The View From North Central Idaho

That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  I say five people in black robes should declare it a part of the U.S. Constitution.  In his piece entitled, "Ignorance Reigns Supreme" Walter E. Williams gives us the reasons why separation of education and state should be an important goal, though he never actually comes to that conclusion.  That's my own inference, and I hold it up as a self-evident truth.

With limited thinking abilities and knowledge of our heritage, we Americans set ourselves up as easy prey for charlatans, hustlers and quacks. If we don't know the constitutional limits placed on Congress and the White House, politicians can do just about anything they wish to control our lives, from deciding what kind of light bulbs we can use to whether the government can take over our health care system or bailout failing businesses. We just think Congress can do anything upon which they can get a majority vote.

Yup.  That would seem to explain pretty much everything happening in government today.

I've often (OK, virtually always) had to go back to the very, very basics of the meaning of liberty, so as to have any hope of a meaningful conversation on the subject.  Hardly anyone knows what it means.  Most people think it means you can do whatever you want, and, "Oh, but we couldn't have that now, could we?"

Basically, the default (i.e. massively ignorant) argument can be summarized in one sentence; "Because you can't fraudulently yell 'fire' in a crowded theatre (or because the Earth's climate has been in a state of constant change for billions of years, or because someone didn't pay their mortgage on time, et al) the government has the authority to run every aspect of your life. QED."

That's what wholesale ignorance, nurtured at the state level, has done to us.  That is why we need a constitutional separation of education and state-- so as to prevent the establishment of a state education system; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of education, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."  It should have been written right there in Amendment the First, as equally important to freedom of religion, of the press, and of free assembly, and for exactly the same reasons.

I walked across the street to the cafeteria in building 117 and noticed there was a fire alarm going off in building 118 and lots of people were standing around. Microsoft security was parked outside and I thought it might be a fire drill. It was a little odd because usually they do those in the morning.

When I came back with food in hand there were three firetrucks and a "Battalion Chief" SUV parked outside. Then I saw the water shooting out from the front door. A sprinkler?

Something unusually is definitely going on but there isn't any smoke and I didn't see hoses going inside the building so it probably isn't too serious.

Notice the water shooting out from above the door?

From the Second Amendment Foundation yesterday:

For Immediate Release:   12/15/2008

BELLEVUE, WA – Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is asserting that he has the authority to skirt Washington State’s long-standing firearms preemption statute, but in a 2006 letter to House Speaker Frank Chopp, he admitted that state law prevents him from taking any such action.

The letter is being made public at tonight’s special hearing at City Hall by Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of the Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation.

In his letter to Speaker Chopp, dated May 4, 2006, Mayor Nickels acknowledged that “State law preempts any and all local regulations related to firearms. Our hands are tied at the local level and we are unable to adopt any local laws to protect our residents from gun crime.”

“This is what Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office told Mayor Nickels in October,” Gottlieb noted. “Despite all of his bluster over the past six months, it is evident now that Mayor Nickels has known all along he cannot ban legally-carried firearms, by executive order, by ordinance or by wishing upon a star. He knew this in 2006 and he was reminded of it two months ago by McKenna’s office.

“Mayor Nickels has tried to capitalize on a single unfortunate incident at the Seattle Center,” he continued, “in order to push his long-standing anti-rights agenda. More than 20 years ago, the state legislature wisely enacted our common-sense preemption law that is now preventing the mayor from acting like a monarch, answerable to nobody. Essentially, he wants to use executive authority as though it were a royal decree, to not only defy state statute, but also to violate our state constitutional right-to-bear-arms provision.

“The May 2006 letter to Speaker Chopp clearly proves that the mayor knows he cannot legally do this,” Gottlieb said. “If Mayor Nickels goes forward with this ban, he will leave the Second Amendment Foundation no alternative than to take immediate legal action to stop him.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

And today:

For Immediate Release:   12/16/2008

BELLEVUE, WA – When a cross-section of firearms owners gathered at Seattle City Hall Monday night to oppose Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ gun ban scheme, the mayor was nowhere in sight to defend his plan, and the Second Amendment Foundation wonders why.

“If ever an audience reflected the kind of diversity that elitists like Greg Nickels normally rave about, Monday night’s turnout of gun owners certainly measured up,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “There were gays, straights, men and women, including one self-described feminist Democrat party activist. I was proud of the broad spectrum represented by the firearms community.

“Under any other circumstances,” he continued, “Mayor Nickels and other Seattle establishment insiders would be drawn to such a group like moths to a flame. But these were law-abiding gun owners, outraged over the mayor’s arrogant plan to ignore state statute and advice from the state attorney general. In short, it was an audience of citizens that Nickels and his ilk claim to represent, saying that he doesn’t. The mayor wanted no part of such a public embarrassment.

“Mayor Nickels started this controversy by proposing the gun ban,” Gottlieb observed, “yet he lacked the intestinal fortitude to defend his scheme before the very people who would suffer. Elitists like Nickels are always quick to sneer about ‘cowardly gun owners,’ but when he had the chance to face them, he vanished.

“Many department heads were there to take the heat,” Gottlieb added, “except for Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. It is not clear whether he skipped the meeting because he doesn’t care for armed citizens, or because he was still out looking for his stolen pistol, which is more of a threat to public safety than anybody who testified at Monday night’s hearing.

“This proposed gun ban is nonsense,” he concluded. “It will not prevent a single crime. It will only leave citizens more vulnerable. As usual, Mayor Nickels chooses symbolism over safety, and he is clearly afraid to face the people whose rights he plans to abrogate.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

Son James picked me up at work a little after 1700 and we drove down the street to Ry's office to get that critical third person so we could drive in the car pool lane on highway 520 into Seattle.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed a rule that would ban firearms from nearly all city property. This is despite the State Attorney General telling him that he clearly does not have the authority to do so. Last night there was a public hearing to give Mayor Nickels feedback on his proposal. There were nearly 200 people in attendance. At most 20 or 30 of them were in favor of the proposal. I and numerous others found it extremely telling that Mayor Nickels was not in attendance.

Ry took pictures and has his own comments on the meeting. See also the Seattle PI (best) and the Seattle Times articles.

As soon as we walked in we were offered a button that identified us as opposed to the rule--as if our Boomershoot coats and my Para USA shirt weren't enough:

Supplied by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms this was good thinking on their part. I really appreciate their professional contribution.

I saw many familiar faces, Alan Gottlieb and Joe Waldron (who testified) from CCRKBA, Gay Cynic (who also testified), Boyd Kneeland (Boyd does an amazing amount of volunteer work on this topic), and Michael Thyng (frequent Boomershoot attendee).

We signed in at the door as either in favor or opposed to the proposed rule and indicated whether we wanted to speak. I indicated I wanted to speak and was one of the last speakers. We were each given 90 seconds which was strictly enforced. They called our names and alternated between pro and anti-gun speakers. They ran out of anti-gun speakers long before pro-gun activists. To see the entire meeting watch for the video here later today or tomorrow (Update: video is here).

Based on previous testimony and further thought I modified my testimony some what I had planned. I ran out of time and dropped the last paragraph from the following which I composed while at the meeting using One Note on my Windows Mobile Pocket PC. It didn't matter much because several others had already called out Nickels behavior as violating WA State law which qualified him for a misdemeanor conviction.

As usual when public speaking I left at least 20 I.Q. points in my chair when I stood up to speak and I'm sure my voice raised at least one octave. Picture from Ry.

My name is Joe Huffman and I am from Kirkland.

I represent myself and my 22 year old daughter. We both have concealed pistol licenses and carry a pistol wherever we can legally do so.

I find it very telling the people providing the number of dollars spent and people injured do not tell us how many of those people were legally shot by the police or a private citizen defending innocent life. By this omission they imply guns are only used for evil.

I’m shocked that a city that prides itself on tolerance would engage in such Jim Crow like tactics to discriminate against gun owners. I’m certain the mayor and his staff cannot answer just one question which should have been their first step before going down this path. That question is, "Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?"

With such clear guidance from the State Attorney General the mayor has a tremendous amount of gall to push forward with such an attack on an essential civic right. If his plan were to ban the presence of Christian crosses, the star of David, or burqa from city facilities there would be a public outcry that would be heard worldwide and calls would be made for his resignation if not his arrest. And the same outcry should be made for this encroachment upon a specific enumerated right guaranteed by both the Washington State Constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

I’m not a lawyer but it appears to me that such egregious behavior warrants investigation by Federal Prosecutors into the possibility of prosecution under 18 USC 242, the statute covering the deprivation of rights under the color of law.

I was very pleased there were numerous non-stereotypical gun owners testified in opposition. I think there were three self identified gay men. Several women testified including one that identified herself as a gun carrying tree-hugger, another that identified herself as a rape victim, and another that said she had spent the last several months working on the Obama campaign. Their point in identifying as such was that Nickels was pissing off people that would normally support him.

As the meeting closed the moderator informed us we can continue to leave comments until January 21^st.

After the meeting several people I did not recognized came up to me and identified themselves as blog readers and thanked me for testifying. I was surprised, "What? People actually read what I have to say?" You guys know that only encourages me to further pollute the bit-stream with noise, right?

After we left the meeting Ry and I had a burger at Dairy Queen and did an after action review. Our conclusion was that since the Mayor did not attend the meeting our input was irrelevant to him. He was merely going through the formality of the process. The eight people from the city listening (see Ry's post for more) were probably sent by him for appearances and to allow us to feel good about "doing something" in opposition to the Mayor's attempted power grab. The only thing that will stop him is a lawsuit which I'm sure will be waiting for the City when they implement the rule.

Hence I concluded the primary result of the meeting was we got buttons.

Update: Video of the meeting is here.

From email:

Dear Joe,

With the help of many wonderful people committed to Second Amendment rights, we are closing in on reaching our goal for the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB!

As an update, our book THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: Origins of the Rights to Bear Arms, by Independent Institute Research Fellow Stephen P. Halbrook, has skyrocketed to the following rankings at Amazon.com:

#1: Law
#1: Civil Rights and Liberties
#1: Constitutions
#1: Constitutional Law
#1: Revolutionary and Founding History
#12: History
#11: Professional and Technical
#26: Nonfiction (all)

The book has soared to an overall ranking of #140 at Amazon.com and #105 at Barnes&Noble.com. (With the enormous response, Amazon.com temporarily sold out of the book and is now being restocked.)

Begun on Bill of Rights Day (December 15), the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB is urging people to pledge to purchase copies of the book ASAP and launch constitutional rights to the top of national book bestseller lists in order to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights' Second Amendment for the protection of liberty. So far, we have received 784 pledges!

With your further help in urging others to join with us now, we can make Second Amendment history by pushing the book to #1.

I am adding below further details and here again is the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB website.
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/

Please advise me with any questions.

Thank you for your marvelous support of our Second Amendment rights!

Best regards,

David
--
David J. Theroux
Founder and President
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621
(510) 632-1366 Phone
(510) 568-6040 Fax
DTheroux@independent.org
http://www.independent.org

***********************

The SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB Hits #1 in Law, #12 in History, #26 in Nonfiction at Amazon.com!
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/

Beginning on America's Bill of Rights Day (December 15), the SECOND AMENDMENT BOOK BOMB was launched to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights' Second Amendment for the protection of liberty. With your help, we are pushing constitutional rights to the top of national book bestseller lists, making a loud and clear statement that Second Amendment rights are unalienable!

A truly historic victory was won on June 26, 2008 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and bear arms.
However, the Heller ruling was immediately attacked and efforts continue on the national level and across the country to undermine gun rights. (In this regard, President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Eric Holder for U.S.
Attorney General is an ominous sign.) Therefore, to secure the Second Amendment now and for the future the American public must be made aware of the reasons why the Founders sought to protect this right.

And now we have the tool to do so -- the fascinating, seminal, and inspiring, new book, THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, by Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook* -- the perfect way both to educate ourselves and to reach friends and family who don't yet understand Second Amendment rights. Our goal is to reach one million Americans with Dr.
Halbrook's book during the Holiday Season and throughout the New Year ahead.

As a result, we are rapidly closing in on reaching our goal and with your further help, we can make Dr. Halbrook's book #1 on the bestseller lists.

Already, THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT has skyrocketed to the following rankings at Amazon.com:

#1: Law
#1: Civil Rights and Liberties
#1: Constitutions
#1: Constitutional Law
#1: Revolutionary and Founding History
#12: History
#11: Professional and Technical
#26: Nonfiction (all)

With 799 pledges, the book has climbed to an overall ranking of #138 at Amazon.com and #105 at Barnes&Noble.com.

Hence, please urge everyone you know to make their pledge ASAP here:
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/

*Stephen P. Halbrook is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and author of THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms.
Having won three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, he filed an Amici Curiae Brief in District of Columbia v. Heller on behalf of 55 members of the Senate, the Senate President, and 250 members of the House of Representatives.

It was 803 pledges after I made mine.

Update: I just ordered the book via Amazon.

First, when you hit a home run, quit; even though you have 90 seconds, you don’t have to fill it all. Several speakers hit home runs, waited for the applause to die down, and finished with a pop fly. Don’t be that guy (or girl).

Secondly, be on topic; the topic tonight was “Seattle ban on firearms on Seattle-owned property”. I don’t care what you think the queers are doing to the soil, keep to the point.

Thirdly, if you have nothing to say, don’t say it. Who got the first big applause of the night? The guy who said “Everything I was going to say has been said, so I’ll not bore you”. Be that guy.

Fourthly, practice. You don’t have to memorize your speech; you should, though, read it aloud a few times. Use a clock and see if you’re in the ballpark for the time allotted.

Lastly, if you are a god damn idiot, stay at home... Several of the speakers went right out in front of God and everybody and confirmed that they were idiots. The three I’m thinking of (one pro, two con) I knew were god damn idiots as soon as I saw them step to the mic.

Ry Jones
December 15, 2008
On public speaking from our visit to the Seattle City Hall meeting where Mayor Nickels sought public comment on his illegal proposal to ban firearms from city property. Pictures here.
[I'll have more on the meeting later.--Joe]

The mistakes made by Congress wouldn't be so bad if the next Congress didn't keep trying to correct them.

Cullen Hightower
[And instead of undoing what they did in the previous session they add to the previous mistakes.--Joe]

My trip from Moscow Idaho back to my hardened underground bunker in Kirkland today took 75 minutes longer than usual. There were some very slick roads in eastern Washington. It got better and I was able to go normal speeds from Washtucna until Vantage when I-90 had a broken snow floor again. Here are pictures of just some of the incidents I witnessed:

At Dusty. Traffic was rerouted around the accident.

Close up of the Dusty incident.

All people of the gun in the Seattle area should be converging Monday evening. From Joe Waldron on the WA-CCW email list:

SEATTLE MAYOR GREG NICKELS PLANS TO BAN YOUR GUNS

Mayor Nickels plans to ban your guns with NO REGARD for your right of self defense. ANd he's doing it in defiance of state law -- RCW 9.41.290, which clearly prohibits counties, cities and towns from enacting gun control ordinances more prohibitive than state law.

This ban will infringe on your right to carry or possess a firearm in: All city-owned property All city parks The Seattle Public Library The Seattle Center

A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD MONDAY, DECEMBER 15th at 6:30 p.m. (doors open for sign-in at 5:30 p.m.) IN THE BERTHA KNIGHT LANDES ROOM AT SEATTLE CITY HALL, 600 FOURTH AVENUE

YOUR ATTENDANCE IS CRITICAL

LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD

PLEASE ATTEND THIS IMPORTANT HEARING

For further information, call the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, (425) 454-4911

Son James and I plan to attend. We will be leaving from the Microsoft Campus in Redmond around 1700. Another rider would be nice so we can use the carpool lanes on 520.

You can also leave comments on the Seattle city website here.

Update: I left the following comment on the website and plan to deliver it in person tomorrow if allowed:

I’m shocked that a city that prides itself on tolerance would engage in such Jim Crow like tactics to discriminate against gun owners. I’m certain the mayor and his staff cannot answer just one question which should have been their first step before going down this path. That question is, "Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?"

Despite clear guidance from the State Attorney General the mayor has a tremendous amount of gall to push forward with such tactics. If his plan were to ban the presence of blacks, Jews, or gays from city facilities there would be a public outcry that would be heard worldwide and calls would be made for his resignation if not his arrest. And the same should be made for this encroachment upon a specific enumerated rights guaranteed by both the Washington State constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

I’m not a lawyer but it appears to me that such egregious behavior warrants investigation by Federal Prosecutors into the possibility of prosecution under 18 USC 242, the statute covering the deprivation of rights under the color of law.

Budget:  A mythical beanbag.  Congress votes mythical beans into it, and then tries to reach in and pull beans out.

Will Rogers
[Something to keep in mind as our government debates what to do about the economic situation.--Joe]

Position 65 for Boomershoot 2009 just opened up. It’s on the shooting berm near the west end. On the berm means shooting benches are discouraged.

Sign up here.

Do it fast. I expect it will be gone within a few minutes.

Update: Gone in four minutes, 45 seconds.

Yes, it was a bitter election and we gun owners are disappointed and worried about the future under an Obama administration. But that doesn't mean we should engage in riotous or criminal behavior like some countries do after elections or regime changes. We have more class than that.

With that in mind I present the following which I received via email from Bruce (The Squirrel Hunter) regarding the epitome of class, despite what her detractors claim, Sarah Palin:

The rest of the world cannot understand how after such bitter election campaigns, American politicians can return to reality. For instance Sarah Palin, has invited to her great state of Alaska the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

She has provided a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and has hired two other prominent men to assist them.

Dick Cheney will instruct them in safe gun handling and Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins in the evening.

What a gal, that Sarah is such a sport and thinks of everything.

I'm nearly certan we are about to enter into an epic political battle for liberty, and gun rights in specific, starting next month. But just because we engage in battle does not mean we will lose. I hope this guy is wrong:

Our country is about to change many approaches as to how it thinks and does business and that includes its viewpoint towards guns. It is well-beyond time the canard about Second Amendment rights for citizens to bear arms be put to rest. This amendment was instituted centuries ago when militias were an important element in the defense of the U.S. The number of guns that exist in our country, governed by archaic laws and control, is absurd. No other western industrialized society allows for such a condition. When an organization such as the NRA lobbies for assault weapons to be owned by private citizens, what more does one need to know?

I would like to suggest that before spouting his bigoted beliefs about guns again he attempt to answer Just One Question.

Update: Check out the comments here. He made some clarifications.

Becky Ackers has the TSA's number:

But none of these facts seem to matter to the TSA. It needs something to justify its existence: Despite six years of patting down passengers, it hasn't reported uncovering a single terrorist. No wonder it latched onto the nonsense about liquid bombs. Ferreting out and confiscating everyday substances not only makes work for 43,000 screeners, it also fools us into thinking this protects us.

The TSA has always been a political, not practical, response to 9/11. It hassles us at checkpoints not because of penetrating insights on security or some brilliant breakthrough, but because politicians handed it power. Specialists in security didn't invent the TSA; the Bush administration imposed it on us. So we might hope the incoming president would abolish this absurd agency.

Unfortunately, Barack Obama wants to improve the TSA rather than send it packing. His suggestions for that improvement? Passengers still aren't screened against a comprehensive terrorist watch list, his website proclaims. Such a list must be developed.

Why? The watch list has already kept Rep. John Lewis (D) of Georgia and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts off planes: Will a comprehensive list bar Republican congressmen, too? That'll protect us about as well as unionizing screeners will – another change the campaigning Obama said he favors.

And the best part:

Becky Akers, a freelance writer and historian, is finishing a book about the TSA.

Remember what TSA stands for.

Crime does not pay ... as well as politics.

A. E. Newman
[Apparently Rod (Pocket Rocket) Blagojevich was trying to capitalize on this assertion.--Joe]

Forecasts were that I would have to drive 200+ miles in heavy snow between Redmond and Home.

It wasn't too bad. About 20 miles of compact snow and ice with the rest of the trip bare and wet. West bound I-90 was closed for a while with vehicles backed up for about 20 miles but I was headed east and wasn't really affected.

I also talked to a man named Joe Huffman about his use of guns. Huffman is more unusual in his dedication to the shooting arts. He runs a yearly event called Boomershoot in Idaho, at which people shoot hundreds of yards at four-inch square targets to set off high explosives.

It's wild fun, of course--an intense experience most shooters don't get to have. It attracts a lot of media attention for that reason. Like Hughes, when I pressed Huffman on the subject, he explained that more than just pleasure and amusement lies at the heart of his gun ownership. He thinks it's important to cultivate arcane, high-skilled shooting arts in people he knows because a time may come, as the Founding Fathers knew, when such skills might be useful for more than just outré amusement.

Brian Doherty
Gun Control on Trial--Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment
Copyright 2008
ISBN 978-1-933995-25-0
[I admire myself for my modesty.

See also Interview about the gun culture.

Numerous other gun bloggers should also be receiving a free copy of this book soon. You're welcome.--Joe]

I had an email exchange today:

From: "Disobey"
To: Joe

Hi Joe,

I am at that point. I am looking for ideas on how I as an individual can stage a peaceful, non-violent, but dramatic protest. I am willing to go to jail to make my point, but not unnecessarily or with unnecessary punishment if it can be avoided. I bet somebody has a laundry list of really good ideas with the legal implications well thought out. I was hoping you might be able to point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

"Disobey"

From: Joe
To: "Disobey"

Hmmm… I don’t have any such list or know of any. But if you want I will be glad to post the request on my blog and see what others have in mind.,

What aspects of our society do you want to protest against? It makes a big difference…,

-joe-

From: "Disobey"
To: Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the reply. Please put it out on your blog, maybe it's time to create such a list. In a nutshell, I want to raise public discourse on our disfunctional local school district and the elected officials who do nothing. I suppose that if I mention that I am in California you will just say I am screwed. I am still willing to keep fighting for justice and fairness.

"Disobey"

I keep thinking of Gandhi's march to the sea to make salt. But I can't seem to translate it into our time and situation except with respect to making machine guns or something--which has already been tried.

Any ideas?

Update: I don't have anything for the disfunctional school situation but it seems to me that publicly putting flash hiders or folding stocks on your rifles making them "assault weapons" might be something worthwhile. It's not nearly as scary as making machine guns.

From the door on Wades Eastside Guns tonight:

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.

Abraham Lincoln
[Additional justification for Roberta X's position in the first line of the second paragraph that I quoted from yesterday.--Joe]

They may be acting like they don't care but they are watching the reaction. My blog entry showed up on page four at #45:

Domain Name		bhfc.net ? (Network)
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ISP		PrairieWave Telecommunications
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Time of Visit		Dec 10 2008 4:57:17 pm
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I'd express it more forcibly, but the sentiment is right.

As far as I'm concerned, all governments cross my "line" on Day One. But governments are not like a single baddie confronting one in an alley; you cannot simply shoot them when they try to do you harm. Life can become very inconvenient for you if you even try.

Roberta X
December 10, 2008
Governments, Sandlines And Me
[Roberta hasn't said anything previously in the "Three Percenter" vs. "Pragmatist" debate and I have said very little. She explains why for both of us.--Joe]

In another gift to gun owners before leaving office the adminstration arrested Illinios Governor Rod (Pocket Rocket) Blagojevich today.

Now instead of restricting access to guns which he mixed up with a popular sex toy there is a chance he might well become a sex toy himself while visiting Club Fed. After working so hard for so many years to screw gun owners we can only hope he discovers what it's like to be on the receiving end for a few years.

The company that owns the anti-gun Chicago Tribune, the anti-gun LA Times, 10 other newspapers, and 23 television stations is filing for bankruptcy. They have 13 billion in debt.

They will continue to operate but the future isn't bright and I'm hoping they will at least fade away into obscurity.

There still remains the anti-gun New York Times and Washington Post but it's a pretty good start.

Of course the terrorists used Google Earth. They also used boats, and ate at restaurants. Don't even get me started about the fact that they breathed air and drank water.

Bruce Schneier
December 8, 2008
Mumbai Terrorists Used Google Earth, Boats, Food
[Apparently some people are making sounds about how bad it is that Google Earth exists. Essentially, because something can be used for evil purposes the "government should do something". It's the same mindset that has lead them to restricting knives (for all the good it has done) and banning fire extinguishers in the UK. It's not guns, knives, or Google Earth that are the problem yet some people continue to push forward with their brain set to "11" on the insanity scale. As near as I can tell there are few explanations:

1. The people "in charge" are unwilling to use rational thought when addressing the situation.
2. The people "in charge" are unable to use rational thought when addressing the situation.
3. The people "in charge" have ulterior motives for increasing government control of society.
4. Some combination of the above.

Regardless of the pathology these people have no business receiving a government paycheck let alone making decisions that adversely affect the lives of millions of people.-Joe]

Ah, yes, the three great lies:

The Mercedes is paid for;
the mortgage check is in the mail, and
"Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear."

Joe Waldron
8:44 AM, December 8, 2008
Washington state CCW email list

Well, duh!  You dry out your guns, of course.  If they stay wet, all kinds of corrosion can happen, which is bad.  The Remington 700 at the top has already been disassembled, dried and reassembled.  The Daewoo pistol and the Colt rife are still airing out.

I took my nephew, Ben, into the Idaho mountains to try some "long range" shooting on Sunday.  After 4-wheeling it through several miles of snow, we found a nice place to shoot.  Ben had never fired at anying more than 100 yards distant, and had only fired pistols and carbines. Shooting a sub two-inch group on the first try at 200 meters was something he was pretty sure he couldn't manage.  He did that much easily, shivering in the rain, firing over the hood of my pickup using the Remington with its "deep space telescope" and heavy barrel.  Ben did some 25 yard work with the pistol and I worked out a preliminary zero on the Colt AR-15 HBAR's new tritium sights at 25, 200 and 300 meters.  Ben made some comment about being "all wet and cold, and stuff" but I'm not sure what point he was trying to make.  It is December and we're in the mountains, so?  By then it was getting too dark to shoot so we had to pack up.  There never seems to be enough time in the day.

I frequently get comments from envious guys who when finding out I'm married to a physical therapist say something about "the massages". I just smile and let them believe what they want to believe. More about those "massages" later.

I don't believe I've posted about this before but when I had lunch with her last Saturday at her office I saw a sign on the wall above her desk. It brought the whole issue into sharp focus.

The sign said:

The Ten "NEVERS"
in
Physical Therapy

1. Never say you can't, because you'll do it anyway.
2. Never say, "It's easy", because we'll just make it hard.
3. Never say, "I want to go home", because you'll just stay longer.
4. Never lose count because you'll start at one again.
5. Never complain because we never listen.
6. Never argue because you'll never win.
7. Never scream or cry because it only encourages us.
8. Never look like you're enjoying it because we'll put a stop to it.
9. Never hold your breath because if you pass out and die, we have to fill out the paperwork.
10. Never lie or cheat because we know the truth, and you'll live to regret it.

For most people that is just a hint. You don't really understand what it means until you have been married to one for a few years. Here is another hint; when asked what the P.T. stands for on their badges they frequently give one of two answers:

• Physical Terrorist
• Pain and Torture

Now we go into the specifics of being married to one.

If you think of "massage" when you think of a physical therapist then you obviously don't know what friction massage (also called Cross Friction Massage-CFM) is. The previous link says:

Where most massage methods use some form of skin lubrication, CFM uses none so that the finger (usually one, but sometimes two) doing the massage is not sliding across the skin, but rather is taking the skin with it, allowing for the force to be transmitted directly to the deep tissue being treated. The motion is small, maybe an inch or so, back and forth "across the grain" of the tissue, so you have to have some idea which direction the structure normally runs. The amount of pressure should be moderate, which will often cause some amount of discomfort, but this should never be too painful.

"Too painful" is a technical term which means the patient's adrenaline reaches a level such they can break out of the restraints. Furthermore what they do is push you right up to the edge of "too painful" and hold you at a plateau until the area starts to goes numb. They keep asking if it has gone numb yet and as it starts feeling a little bit better they press harder to keep the pain at the same level. They claim this is just to "treat the deeper tissue". The veracity of this claim depends upon what your definition of "treatment" is. All observable data indicates that "treatment" consists of destroying your pain receptors through over stimulation.

You might ask how I know all this. Good question. It turns out that in order to keep her Pain and Torture license up to date your local friendly Physical Terrorist has to take classes on a regular basis. Guess who she experiments on before she starts charging money for practicing her evil trade. It's me. In the early years of our marriage she would come home from a class and coyly ask something like, "Didn't you say your shoulder was a little sore last week?" I would answer truthful -- and regret it. Since then I learned the wisdom of Oscar Wilde when he said, "The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception a necessity."

A contest with a thinking being is never over and a little white lie about all my body parts being in perfect working order was only a minor speed bump to someone who has made their career P/T. One time when she came home from class she had a little box with wires coming out of it she wanted to experiment with me as the subject. I have a couple degrees in electrical engineering and I know what can be done with a box with wires coming out of it. I also hate electricity going through my body. I mean just a little bit of it which most people think of as "I can barely feel it" makes me very irritated. If someone else were to describe the sensation as "a little tingle" it will infuriate me. I asked if the box had batteries or plugged into the wall outlet. She informed me that it had "little batteries". Apparently she didn't realize the only word I needed to hear was "battery" and "little" was superfluous unless she was talking "little" on a microscopic scale. I mean, I could make a device that would kill a horse with a watch battery if I wanted to and her trying to downplay the part about electricity being involved was only increasing my suspicion.

When her telling me how much it didn't hurt when it was used on her, and how it felt "kind of strange" only caused my teeth to grind she broke out the sad eyes and looked like she was about to cry. I softened a little bit and she said she would put it at the lowest level and slowly increase the intensity and as soon as I wanted to stop she would immediately stop. I said I wanted to stop now, but she brought back the sad eyes and I let her attach the electrodes to my leg.

She slowly turned the knob clockwise repeatedly asking, "Can you feel it yet?" "I don't want to hurt you, let me know if it hurts." I told her I didn't feel a thing and she continued to turn the knob. Her face grew more and more puzzled and I started to smirk. Her little box was broken and I was going to get away with not being shocked! She finally stopped and announced that the intensity was at the maximum setting and that I "should feel something." I assured her that I didn't and repressed my satisfaction as best I could. She looked her little box all over and said, "Oh! I see!" and before I could twitch a muscle she turned the switch she found from "Off" to "On" and muscle twitches were generated without any conscious effort on my part. I levitated off the bed and roared in anger. Before I came back down I had torn the wires off my leg and when I landed was facing her like a lion in a crouch and ready to pounce. She instantly brought back the sad eyes, froze absolutely still, and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." This saved our marriage but not from her from being very vocally reminded that I do NOT like electricity going through my body.

Another time she came back from a class and told me she had learned how to test for "bone spurs". She explained that you pushed with your thumb in various places and watch for a "chandelier sign". I politely asked about bone spurs and she explained they usually go unnoticed until the person gets up years a ways. At my age, then in my mid twenties, I might have some but wouldn't notice them at all. Even with testing she probably wouldn't be able to find them. But she wanted to practice the tests anyway.

I should have paid more attention during the part about what a positive test result indicator was rather than the part about "probably wouldn't be able to find them". I took off my shoes and socks and she started pressing her thumb into the flesh around my heel. She pressed harder and harder and I could hear her grunting with the effort required to probe deep into the tissue of my feet which were nearly armored with strong muscles from playing tennis almost every day. It felt kind of nice. Basically I was getting my feet massaged which I considered a real treat. It was what I had expected when before we got married she said she wanted to become a physical therapist. I was relaxing and enjoying it and I could tell she was getting a little frustrated (see rule 8 above). I was sympathetic and asked, "What is it you are trying to get to happen again?" Between grunts she growled out, "A chandelier sign". I started to ask what that was when she said, "Maybe it's over here" and she pressed deep into my flesh. We didn't have a chandelier in our bedroom and hence I returned to floor level after bouncing off the ceiling. I do remember looking down at Barb still in position as if my foot was still cradled in her hands with her thumb mashing as hard as she could on that hidden button in my foot which should have been labeled, "DANGER! DO NOT PRESS UPON THE PAIN OF DEATH". She had a big smile on her face and after I stopped bouncing I demanded to know why she was so happy. Her glee was totally oblivious to my state of mind and she told me, "Because I found it! I couldn't find it in class but I found it with you! That was the chandelier sign. It was just like they said it would be." Her moments of happiness are somewhat rare with me around and since I had not warned her I did not like chandelier sign I didn't do anything but glare at her and resolved to listen more carefully and think things through in the future.

Surely, you might ask, there are some "benefits" (nudge, nudge) to being married to a physical therapist. My response to that is, "Do you know why physical therapists make such poor lovers? It's because they use ice to take the swelling down."

Lest you think my life is miserable or even uncomfortable I need to point out that I'm not only married to the physical therapist named Barbara, I'm also married to Barbara the woman. I'm not going to go into all the details but the card below is a hint. I get cards of a similar nature for my birthday, Valentine's Day, and our anniversary (click to see the inside):

Barb explained, "It really should say, 'You win', rather than 'You lose'". But it's close enough. I've been with her for 34 years now and most of the time I know how to read between the lines with her.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

Thomas Paine
[Which is why every effort should be made to keep government at the smallest size necessary to accomplish its necessary and authorized functions.--Joe]

Richard Mundy spells it out for them in the Times Online. I just wonder if anyone is listening:

The firearms massacres that have periodically caused shock and horror around the world have been dwarfed by the Mumbai shootings, in which a handful of gunmen left some 500 people killed or wounded.

For anybody who still believed in it, the Mumbai shootings exposed the myth of “gun control”. India had some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, going back to the Indian Arms Act of 1878, by which Britain had sought to prevent a recurrence of the Indian Mutiny.

The guns used in last week’s Bombay massacre were all “prohibited weapons” under Indian law, just as they are in Britain. In this country we have seen the irrelevance of such bans (handgun crime, for instance, doubled here within five years of the prohibition of legal pistol ownership), but the largely drug-related nature of most extreme violence here has left most of us with a sheltered awareness of the threat. We have not yet faced a determined and broad-based attack.

The Mumbai massacre also exposed the myth that arming the police force guarantees security. Sebastian D’Souza, a picture editor on the Mumbai Mirror who took some of the dramatic pictures of the assault on the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, was angered to find India’s armed police taking cover and apparently failing to engage the gunmen.

...

In Britain we are not yet ready to recall the final liberty of the subject listed by William Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England as underpinning all others: “The right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defence.” We would still not be ready to do so were the Mumbai massacre to happen in London tomorrow.

“Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India,” Mahatma Gandhi said, “history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.” The Mumbai massacre is a bitter postscript to Gandhi’s comment. D’Souza now laments his own helplessness in the face of the killers: “I only wish I had had a gun rather than a camera.”