This will be interesting

Will this be the defining moment for people to realize just what we are up against?  For the people of the Netherlands it probably was the Van Gogh murder.  But this might “do it” for a lot more people.  I’m glad to see what the Danes are standing their ground:

THE Danish editor who brought the fury of the Muslim world on his country by printing pictures of the Prophet Muhammad defiantly declared yesterday: “We do not apologise for printing the cartoons. It was our right to do so.”

As protests continued for a second day in Gaza with shouts of “Death to Denmark”, Flemming Rose, the culture editor of the centre-right daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten, sat in his book-lined office declaring his surprise at the reaction.

He said that he had to stand his ground because, as in the Salman Rushdie affair, freedom of speech was being threatened. “There is a lot at stake. It would be very naive to think this is only about Jyllands-Posten and 12 cartoons and apologising or not apologising.

“This is about standing for fundamental values that have been the (foundation) for the development of Western democracies over several hundred years, and we are now in a situation where those values are being challenged,” he said.

“I think some of the Muslims who have reacted very strongly to these cartoons are being driven by totalitarian and authoritarian impulses, and the nature of these impulses is that if you give in once they will just put forward new requirements.”

A poll over the weekend showed that 80 per cent of Danes thought that the Government should not apologise and 62 per cent thought that the newspaper should not apologise. Jyllands-Posten tried to calm tempers on Monday by apologising for any offence caused, but stood firm on its decision to print the pictures.

Here is a collection of Muhammad pictures including the one of him with a bomb as a turban which was so offensive to the extremist Muslims.  I’m particular fond of the “What would Muhammad drive?” cartoon.  The more in your face types will appreciate the camel one.

Thanks to Ry for the link to the collection and for the basis of this post.

This is what happens in places without guns–Case XI

Restrictions both by the state and the U.S. Post Office prevented people from having effective defensive tools available when a woman went postal yesterday.  Six killed, one wounded:

GOLETA, Calif. — A female ex-postal worker opened fire at a mail processing plant, killing six people and critically wounding another before committing suicide, authorities said early today.

Deputies responding to a call of shots fired about 9:15 p.m. Monday found two people dead outside the plant.

Two wounded women were located inside and were taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. One died and the other was listed in critical condition early today with a gunshot wound to the head.

Nearly five hours later, deputies found four additional bodies, including one believed to be the female shooter, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson said. The shooter, who was not identified, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said.

Quote of the day–Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars

The Council of Peoples’ Commissars has resolved that:

   1) All Citizens and all civil organizations should surrender machineguns, rifles, revolvers of all kinds – whether working or defective – as well as cartridges, and all models of sabres.

This decree also applies to all organizations which possess the above-mentioned weapons, and which are not part of regular military detachments approved by the People’s Commissariat of Military Affairs or the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic.

NOTE: All certificates for keeping weapons are therefore invalidated.

 

Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, E. Sklyansky
Approved 29/X 1918
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)
From Lethal Laws–Gun Control is the Key to Genocide
[Instructions that accompanied the decree specifically exempted members of the Russian Communist Party from the requirement that all firearms be surrendered.  From 1929 to 1953 Stalin murdered about 20,000,000 persons.  Never register all, if any, of your guns.  Registration fails my Jews in the Attic Test.–Joe]

Trip was mildly eventful

Usually when I arrive back in my room near my job, 300 miles from home, I send Barb a short email since it’s frequently past her bedtime.  “Trip was uneventful.”  This time was different.  When I arrived in Ellensburg, about two thirds of the way here, I found out Snoqualmie Pass was closed indefinitely.  Blewitt Pass and Stevens Pass to the north were open with some restrictions so I topped off the gas tank and headed north.  The traffic advisory radio said traction tires were recommended on Blewitt and required on Stevens.  I saw three cars off the road.  I stopped at the first one which was way off the road down a steep bank because there were no emergency vehicles present.  There was another car with a couple there and I asked if everything was under control.  The woman said 911 had been called and everyone was okay and I continued on my way.  In the other cases it was clear they didn’t need my help.  It was snowing constantly from the time I left Ellensburg and the normally 50 and 60 MPH road now had variable speed limits in place from 35 and 40 MPH.  At times the long line of cars that caravaned over the mountains was only going 25 MPH.  The roads weren’t really that slick.  When I would test things I could get a little bit of slippage but it wasn’t that big of a deal.  Blewitt pass was first and was no big deal.  Very pretty actually with all the snow covered trees.  Leavenworth was beautiful will all the Christmas lights still up and the snow coming down.  Then as I was climbing to the top of Stevens the radio said chains were required on Blewitt.  I hate putting on and driving in chains.  Glad I made it through there before that restriction went into effect.  As I was coming into town the radio said Stevens pass was closed.  I made it through just in time.

The alternate route was 50 miles and 2.5 hours longer than normal.

President Madison–Extremist

Lyle sent me this link.  President Madison explains in great detail why a bill providing for the construction of roads and canals is unconstitutional and he had no choice but to veto it.  Such a bill that today would pass without the slightest hint of concern it overstepping the bounds of the U.S. Constitution.  Considering the role Madison had in writing the document one would think that he would know the bounds better than present day politicians.

Daniel Pipes and Islam

If you want to understand Islam from the political viewpoint and how it relates to the non-Muslims of the world read Daniel Pipes. I started with a post from 1995 and at first I thought I was reading about present day from a recent article.  Everything he said then about the future we now have experience or are experiencing.  He knew what he was talking about then and I have no reason to believe his understanding has diminished.  Here is a sample from 1995:

Though anchored in religious creed, fundamentalist Islam is a radical utopian movement closer in spirit to other such movements (communism, fascism) than to traditional religion. By nature anti-democratic and aggressive, anti-Semitic and anti-Western, it has great plans. Indeed, spokesmen for fundamentalist Islam see their movement standing in direct competition to Western civilization and challenging it for global supremacy. Let’s look at each of these elements in more detail.

Radical utopian schema. Outside their own movement, fundamentalists see every existing political system in the Muslim world as deeply compromised, corrupt, and mendacious. As one of their spokesmen put it as long ago as 1951, “there is no [sic] one town in the whole world where Islam is observed as enjoined by Allah, whether in politics, economics or social matters.” Implied here is that Muslims true to God’s message must reject the status quo and build wholly new institutions.

To build a new Muslim society, fundamentalists proclaim their intent to do whatever they must; they openly flaunt an extremist sensibility. “There are no such terms as compromise and surrender in the Islamic cultural lexicon,” a spokesman for Hamas declares. If that means destruction and death for the enemies of true Islam, so be it. Hizbullah’s spiritual leader, Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, concurs: “As Islamists,” he says, “we seek to revive the Islamic inclination by all means possible.”

Seeing Islam as the basis of a political system touching every aspect of life, fundamentalists are totalitarian. Whatever the problem, “Islam is the solution.” In their hands, Islam is transformed from a personal faith into a ruling system that knows no constraints. They scrutinize the Qur’an and other texts for hints about Islamic medicine, Islamic economics, and Islamic statecraft, all with an eye to creating a total system for adherents and corresponding total power for leaders. Fundamentalists are revolutionary in outlook, extremist in behavior, totalitarian in ambition.

Revealingly, they vaunt Islam as the best ideology, not the best religion-thereby exposing their focus on power. Whereas a traditional Muslim would say something like, “We are not Jewish, we are not Christian, we are Muslim,” the Malaysian Islamist leader Anwar Ibrahim made a very different comparison: “We are not socialist, we are not capitalist, we are Islamic.” While fundamentalist Islam differs in its details from other utopian ideologies, it closely resembles them in scope and ambition. Like communism and fascism, it offers a vanguard ideology; a complete program to improve man and create a new society; complete control over that society; and cadres ready, even eager, to spill blood.

In the January 26th issue of USA Today Mr. Pipes writes Don’t deal with terrorists:

An increasing number of voices are calling for Hamas to be recognized, arguing that the imperatives of governance would tame it, ending its arch-murderous vocation (it has killed around 600 Israelis) and turning it into a responsible citizen. Even President Bush made this argument in early 2005: “There’s a positive effect when you run for office. Maybe some will run for office and say, ‘Vote for me, I look forward to blowing up America.’ … I don’t think so. I think people who generally run for office say, ‘Vote for me, I’m looking forward to fixing your potholes, or making sure you got bread on the table.'”

The historical record, however, refutes this “pothole theory of democracy.” Mussolini made the trains run, Hitler built autobahns, Stalin cleared the snow and Castro reduced infant mortality — without any of these totalitarians giving up their ideological zeal nor their grandiose ambitions. Likewise, Islamists in Afghanistan, Iran, and Sudan have governed without becoming tamed. If proof is needed, note the Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons amid an apocalyptic fervor.

It was a mistake to permit Hamas to compete in elections. Like al-Qaeda, Hamas should be destroyed, not legitimated, much less courted.

Intolerance

In September Danish and Norwegian newspapers published a cartoon with the Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb.  It raised the ire of the Muslim extremists to such an extent that some are now calling for a goods boycott and are threatening all Danes and Norwegians with physical violence:

The Danish Foreign Ministry warned against non-crucial travel to Saudi Arabia and urged Danes to be cautious in other Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Algeria, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories.

“In the current situation where the drawings of the Prophet Mohammad have caused strong negative reactions among Muslims, Danes who choose to stay in Saudi Arabia should show extraordinarily high watchfulness,” it added on its Web site.

The Danish Red Cross said it had pulled two employees out of Gaza and one from Yemen.

Ten Palestinians armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers rallied outside the European Union headquarters in Gaza City and fired in the air, demanding an apology and saying Danes and Norwegians there would be at risk of attack.

Thousands of protesters in the West Bank town of Qalqilya marched through the streets, demanding an apology and burning Denmark’s flag, a white cross on a red background.

Militant groups linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction issued a statement saying, “We call upon all Danish citizens in (Palestine) to leave immediately.”

Hamas, the militant Islamic group which won Palestinian elections last week, urged Islamic countries to take “deterrent steps against idiotic Danish behavior”.

“We call on Muslim nations to boycott all Danish products because the Danish people supported the hateful racism under the pretext of freedom of expression,” it said in a statement.

Egypt is also considering recalling its Copenhagen envoy, Danish media quoted Egypt’s ambassador for saying.

So what would be the result if all people reacted this way if some media outlets protrayed a political or religious leaders in an unfavorable light?  We would have had a major rift with Germany in the mid 90s:

german-fp.jpg (47727 bytes)
This photo was taken at a German carnival in Cologne, Germany.

And that’s just the beginning.  This sort of thinking and behavior is destructive to civilized society.  Intolerance of this magnitude cannot be tolerated (forgive the irony).  We must destroy this extremist culture.

Quote of the day–Julia Gorin

In short, he is a man begging for subjugation. He longs for its promise of equality in helplessness. Because only when that strange, independent alpha breed of male is helpless along with him will he feel adequate. Indeed, his freedom lies in this other man’s containment.

Julia Gorin
The anti-gun male
Jewish World Review
March 8, 2002 / 24 Adar, 5762
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/julia/gorin030802.asp
[Thanks to Zendo Deb for the pointer to this article.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Ambrose Bierce

… but as records of courts and justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind.  The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable.  The judges’ decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law.  Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death.  If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value.

Ambrose Bierce
The Devil’s Dictionary
[What do you expect with the legal system infected by Neurotypicals?–Joe]

Issue for the teachers union

I’m constantly amazed there are people that are still opposed to our involvement in world war III.  You would think that with incidents like this at least the teacher union would be supporting it.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents have torched three schools in a restive southern province of Afghanistan, the latest attacks in the militants’ campaign against the U.S.-backed government and its efforts to promote education.

The three newly built schools, where 1,000 boys and girls studied, were gutted on Friday night in different parts of Nawa district in Helmand province, said provincial education chief Mohammad Qasim.

“I can say that the Taliban were behind this,” Qasim told Reuters on Saturday, adding that no one was hurt in the attacks.

Or maybe you could expect strong support from womens rights groups:

The Taliban banned girls from school during their rule, which ended when they were ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001 after the Islamists refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

But it’s teachers in particular that should be able to see the issue most clearly:

Suspected Taliban gunmen dragged a teacher from his classroom and shot him at the gates of his school in December after he had ignored warnings to stop teaching boys and girls, officials said.

In a separate attack, also in December, gunmen shot and killed an 18-year-old male student and a guard at another school in Helmand. The gunmen opened fire on teachers and said they would be killed unless the schools were shut down, police said.

In Zabul province, also in the south, a teacher was dragged from his home and beheaded last month.

But what do I know?  I’m just the weird guy that insists on thinking logically.

This is what happens in places without guns–Case X

I saw reference to this on Kim du Toit’s blog the other day but it wasn’t until a comment was left on my “…Case IX” post that I read the source document.  Excellent example:

Outside of school hours, my Cornish village of St Day descends into a state of anarchy. Feral yobs run wild while adults live in fear of threats, vandalism and intimidation. I despair that while we spend millions battling global warming, terrorism and drugs, the biggest threat is harassment by degenerate thugs.

For years St Day, like most rural settlements with a bored young population, suffered the usual mischiefs of the odd problem family and occasional petty vandalism.

Then, in spring 2005, yobs began to gather every night below the village clock tower (right). There are incessant screams, threats to passers-by, regular blockades: motorists have been forced to turn back, while boy racers are permitted to screech through. A chav checkpoint.

For local residents, the protocol on Fore Street is simple: do not confront, do not engage, stay inside. A resident who raised thousands of pounds for a village youth club was repaid with a bag of horse manure, mixed with petrol, set ablaze against his front door.

Things got worse at the end of the summer. A gang broke into a funeral wake in the church hall. They smashed ornaments and hurled abuse at terrified guests, who were ferried home while the attackers ransacked the vicarage.

Days later a church wedding rehearsal suffered a similar attack. Despite plenty of witnesses, and evidence, no arrests were made because the police wanted to catch the suspects in the act.

After a long, hot summer confined to our homes amid the perpetual cacophony of idle, ferocious children, we hoped to regain daytime control of the village with the start of the school term. But while waiting for the school bus one day, yobs set fire to an outbuilding and smashed every window of the parish church.

A middle-aged woman was fenced into a telephone box by 20 screaming thugs; a household was forced out of Fore Street overnight. In total five households left the main street in 2005.

If I found a middle-aged woman fenced into a telephone box by 20 screaming thugs in one of the states I can legally carry I might have to do a magazine change (only 18+1 of .40 S&W in my STI) but she wouldn’t be in the telephone box when I left and the screaming of the thugs would have changed pitch if not completely stopped.

Asperger syndrome

A couple days ago I subtly mentioned I may have Asperger syndrome.  Boyd and David, in the comments, disagreed with that diagnosis.  Boyd in particular said, “Asperger syndrome is marked by poor social skills so that kinda knocks Joe out of the running (sorry man ; ).”  Uhh… you didn’t know me until I was over 40 years old.  If you had know me in the first 20 years of my life you would have had a much different opinion.  And besides, Boyd, you’re an engineer type yourself!

Barb obtained a book on Asperger syndrome and read it in one night this week.  She called me every few minutes:

Date    Time  Minutes
01/24 08:35 PM   3
01/24 08:28 PM   4
01/24 08:05 PM   3
01/24 07:53 PM   2
01/24 07:50 PM   3
01/24 07:48 PM   2
01/24 07:32 PM   5
01/24 07:25 PM   5
01/24 07:20 PM   5
01/24 07:09 PM   2
01/24 07:05 PM   3
01/24 06:43 PM   2
01/24 06:25 PM   3
01/24 06:09 PM   3

Every time she called it was to tell me about another thing she read and about how well it described me.  Right down to some of the physical characteristics that are sometimes associated with AS.  I’m a high functioning AS and somethings didn’t match but it’s pretty clear that using this phrase to describe me is appropriate in the world of the Neurotypicals.  It explains a lot of the frustration I have dealing with Neurotypicals too.  They are irrational, refuse to explain themselves, or the datasets they are working from and tend to attempt refuting your bullet proof logic and data set with phrases like, “It doesn’t matter, you are still wrong.”  Or “I don’t believe your facts.” End of discussion, no facts that contradict the facts I presented, no rational explanation as to why “my” facts might be wrong.  They just issue a blanket dismissal of my argument and they are perfectly happy to continue believing whatever it is they want to believe.  My insistence that they definitely shouldn’t be allowed to vote and perhaps shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce either are all consistent with AS behavior.  Just as is their complete disregard for facts and logical, if it is convenient for them, typical of the Neurotypicals.

When is it we will make first contact with Vulcans?  Beam me up Spock.  I’m on the wrong planet.

Survival blog

James Wesley, Rawles – www.SurvivalBlog.comTM quoted me about people, society, guns, and explosives on his blog today.  He also promoted this blog and Boomershoot some too.  He said this blog was “wonderfully addictive.”  I hadn’t realized that anyone other than me was addicted to it.  I met Rawles a couple times at gun shows a long time ago.  Nice guy to talk to.  I have read a couple versions of his book TEOTWAWKI which I enjoyed too.

Freedom to travel

I don’t get it.  Or probably more accurately these people don’t get it:

Wash lawmakers want to ban overseas sex tours

By RACHEL LA CORTE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Travel agents wouldn’t be able to book or sell “sex tours” under a measure lawmakers are considering, following the lead of Hawaii, which signed a similar bill into law two years ago.

Arranging such tours would be a Class C felony, intended to crack down on sex tours to such places as Thailand. Violators would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Sen. Karen Fraser, the main sponsor of the bill, said she wants to help reduce the demand for such trips. While she said she wasn’t aware of any Washington state travel agents offering such tours, she said the state needs to take a pre-emptive stand.

“It is a global moral issue, and we should take every step we can to try and reduce sex slavery,” she said.

Okay, I’m against slavery of any type but not all sex for money involves slavery.  Prostitution is legal in many countries and even some counties in Nevada.  Would this law prohibit a “sex tour” to Nevada too?  Just because these Puritans in the Washington State legislature want something to be against the law everywhere doesn’t mean they have the authority to exercise that control over their citizen when they travel outside the state.  They can’t tell their citizens they can’t use a machine gun or suppressor when they visit Oregon, Idaho, or Nevada.  They can’t tell their homosexual residents they can’t get married while in Massachusetts if they meet the requirements of that state.  If they want to exercise that type of control then they should just be up front about it, put up their own “Berlin Wall”, and make it illegal for their residents to leave the state.

National Ammo Day is site of the month

Kim du Toit should be proud.  “The Gun Guys” (anti-gun bigots) decided his National Ammo Day BUYcott website was worthy of being their site of the month.  Here is a sample of their bigotry:

…if du Toit really wants to support the gun industry, maybe he should just cut out the middleman and have a “Kill People Day.” One day a year, every gun owner would just kill a hundred people. It would accomplish the goals of the gun industry, without the trouble of going to the store and buying all that ammo!

Congratulations Kim!  Now if we could just get Boomershoot.org to be site of the month sometime.  As Ry said to me today on these nut cases, “Great!  Every bit of traffic helps.”

Feds urged to repeal new ID law

That’s the headline for this article referring to a resolution being considered in the Washington State legislature:

A resolution sponsored by Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland, heard by the House Transportation Committee this week, calls on Congress and President Bush to repeal the REAL ID Act, saying it infringes on civil liberties, creates a huge burden for the Department of Licensing and could make identity theft easier.

I’m all for doing away with the concept of a national ID card.  It fails my Jews in the Attic Test and probably will make us less secure rather that more secure.