Everybody has mile posts in their life. Moments when, for better or worse, their life is never quite the same again. Times, when recalled, a person can point to and say, "This changed my life."
One of those important moments is when you realize you can buy and cook bacon anytime you want.
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Just some thoughts from a long drive.
The outgoing speaker of the house, based on her tactics and shenanigans, would have been one the the greatest Soviet Premiers of all time. All the dirty tricks and underhanded dealings and outright threats and corruption would have made Stalin proud. All she needs is a national gulag system to make her complete.... oh wait....
The tax compromise that was maybe almost reached this week. IT'S NOT A TAX CUT! In fact, it's worse than that, it's a 2 year temporary reprieve. Taxes are not going down, they're staying the same, so the situation that's existed for the last two years that's made this mess we're in, IT'S STILL HERE! On top of that we can't run on a temporary economy, that's what this "compromise" has created. Businesses are not going to expand or spend or whatever if they're staring at being in the pickle barrel in two years. And on top of that, 2 years is nothing in terms of business plans. They look at 5 and 10 year business models. I seriously doubt that any smart business will do anything if they know that just as they're getting started, they'll get slapped down with extortionate tax burdens. Looking at individuals, this equates to less than what most of us spend on car insurance per year. You think people are going to look at that 500 dollars and go all spendy crazy? Hell, no. Especially with the government printing money like it's going out of style and devaluing it in job lots. So, all that will happen is in 2 years when the next election cycle rolls around, is the dems will get to shout "SEE, LOWERING TAXES DIDN'T WORK!" Which is complete and utter bull shit. But if you say the lie often enough and loud enough it becomes the truth. The dems have proved that over and over the last few years.
The liberal mindset that will insist on demonizing the item and ignore the fact that it took a person to put that item to an evil purpose, is the same liberal mindset that's running DHS and TSA. They have time and time again refused to look at the people, under the guise of "Oh we can't profile, that's evil.", and demonized the fingernail clippers and bottle of shampoo that you have. We will not be be safe, we will not be anything other than a joke, till we change the mindset that runs these agencies. Listen, some people are bad. That's just the shit of life. And what's even shittier is some people do evil things for what they believe are good reasons. That's just the way it is. The sooner we get over this stupid notion that somehow box cutters are intrinsically evil and realize that it was the fucking nutjob jihadist wielding it that was evil, the sooner we'll actually start making things safer.
And don't get me started on the porno-scanners.
STOP THE PRESSES! We have definitively located the epi-center of fug bucking nuts crazy: http://www.my9tv.com/dpp/my9_news/Berkeley-Mulls-Resolution-to-Honor-Army-Private-Accused-of-Passing-Secret-Info-to-WikiLeaks_49833953 Yes, that's right. These moonbats sitting on the door step to our outgoing speaker of the house's home district have that warped a view of the world. It does go a long way to explaining why Pelosi is the way she is. No?
The tax compromise that was maybe almost reached this week. IT'S NOT A TAX CUT! In fact, it's worse than that, it's a 2 year temporary reprieve. Taxes are not going down, they're staying the same, so the situation that's existed for the last two years that's made this mess we're in, IT'S STILL HERE! On top of that we can't run on a temporary economy, that's what this "compromise" has created. Businesses are not going to expand or spend or whatever if they're staring at being in the pickle barrel in two years. And on top of that, 2 years is nothing in terms of business plans. They look at 5 and 10 year business models. I seriously doubt that any smart business will do anything if they know that just as they're getting started, they'll get slapped down with extortionate tax burdens. Looking at individuals, this equates to less than what most of us spend on car insurance per year. You think people are going to look at that 500 dollars and go all spendy crazy? Hell, no. Especially with the government printing money like it's going out of style and devaluing it in job lots. So, all that will happen is in 2 years when the next election cycle rolls around, is the dems will get to shout "SEE, LOWERING TAXES DIDN'T WORK!" Which is complete and utter bull shit. But if you say the lie often enough and loud enough it becomes the truth. The dems have proved that over and over the last few years.
The liberal mindset that will insist on demonizing the item and ignore the fact that it took a person to put that item to an evil purpose, is the same liberal mindset that's running DHS and TSA. They have time and time again refused to look at the people, under the guise of "Oh we can't profile, that's evil.", and demonized the fingernail clippers and bottle of shampoo that you have. We will not be be safe, we will not be anything other than a joke, till we change the mindset that runs these agencies. Listen, some people are bad. That's just the shit of life. And what's even shittier is some people do evil things for what they believe are good reasons. That's just the way it is. The sooner we get over this stupid notion that somehow box cutters are intrinsically evil and realize that it was the fucking nutjob jihadist wielding it that was evil, the sooner we'll actually start making things safer.
And don't get me started on the porno-scanners.
STOP THE PRESSES! We have definitively located the epi-center of fug bucking nuts crazy: http://www.my9tv.com/dpp/my9_news/Berkeley-Mulls-Resolution-to-Honor-Army-Private-Accused-of-Passing-Secret-Info-to-WikiLeaks_49833953 Yes, that's right. These moonbats sitting on the door step to our outgoing speaker of the house's home district have that warped a view of the world. It does go a long way to explaining why Pelosi is the way she is. No?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A Necessary List of Quotes.
First a h/t to Old_NFO for emailing this out today.
"The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose."
- James Earl Jones
"There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period."
- Ted Nugent
"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."
- Ted Nugent
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
- Sigmund Freud
"An armed society is a polite society."
- Robert Heinlein
"There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men."
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised."
- Charlton Heston quoting Machiavelli, from The Prince.
"We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns... When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren't shooting at humans... we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly. I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice."
- Johnny Depp
"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
- Dalai Lama
"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders."
- Larry Elder
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
- G. K. Chesterton
" ... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law."
- Martin Luther King
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."
- George Orwell
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."
- Christian Slater
"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"I will teach my children weapons and warfare, so they might teach their children science and law, so they might teach their children art and literature."
- Unknown Greek
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
- Pericles
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
- Thucydides
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine
"A free people ought to be armed."
- George Washington
"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."
- George Washington
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
- George Washington
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
- Thomas Jefferson
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
- Thomas Jefferson
This one is a personal favorite. Lord knows, I've had to pound on this everytime one of the liberal constitutional revisionists starts speaking.
"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense."
- John Adams
"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them."
- George Mason
"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."
- George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority ... the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Noah Webster
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."
- Noah Webster
"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."
- James Madison
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms."
- James Madison
"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country."
- James Madison
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
- Richard Henry Lee
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms."
- Richard Henry Lee
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun."
- Patrick Henry
"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."
- St. George Tucker
"... arms ... discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.... Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
- Samual Adams
"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
- Joseph Story
"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
" ... for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion."
- Alexander Hamilton
"A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society? ... The Scriptures tell us "righteousness exalteth a Nation."
- Abigail Adams
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
- John Adams
"The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than live on his knees!"
- George Washington
"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
- Daniel Webster
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine
"Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor’s death.... In fact, this act is aimed at preserving one’s life or one’s goods and to make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a good act, which is the right of the victim."
- Thomas Aquinas
"When the law disallows both the means and moral authority to defend one's self and property, crime and violence fill the void between common sense and the hoped for utopia."
- JD Filkins
"Keeping and bearing arms is not only a fundamental right; it is a fundamental duty upon which all liberty and sovereignty is based."
- Donald L. Cline
"A shoot-out is better than a massacre!"
- David M. Bennett
"It is a lesson of history that it is ethically, morally, and philosophically impossible to have too many personal weapons, whether they be edged, impact or projectile."
- David W. Loeffler
"Nothing puts the dignity in personal dignity (or the freedom in personal freedom) like the self in self-rule."
- John Longenecker
"Those gun control activists advocating exchanging a liberty for safety should recall that the safest place on earth is solitary confinement at Leavenworth."
- Rand T. Lennox
"The gun control extremist has at least two things in common with the Islamic extremist. He has a willingness to die for his fundamental beliefs. And he has the sanctimony to demand that others go with him."
- Dr. Mike Adams
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Daniel Webster
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
"The philosophy of gun control: Teenagers are roaring through town at 90MPH, where the speed limit is 25. Your solution is to lower the speed limit to 20."
- Sam Cohen (inventor of the neutron bomb)
"The tragic history of civilian disarmament cries a warning against any systematic attempts to render innocent citizens ill-equipped to defend themselves from tyrant terrorists, despots or oppressive majorities,"
- Daniel Schmutter
"If the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is to mean anything, it must, as a general matter, permit a person to possess, carry and sometimes conceal arms to maintain the security of his private residence or privately operated business."
- David Prosser (Wisconsin Supreme Court justice)
"If you've got to resist, you're chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your weapon. If that were my wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand? Yeah."
- Dr. Arthur Kellerman (famous gun grabber) (this is just one example of the unashamed hypocricy of those who think they're somehow our betters)
"If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 -- establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime."
- Senator Orrin Hatch
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. ... the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible."
- Sen. Hubert Humphrey
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
- John F. Kennedy
"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
- John F. Kennedy
"Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers."
- Attorney General John Ashcroft
"There's no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them."
- Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky
"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!"
– President Theodore Roosevelt
"The ruling class doesn't care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake."
- Sen. Malcolm Wallop
"One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn't prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn't true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity."
– Paul Hagar
"Make good scouts of yourselves, become good rifle shots so that if it becomes necessary that you defend your families and your country that you can do it."
- Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting For Boys
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
- Mahatma Gandhi
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on ... or we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free."
– Ronald Reagan
"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within."
– General Douglas MacArthur
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie."
– Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown
"The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose."
- James Earl Jones
"There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period."
- Ted Nugent
"To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly. How pathetic."
- Ted Nugent
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
- Sigmund Freud
"An armed society is a polite society."
- Robert Heinlein
"There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men."
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised."
- Charlton Heston quoting Machiavelli, from The Prince.
"We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns... When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren't shooting at humans... we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly. I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice."
- Johnny Depp
"But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you ... it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
- Dalai Lama
"A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders."
- Larry Elder
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
- G. K. Chesterton
" ... the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law."
- Martin Luther King
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."
- George Orwell
"It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."
- Christian Slater
"A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand."
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"I will teach my children weapons and warfare, so they might teach their children science and law, so they might teach their children art and literature."
- Unknown Greek
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
- Pericles
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
- Thucydides
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine
"A free people ought to be armed."
- George Washington
"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."
- George Washington
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
- George Washington
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
- Thomas Jefferson
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
- Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
- Thomas Jefferson
This one is a personal favorite. Lord knows, I've had to pound on this everytime one of the liberal constitutional revisionists starts speaking.
"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense."
- John Adams
"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them."
- George Mason
"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."
- George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority ... the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Noah Webster
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."
- Noah Webster
"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."
- James Madison
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms."
- James Madison
"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country."
- James Madison
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
- Richard Henry Lee
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms."
- Richard Henry Lee
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun."
- Patrick Henry
"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."
- St. George Tucker
"... arms ... discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.... Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
- Samual Adams
"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
- Joseph Story
"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
" ... for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion."
- Alexander Hamilton
"A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society? ... The Scriptures tell us "righteousness exalteth a Nation."
- Abigail Adams
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
- John Adams
"The thing that separates the American Christian from every other person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than live on his knees!"
- George Washington
"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it."
- Daniel Webster
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."
- St. Augustine
"Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor’s death.... In fact, this act is aimed at preserving one’s life or one’s goods and to make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a good act, which is the right of the victim."
- Thomas Aquinas
"When the law disallows both the means and moral authority to defend one's self and property, crime and violence fill the void between common sense and the hoped for utopia."
- JD Filkins
"Keeping and bearing arms is not only a fundamental right; it is a fundamental duty upon which all liberty and sovereignty is based."
- Donald L. Cline
"A shoot-out is better than a massacre!"
- David M. Bennett
"It is a lesson of history that it is ethically, morally, and philosophically impossible to have too many personal weapons, whether they be edged, impact or projectile."
- David W. Loeffler
"Nothing puts the dignity in personal dignity (or the freedom in personal freedom) like the self in self-rule."
- John Longenecker
"Those gun control activists advocating exchanging a liberty for safety should recall that the safest place on earth is solitary confinement at Leavenworth."
- Rand T. Lennox
"The gun control extremist has at least two things in common with the Islamic extremist. He has a willingness to die for his fundamental beliefs. And he has the sanctimony to demand that others go with him."
- Dr. Mike Adams
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
- Daniel Webster
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
"The philosophy of gun control: Teenagers are roaring through town at 90MPH, where the speed limit is 25. Your solution is to lower the speed limit to 20."
- Sam Cohen (inventor of the neutron bomb)
"The tragic history of civilian disarmament cries a warning against any systematic attempts to render innocent citizens ill-equipped to defend themselves from tyrant terrorists, despots or oppressive majorities,"
- Daniel Schmutter
"If the constitutional right to keep and bear arms is to mean anything, it must, as a general matter, permit a person to possess, carry and sometimes conceal arms to maintain the security of his private residence or privately operated business."
- David Prosser (Wisconsin Supreme Court justice)
"If you've got to resist, you're chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your weapon. If that were my wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand? Yeah."
- Dr. Arthur Kellerman (famous gun grabber) (this is just one example of the unashamed hypocricy of those who think they're somehow our betters)
"If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 -- establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime."
- Senator Orrin Hatch
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. ... the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible."
- Sen. Hubert Humphrey
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
- John F. Kennedy
"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
- John F. Kennedy
"Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers."
- Attorney General John Ashcroft
"There's no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of terror or stopped them."
- Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky
"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men to shoot!"
– President Theodore Roosevelt
"The ruling class doesn't care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake."
- Sen. Malcolm Wallop
"One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn't prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn't true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity."
– Paul Hagar
"Make good scouts of yourselves, become good rifle shots so that if it becomes necessary that you defend your families and your country that you can do it."
- Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting For Boys
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
- Mahatma Gandhi
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and passed on ... or we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free."
– Ronald Reagan
"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within."
– General Douglas MacArthur
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie."
– Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
- Unknown
Sunday, August 9, 2009
My thoughts on Cash For Clunkers
Everybody is buying cars! The economy is SAVED! They saved us!
Yeah. Really quickly, over half the cars purchased under this program are foreign. And some reports go as high as 80% foreign. Not so good for Detroit. But then the auto unions made that bed.
So, for the cost of 10 dollars (so far) out of the pocket of every man, woman, and child in this country. A few people get to drive around in brand new cars. And we get to get these old clunkers off the streets.
Old clunkers off the streets...
Everybody does know that these trade ins are REQUIRED to be destroyed? No salvaging serviceable spare parts from them. No reselling on the used car lot. But that's a good thing right?
Lets see. Yesterday we had; a new car, 4500 dollars and a used car. Today we have; a new car and 4500 dollars. Wait, what happened to the asset that was the used car. Oh right, it's been destroyed. Our government is forcing us to destroy our assets. This smacks of our government forcing us to be poorer and maybe even more dependent on them. Socialism anyone?
Also, has anybody looked at the used car price index in the last few weeks? That's right, skyrocketing upwards.
And this destroying something to stimulate the economy kept poking me on the shoulder, trying to tell me something. Finally, I remembered. Lucky you, because now I get to show you. Yeah, it's like slide shows of family vacations! Only more boring and even more unsettling.
Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.
Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented
Henry Hazlitt in his book Economics in One Lesson does a much better job at explaining this corollary to The Law of Unintended Consequences. Go read it.
This is exactly what the Clash For Clunkers program is doing. It's destroying one thing and trumpeting it as a success because it had to be replaced. Never mind that if that thing, a car in this case, hadn't been destroyed the money could have been used somewhere else, to buy something else. Never mind that most of the benefits are going to help overseas car manufacturers. The 0bama administration can point and say "We DID SOMETHING."
We've created a new government program. Of course this one is temporary. As temporary as the TVA. That's all that this has done really. Any bets on whether or not the funding becomes a standard line item on next years budget proposal?
What if instead of $4500 for every clunker, the government had given the auto manufacturers just a $450 dollar tax break for every new car produced? What would have happened then? We'd still have that used car around to resell. The auto companies would have had that much more money to hire more people, buy more modern or just plain more equipment to build cars. Those new jobs would have generated all sorts of spending by the people in them. The MSRP of those new cars would have been lowered because now the cost to produce them would be lower. Lower new car prices makes them more affordable and to a greater portion of the populous. Used car lots aren't starved for inventory and they stay open. The possibilities... Feel free to add other reactions to that action in the comments, please.
But what do I know, I'm just an guy with a degree in aerospace engineering, the training to be a professional pilot and the ability to analyze whats happening to this country and weep.
Yeah. Really quickly, over half the cars purchased under this program are foreign. And some reports go as high as 80% foreign. Not so good for Detroit. But then the auto unions made that bed.
So, for the cost of 10 dollars (so far) out of the pocket of every man, woman, and child in this country. A few people get to drive around in brand new cars. And we get to get these old clunkers off the streets.
Old clunkers off the streets...
Everybody does know that these trade ins are REQUIRED to be destroyed? No salvaging serviceable spare parts from them. No reselling on the used car lot. But that's a good thing right?
Lets see. Yesterday we had; a new car, 4500 dollars and a used car. Today we have; a new car and 4500 dollars. Wait, what happened to the asset that was the used car. Oh right, it's been destroyed. Our government is forcing us to destroy our assets. This smacks of our government forcing us to be poorer and maybe even more dependent on them. Socialism anyone?
Also, has anybody looked at the used car price index in the last few weeks? That's right, skyrocketing upwards.
And this destroying something to stimulate the economy kept poking me on the shoulder, trying to tell me something. Finally, I remembered. Lucky you, because now I get to show you. Yeah, it's like slide shows of family vacations! Only more boring and even more unsettling.
Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.
Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented
Henry Hazlitt in his book Economics in One Lesson does a much better job at explaining this corollary to The Law of Unintended Consequences. Go read it.
This is exactly what the Clash For Clunkers program is doing. It's destroying one thing and trumpeting it as a success because it had to be replaced. Never mind that if that thing, a car in this case, hadn't been destroyed the money could have been used somewhere else, to buy something else. Never mind that most of the benefits are going to help overseas car manufacturers. The 0bama administration can point and say "We DID SOMETHING."
We've created a new government program. Of course this one is temporary. As temporary as the TVA. That's all that this has done really. Any bets on whether or not the funding becomes a standard line item on next years budget proposal?
What if instead of $4500 for every clunker, the government had given the auto manufacturers just a $450 dollar tax break for every new car produced? What would have happened then? We'd still have that used car around to resell. The auto companies would have had that much more money to hire more people, buy more modern or just plain more equipment to build cars. Those new jobs would have generated all sorts of spending by the people in them. The MSRP of those new cars would have been lowered because now the cost to produce them would be lower. Lower new car prices makes them more affordable and to a greater portion of the populous. Used car lots aren't starved for inventory and they stay open. The possibilities... Feel free to add other reactions to that action in the comments, please.
But what do I know, I'm just an guy with a degree in aerospace engineering, the training to be a professional pilot and the ability to analyze whats happening to this country and weep.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
My Reading Desk.
I think I've mentioned before whats on my reading desk. Usually it's a pile of paperbacks, science fiction or fantasy mostly, waiting to be read or reread. I have a bunch of standards that I like that I try to reread every year or two.
Right now, I've thrown away my always read from the top of the pile rule and started in on Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. The title is two volumes detailing what this Frenchman found on examining the democratic and republican practices in 1830's America. He came over to this side of the Atlantic ostensibly to study the American penal system. But instead he published a series of books that examined the state of the system of government that our founding fathers had established and had grown over 50 years of peaceful development.
Our country had yet to be tested by the Civil War or any of the world wars that were to follow. Many at the time wondered if this form government and rule of law was strong enough to survive a trial of that magnitude.
Anyway, I'm just starting on these volumes, but one thing caught my attention from his foreword. De Tocqueville writes:
I'm finding in many ways that de Tocqueville's thought and opinions are sort of a precursor to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. He, much like Ms. Rand, thought that democracy can only last until the people start voting themselves largess's from the government treasury.
Something else that he wrote about in his foreword. He advanced the theory that democracy is the form of governance that all societies move towards. He took France and England from the 11th century through the modern era as his examples. Stating that gradual adoption of the principles of democracy into local and town governments were the natural course.
I'm left wondering, based upon today's societies both here in America and around the world if de Tocqueville might have been a little optimistic there. I see a tendency towards Absolutism rather than democracy as the unpiloted course. And yes, I'm looking at society here in the states.
These are just my initial thoughts on the first few chapters of Alexis de Tocquevill's books. I'll try to update you on what I read and what I think about it as I get farther into them.
Right now, I've thrown away my always read from the top of the pile rule and started in on Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. The title is two volumes detailing what this Frenchman found on examining the democratic and republican practices in 1830's America. He came over to this side of the Atlantic ostensibly to study the American penal system. But instead he published a series of books that examined the state of the system of government that our founding fathers had established and had grown over 50 years of peaceful development.
Our country had yet to be tested by the Civil War or any of the world wars that were to follow. Many at the time wondered if this form government and rule of law was strong enough to survive a trial of that magnitude.
Anyway, I'm just starting on these volumes, but one thing caught my attention from his foreword. De Tocqueville writes:
"Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they consider to be usurped and oppressive."
I'm finding in many ways that de Tocqueville's thought and opinions are sort of a precursor to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. He, much like Ms. Rand, thought that democracy can only last until the people start voting themselves largess's from the government treasury.
Something else that he wrote about in his foreword. He advanced the theory that democracy is the form of governance that all societies move towards. He took France and England from the 11th century through the modern era as his examples. Stating that gradual adoption of the principles of democracy into local and town governments were the natural course.
I'm left wondering, based upon today's societies both here in America and around the world if de Tocqueville might have been a little optimistic there. I see a tendency towards Absolutism rather than democracy as the unpiloted course. And yes, I'm looking at society here in the states.
These are just my initial thoughts on the first few chapters of Alexis de Tocquevill's books. I'll try to update you on what I read and what I think about it as I get farther into them.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Happy Independance Day everyone!
We the people of the United States,
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Random Thoughts
On a gunboard I frequent on IRC we were discussing the availability or lack thereof of ammo. One of the regulars was whining about hoarders and blah blah blah.
I had to say the definition of hoarding anything is:
If someone buys it before I can, it's hoarding.
If I buy it first, it's just stockpiling.
Simple, no?
I had to say the definition of hoarding anything is:
If someone buys it before I can, it's hoarding.
If I buy it first, it's just stockpiling.
Simple, no?
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Lest we forget.
The Shootist has an excellent post up on the effectiveness of gun control. Go read it.
I think the line:
says it all.
I think the line:
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
says it all.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Strange that.
I'm noticing that I've been spending less and less time blogging about flying and guns and more and more about politics.
Which is strange, 'cause I hate politics. I mean about the only thing worse than a politician is a lawyer.
I have been internally cringing for the last year or so over the local and national political races. I've contemplated driving a rail road spike through my foot and running around in circles. It would get just as much done and I would have a greater sense of accomplishment.
I think my problem is I'm not spending enough time flying for fun.
Flying is poetic in nature. And personal flying is just about the ultimate expression of poetry of motion available to mankind. Flying removes almost all the constraints of motion that have been imposed on us by today's society. Gone is the need to follow a path of tar or concrete, the will to wander in any direction is released. Removed is the constraints on speed made by law, only limited now by physics and the strength of your airframe. A whole other dimension is added your horizon. Not only do you have left and right, forward and back, but that wondrous dimension of up and down are at your disposal. Incredible combinations of up-left, down-back, right-forward. The swoops and arcs and curves an ecstatic display of freedom. A freedom limited only by gravity and performance. And even gravity can be cheated momentarily.
I need to go fly.
Which is strange, 'cause I hate politics. I mean about the only thing worse than a politician is a lawyer.
I have been internally cringing for the last year or so over the local and national political races. I've contemplated driving a rail road spike through my foot and running around in circles. It would get just as much done and I would have a greater sense of accomplishment.
I think my problem is I'm not spending enough time flying for fun.
Flying is poetic in nature. And personal flying is just about the ultimate expression of poetry of motion available to mankind. Flying removes almost all the constraints of motion that have been imposed on us by today's society. Gone is the need to follow a path of tar or concrete, the will to wander in any direction is released. Removed is the constraints on speed made by law, only limited now by physics and the strength of your airframe. A whole other dimension is added your horizon. Not only do you have left and right, forward and back, but that wondrous dimension of up and down are at your disposal. Incredible combinations of up-left, down-back, right-forward. The swoops and arcs and curves an ecstatic display of freedom. A freedom limited only by gravity and performance. And even gravity can be cheated momentarily.
I need to go fly.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Opposite ends of the spectrum
I was trolling through one of my favorite forums when I came across a thread ranting about stupid 911 calls and the people who make them.
Amidst all the anecdotes and folklore, there were two comments that struck me.
One, that people call 911 because they've been so indoctrinated into the nanny state mentality that they literally have abdicated all responsibility in their lives to the .gov and since 911 is the .gov dial-a-prayer line, they can't help themselves from dialing it.
The other is that people are so egotistical and self-centered that anything that happens to them is, obviously, an emergency and needs immediate and overwhelming response by the only ones.
Interesting, no?
On the one end we have the people about whom the world revolves, maybe the universe, but we haven't heard from a couple of galaxies in the pegasus direction, so we can't say that yet. And on the other end we have people who are perfectly happy orbiting around whatever shiny thing they happen to see that morning.
You'd think that would be a match made in the DNC, or whatever place serves as heaven for that sort.
I'm not going to go on about the utter waste of the limited resources these ijits are causing with their misuse of 911. That's fairly obvious.
I'm going to give you an example of each just to give you an idea.
I haven't been able to confirm it, but the second example is apparently on the news defending himself. Which I guess is the other option. The more logical one would be to hide in shame. But, there's no accounting for choice.
I have to give kudos to LEO's and Firefighters everywhere. They don't have a choice, they have to respond to every 911 call they get. That means that the odds are Johnny Law or Freddy Firefighter will be seeing to sandwich condiments or providing flashlights to people out smoking a cig, rather than, you know, investigating the home invasion of your grandma, or saving the guy who got run off the road by the soccermom-on-a-phone.
The mentalities of these two examples have one thing in common unfortunately. They both seek to rely on outside sources. One for blame, the other for vindication. Opposite ends of the spectrum converging on one source.
On second thought, not so much a match made in heaven. More of an all mighty clash waiting to happen. Unfortunately, our first responders will most likely get crushed in between.
And no, I'm not advocating making another law. It's already illegal to make a false emergency call and that's not the problem.
Both these groups, seemingly, can not comprehend that what they're doing is wrong. There is such a disconnect with reality that they really shouldn't be left to walk among real people.
I carry for my own protection. More and more of my friends do the same for the same reason. It's rooted in a belief of self-reliance and self-responsibility. It's almost impossible for me to understand either of these two people, but they exist, therefore, I have to believe that their internal logic supports this behavior.
The question I have is where did they learn this behavior?
How can one group feel at all comfortable having no control over their life and the other not be utterly frustrated over the same situation.
Was this some sort of social experiment that a .edu did that got out of the lab?
Fortunately, I believe that those who believe in self-reliance and responsiblity stand a better chance of survival in the long run. Let's just hope that there's a little civilization left by then.
Amidst all the anecdotes and folklore, there were two comments that struck me.
One, that people call 911 because they've been so indoctrinated into the nanny state mentality that they literally have abdicated all responsibility in their lives to the .gov and since 911 is the .gov dial-a-prayer line, they can't help themselves from dialing it.
The other is that people are so egotistical and self-centered that anything that happens to them is, obviously, an emergency and needs immediate and overwhelming response by the only ones.
Interesting, no?
On the one end we have the people about whom the world revolves, maybe the universe, but we haven't heard from a couple of galaxies in the pegasus direction, so we can't say that yet. And on the other end we have people who are perfectly happy orbiting around whatever shiny thing they happen to see that morning.
You'd think that would be a match made in the DNC, or whatever place serves as heaven for that sort.
I'm not going to go on about the utter waste of the limited resources these ijits are causing with their misuse of 911. That's fairly obvious.
I'm going to give you an example of each just to give you an idea.
And the other.A second Florida man has been arrested on charges of making false 911 calls in as many days.
An arrest report says 47-year-old Carlos Gutierrez was at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino early Monday and called 911 to say the slot machine stole his money.
The report says Gutierrez left the casino to place a second 911 call to say the same thing.
He was arrested and charged with making a false 911 call. He's being held with no bail set.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Jacksonville police say Reginald Peterson needs to learn that 911 is not the appropriate place to complain that Subway left the sauce off a spicy Italian sandwich.WTF, over! How do people like these two make it out of the house in the morning. Rily.Police said the 42-year-old man dialed 911 twice last week so he could have his sub made correctly. The second call was to complain that officers weren't arriving fast enough.
Subway workers told police Peterson became belligerent and yelled when they were fixing his order. They locked him out of the store after he left to call police.
When officers arrived, they tried to calm Peterson and explain the proper use of 911. Those efforts failed, and he was arrested on a charge of making false 911 calls.
I haven't been able to confirm it, but the second example is apparently on the news defending himself. Which I guess is the other option. The more logical one would be to hide in shame. But, there's no accounting for choice.
I have to give kudos to LEO's and Firefighters everywhere. They don't have a choice, they have to respond to every 911 call they get. That means that the odds are Johnny Law or Freddy Firefighter will be seeing to sandwich condiments or providing flashlights to people out smoking a cig, rather than, you know, investigating the home invasion of your grandma, or saving the guy who got run off the road by the soccermom-on-a-phone.
The mentalities of these two examples have one thing in common unfortunately. They both seek to rely on outside sources. One for blame, the other for vindication. Opposite ends of the spectrum converging on one source.
On second thought, not so much a match made in heaven. More of an all mighty clash waiting to happen. Unfortunately, our first responders will most likely get crushed in between.
And no, I'm not advocating making another law. It's already illegal to make a false emergency call and that's not the problem.
Both these groups, seemingly, can not comprehend that what they're doing is wrong. There is such a disconnect with reality that they really shouldn't be left to walk among real people.
I carry for my own protection. More and more of my friends do the same for the same reason. It's rooted in a belief of self-reliance and self-responsibility. It's almost impossible for me to understand either of these two people, but they exist, therefore, I have to believe that their internal logic supports this behavior.
The question I have is where did they learn this behavior?
How can one group feel at all comfortable having no control over their life and the other not be utterly frustrated over the same situation.
Was this some sort of social experiment that a .edu did that got out of the lab?
Fortunately, I believe that those who believe in self-reliance and responsiblity stand a better chance of survival in the long run. Let's just hope that there's a little civilization left by then.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Citizen or Resident?
Just so you all know. I'm not happy with this post. It's not the most coherent. There are underlying meanings to some things that I don't think I communicated effectively. I've got serveral ideas muddled together here. But it's been struggling with me all day now and I thought that maybe if I just posted it I could gain a better perspective on it and fix it.
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"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
People, for some reason, want to enjoy the benefits of citizenship, but not be subject to the allegiance. Can there be citizen-residents? I'd think that there can't be. Someone might say that it's a redundancy, but I'd say they are an oxymoron, mutually exclusive terms. You can't be both. And I'd go further to say that when you identify yourself as an hyphenated american you're trying to do just that. I'm not saying that you should lose or deny your heritage, but ask yourself this. Are you exalting your heritage to the exclusion of being an American? Is your pride in heritage stopping you from doing any sort of assimilation into America? Ultimately, are you proud or ashamed to be living here?
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"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt
in a letter to the president
of the American Defense Society
January 3, 1919
A comment on my Stagecoach post by Carteach0 got me thinking. Thinking on the meaning and differences between being a citizen and being a resident.
A quick browse through my dictionary and a few online ones showed me something. On the surface they both mean living somewhere. Both the following definitions below are from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (because I like copy/paste verses having to type them out).
Citizen
- an inhabitant of a city or town; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman
- a: a member of a state
b: a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it - a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the state
- a: living in a place for some length of time : residing
b: serving in a regular or full-time capacity; also : being in residence - present, inherent
- not migratory
Have we become a nation of residents? We seem to have a growing entitlement mentality, but no corresponding allegiance to support it. One thing I notice living abroad for several years was we americans were the only country that identified ourselves by another country. The Scots were scottish, Welsh were welsh, French were french, etc. We, on the other hand are German-American, or Arab-American, or... Well, you get my meaning.
Maybe we should be calling ourselves American.
But I digress.People, for some reason, want to enjoy the benefits of citizenship, but not be subject to the allegiance. Can there be citizen-residents? I'd think that there can't be. Someone might say that it's a redundancy, but I'd say they are an oxymoron, mutually exclusive terms. You can't be both. And I'd go further to say that when you identify yourself as an hyphenated american you're trying to do just that. I'm not saying that you should lose or deny your heritage, but ask yourself this. Are you exalting your heritage to the exclusion of being an American? Is your pride in heritage stopping you from doing any sort of assimilation into America? Ultimately, are you proud or ashamed to be living here?
Remember for every benefit you take from citizenship, someone had to pay something in to provide for that. It may have been a grandparent on the beaches of Europe, or a parent working in an election campaign office, or a brother or sister over in the sands of the middle east. It could be something as massive as laying down your life to protect someone from a criminal or something as simple as just holding down a job.
If you think the world, the government, or someone "owes you a living" ask yourself what you've done to earn it.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A little shooty goodness.
Today was a shooty day for me. A friend of mine who just took his CCW class and submitted his paperwork wanted to fire his soon to be carry piece. He picked up a Kahr PM9 (?) for carry. And I had some new ammo from a past gun show that I wanted to try out. It's a factory reload from an outfit called Outdoor Marksman Corp.
So, off to the range we trundled. After a puzzling jam on his Kahr with his first round, fun was had. It's always good to go to the range. There's something sort of Zen about it. There's a rhythm about it. A physical mantra, if you will.
Loaded mags placed to the right.
Unloaded 1911, slide locked back, in the center.
Pick up gun
Load mag
Rack slide
Safety on
Set gun down pointed down range.
Breath
Stance
4 rules
Breath
Draw the gun
Take aim
Safety off
Front sight, press
Breath
Front sight, press
Breath
Empty mag, slide locked back
Remove mag, place on the left
Set gun down
Repeat as long as you want or can afford.
The same process repeated. Allowing you to push the thoughts and worries of the day aside. Freeing the conscious mind from them and allowing the unconscious mind to mull them over. It feels good to punch holes in paper for a couple of hours and not think about anything else.
Of course it could just be me.
So, off to the range we trundled. After a puzzling jam on his Kahr with his first round, fun was had. It's always good to go to the range. There's something sort of Zen about it. There's a rhythm about it. A physical mantra, if you will.
Loaded mags placed to the right.
Unloaded 1911, slide locked back, in the center.
Pick up gun
Load mag
Rack slide
Safety on
Set gun down pointed down range.
Breath
Stance
4 rules
Breath
Draw the gun
Take aim
Safety off
Front sight, press
Breath
Front sight, press
Breath
Empty mag, slide locked back
Remove mag, place on the left
Set gun down
Repeat as long as you want or can afford.
The same process repeated. Allowing you to push the thoughts and worries of the day aside. Freeing the conscious mind from them and allowing the unconscious mind to mull them over. It feels good to punch holes in paper for a couple of hours and not think about anything else.
Of course it could just be me.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Why I carry.
I've been asked before and I've blogged about it before. Why do I carry. What am I compensating for. Usually I answer that I'm compensating for being old and slow. That's the easy answer.
This past week, two people were shot in my apartment complex. That's the second shooting and, I've lost count of the number of home invasions and violent crimes in my complex. Now I'm not saying that my carrying would have stopped me from being a victim of one of these types of crimes, but it does give me an opportunity to not be. I'm sorry if that's confusing. Let me try to explain. Without a defensive arm, and by that I mean a gun, a knife, a kubota, something, I have no other choice then to meekly pray that the goblins at my heels don't just kill me for whatever reason. I'm not saying that that's what will necessarily happen. But do you want to depend on mercy or compassion from someone that just looks at you as some sort commodity to be used for money or drugs? Without a means of self defense I've already decided to be the victim, with no ability to mitigate how much of a victim I become.
Also, Lawdog had a excellent post on not just our right, but our duty to defend ourselves. By being a sheep and laying down to be slaughtered, we're telling the bad guys out there that there is very little risk to what they've chosen to do. And since they see reward outweighing risk, they continue to do it. If the risk outweighed the reward, they'd turn to something else, that just basic human nature. It's sort of like house breaking a dog. Reward him for good behavior and punish him for bad. And unfortunately much like a dog, the reward or punishment has to be immediate for it to be connected to the activity. So, defenseless, high reward, low risk, happy thief, continued behavior. Defended, high risk, lower reward, unhappy thief, modifying behavior. Lawdog does a much better job of explaining it.
Why do I carry? Why don't you?
This past week, two people were shot in my apartment complex. That's the second shooting and, I've lost count of the number of home invasions and violent crimes in my complex. Now I'm not saying that my carrying would have stopped me from being a victim of one of these types of crimes, but it does give me an opportunity to not be. I'm sorry if that's confusing. Let me try to explain. Without a defensive arm, and by that I mean a gun, a knife, a kubota, something, I have no other choice then to meekly pray that the goblins at my heels don't just kill me for whatever reason. I'm not saying that that's what will necessarily happen. But do you want to depend on mercy or compassion from someone that just looks at you as some sort commodity to be used for money or drugs? Without a means of self defense I've already decided to be the victim, with no ability to mitigate how much of a victim I become.
Also, Lawdog had a excellent post on not just our right, but our duty to defend ourselves. By being a sheep and laying down to be slaughtered, we're telling the bad guys out there that there is very little risk to what they've chosen to do. And since they see reward outweighing risk, they continue to do it. If the risk outweighed the reward, they'd turn to something else, that just basic human nature. It's sort of like house breaking a dog. Reward him for good behavior and punish him for bad. And unfortunately much like a dog, the reward or punishment has to be immediate for it to be connected to the activity. So, defenseless, high reward, low risk, happy thief, continued behavior. Defended, high risk, lower reward, unhappy thief, modifying behavior. Lawdog does a much better job of explaining it.
Why do I carry? Why don't you?
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