Category Archives: Freedom

Quote of the day—John Yemma

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It is a shame that we are still a species that feels comfortable, even celebrates, an instrument built solely to maim or kill. We are, after all, the same species that believes in persuasion and reason and has seen the efficacy of nonviolent movements. Yet ending tyranny and oppression and defending life and liberty still seem to require firearms.

John Yemma
March 12, 2012
Guns and freedom: the American paradox
[For the Christian Science Monitor it’s actually a pretty favorable opinion. My impression is that Yemma in transition from an anti-gun position to something neutral or even positive. He sees the tragedy of firearms misuse but recognizes that at least in worst case situations they are necessary.

We need to keep coming out of the closet and showing the benefits of gun ownership. It’s fun, it decreases crime, and it is a deterrent to tyranny.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robert Verbruggen

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[W]hen a government has the ability to forbid gun ownership, it has the ability to render groups it dislikes helpless to defend themselves. Regardless of whether modern gun control accomplishes its purpose of reducing crime — and for the record, there is no evidence it does — a free society should fear a government with such power.

Robert Verbruggen
July 7, 2010
Gun Rights Are Civil Rights
[Via Proclaiming Liberty: What Patriots and Heroes Really Said About the Right to Keep and Bear Arms by Philip Mulivor.

For those so ignorant, stupid, or evil to claim “that can’t happen here” remind them it has happened here. Verbruggen explicitly points out that the end of slavery but the continuing repression of blacks in the deep south continued for many years was enabled by gun control. And don’t forget about all the people of Japanese descent who were sent to concentration camps in this country.

It can happen anywhere and therefore most restrictions on firearms must be eliminated. Gun control fails my Jews in the Attic Test.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Wesley Pruden

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The Taliban position on peace is clear and unchanging; it would behead Americans wherever it found them.

Wesley Pruden
March 16, 2012
PRUDEN: A curious experiment in gun control in Afghanistan
[Yeah. That pretty much sums up my appraisal of the situation too.

With a little further inspection I realized this position isn’t all that much different than what anti-gun people have in mind for gun owners:

If a kid in a red state finds his daddy’s handgun and blows his head off, we’ll feel terrible (we’re like that), but we’ll try to look on the bright side: At least he won’t grow up to vote like his dad.

—Joe]

Quote of the day—Helen Caldicott

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Free enterprise really means rich people getting richer: they have the freedom to exploit and psychologically rape their fellow human beings in the process…Capitalism is destroying the earth.

Helen Caldicott
[The first part of the first sentence is technically correct but she (and most others) say it as if it were a bad thing.

500 years ago the worlds richest king, with all the wealth in his country, could not have purchased a zipper for his pants, an elastic waistband for his underwear, or a single Viagra pill. A bare-footed, half-naked man dancing around a bonfire with a bone stuck through his nose was nearly state of the art in medicine.

It was free enterprise, capitalism, that gave put zippers, elastic, Velcro, and Viagra within the reach of nearly anyone. An only slightly more select class of people can have state of the art handheld device which can deliver images at nearly the speed of light. Of course those images might be TSA pinups of your wife, your daughter “gone wild” dancing half naked in front of a bon-fire, or of your politician demonstrating the effectiveness of Viagra on his stainless steel pierced penis. But still, Velcro is pretty cool stuff.—Joe]

Guest post: Are You Defenseless Without A Firearm?

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This is from guest writer Rick Saxby.

I think it would be safe to say that pretty much all civilians who have a carry permit carry folding knives as backups to their pistols. If I were to bet, I would put money on the probability that the majority of them never train with their knives. In this article, I go over some points and make the argument that you should train with your folding knife so you can make it your primary weapon if need be. In my opinion, that is the best self defense. There’s a statement that I regularly read on forums which I believe is a poor answer to an important question. People say that carrying a pistol is a lifestyle and they avoid places that forbid them to carry a pistol on their person. This is not a solution nor is it possible if you are a member of this society. Here are a few of the places were civilians are forbidden to carry their firearms. 1. Post office, courtrooms (Jury duty), DMV and other government establishments 2. Colleges (Including Sports events) 3. Commercial airline travel 4. High schools (Including sports events) 5. Work: Most companies do not permit their employees to carry firearms to work Unfortunately for the public at large, shooting rampages commonly take place in places such as these. Most people who carry a firearm on a daily basis pretend that they can just make a habit of avoiding these places. But the thing is, for the majority of the people in our society, this is impossible. And if all you have is firearms training then when you are forced to leave your pistol behind you are completely letting your guard down for just a moment in places we typically associate with mass shootings. There are studies showing that someone armed with a contact weapon like a knife can travel approximately 7 yards in 2 seconds. 1.5 seconds is the average time it takes someone who has their pistol holstered to take out their firearm and get off a shot or two. So unless someone is very aware of their situation and also looking for attack cues, they are going to get stabbed. I would never tell anyone to bring a knife to a gun fight but my point is that I try to never underestimate what someone with intent is capable of doing to someone if they have a knife. Especially if that person has the right kind of training. I also have some facts that women and fathers who have daughters will be interested in; girls who are ages 16-19 have the highest rates of being victims of violent crimes in America, followed closely by women 20-24. In cases of rape, the ages of the average victims are younger than that, with half of the victims being under 18. One third of all the rapes in this country happen to girls 12-17. So it’s kind of funny to me when a grown man can get a permit to carry a gun but the population segment in this country who has the highest potential to be a victim of violent crime is strictly forbidden by law to carry firearms on them. And don’t forget about all the politicians out there who are dedicated to total and complete gun control.

  • Senator- Dianne Feinsteine Democrat-California: Interview with 60 minutes (1995) “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the senate of the United States for an outright ban picking up everyone of them (Firearms), Mr. and Mrs. America turn them all in, I would have done it”.
  • Rep. William L. Clay (D-St. Louis, Mo.), said the Brady Bill is “The minimum step” that Congress should take to control handguns. “We need much stricter gun control, and eventually we should bar the ownership of handguns except in a few cases”

The tragedy of it all is that every time there is another shooting rampage that takes place in this nation’s schools or workplaces, these politicians use these tragedies as fuel for their fire. And there is nothing anyone can do to stop these shootings from happening. They are just byproducts of a society that is spiraling out of control. To top this off, according to the IMF’s latest forecasts, China’s economy will soon surpass America’s in real terms by the year 2016. And the sad thing is we are also in debt to this massive communist superpower who does not allow any of its population except the police and military to own firearms. China is also beginning to strongly influence our financial policies as well. Maybe they have already started to influence some other policies here. I know that’s pretty far-fetched but look what happened in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. There was a massive gun confiscation in the aftermath of the hurricane. Here are some of the victims of the gun confiscation and how they described that day:

  • Buell Teel- “Automatic rifles pointed at you, you don’t have any choice… They didn’t care what your rights were, they were going to deny them. It’s not America as we’ve known it before; it’s changing”
  • Richard Styron- “They took ’em, and they didn’t have a right to take ’em, they didn’t even have a reason to take ’em.”
  • Robert Zas- “Heed the warning of what this was, it’s like Australia. All the sudden, boom, they’ve got our rights.”
  • Wayne Schum- “We are living proof that all they have to do is say, ‘look- this is the law’.”

What if you and your family found yourselves surrounded by men with M16’s pointed straight at you with one in the chamber and the safety off? Make no doubt about about it, when the cops come for your guns the tough talk stops and you give them up. God forbid this happens to anyone but people in this country shouldn’t believe this type of situation will never happen to them. So what I’m saying is people should incorporate knife and club training into their firearms training. This makes for the most practical self defense training. This is not the “one true answer” that will save you and your loved ones from all harm but it is far better than just gun training by itself. Make no doubt about it; an awesome folding knife, some combat boots, a bulletproof vest and a billy club can go a long way when you keep a low profile.

Quote of the day–Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre

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If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country … The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.

Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre
February 5, 1794
Report on the Principles of Political Morality
[Via Bill Whittle:

Via Kevin Baker’s The Slaughter isn’t a Bug, It’s a Feature.

Read that again:

Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.

That is what emanates as a natural consequence from those that believe if only the 1% (or 10% as President Obama’s good friend Bill Ayers believed) were responsible for the problems of the rest of the population were “taken care of” utopia could be achieved. The method for dealing with these “troublemakers”, as Whittle above points out, is frequently the murder of tens of millions of people. And as Kevin points out, this is a “feature” not a “bug” in the mind of the self-anointed.

And that is Why Boomershoot.—Joe]

‘Civilians’

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It seems to have become universal.  Cops refer to us as civilians, meaning, I guess, that cops don’t see themselves as civilians, meaning that they think they are military police.

If you want our respect, you might at least try using the language correctly, otherwise I’ll assume you went to cop school because you were rejected as a junior high school janitor.

I rarely watch television anymore, but last night I caught some of a show about cops in Alaska.  I’ve been to several parts of the state, so I was interested in a general sort of way.  Absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous photography, but it otherwise made my skin crawl.  In what I can only assume is an effort to dehumanize the people they ostensibly serve, cops refer to men and women as “males” and “females”.  No one is a man, or a woman, or a husband, father, son, brother, wife, mother, sister or daughter, but is a “male” or a “female” as though cops are of a different species.  By their own language then, they’re non human MPs.  Or is it superhuman MPs?  Either way it’s sick.

They say there is a high rate of suicide in Alaska, and they showed a couple of responses to the same.  I find it extremely unfortunate that they send a man with a uniform and a gun (drawn) to respond to something like that.  It’s probably the worst possible choice.  Yes; I know the reasoning, so don’t bother.  It’s just extremely unfortunate.  They hauled one guy off to a “doctor”.  Gawd.  The last thing that “civilian male” probably needed was cop (who refers to him as a “civilian male”) and “doctor”.  The whole thing reminded me of that spoof Star Wars Cops video, only it wasn’t a spoof.

Quote of the day—Steve Moore

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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was formed to ensure America’s freedom to travel. Instead, they have made air travel the most difficult means of mass transit in the United States, at the same time failing to make air travel any more secure.

…

TSA is finally feeling what it’s like to be screened. It has walked through the detector of bureaucratic failure and the red light has gone off. It’s time that we ask congress to have TSA “step over to this area” for a more thorough search. For once, “TSA screening” will be productive. I predict that dangerous amounts of inefficiency, derivative thinking, and reactive policy will be located, if not in their shoes, in their DNA.

Steve Moore
January 24, 2012
TSA: Fail
[I could probably pull a half dozen QOTDs from this post. It’s really good.

H/T Say Uncle and Richard R.—Joe]

Posit

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There essentially are no restrictions on guns or ammunition.  There are several organizations, local, national and worldwide, providing guns and ammunition to minors and to the poor, either for free or at subsidized prices, often without parental consent, even to the point of covering up for criminal use of guns in some cases so as to maximize the number of kids with access to guns.  It is a human right after all.  A right is a right, and that’s that.  If you so much as question it, you are against children and against human rights in general, you backward-minded Neanderthal, redneck ignorant Nazi bastard.  There are gun training programs in most public schools, with free ammunition available if a kid goes to a school counselor to ask for it, saying that his parents are denying him his right to ammunition.

There’s the background.  It is firmly entrenched in our culture, hardly anyone is questioning it, those who do are never taken seriously, and for sure it is not threatened either by this Congress or any foreseeable one.

Then; proposed new federal legislation adds to all of the above by forcing tax payers to pay for free guns and ammunition, for the asking, nationwide.  Anyone objecting to this new bill is accused of wanting to “ban guns”, denying the poorest people and the children their second amendment rights.  If you can’t get it for free, immediately, any time, anywhere, your right to it has thereby been denied, QED, so without this new bill, even with everything in the first paragraph untouched and safe for the future, the second amendment is effectively banned.  Poor, sobbing victim after poor, sobbing victim is paraded in front of the in-depth news show cameras to tell their stories of woe and despair arising from a lack of access to ”affordable” guns and ammunition, and the pundits have nothing but sympathy for them, and the serious understanding that can only come from having had similar experiences of their own.

Now; it is by that same resoning, in that same sort of environment, that Rick Santorum and others are accused of wanting to ban birth control.

Focus, People.  Santorum may be the spawn of Satan for all I know, but neither he nor anyone else of any prominence wants to ban birth control.  This entire issue was manufactured by Democrats to divert attention from the Obama economy and other Obama atrocities because they believe that “social issues” are the Republicans’ weakness and they want to keep the discussion focused there.  Some among us have actually fallen for it even though it’s been used a thousand times before in broad daylight.  Please get a grip.

Now I will point out that when we of the pro liberty mindset want a human right respected (one that‘s actually in the constitution, for example) we don’t demand that certain goodies be given to us as part of a government program at taxpayer’s expense and we don’t demand it be given to kids against their parents wishes.  The proof of whether a “right” is really a right is that a true right never demands anything from anyone else other than non interference.

Quote of the day—Robert Anton Wilson

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Belief is the death of intelligence.

Robert Anton Wilson
[I’m reminded of Ann Landers who said, “No one has the right to destroy another person’s belief by demanding empirical evidence.”

I’d also like to remind people that those that respect everyone’s beliefs have no respect for the truth.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J.G.A. Pocock

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The bearing of arms is the essential medium through which the individual asserts both his social power and his participation in politics as a responsible moral being.

J.G.A. Pocock
Historian, describing the beliefs of the founders of the U.S.
From The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition.
[Another one via Proclaiming Liberty: What Patriots and Heroes Really Said About the Right to Keep and Bear Arms by Philip Mulivor.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Greg Hamilton

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[W]e have to get some shit straight.

If you are an atheist then the Koran is fiction, if you are Christian it’s either fiction or worse, the work of Satan, if Jewish well I don’t know, you probably think something like the Christian, and if Muslim, ….oh yeah I don’t have Muslim friends…. Well whatever you believe, unless you are Muslim the Koran is NOT holy or sacred, it is a FALSE book, about a FALSE religion, by a FALSE prophet of a FALSE god. Everybody have that straight?

We publicly fund shit like “Piss Christ” and the same Americans who protest to protect it are mad about a fucking Koran?

Today should officially be “go buy a Koran, put it on the barbecue, and cook some fucking pork chops and bacon with it” day.

It’s called a fucking war, if you don’t like it feel free to castrate yourself and all the males in your genetic line, convert to Islam, and let the savages breed with your women.

Oh, one more thing, unless you are a follower of Islam quit calling that boy-buggering pedophile Mohammad a damn prophet! Whether you are atheist, Christian or Jewish he CAN’T be a prophet. He is either a wack-job like L.Ron who made some shit up or he is the minion of the Devil.

Greg Hamilton
February 27, 2012
Facebook Post (with some minor typos fixed).
[Greg is very good at succinctly expressing a complex topic in such a way that you realize the topic perhaps isn’t as complex as you thought it was. See also all my other quotes by and references to him.

The one thing not directly addressed in his rant above is about respecting other religions. If we are to respect the First Amendment don’t we have to respect all religions? To that I would say the First Amendment is about mutual respect. Read Osama bin Laden’s letter to America and tell me how we can have peace with people like that and still have a First Amendment, a Bill of Rights, or even a constitution other than something that is subordinate to the Koran. He literally says:

What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

…

You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator.

Our options are: 1) Dispose of our Constitution and accept Islam as our one and only state approved religion; 2) Be at war with them—forever; 3) Convince them by any means possible that portions of their religion have to be permanently abandoned.

Respecting their religion is only an option if it is your intent to completely submit to their religion. If that is your intent then as Hamilton says, “…feel free to castrate yourself and all the males in your genetic line, convert to Islam, and let the savages breed with your women.”—Joe]

One of Many Things I’ll Never Quite Understand

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Those who consider themselves iconic conservatives, or Republican leaders, often praise  President Lincoln.  Just reading the Emancipation Proclamation, I see it as a cheap political ploy of Clintonian style (or W. J. Clinton was of the Lincolnian tradition).  It didn’t free a single slave.  Furthermore, the North had slaves all through The War Between the States, and General Grant kept slaves for years after.  Depending on who you listen to, Lincoln was either a brutal tyrant or a brilliant champion of liberty.  I definitely do not see the latter.  This whole issue is clouded in B.S. so thick I can’t see through it.  Where do I turn for the truth?

Terrorism

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Son-in-law John reports:

Hey Joe,

Thought you’d find it interesting. I’m taking a criminal justice course online at the moment and this weeks assignment is to write a paper on a terrorist or extremist event. The 7 events they use are:

  • Ramzi Yousef 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
  • Beirut, Lebanon vehicle bombing of the Marine barracks
  • Ruby Ridge
  • Oklahoma City Murray Federal building bombing
  • Theodore Kaczynski letter bombs
  • Waco Siege
  • Lockerbie PAN AM Flight 103 bombing

I briefly considered writing about how waco and ruby ridge were more examples of the ATF and FBI being the terrorist entities, but I don’t think that would fly very well, grade wise.

More details followed:

School Name: Grantham University

Course title: CJ101, Intro to Criminal Justice Instructor; Carolyn Dennis
Description:
Introduction to Criminal Justice presents a broad view of the criminal justice system. The course focuses on decision points and administrative practices in police and other criminal justice agencies, as well as basic criminal procedures. A realistic description of the American criminal justice system is presented and how it works – police, courts, and corrections. Topics include: what is criminal justice, the crime picture and the search for its causes, criminal law, policing history and structure, police management and legal aspects, adjudication including the courts and sentencing, corrections involving probation, parole, community corrections, prisons and jails, prison life, juvenile justice, drugs and crime, multinational criminal justice, and the future of criminal justice.

Week 7 assignment:
Case Study: Terrorists and Extremists

As described in the Module 7 Power Point presentation, criminologist Gwynn Nettler outlined all terrorism shares six characteristics:

  • No Rules-No moral limitations on the type or degree of violence that terrorists can use.
  • No Innocents-No respecter of persons; from soldiers to children; all are game.
  • Economy-Kill one, frighten 10,000
  • Publicity-Terrorists seek publicity, and publicity encourages terrorism.
  • Meaning-Terrorist acts give meaning and significance to the lives of terrorists.
  • No Clarity-Beyond the immediate aim of destructive acts, the long-term goals of terrorists are likely to be poorly conceived or impossible to implement. Terrorism that succeeds escalates.

The last seven slides of the Module 7 Power Point presentation depicted the following case studies of actual terrorist or extremist type events.  Select one of these case studies, do further research on it and complete a 2-page APA formatted essay discussing the application of these six characteristics in the event you select. In addition, the student will state if the chosen event was a Domestic or International event and why it is so.

By that definition it does seem the actions of the FBI at Ruby Ridge and Waco are properly classified as terrorist events. Good to know.

Quote of the day—Lyle@UltiMAK

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I suppose that if we’re going to discuss who is compensating for what; the argument could be made that those who want more government in their lives, those who feel the need for the forceful interventions by government, are compensating for a lack of confidence in their ability to interact productively with other people in a free society. They don’t see themselves as capable of prospering when the rules are level and people’s rights are equally protected, so they have to advocate a system that gives them some special advantage over their betters. They’re compensating for weakness, meekness, timidity, self loathing, lack of imagination and other inabilities, so they’re looking for outlets for their jealousy and the hatred that comes from it.

Lyle@UltiMAK
February 27, 2012
Comment to Quote of the day—OC.
[This makes a lot more sense than some sort of penis envy the anti-gun people claim to exist in regards to firearms ownership.—Joe]

Quote of the day—OC

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I’m sorry but anyone who has to carry a gun in public has a small weiner. They just do. It’s not open for discussion.

OC
March 4, 2010
Comment to Open Thread: Penis Substitutes At the Ready!
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

Apparently OC also isn’t a fan of the First Amendment, the scientific method, or spelling checkers.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Colorado Passport Agency

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We generally don’t consider a crease to be damaged or mutilated such that it would prevent travel. Even if the RFID chip in the passport fails to operate, as long as the data and photo are legible, there should be no problem.

Colorado Passport Agency
February 23, 2012
Denver family stranded after passport denied because of crease
[H/T Say Uncle.

So… what this appears to mean is that you may intentionally (perhaps with plausible deniability) destroy the RFID chip and not worry about it invalidating your passport. This eliminates all the concerns about remote RFID scanning. It also means our government knows and acknowledges the RFID chips do not enhance security. Any security arguments made about their use in passports is invalid by their own admission.

One must now ask, “What is the real reason why they want RFID chips in the passports?”—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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Since is it illegal for the government to keep records of someone who exercises their First Amendment rights it should also be illegal for a government to keep records of someone who exercises their Second Amendment rights.

Can you imagine the outcry if the government demanded you fill out the equivalent of a 4473 and undergo a NICS check before purchasing a printer for your computer, start a blog, or write a letter to the editor?

The Second Amendment deserves as much or more respect than the First Amendment and we need to get that point across.

Quote of the day—James Huffman-Scott

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The existence of a position with the title “Political Officer” fills me with rage. In the military or a business the mere existence of such a position is evidence the government should be overthrown.

James Huffman-Scott
February 20, 2012
This was said while watching Voices of Authority in season three of Babylon 5.
[Yeah. It is just a TV show but I can understand that if it were to happen in real life. And I can see we aren’t that far away from it actually happening here. Having your friends and neighbors sending an email to the Whitehouse (search for “flag” on this page) about something you said in opposition to a government program or policy in violation of Federal law is a relatively small step from having a political officer looking over your shoulder all of the time.

It’s probably because of my advancing age and desensitization from the constant assaults to our freedom over the years that I don’t get nearly as angry about things like that anymore.

Instead of getting angry I spend my time building tools to enable the revolution should the offenses reach an intolerable level with no other options available.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Roberta X

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Why apply prior restraint to a Constitutionally-protected right, then? Barring stupidity, deliberate ignorance or outright insanity, … unreasoning prejudice is the only motive.

Roberta X
February 21, 2012
Running The Numbers
[For a simple one-word answer “prejudice” is close enough and probably should be used in those contexts where sound bytes are important. But the real answer is probably much more complex. There is more than a little ignorance, a fair amount of stupidity and a lot of near insanity as well. Read about Peterson Syndrome for a more complete story on that mix.

But what Roberta left out was hatred, maliciousness, and evil. There are those that would disarm us because they know that if we have arms we will forcefully resist their final ultimate solution to what they believe to be the problems of the world.—Joe]