Galloping Sovietization
Individually, we do not bear arms because we are afraid. We bear arms as a declaration of capacity. An armed man can cope -- either in the city or in the wilderness -- and because he is armed, he is not afraid.
The hoplophobe fears and, yes, hates us because we are not afraid. We are overwhelmingly "other" than he, and in a way that emphasizes his afflictions.
Jeff Cooper
From The Federalist:
"PBS's new slogan: Bill Moyers -- He puts the BS in PBS."and:
The idea of suing gun manufacturers for the criminal misuse of their lawfully manufactured products by third parties over whom they have no control is an obviously ridiculous misapplication of the law. ... This is like holding General Motors responsible for the person who drives his Corvette sports car at 140 mph. Both the car and the gun have the potential to be misused. But neither are inherently dangerous -- and any unlawful use to which they are put by their owners is certainly something neither the automaker nor the gun manufacturer can control. To suggest otherwise, is a distortion of cause and effect, which would open the door to potentially limitless lawsuits affecting just about any consumer good one could think of." -- Washington Times
Philosophy for Life is an uplifting joke I received via email. What is an uplifting joke, you ask? This one is an uplifting story with an entertaining punch line. [brad]
Sinclair Holdings 7 "are a group of defence contractors, consisting of some of the leading suppliers in the military field." Lots of images with specs of large caliber ammunition. Large lots of surplus ammo. No prices. Looks like they operate out of the UK, but there's no address on the site.
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership - Innocents Betrayed - JPFO is making progress on funding the creation of a one hour TV movie making it crystal clear what happens to a country's citizens when they are disarmed by their government. They've raised $90,000 of the needed $170,000 as of September. There's a clip of the introduction to the film in Real Player, Windows Media Player, and QuickTime formats. The first two are small enough to download over a modem. Wow! Powerful! Exceptionally well done! Watch it and send in your donation today. [jpfo]
Ivan Gale at Point Reyes Light - West Marin women strip for peace - An unusual peace protest. Photo included. The women are all nude, but their images are too small to excite this healthy male, even in the "larger image". The link to this was in my referer log.
West Marin women bared their bodies on Tuesday in Point Reyes Station for a photo protesting America's plans for armed conflict with Iraq.
Participants using solely their bodies spelled out "PEACE" as a light rain fell.
Fred On Everything - Birthing The Ogpu: Chronicles Of The Galloping Sovietization - some comments on the "security" on Fred's latest airline trip morphing into a fine rant on the Aunty Gummint's new Total Information Awareness program. [smith2004]
Brainless thoroughness complemented thorough brainlessness. They pulled everything out, knowing what none of it was, and stuffed it back in, having accomplished nothing. The exercise was pointless. I had two dive lights containing twelve C-cells. They could have been carefully sealed Semtex. The dive computer could have been full of C4.
And the airlines wonder why people fly less.
Tell you what. I'm going to call Homeland Security in an Arabic accent and say, "We sending suicide bomber, he haff explosive prostate. Heeheehee!" Then I'll buy railroad stocks.
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Patterns of behavior. Data mining. If you have lunch three times at Kabob Bazaar, and charge ammunition at the shooting range where you take your daughter plinking, and read a book on torpedo design because you like military history-the computers will kick your name out, and the feds will show up to ransack your life.
I'd rather have the terrorists.
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If you think Aunty is going to be used only to fail to catch terrorists, you are kidding yourself. Knowledge is power. It gets used. I'm from Washington. I know. For example, the congressman who decides not to run again because his political enemies have discovered his taste for little boys. It happens.
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Fear not, though. These same Homeland Security people have said that, why no, they would never, ever, do anything wrong, and they even have a Privacy Officer to make sure. What could be more reassuring? Building a system to spy on Americans, the government assures us that it won't use it to spy on Americans, and to protect us against the possibility, the government will provide a Privacy Officer who works...for the government.
I never thought I could possibly [want] Clinton back. The man was a detestable, lying, libidinous psychopath who did chunky interns, looted the White House, and sold pardons like an escapee from Chaucer-but he begins to look like a mere amiable clown. Bush means business.
Thomas L. Knapp at Rational Review - Earn This -- "Spoiling for a Fight" Redux - Mr. Knapp tells Chuck Muth that instead of complaining about Libertarians "stealing" votes from Republicans, he should remind the Republicans that if they want the Libertarian vote, they're going to have to earn it by walking their small government talk. [smith2004]
Joyce Lee Malcolm at Reason - Gun Control's Twisted Outcome - England's gun grabbers have caused a massive increase in crime. You can't legally defend your life there any more, with any weapon. Don't let it happen here.
The results -- the toughest firearm restrictions of any democracy -- are credited by the world's gun control advocates with producing a low rate of violent crime. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell reflected this conventional wisdom when, in a 1988 speech to the American Bar Association, he attributed England's low rates of violent crime to the fact that "private ownership of guns is strictly controlled."
In reality, the English approach has not re-duced violent crime. Instead it has left law-abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals who are confident that their victims have neither the means nor the legal right to resist them. Imitating this model would be a public safety disaster for the United States.
