Category Archives: Crap For Brains

People and especially governments do some incredibly stupid stuff. This is about those stupid actions.

Quote of the day–Lewis Mumford

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The way people in democracies think of the government as something different from themselves is a real handicap. And, of course, sometimes the government confirms their opinion.


Lewis Mumford
[It seems to me that most people don’t really realize what government is. Some people think of government as a replacement for god(s). Some people think of it as a replacement for parents. These people are wrong and, if they weren’t allowed to vote, their delusions would be mostly harmless. But they enable the ever growing power and danger of governments. I just wish everyone didn’t have to suffer through the lessons of what government really is when so many of us have been trying to explain it, to deaf ears, for so long. But it appears the lesson is coming whether we already knew it or not. I just hope this lesson sticks this time.–Joe]

Allegedly Suspected Victim or Alleged Victim Suspected?

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I heard a local news report on the radio today.  It seems a couple of innocent young men were minding their own business, you know, urinating on someone’s car, when the man in the car stepped out and set about beating the two “urinators” with a golf club.


Nothing out of the ordinary for a college town, except that the report referred to the car owner as the “suspect” and the urinators as the “victims”.


Oh yeah– nothing out of the ordinary there either.


How does that saying go; “While I don’t condone the action [of beating them with a golf club] I can certainly understand it”?


Tip: If you don’t actually want to have yourself beaten with a golf club, it would be a good idea to refrain from urinating on other people’s possessions.  Just sayin’.

Quote of the day–Clayton Cramer

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It is astonishing how poorly researched this brief is–perhaps competent gun control advocate lawyers realized how hopeless the task was, and decided to put their energies into briefs for cases easier to win, such as repealing the law of gravity.


Clayton Cramer
May 5, 2009
Embarrassingly Bad Amicus Brief in the Chicago Case
[See also Dave Hardy’s take on it.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Tamara K.

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You know what the worst thing is about the internet? It gives you concrete proof that your fellow citizens are as ignorant as you’ve secretly suspected they were all along…


Tamara K.
May 2, 2009
News Flash: HuffPo readers have difficulty with News Flashes.
[Not only ignorant, but stupid and bigoted.–Joe]

Bill Whittle vs. John Stewart; A Knockout in One Punch

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There are many recurring themes among the left.  Then there are mantras for every leftist, but one that gets passed around, modified, recycled and reused a lot is the “America is evil for having actually used the A-bomb” meme.  The jihadists have been using that one, as have socialist and communist governments around the world, for years.  At least someone agrees with John Stewart besides a few pimple-faced high school students watching Comedy Central on their parents’ TVs. 


Whittle does a wonderful job of refuting this blatant ignorance.  “Ooh! Ouch!”


Watch the whole thing.  Whittle didn’t even have to mention what the Japanese did in China.


I almost feel sorry for Stewart.  Almost, but then I have to think that surely he knew all this stuff beforehand, and was just playing out a shtick on his show.  That would be giving him the benefit of the doubt I suppose.  Maybe he really is that vacuous.


The left however will be clinging to this worn-out meme for generations to come, no matter how many times it’s proven wrong.  As they say; there’s sucker born every minute.

Quote of the day–Max Blumenthal

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If a new militia movement coalesces, its members will have no shortage of sophisticated assault weapons to choose from. At the gun show in Reno, I witnessed the sale of rocket-propelled-grenade launchers and bazooka guns; I watched a California-based dealer demonstrate how rapidly he could field strip his .308-caliber sniper rifle, then stash it in a deliberately innocuous-looking backpack and a briefcase that “looks just like a camera case.”


Max Blumenthal
April 29, 2009
Pro-Guns, Anti-Obama
[This is part of the reason the anti-gun bigots get so much traction with the public. They are willing to lie or at least have no concern for the truth. He almost for certain did not witness the sale of RPGs or bazookas since they are very highly regulated and require an extensive and expensive process involving the ATF. Combine that with the confusing the definition of “assault weapons” with the definition as used by any of the “assault weapon” laws past or present and you see why the common person would be inclined to side with the bigots.–Joe]

We Get it, Already

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This is an open letter to all the talk show hosts, pundits, party hacks, cheaters, scumbags, sick twisted freaks (you know who you are) and pro-freedom bloggers.  We could spend the rest of our lives cataloging the outrageous behavior of nasty, America-hating, ignorant, self-loathing, cultist, freedom-hating, anti-human, leftist politicians including Progressive Republicans.  We know they’re bad, OK?  If there are three or four people who still don’t get it, that’s all right.


I’d rather try to figure out how we’re going to get some principled Americans nominated so we’re not always forced to choose between bad and worse– between more socialism slower, and more socialism faster.  This last national election was a real puker.  The Republican Party is, at the moment, just as lost, dumbfounded, selfish and clueless as ever.  They’re a herd of does, staring blankly into the headlights of an on-coming truck, and the worst part of it is; they don’t even suspect that they’re clueless.  They in the Republican leadership think they have some really clever answers, which amount to more of what got us into this mess.  I recently heard it described as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  That fits very well.  The Republicans have some really super great, super ultra smart ideas for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  No really, listen…  (all the while we have this simple, proven model for success, and it’s being ignored.)


We need to change that.  You need to change it.  I need to change it.  There isn’t anyone else.  I suppose, since it’s up to us, it will have to be on the local level for most of us, being as we’re not billionaires.  That’s OK.  We can still do what we can do.  A lot of people are jazzed up right now.  They just need somewhere to start.  Well, pick a place, a local issue or a local politician that needs a hand (or a very public spanking) and get to it!


That there are clueless people is not the issue.  There will always be the clueless.  They’ll sit on the sidelines, worrying about who likes them and who doesn’t, trying to figure out where the “center” is so they can position themselves in it and claim superiority for having done so, while someone else does the lifting.  Are you a sitter or a lifter?


I have a bad feeling that things could come to blows before this government is brought under control, and I really don’t want that to happen.  Do you?  This country is far too important in the grand scheme of things.


And with that; I don’t have much more to say on here, other than to repeat myself or talk about the weather and what I did last weekend, unless it’s to tell you what I’m doing on the local level to influence politics.  Now I think I have some calls to make.


(Note that I placed this in nearly every one of Joe’s categories. It’s relevant to everything we do and every opportunity we want for our kids in the future)

Homeland Security Assessment

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To be completely transparent about the Homeland Security Assessment titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” which I first saw at Kevin’s place. I didn’t see what the big deal was about it. The left has been saying I was a threat to humanity since I purchased my first gun, a SKS, back in December ’93 right after President Clinton (and her husband) were elected. I live in Idaho, so of course I’m considered a sexist, racist, bigot who would get violent now that we have a president who is of (one quarter) African descent. Never mind I would have cheered until I was hoarse if were Condoleezza Rice who had been elected President.


The “assessment” looked perfectly reasonable to me. What’s the big deal? It’s politics as usual. I’ve read enough garbage DHS reports and draft reports and given feedback on reports that never made it to the public that I don’t have any illusions about their ability to think their way out of a paper bag let alone be able to connect with reality.


But some people figured it was a forged document. I looked at it and didn’t see anything which indicate forged to me. Sure, the best lie is one that you want to believe. But the left wants to believe that too. They could just be lying to themselves. [shrug] Whatever. It’s kind of amusing. The irony is a bit funny.


I haven’t been paying all that much attention to what people have been saying about it. I’ve been very busy working on domination of the galaxy and planning to make a couple thousand pounds of explosives and gathering up a couple hundred people with guns for next weekend. Why should I care about what DHS says? It doesn’t really apply to me doesn’t? Surely they couldn’t have been thinking of me when they wrote it.


I did get an email from CCRKBA on the topic which I think is worth sharing. The came out with a news release with a line that made me smile:



“It’s ironic,” Gottlieb concluded, “that President Obama’s friend, William Ayers, is a leftwing terrorist bomber, but nothing in this report suggests monitoring his activities.”

Wow!

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From James Kelly on the gun control debate (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here):



The difference in this debate is that I have been arguing on the basis of what I believe to be true, and doing my best to explain why I believe it. Kevin, by way of contrast, claims to be able to literally ‘prove’ his case beyond any doubt whatsoever by recourse to detailed statistical data.


Kelly argues on the basis of his fantasy world. Kevin argues on the basis of real world data which of course cannot hope to have any effect upon Kelly’s imaginary world. And he admits it. There is no point in engaging him. Only reality itself will be able to connect with him when it bites him in the ass.

Quote of the day–John Byrne

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Seven million people have applied for criminal background checks since November in an effort to buy guns, according to the FBI. That figure doesn’t include Virginia, whose gun shows don’t require any background checks.


John Byrne
April 13, 2009
As firearms sales surge, Democrats drop assault weapons ban
[If you repeat a big enough lie often enough people will believe it. Mr. Byrne and Diane Feinstein are doing their parts such as with, “The National Rifle Association essentially has a stranglehold on the Congress.” And of course we have been hearing that we have a “gun problem” for decades. That sounds so much like “Jews control the media, the banks, and the politicians” and that there is “Jew problem”. In his next post will he use take another suggestion from Hitler’s playbook? Will he next tell everyone about a “Final Solution” to the gun problem?


Hint to those that don’t know, there isn’t any exemption for background checks at gun shows.–Joe]

What did James say that pissed you off so much?

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“What did James say that pissed you off so much?”

That was what Kevin asked me in email after reading my comment on James Kelly’s blog.

My response to Kevin, with some minor enhancements, follows.

There is his steadfast refusal to answer Just One Question. Oh, he answered–using numbers that were easily demonstrated as wrong. And when that was pointed out he just ignored it.

Then James said, “…the right to own a gun as a relatively meaningless, one-dimensional freedom, and thus interpret the banning of handguns as merely a minor disappointment to the minority of people concerned…”

I wonder how many people with a Glasgow Smile or similar wounds

regard not having the means to defend themselves “a minor disappointment”.

The battles at Lexington and Concord which resulted in our revolutionary war were fought because the arms of the colonists were about to be taken away from them. Surely they did not consider it a “minor disappointment” they were about to lose their guns. And what of the colonies that refused to sign the constitution unless the right to keep and bear arms was a specific enumerated right guaranteed by the constitution? Would it have been a “minor disappointment” had it not been there?

How many of those people involved in 2 million instances per year when someone in the U.S. uses a firearm in a defensive situation would regard it as a “minor disappointment” had they been forced by their government to face their attacker unarmed?

How many of those millions of men, women and children standing naked at the top of the ditches they had just been forced to dig–just prior to having a bullet rip through their neck regarded not having a gun in hand “a minor disappointment”?

The above irritated me. But what really pissed me off was I realized his “personal philosophy”, even completely disregarding the gun issue, is justification for genocide. And he is hypocritical about it. He believes people have a right to life but not the right to have tools to defend their lives.

His “cornerstone of personal freedom” is freedom from fear. If he is afraid of the blacks/Jews/homosexuals/whoever who live next door he apparently believes it is completely justified to bring the full force of government down upon them in a preemptive strike. Prevention of crimes not yet committed by infringement of a basic right is justified if someone is afraid. And it doesn’t have to be a fear based on immediate threat of severe injury or death. Just the mere existence of something, someone, sometime used in a criminal manner. It’s the very epitome of a victimless crime which must be punished. A crime where the “perpetrator” is not even aware of the existence of the “victim”. A crime where even the thought of injury to an innocent life need not be proved or hinted at. A crime where the true intent of the “perpetrator” is to protect innocent life and property is thought to be crazy because they want the tools available to protect innocent life should they ever need it. All because someone is afraid of something they have no experience with. And they call us paranoid.

The Germans didn’t begin implementation of the “Final Solution” until after the U.S. got into the war. They were afraid the Jews, who “controlled the U.S. as well as the banks, the U.S. media, etc.” would punish them for the mistreatment (but there were no mass killings yet) they had received up to that point. So they started killing them to eliminate the problem. They were just implementing James Kelly’s “cornerstone of personal freedom”–freedom from fear.

What he doesn’t understand is there cannot be a “right” which is given or implemented through the force of government. Rights are which those things which preexist government and can only be protected or infringed by government. He is an advocate for infringement and calls it freedom.

His “cornerstone of personal freedom” is the basis for the deaths of tens of millions of people and he doesn’t see the logical inconsistency or the impossibility of that being a functional basis for a civil society.

The QOTD is aimed at James Kelly.

Quote of the day–United Nations Development Programme

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Many governments recognise a connection between armed violence and the uncontrolled, or loosely controlled, trade in and possession of arms. There is also growing awareness that most of the problems posed by the availability of SALW and misuse are ‘civilian’ – meaning most firearms (both legal and illicit) are owned by civilians, and most perpetrators and victims of armed violence are civilians.


United Nations Development Programme
Chapter 3, page 21.
How to Guide
Small Arms and Light Weapons Legislation
[Yes, I’m sure that “many governments” do recognize most perpetrators of armed violence are civilians. Such governments as those in Darfur, Rwanda, Cambodia, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany come to mind. And people who are capable of simple arithmetic will realize “many governments” are wrong. I can only conclude that simple arithmetic is beyond the capability of the people who wrote the “How to Guide”. H/T to /sennin/ in the comments here for pointed this document out to me.–Joe]

A Night at the Opera

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While at Hood Canal in WA State this weekend, my father in-law, who collects movies, treated me to the classic Marx Brothers film, A Night at the Opera from 1935.  It was supposed to be funny I guess, but I found it entirely unfunny yet instructive.


It’s a story about two talented, young, attractive and altogether wonderful singers who aren’t getting noticed because they’re not “famous” enough for the big operators who book a famous (and less talented) singer.  The Marx brothers “correct” the situation by employing fraud, physical force including assault and battery, trespassing and property destruction.  In the end, the two wonderful yet undiscovered singers are given a chance to prove themselves in front of a large audience as the result of the aforementioned crimes, and all is well and good.


It’s a perfect depiction of the mindset among today’s political Left.


Altogether lacking in the film was any imagination, respect for the successful, or respect for human rights.  The movie goes along with the apparent beliefs of that other more infamous Marx, and of the current Left, assuming that if one person is rich it means that someone else must be made poor.  If someone acquires a dollar, someone else must lose a dollar.  For one person to acquire a job, another must lose a job, and those who are successful must necessarily have stepped on some toes, etc.


The movie was an ugly, hateful stinker in that regard, and as such it received high praise from the critics.


In a free society, the young and talented singers might have gotten together with a few admirers, booked a small venue, and started the sometimes long and always difficult process of proving themselves to willing listeners.  The Marx Brothers, being talented musicians themselves, might have given the two youngsters a few tips and helped them along, to their mutual benefit.  In fact, the more wealth and success in a society, the more the opportunity.


For a realistic depiction of what it takes to “make it” in a free society, check out Will Smith in the movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness”.  Aside from the brilliant acting and the captivating story, it’s based on the real experience of Chris Gardner, who happens to be a pretty interesting guy himself when you see him on live TV.  I often find reality far more interesting than fiction.


Update:  For another amazing true story, check out the movie, “Broken Trail”.  Other than Robert Duvall, the actors are either fairly obscure or unknown.  I like that in a movie.  For example I can’t get past that fact that Ferris Bueller commands a regiment in the Civil War.  It’s too much for me, and I can’t get into the story.  Broken Trail is great in that respect.  It includes everything you’d expect from a good western, and more– Bravery, cowardice, strength and weakness, grit, determination, lust, true love, disappointment, and a fair amount of gun play.  As I recall I actually teared up (though I didn’t let on, and you didn’t read this.  Must have been something stuck in my eye) at the final stagecoach scene.  You know what I mean if you’ve seen it.

Quote of the day–Markos Moulitsas

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When we were out of power, we organized to win the next election. Conservatives, apparently, prefer to talk “revolution” and kill cops.


Markos Moulitsas
April 4, 2009
Twitter Badness: DailyKos Frontpager, Kos Joke About Pittsburgh Cop Shooting
[Typical leftest “thinking”. He is cherry picking the data to arrive at the desired conclusion. He “forgets” about last month when it was someone on the left praising the shooting of cops.–Joe]

Almost but not quite

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Via Tam I found this article talking about the boom/bust cycle for the oil producers in Pennsylvania:



Even after 150 years of this roller coaster, we’re still far from implementing a better system to price this essential commodity.


An easy answer, and one often brought up in casual conversation, is some type of price control. The government would say oil prices can’t go below $50 or above $100, or some such number. Oil companies would have a guaranteed minimum price, and consumers would have a guaranteed maximum price. Everyone wins.


Wow! Just wow! Not only has that sort of thinking been shown to be a disaster in numerous countries around the globe for hundreds of years but President Nixon even tried it here in 1971 and it was a huge failure. Just think for a few seconds will you? To let that sort of thinking actually get to the verbalization stage shows a profound ignorance of reality.


The article eventually is skeptical of the idea but then goes on to only slightly obfuscate the fundamental flaw in their thinking and arrive at a conclusion that is equally ignorant:



A better alternative, experts say, is to encourage long term, stable policies that focus on both increasing supply and shrinking demand.


On the supply side, encouraging greater access to resources and a stable tax policy that gives breaks for oil production is what the oil industry is looking for.


On the demand side, stricter fuel efficiency standards, better urban planning, alternative fuels and a big tax on gasoline would help cut use.


“We’ve never had a real, long-term strategy to address the energy problem,” said Bruce Vincent, vice chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of American, an industry trade group. “We need to have a comprehensive strategy that works for America.”


More government intervention when you just got through coming to the realization that government price fixing probably wouldn’t work? They almost get it but not quite.


Now there is a government policy that would optimize supply and prices. And it would do that optimization in real time and completely without political favoritism. It’s a Free Market. But apparently they are too ignorant to have heard of it.

Maybe he practices being ignorant

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From a letter to the editor in the Washington Post:



Mr. Cox took the usual NRA rhetoric to a new level with his suggestion that the “right” to own a gun is more important than the right to vote. Our founding fathers and all of those who worked so hard over the years to ensure the promise of freedom and equality for all citizens would find Mr. Cox’s claim to be contrary to everything this country stands for.


Uh… The writer, LASLO BOYD, is totally clueless about our voting history.

Central Committee in action

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Now that we are all socialists our legislators have dropped all pretenses of being something other than the Central Committee. Via reader Rob I discovered the Senate reviewing how college football picks No. 1.

Enumerated powers? What’s that?

It’s not working so let’s do it again

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Insanity:



Ammunition magazines with a capacity of 10 rounds or more — the kind that Oakland parolee Lovelle Mixon used to kill two of four police officers — would fall under a stricter tracking system under legislation proposed Wednesday by two East Bay lawmakers.


Law enforcement officials currently have few tools to keep the dangerous ammunition devices out of the hands of criminals, said Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, the author of the bill.


“This horrible tragedy will pinpoint for us some of the holes in our gun laws,” said Hancock, a member of the Senate Public Safety Committee. “There are a number of lessons from this, and I’m prepared to learn them all. We may need to have a hearing on the status of gun control. I’m very committed to looking at this.”


…


At a time like this, it’s important to find out what’s not working,” said Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, a co-author of the legislation. “This could be the beginning of a new era of urban conflict. It’s an important warning sign to prepare ourselves for future conflicts that could expose officers and our community to extreme dangers. It’s very sobering. We have a clear responsibility to start taking action.”


It didn’t work. They realize it’s not working. So they want to do it again.


That’s insanity. The following, from the same article, is a blatant lie:



U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., has also said that Congress needs to reopen the debate on the assault weapon ban, which President George W. Bush allowed to lapse.


President George W. Bush said he would sign an extension of the AWB but it was never put on his desk for a signature.

Quote of the day–Phil Mendelson

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The Supreme Court in Heller struck a balance between the right of individuals to protect themselves and the right of individuals to be protected. If we so limit gun control as to favor individuals to protect themselves, but then disadvantage the right of individuals to be protected by the police, what will we have gained for the public good?


Phil Mendelson
An at-large member of the D.C. Council and chairman of the council’s Committee on Public Safety & the Judiciary.
D.C. Vote: This Is About Safety, Not the 2nd Amendment
March 22, 2009
[People don’t have a right to be protected by the police. Nowhere in the constitution, the law, or in court rules can you find such a “right”. Just the opposite in fact. The courts have ruled the police have no duty to protect individuals. This is just the worst of the lies in this article. Read the rest and be sure to take your blood pressure meds first–Joe]

Monumentally stupid idea

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It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to arrive at the same conclusion as Mr. Brunson:



Dugger was treated at the hospital after one of the bullets police say he was slamming with a hammer exploded, blowing shrapnel into his leg.


“If you get hit with something hot and fast and out of control, it’s going to possibly cause a problem,” said Travis Brunson, owner of Chiquita Guns.


The event was reportedly witnessed by several children belonging to Dugger’s roommate, who was already under investigation by the Department of Children and Families for inadequate supervision of the children.


“Anyone nearby could have certainly been hit by it. It’s such a monumentally stupid idea,” Brunson said.