Socialize the individual's surplus and you socialize his spirit and creativeness; you cannot paint the Mona Lisa by assigning one dab of paint to a thousand painters.

William F. Buckley, Jr.
Literature
Up From Liberalism

Family member and full-time California cop Gabriel Suarez, who is gradually working up to his Ace Rating in police actions, contributes the following:

Gun control is a band-aid, feeling good approach to the nation's crime problem. It is easier for politicians to ban something than it is to condemn a murderer to death or a robber to life in prison. In essence, 'gun control' is the coward's way out.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper's Commentaries
Vol. 2, No. 12
27 September 1994

I've been trying to reverse the situation in my mind and look at it from all the different angles I can.  I still just can't imagine doing this sort of thing myself in any sort of situation.  These nutcases are protesting against the war on terrorists at Walter Reed hospital:

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the current home of hundreds of wounded veterans from the war in Iraq, has been the target of weekly anti-war demonstrations since March. The protesters hold signs that read "Maimed for a Lie" and "Enlist here to die for Halliburton."

The anti-war demonstrators, who obtain their protest permits from the Washington, D.C., police department, position themselves directly in front of the main entrance to the Army Medical Center, which is located in northwest D.C., about five miles from the White House.

Among the props used by the protesters are mock caskets, lined up on the sidewalk to represent the death toll in Iraq.

I could be walking past them soon.  I'll maintain my composure but I'll be steaming inside.

Here is some disturbing news:

All U.S. passports will be implanted with remotely readable computer chips starting in October 2006, the Bush administration has announced.

Sweeping new State Department regulations issued Tuesday say that passports issued after that time will have tiny radio frequency ID (RFID) chips that can transmit personal information including the name, nationality, sex, date of birth, place of birth and digitized photograph of the passport holder. Eventually, the government contemplates adding additional digitized data such as "fingerprints or iris scans."

Over the last year, opposition to the idea of implanting RFID chips in passports has grown amidst worries that identity thieves could snatch personal information out of the air simply by aiming a high-powered antenna at a person or a vehicle carrying a passport. Out of the 2,335 comments on the plan that were received by the State Department this year, 98.5 percent were negative. The objections mostly focused on security and privacy concerns.

...

In regulations published Tuesday, the State Department claims it has addressed privacy concerns. The chipped passports "will not permit 'tracking' of individuals," the department said. "It will only permit governmental authorities to know that an individual has arrived at a port of entry--which governmental authorities already know from presentation of non-electronic passports--with greater assurance that the person who presents the passport is the legitimate holder of the passport."

To address Americans' concerns about ID theft, the Bush administration said the new passports will be outfitted with "antiskimming material" in the front cover to "mitigate" the threat of the information being surreptitiously scanned from afar. It's not clear, though, how well the technique will work against high-powered readers that have been demonstrated to read RFID chips from about 160 feet away.

Sure, shielding the passports is a good idea.  If they weren't made with that built-in the private market would have supplied them. 

The article goes on to discuss some concerns about the security of the encryption and some legal issues but misses one of my big concerns.  The government tries to reassure us that everything is going to be okay because they are making efforts to make sure only they will be able to read the information.  And that they will only read the information at ports of entry.  It's government that is the biggest threat to the individual person.  It's government abuse that I'm worried about.  This technology makes it practical for automated reading, recording, and tracking of the passports.  When the passports were nothing but paper it took a human time to retrieve the information and verify it's validity.  It simply wasn't practical to put a human at the entrance to every government building, every boarding gate for planes and trains, and monitor every banking transaction.  This technology changes that.  And it is likely to creep into more and more of our lives.  Then there will be little reason to not require the same technology on whatever government mandated ID U.S. citizens will have.  The temptation will be just too great.

And of course mandated ID and/or tracking of people violates my Jews in the Attic Test.

From his dad:

Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 3:45 PM

Athough it has been a bit of tough weekend, it ends on an up-note. Jason is in his room with Jodi and Dan watching a Bears game (Bears were winning the last time I checked). This afternoon is probably the best he has felt for the last several days and certainly his ability to communicate has greatly improved this afternoon. The swelling in his face has gone down enough so he can now see at of this right eye which is fantastic news.

Tomorrow Jason is schedule for two sets of surgery. The first is a cleaning and treatment of the Buddock, and the second is for this arms. They may close his right arm and it looks like the elbow will be saved. Second, they will place the pins in the left arm.

On Tuesday, they will do the face reconstruction. The surgeon feels like a good job will be done.

I commend Senator Durbin, Congressman John Porter and the rest of our friends in the Congress for introducing this important legislation.  To allow this nation to return to cash-and-carry tragedies is unimaginable.

Sarah Brady
Chair of HCI (now The Brady Campaign)
February 24, 1999
Regarding a proposed federal law for a permanent waiting period for firearms purchases after the temporary waiting period expired when the "instant check" came online.
From http://www.bradycampaign.org/press/release.php?release=164 (as of October 27, 2005)
[This is how the other side works.  Get something through then incrementally "improve" it.  We need to do the same.  -- Joe]

Gun positive coverage in the Washington Post. It must be April Fools Day.  Nope, but it is a gun positive story. Getting women and children involved in the positive use of guns makes a difference in the media perception of firearms.  Getting a third grade girl involved makes a big difference:

Girl, 8, Credited With Year's 1st Bear Kill

2 Rounds Did In the 211-Pound Animal, Third-Grader From Western Md. Says

By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page B03

MOUNT NEBO, Md., Oct. 24 -- There's a new hunting legend in the mountains of Western Maryland.

Born to the woods, she's 4 1/2 feet tall and 8 years old, with a shock of light brown hair and a steady trigger finger that put two bullets into a black bear's chest cavity Monday, according to her and her father and granduncle, who were hunting with her. State officials backed the claim by Sierra Stiles and credited her with the first kill of Maryland's second bear season since hunting the animals resumed after a half-century ban.

...

Sierra Stiles,8, put two bullets into a black bear's chest cavity Monday in Western Maryland, according to her and her father and granduncle, who were hunting with her.

Of course there were people complaining about it:

The Humane Society of the United States, which has urged Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) to ban bear hunts, expressed concern Monday over the age of the hunter and noted that the first bear killed last year was a young bear.

"Governor Ehrlich is personally responsible for exposing young children and young bears to this cruelty," read the news release.

But even that is a good thing.  It exposes them to even more ridicule.

I'm getting a new job in the Seattle area and won't be moving my wife over from Idaho for about another 1.5 years. Our youngest daughter is still in high school and we don't want to disrupt that. I would like to rent something cheap where I can shower, sleep, fix a few meals and connect to the internet. I typically would only be there four nights a week and go home on weekends.

I would like for the place to be "gun friendly" in that I could carry concealed or open and clean my guns (if there were no other guests at the time) without causing any alarm. Discussion of the recreational use of explosives shouldn't be cause for calling the cops.

I'm 50 years old, a non-smoker, only rarely drink alcohol, and have never used illegal recreational drugs. I would bring my own small refrigerator/freezer. If you don't have a high speed internet connection I would supply a wireless router and all the technical expertise to get that up and running in your home.

I can move in as early as November 2nd or wait until the middle of the month. I'm in the Seattle area now and will be for another day and would like to find something soon.

I just got a call from American Express.  They claim I am past due on a bill.  When I worked at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory I was (nearly) required to have a "Corporate Account" with AMEX.  The last travel I did for PNNL was in April and there were airplane tickets and a hotel room put on the card.  There was also planned travel for the end of May a few days after they suspended me.  I signed travel reports for both those trips and I thought everything was all settled.  Apparently it wasn't.  Perhaps the hotel charged for a room that wasn't canceled or something.  I don't know.  In any case the jerks at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory didn't forward me the statements that came to my former work address.  The account has been turned over to collections. 

For those of you that don't quite understand why I have to pay the bill for a "company card" the way PNNL and AMEX arranged things was for the individual to be responsible for the bill. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory then paid AMEX for the charges which were legitimate company expenses.  Fair enough.  I could take my wife on a company trip, put all the expenses on the card, then pay the portion due to the extra expense of my wife at the end without having to split hotel bills, etc.  It would also put more responsibility on the individual to not abuse the card.  I didn't have a problem with it... until now.

The bottom line is that AMEX now has a valid address for me and will be sending me all the missing statements.  It's my responsibility to pay the bill, try to collect from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and get my credit reports straightened out.  A bad credit report could even affect the job offer I have in hand.  I don't think it would be possible to fully communicate the level of 'annoyance' I have for the jerks at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at this moment.

I brought my favorite rifle and pistol with me to the Seattle area where I am now.  They both need to be cleaned.  Cleaning them will make me feel better.  Wish I had brought my chemistry set and had a place to play with it here.  That would help even more.

If anyone suggests that Iran has just as much right to have nuclear weapons as any other country then point this out to them:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

"The establishment of the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world," the president told a conference in Tehran on Wednesday, entitled The World without Zionism.

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land," he said.

"As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's revolutionary leader Ayat Allah Khomeini.

His comments were the first time in years that such a high-ranking Iranian official has called for Israel's eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used at government
rallies.

...

Ahmadinejad, a veteran of Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards, took office in August after scoring a landslide win in a June presidential election.

His tone represents a major change from that of former president Mohammad Khatami, whose favoured topic was "dialogue among civilisations" and who led an effort to improve Iran's relations with the West.

Hitler wrote about his plans for the Jews.  Ahmadinejad is telling us what his plans are.  Connect the dots.  If you have a better solution than destroying the extremist Islamic culture then let's hear it.  Until then we need to offer discount prices on missles and warplanes to Israel and give booze and porn to Arab Muslims.

It's rare to get pro-gun press coverage on the politics of gun owner rights.  This article from the Gainesville Sun is so refreshing:

WASHINGTON - Ginny Brown-Waite pulled into a parking lot in Chiefland around midnight to rest her drowsy eyes before continuing her drive to a state legislative session in Tallahassee.

She awoke that night in 2000, she said recently, to four or five young men rocking her car and demanding she open up.

"I said, 'No, I've got a gun in the glove compartment,' " recalled Brown-Waite, 62, who was then a state senator and now is a member of Congress. "You'd better leave."

She was bluffing, but the men fled. And Brown-Waite later got a concealed weapon permit after training on a .357 magnum.

The experience helps explain why Brown-Waite, who owns a .38 and a .45, gets riled when the Second Amendment comes up, as it did last week when Congress passed landmark legislation to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits. After the vote, she lashed out at the "out-of-touch and dwindling minority of Congress" that opposes gun ownership.

Brown-Waite, one of at least three members of the Florida delegation to carry permits, shows that Florida isn't just well armed. The state is a significant player in gun-control debates nationwide.

...

Brown-Waite, a 5-foot-2-inch grandmother, seems the last person to be "packing heat," as she calls it, but she might be when in Florida.

"I have the permit," she said, "and at least one weapon, I guarantee you."

Yeah, the stereotype is she would be "the last person to be packing heat".  But when you think about it you come up with a different answer.  Who is it that most needs a tool to equalize the odds in a violent confrontation?  It's not the young, large, adult male.  It's the weak and the slow. The people most likely to become victims of predators are the ones that should have the training and the tools to defend themselves.  Even though the Gainesville Sun didn't come up with quite the right conclusion they gave everyone enough information they can break through the stereotype on their own.  And that is breaking through still another stereotype--about the MSM.  Thank you Cory Reiss, Gainesville Sun.

Shooting at the head is a tough one.  There's really only two spots you can really do any good with a handgun.  The eyes.  Any higher and even if you do get through the armor you'll only take off the top half of the brain that he never uses anyway.  It will be impressive with lots of blood, but it won't stop him.  You have to take out the lower part of his brain, the monkey portion of his brain.

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

After months of looking for work I have an offer in hand.  There was a sudden incredible flurry of interest in me in the last two or three weeks after almost nothing for months.  I can't remember how many different phone interviews I did with various companies.  I think it was five--with another one scheduled for tomorrow.  Today I had three in person interviews with one group and they made me an offer--almost on the spot.  It's not quite what I wanted--it's a contract position which they are saying can lead into what I really want.

Last night I left Moscow about 19:30, arrived at Ry's place about 01:00, got settled in by about 02:00, woke up at 05:00, Ry came home from work about 05:30, we talked until about 06:30, I sort of slept until 08:00, I then had interviews from 10:00 until 15:00.  Came back to Ry's place through the traffic and I'm now soooo tired.  I must get some sleep now.

I never give them hell.  I just tell the truth, and they think it is hell.

Harry S Truman
1884-1972
33rd President of the United States
Quoted in Look April 3, 1953
[And so it is when we debate gun rights with the anti-freedom bigots. -- Joe]

Ever start to walk into a store and see a sign saying it was a "weapons free zone" or the equivalent thereof?  I have.  And I have gone through the effort to get people to write/protest and get the sign taken down.  It's a lot of work.  Here's another way to perhaps change things.  It's a "business card" you leave with the merchant instead of leaving them your money:

Front

Back

Only $10/100.  I just ordered some.  I wish I had them with me now.  I am going to the Seattle area tonight and would drop one off at Half-Priced Books in Bellevue.

Scratch an intellectual and you find a would-be aristocrat who loathes the sight, the sound and the smell of common folk.

Eric Hoffer
First Things, Last Things
1970

They [Clinton's "good job rating" poll results] would probably be higher if he had made a video.

Amanda Matlosz
12/21/98
[Sarcasm about the public opinion after it was revealed President Clinton had been having sex with an intern in the Oval Office and lied about it under oath. -- Joe]

Once upon a time, long, long ago (over 20 years) I had a membership with the ACLU for one year. They still send me letters telling me the sky is falling and I need to send them more money. For at least the last ten years when I get one of those letters I write them a short note saying when they support the Second Amendment as an individual right I will immediately send them a check for $200.00 but until then they will get nothing from me. I use their postage paid return envelope and send it back to them. They haven't changed their way yet and I'm not holding my breath.

To be fair, they have been on the same side as pro-gun people on some issues. And I have been told by one very high ranking pro-gun activist that at least one ACLU lobbyist carried a handgun in her purse illegally while on the job because it was such a dangerous town. Just because the top leadership of the ACLU has made a decision not to support the Second Amendment doesn't mean there aren't a lot of them on our side. My guess is that a big part of the equation is that certain large donors to the ACLU are very anti-gun and being a pro-gun organization would cost them too much money.

See also my previous posts on this topic:

Advice for Democrats
I wonder if the ACLU will be interested
ACLU responds

I updated my web site on the bigotry at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The changes were about the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request I mentioned in this post.  PNNL responded this week saying:

PNNL completed a diligent, thorough search for responsive documents and was unable to find identify or locate any existing records consistent with your request.

As of May of this year those "records" (computer programs actually) did exist.  I created a lot of them.  My co-workers used that code (computer program code) in other projects.  Those computer programs were delivered to numerous customers.  If what they just told me was true then they would have had to rewritten numerous computer programs, tested them, updated all their customers with the new versions, ensured those customers deleted all the old copies, and deleted large portions of their source control archives--all within two months.  Some customers were delivered source code (I did training for one customer on it), those customers would have had to also rewritten their derived works, tested the resultant programs, and deleted their source control archives.   If they were able to do that then which government contract did they charge those efforts to?  I don't believe they did any of that.  I believe PNNL chose to defy FOIA. 

Barb said (paraphrasing), "What did you expect?  They don't care what the law is.  They don't have to follow the rules."  Of course in the practical sense that is true even if technically they do have to follow the law.  I had two different lawyers tell me it looked to them that PNNL employees had committed a felony in the actions they took against me.  Those people, as near as I can determine, still work there.

Public opinion wins wars.

Dwight David Eisenhower
1890-1969
General
34th President of the United States
[This is particular true in the war we are fighting against the anti-freedom bigots on the repressive gun laws in this country. -- Joe]

Yesterday I was invited to be a guest blogger on Second Amendment matters at Conservative Thinking.  With their permission I have decided to not post anything on their blog that I don't post here first.  As I pointed out in my introduction I don't consider myself a "conservative" but on the Second Amendment there isn't likely to be much divergence.  They do have numerous other bloggers that have very worthwhile postings so please do check them out.  I particularly liked these posts:

• The Authority of the Noose
• School Teaching Children To Be Muslim
• Zawahiri-Zarqawi Letter Authenticity Refuted and Defended

According to David Hardy at Arms and the Law quoting Daphne Retter, Congressional Quarterly Staff, CQ Today, October 19, 2005:

"It's not an easy job to get up every day and duke it out with the gun lobby," Michael Barnes, president and CEO of the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said Tuesday, "but it's very important."

Barnes resigned this week.

I have been unable to verify the resignation.  There is nothing I could find on the Brady Campaign nor the Brady Center websites about it.  Still, it is quite plausible.  They have been running up an impressive string of losses in recent years.  The "assault weapon" ban expired without a battle.  The passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms bill (I commented on this yesterday) just bit a big chunk out of their mission statement.  They have lost numerous court cases.  FL passed the law that affirms innocent people can meet force with force and all the Brady bunch could do was whine about it.  And then the press wasn't as sympathetic to them as they would normally expect:

Workers for a gun-control group protesting a new law that they say could put Florida tourists in harm's way got a mixed reaction at Orlando International Airport on Thursday.

At least one visitor admonished workers for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for what she called a manipulation of the truth.

"It burns me up that they twist stuff around to misinform the public," said Tamryn Hunter, who was catching a flight back to Pittsburgh when she ran into the workers handing out leaflets warning about the law.

The paper even included this picture of Ms. Hunter showing that she isn't someone you would consider the stereotypical NRA member.

We must not let these wins cause us to go into celebration mode and neglect what we really have to do.  We must drive these anti-freedom bigots into political extinction.  As Chris(?) Knox said in a Firearms Coalition Alert email I received last night:

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. The game, God willing, is never over.

From his dad:

Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 6:23 PM

Jason has improved substantially today. He recognizes people and since morning when he was drifting in and out of reality. He can hold a conversation. His pain medications are very high and he still sees figures from movies like star wars but now he realizes that they are not real and I think he is amused by them.

Jason doctors (I have seen dozens of them literally today), say he is making good improvement. Jason insists, by the way, that he is involved in all conversations with medical staff. Tomorrow they are going to clean wounds and hopefully close the right arm. Although there is tremendous variation among patience he may be out patient in two to three weeks. However, he will still live on campus and will be treated everyday. These treatments will go for months.

Jason is thankful to be out of Iraq and is already making plans about what he wants to do when he recovers. I sure that his feels about the future will go up and down but with love and support of family and friends he will recover substantially physically and emotionally.

There was lots of good news today but I am sure there is going to be lots of pain and emotional stress as he recovers.

I am amaze that will all the suffering Jason is going through that he takes the time learn the name of each caregiver, establish a personal link with them and thanks them for helping him. For me this is true hero behavior.

Susan Jason got a cd player from the Red Cross today, it is a cheapy but things get stole here. I have bought him a i-pod with speakers and his friend said he could put cd on the ipod also. He does not have a tape player. I would not buy books or cd on tape. Yet if any of you have some that you like send it to him if you mind not getting it back. For other books let me see what he is interested in.

There have been some phone calls too.  Xenia posted about them.

Those who set in motion the forces of evil cannot always control them afterwards.

Charles Waddell Chesnutt
The Marrow of Tradition
1901
[Gun control and national ID cards are prime examples. -- Joe]