Saturday, July 31, 2004
Caption Contest
My offering:
"My Kung Fu is greater than yours, oh chubby one!"
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Posted By: geekWithA.45  
Some People Have Patron Saints.
I've chosen a patron Armed Service. They are none other than Uncle Sam's Misguided Children themselves, the US Marines.
I chose the Marines as my patron armed service many years ago, after having the honor of spending much time in the presence of retired warriors, who were happy to share their exploits and tall tales.
Alas, I digress, althoug sometime I gotta tell y'all about what Isaac was up to in North Korea back in the day. :)
Marines tend to have good sense, oh, say, for example, to politely rebuff Kerry in public.
Booya, Marines! Well done!
The United States Marines Corps:
When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Friday, July 30, 2004
Free at Last! Free At Last! Oh Thank God, We're Free At Last!
We converted the Jersey house to a big fat check, (capitalism, baby!) and the last tentacle of the Dark and Fascist state is severed and swept from the Deck of the good ship Geek.
Now to pay some bills, buy some guns, and setup the miniGeek's college fund.
Whahoo!
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Thursday, July 29, 2004
I Could Take About 1.5 Minutes of Kerry's Acceptance Speech...
I could grit my teeth, read between the lines, and note the alignment of the words of the speech with the DNC's goals for Kerry, while also noting the disalignment of the words to reality, until I had to leap to my feet, roaring LIAR! LIAR!, as he carried on about his whitewash and coverup "reaching across the aisles to get to the truth of the POWs in Vietnam".
This is a man who:
-Took pictures of himself playing hero in Vietnam
-Bailed after 3 scratches
-Marched under the flag of America's enemy
-Testified re: widespread American atrocities
-Tossed medals over the Whitehouse fence
-Voted against every military program he ever saw
-Swept the issue of POWs under the rug
and on, and on, and on.
He is the least credible, least American candidate for president in our history.
Gwa9 and I are truly, deeply aghast. How can it be that one of America's major parties have gone so far south that this shameful man now stands at their podium, accepting their nomination?
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Public Service Announcement...
Of a slightly different stripe.
Some of y'all may have purchased Hellman's mayo recently, and noticed the graphic of the scrumptious chocolate cake, accompianied by an invitation to use of cup of mayo as moistener.
Fair warning! Unless you enjoy the taste of baked mayonnaise, JUST SAY NO. It's for the children.
It's a plot to sell mayo and cake mixes.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Justice Joseph Story...
Comments on the toilet paper Constitution:
Quote:
---------------
On the other hand, the duty imposed upon him to take care,
that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong
injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve,
protect, and defend the constitution.' The great object of the
executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without
it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly
worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances,
or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order,
or safety of the people."
--Joseph Story
---------------
For what it was worth
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
When Insomnia Strikes...
Last night, I ran across The Hero Machine over @ Connie du Toit's place.
This is as reasonable a rendering of me as I can get out of the thing. My days of buffness have been sadly replaced with a tad of fluffness, so don't accuse me of false advertising!
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Winning Wars
We all have some consensus as to what it means to win a war, more or less. In Biblical times, it meant that you could kill all the males, rape all the females, enslave all the children, and steal all their shit. If you weren't particularly interested in occupying the lands, you could always sow the fields with salt so that nothing could grow, ransack the city state, and thus be reasonably assured your enemies would not grow powerful in the foreseeable future.
Pax Romanana offered a slight upgrade on the kill/rape/enslave everyone in sight plan: you could accept Roman political power, and become absorbed into the empire. Variants of these themes more or less defined victory for most of our human history, albeit with increasingly refined levels of mercy to to vanquished as advances were made in the art of diplomacy, which included concepts of negotiated conditional surrender. The one constant that remained was that the vanquished was generally not allowed to be a continued threat to the victor.
These days, the balanced formula for the win condition of warfare seems to be well understood, and we have in the last 100 years seen what happens when the right balance is not made. The oppressive surrender deal of WWI planted the seeds for WWII, and it was subsequently understood that you could not leave your former enemy in an untenable condition. On the other opposite extreme, the generous terms of surrender for Gulf War I, the vast bulk of which where contemptuously ignored by the Monster Boys, illustrated the other end of the spectrum: that an incomplete surrender that leaves an incipient threat in its wake sets the seeds for the next war. (Technically, by the way, Gulf War II, aka the Liberation of Iraq is not a distinct war, it is a continuation of the hostilities of Gulf War I, aka The Liberation of Kuwait. )
Right then. Humans have been warriors for their entire history, and we more or less know what it is to win (and lose) wars.
But what about this "culture war", that we've been embroiled in for the last 50-70 years? What exactly does it mean to win it? What on earth would such a victory look like? How will we know when we've won? If we don't know what that victory looks like, then our chances of bringing it about are nil.
Being primarily a war of ideas, rather than a military conflict, the end result will (hopefully) not be sacked cities, piles of corpses, and a final parade of disarmed Blue battalions on their way to demobilization.
It's a question I've not seen anyone ask, and now, for the record, I'm asking it. I don't have the precise answer at this time, but I do have some incomplete thoughts on the matter.
The first element is the nature of the conflict itself, which I will abstractly summarize thusly:
Through legislation authorizing the use of taxation, regulation and force, (for noncompliance ultimately brings men with guns to your door), collectivists compel us to participate in numerous agendas not of our own individual choosing, and obstructed from participating in numerous agendas that ARE of our individual choosing.
Given that definition of the conflict, the victory condition becomes clear.
The cultural war will be over when our enemies no longer have the power to do that.
The mechanism of achieving such a victory is murky at best. By exempting certain things from political consideration, the Constitution was a very solid attempt at doing such, and once restored, will continue to play an important role. For the time being, however, it has arguably failed in that task. The system is gamed and circumvented such that it's central tenents are being weakly served.
Wars of ideas are won when people change their minds. Those who are educable must be taught, for it is all too easy to be attracted to bright, shiny lies and the temptations of another man's pockets.
Case in point:
-------------------
We think the role of government should be to give people the tools to create the conditions to make the most of their own lives. And we think everybody should have that chance.
Bill Clinton, Donk Convention Speech, last night.
-------------------
Most folks who don't think about it much won't find a damned thing wrong with that statement. It's actually quite a nice, humanitarian sentiment. Be all that you can be! Grasp the tools, and make the most of yourself! Bootstrap yourself according the the good old American ethos!
The problem is that those folks have absolutely no frame of reference to understand those of us who rightfully stand aghast and grit our teeth when we hear such drivel, because while the Donks may THINK what the role of government is, we actually KNOW:
------------------
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
------------------
There's a lot of folks who'd be with us if they realized we're not all creepy, frightened, unsophisticated and ignorant authoritarian rubes. Quite a few of us are thoughtful, compassionate, educated, witty, and urbane.
We're gonna have to help them get there.
To Be Continued.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
A Final, Fun Thought Before Bed:
If the Clintons Vow to Make Kerry Next President, does that mean I get to eat their souls when they fail?
And if I DO get to eat their souls, what sort of antacid is sufficient to deal with the messy aftermath of such a gruesome feast?
Just wondering, is all.
Gnight.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Monday, July 26, 2004
Fort Boston
Drudge asks of this photo a one word question: America?
The symbolism is unmistakable:
You will enter a cage.
You will be watched.
And if you misbehave, Officer 11434 is waiting for you.
The chilling effect dramatic:
Caption:
-------------
Lone protestor Bill Donovan from Boston sits in the free speech zone at the Democratic National Convention in Boston July 26, 2004
-------------
Meanwhile, the supposed backstops of Liberty, the judiciary, continue their slumber at the wheel:
Quote:
--------------
Also on Monday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in Boston refused to make any changes to the fenced-in demonstration area near the FleetCenter. Civil libertarians and activist groups had sued the city, saying that confining the protests to the cramped area violates their First Amendment rights. A lower court judge had dismissed their complaint, saying unique security concerns presented by the convention made it necessary to confine the protests.
--------------
Tempting as it might be, I'll not lay the blame for this Crushing of Dissent at the feet of the Donks until I get a look at what Fort New York looks like. If the GOP took their savvy pills, (a risky proposition) they'll offer dissenters a warmer welcome.
Nope, this isn't MY America. While I acknowledge that an orderly society allows for SOME regulation for public safety and order, the heinous concept of "Free Speech Zone" has gone to it's farthest possible conclusion, and it is clearly time to re-examine just WTF is going on.
While the DNC's speech for the likes of Al gROAR strives to capitalize on W's shortcomings to drive a wedge between him and his voters, and to perpetuate The Articles of Donk Dogmatic Faith, it's amazingly clear to me that despite the many shortcomings of W, the Donks have no constructive alternative, just the snake oil of thinly veiled socialism and international impotence.
Amazingly, it also seems somewhat clear that they are not in the presence of a credible candidate to the Donk Delegates themselves, in their stunning silence and lack of applause when Jimmy Carter referenced Kerry's alleged heroism in Vietnam. Watch the tape. Carter began a pause for applause, and smoothly recovered when none was forthcoming. That silence speaks volumes.
Finally, it's also amazingly clear to me that we've got a lot of work to do. Job 1 is to simultaneously defeat the Islamists, AND the Collectivists, goals which work hand in hand.
Once the Collectivists are defeated, we've got a great deal of work to do to get us well and truly back on track. Oh, yes, we're well off track, but the Donk Collectivists are not the answer.
As I've mentioned in the past, the stakes of this election are preposterously high, and asymmetrical.
Quote:
-----------
Unfortunately, the stakes are asymmetrical, and I don't believe that this dynamic is well understood by all of our community.
While a Bush victory will not open the glorious floodgates of a much longed for Constitutional Restoration, a Kerry victory will put that out of reach for at least a generation.
...
A Bush victory will mean that we can soldier onwards towards an eventual Constitutional Restoration, the door will be held open, despite lack of guarantees. A Kerry victory will slam that door closed, and we will have huge, potentially insurmountable problems on our hands, and the hope of Liberty in our lifetimes will be lost.
-----------
In a similiar light, a good friend confided in me not too long ago that he does not look forward to this election. Much can go wrong, and little can go right.
He is right.
The political axes are out of whack. Each party is enmeshed in baggage it doesn't need, and has no place in our polity. Reasonable people, centrists, friends even, hurl invectives at each other, each accusing the other of being in thrall to the glamour of the of other side, each accusing the other of blindness to, and willingness to forgive the evils and offenses against liberty of the other.
I don't know what needs to break in order to allow this axis flip to happen, but I do know that this break long in the making.
Perhaps then, the Donks can eject their disciples of Marx and Nanny statists, and the GOP can eject their dark authoritarians, and stop dicking around with anti gay marriage ammendments, and get over their fear of stem cell research.
Our Constitutional Republic has room for dissenters, no matter how moonbat they may be. A government of limited powers with all other rights reserved to the people has room for those who love differently, and doesn't care whether gymnastics equipment is used in the act or not. It has room for anything and everything, with only a few exceptions:
-Thou mayest not insist that others live as you would have them live, believe what you would have them believe, or pray (or not) as you would have them pray (or not).
-Thou mayest not take other people shit, nor limit the shit they might have. (Sorry, Marxist, you can't play. That goes for you too, Gun Bigots.)
-Thou mayest not do that which is likely to harm another, as an immediate, innevitable consequence. Swingest thy fist freely, but mindeth my nose. Shooteth thy gun, but knoweth thy backstop. Mixeth thy chemicals, but give not thy aftermath to me. Burnest thine coal, but keepest thy smoke.
-The taxes though taketh mayest only be spent as thou art chartered to spend them, and may be no more than needest for that.
Such a government understands that criminality is to be punished, virtue is to be facilitated (but not required), and for it all to have any meeting, the great grey in between must be tolerated, and left to the People to sort out for themselves.
That is my America.
We've got soooo muuuuch wooork to do.
-First order of business: Continue Eliminating Islamist Assholes.
-Second order of business: Hasten the coming Donk Implosion.
-Third order of business: Whip the GOP into shape, while the Dems are in healing remission.
-Fourth order of business: Send a detachment to salvage or repair the Libertarian and Constitutional Parties as potential Donk replacements and or fresh blood for the GOP, as circumstances indicate. Better yet, infest the Dems with Lib/Consts, to displace the Collectivists.
4a) Would someone please De-Moonbat the Libertarians?
4a1) Someone tell them that while Medical Marijuana really is a wedge issue, it's not a compelling one, and putting the bulk of their capitol into it isn't going to fly as a centerpiece for a national policy platform, and they really ought stop whipping that horse.
4a2) Someone else oughta tell them that stealing anti war rhetoric from the Donks is gonna lose them more members than they gain. If this is their idea of good biz, they'll never make it in a truly libertarian society.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Sunday, July 25, 2004
The Heart of Darkness II
(Offensive, Patronizing Crap From NJ State Senate President Codey)
Unbefuckinglievable.
Fair warning: RCOB ahead. I cannot believe that an elected official would be so blatantly obtuse, patronizing and arrogant in public. Nonetheless, NJ residents are so used to being infantilized that they hardly even notice.
Quote:
---------------------
TRENTON - Senate President Richard J. Codey, the driving force behind New Jersey's recent law to require childproof guns when the technology becomes economically viable, issued the following statement regarding today's assemblage in front of the Statehouse of the Second Amendment Sisters, Inc., an organization that advocates for the dissolution of gun control laws under the guise of "a woman's right to protect herself:"
"It may just be that I've been a little preoccupied with the recent enactment of the FY 2005 Budget, but I wasn't aware that, as the Second Amendment Sisters claim, society had gotten so bad that a woman's only hope to avoid violence is to carry around an Uzi and not be afraid to use it.
"That statement isn't exactly true, mind you, but gun advocacy groups, like the Second Amendment Sisters, would rather that the general population believe otherwise, because it's through misinformation and fear that their cause actually gains any footing. Regardless of the actual facts, they're willing to push a bleak world view where a woman's only chance of survival is to have a bigger gun than the next person.
"Call me naive, but I'd like to believe otherwise.
"I'd like to believe that there's enough common sense left in the world that disputes don't have to degenerate into a Showdown at the O.K. Corral. I'd like to believe that most women will choose to use basic common sense, such as traveling in large groups and only in well-lit, heavily populated areas, before resorting to violence on their own.
"The presence of a firearm rarely defuses a potentially violent situation, but rather, escalates violence to the breaking point. Rather than advocating for more guns on the street, we should bring attention to the need for more policemen in high-crime areas. I may be out of line here, but I'd rather see the decision to use lethal force being made by a highly-trained safety expert.
"While I don't disagree with the argument that women's safety issues are very important in today's society, I think it's downright unconscionable to use scare tactics to advocate for diminishing gun control laws, and allowing more weapons on our streets.
"When the Second Amendment Sisters are willing to have a rational discussion of how to improve women's safety in a civilized world, I'm open to that discussion. If they'd rather live in the Old West, where gunfights on street corners were commonplace, I have a time machine I'm willing to sell them that will go nicely with their unrealistic world views."
---------------------
Various BS points:
-He mischaracterizes that SAS as being about women with Uzi's doing wild west shootouts.
-He reduces defensive situations (you know, defensive situations: rape, murder, etc) to "disputes".
-He holds that lethal force decisions can only be made by "highly-trained safety expert". As in, "Sorry, Kim. I realize that a serial murder/rapist has you by the throat, but You're not trained enough to make a life and death decision, so you'll just have to take whatever this criminal dishes out. After all, you should have chosen "to use basic common sense, such as traveling in large groups and only in well-lit, heavily populated areas""
-He dismisses the SAS as irrational women, unready to have serious conversations on their own safety and security.
I am beside myself. Just who in the living fuck does he think he is?
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Freedom: Good For You, and Good For The Economy
(duh)
Cowboy Capitalism Vs. Economic Tyranny (courtesy of Cato via FoxNews)
Short, sweet, to the point, and worth reading entire.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
The Heart of Darkness
(Scenes From Tortured Minds)
THR member Das Pferd posts this letter from DiFi, and I record it here, in the spirit of knowing our enemy. It is a fairly pure precis of the central tenets of Organized Gun Bigotry, all in one place, and is therefore worth knowing.
The sheer magnitude of the distortions of reality needed to make it all add up the way DiFi and her gang want it to are truly breathtaking. I'm going to simply present it in pure form, rather than fisk it, at this time as each and every element and distortion she references has been fisked to death here and in other venues.
Gaze into the eyes of insanity, and know our enemies are real:
Quote:
-----------------------
Dear Mr. XXXXXX:
Thank you for writing to me about the Second Amendment.
I have spent a great deal of time working with this issue and would
like to share my thoughts and analyses.
The National Rifle Association would like people to
believe that the Second Amendment to the Constitution gives
every individual the right to own any kind of weapon, no matter
how powerful or deadly, and that the government has no right to
regulate in this area. However, the record is clear: the Supreme
Court has never struck down a single gun control law on Second
Amendment grounds. I feel strongly about correcting what I call
Athe Second Amendment Myth,@ so let me go through some facts
regarding this debate.
The Second Amendment says: A well-regulated militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) rarely mentions the
words Awell-regulated militia@. In fact, most of their literature
shortens the clause so that the amendment simply reads A... the
right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.@
Clearly, the NRA is leaving out half the story B the story of a time
when our Founding Fathers wanted to ensure that individual States
would be able to protect themselves from a tyrannical Federal
government by arming well-regulated State militias B in other
words, today=s National Guards.
The meaning of the Second Amendment has been
well-settled for more than 60 years B ever since the 1939 U.S.
Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Miller. In that case, the
defendant was charged with transporting an unregistered sawed-off
shotgun across state lines. The Court held that the Aobvious
purpose@ of the Second Amendment was Ato assure the
continuation and render possible the effectiveness@ of the state
militia. Because a sawed-off shotgun was not a weapon that would
be used by a state militia (like the National Guard), the Second
Amendment was not applicable to that case, said the Court.
All told, the Supreme Court has only chosen to address this
issue two more times after the Miller case. And each time, the
verdict was clear B the Second Amendment is not a bar to gun
control laws. In 1969, in Burton v. Sills, the Supreme Court
dismissed a challenge to New Jersey=s strict gun control law, Afor
want of a substantial federal question.@ Then, in the 1980 case of
Lewis v. United States, the Supreme Court held that AThese
legislative restrictions on the use of firearms are neither based
upon constitutionally suspect criteria, nor do they trench upon any
constitutionally protected liberties.@ And the Court continued that
Athe Second Amendment guarantees no right to keep and bear a
firearm that does not have >some reasonable relationship to the
preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.=@
In the early 1980s, the Supreme Court had another
opportunity to address this issue, but simply ruled to leave the
established precedent in place, rather than take up the Second
Amendment argument. Furthermore, at least twice -- in 1965 and
1990 -- the Supreme Court has held that the term Awell-regulated
militia@ refers to the National Guard.
And the history is clear through countless cases in the
lower federal District Courts and Courts of Appeal as well. Let me
just cite a few recent examples. In 1999, in the case of Gillespie v.
City of Indianapolis, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held
that there is no individual right to bear arms.
Also in 1999, the Ninth Circuit even more specifically
addressed the Amilitia@ question, clarifying that only a State militia,
not a private militia, is covered by the Second Amendment.
In the 1998 case of Peoples Rights Organization v.
Columbus, the Sixth Circuit refused to overturn an ordinance
banning assault weapons on Second Amendment grounds.
In U.S. v. Scanio, also in 1998, the Second Circuit held that
the Second Amendment provided only a collective right to bear
arms for States in organizing militias, and not an individual right.
The Third Circuit held in the 1996 U.S. v. Rybar case that
the defendant=s possession of machine guns was not connected
with militia-related activity and that the Second Amendment
furnished no absolute right to firearms.
The list of cases goes on and on B dozens of instances in
Federal Courts of Appeal around the country, and countless others
in the lower Federal District courts.
Perhaps this history is what led former Supreme Court
Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1991 to refer to the Second
Amendment as Athe subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I
repeat the word >fraud,= on the American public by special interest
groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime...[the NRA] ha(s)
misled the American people and they, I regret to say, they have had
far too much influence on the Congress of the United States than as
a citizen I would like to see -- and I am a gun man.@ This was
Warren Burger B a Nixon appointee to the Court.
Burger also wrote, AThe very language of the Second
Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee
every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon...[S]urely
the Second Amendment does not remotely guarantee every person
the constitutional right to have a >Saturday Night Special= or a
machine gun without any regulation whatever. There is no support
in the Constitution for the argument that federal and state
governments are powerless to regulate the purchase of such
firearms...@
And the NRA is clearly aware of this history. Despite all
of the NRA=s rhetoric and posturing on this issue, they know that
the Second Amendment does nothing whatsoever to limit
reasonable gun control measures. In fact, in its legal challenges to
federal firearms laws like the Brady Law and my Assault Weapons
Ban, the National Rifle Association has made no mention of the
Second Amendment.
Nonetheless, many on the other side of this issue may point
to the one, single, lone exception to the long history of Second
Amendment jurisprudence.
On March 30, 1999, a United States District Judge in Texas struck
down a federal law making it a felony to possess a firearm while
under a domestic restraining order. In the Texas case, a man in the
midst of a divorce proceeding was accused of threatening to kill
his wife=s lover. Although put under a restraining order and
therefore barred from possessing a firearm under federal law, the
man was subsequently caught with a gun and indicted for violating
the ban. U.S. District Court Judge Sam Cummings dismissed the
indictment, in part because the federal law, he said, had the effect
of Acriminalizing@ a Alaw-abiding citizen=s Second Amendment
rights.@
This was the first time such a decision was made by a
federal judge, but it is important to note that this decision has been
appealed. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the
Supreme Court, if the case reaches that level, would uphold this
decision. Since that 1999 decision, two federal courts, including a
higher Circuit court, have ruled that the Second Amendment does
not guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.
Once again, thank you for writing me with your concerns.
I have given a
great deal of thought to this issue and so I hope this letter serves to
clear up my position on this issue.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
-----------------------
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Public Service Announcement
From Gun Owners of America:
Anti's Trying to Rescue the Semi-Auto Ban from Death Row
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Friday, July 23, 2004
Thanks to your efforts, the Clinton semi-auto ban is about to expire.
The ban on magazines and firearms -- passed in 1994 -- represents one
of the most hated pieces of gun control ever enacted. But with less
than two months to go (and Congress being in recess most of that
time), the ban is scheduled to sunset on September 13, 2004.
Anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein, however, is not giving up and is
pushing hard to get the semi-auto ban tacked on to some other bill.
So far, you have been instrumental in bolstering the resolve of a few
key Senators, who have managed to thwart Feinstein's every move and,
thus, keep the semi-auto ban from getting to the President's desk.
Consider what you have accomplished in recent months:
* In March, you encouraged Senators to kill a bipartisan bill that
had become loaded down with anti-gun amendments -- riders which
included the semi-auto gun ban. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
could have used parliamentary tactics to disallow all gun-related
amendments, but he specifically rejected that strategy. The
underlying legislation, which would have helped to protect gun makers
from frivolous lawsuits, fell under the weight of your activism
against the anti-gun riders.
* Most recently in July, your efforts resulted in Senator Frist
using the very parliamentary tactics that he had rejected only a few
months earlier. This time, grassroots pressure convinced him to
block the semi-auto ban as an amendment to the class action bill (S.
2062).
Now, there are less than a dozen legislative days left. And the gun
banners are "pulling out all the stops" to get this bill passed.
The focus of their ire is being directed at Senator Frist, since he
was instrumental in keeping anti-gun amendments from being offered to
S. 2062. One anti-gun website is calling on its readers to "flood
Dr. Frist's office with tens of thousands of e-mails telling him to
stop blocking the Assault Weapons Ban renewal."
They are also calling on fellow gun banners to pound House Speaker
Dennis Hastert's office with calls to renew the ban.
So here's the bottom line: We are winning. The clock is ticking and
the Clinton ban will soon die. But the battle is not over yet! The
other side is playing its ultimate trump card -- the friendly liberal
media -- and is reaching deep into its war chest.
Major newspapers are running anti-gun editorials in favor of renewing
the ban. Former Presidents are lobbying Congress with the same
message. Law-enforcement bureaucrats are issuing sound bites in
cities all across the nation.
And Hollywood types such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford and Barbra
Streisand have written a letter to the President, urging him to
extend the ban for 10 more years.
There is an all-out effort by the other side right now, and we need
to make sure that we are NOT silent. We need to keep the pressure
on.
Like the Phoenix, the gun ban renewal could arise out of the ashes at
any time. After all, both presidential candidates SUPPORT the ban.
Both Kerry and Bush have indicated they want to see the ban renewed.
And even though Majority Leader Tom DeLay has thus far managed to
keep this bill off the floor of the House of Representatives, he is
being threatened by a politically motivated prosecutor in Austin.
His tenure remains in question for the time being, which means that
we, gun owners, must remain eternally vigilant!
ACTION: Please urge your Representative to OPPOSE the renewal of the
semi-auto ban. Remind him or her that this is an election year and
that strident calls from the Brady Bunch in the liberal media do not
decide elections! Here’s what you can do:
1. Use the pre-written message below and send it as an e-mail by
visiting the GOA Legislative Action Center at
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm (where phone and fax numbers
are also available).
2. Remember also that since all members of the House are up for
reelection -- and Congress is due to take a long summer break --
chances are excellent that you can confront your Rep. in person
during the coming weeks. Don't miss an opportunity to do so.
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear Representative,
I have noticed an alarming and well-coordinated campaign within the
mainstream media recently regarding the expected sunset of the
semi-auto ban. It is imperative that you not fall victim to the
scare tactics -- that instead, you do the right thing and make
certain that the semi-auto ban dies its well-deserved death.
Anti-gun forces are trotting out law enforcement bureaucrats, former
public officials, Hollywood stars, and anyone else they can find to
decry the Bush administration's "lack of action" in calling for
Congress to immediately reauthorize this odious gun ban.
Truth be told, those gun grabbers are scared -- they know the
American people have thrown out numerous U.S. Representatives in the
past for voting to outlaw these common semi-autos. With a mere
handful of legislative days remaining before the ban sunsets, they
are doing the only thing they can -- working feverishly with their
friends in the liberal media, hoping that press coverage alone will
spook you into getting aboard the gun-ban train.
I urge you to stand fast. The sky has not fallen, and it will not
fall on September 14th. No matter how loud the disarmament crowd and
their lackeys in the press scream, these simple weapons have never
been the choice of criminals and never will be.
The ban should sunset, and no pro-gun Member of Congress should fear
for his or her seat as a result, since media hype does not translate
to defeat at the polls. If the media decided elections, Ronald
Reagan would never have been President.
Hold the line. Better, remind your pro-gun constituents that you are
publicly willing to state that this useless and pernicious law simply
needs to go away.
Sincerely and with a watchful eye,
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Thursday, July 22, 2004
My Youngest Daughter...
Appears to be in training for an Advisor's post under a Donk administration.
Clearly, this disturbs me greatly. ;)
geeketteWithARattle naps in feety pajamas, installed in reverse so she can't reach the zipper. (If she did, she'd take her jammies off, which is no big deal. She'd also take her pullups off, which has resulted in poopy disasters)
I'm working in the lab downstairs, and I hear shrieking. "Binky! Binky! Binky!"
I examine the situation, and yep, sure enough, she inadvertantly stuffer her binky down her trousers, and couldn't get them out. I helpfully retrieve it for her, gently chiding her about putting things into her pants that don't belong there. "It might not be important now, but later on in life, your credibility and reputation might be impacted by what you allow into your pants." She looks up at me with her cute little blue eyes, and says, "Thank you".
Five minutes, later, the shrieking has resumed. "Binky! Binky! Binky!"
Yep. Apparently, it's simply just human nature to cram things into our pants.
Repeatedly.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Ironic To The Point of Surreal...
Saddam files new human rights complaint
Quote: {emphasis mine, editorializations in braces}
-----------
Lawyers for ousted Iraqi leader Saddam {"The Butcher of Baghdad"} Hussein have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights calling on France to make the United States respect the Geneva Conventions.
-----------
BWA HA HAH HA HA HA HAH HA!
A) France? MAKE us do ANYTHING?
B) Isn't Saddam in Iraqi custody?
C) Mr. Kurd Gassing/Citizen shredding/International will flaunting Hussein files a human rights complaint?
D) France?
BWA HA HAH HA HA HA HAH HA!
Cmon France! Oh, baby! Whip, me, beat me, MAKE ME RESPECT YOU IN THE MORNING. Oh, yeah, baby, that's it, oh, yeah. Right there. Ah.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
The Dignity of Free Men
Reader RadarRider links in comments to an amazing essay, thics from the Barrel of a Gun: What Bearing Weapons Teaches About the Good Life that richly deserves to be hoisted out of the comments and onto the front page.
Alas, sigh, today is a day when I am shown up not once, but twice, by my fellow tribesmen. Lucky for me, to have such formidable friends!
Quote:
---------
This is the final ethical lesson of bearing arms: that right choices are possible, and the ordinary judgement of ordinary (wo)men is sufficient to make them.
We can, truly, embrace our power and our responsibility to make life-or-death decisions, rather than fearing both. We can accept our ultimate responsibility for our own actions. We can know (not just intellectually, but in the sinew of experience) that we are fit to choose.
And not only can we — we must. The Founding Fathers of the United States understood why. If we fail this test, we fail not only in private virtue but consequently in our capacity to make public choices. Rudderless, lacking an earned and grounded faith in ourselves, we can only drift — increasingly helpless to summon even the will to resist predators and tyrants (let alone the capability to do so).
---------
Ultimately, our enemies seek the opposite of this: a confused, weak, and characterless populace without dignity, who believe their ordinary judgment has no value, who fear themselves, their fellow men, and who seek higher authority, (which they are happy to supply) to supply them with thought, judgement, and the leftover scraps of illusory power.
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Posted By: geekWithA.45
Acknowledging A Reader, A Gentleman, and a Peer
Sometimes, you can smell that there's something in the air, a vibe, a disembodied zietgiest that begs to be spoken aloud. Sometimes, your friends beat you to the speaking, and you have to admit, "Damn! He did a way better job that I was doing!", and the right thing to do is make the introduction, and stand aside on the stage.
This is a good thing. Peace of mind comes from many sources, a loving family, a good dog, money in the safe, a .45 under the pillow, and a vast pile of formidable friends.
Readers, for those of you who don't know him I introduce Brother Jim of Smoke on the Water, who blogs from the Sloop New Dawn, anchored in coordinates classified.
Jim speaks to us today, discussing Fools Gold in his appeal to the honorable remnants of the Democratic Party.
I've a few choice teaser quotes, but I fear if I paste them, you won't read what he has to say. Git goin.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Linda Ronstadt
I don't have a whole lot to say about self admitted bigot* Linda Ronstadt being booed off the stage, and subsequently escorted off the premises in Vegas either, nor am I impressed with Mickey Moore's subsequent tantrum** about repressed freedom of speech either.
It's just another sign that we're not buying the bullshit they're selling, and all the self righteous handwringing and tut tutting the Al-Jazeera On The Hudson NY Times can bring to bear won't change it.
*Quote:
---------
It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know."
---------
Lady, if the mere presence of a Republican in the audience is enough to ruin your evening, seek professional help.
**Mickey: Get it straight. If your employee inserts unwanted political editorializations into your product, and as a result, your customers emphatically reject your product and demand their money back, firing said employee isn't 1st amendment oppression. It's a no brainer. But then again, only a Collectivist would insist that I've a duty to provide them with a venue, and shout "help help! I'm being oppressed!" when I decline to give them one on my dime. Of course, if this is what you really believe, let's try a situation that's inconvenient for you: Give me 10 minutes of screentime in your next film, with full creative and editorial control, on your dime.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Every So Often....
Every so often I ask myself, "Why guns? Why have I spent a significant chunk of my time thinking about guns and gun rights? Why do I care whether or not honest people can freely access them, without obstruction?" Each time I do this, I'm able to articulate the "whys" a little more clearly, and a little more cogently. Longtime Readers will recall some earlier iterations, and newer readers oughta hit the "Quintessential Geek" link in the left column.
The fun, blasty goodness of guns remains a constant. Guns are inherently cool. Having the skill, discipline, and wisdom to wield them honorably is inherently cooler. Making the tincans dance with a 30 round mag is fun that borders on sin, for those of y'all with dour Calvinist leanings.
Guns are also serious tools, for serious purpose. They defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They give the would be tyrant/king pause. After all, if the widespread consensus is that you need to be gone, there's too many thousand yard shooters in this country to hide from them all, forever. As my 4th grade teacher, Ms. X used to say, "Guns are the last check in a system of checks and balances, and the People have the final word."
And it's not just guns, any old gun, per se. It's not just the ability to own a .22lr auto plinker, an over under duck gun, or granpaw's boltie 30-06 deer gun. It's about the ability to have and carry with you instruments of war, equal to or better than that of any common soldier who could conceivably oppress you. Today it's about semi-auto battle rifles, someday, it will be about the phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range. In the garden of good and evil, the cast of characters remains the same, only the scenery changes with the season. I believe someone once asked, "What if they threw a war, and nobody came?" to which someone else replied, "No matter. War will come and find you. Only the dead have seen the end to war." Remember,it is the warrior who prays the hardest for peace.
Guns are a test, in more ways than one. You learn a great deal about a person's character from the relationship they choose to have with arms. They test your honor, your self control, your wisdom, and your judgement. The vast majority of us pass these tests easily, day in and day out, with nary a second thought. They are a litmus test for those you meet. You can pretty quickly tell who has and hasn't faith in themselves and their fellow man by the relationship they choose to have with the reality of firearms. They are a test for structures of governance. A government that is truly of, by and for the People cannot pretend to hold themselves above the People, as an armed elite bearing the monopoly on the means of the use of force.
Skip to the bottom line:
Guns are many things.
It is through them that we can discover our character, as individuals and a nation, and know that it is good.
Guns are an outer expression of an inner freedom, self mastery, and magnificence.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
The Onion
The onion tilts a wee bit further left than most publications, and so it's unusually refreshing when they lampoon the Donks:
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Martha Stewart
I've very little to say on the subject of Martha Stewart, but I do have some observations:
1) Read what Cox and Forkum has to say
2) The "crimes" for which she was investigated are pretty marginal, and arguably not criminal at all. (I don't care to argue on this topic, btw) I didn't follow the case closely, but the general trend of "insider" trading rules require a human to act against their best interests should they come across information that doesn't meet certain criteria of public availability. They are a classic example of trying to achieve a good end (preventing wholesale manipulation of the market via secretkeeping) by attacking second order causes. If I'm not mistaken, they ultimately busted her not for the "criminal" infringement, but for lying to the Officials who Are Sacred And Holy, Not Like You And Me, and Set Above Other Men.
3) Martha got something like 170 THOUSAND emails of support. That's about a million percent more people who care about her 5 month stint in jail than care about the lack of human and Constitutional rights of the RKBA flavor in New Jersey.
Grrrr.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Behold!
For I hath spent the weekend amongst the Blue Americans of Illinois/Chicagoland, and yea, verilly, hath escaped unharmed.
And now that I've completed my Olde Englishe Penance for having spent a weekend amongst the Blue Americans, I can write normally. ;)
The outcome?
Sister #2: Married. (again)
Family smitten by the miniGeeks: All of them.
Cranky, Overtired and hysterical miniGeeks: 2
Exhausted Parents: 2
TSA Goons discovering my pocket Unanimous Declaration/Constitution from Cato: 0
TSA Goons discovering my kit of innocuous pointy/hard/heavy objects: 20ish.
TSA Goons recognizing their significance: 0
Aircraft thus (pathetically) defended: 2
Ambiguously unsettling event of the weekend: A "missed call" showed up on my cellphone at 7:38am. I traced it back, and found it was the bench warrants division of the sheriff's office. Bench Warrants? WTF? I DID recently apply for CCW @ the sheriff's, so I guess is that they're just going about their due dilligence. I hope. My conscience is clean, but my faith in bureaucrats is pretty minimal, and I'm hoping some clerk didn't punch me into the wrong freaking database.
Anyway, off to bed. Catch y'all later.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Thursday, July 15, 2004
1st Class Passengers Swap Seats With Soldiers
The article
When the entire first class decides to give soldiers their seats, methinks we're winning. :)
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Open Carry In Ol' Virginny
Interesting article concerning recent spate of open carry episodes.
Summary:
-------------
State level pre-emption laws kicked in July 1, over riding local ordinances concerning purchase, registration, and open carry of firearms in public.
Some folks excercise said right, some sheeple bleat, some ill informed cops confiscate, and later on realize they were wrong and apologize, other folks get in on the act, Gun Bigots suggest we siddown and STFU.
-------------
Gun Bigot Bleating:
--------------
Openly carrying weapons is "not a good idea," said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center in Washington. "This is the gun lobby's vision of how America should be. Everybody's packing heat and ready to engage in a shootout at the slightest provocation."
--------------
Translation: Wild West! Blood In The Streets! Mayhem!
More Gun Bigot Bleating:
--------------
Ricker said the gun owners "are probably doing their cause more harm than good by raising this issue. It raises an awareness and gives people who are more rational thinkers the opportunity to go to their legislators and make their views known."
--------------
Translation:
Gunnies should sit down, STFU, and count themselves lucky that we, the more rational thinkers, allow them to have any toys at all. If you annoy us, we will go to our legislators and have them take your toys away.
Molon Labe, pal.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Red vs. Blue? Naw. It's Gullible vs Informed.
The Donks assertions of the disappearing middle class and economic hard times pretty much tips their hand when it comes to class warfare.
Simply put, they seek supporters from two sources: Those few who are factually having a tough time making it, and those many who are perfectly willing to believe that their normal everyday strain is a sign of decay.
How Much Worse Off Are We?
One openly questions what good can be expected to come from government of, by and for the gullible.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Gut Splitting Public Laughter
So I'm cruising on home from the VA office last night, and I pull over for some chow. On my way out back to the car, a young hippy girl, about 19 or 20 years old comes in, with a hand drawn sign sewed to her hippy bag:
"Bush Eats Puppies"
I doubled over in laughter, and I'm sure that more than a few folks where wondering if they'd need to summon the burly men in white coats with big nets.
Googling for the phrase reveals a latent meme-in-waiting:
A Satire Piece, some shirts, official support from the DNC, and so on.
Puhlease....how can I take anyone seriously who makes me laugh so hard?
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Flashpoints
TSA Screening areas are flashpoints. Sooner or later, it's gonna be more than someone dropping trou.
In that spirit, Connie du Toit has some good advice: In these contentious times, Keep Your Head
Quote:
--------------
We’re at war with Islamic terrorists. That’s enough for right now.
Yes, I believe there will be riots, random acts of violence, during the Republican and Democrat Conventions. It is also likely that there will be attempts to incite violence and riots at the next Presidential Election in November.
Keep your eyes and ears open. Don’t buy into the mob madness/mentality.
--------------
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Righteous Berzerk Rant
The Heartless Libertarian Goes Nuts
Any Rant that signs off:
Quote:
------------
Molon Labe, bitch.
------------
has GOT to be amusing.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Monday, July 12, 2004
Public Service Announcement:
From Gunowners of America
------------------------------------
GOA Members Shoot Down Latest Effort to Extend Semi-auto Ban
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Monday, July 12, 2004
Congratulations!
Through your efforts, you have succeeded in killing the best
opportunity that anti-gunners had to extend the ban on roughly two
hundred semiautomatic firearms.
Liberals had intended to offer the semi-auto ban as a "killer
amendment" to class action reform legislation which was considered by
the Senate last week. At first, there was every indication that
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was going to allow anti-gunners
like Sen. Feinstein to offer the gun ban amendment.
But after you bombarded Frist's office with demands that he prevent
the semi-auto amendment, Frist -- in a parliamentary move that we
suggested -- took steps to procedurally block all "killer
amendments," including the semi-auto ban.
Liberal anti-gunners whined and screamed on the Senate floor, and
threatened to kill the class action bill in retaliation. But we
appear to have won the battle for now, as the class action bill has
been pulled from the floor.
This victory is huge. Compared to the ill-fated strategy used on the
gun makers' protection act (S. 1805) earlier in the year, the outcome
on the class action bill was as good as could be expected in the
poisoned environment on the Hill. Consider the following:
* The best chance for reenacting the semi-auto ban prior to its
September 13 expiration is now dead;
* Unlike the gun liability bill -- defeated 8-to-90 in March after
it was loaded down with "killer amendments" -- pro-business Senators
can still bring the class action bill back up at some later point
during this session;
* Unlike with the gun liability bill, the class action bill did not
offer anti-gun Democrats a week of Senate floor time to promote their
agenda; and
* Those anti-gunners who cynically pretended to support the class
action bill were forced to make a choice between politically powerful
constituencies -- between the pro-business community and the trial
lawyers.
ACTION: Write Senator Frist. Congratulate him on his use of the
rules in connection with the class action bill, and thank him for
preventing consideration of the semiautomatic ban.
You can call Senator Frist at 202-224-3344, or go to
http://www.frist.senate.gov and select "Contact Senator Frist" under
the "About Senator Frist" heading to send a message similar to the
one below.
----- Pre-written message -----
Dear Senator Frist:
Congratulations!
Your use of the Senate rules in connection with the class action bill
blocked the prime opportunity of anti-gun liberals to force
consideration of the semi-automatic ban.
You also saved the class action bill from the same 8-to-90 defeat
experienced by the gun liability bill, and kept it alive to fight
another day.
Finally, you prevented the Senate floor from being used as a campaign
platform for issues designed to defeat you and your party.
In the politically poisoned environment on the Hill, this is as good
as was possible under the circumstances.
Sincerely,
------------------------------------
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Blogus Interruptus
Sorry Gang, I've belatedly taken note that I've slipped into irregular posting mode a tad earlier than contemplated. My sister's getting married, so we're off the the Unholy and Forsaken By God land of Chicago for the festivities. (With apologies to the Righteous Ones who daily live under the Scourge.) Needless to say, my entire kit of innocuously Hard, Pointy, and Heavy things will be coming with me, and remain withing arms reach the entire time.
In the meantime, I'm desparately busy trying to make shit happen. While the move is logically complete, I've never really recovered ground lost while pounding nails and smuggling my goods and family across the river. (Note to self: NEVER move AND start a new job simultaneously!)
I'm getting my balance back, one bit at a time, but I'm fighting for each and every yard. At least I was able to sneak off the to range last week, and properly sight in my M1A's scope @ 100 yards. The end result was worth it:
Rifle: Rack grade M1A Scout Squad
Range: 100 yards
#Rounds: 20 (Also known as a Full Mag, in the Free USA)
Position: braced
Ammo: Portugese milsurp
Time: < 1 minute
Group: 5.5 inches
That'll do for now.
I'd post the target, but my scanner's still in a box. It's a perfect example of one of the items on my infinite ToDo list.
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Go Read Lileks!
The Bleat
From The Smallest Minority:
--------
Occasionally, not very often, I get a Wayne & Garth urge to drop to the floor, prostrate myself and proclaim "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"
--------
I can't honestly say that I ever get the urge to prostrate. In the spirit of the thing, I'm happy to proclaim to James Lileks:
You are worthy! You are worthy!
Permalink
Posted By: geekWithA.45
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Would You Shoot A Kangaroo That Was Drowing Your Dog?
Warning Over Killer Kangaroos
Quote:
----------
Another woman told how a kangaroo drowned one of the four dogs she was walking with a friend, attacking it in a pond and holding it under the water with its hind legs while it hit out at one of the other dogs with its front legs.
"My friend started shouting: 'There's a kangaroo in the pond. It's got Summer'. It was surreal, like your worst nightmare," Christine Canham told the Canberra Times newspaper.
"She was screaming and screaming. The kangaroo just stared back at us. I will never forget that."
----------
You bet your ass I'd sho | |
