arguing about angels and pinheads while I head to the range to use my pirated 1911 and immorally obtained S&W revolvers.

Arrrr Matey!

Gun freedom suit dismissed

As I expected, a lawsuit by gun rights advocates and states seeking freedom from federal gun laws for manufacture and sale completely within the state was dismissed.

HELENA, Mont. -- A federal judge in Missoula, Mont., has dismissed a lawsuit by gun rights advocates and states seeking freedom from federal gun laws, a move that the advocates promised to appeal.

The decision Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy was expected since his magistrate a month ago recommended tossing out the lawsuit because Congress has the authority to regulate firearms with its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce.

If this case even reaches the Supreme Court, I predict the court will side with expanded Federal power. See Gonzales v. Raich for a good summary of what passes for "reasoning" about Interstate Commerce on the current Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas, I think, summed the situation up well in his dissent

Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.

A few paragraphs later, Thomas wrote:

If the Federal Government can regulate growing a half-dozen cannabis plants for personal consumption (not because it is interstate commerce, but because it is inextricably bound up with interstate commerce), then Congress’ Article I powers–as expanded by the Necessary and Proper Clause–have no meaningful limits. Whether Congress aims at the possession of drugs, guns, or any number of other items, it may continue to “appropria[te] state police powers under the guise of regulating commerce.”

Substitute "guns" for "marijuana" and you have exactly why the Federal Government will prevail. The Conservatives love the Drugged War and the Liberals love their War on Guns. Both require expanding the Federal Government beyond its Constitutional limits.

H/T to David Codrea

Did IQ's just suddenly drop?

Maybe they did in Zimbabwe.

The authorities in Bulayayo are now demanding that all residents "present their firearms and licences [sic] to their nearest police stations". Residents with licensed but malfunctioning firearms are being asked to turn those guns over to the police. The official reason for this is a recent "spate" of armed robberies. Assistant Inspector Bekimpilo Ndlovu is quoted as saying,

"We also call upon all those in possession of licensed firearms whose functions have since ceased to hand them over to the police," Asst Insp Ndlovu said.

"We expect maximum co-operation from all firearm holders as we seek to eliminate unlicensed firearms that are usually used to commit crimes like armed robberies and murder."

Got that? The goal is to eliminate unlicensed firearms. The means the authorities choose is to harass the owners of licensed firearms and confiscate any non-working guns.

Got stupid?

English article at allAfrica.com.

H/T to David Codrea

The Long Watch

Over on Sipsey Street Irregulars Mike Vanderboegh mentions Pvt Rodger Young. Go read it.

Most Heinlein fans will recognise the name as that of the troop transport in Starship Troopers but the first time I saw it was in an earlier Heinlein Short Story entiled "The Long Watch". Google Books has the text of the story (also embedded below) as reprinted in Volume 1 of The SFWA Grand Masters.

Every Three Percenter should read it.

javascript:void(0)

Death Star: Loose Credits

Part one of Loose Credits: A expose of the coverup of the destruction of the Imperial Battle Station known as the Death Star.



Also read Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job? which is a brief summary of the evidence for Empire involvement in the destruction of the Death Star.

The Single Shot, Bolt Action Assault Rifle

According to an ignorant reporter and his edtior at the The Sierra Vista Herald, the AR 50 pictured above is an "assault rifle".

NOGALES, Ariz. — Border agents seized a 50-caliber assault rifle and arrested two teenagers trying to cross into Mexico with it.

The Border Patrol said Thursday that on Tuesday night, officers working southbound inspections in Nogales referred a car for further perusal.

Officers found the Armalite bolt-action rifle on top of the vehicle’s engine.

The 19-year-old driver and his 17-year-old male passenger, both from Mexico, were arrested.

Armalite describes the AR 50 thusly:

This rifle is the newest incarnation of the wildly popular AR-50 chambered for the powerful 50 BMG cartridge. A single shot bolt action rifle featuring a unique octagonal receiver bedded down into a V-shaped stock. [emphasis added]

The terms "assault weapon" and more recently "assault rifle" are used in anti-gun propaganda to create the illusion that a firearm with certain cosmetic features is somehow more deadly than a firearm without those features. For example, the Remington R-15 firing the relatively anemic 5.56x45 (.223 Remington) varmit round is somehow more deadly than the the Remington 700 chambered in the same caliber.

Remington R-15

Remington 700 VTR

It is really just an example of the pre-logical magical thinking where a thing that looks like another thing is the other thing. In other words, if a single shot, bolt action rifle such as the AR50 has a shape similar enough to the miltary assault rifles I see in the movies, then the AR50 magically becomes an assault rifle too.

H/T to David Codrea

Free Speech is Dead in Britian

The Telegraph reports here that

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after videos emerged on the internet apparently showing copies of the Koran being burned.

The facts in the case -- assuming the Telegrah report is accurate -- are telling.

Northumbria Police said the men were not arrested for watching or distributing the video, but on suspicion of burning the Koran.

They were not arrested for burning a book. They were not arrested for distributing a video of the burning on You Tube. It wasn't even some BS charge like an unlicensed bonfire or creating secondhand smoke. They were arested for "suspicion of burning the Koran".

Embracing my Inner Anarchist

Slate Magazine did a silly hit piece on the Tea Party Movement but they had great graphic which I enhanced a little bit with the GIMP.

Gun Owners Against Illegal Mayors

Here

H/T to David Codrea

What the GOP can learn from Dune

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
-- John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (usually known simply as "Lord Acton") in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887.

The above quotation, in one of its incarnations, was a truism even before the Internet. It is, however only partly right.

It is not the power per se that corrupts but the immunity from consequences. No man would abuse his power if he knew he would be shot for it. So even the mightiest of rulers can be controlled if he can also be killed. Unfortunately those who have power usually surround themeselve with elaborate protections from consequences. Untimately this isolation also insulates them from reality and then destroys them.

I find that an encouraging thought.

"He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it"
-- Paul-Muad'Dib Atreides in Dune by Frank Herbert

The above quote is more often heard in the format from the 1984 movie, "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing", but the lesson is the same: If I can deny you something you want, you must either negotiate with me or kill me. That is power of the Tea Parties.

Mike Vanderboegh has an insightful summary of this in
"Long live the fighters!" The Lesson of the Fremen applied to the GOP.

The lesson of the Fremen, the spice and the Empire from Dune quoted above is absolutely true. The GOP is squealing so loud at this point precisely because they understand this. Even if their candidates lose the general elections, they will have at least removed the professional politicians of the GOP establishment from the board, and it is the GOP and its epochal failures which actually spawned the Tea Party. The Democrats are howling as well because they perceive their food trough is also about to be upended.

And, although I would not have said it on the radio, to the opponents of the Founders' Republic whose appetites compel them to try to take more and more of our property and our liberty -- even our lives if we get in their way -- I would also echo the warning of Paul Muad'Dib: "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing."

Whatever rapacious tyrannical collectivist slugs value can also be destroyed.

"Long live the fighters!"

One of the lessons of history is that those who desire power do so for different reasons but the tool is the same. If the Tea Partiers can deny a politician the power he desires then that politician must either negotiate with the Tea Party or somehow negate them. The politician can retaliate with destruction of his own but that will hurt him more than his opponents. No one except the truly insane or the faith-based fruitcake wants to rule over the blasted lifeless remnant of civilization. The Tea Partiers understand, at some level, that the politicians need the Tea Party more than the Tea Party needs the politicians.

This fight ain't over 'til we say it't over.

Smith and Wesson Internal Lock

There is a minor brouhaha on Calguns over the S&W internal lock. Most of it is the typical S&W bashing but one poster put up a link to a video showing how easy it is to disable the lock.



Tempests are forever in search of new teapots. The S&W internal lock is one of the most furious of late. For the record, I don't like the lock. Neither do I like those sub-standard magazines S&W, Ruger, Glock, Beretta, etc sells with their California models. So what?

I try to be realistic about such things. Over 300,000 handguns are sold in California every year. Most of these are new. I have no right to expect a gun maker to willingly give up competing in a market that size and if S&W has to put a chickenshit lock on their guns to be able to sell it to me then I'm glad it is one I can deactive in a few minutes.

The Deathplace of Liberty

From NBC Philadelphia comes the following report on the antics of the Philadelphia TSA.

I am sure the security uber alles untermenschen will claim this is a reasonable restriction and that you don't have a right travel on the subway. Which only proves two wrongs do not make a right but they can sure be used to destroy one.

Random Pat-Downs Turn PATCO Into Police State

Commuters who ride PATCO trains between southern New Jersey and Philadelphia should expect random searches of their clothing, pockets, bags and vehicles on their morning trip to work.

Twelve Transportation Security Administration screeners, armed with an explosive-sniffing K-9, checked 663 commuter bags randomly selected from the morning rush at the Lindenwold station Tuesday.

"It was chaotic," Kevin Greczyn, an accountant from Magnolia who commutes to Philadelphia daily, told the Courier Post. "Nobody was sure what was happening, whether it was safe to get on the train, or whether we were carrying something we shouldn't be.”

Delaware River Port Authority Police Chief David McClintock told The Courier Post of Cherry Hill screeners were looking for improvised explosive devices and weapons.

The chief says that out of the 6663 bags searched between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., a crack pipe was the only item confiscated.

“We can conduct any kind of search we want," said McClintock. "We could ask TSA to bring wands or X-ray machines like they have in airports, though we don't think that's appropriate for PATCO riders at this time."

There are about 5,000 commuters passing through the Lindenwold daily, according to the Courier Post. The searches will be conducted by a freshly hired DRPA police several times a month, --without advance warning -- at various PATCO stations.

A special Delaware River Port Authority police unit plans to conduct surprise searches at various PATCO stations.

The Tactical Judge

In recent years I discovered that Taurus produces some pretty good revolvers at a reasonable price. I have a model 66 with a 6" bbl that I honestly consider to be almost as good as my S&W 686. The word "almost" is an important part of the above recommendation but at about half the price it's a very attractive alternative for the shooter who cannot afford S&W goodness.

The Judge, IMO, is not one of the better ideas to come out of Taurus. However it must be very popular because they now have a "tactical" version.

Make if it what you will but I admit I just don't get it.

Why not burn a few Bibles?

Some Muslims in Afghanistan are upset because of plans by members of the Dove World Outreach Center to burn some Qurans on Sep 11.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Hundreds of Afghans railed against the United States and called for President Barack Obama's death at a rally in the capital Monday to denounce an American church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on 9/11.

The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to America" as they listened to fiery speeches from members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and Islamic clerics who criticized the U.S. and demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Some threw rocks when a U.S. military convoy passed, but speakers shouted at them to stop and told police to arrest anyone who disobeyed.

The New Black Panther Party appears to be outraged too.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Members of the New Black Panther Party showed up in Gainesville Monday to let The Dove World Outreach Center know it is outraged by its plan to burn the Koran.

"I believe in peace but if you aggress me, I am going to fight back," said State Chairman of the New Black Panther Party Mikhail Muhammad.

It is not aggression to destroy your own property no matter how holy someone else may consider it to be. I'm not very likely burn a Quran unless it was really cold, the gas was off and I need to start a fire in the old fireplace. Even then I'd just use what I have to and save the rest for later. Toilet paper maybe.

I guarantee that if things really get that bad, I'll burn every Quran, Bible and Book of Mormon I can lay my hands on long before I'll destroy something useful like Gray's Anatomy, Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers or the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. I even give those awful Twilight books a higher regard than the holiest of the holy books the world's religions have managed to produce.

I wonder if even the educated Mulsims can understand the difference.

I live in a country that is supposed to recognize every person's goddamn right to do with his property pretty much as he sees fit. The people in Florida are not harming anyone nor putting anyone in danger. They are not threatening a single Muslim by burning his holy book. The only threats I hear are from the faith-based homicidal maniacs who froth at the mouth over any perceived insult to their religion.

Tit-for-tat: If the Christers down in Florida burn some Qurans then let the Muslims burn some Bibles. That's a proportional response. Threatening to kill someone because he destroyed his own property is not.

Bigfoot's Connection to 9/11

Brian Trent the National Independent Examiner writes aboutFaked moon landings, creationists, and 9-11 truthers. However, in his seach for rationality, he misses completely the connection between Bigfoot and the incidents of 9/11.

Of course Bigfoot exists. More accurately there are small breeding populations of a hominid species living in some isolated places of the world. The most common names given to them are are "bigfoot" and "yeti". They remained mostly hidden because the psionic abilities they normally use to confuse and control prey animals can also be used on human beings. A group of at least 22 such bigfoots captured at considerable expense during the late 1990's are living at a hidden government base in Nevada (not area 51, that is a red herring) where they use Hieronymus Amplifiers to extend their normal range to implant suggestions in human minds over distances of several thousand miles.

The 9/11 hijackers were contolled by the this Bigfoot Corp. While continuous control over more than a few minutes is extremely difficult, certain mindsets -- among which are religious fanatics -- are highly susceptible to suggestion. Once a suggestion in implanted, the susceptible individual become single minded in carrying out "orders" needing only an occasional nudge to keep them on track. Once the operation was under way using fanatical Islamists, the BC prepared for the diversion of fighter aircraft. After the hijackings they sowed confusion in the military and civilian government by "suggesting" contradictory orders or information making it easier for the hijacked planes to reach their targets.

After the attack the BC was used sparingly but very effectively to divert attention from the truth by spreading confusion about events -- mostly through the news media. Shortly thereafter they implanted suggestions in susceptible minds about how to interpret the evidence focusing on creating contradictory narratives.

Some humans possess a recessive gene pair that enables them to detect the tampering. With a little practice such persons can become immune to the Bigfoot Effect. It is a rare trait estimated to exist in between one person in 100,000 and one in 1,000,000. However, the growth in DNA databases has made it possible to determine which persons have the ability so the BC handlers -- which must have the gene pair -- can plan ahead to avoid direct interference with such detectors.

Not Your Founders' Sam Adams

David Codrea has some comments on a recent Oregonian Editorial defending new restriction on gun rights proposed by Portland Mayor Sam Adams.

I don't think I have to tell the readers of David's column that the mayor's proposals are just another attempt by anti-rights politicians to burden the peaceable gun owner while offering nothing in return.

There is a lesson here for the politicians and the increasingly anti-rights police: The Second Amendment exists and has been incorporated. If you examine the history of selective incorporation you will see that, once a part of the Bill of Rights is incorporated, the protected right will be expanded by the courts. The politicians and police need to deal with that or find work at McDonald's. It will be a hard road to gain the lost trust but gun owners will help to curb criminal use of firearms if the politicians and police will work with them in good faith. The proposed laws from the Mayor of Portland are not in good faith and gun owners know it.

Good Muslims?

Amy Alkon, The Advice Goddess comments on an article in MailOnline reporting that,

The widow of a July 7 suicide bomber yesterday launched a High Court bid to be represented at the victims’ inquest - saying she had also suffered the loss of a loved one in the atrocity.

Read the rest of the MailOnline article here: I'm a victim too says the widow of 7/7 bomber, in legal aid claim that could delay inquest

What caught my eye was this comment from someone calling himself "Norsefire".

Considering the status of women under Islam I doubt her dead husband ever discussed this with her but that doesn't matter -- The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. Especially the incubators.

Amy replies with,

The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.

That's horrible thinking. We don't win here by emulating the commandments of Islam (to murder people who don't share their beliefs) but by maintaining enlightenment values and protecting our society. The best way to do this is to inform people about what Islam really is. About the two Islams -- the Islam that is a religion, practiced by Muslims who are clueless as to what's really in the Quran, and the Islam that is practiced true to the Quran (commanding the death or conversion of the rest of us), which is totalitarianism masquerading as religion.

I'm pretty sure Norsefire is trolling. I doubt the reference to "V for Vendetta" is coincidental. For those who don't know the story, Norsefire was the name of a political party in the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. In a fictional England, they solved the Muslim problem (along with the Gay problem, the Jewish problem, the Chinese problem, the Atheist problem and few other bêtes noires) with the brutality typical of collectivism.

Nevertheless, a lot of the rhetoric on the Internet does describe the conflict with Islam as a "war". See the Gates of Vienna as an example: "We are in a new phase of a very old war." Which is not an entirely inaccurate description.

I hope Amy is right and this "war" (battle, conflict, whatever) can be kept cold with the fight managed in the information space. However, Islam is not noted for its rationality. There simply has never been an Islamic equivalent to the Western Enlightenment.

Islam did have its own particular cultural and scientific achievments but turned against science in the twelfth century. The influential Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali in The Incoherence of the Philosophers argued against the very idea of any laws of nature because such laws would limit God. According to al-Ghazzali if I put piece of cotton in a flame it does not burn because of the heat but because God wants it to burn. After al-Ghazzali, there was no more science worth mentioning in Islamic countries so the culture was never forced to question its traditional worldview.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an exceptional and admirable woman who not only abandoned Islam but became an atheist. A double win for sanity. I would be delighted if more Muslims living in the West would abandon their silly Middle Eastern superstitions and embrace apostasy. Since most Western Governments just don't get the high cost of abandoning Islam (or are too pussified to protect them), I would happily contribute to a fund to buy the apostates a gun and training so that each could protect himself (or herself) from the inevitable attempts at murder.

What are the odds of that happening?

Slouching Towards Chaos

In the Huffintgton Post, Janet Tavakoli has an essay entitled Third World America: 'Fast-Tracking to Anarchy'

To here credit, she sees the problems but, typical of anyone who gets published in the Huffington Post, doesn't see the causes and proposes the same remedies that haven't worked so far. It seems to be a common liberal desire to have someone else ride into town and save them from the bad guys. Sorry, Janet; real life is not a B western and Brad has left the building. The only savior you can rely on is yourself.

Denniger responds with some sensible ideas that might actually work in Janet's Heart Is In The Right Place -- all of which I predict will be ignored by the powers that be because, well, solutions that work will interfere with their power.

Chicago today could be a sister city to Fallujah

One has crooked officials, violent gangs with hooks deep in the government, ineffective law enforcement, crazy preachers screaming about the need to kill anyone who is different and a culture of corruption that has resisted all efforts to clean it up.

The other is a city in Iraq.

Women and Guns

In a post at SnarkyBytes regarding women gunowners the author says:

You don’t have to train with any gun. Practice will certainly improve your shooting, but when it comes to a self defense handgun you don’t have to train at all, most people never do anyway. Refer back to that whole intuitive thing. Point open end at bad guy, pull trigger until he stops moving. If you like to train that’s fine, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’ll be more prepared than anyone else when the shit hits the fan. Cardboard doesn’t shoot back and until it does you’re just playing a game.

The author may be correct in saying that many people will never bother to do any training. That is, unfortunately, consistent with my limited experience. Additionally some of the training I've seen hereabouts really is little more that pandering to mascuine Walter Mitty fantasies and I can understand why women avoid it. However to excuse all that with a flippant, "You don’t have to train with any gun" is grossly irresponsible.

Hell! It is a stupid thing to say! If I were a religious man I'd ask the Saints to protects any person who listens to the idiot.

Tribute to Ray Bradbury

The Upright Citizens Brigade does a tribute to Ray Bradbury.

Not safe for work -- see it here or here

More 7-Eleven stores robbed

St. Petersburg police looking for 7-Eleven robber wielding kitchen knife

Police are asking for the public's help to identify a man accused of robbing two 7-Eleven stores while armed with a long kitchen knife.

The first incident took place about 5:50 a.m. on Aug. 19 at 11590 Fourth St. N, police said, when the suspect leaped over the counter and threatened the clerk to open up the register.

The clerk did so, police said. The suspect grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash and ran out the store.

The second incident took place Saturday, when a man matching the description of the suspect in the first incident entered the store at 5451 31st St. S about 6:24 a.m.

I hate to state the obvious but what the hell do they expect? In July 2000 Glenda Renee Hull attemtpted to rob a 7-Eleven store in W. Virginia. One of the clerks responded by detaining the criminal until the police arrived.

After giving her the money, Feliciano grabbed her gun and wrestled her to the ground, holding her there until deputies with the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department arrived. Glenda Renee Hull, the woman apprehended in the attempted robbery, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to one count of carrying a firearm during a violent crime. She was sentenced to prison, where she remains.

Did Southland Corporation (the owners of 7-Eleven) reward this brave young man? Did they at least acknowledge his actions with an attaboy? No to either: They fired him.

Two weeks after the incident, Feliciano, who was hailed a hero by some local residents, was fired, in part because he violated a company policy against resisting a robber. The case captured national media attention.

"Do not resist," has become the mantra politicians, corprolites and the police constantly promote and, as 7-Eleven illustrates, they will punish anyone they have the power to punish who resists criminal action. This is unconscionably anti-social behavior. No matter where you believe criminal tendencies originate -- nature or nuture -- giving an attacker what he wants only encourages the behavior via the well known process of reinforcement. Maybe that explain why 7-Eleven stores are such popular targets for crime

Do the idiots on the Board of Directors of Southland Corporation really think that the bad guys don't know about their insane policy?

In a sane society, no citizen would be punished for stopping a crime. The Board of Directors of Southland Corporation have chosen to not support sanity but instead choose to encourage criminals. By doing so they not only endanger their own employees but, by attracting thugs to the area, increase the risk for others as well.

H/T to David Codea

Politicians Side with the Criminals Again.

Legislators in Westchester County are not going to change their archaic storage laws according to this report at LoHud.com.

The county law, enacted in 2000, requires owners to store a gun with a safety lock or in a safe-storage depository.

Gun lock advocates like Dennis Henigan claim a lock can be removed in 2 seconds even though he failed to do so in a demonstration while wide awake in a well-lit room with no attacker. Imagine trying it in the dark with a knife wielding thug intent on hurting you and your children. Anyone familiar with the Tueller Drill knows that the actual evidence from repeatable experiments indicate that an armed assailant can cover 21 feet and stab you in about 1.5 seconds. Even if you could remove a gun lock in 2 seconds that is 500ms too long to save your life.

So-called "safe storage laws" tilt the odds in favor of the criminal and I'm an not convinced that this is an unintended consequence.

H.T to David Codrea

Recovery Act Satire

Originally seen at Sipsey Street Irregulars



I think that just about sums it up.

Jesus on a Pig's Back.

Over at The Gate of Vienna Baron Bopddisey post the above image explaining that,

Nothing was said or done by Christians on the European continent about this provocative tasteless piece of art. If the artist had instead painted the prophet Mohammed on the back of a pig, at a minimum riots would have erupted all over Europe.

I get the point about the Muslims and if Christianity was still stuck in the Twelfth Century, Christians might be outraged at the tattoo, launch an Inquisition and have the artist burned for witchcraft or some other superstitious nonsense. Last time I checked, though, most Christians have left that behind them.

Maybe I'm just too provincial but I don't get why the image above is offensive to modern Christians.

I googled the artist's name (Wim Delvoye) and I see he has done a lot of tattoos on the backs of pigs. I don't see much point in tattooing a pig but I just don't get why the image of the Sacred Heart on a pig's back is an offense to Christianity. Delvoye also tattooed Ariel and the lobster from the Disney cartoon onto a pig and I thought the tattoo of a crucified Micky Mouse with Minnie praying at the foot of the cross was kind of touching.

For a tattoo that that might upset the Disney lawyers, that is...

Sign of the Times?

Recently received in E mail:

Common Sense from a Retired LEO.

In this excerpt from the documentary Guns and Weed: The Road to Freedom, Richard Mack, former Sheriff of Graham County in Arizona, comments on the War on Drugs and the War on Guns.

(Video is too wide for the blogger template so go here to view it)

The Power to Tax

The Philadephia City Paper reports on a new scam by the government of the City of Philadelphia to raise revenue.

For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.

In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.

Of course, the first mistake was reporting whatever pittance she was earnng from the blog.

She's not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.

Read the rest here.

This new interpretation of an existing law also gives the city the power to shut down blogs they deem threatening or embarassing. The Washington Examiner has this to say:

To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement.

That may, in fact, be the real purpose.

H/T to David Codrea.

Morgan Freeman on Racism

Whatever its original usage, the word "race" has become a collectvist term that only serves to perpetuate class warfare. Martin Luther King once said he dreamt of of the day "...that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Morgan Freeman just told you how to get there.

If there were only a way to get the race hustlers to listen...

H/T to The Advice Goddess

Don't cut the budget; write more tickets!

From Crimes, Guns and Videotape

Chicago’s Government Rules by Extortion
Chicago, IL—Chicago’s politicians and their appointed bureaucrats are dismayed by the decrease in traffic fine revenue. The outgunned, undermanned, demoralized and endangered Chicago cops can’t protect Chicago’s citizens but city officials want cops to bring them bags of cash.

The Chicago Sun Times released internal city documents that detail the decrease in traffic fines and stepped up efforts to threaten the jobs of cops that seem reluctant to become full time revenue agents.

Read the rest here

Traffic enforcement has always been a source of revenue for cities. I can remember when I was still young that whenever contract negotiations were going badly, the city cops would slow down ticket writing. Now that cities are bleeding revenue but generally unwilling to cut budgets the cities are looking to traffic tickets as a panacea. So, while I generally agree with the position Mr. Huebl is taking, traffic law is, and always has been, a cash cows for city governments.

Chicago isn't the only city trying to milk the citizenry for even more money than they already do. For example, some cities in California have been citing drivers under a Municipal Code rather than State Vehicle Code because, in the former case, all the money goes straight to the city while in the latter the city only gets a percentage.

"The City of Roseville gets a small slice of fines from state courts," Doane said. "We’re enforcing these laws, but a very small sliver comes back to the city. The city gets 15 percent of a Vehicle Code fine, which for a typical $207 fine comes to $32.50. This way, 100 percent of the [$100 local fine] comes back to the general fund."

A few more examples from around the country:

Virginia Hands Out 6996 Traffic Tickets In One Weekend In An Effort To Raise Revenue For The State Government

Speed Trap: More Traffic Tickets in Cash-Strapped Cities

Speeders on strapped cities' radar

Even more here

Attention Mall Ninjas!

Administration blocks import of surplus rifles

The venerable M1 Garand -- sometimes called the rifle that won World War II -- is a favorite of collectors and rifle shooters in the United States. While it's reputation may be exaggerated the design has proved reliable over three wars and billions of rounds fired in matches and recreation. Though quite heavy compared to modern sporting rifles, it has a reputation for accuracy not usually associated with military surplus rifles and it is a piece of history.

Now The Korea Times reports that the Obama Administation is blocking the import of about 86,000 surplus Garands that have been setting in a warehouse for the past 50 years.

The U.S. administration put the brakes on the plan, citing “problems” that could be caused by the importation of the rifles.

The problems the U.S. government cited were somewhat ambiguous, said an official at the Ministry of National Defense on condition of anonymity.

“The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents. It was also worried the weapons could be smuggled to terrorists, gangs or other people with bad intentions,” the official told The Korea Times.

Terrorists and gang bangers do not use the Garand. It is absurd on its face as an excuse for blocking these imports. Terrorists prefer the AK-47 which is a hardy, reliable, user friendly rifle designed to be used by those who have had little or no military training. American gang bangers seem to prefer 9mm pistols and shotguns. I doubt that many would even recognize a Garand if they saw it.

Supporters of the President try to use the fact that Obama signed a credit card reform bill with an amendment allowing conceal carry in national parks -- subject to local law -- as evidence that the Lightworker is not anti-gun. However, actions like this and last year's aborted attempt to eliminate once-fired military brass from the civilian market give lie to that assertion. Make no mistake, Obama wants to restrict the rights of gun owners as much as he possibly can. I have no doubt he would disarm all non " only ones" Americans if he could.

Anyone who wants to disarm you has a reason. That reason is usually that he wants to do something you would stop him from doing if you still had the power to do so.

H/T to David Codrea

Maybe there is Hope for England

I am not an advocate of vandalism. I've sometimes said, tongue barely touching cheek, that it should be a rebutable defense against a charge of homicide that the victim was shot while spray painting private property. Nevertheless, vandalism can be a symbol of something good.

In Merrie olde England

Snipers target road signs

Never mind speeders or road hogs, now there is a new peril facing British motorists – signpost snipers.

The RAC Foundation has warned of the growing phenomenon of gunmen firing at road signs at locations across Britain.

Officials there say that many of the shootings are "drive by", with the guns fired from a moving vehicle. Analysis of the damaged signs reveals that a high proportion of shots are fired from the near, or passenger, side of the car.

A dossier compiled for the motoring organisation has found evidence that illegally-held handguns, high velocity rifles and shotguns are all being used in the shootings.

Read the rest here

This may turn out be just some meaningless vandalism by members of one or another of the gangs that are infesting England. In fact, I suspect it is. OTOH, it may be a sign that the some of the English are finally getting sick and tired of what their country is becoming.

I can only hope. After all their ancestors committed regicide at least twice, stood up to the Germans and endured the Blitz.

H/T to the Sipsey Street Irregulars