Quote of the day—Charles Heller

Follow their criminal and bloody escapades from the Ken Ballew raid debacle in 1971, to the deceit that triggered the Randy Weaver travesty in Idaho, to the incitement of violence in the horror at Waco,Texas, to the despicable acts in the John Lawmaster Raid.

The ATF, and later the BATFE, has now distinguished itself as the least disciplined, least accomplished, least effective, and most unethical “law enforcement” agency in U.S. law enforcement history.

Charles Heller
Executive Director of Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership
Gun Control – And Now For Something Completely Different
July 13, 2011
[I could see a solid case for that claim being made and defended.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Chris Cox

They don’t have the statutory authority to do it and we’ll file a lawsuit as soon as the first letters are sent.

Because the American people don’t approve of his gun-control agenda, he’s trying to circumvent Congress. The whole thing is a distraction away from the gross incompetence that we’ve seen in this Fast & Furious scandal…The truth is a $40 billion criminal enterprise is not going to be worried about paperwork violations. This is not a serious attempt at controlling the drug cartels.

Chris Cox
NRA Legislative Director
July 11, 2011
NRA: New Gun Control? We’ll Sue
[What isn’t explicitly stated is that the requiring the reporting of gun sales cannot be done by executive order. A change of this type requires legislative action.

It’s as if President Obama believes he is Dictator Obama and can go around fighting wars and creating laws without regard to the existence of the legislative branch. Oh, yeah. He might actually believe it and is doing that.—Joe]

Another violent liberal

Via email from Donald W. we have this report:

A former Democratic political operative has been indicted by federal authorities for allegedly planting a bomb in a Clayton parking garage in 2008. The bomb went off, seriously injuring a Clayton attorney.

Milton Ohlsen iii nicknamed “Skip” is well known to law enforcement. He’s also well known in Democratic political circles. The feds now say he’s the one who planted a bomb in a garage at 190 Carondolet plaza in Clayton on October 15, 2008.

Starting in 2004 Ohlsen was used as a consultant by the Missouri Democratic party. He even had lunch at the governor’s mansion with then-governor Bob Holden.

It’s nothing new and is to be expected of their type.

Quote of the day—John Lott

This case can almost be viewed as if the Obama administration wanted to increase the number of American guns used in crimes in Mexico.

The timing of the “Gunwalker” case is even more troubling since the program got going at about the same time that the Obama administration was trying to claim (falsely) that American guns were showing up in a significant number of Mexican crime scenes.

Is it possible that the Obama administration pushed this program to help gin up more support for gun control in the United States?

John Lott
July 8, 2011
|he Puzzle of ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ — When Will Team Obama Come Clean About Failed Gun Program?
[Is it possible? Of course. The people in this administration are the most anti-gun set of people in the history of our country. But they could also be classified as some of the most incompetent.

I’m still undecided on whether “Gunwalker” was a method to justify support for more gun control or massive incompetence. If it wasn’t intended to justify more gun control then it was a mighty strange coincidence that we had all the “Mexican gunrunner” noise for years at the same time. Can we determine which came first? If Gunwalker started before the “OMG drug cartels have guns” meme started then I’m convinced it was a deliberate attempt to advance gun control. But if the other way around it’s still possible but less likely.

In any case I fully support the Mexicans request that we extradite the ATF, FBI, DOJ, DEA, and any other (BoomershootWife is hoping Obama was involved) criminals to Mexico for trial there on one condition. That condition is that once they get a fair trail and have served their sentences they must ship the bodies back so we can mount their heads on poles on the Whitehouse lawn as a reminder and a warning for others.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Shootin’ Buddy

Rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains are smarter than Paul Helmke. He is the dumbest man in the history of Indiana politics (and that is quite the accomplishment because of the heavy competition here).

Shootin’ Buddy
July 7, 2011
Comment to the post Clueless.
[I’m sure there is a great deal of truth in this statement but I’m more in alignment with Lyle on this one.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kevin Baker

To surrender completely to the control of others – either a secular government or a religious one – control that invades every waking action, requires people unwilling to do for themselves. The first step is and must be the destruction of education. People must be prevented from thinking for themselves, from reasoning. George Orwell explained it with “Newspeak” in his novel 1984:



That preparation started in the early years of the 20th Century. Thus today we have “politically correct” speech. With destruction of language skills comes the destruction of logic skills – if you can’t read, you can’t integrate ideas new to you. In fact, new ideas are gibberish – words that have no meaning. “Politically free” is a null value to someone planted in the fields of politicism. It’s a weed.


A free society requires an informed and virtuous citizenry.


“Free,” “informed” and “virtuous” have become null terms.


The 21st Century will be a century of struggle between freedom and politicism. Polticism has two competing versions – Marxist and Muslim. Freedom?


Null term.


Kevin Baker
July 4, 2011
TL;DR
[Kevin has some good points. There are even some points that he doesn’t directly address that support his pessimistic outlook. For example, the title, “TL;DR”, is very telling. Our society changed dramatically with instant entertainment. I’m certain that television and even radio are factors in the transformation of our culture into a more ignorant one. We can be mindlessly entertained rather than improving our minds and/or our bodies or producing something of value. The idiot boxes are such a great temptation that instead of doing something productive we take another hit of the entertainment drug. And there is so many “drugs” to chose from. If one doesn’t grab you in the first 15 seconds you change the “channel” until you find one that does grab you. Instant gratification is critical to success of a “channel”. Who in their right mind would be willing to read and understand, let alone write, books like those of Locke and Hobbs (unless it was Calvin and Hobbs) when you have Grand Theft Auto, Entertainment Tonight, and meth available? Those are so much easier to understand and offer near instant gratification. Who has the time to even read a Kevin Baker post? Understand it? Bah! In the grand scheme, it’s almost no one.


The fraction of the population that is capable of that is so small and the fraction of those that would care even if they could understand it that the blip on the vote tally would be impossible to detect in the statistical noise let alone the voter fraud. And the voter fraud will always be aligned against the likes of Kevin.


I understand all that. But I still have, perhaps perverse, optimism for the outcome. While the upside of our near instant communication isn’t as obvious as the downside I still think the potential exists to ultimately prevail. Because we have the ability to communicate to thousands across vast distances at nearly the speed of light and publish we have a incredible advantage over Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Samuel Adams. They were part of a nation of just three million people and built the foundation of most powerful economic and military force the world has ever seen. We have three million or more like minded people in our country now. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are ten times that many. The problem is that those people’s voices have been drown out by the noise from the parasites clamoring for “social justice”, or “their fair share”.


There have been many great civilizations before us that collapsed and some of the causes may even be common to our own. Internal and/or external enemies, exhaustion of natural resources, over population, or even climate changes (you have heard of the little ice age, right?). But our current crises is mostly due to internal enemies with some added pressure by external enemies. As Kevin points out these are the cults created centuries ago by Marx and Mohammad. I think the Marx cultists is doing most of the damage and is the bigger threat. But I think it is possible that even they have reached the zenith of their power and may soon experience a catastrophic collapse even more rapid than our society as a whole.


What the socialist/communist/progressive masses don’t understand is that they are, as Ayn Rand pointed out, looters. And the life of an unhindered looter is only great as long as there is someone left to loot that doesn’t offer meaningful resistance. And they just looted the last “store” on the planet.


The Marxists always describe people in terms of “class”. I think there is a grain truth to be harvested from a class division of people. But it’s not the class division taught by Marx and his cult. The class division I find useful is of producers and looters. And as the economic realities of discovering the last store on the planet has already been looted the looters will either become producers or they will die off. I suspect there will be lots of dead. Most from starvation and disease and a few from being shot by the producers that finally start doing what should have been done a long time ago—protecting their property from the looters.


The instant communication channels will allow us to find other producers and identify looters. This will give us hope and it will enable our cooperation. This is the upside to our technology and may yet save our species from the great endarkenment looming over us. This is an ace-in-the hole that no civilization before us ever had available.


The looters of the future will not be so well camouflaged as the looters of today. Today they have a few leaders who wear suits and smile as they wave to the camera and ask for your vote. In the not so distant future their leaders are likely to live lives that of the last couple of years of Saddam Hussein and meet similar ends. The looters will be hungry, dirty, and run in wild packs. Without the camouflage producers will recognize them for what they are and appropriate action will be taken.


I don’t know the end result of the coming final class struggle. Maybe the looters will destroy the last of the producers and it will be another ten thousand years before a civilization can rise from the ashes. But at this point I don’t think that is a forgone conclusion. I think the producers may have to look the other way as millions of looters become beggars and then finally corpses. They may be millions of tons of rotting flesh to be cleared but the producers may be able to survive the coming apocalypse and end up with a much stronger society two or three generations from now.


Some lessons are very, very difficult to learn. But sometimes you cannot advance to the next level until you master the current level.



I just hope Gerard Vanderleun is wrong and our society can learn the lesson of this level before we have lost all our lives and it is game over.—Joe]

Liberals are violent

As Donald said in the email he sent me, “For your Why are Liberals so Violent file”. The full story is here.

The gist is that Lindsey Piscitell and her friends had “a happy accident” when they spilled wine on the wife of Glenn Beck (Piscitell described him as “Fucking asshole”). One friend, Marissa Barker, upon hearing Beck and his family were in the park with Piscitell Tweeted:

Ew, can you “accidentlly” spill something on him? Or “accidentlly” kick him in the mouth?

We should not be surprised at this. It’s what liberals do.

Quote of the day—Mark Walsh

Illinois is really important nationally. The country needs one state people can look to and see it’s still doing the right thing.

Mark Walsh
June 29, 2011
Director of the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Ill. likely to see fierce battle over gun control
[And if they were the last state in the union that still had legalized slavery, Jim Crow laws, or outlawed alcohol what would be the response?

Nationally both Illinois gun laws and anti-gun organizations are a disgrace and nearly irrelevant. It’s time to shame them into the dustbin of history.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Angela Mapes Turner

Former three-term Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke said Thursday he’ll step down July 10 as president of the Brady Campaign and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Angela Mapes Turner
June 23, 2011
Helmke to leave Brady Center–Former mayor undecided about next step
[I have been wondering why he continued to stay on when we have them outnumbered, outsmarted, out financed, and of course (literally) outgunned. It turns out he gave them a five year commitment when he signed on. July 10th is the end of that commitment.

They are going to find it difficult to get someone to replace him with the current political climate. I think they should just close up shop and say, “I’m sorry, we were wrong.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ron Paul


My hope is that the recent hearing will further expose the ATF’s and Attorney General Eric Holder’s assaults on law-abiding gun owners, and more people will start questioning the need for unconstitutional agencies like the ATF that exist solely to infringe on American citizens’ God-given right to keep and bear arms.


Ron Paul
June 21, 2011
Rep. Ron Paul slams Obama over gun scandal, Second Amendment
[This is a little weak. The words “right to keep and bear arms” should be replaced with “rights”.


At least that would be a good start. Calls for tar and feathers would gain further support from me.—Joe]

Idaho Senator Arrested

Seems he got drunk and took someone else’s vehicle out for a joyride, “looking for The Promised Land”.  That would be an unsuccessful joyride, I’d expect.  I guess if he’d driven his own vehicle into, say, a river and killed his date, he’d be OK.  As it is, he’ll probably be fired.  I wonder if he keeps his pension after this.

Project ‘Fast And Furious Gun Restrictions’

The more I see on this scandal with the BATFE, the more it stinks.  Here are several issues I have, in no particular order.  To me they’re obvious quirks in the story that aren’t being discussed.  If someone knows of these being brought up and addressed, please do share;


The Old Media are actually covering this to some extent.  They don’t cover anything unless it in some way promotes the leftist cause.  They’re actually being critical of the BATFE, but wait.  The “problem” is being spun as one of too few restrictions.  BATFE is bad, not because they’re idiots or self-serving thugs looking for more funding, or outright criminals or tyrants, but because they didn’t stop gun purchases.  Keep an eye on this.


Very large purchases of guns were supposedly “allowed” to take place.  We’re being asked to believe that Mexican criminals purchased up to dozens of guns at a time, on several occasions.  First; if these were real straw purchases wherein there was a genuine worry about secrecy, they’d take place in dibs and dabs, so as not to attract attention.  Second; why would powerful Mexican cartels with international influence be interested in paying hundreds of dollars more, per gun, in the U.S. compared to getting them at global street prices?  Even the cartels would know about our background check system at gun stores, yet these purchases supposedly took place at gun dealerships, where they would know that such large purchases would attract immediate attention.  But they did it anyway?  Too many stinky points.  I say the purchases were engineered, either by, or in close cooperation with, BATFE, and not simply “allowed”, as we’re being asked to believe.


We’re told that hundreds of these guns were found at crime scenes (I think I heard the number 800 dropped the other night).  What?  Really?  Hundreds?  That’s an awful lot of clumsy, absent-minded, criminals, isn’t it?  Leaving their guns, so painstakingly straw-purchased at inflated prices at U.S. retail dealerships, behind at crime scenes to be found in very short order by our super heroes?  Stinky, stinky, stinky.


A big government operation, not to shut down Mexican cartels, not to investigate corruption in Mexico that’s threatening people in the U.S., not to revisit the effects of our War On Drugs, but instead to draw attention to how our evil gun rights in the U.S. lead to death and destruction in other countries.


These issues aren’t being brought up in the press or by the Congressional “investigations”.  Nope.  Instead it’s all about; “You bastards! Why didn’t you guys stop gun sales?”  All this after Obama promised anti gun rights groups he’d be doing something for them “…under the radar“.


I think the indignation we’re hearing from the press and from Congress is all feigned.  Good Cop, Bad Cop.


My younger brother and I put together a list of socialist tenets many years ago.  It’s been lost to computer upgrades and internet evolution, but one of those tenets was; “When restrictions on freedom produce disastrous results, freedom is to blame and the solution is more restrictions.”  Look for it in this case.  It’ll happen, I guarantee.  It’s in the DNA of it.

This Public Servant Bit Needs More Discussion

This is an addendum to the post below.


As stated; as a public employee, as a public servant, your job, your individual tasks, your pay and the very existence of the department for which you work, exists purely at our (The People’s) pleasure.  It is our prerogative to alter this relationship, to dismiss you, or to eliminate your department entirely, at a whim.


As a public servant, you have no “right” whatsoever to a particular salary, or to a particular job, etc.  If we decide we must lower your pay or dismiss you altogether, your proper response would be something like; “I understand.  Thank you for the opportunity to have served you.”  At that point you are free to go your own way and prove your worth in the marketplace as you see fit.  May you live long and prosper.


If you decide, on the other hand, to get hostile about it and start in with the name-calling and the threats, what can We The People conclude about the relationship we’ve had with you?  Look at me when I’m talking to you!


In private practice, a servant that gets hostile with the home owner will probably result in the police being called in on a domestic disturbance.  At the very best it would result in an unflattering reference when you apply for another job.  This is OUR house.  If the hostility continues and becomes threatening, what are we to do?  If the police aren’t able to help us get you public servants under control, well then, what?  What are we left with for options in that case?  You aren’t going to get your way, let me just put it like that.  Not for long, I can tell you.  This is OUR country.

Quote of the day—Dennis R. King

If government is the solution; Then it is highly probable that government created the problem in the first place.

Dennis R. King
2004
[Dennis is my cousin. Until yesterday it probably had been close to 20 years since I had seen him. He had framed this and put it on the wall of his home. I thought it qualified as QOTD material. Living in California with all the examples to chose from he talked at length about how messed up the government is. Frequently the rants extended to the Federal Government and Washington State government where his brother lives. I had a very pleasant visit.—Joe]

Exposing Leftists

College students are asked to sign a petition to impose Affirmative Action upon the basketball team (for diversity), to redistribute GPA points, ban conservative talk radio, etc.  Good stuff.  Enjoy.


What I took away was the students’ apparent total lack of ability, or preparation, for these discussions, meaning that high schools and universities aren’t encouraging such critical thinking at all.  I believe my son, who just graduated from high school, could give these petitioners a resounding talkin’ to.


HT to Glen Beck

And You Thought FEMA was All About Helping People

Admit it– somewhere in the recesses of your mind, you thought there were only the best of intentions behind the creation of FEMA.


Little Grasshopper; I’ve been trying to get this across for some time now.  I know it’s extremely difficult, but you have to try harder to grasp this pebble from my hand.  People with good intentions want YOU TO BE STRONG ALL ON YOUR OWN.  In the harder times, when you fall down and get seriously hurt, they want YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY TO BE STRONG ALL ON ITS OWN.  In the hardest of times they want YOUR REGION TO BE STRONG ALL ON ITS OWN.  If the end of the world seems to be upon you, they want EVERY INDIVIDUAL TO BE AS INDEPENDANTLY STRONG AS POSSIBLE.  Only then can Mankind face the biggest challenges and come out strong.


Creating a system that operated through coercion, funded coercively, which by its nature weakens charities and weaken individuals in favor of centralized power, is not the result of good intentions.  It is the result of hatred.  I know it’s extremely difficult, Little Grasshopper.  I know there are all those assertions of warmth and light and compassion, but those are deep, deep lies, all the more the egregious because of their mockery of love and compassion.


What evidence will it take to convince you?

Quote of the day—Candice Hoeppner

The long-gun registry is a massive Liberal policy failure and it needs to end. It makes no sense to force law-abiding individuals with firearms’ licences to register their long guns. It makes no sense to believe the registry will prevent a gun crime taking place.

Candice Hoeppner
Conservative MP
June 10, 2011
Gun registry Time to scrap it
[The problem is that liberals don’t judge their policies by the facts. They judge them by their intentions. It is as if intentions are all that matter. The “war on poverty” intended to improve the lives of the of the least “fortunate” in society but created many more “poverty stricken” people than it “lifted up”. Gun control was intended to prevent and/or fight violent crime but it enables more violent criminals to work in victim disarmament zones.

Because of their insistent on only considering intent and not results they report numbers that only reflect their views. One of the most blatant is their reporting of the “success” of the Brady Act requiring background checks. They report the total number of people prevented from purchasing a firearm. They do not report the number of people denied a firearm who should have been allowed. They do not report that violent crime rates did not improve as a result of the background checks.

As I have said before, they are either unwilling or unable to distinguish between their hypothesis and their conclusions. If Canada is able to undo the much hated long gun registry via the political process it will be something of a miracle. Outside of the U.S. it is extremely rare for repressive gun laws to be repealed without violence.—Joe]

Quote of the day—fabian_solutions

History is on the side of progress, on the side of socialism.

fabian_solutions
June 12, 2011
Comment to American Way: Sarah Palin email frenzy backfires on her media antagonists.
[I think someone needs their anti-psychotic drugs adjusted.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sarah Brady

Michael Barnes’ stature and experience with important national and international political issues made him the inevitable choice to lead Handgun Control and the Center at this critical time. As we work towards the next generation of sensible gun laws, we need a leader with vision, with understanding and with the courage to take on the gun lobby. Michael Barnes is that leader, and I am overjoyed to welcome him to our crusade.

Sarah Brady
February 3, 2000
HANDGUN CONTROL, CENTER TO PREVENT HANDGUN VIOLENCE NAME FORMER CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL BARNES NEW CEO
[And how is that crusade working out for you Ms. Brady? And what would that “next generation of sensible gun laws” be?

I know what the pro-gun people were working on in 2000. We were working on advancing shall-issue concealed carry laws. We are almost done with that and now we are working on our “next generation of sensible gun laws”—Constitutional Carry.

My advice to the Brady Campaign is to give it up. The Constitution is on our side, the courts are on our side, and the people are on our side. Handgun Control Inc. is dead and no matter what you rename it the organization belongs in the disgraceful anti-freedom dustbin of history like the KKK, the Communist Workers Party, and American Nazi Party.—Joe]

Quote of the day—LiberalActivist

Murder was pretty much nonexistent until the righties came along.

LiberalActivist
June 6, 2011
Forum post on the topic, “Your stance on gun control…
[I’m not really surprised at the existence of lies and absurd claims by liberals anymore. But those lies reach depths that do amaze me. Another example from this same guy, “Republicans were pro-slavery during the Civil War while the Democrats were anti-slavery. Just remember that.” I guess he doesn’t remember and is unable to look up the political party of President Lincoln.—Joe]