The War-Mongerer Speaks
"The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness, can be trained to do most things." -- Jilly Cooperand:
"Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use." -- Wendell Johnsonand:
"The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper." -- Thomas Jefferson
A Red Marble is a tear-jerker that my Mom forwarded. Thanks, Mom.
Laugh Lab - the winners in the world's funniest joke contest. I like the second place joke better than the winner, but for maximum laughs, read all of 'em.
Scott Bieser at Rational Review - Bag of Tricks - cartoon commentary on GW's arguments for war with Iraq cast as a Holloween night encounter. Hehe.
Ted Rall via Birdman Bryant - The Case for Regime Change - GW's arguments recast against the U.S. Hehe. Parody, kids. [birdman]
Improving RSS is my idea for making BlogMax do a better job of generating RSS while eliminating the need to use <br> tags for paragraph breaks.
T.L. Knapp at Rational Review - A Letter to Zek - reflections on the coming mid-term elections.
The fix is in, wild man. Beware.We thought that the Long Dark Night of Bill was as bad as it could get, but we ain't seen nothing yet.
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk - Congress Becomes Irrelevant in the War Debate - the constitution requires a congressional declaration of war before we attack Iraq. Very few congress critters care. They just want to get re-elected.
Last week, during a hearing in the House International Relations committee, I attempted to force the committee to follow the Constitution and vote to declare war with Iraq. The language of Article I, section 8, is quite clear: only Congress has the authority to declare war. Yet Congress in general, and the committee in particular, have done everything possible to avoid making such a declaration. Why? Because members lack the political courage to call an invasion of Iraq what it really is- a war- and vote yes or no on the wisdom of such a war. Congress would rather give up its most important authorized power to the President and the UN than risk losing an election later if the war goes badly. There is always congressional "support" for a popular war, but the politicians want room to maneuver if the public later changes its mind. So members take half steps, supporting confusingly worded "authorizations" that they can back away from easily if necessary.
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Hunting Season! - The Marines rediscover the 1911 pistol, what to do with Johnnie Walker, the resurgence of the 45-70, British disarmament, the castration of America youth, blood sport, some new books, Pentagon seeks to replace 223 and 9mmP, the Tenth Annual Reunion at Whittington, the modern technique of the pistol, "Initial Radial Dispersion", wildlife television program producers should be woodsmen, handcuffs considered undignified, the only good infidel is a dead infidel, Ode to the Rifle, Lousville police shooting lies, Oxana Fedorova, 9/11 an atrocity, not a tragedy, a Holy War by any other name..., airport security hysteria, All hail to Kennesaw, Georgia! Joe Foss on war safety, political correctness foolishness, the first four articles of the Bill of Rights, WTC victims died in vain, feeding the hungry, the Apitir pistol-shooting device, BB gun solves seagull problem, Marcus Aurelius, liberty trumps security, adjectives and adverbs should be used sparingly, slavery reparation insanity, the rains have finally come. I snarfed Amazon's last copy of Meditations on Hunting.
Oddly enough a correspondent recently asked me to explain why I thought that "modern man needs to hunt." Ancient or modern, man hunts because he is a carnivorous predator. You have only to examine his teeth, which are designed for shearing and masticating meat. Most grass eaters have grazing and grinding teeth located only in the lower jaw. Man does not hunt in order to eat - not in the past and not now. Personally I always choose to eat what I kill, but I know a good many hunters who do not feel that way. The hunting instinct is a drive to place man in charge of his environment, and it is so deeply ingrained that it stays there even if he must live in a large, stone city. Not everyone feels this way, of course, but to all I recommend the magnificent classic "Meditations on Hunting" by José Ortega y Gasset. Even in translation, this is a masterfully clear exposition of the hunting spirit. If you do not know why we hunt, get your own personal copy of this book (it is still available in print) and study it. Almost every third or fourth line is worthy of quotation and a study by itself. It will not change the mind of a grass- eater, but I do not suppose anything will.
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So now we are engaged in a great Holy War, testing whether our culture, or any culture conceived and dedicated to the proposition of social sensibility, can endure. That sort of paraphrase does poor justice to Mr. Lincoln, but I think there are points that need to be made...
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"Americans did not invent courage, but they did invent aviation, and the melding of the two produced a heritage of aerial valor that spanned most of the twentieth century."
Barrett Tillman, in "Above and Beyond"
Donald Stacey via Birdman Bryant - SMALLPOX: Do your homework ! - read this before taking the smallpox vaccine. Remember, any attempt to vaccinate you or your children against your will is assault with a deadly weapon. [birdman]
JPFO Alerts - The Maryland-DC Shootings - another opportunity for the gun-grabbers. Will they use it to further their hysterical mewings that the "assault weapons" ban must be reinstated when it sunsets in 2004? Will they go even further and attempt to ban "long-range sniper rifles", otherwise known as normal scoped bolt-action deer and varmint guns? You can bet that your right to defend yourself is in their cross-hairs. And the Shrub administration isn't going to protect your rights. [jpfo]
Ed Kelleher at Armed Females of America - We're the Good Guys! - a group in South Carolina managed to loosen restrictions on concealed carry in schools, but there's a lot more to do. Concealed carry always and everywhere is their goal. Bravo!
Details of our Great GrassRoots Gathering are posted on our web site. The program starts 10 AM Saturday, October 19, 2002, in Columbia, South Carolina. We have room for 600 comfortably and can expand to 750 if needed.
GrassRoots goal is "Citizens carrying arms, wherever and whenever they choose." Everything we do we measure to see how it helps us achieve that goal. We have other goals, but they all support our main goal. For example, we're working to double the number of CWP holders in South Carolina by 2006. Numbers are crucial to our success. We'll also work to make sure all those new CWP holders become active members of GrassRoots.
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An armed citizenry has major benefits to our society as a whole. Crime goes down, fewer good people are hurt, your family and property are safer, etc., etc. These are nice, but the real benefit is that people who are prepared to use the Cartridge Box in defense of Liberty are the ones who are also best qualified to use the Ballot Box, the Soap Box and the Jury Box. How, then, do you instill in people such a love for Liberty? The only way I know is by having them associate with others of right mind. Hence, GrassRoots GunRights of South Carolina.
New York Times -
President Bush's Speech on the Use of Force 
- The full text of
last night's war-mongering, which was not aired by ABC, CBS, or NBC.
The Times also has a
video of the speech.
vote.com is running a survey asking whether GW convinced you that
the U.S. should attack Iraq. After my "No" vote, 82% of nearly 19,000
people had voted "Yes". God save us.
Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, to cease all development of such weapons and to stop all support for terrorist groups. The Iraqi regime has violated all of those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. It has given shelter and support to terrorism and practices terror against its own people.
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By its past and present actions, by its technological capabilities, by the merciless nature of its regime, Iraq is unique. As a former chief weapons inspector of the U.N. has said, the fundamental problem with Iraq remains the nature of the regime itself. Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction.
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If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy or steal an amount of highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball, it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allow that to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Hussein would be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes his aggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East. He would be in a position to threaten America and Saddam Hussein would be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists.
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In addition to declaring and destroying all of its weapons of mass destruction, Iraq must end its support for terrorism. It must cease the persecution of its civilian population. It must stop all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It must release or account for all Gulf War personnel, including an American pilot whose fate is still unknown.
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The dictator of Iraq is a student of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control within his own cabinet, within his own army and even within his own family. On Saddam Hussein's orders, opponents have been decapitated, wives and mothers of political opponents have been systematically raped as a method of intimidation, and political prisoners have been forced to watch their own children being tortured.
NYC IMC has reports on Sunday's anti-war protests in Central Park and around the country. An estimated 20,000 showed up in NYC.
Not In Our Name - NYC 10/06/02 - another report on the Central Park rally with links to reports from other locations.
Elisa Batista at Wired - Palm Unveils Cheap PDA for Masses - The "Zire" breaks the $100 barrier. I predict hot sales. [wired]
