And now we're at a point, politically, where there are three candidates running who have a realistic shot at the Presidency, and I wouldn't urinate on any of them if their hair was on fire.

Where the hell is the space colony they promised me when I was a child, watching men leave bootprints and tire tracks in the lunar dust? Where is my new frontier, my place to go to so that I may live free?

Kevin Baker
That's 35 in Dog Years
[That's me on a "down" day.--Joe]

I think she must have been swapped at birth with someone else's child.

Barb and I wouldn't have a child that received her lowest grade in math! We meet each other in algebra class and each took four years of math in high school followed by I can't remember how many math classes in college.

<heavy sigh>

I suppose we have to keep her now.

Update: This just in--a picture of Xenia and I are in this article about an Ohio dad jailed after daughter fails to get GED. We are the picture on the far right of the row of pictures.

Laws against the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither disposed nor inclined toward violence.

Thomas Jefferson
Quoting Cesaro Beccari.

Transfers data wirelessly at 2.88 MBytes per second. It also doubles as a gun effective against squirrels, vegans, clowns, hippies, street urchins, hooligans, carpetbaggers & scalawags. Don't try it with the girl scout though. She shoots back.

H/T to Kevin I. of the Lewiston Pistol Club.

This is from Chicago so it's not a big surprise they could find someone who thinks like this:

Rabbi Harold Kudan of nearby Temple Am Shalom went on record as challenging aggressive leaflets the gun lobby circulated a month after the shootings that claimed, "If Jews had been armed they could have fought the Nazis."

"If Jews had guns in Nazi Germany, no one would have survived. It would have been an excuse for Nazis to kill with even greater abandon," he told the assemblage, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Nazis didn't stop killing because they finished the job they set out to do. They were stopped because men with guns, tanks, ships, and planes forcibly stopped them. Had the Jews been able and willing to put up some resistance, particularly in Eastern Europe in response to the police battalions, it would have significantly delayed the implementation of the Final Solution.

With a stated goal of ridding Europe of Jews entirely it seems unlikely the Nazis could have been motivated further. What would have the goal been had they had "even greater abandon"? Kill them twice?

...the recent signs of violent times occasion an opportunity for broadening our collective sense of what ''rights'' should be in terms of our social consciousness. Our political and judicial discourse would benefit from moving beyond a purely libertarian view of rights, which emphasizes freedom from governmental coercion or constraint, to incorporate also a dignitarian view of rights, which promotes freedom for the good of each other and for society as a whole.

Thomas F. Dailey
May 11, 2008
Let's think carefully about gun 'rights,' society
["Freedom for the good of each other and for society as a whole?" Hasn't this already been tried a few times by others? And the body count from these efforts just keeps growing. There are only individual rights. Collective "rights" are more properly called powers.--Joe]

What would you do if you were given a time machine and a scoped rifle? Or would you want a scoped rifle to go with the time machine?

In the science fiction short story The Return of William Proxmire Proxmire doesn't want a scoped rifle--he wants a syringe full of antibiotics and he is "gunning" for Robert Heinlein. I loved this story. It articulates the fantasy of changing history via what Niven claims, perhaps rightly so, the common fantasy assassinating some horrendously evil person before they had a chance to do their evil. It put the twist on that fantasy that perhaps you could change history in remarkably good ways by doing some small act of good as well.

Barb and I have been watching The Nazis: A Warning from History. This presentation casts doubts on my fantasy of going back in time to assassinate Hitler. And it makes me a little more sympathetic to all the people I read about in Plotting Hitler's Death: The Story of German Resistance who had the opportunity but then failed to follow through because they didn't have all their plans in order about what to do after Hitler was dead. Some of them spent months debating what type of government (a parliament? A representative democracy? Or perhaps even install a King?) would they put in place after they had successfully killed Hitler. My frustration with them boiled down to "just kill the SOB and worry about the details later". But perhaps it wasn't so simple.

In the The Nazis they claim Hitler wasn't the dictator with a finely detailed plan we, or at least I, thought he was. Hitler had the broad goals of expanding the geographical territory and economic power of the "Germanic people". Yes, many people blamed the Jews for the poor outcome of Germany in WWI and Jews as a scapegoat were a useful tool to motivate people. But in many ways Hitler was very lazy and let his subordinates do pretty much whatever they wanted. He had obtained great power through his gift of rhetoric and ambitious people sought access to that power. These power seekers put great effort into trying to please him. Hitler didn't command them to commit all the great atrocities. They devised and implemented them in an attempt to please him and obtain still more wealth and power. If they furthered the broad goals of more territory and power for the Germans then Hitler did not interfere and they obtained the resources to further their work.

The above is background for the questions posed in the first two sentences of this post. If you could change history with a little nudge (what is one bullet into the brain of Gefreiter Hitler during the middle of WWI in the big scheme of things?) what would that nudge be?

Books such as Because They Hate, Hatred's Kingdom, Preachers of Hate, The Truth About Muhammad, and Infidel put Muhammad on my list. And because Barb and I just finished Genghis Khan he would get some "special attention". Both of these butchers could perhaps be better "nudged" with something other than "a scoped rifle".

The introduction of the principles of scientific inquire and a little schooling might have changed Muhammad into something much more compatible with civilized society. And certainly the Arabs had the talent and even a strong tendency for pursuing science instead of superstition. Could the education of the illiterate Mohammad have made the desired difference?

And what of Genghis Khan? Was the poisoning of his father by a neighboring tribe, the resulting dissolution his tribe and him being hunted and marked for death as the eldest son of the dead tribal leader the motivation for his climb to power? Could his father have been warned about the poison and the results in the following decades been much different?

But the books Free to Choose, Freedomnomics, The Big Three in Economics and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal have influenced me the most. I am inclined to go with the "scoped rifle" approach for dealing with Rousseau, Marx, Hegel, and Engels. These were brilliant men of ideas and persuasion that influenced and enabled Hitler, Stalin, and scores of other brutal dictators to kill hundreds of millions of people and enslave billions more right up through the present day. Perhaps this graphic from Kevin will make it more clear as to why these people are at the top of my list:

Political tags--such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, conservative, and so forth--are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.

Lazarus Long
A character in Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
From Page 47 in The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
[This correct division of political philosophy explains why so many people are dissatisfied with the current set of political candidates for U.S. President. In essence all the candidates are on the same side of the aisle.

My reason for using this quote today will become more apparent after reading my next post.--Joe]

From the Brady Bunch we discover the Brady Campaign Director To Be Honored By Rev. Jesse Jackson And RainbowPUSH Coalition:

Jennifer Bishop, Program Director for Victims and Survivors at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, will be honored by Reverend Jesse Jackson’s RainbowPUSH Coalition this Mother’s Day weekend. 

The organization is recognizing several women whose work has furthered peace, justice, and civil rights around the world with the “Odds Breakers and Dream Makers” award. 

“We’re very proud that Jennifer’s work on behalf of the victims of gun violence is being recognized by Rev. Jackson and the RainbowPUSH Coalition,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign.  “This award appropriately recognizes Jennifer, but also serves to inspire the countless volunteers around our country who are fighting for sensible gun laws to keep all Americans and their families safe.”

“Eighteen years ago my sister, her husband, and their unborn child were murdered.  Every day, this nation loses 80 people to gun violence, eight of them children,” Bishop said. “I am so grateful to our great allies at RainbowPUSH who work every day at the community level to try to prevent such tragedies.”

summary of the Brady Campaign’s recent activities in Illinois is available at
http://www.bradycampaign.org/illinois/.

# # #

As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies. The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.

Recognizing women whose work has furthered civil rights? Wow! How can they say that and not be ashamed to the point of suicide? What if the last sentence describing the Brady Bunch mission statement said:

The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from black violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.

As I have said before, "Never forget that the anti-gun bigots are the KKK of the 21st Century. Look for opportunities to make that point. Make belonging to the Brady Campaign the equivalent of a membership in the KKK because it's true."

Someone should start a pool on how long before these guns (and a kit for making your own, paper, AK-47) are banned. After all, it is the U.K.

H/T to John, via Xenia, for the links.

Both the ATF and FBI are banned by the 10^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution so it's rare that I can be happy about their actions. But at least some of their time is spent doing things that don't cause innocent people harm. From the WaPo we discover the FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases Cooperation Lags Despite Merger:

In the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law enforcement sources and internal documents.

...

At crime scenes, FBI and ATF agents have threatened to arrest one another and battled over jurisdiction and key evidence. The ATF inadvertently bought counterfeit cigarettes from the FBI -- the government selling to the government -- because the agencies are running parallel investigations of tobacco smuggling between Virginia and other states.

There is lots of other good stuff to be found in the article, for example:

Some question whether the ATF can survive. "It just doesn't make sense to have two agencies . . . responding anytime a bomb goes off," one Justice Department official said.

One could claim that if we can get rid of one then we are half-way there. But that isn't the way it really works but I will agree it's a good start.

There were several bloggers not present that made mention of Boomershoot 2008 but here is a list of blog posts and pictures from people who were there:

• Dave Barry and Boomershoot (Ry Jones)
• Personal Injury Theatre 2008 (Ry Jones--Lots of pictures too!) [I still have bruises and swellings that haven't healed.--Joe]
• Toilet video, recut (Ry Jones)
• Boomer Video (Phil @ Random Nuclear Strikes) [If the videos have been pulled and you want to see them let me know and I'll post a link to my copies.--Joe]
• Boomershoot 2008 AAR (Phil @ Random Nuclear Strikes--Pictures!)
• The Rifles of Boomershoot (Phil @ Random Nuclear Strikes--Pictures!)
• Boomershoot Proof of Concept (David @ Random Nuclear Strikes) [Shooting 600+ yard Boomers with pistols!--Joe]
• Why You Want Your Stock to Fit (David @ Random Nuclear Strikes)
• David White Wolf's Photostream (David @ Random Nuclear Strikes) [Not all his Boomershoot 2008 pictures are tagged correctly, go looking for more.--Joe]
• Boomershoot Preview (Xenia Joy--Picture of fire in the air)
• Boomershoot 2008 (Xenia Joy--Lots of pictures from the official Boomershoot photographer)
• Boomershoot (matthew@TriggerFinger--Priceless!)
• Day 1 of the Precision Rifle Clinic (matthew@TriggerFinger)
• Bloggers at Boomershoot (matthew@TriggerFinger)
• Day 2 of the Precision Rifle Clinic (matthew@TriggerFinger)
• Picture of the shooting position (matthew@TriggerFinger)
• The Other Way to Shoot Boomers (matthew@TriggerFinger)
• Road Trip! (Privacy of the Mind)
• Winding Down (Privacy of the Mind)
• Here Comes The Boom (Privacy of the Mind--Picture of muzzle flash from a .50 BMG)
• Home Again, Home Again (Privacy of the Mind--Link to many pictures)
• Boomer Shoot 2008 (Barron Barnett--Lots of good pictures!) [His first blog post ever!--Joe]

Why should democracy rise against bribery?  It is itself a form of wholesale bribery.  In place of a government with a fixed purpose and a visible goal, it sets up a government that is a mere function of the mob's vagaries.  Its security depends wholly upon providing satisfactory bribes for the prehensile minorities that constitute the mob . . . the very head of the state, having no title to his office save that which lies in the popular will, is forced to haggle and bargain like the lowliest office seeker.

H.L. Mencken
[Think about it; Elections are bribery in both directions. The people who seek and win elections are those willing to engage in bribery and are best at it. Do not expect politicians to be honest. The system discriminates against honest politicians. This is just one more reason why our government is (theoretically) and should be limited by strictly enumerated powers.--Joe]

This trial is supposed to be held in a federal court, not a kangaroo court. What’s next, a request that Judge Weinstein not allow defense witnesses or rebuttal? Why not just dispense with the trial altogether and lynch Mr. Wallace from the limb of a tree out in Central Park?

...

Apparently, in Mikey’s world, a fair trial is one in which a defense attorney is muzzled, and the defendant is already guilty until proven innocent. Bloomberg missed his calling. Instead of being mayor of an American city, he should have been the administrator of a gulag.

Alan Gottlieb
Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation
May 9, 2008
Bloomberg outrage: Asks judge to ban 2nd Amendment references!
New York Sun article on the topic.

Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive.

Milton Friedman
[Translating to present day for the weak-minded (Clinton and Obama supporters--I'm talking to you) the same applies to low cost medical care, housing, oil, and gasoline. Columbus wanted to get rich by finding a shorter shipping route for spices and other goods. People seek to make goods and services available at a lower cost because they want to make money for themselves. The allure of "getting rich" is a great motivator and "majority directives" by government take the incentive away from the real goal--providing goods and services at a better value than others. Government directives and incentives motivate the creators of goods and services to please the government not the consumers. This leads to corruption in government, high taxes, and goods and services of lesser quality and greater cost than if the free market were allowed to work.--Joe]

Once the right to keep and bear arms is separated from its long-established tether to a militia purpose, it is unclear what legal standard gun laws would need to survive constitutional challenge. There is little doubt, however, that recognition of a broad private right to be armed will create a new presumption against the constitutionality of gun laws, whereas currently there is a virtually absolute presumption in favor of their constitutionality. Guns would achieve a specially protected constitutional status imposing unique limits on the legislative authority of the elected representatives of the people that would apply to no other dangerous products. Ironically, regulation of guns, the only publicly-available consumer product designed to inflict lethal injury, would be required to meet a higher constitutional standard than regulation of cars, lawnmowers and other dangerous products capable of inflicting lethal injury, but not designed to do so.

Dennis A. Henigan et al
Director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Legal Action Project
Some time after March of 2007
Second Amendment Fantasy--The Brady Center’s Critique of the Parker v. District of Columbia Decision
Emphasis in the original.
[Henigan et al overlook two important points:

1. Federal regulation of cars, lawnmowers, etc. is prohibited by the 10^th Amendment.
2. Regulation of a products unintended consequences is much different than that for which it is designed.

Ignoring the first point for today and concentrating on the second point a little thought will reveal the regulation Henigan supports is much different than that of cars and lawnmowers.

A regulation requiring a self-propelled lawnmower to turn itself off when the operator releases their hands from the controls would be analogous to something like requiring a gun to tolerate being dropped without discharging. Which, if it were done by a state legislature, I wouldn't pick a constitutional fight over. A regulation which restricted self-propelled lawnmowers to government employees is analogous to the type of restrictions Henigan advocates.

Beyond the above points the 2^nd Amendment specifically protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. So yes, assuming the Heller (formerly Parker) decision goes our way, guns would achieve a specially protected constitutional status imposing unique limits on our government. This was the original intent of the 2^nd Amendment.

Therefore a more succinct response to Henigan et al would be, "And your point is?"--Joe]

I almost used this exact paragraph from here as my QOTD but decided to look around some more and save that for some other time. I then saw this exact paragraph while visiting here and again was sorely tempted. As I continued to wander my RSS feeds revealed Sebastian and Kevin eliminated my backups. Either it is a conspiracy against me or great minds think alike. I'm inclined to think the later because Say Uncle has the same complaint as I do.

The following should be self-explanatory.

From: Joe Huffman
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 8:55 AM
To: 'soldiersangels@gmail.com'
Cc: 'Chuck Ziegenfuss'; 'Barb Scott'; 'Jason Scott'
Subject: Boomershoot 2008 Raffle proceeds.

Boomershoot (http://www.boomershoot.org) is an annual long range precision rifle event held in North Central Idaho. Each year soldiers from Fort Lewis attend and for two days prior to the main event help teach Boomershoot participants the science and art of accurate long range shooting. Some of those soldiers later went on to Iraq and Afghanistan and were injured and some were killed.

Last October my wife and I met Chuck Ziengenfuss at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno. He told us of his injuries and how Soldiers’ Angels helped him. It turns out that it was the second time my wife had met Chuck. She had also met at Walter Reed when she was visiting our nephew Jason Scott who was wounded in Iraq and benefited from your help.

At Boomershoot this year we held a raffle with the intent that half of the proceeds would go to raffle participants and the other half going to Project Valour-IT. All winners of the raffle proceeds gave the money to me to forward on to you. Two other people quietly came up to me and each gave me three $100 bills to give to you.

Below is the reference number and other information from my bank who is mailing you a check of the entire proceeds. If it does not arrive as expected please let me know.

PENDING PAYMENTS

Regards and thank you,

Joe Huffman
Boomershoot Event Director

May No Soldier Go Unloved.

Slogan of Soldier's Angels
[See my next post for more context.--Joe]

We've got to tighten up our gun laws. I've said before we should have a much tougher background check system, one that's much more effective and make sure there aren't loopholes out there like the gun show loophole.

Barack Obama
April 25, 2008
Laws alone can't stop violence: Obama
Chicago Sun-Times
[I'm probably just bitterly clinging to my guns, but it sure doesn't sound to me like Mr. Obama thinks of the 2^nd Amendment as right. After all, I don't hear him talking about background checks for books and the "book show loophole". There is other stuff in the same article that makes it very, very clear where he stands on the gun issue. I'm going to remain very bitter about him being a public servant instead of behind bars as a felon.--Joe]