The Ballad of Carl Drega
I spent $27 yesterday on a forend grip for my Winchester Defender 1300. It makes cycling the action very fast with no ammo. I'm hoping it will stop the forend from popping out of my left hand while shooting. I'll test it soon, likely on Sunday, and report back. This grip was made by TacStar. They make an assortment of tactical accessories for shotguns. The web site has a picture of a fully-loaded pistol-grip shotgun. Added to my Arms Manufacturers page. I'll probably get a SideSaddle Shotshell Carrier and possibly a tactical sling, which requires their rear grip with the sling slot on the top (mine is on the bottom of the grip, as you can see). I did no research on brands. This was simply what they had in stock at the local gun store.
The Ballad of Carl Drega, the new book by Vin Suprynowicz, arrived a couple of days ago. I'm already on page 182 (of 684). Glorious book! Sadly missing an index. I hadn't read the story of Vin being taken down by the i.r.s. No wonder he's so "strident". Chapters: Introduction, Live Free or Die (How Many More Carl Dregas), Death by Levy (The Tyranny of Taxation), The War for the Western Lands, Mean Greens (Environmentalism as a State Religion), Sept. 11, 2001, Afraid of Comptetence, Afraid of Freedom..., Afraid of Guns, Are the Gun-Rights Lobbyists Being De-Clawed?, In Which the Author Answers Further Queries on Firearms, Greatest Hits from the Mail Bag (Widdle Stephanie and the Pricincess of Rutgers), We're from the Government; We're Here to Take Your Kids, A Whisper They Can Ignore (Sacrificing Children to the Government Vaccincation Machine), Burn the Schools, The Drug War Murders, The Regulatory State (Castrating People Who Said 'Can Do'), Practical Politics (Don't Look Here for Help), Postscript(Why We're Losing the War for Freedom). Order your copy today. Click the link or dial 800-244-2224. From the Introduction:
Here is the philosophy of freedom, 200 proof. The compromisers must go back to drink deeply of this fountain again, and confess the error of their ways, or else go sell their bill of statist goods elsewhere. Times of great change are coming, when the victims of the collapsing frauds of Roosevelt and Johnson will cry out in the darnkess for someone, anyone, to shine the faintest of lights, a single candle, on the true path back to liberty, back to a system under which each is allowed to profit by the fruit of his own works.
Libertarians are the guardians of that candle. The compromisers promise that if we will only blow out our old-fashioned candle now, there will be bright lights aplenty around the next bend... a bend that we would never reach, of course. Since all else is darkness.
Al Martin Raw - Scams Away: The Boom Is Falling - $10 trillion missing government money. Don't accuse Bush of hiding what he knew. You'll end up in the slammer. More frightening fiction (I hope). [grabbe]
In Washington, there are no limits now. The covers have been blown off. There are no restraints anymore. There's not even a pretense. It's just naked, raw scams against the public purse. Nobody cares in Washington anymore. It's just grab what you can before it all comes to an end...
Pete Du Pont at Opinion Journal - Armed and Safe: We have met the militia and it is us - good article on Ashcroft's second amendment. [smith2004]
But wait, liberals say, the amendment mentions the militia. Yes, it does, but there is no way that word can be taken as meaning just the police or army, for the U.S. Code defines militia as noted above. It further defines the "organized militia" as members of military units, and the "unorganized militia" as all other males between 17 and 44. (Subsequent advances in civil rights would presumably expand the class to include women and older people.)
Barbara Renner at KeepAndBearArms.com - Who Will Tuck Them In Tonight? - A Chicago woman is dead because she trusted a restraining order and 911 to protect her. [kaba]
The greatest tragedy here, however, was Ronyale's reliance on others to protect her.
Women are repeatedly advised to obtain court orders to protect them from potentially violent former partners and others who may do them harm. But protective orders do not stop bullets, or knives, or clubs, or any other implement that can inflict bodily harm. Protective orders do not barricade windows and doors, nor do they prevent violent individuals from entering a home. They don't shield women (or men) from physical attack. They are what they are -- pieces of paper.
Likewise, women are told to dial 9-1-1 when danger is lurking. They are led to believe that authorities will arrive, take charge and diffuse the situation before any substantial harm is inflicted. It is shameful propaganda that costs innocent lives. Waiting on a response to a call for help can literally take the rest of your life - as it did for Ronyale.
SaveOurGuns.com - Every Armed Citizen is Guaranteed a Vote - a poster with a picture of a large caliber rifle cartridge behind the following text: [kaba]
When Government Officials say
NO to ... freedom of
speech, press,
religion ... trial by jury ...
Every Armed America Citizen is
guaranteed a VOTE.
Every Tyrant will lose.
The 2nd Amendment Protects
ALL the rest of the Bill of Rights.
It is a last resort to combat tyranny.
Paul Craig Roberts at The Washington Times - Making citizens the enemy - which is worse, terrorism, or the "war on terrorism"? Seems to me that the latter wins hands down. [smith2004]
Seasoned travelers have concluded that the real purpose of U.S. airport "security" is to establish a precedent for unreasonable and warrantless searches. By making citizens the enemy, the suspension of civil liberties imposed on air travelers can be extended to pedestrians, motorists and people in their homes and hotel rooms.
Terrorists can endanger some of us, but the war on terror endangers us all. How much more can the Constitution be diminished before it is completely replaced by arbitrary government power?
Nivens Laws - I especially liked number four: [heart]
F x S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa.
Jane Galt - Our Way Is Better (my title) - Ms. Galt groks the American ideal. [bluebutton]
The Europeans don't understand how we can be so arrogant. But that's because for a European to say that his country is better smacks of racism: blond, blue eyed ersatz ubermenschen derogating the lesser breeds. I don't think that they have grasped that Americans can say "our way is better" without implying a superiority of our breed, or even our culture.
Because America is an idea. America is the idea that if you leave people alone to get on with things, they get it right most of the time. It's the idea that where you come from is a great deal less important than where you're going. It's the idea that if you don't like something, you can pick up a wrench, get in there, and start fixing it. It's the idea that if your solution doesn't work out the first time, there's always room to try again. It's the idea that the most important thing a person can do in life can only really be known to them, and the most important thing a government can do is get out of their way while they look for it. It's the idea that individuals aren't available in groups; they can only be packaged individually. It's the idea that liberty is worth our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. It's the expectation that you do the best you can with what you have. And it's the knowlege that if there are a bunch of people who are violating these ideas, one way or another, you don't have to beat them into submission -- you can pick up and go somewhere else, where the people are more congenial.
The Albany (NY) Times Union - Guns in the cockpit: Congress may override the White House and allow airline pilots to carry guns - the TU editors don't want pilots to be able to defend themselves and their passengers. I wrote the following letter.
Before airplanes were declared helpless victim zones by government, there weren't any hijackings. And noone was felt up by airport "security" drones, either. If government would get out of the way and let people defend themselves, there would once again be no hijackings. Arming pilots is a good start towards restoring our right to defend our lives, everywhere, always, with extreme prejudice when necessary, but it's only a start. Hopefully Congress will mandate it this time around.
And don't talk to me about stray bullets damaging the aircraft equipment. The government plans to shoot down future hijacked planes, with heat-seeking missiles fired from jet fighters, killing all aboard. Much better to kill the hijackers on the spot, don't you think?
GOA - Senators Smith and Miller Introduce Armed Pilots Bill -- Ask your two senators to cosponsor this important bill - There's a link on this page that allows you to email your senators to support S. 2554. Takes about 30 seconds. Thomas is unreachable right now, so I didn't provide a link to the legislation.
Currently, a pilot is defenseless against terrorist efforts to take over his plane. And, with F-16 fighter jets positioned to shoot down hijacked airplanes, it is only a matter of time until the current policy of disarming pilots results in another terrible calamity.
S. 2554 would change all of this: the Smith-Miller bill would deputize trained pilots to use firearms to defend their planes and MANDATE that the Bush administration put armed pilots in the air within 90 days.
The Smith-Miller bill would also establish a program to train flight attendants in the use of non-lethal force. As a result of this program, the principal flight attendants' union -- the Association of Flight Attendants -- has reversed its position and now supports the armed pilots bill. The bill also has the support of the 62,000-member Airline Pilots Association.
