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]
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Slick roads in eastern Washington today
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.
Monday evening plans in the Seattle area
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.
Quote of the day–Will Rogers
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]
Merry Christmas to someone
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.
Do it fast. I expect it will be gone within a few minutes.
Update: Gone in four minutes, 45 seconds.
Being a good sport
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 hope not
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.
Go Becky!
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.
Quote of the day–A. E. Newman
Crime does not pay … as well as politics.
A. E. Newman
[Apparently Rod (Pocket Rocket) Blagojevich was trying to capitalize on this assertion.–Joe]
I came home early today
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.
Quote of the day–Brian Doherty
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]
Ideas for civil disobedience
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.
All sales final
Quote of the day–Abraham Lincoln
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]
HS Precision is watching
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:
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| ISP | PrairieWave Telecommunications | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Language | English (U.S.) en-us | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Browser | Internet Explorer 7.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Javascript | version 1.3 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time of Visit | Dec 10 2008 4:57:17 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last Page View | Dec 10 2008 4:57:17 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Visit Entry Page | http://blog.joehuffm…boutHSPrecision.aspx | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Time Zone | UTC-7:00 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visitor’s Time | Dec 10 2008 5:57:17 pm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Visit Number | 398,570 |
Cato on an auto manufacture bailout
I’d express it more forcibly, but the sentiment is right.
Quote of the day–Roberta X
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]
Sex toys
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.
Their lies are catching up with them
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.
Quote of the day–Bruce Schneier
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:
- The people “in charge” are unwilling to use rational thought when addressing the situation.
- The people “in charge” are unable to use rational thought when addressing the situation.
- The people “in charge” have ulterior motives for increasing government control of society.
- 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]