Category Archives: Freedom

Ramadan and nuke terror

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It’s old news, from October 7th, but the topic has been on my mind for the last few days.  From World Net Daily:

Bin Laden has been amassing nuclear weapons and materials since 1992, when he was in the Sudan. This was substantiated by the testimony of al-Qaida officials in federal court during the hearings of “The U.S. v. Osama bin Laden.”

When he returned to Afghanistan, bin Laden purchased tactical nuclear weapons from the Chechen Mafia. News of the sale was confirmed by Saudi, Israeli, British, Saudi and Russian intelligence and reported in The Times of London, the Jerusalem Report, Al Watan al-Arabi, Muslim Magazine, Al-Majallah (London’s Saudi weekly) and by the BBC.

In 1997, bin Laden made additional small nuclear weapons from materials bought not only from the Chechens but also black market sources in Russia, China, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine.

In 1998, he purchased large quantities of highly enriched uranium from Simeon Mogilevich, a Ukrainian arms dealer. For one delivery of fifteen kilos of uranium-236, Mogilevich was paid $70 million. Bin Laden also purchased several bars of enriched uranium-138 from Ibrahim Abd, an Egyptian arms dealer and several Congolese opposition soldiers.

…

The seven cities targeted by al-Qaida for nuclear destruction are New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago.

Quote of the day–Leaflets dropped on Hiroshima

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Your city will be obliterated unless your government surrenders.

Leaflets dropped on Hiroshima
August 5, 1945

Turn them into glass

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An unexpected phone call after 10:00 PM is a bad omen.  This one was no exception.

My nephew in Iraq had a bomb explode under his Humvee.  He is in critical condition.  His right arm has been amputated below the elbow.  He has lacerations on his face.  They are evaluating injuries to his back and abdomen.

I know what I am about to write is an emotional response.  It’s not what I think we should do, it’s what I feel we should do.  I’ll be more rational in a few days.

Nuke Mecca, nuke Medina, nuke every “holy” city on that continent and fill the craters with pig manure.  Osama is in the mountains of Afghanistan?  Make those mountains into glass lined sub sea-level valleys in Afghanistan.  Islam is hereby banished from our planet, our solar system, and our galaxy.  All paper copies of the Qur’an shall be put into pig manure, shredded, then used to fertilize fields in Israel.  All digital copies and their backups shall be deleted, the media reduced to at least it’s molecular components if not transmuted into different elements.  If anyone so much as mentions a word related to Islam they shall be dropped, naked, into the middle of a pig sewage lagoon.  If they can swim out fine.  If not then no great loss.

Quote of the day–Doug Huffman

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Man is constantly struggling with moral issues.  Those who claim to know the most about these issues are nearly always the ones who know the least.

Doug Huffman
[Nearly all government “help” falls into this category.  Gun control, health care, welfare, etc.  People try to make a “moral” case out of it and mess up the results. — Joe]

Arrested for exercising free speech in Illinois

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This guy is wearing a fanny pack and a jacket with the URL of his website (ICarry.org) on it.  He asks to speak to someone about school policy at Rock Valley College in Rockford Illinois.  He is arrested for:

DISORDERLY CONDUCT: in that Shawn (SIC) Kranish knowingly did an act in such an unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb Janna L. Shwaiko and provoke a breach of peace to wit Shawn (SIC) Kranish walked into the Presidents (SIC) office and requested from Shwaiko a meeting with the President. Kranish was wearing a blue jacket with the words “I Carry” on the front of the jacket and he was also wearing a black nylon pouch or handgun holster. Shwaiko believed Kranish to be carrying a gun and it alarmed her in violation of 720 ILCS 5/26-1(a) of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.

Officer Edward Crumb, #167
Complainant

It must be they so terrified of freedom they have to arrest someone that just wants to talking about it.  Details are on the Concealed Carry, Inc. blog.  The thought that comes to my mind is, “Can I get someone arrested because I think they might not be carrying a gun in a dangerous area?”  After all, not being able to defend yourself in a dangerous area is sort of like leaving food out in the open in grizzly bear country.  It attracts dangerous animals that are a threat to everyone.  And if you read the story you find out this poor kid was searched without a warrant.

I’m tempted to send Kranish a Boomershoot T-shirt or hat but wearing it in public would probably warrant an arrest for terrorism in the police state where he lives.

Quote of the day–Joe Waldron

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With the exception of the mayor of Birmingham, AL (who last month suggested citizens of Birmingham arm themselves with guns), I am not aware of ANY official or agency that recommends resistance to criminal attack, despite the fact that federal statistical data (from the Bureau of Justice Statistics) overwhelmingly shows that armed defense (with firearms at the top of the “armed” list) offers the lowest risk of injury to the innocent victim.

The “system” is in the business of creating and perpetuating sheeple. Sheeple are dependent on the state/system.

Joe Waldron
10/11/2005 11:44 AM
Email to the Yahoo group WA-CCW

The England has an illegal immigration problem too

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Over 100,000 Turks were smuggled into the UK by just one gang:

Eight suspected leaders of a people-trafficking gang thought to have smuggled up to 100,000 Turkish people into Britain were arrested by police yesterday in a series of early morning raids. Detectives described the gang as the most prolific people smuggling network they had encountered.

Other large smuggling operations that have been shutdown include:

  • The Snakeheads, a group of Chinese criminals, is one of the most notorious people-smuggling gangs in the world. Jing Ping Chen, better known as Little Sister Ping, was jailed in 2003, and is thought to have been responsible for smuggling between 150,000 and 175,000 people earning about £12m.
  • In May, a man and woman involved in smuggling people out of India to work at fish-and-chip shops in Shropshire were jailed. Charan Singh, 48, above, was sentenced to 15 months after he was found driving an immigrant. Bakshinder Chatha, 35, helped an illegal immigrant get a national insurance number and was sentenced to nine months.
  • In May 2004, a gang which made thousands of pounds by offering a “club class” service to hundreds of illegal immigrants they brought into the Midlands was jailed. The ringleaders were sentenced to five years. Immigrants from India sold land and belongings to raise fees up to £11,000 to be smuggled through ferry ports before being dropped at their chosen destination as part of a “door-to-door” service. They were “fed and watered” and transported in people carriers by the West Midlands-based gang who were caught in a joint British and French operation codenamed Gular. Most of the gang were arrested in June 2003 after police swooped on vehicles carrying 14 illegal immigrants in a lay-by near Canterbury in Kent.

Yeah, 100K is small compared to what we have but the population of England is only about 50 million and that is from just one source.  The population of the United States is estimated to be nearly 300 million now.

This brings up an interesting thought.  If a single gang can smuggle in over 100K people (who require air, water, food, and waste removal during their transit) just think how easy it would be to smuggle in 10 to 20 times that many firearms (roughly the same mass) into the country. The only limiting factor on the number of firearms in the UK is the number of willing buyers with the money.  Once again restrictions on firearm access only disarms the victims.

Patient choice is damaging hospitals

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From Britain:

NHS WARDS, departments and even entire hospitals may be forced to close under the latest health reforms designed to extend patient choice, the Government is warned today.

In a damning report, the Audit Commission says the new funding method, where money follows the patient, is destabilising the NHS and fuelling the current financial crisis.

Instead of increasing choice it could have the opposite effect, with services going to the wall unless the payment system is radically reformed, says the commission. It also cautions that critical services essential to support emergency admissions could close down in some hospitals because of the failure to attract patient referrals.

The system of “payment by results” was brought in by the Government for foundation trusts in 2004-05 to improve choice and efficiency in the NHS and is now being extended to all trusts. Commission insiders gave warning that if foundation trusts, the top- performing hospitals, were finding the system difficult to operate it would create turbulence when extended nationwide.

Under the system hospitals charge a fixed price for an operation, which is agreed nationally, and claim the money back according to the number of patients treated.

Efficient, well-managed hospitals are expected to make a profit from the set price, which includes the costs of equipment and staff overheads. But weaker, inefficient hospitals risk exceeding the “tariff” and falling further into debt.

…

  • The NHS is already facing a £254 million deficit, despite record funding
  • A survey by the BMA last month found 385 of the 530 primary care, acute, mental health and community NHS trusts in England had deficits totalling £2.4 billion
  • The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust has a deficit of £30 million
  • St George’s Healthcare Trust in London is losing 60 beds, trying to reduce a £24.5million overspend

    • I love the way they spin the situation, “patient choice is damaging hospitals.”  It’s as if the patients should see to the well being of the hospitals rather than the other way around.

    Although they probably are not as rigid as the laws of physics and certainly not as well known there are basic laws of economics the advocates of socialized medicine think they can violate without consequences.  They are wrong and/or ignorant.  They are now paying the price of their delusions and/or ignorance.

    New Jersey Police–The law doesn’t apply to us

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    I’ve heard some absolutely atrocious stories about New Jersey police before.  Some were so far out that I was more than a little skeptical even if the teller had an excellent reputation for honesty and claimed first hand experience.  All that doubt has now been erased:

    Clocked at 95 MPH in the 65 MPH zone, the convoy of about a dozen vehicles was asked to pull over by Augusta County, Virginia Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Roane. Six of the New Jersey police sped away without stopping.

    “We’re not above the law,” Roane said in an interview with WHSV-TV. “We have to obey the speed limits. We cannot run emergency equipment when there’s no emergency.”

    In what was described as an initially hostile stop, Roane politely asked the New Jersey officers to turn off their lights and slow down. The Passaic officers claimed that returning from helping with Hurricane Katrina rescue duties gave them the right to speed.

    “We just had guys down there for the last 14 days… helping our brothers in blue,” Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale said in a recorded telephone call to Roane after the incident. “You know what? You need to get off of that highway, pal, and wake up and learn what law enforcement is all about — supporting each other.”

    “It’s a disgrace,” Speziale said of Roane’s conduct. “If you think that that’s not a disgrace, you should take the badge off your shirt and throw it in the garbage.”

    It is unlikely that ordinary motorists returning from equally hazardous volunteer rescue efforts would receive the same courtesy. Under Virginia law, it is illegal to operate emergency lights when there is no emergency. Moreover, driving 80 MPH on any highway is considered reckless driving and carries a sentence of 12 months in jail, a $2500 fine, a six-month license suspension and possible car confiscation (VA code § 46.2-862).

    And from TheNewspaper.com

    Other police officials agree with Speziale that police should be exempt from the laws binding other citizens.

    See also:

    And yet some people will tell you we don’t need an individual right to keep and bear arms.  When the private citizen is disarmed the police, and government in general, develop an attitude that is unacceptable in a free society.  New Jersey is a prime example of this.

    Had I, with the data currently available to me, been the sheriff in Virginia I would have put them all in jail and put out a warrant for arrest of their chief and attempted to extradite him for aiding and abetting.

    Update: Another report indicates the rogue cops did more than just speed and ignore the local police:

    For nearly 200 miles, New York and New Jersey police also wreaked havoc from morning until night by forcing motorists from their lanes as well as by tying up traffic.

    I-81 motorcyclist Dick Graham recalls a speeding New Jersey caravan that remained in his sights only for seconds during a morning ride north of Roanoke.

    “I look in my mirror and, good God and low and behold, the horizon was red” with police lights, said the Fishersville resident and chief executive officer of Augusta Medical Center.

    …

    “I had my cruiser going 70 [mph], and they just blew right past us,” Graham said. “It was just a whole snake of them. It looked like a NASCAR race where they draft each other” bumper to bumper.

    …

    The News Virginian, through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, obtained transcripts of five 911 calls to Virginia State Police dispatchers.

    One call shows that the convoy broke up by the time it neared Augusta County. A splinter group continued to force motorists off the road while passing through the Raphine stretch of I-81, though.

    Said one caller at 10:25 a.m.: “Coming northbound 81. Should be at the 204 [mile marker] now. There are three New Jersey sheriffs’ offices vehicles … and apparently they’re using their emergency equipment to get people to move out of their way.”

    The next call logged by State Police came from the Augusta County 911 center, which apparently also had tracked the convoy via I-81 motorists.

    “Did you get the BOL [Be On the Lookout] for three New Jersey police cars running lights and sirens on the interstate?” an Augusta County dispatcher asked.

    “Yes, we did,” replied a State Police dispatcher.

    …

    Though the caravan extended for 80 cars, one state trooper reported, some motorists complained of smaller groups of New York police that refused to yield the right of way to traffic for nearly 100 miles.

    Said one caller: “There are four New York police cars running side-by-side with flashers on. … They are not letting traffic go by, going approximately 50 to 55 mph.”

    New York police also hogged the road to the point of forcing others cars out of the way.

    “The four New York police vehicles … just cut me off,” the driver said. “They have the right lane blocked and won’t let anyone around them.”

    The dispatcher taking this called listed the caller as “very upset.”

    Emergency calls seem to trace this convoy for roughly 88 miles. One call comes at 11:07 p.m. from a tractor-trailer driver warning of the resulting traffic jam crawling through Blacksburg at 30 mph.

    “Yes … I’m driving an 18-wheeler here on Interstate 81 going north at Exit 130,” the tractor-trailer driver said.  “Um, we’ve just about had several wrecks here because of New York State Police and I guess New Jersey police vehicles are blocking both lanes and letting nobody pass.”

    Cops, as group, don’t get that out of control where the people they serve exercise their right to keep and bear arms.

    Quote of the day–Frederick Bastiat

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    The politician attempts to remedy the evil by increasing the very thing that caused the evil in the first place: legal plunder.

    Frederick Bastiat

    Air America and friends

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    I want to build on the The Quote of the Day for today a bit.  I suspect more than just an avoidance of truth.  It’s has to do with data selection and basic assumptions.  To the best of my knowledge there isn’t an Air America radio station within my reception range here in North Central Idaho.  While I was in the Seattle area last week I spent several hours listening to it.  I concluded they have a completely different set of assumptions about the world, and perhaps reality, that are currently inaccessible to me.  “Bush is evil and stupid” seemed to be a basic tenet.  “The war in Iraq is wrong, we must leave as soon as possible” was another.  Another basic assumption appears to be “control things not people”.

    No evidence presented or examples given.  Just building on those assumptions.  In another example I just read an editorial which had these two paragraphs:

    I don’t mind that Bush is not a man of great intellect. I do mind that he effectively has taken the American public down to his simplistic level. Too many people buy a faulty link between Sept. 11 and Iraq. Too many people think that winning in Iraq will have any impact on the security of Americans at home.

    …

    At present the danger is from al-Qaida. That can change. The Unibomber was not driven by religious fervor, nor was Timothy McVeigh. The war on terror should focus on access to the tools of terrorism. That would require stringent controls on the sale of materials that can end up in bombs. That would require monitoring who purchases those materials. Wouldn’t it make more sense to monitor those individuals rather than people with Middle Eastern surnames who borrow books from libraries? Books are not incendiary devices.

    In the first paragraph no data is given to lead one to believe Bush is “not a man of great intellect” or that he works on a simplistic level. if you wanted to ignore all the funding of terrorism that Saddam engaged in you still don’t have to have a link between 9-11 and Iraq to think converting a repressive dictatorship into a representative democracy is the right thing to do.  And what about drawing all the Muslim extremists to a common location to do battle with our troops rather than in our shopping malls, subways, and sports stadiums?  What about providing a “shining beacon”?  What about destroying the extremist Muslim culture?  Don’t these guys get it?  Or is it they don’t want to get it?  It seems to me that he is the one working at a very simplistic level.

    In the second paragraph he isn’t even consistent with himself.  Information is a tool of terrorism.  Doing research on the layout of a city subway, the construction details of a skyscraper, or how to make explosives and poisons from household materials is just as important to the terrorist as the physical materials.  I’ll grant him that we shouldn’t be monitoring people’s reading materials.  But nether should we require stringent controls on steel nails, fingernail polish remover, and hair bleach which can be made into a bomb.  This guy complains Bush is simplistic and and he is totally clueless about bomb building as practiced in the mid-east.  He mentioned McVeigh and doesn’t realize that the raw ingredients to make ammonium nitrate, the main ingredient McVeigh used, are all in the air we breath and our electrical outlets.  Try putting “stringent controls” on that!

    I can only conclude that these people live in a different reality.  A simplistic, ignorant reality where Muslim extremists don’t want to kill you if you don’t convert to Islam.  A reality where Mommy (as opposed to Big Brother) government can put childproof locks on the “kitchen cupboards” so the “children” don’t hurt themselves or others.  The reality is that to retain the freedoms we desire we must seek out and imprison or kill the individuals that desire to harm us.  The only tools of terrorism that restrictions upon make any sense reside between the ears of the terrorists.  It is those tools that must be physically controlled or destroyed.  And although I initially had many doubts about going into Iraq, even in hindsight, I think it was the best course of action.

    So what of the liberals and Air America’s basic assumptions?  Are they simply projecting their simplistic limitations onto their “enemies”?  Perhaps that’s part of it.  But I think it goes beyond that.  There appears to be more and more evidence that since Muslim terrorists want to destroy capitalism they must be on the side of righteousness.  The “liberals” are in so many ways nothing but haters of capitalism.  I believe they are thinking in terms of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  Never mind that the enemy of your enemy would have you giving up music, praying to Mecca multiple times per day, and killing homosexuals.  It appears to me it is more important to them that Republican control of government be destroyed than our freedom be retained.  Not that Republicans are any great friend of freedom.  I too utilize the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” rationalization. Bush is the enemy of Muslim extremists who would kill me if they could because I will not adhere to their belief system.  I will not convert.  The only available alternatives I see are a genocide of hundreds of millions or something very similar to what Bush is implementing.  I’m going with the Bush solution.  Air America and their ilk fall into the category of “the enemy of my friend is my enemy.”  I rejoice at the news of their failures and scandals.

    Quote of the day–Albert Einstein

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    Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels.

    Albert Einstein
    [This is one of the major claims of F. A. Hayek’s book The Road to Serfdom.  I have no reason to doubt it and this “invariable rule” is a major factor in my opposition to socialism. — Joe]

    2nd Amendment monument

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    Jeff at Alphecca reports about an article in the Detroit Free Press:

    LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A plaque honoring the right to bear arms would be placed near the state Capitol under legislation approved Wednesday by the state House.

    The House voted 108-0 to send the Senate a bill that would require the Michigan Capitol Park Commission to place the plaque near the Capitol or in the adjacent mall area. The plaque would be installed once enough private money is collected for a foundation to which it could be attached.

    What really tickles me about this is that they are backing the anti-freedom people into a corner.  What are they going to do when confronted with a vote on this?  Vote against it?  Flat out admit to the public they don’t support the constitution they took an oath to support?  Then later support legislation that is anti-freedom even though they voted for a monument supporting that freedom?  Their only viable option appears to be to not vote and/or use some sort of weasel words to say the celebrated freedom doesn’t mean what everyone else thinks it means.

    Quote of the day–Jeff Cooper

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    We read a notice from Canada to the effect that “The purpose of anti-gun legislation is to establish criminal supremacy over the citizen by awarding the goblins the status of being the sole armed caste of the population.” The publisher has gone on to state that the time has come to ask ourselves what is behind all this.

    Well, we know what motivates the hoplophobe. He simply envies the man who can cope where he, the hoplophobe, cannot. A skilled, armed man lives on a plane of security and contentment different from that of others. This is not egalitarian! The man who cannot cut it, envies, fears and sometimes hates the man who can. This is all very clear, it is just a pity that so many people choose to hide their perfidious motivation behind what they claim to be “crime control.”

    Jeff Cooper
    From Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries
    Vol. 5, No. 1
    January 1997

    Oklahoma stadium bombing info

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    It’s being reported that the bomber wanted to buy ammonium nitrate:

    Joel tried to purchase ammonium nitrate at a feed store late last week.

    …

    FEED STORE MANAGER TALKS TO REPORTERS ABOUT HINRICHS VIDEO HERE

    Domestic manufacture of ammonium nitrate was halted earlier this year. It is going to be much less of an issue in future events of this sort. The price for it is is going to much higher than other forms of fertilizer that perform the same function in the field. Anyone that asks for it is going to be immediately identifying themselves as a non-typical user. The ATF and the fertilizer industry have been working together to reduce the chances that someone is going to misuse it. And as others of have noted the use of the alternative TATP will result in more Darwin awards and fewer innocents being injuried.

    This is not to say I’m happy about the availablity of AN decreasing. I’m of the opinion that the misuse of the AN could and should have been prevented through less drastic means other than discontinuing the manufacture of the product. That our stadium bomber was asked what he was going to use it for and was unable to give a straight answer, which put the store manager on alert, proves the less drastic solution worked in this case.

    Socialized medicine strikes again

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    From the Times Online in Britain:

    Yvonne Watts, 74, had been promised a reduced waiting time for treatment from a year to three to four months under the NHS. But she was in such pain from severe arthritis that she spent almost £4,000 on surgery in France.

    What do you expect when your health care provider has a fixed budget rather than being market driven?  Why can’t they learn the lessons from the Soviet Union and nearly every other socialist country where there were long lines and waits for toilet paper, shoes, bread, and almost everything?  Government monopolies create shortages.  Sure government can make things more equal, but only more equal in poverty and misery.

    And besides that typical socialized medicine schemes fail my Jews in the Attic Test.

    Quote of the day–Hermann Goering

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    Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.

    Hermann Goering (1893-1946)
    German Nazi leader, air marshal.
    Alleged radio broadcast, Summer 1936, on the Four-Year Plan.
    [As by the design of the U.S. Constitution power is safest when it is in the hands of the people, not the government. — Joe]

    Gun dictionary updates

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    Much to my surprise the Gun Dictionary page on the Boomershoot web site is one of the most popular web pages on the site (thanks to Stephanie Sailor for suggesting this page).  Even the USPSA has linked to the page on their information for the press page (from the same page they also link to my Gun Myths and Truth page).  Because of that I frequently get requests for the definition of a firearm related term.  Just today I received a request for the definition of ACP, as in .45 ACP.  I updated the page with this definition and a few others.  In the past week or two I have added the following words:

    If you have suggestions for other terms let me know.  Feel free to supply your own definition and save me a little bit of work.

    We just enforce it, not obey it

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    I’ve written about this before.  Jeff at Alphecca posted another example:

    Leaving a Nashville courtroom yesterday morning, two Metro police officers were greeted by their peers and supporters with handshakes and hugs. A judge had just ruled they were not guilty of illegally taking guns into a downtown nightclub last year.

    Personally, I think that they have such a law is wrong.  Idaho doesn’t have a law against taking guns into places where alcohol is being served and doesn’t have the type of problems the anti-freedom bigots would whine about if they knew about it.  You can’t legally be intoxicated while carrying a concealed weapon and I don’t have a problem with that.  Driving and/or shooting while drunk is a bit on the reckless side of things.  It’s not consistent with a big ‘L’ Libertarian philosophy but I’m not going to get all bent out of shape over that.  I think it is a fair compromise.

    An employee of the nightclub noticed that one of the officers was carrying a gun and asked him to leave. Police were called when the officers refused.

    …

    “There was no authorization for them to be there, nor did supervisors have any knowledge of them being there,” police spokesman Don Aaron said.

    It’s a dangerous path to go down.  If the police (and other government workers) don’t obey the law on minor stuff it becomes more and more likely they won’t obey the law on major stuff.  The mindset becomes one of the laws are for keeping “them” in line.  The government workers are the elite for whom the laws were not really intended.  I’ve spoken to many liberals and who have a similar elitist mindset.  They want restrictions on firearms for the “average” person.  The police are the side of the elite who need to be protected from the common person that might want to hurt them.  They just don’t seem to get it that more people have been murdered by their own government than by the “common criminals.”  Government workers should be held to a higher standard of behavior than the non-government employee, not lower.  And the Second Amendment is our last ditch means of enforcing that ethical behavior on an out of control “the law doesn’t apply to us” elitist government.

    Quote of the day–Harry Browne

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    We need to reduce government to just the functions authorized in the Constitution. Then, if you believe that makes the federal government too big or too little, you can work to amend the Constitution to make it more to your liking. But the first step is to establish limits, so that we no longer have unlimited government that the politicians can use for anything they want.

    Harry Browne
    March 1998
    Libertarian Candidate for President in 1996