Category Archives: Freedom

A step in the right direction

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Of course I didn’t expect they would go all the way in one step.  I’m actually surprised they would even go in the right direction.  But they are making progress and everyone benefits:

TSA Would Allow Sharp Objects on Airliners

Screeners to Focus More on Bombs

A new plan by the Transportation Security Administration would allow airline passengers to bring scissors and other sharp objects in their carry-on bags because the items no longer pose the greatest threat to airline security, according to sources familiar with the plans.

In a series of briefings this week, TSA Director Edmund S. “Kip” Hawley told aviation industry leaders that he plans to announce changes at airport security checkpoints that would allow scissors less than four inches long and tools, such as screwdrivers, less than seven inches long, according to people familiar with the TSA’s plans. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the TSA intends to make the plans public Friday.

…

The TSA’s internal studies show that carry-on-item screeners spend half of their screening time searching for cigarette lighters, a recently banned item, and that they open 1 out of every 4 bags to remove a pair of scissors, according to sources briefed by the agency. Officials believe that other security measures now in place, such as hardened cockpit doors, would prevent a terrorist from commandeering an aircraft with box cutters or scissors.

What’s interesting to me is that they concluded the same thing as I did–explosives is the real threat and the most attention should be given to that.  We should do the research, as I outlined, and go wherever the results take us.  One step at a time if necessary, but we need to do it. 

It’s interesting they dropped the plan for putting more air marshals in the air because it’s too costly.  Check out my research outline for lower cost alternatives to achieve similar protection capabilities.

Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

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Despite the best efforts of the hoplophobes, the U.S. remains way ahead of most other jurisdictions in the matter of firearms freedom. Recently an English jeweler, whose shop had been raided twenty times in twenty years, repelled borders by seizing the firearm of one of the bandits who broke into his shop. With the captured firearm he shot both of the bandits, though not fatally.

This was in England, and, of course, he was immediately in a great deal of trouble. He was fined 2,000 pounds for “illegal use of a firearm,” 100 more for possession of ammunition which was related to another weapon, plus 1,050 more pounds for prosecution costs. This whole affair is costing the jeweler over $6,000 in American money, plus his attorney’s fee.

Just how this sort of idiocy is justified in the eyes of the British courts is unclear, but though we find a lot of domestic jurisprudence pretty bad, such things can get worse.

Jeff Cooper
From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
Vol. 3, No. 12
October 1995
[This idiocy is easily justified in the eyes of the British–if they subscribe to the cattle philosophy of human governance.  See?  It all makes sense now.–Joe]

It’s sad when they are delusional

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One of the peace activists recently kidnapped by the Islamic extremists was written about in tomorrows Washingon Post.  It’s so sad to read the words he wrote before going to Iraq and what his friends here are saying now:

As Tom Fox headed toward the end of his first week in captivity in Iraq, friends said the 54-year-old musician and peace activist was well aware of the dangers he faced in the war-ravaged country.

He was so realistic, in fact, that he devised a written plan he distributed to friends and co-workers that they should follow if he were taken hostage. Don’t pay ransom for his return, he wrote in an October 2004 e-mail, and reject the use of violence in trying to win his freedom. Don’t “vilify” the abductors, he said, but instead “try to understand the motives of their actions.”

…

“We are very worried about our four friends,” Christian Peacemaker Teams said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. “We fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. [They] are four men who came to Iraq to work for peace and explain their opposition to the occupation. They are not spies.”

…

At the service in McLean, where Fox’s e-mail from 2004 was read aloud, his friends reminisced about his ideals. One woman said that just before Fox left for Iraq, he told her, “Too many are willing to die for war and too few are willing to die for peace.”

“Try to understand the motives of their actions”?  The motives are, “You are not Muslim or you are not the right flavor of Muslim.  You must convert or die.”  “Explaining your opposition to the occupation” isn’t going to yield the desired results.

And who has ever said they were willing to die for war?  I’ve heard or read about people willing to die for country, freedom, honor, family, way of life, and a lot of other things but I’ve never heard it said they were willing to die for war. 

These people are living in an alternate reality.  It’s sad their introduction to reality will likely be in the form of a box full of sand covered body parts.  Don’t expect it will convert many of them.  They are prime canditates for When Prophecy Fails mention.

On Sheep, Sheepdogs and Wolves

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I have often used the analogy in personal conversation, teaching self-defense classes, and sometimes alluded to it on this blog (here, here, here, and here).  But Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, U.S. Army (Ret.) spells it out better on this page than anyone else I have seen.

Thanks to someone at work for pointing this page out to me.

Quote of the day–National Strategy for Victory in Iraq

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The terrorists have identified Iraq as central to their global aspirations. For that reason, terrorists and extremists from all parts of the Middle East and North Africa have found their way to Iraq and made common cause with indigenous religious extremists and former members of Saddam’s regime. This group cannot be won over and must be defeated — killed or captured — through sustained counterterrorism operations.

National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
From the Whitehouse

Kidnapped, beheading stats in Iraq

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I ran across these stats in a UK newspaper:

  • Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 200 foreigners since the invasion in 2003
  • Of these, 52 are known to have been killed by their captors — 41 in 2004 and 11 in 2005
  • Of those killed, three were American and two were British
  • Margaret Hassan, an aid worker, was kidnapped on her way to work in October 2004 and is believed to have been shot. Kenneth Bigley was beheaded after being kidnapped in September, 2004
  • Approximately 55 foreign nationals are currently being held hostage in Iraq

With stats like that it’s amazing to me there are leftist “peace activists” that complain about U.S. soldiers putting a “holy book” on top of a toilet.  I’m with Clayton on this–the left is completely “losing it”.

You would think the “religion of peace” and peace activists would get along well.  But currently the extremists for the “religion of peace” are holding some Western peace activists with a sword hanging over their heads:

AN ELDERLY British man and three other Western peace activists kidnapped in Baghdad appeared last night in a video released by an unknown insurgent group that labelled them “spies of occupying forces”.

…

Friends of Mr Kember dismissed the spy claim as outrageous. “He would never ever dream of doing anything like spying,” Bruce Kent, the veteran peace campaigner, told the BBC. “The last thing he would do would be working for the British Government.”

…

Mr Kember’s family released a statement yesterday saying that he had gone to Iraq “for a short time to join a peace group that’s talking and listening to people of all persuasions, believing that dialogue not confrontation should help to bring about conciliation. He feels very strongly that the occupation in Iraq is a mistake.”

These naive fools need to read a little bit of what Osama bin Laden has to say about things.  He is very clear on things–convert, submit, or die.  Think about it.

Kim du Toit’s new blog

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In case you hadn’t already heard Kim has a new blog up.  In his email he said, “I got sick of anonymity.”

The new blog promises to show another side of Kim–a Kim more presentable to corporate America.  I understand the sentiment.  I have had my own problems with that.

Quote of the day–Hermann Goering

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Our movement took a grip on cowardly Marxism and from it extracted the meaning of socialism. It also took from the cowardly middle-class parties their nationalism. Throwing both into the cauldron of our way of life there emerged, as clear as a crystal, the synthesis- German National Socialism.

Hermann Goering (1893-1946),
German Nazi leader, air marshal.
Speech, 9 April 1933, Sports Palast, Berlin.
[“Progressives” and “Liberals” should never be allowed to forget the roots they share with the Nazis.– Joe]

Gun control glamor

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Stunning photo:

And high praise:

Still on guard

Gun-control advocate keeps up the fight 16 years after Montreal massacre

TORONTO — Wendy Cukier didn’t stand by and weep for the 14 young women who were murdered by a lone gunman on Dec. 6, 1989, in Montreal.

Instead, she formulated a plan to eradicate the use of illegal firearms, and has been working tirelessly towards that goal ever since.

The Ryerson professor, and founder and president of the Coalition for Gun Control, was lauded for her initiative 14 years ago when she was one of 10 winners at the Sun Media’s annual Women on the Move celebration in Toronto.

Today, Cukier is still a prof at Ryerson, as well as an associate dean of its business school, which is the largest business undergraduate school in Canada.

And she’s still involved in gun-control issues.

Cukier, mother to a 17-year-old daughter, says there’s still a lot of work to do in light of all the gunplay Toronto is witnessing.

“It’s important to continue the fight and ensure gun legislations that have been implemented are properly enforced, and not watered down,” says Cukier.

“It’s clear you can strengthen the laws in your own country, but if you are next to a country with as many guns as people and no effective gun control, you remain vulnerable,” she adds.

Currently, the dynamic activist is doing a lot of work at the United Nations level trying to establish international standards.

“Canada is often recognized as a model for other countries – they think we’ve done a good job. Amnesty International recognizes Canada’s gun laws as a model for preventing violence against women with guns,” says Cukier.

And even though there has been an increase in homicides by guns in Toronto this year, the death and injury rate by guns in Canada is at the lowest it’s ever been.

“Gang-related murders are definitely a problem and shows there is more work to do. Yet murders of women with guns is down 75%,” she adds.

“The big thing is, even though it’s been 16 years since the Montreal massacre, we’re still having to fight very hard to preserve the gains we’ve won,” says the author of The Global Gun Epidemic: From Saturday Night Specials to AK-47s.

“The gun lobby is fighting every step of the way and my message is for people … to speak out. Victims of violence and police officers are trying to get the attention of our politicians, but if the public doesn’t get engaged in the solution, then they become part of the problem.”

No mention of what really is important–the overall death and injury rate in Canada since they implement their “model” gun control.  Further questions include “How many people were injured or killed because they didn’t have the appropriate tool to defend themselves?”  And “Would the nearly two billion dollars spent on the failed gun registry have been better spent on more police officers, equipment, and prisons?”

And finally, “Has this paper ever given a pro-freedom advocate high praise similar to what they give this anti-freedom advocate?”

Quote of the day–Niccol Machiavelli

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The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms . . . you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow.

Niccol Machiavelli
(1469-1527)
Italian political philosopher and statesman
The Prince, ch. 12 (1514)

They just don’t want to admit the obvious

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Current airport/airplane security is a waste of time.  Everyone knows it and some even talk about it openly.  Here they just hint at it.  We need to research the problem starting with a clean slate.

Quote of the day–Paul Peake

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The problem is that private firearms ownership in Australia has fallen victim to a narrow, authoritarian mentality which substitutes the lowest common denominator, irrational fear, for sensible debate. The fundamental freedom to protect one’s life and property has been replaced by a policy which ignores the fact that no matter how well resourced a police service may be it cannot prevent violent home invasions. Ultimately, individuals must be given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own safety.

Paul Peake
Self Defence (November 1998)
From http://www.ssaa.org.au/ilanov98.html (as of December 1, 1998)

Quote of the day–Dar Korra’ti

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anti-gun lobbyists think that anyone, at any time, can turn into a raving lunatic and, if armed, start effectively killing people. laura is an example, having said something pretty much to this effect in this folder at one time or other. under this operating idea, firearms bans would be a pretty good idea. they also tend to think that collections of people act more rationally than individuals, and that therefore, governments which represent collections of people (rather than, say, parasitic elites) are not to be taken as concerns.

pro-gun lobbyists think that most people will not turn into raving lunatics, under pretty much any circumstances; those that do are the fairly rare exceptions that the rest of us sane folk need to be able to protect ourselves against. under this paradeigm, firearms bans make no sense whatsoever, as the lunatics and criminals won’t care about them anyway. they also tend to think that collections of people are more likely to get Real Bad Ideas than individuals (the mob effect, or as put in Men in Black, “A person is smart. People are weird, panicky and stupid.”) and have more power to exercise those Real Bad Ideas. Therefore, power groups (such as governments) are to be monitored carefully and not allowed to accumulate too much power.

both, fundamentally, have fear issues. the question is, whose fears ring true with you?

Dar Korra’ti
Friday, August 14, 1998 11:23 AM
Right vs Left Discussion (Microsoft public folder)

Quote of the day–Gun Control Network (U.K.)

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This Website will outline our aims, which are simple, and the ways you can help, which are many.

The job of this network is not to convince people that guns, especially handguns, are dangerous. Everyone knows that already. The vast majority want to see handguns prohibited completely and much tighter controls on all other weapons.

Our job is to convince the law-makers that they must listen to the majority, and not be swayed by the selfish minority.

Gun Control Network (U.K.)
From http://www.gun-control-network.org/gcnhome.htm
As of March 3, 1999
[They completely miss the point that because guns, especially handguns, are dangerous make them an extremely useful tool for self-defense.  That is unless they subscribe to the “cattle theory” of government where all people are equally valuable and the loss of any human life no matter how vile a crime they are committing when they are shot by an innocent victim is a tragedy.  So we are left to conclude either they are ignorant and/or they are immoral.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Frank Rizzo

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The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it’s only the people who make them unsafe.

Philadelphia Mayor, Frank Rizzo
[My guess is that neither truer, nor more stupid, words have ever been spoken.  The solutions to the problem Rizzo outlines are many but only a few are acceptable.  Philadelphia has had a problem getting it right for many decades.–Joe]

This will happen again about never

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From an email Ry sent me…

Well, I suppose they will catch a few crooks that were candidates for Darwin Awards anyway.  All the surveillance cameras in the UK and their automatic number recognition software came in handy the other day.  They used it to track down and arrest the people that killed a cop on Friday.  Great!  And they publicized it–bad.  One of the most critical things in intelligence gathering is protecting your sources from discovery.  Just how difficult will it be to defeat the system?  How much effort is it to stop and smear some mud on the plates?  Or put a piece of tape over some of the letters?  Or put a paper with a different number over the top of your plates?  Anyway, here is the story where they are crowing about how great and wonderful it is:

A pioneering number plate recognition system in Bradford played a vital role in the arrests of six suspects after the killing of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky.

A network of CCTV cameras linked to a database of registration numbers automatically alerts officers to a vehicle’s route across the city.

Within minutes of Friday’s shootings, police were using the system to track the suspected getaway car.

The first arrests were made in London early the following morning.

…

At its launch in May, Ch Supt Geoff Dodd of West Yorkshire Police, said: “I believe that this is the best investigative tool we have had since the introduction of DNA analysis.

“DNA broke new ground for the police service and this is another revolutionary tool in detecting crime.”

“”The importance of this system in the fight against crime cannot be underestimated.”

“Denying criminals use of the roads denies access to the primary means of transport for a whole raft of criminal activity.”

“It includes the transportation of drugs, stolen property and articles for use in crime, as well as transport for offenders to and from the scenes of crimes such as robberies and burglaries.”

“The bottom line is that if a stolen vehicle comes into or out of Bradford city centre we will know about it.”

A friend of mine once told me that the personalities of cops and crooks were very similar.  The biggest difference was their IQ.  The cops have the advantage at something like 105 to 95.  They may be smarter than the crooks on the average but crowing about their new toy neutralized the advantage.

On the flip side they can still use it to track innocent people and sell the information on the black market to stalkers, politicians wanting dirt on their opponents, and for industrial espionage.  And just think how useful it would have been to the East Germans 30 years ago.

ID cards in UK take some heat

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Bruce Schneier brought this to my attention.

Ex-MI5 chief says ID cards in the UK would be “useless” for fighting terrorism and “a waste of money”.  Which is what I have been saying for years.  She, of course, has a much more influential position than most.  And she does a good job of hammering the half-baked idea for fighting terrorists:

ID cards have possibly some purpose. 

But I don’t think that anybody in the intelligence services, particularly in my former service, would be pressing for ID cards.

My angle on ID cards is that they may be of some use but only if they can be made unforgeable – and all our other documentation is quite easy to forge.

If we have ID cards at vast expense and people can go into a back room and forge them they are going to be absolutely useless.

ID cards may be helpful in all kinds of things but I don’t think they are necessarily going to make us any safer.

And if it doesn’t help when fighting terrorists then it’s not going to be any good for fighting criminals.

Weekend activities

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Barb and her sister Nancy made it back from D.C. 20 minutes early last night and we went out to dinner at Outback (in part because of this).  Despite being tired from the travel and time difference they were very upbeat and talk about how wonderful the hospital (except for the food), volunteers, doctors, and therapists were.  They told me stories of Jason and others in the hospital how nearly everyone was so upbeat even though many of them had lost a great deal–arms, legs, eyes, brain injuries.  The helicopter pilot that lost her arm and both legs “tooling around in a wheelchair wearing a t-shirt that said, “It’s a good thing my husband is a butt man.”  Barb and Nancy were sorry for the losses but said they were being well taken care of and they all seemed proud of what they had contributed.  Barb said I really needed to go visit Jason and meet these heroes.  I want to but even as they were telling me of all our soldiers and how well they were doing the tears welled up.  It made me very sad.  I’m not sure I could do anything but cry if I went to visit.  I think we are doing the right thing in Iraq, but the losses make me very uncomfortable.  Although I sometimes say, “Too much sand, not enough glass”  I don’t mean it.  I know that of the available options to us we are almost for certain going down the correct path.

Barb, Nancy, and I went to the Uncle Bonsai concert last night and enjoyed it.  I wanted to hear more of their old songs but they had new material and I hadn’t really heard all of the stuff that has been out for a while.  I never listened to anything but a little bit of their “Doug” album.  After hearing a couple of the songs last night I listened to the entire album this morning.  Some of the songs were sad and it probably affected me more than usual because of the stories from Walter Reed.

When we got back from the concert I did a very quick check of my email and I found out Bob Coval died yesterday.  We knew it was coming (low bandwidth version here) but still a great sadness swept over me.  Since I’ve been over here this last week I had been thinking about Bob frequently.  I should visit him or at least find out when he died.  I didn’t really want to know though.  Now I know.

This morning Nancy announced it was 6:00 AM and they needed to leave right away.  One short night is all I got with Barb before she headed home again.  They need to leave early because I-90 is one lane in both directions in parts of Snoqualmie pass because of rock slide.  The state transportation department is saying there could be long delays over this holiday week.  Five hours was mentioned but that could be for next Sunday night when the really heavy traffic occurs.  I’m hoping to go home on Wednesday night.  I didn’t even try to get an airplane ticket because they sell out a couple months in advance over Thanksgiving.  That means I need to try and get over the pass at a high traffic time.  And over course coming back Sunday night will be hell.  It might be that the return trip will be best done via Portland.  It’s normally a nine hour drive but that will be better than 10 or 12 hour drive over the traffic clogged pass (which is normally a five hour drive).

I was at my first IDPA match Saturday until just before I went to the airport to pick up Barb and Nancy.  The match went pretty well.  Lots of rules to process on a continuous basis after the buzzer goes off.  It’s not like IPSC where you often get to “shoot them as you see them.”  Gaming is still present just less obvious.  Thanks to Wendell for arranging a group of us to attend together.  Robin, Sean, and I had dinner at his place with Hobbit Friday night.  Robin and I were in pain from laughing at the S&W (Sean and Wendell, not Smith and Wesson) rendition of Whale.avi (S&W were far better than the real thing).  Then we all were in the same squad for the match on Saturday.  It was most pleasant company for both Friday evening and Saturday.

So… I’m alone here in front of my computer thinking about Bob, Jason and our other heroes that have lost so much, Barb leaving after spending just a few hours, and I will have some long drives to visit home over Thanksgiving.  I think it will be best if I get out and do my National Ammo Day purchases.  I wanted to do it yesterday but the IDPA match and spending time with Barb were higher priorities.  Anything to get out and moving will be better than here.

I’ll be back with something more upbeat later.

Quote of the day–George H. Smith

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… we may indicate three minimum requirements that must be fulfilled before any belief can claim the status of knowledge: (a) a belief must be based on evidence; (b) a belief must be internally consistent (i.e. not self-contradictory); (c) a belief cannot contradict previously validated knowledge with which it is to be integrated.  If a belief fails to meet any or all of these criteria, it cannot properly be designated as knowledge.

George H. Smith
From: Atheism: the Case Against God
[Gun control advocates, socialists, and other anti-freedom advocates would do well to understand the difference between belief and knowledge as outlined by Smith above.–Joe]

Quote of the day–James Burnham

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The economic egalitarianism of the liberal ideology implies … the reduction of Westerners to hunger and poverty.

James Burnham
Suicide of the West
1964