Category Archives: Politics

Abortion rights versus gun rights–What media bias?

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As Lyle pointed out the other day some interesting comparisons can be made between the way the left deals with abortion versus guns. Here is another example:



McCain and Obama on the issues


ABORTION


McCain: Opposes abortion rights…
Obama: Favors abortion rights.


GUN CONTROL


McCain: Voted against ban on assault-type weapons but in favor of requiring background checks at gun shows. Voted to shield gun-makers and dealers from civil suits. “I believe the Second Amendment ought to be preserved — which means no gun control.”


Obama: Voted to leave gun-makers and dealers open to suit. Also, as Illinois state lawmaker, supported ban on all forms of semiautomatic weapons and tighter state restrictions generally on firearms.


Notice that even the title puts a positive spin on the repression of gun owners. It’s about “gun control”, not “guns”, not “gun rights”, not “the Second Amendment”, not “gun ownership”. Who wouldn’t be opposed to “uncontrolled guns”? Therefore the opposite of uncontrolled guns, or gun control, must be a good thing.


Compare the handling of guns versus abortion. Obama favors a right. McCain opposes a right.


What media bias?

He Forgot the Hate Factor

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Walter E. Williams has an excellent piece entitled Destroying Liberty in which he accurately describes the process that leads ordinary Americans to support destructive legislation.



But if you were to ask, say, the average senior citizen whether Social Security, Medicare and prescription drug subsidies should be continued, he would probably answer yes. The same would be true if you asked a college professor whether higher education should continue to be subsidized, or a farmer or a dairyman whether their products should be subsidized, or a manufacturer whether there should be tariffs and quotas on foreign products that compete with his product. The problem with congressmen producing favors and privileges to all interest groups is that it creates what none of us wants: massive control, numerous dictates and micromanagement of our lives.


Read the whole thing.  Superb as it is, he missed the hate factor.  There are a significant number of Americans who have been taught to hate the very things that make this country a success.  They hate the very idea of corporations for example.  The term “free enterprise” makes their blood boil.  The sight of a nice home, on a nice lot, with the American flag flying makes them want to spit.  They have a hateful name for it; “McMansion”.  They would tend to agree with Obama when he says with contempt that some Americans are clinging to guns and religion (the first two amendments in the Bill of Rights).  I suppose deriding Americans who “cling” to property rights, free speech, the right to a fair trial by jury, etc., will come next.  When FDR was pushing his Raw Deal back in the ’30s and ’40s, there was a famous (to me) quote, and I paraphrase; “For the first time, the rich are going to feel the same pain that the poor have felt.”  Spread the misery.  If I’m suffering, angry, and unhappy, then by damn, if I can’t do anything else, I will make you suffer, make you angry, and make you just as miserable as I.  That seems to be the mentality.  It’s far easier to tear down someone else’s house than to build one of your own.


Now we’re faced with the possibility that one of these America haters is going to be elected president.

Another NRA ad against Obama

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A retired law enforcement officer explains why voting for Obama is a bad idea.

Quote of the day–Jacob Sullivan

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What will Obama cling to when voters question his commitment to the Second Amendment?


Jacob Sullivan
September 23, 2008
Revenge of the Bitter Gun Owners
[Obama pissed off the wrong people with his “clinging” remark. Gun owners are probably more inclined than any other group to be one issue voters. And what is incredibly telling to me is that Obama could neutralize all the skepticism of his “support for the Second Amendment” by saying he as President would veto any anti-gun legislation that came to his desk. He could easily win the election by continuing his current plan and then repeatedly and convincingly saying that one sentence. But he hasn’t. He wants to cling to the possibility of further restricting our civil rights.–Joe]

Sarah Palin buttons

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Daughter Xenia sent me these links:



I like the last two best:


Kevin Baker on hate

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Kevin wraps his mind around why the left, and to a lesser extent the right, has so much hate and shares the result via quotes as is his style.


Very good stuff and I highly recommend it. It explains so much.

The Financial Crisis for Dummies

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The shorter and even simpler version is, “You can’t fool the free market forever even if the politicians think they can. The laws of economics can no more be changed than the laws of physics. Obama and other Democrats were the biggest contributors. Vote for McCain.” Set to music:





H/T to George for the email with the link.


Update: The video was pulled and via Kevin I found the replacement.

Quote of the day–Roberta X

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… I don’t see the real world playing out like the last few chapters of Atlas Shrugged. We’re a bit short of Galts and Gulches an’ Midas Mulligan’s been in a Federal pen for a good long while now, accused of “redlining.”


Roberta X
Meanwhile, Back At The Launch
[Atlas Shrugged is a great book but there are lots of deviations from reality. It does have some wonderful points to make but as a plan for restoring our country’s freedom it obviously won’t work. Economic collapse may be required but an organized strike by the truly intellectual to force that just isn’t going to happen.–Joe]

Headlines for Obama

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Barack What First Amendment Obama has sent threatening letters to new agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio demanding they not run NRA advertisements. This act should be immediate disqualification of him as a candidate on at least two different levels. One is the obvious disrespect he has for the First Amendment (as well as the Second). The other is the crass stupidity. In addition to this being the Internet age where everyone can upload or download almost any video they want in a manner that is virtually impossible to block outside of a hard core police state this makes a news story out of the NRA ads. Which means TV stations are likely to start showing the ads for free!


As Dave Hardy said people will want to see what they are forbidden to see. A psychology prof lecturing about advertising once did a quick survey in his class about signs that were effective in getting the students to spend their money on a product. He was somewhat surprised to find one of the most compelling signs was “Under 17 not admitted without parent or guardian.” Has Obama never learned that people buy and read banned books (get your button here) because they are banned? The same thing applies with guns, ammo, and accessories.


Just think of the headlines (the following are copyright exempt) this act of stupidity will enable:



  • Obama Campaign Running Scared (NRA web page headline)
  • What Obama doesn’t want you to know
  • See the video Obama wants censored!
  • Obama attempts to ban free speech!
  • Obama jumps the gun and goes for the First first
  • Obama imposing “reasonable restrictions” on human rights
  • What’s next? Restrictions on the right to trial by jury?

Someone this out of touch with human nature and the Bill of Rights has no place in American politics.


Update: Barack Enlightened Leader Obama also has local law enforcement pledged to come down on certain anti-Obama ads. This reminds me a lot of the early days of Adolf Hitler. Only here we have these rights specifically enumerated and Obama is, in essence, saying, “Bill of Rights? We don’t need no stinking Bill of Rights!”


Update2: It’s not just Obama! The Democratic Party is trying to suppress free speech. But that is to be expected I guess. It was one of the most liberal Republications and a liberal that brought us McCain-Feingold. Repression of economic and political freedom–it’s what liberals do.

Quote of the day–David Hardy

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When will people learn? Upon hearing “you should not be allowed to see this,” every real American feels a Pavlovian urge to see it at once, even if it’s a Sanskrit manual on chariot repair.


David Hardy
September 25, 2008
Obama campaign tries to get stations to refuse NRA ads
[Apparently Obama is trying to get an early start on gutting the First Amendment. Apparently just signalling his attitude on the Second Amendment wasn’t enough. It’s obvious that he and his followers think of him as the Great Leader but one would think he could control himself until he seized power. Could it be that he just can’t help himself?–Joe]

Journalists on fact checkers

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Via an email from Simon–Political Fact-Check Sites Proliferate, But Can They Break Through the Muck?


I think the answer is, they could, but they won’t because most fact checkers don’t know what facts are and freely substitute opinions. See the Heinlein quote for assistance in determining the difference.

Quote of the day–Dann Dalton

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It’s the public school system. Let’s be honest, it’s full of liberal loons.


Dann Dalton
September 23, 2008
Fifth Grader Suspended for Wearing Anti-Obama Shirt


[H/T to Say Uncle and David Codrea.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Piet Hein

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The Arithmetic of Cooperation:
When you’re adding up committees
There’s a useful rule of thumb:
That talents make a difference,
And follies make a sum.


Piet Hein
[Does this remind you of banking regulation committees?–Joe]

What’s So Great About America?

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At this time– this very day when Congress is plotting the final stroke in yet another, years-in-the-making, offensive against capitalism, Bill whittle has brought our attention to his doctorate level thesis on American exceptionalism.  It’s called, Trinity (part 1).



If you believe, as I do, that wealth can be manufactured out of thin air, then there is no limit to the amount of wealth you can amass. And since you are creating it out of thin air, there is no moral onus on making money – you work hard to create it and have stolen from no one. There is an expression for this: you earned it.


Indeed, since charity depends on excess wealth, excess capacity, the more you make for yourself the better off everyone else is. You can even throw charity out the window if you are so hard-hearted; the fact remains that you will spend that money to get the things you want, and the more you have the more you can spend. That money goes to other people. This interchange is called “the economy”, and rich societies are rich because they understand in their bones the centerpiece of Capitalist thinking: Wealth can be created from thin air by human ingenuity and hard work.


Now people on the left have, in their guts, a revulsion towards the rich and the wealthy, because whenever they see wealth they naturally assume that it was stolen…


So true, Doctor Whittle.


If any of you haven’t read Bill’s piece, you’ve missed out.  We know at least 99% of politicians have never read anything like it.  Either that or they were unable to understand it and wandered off to catch happy hour down at the watering hole.  Certainly nothing like this is being presented within our public schools.  Ever.


Well, now’s your chance.  It’ll take some time, but you’ll thank Bill for it, I guarantee.


For you lefties out there; don’t bother.  Something like a curse in a foreign language, you won’t understand it but it will upset the hell out of you all the same.  Like when certain people ask me how to do something and I say, with total sincerity, “I’m sure you can figure it out.”  Curse in a foreign language.

Facts and opinions

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Reading the blogs today I’m reminded of a Heinlein quote:

If it can’t be expressed in figures, it is not science; it is opinion.
-Robert Heinlein-

Apparently certain “fact checkers” didn’t get the memo. There is a big buzz in the gun blogger world today:

Our friendly Apex of the Triangle of Death has probably the best information with On Obama’s Gun Record, Who Will Fact Check the Fact Checkers? I found this to be the most illuminating:

There’s another possible explanation behind FactCheck’s positions. Just last year, FactCheck’s primary funding source, the Annenberg Foundation, also gave $50,000 to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence for “efforts to reduce gun violence by educating the public and by enacting and enforcing regulations governing the gun industry.” Annenberg made a similar grant for $100,000 in 2005.

I see three simple questions, inspired by the Heinlein quote above, to get to the bottom of the controversy. Everyone can answer them for themselves with only a small amount of work using the above links. Those questions are:

  1. How many laws which restrict gun ownership and use has Obama supported?
  2. How many laws which encourage gun ownership and use has Obama supported?
  3. In the last few years how much money has FactChecker given to pro-gun organizations and how much to anti-gun organizations?

There no need for opinions on this topic. There is a need for facts. If “FactCheck” is to honor it’s name then it should emphasis numbers and not words.

NRA ads about Obama

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Something I don’t see much of in Idaho is how the NRA spends it’s advertising money during elections. Spending the money in my area of the country would be a waste of time. Any money spend getting an election victory greater than 50% of the vote is wasted. Seeing how my money is spend is nice.


Here, for your education and enjoyment, is the latest propaganda from the Apex of the Triangle of Death:


Quote of the day–Philip Elmer-Dewitt

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In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps. When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it.


The battle lines were first drawn last April, when the Administration unveiled the Clipper plan and invited public comment. For nine months opponents railed against the scheme’s many flaws: criminals wouldn’t use phones equipped with the government’s chip; foreign customers wouldn’t buy communications gear for which the U.S. held the keys; the system for giving investigators access to the back-door master codes was open to abuse; there was no guarantee that some clever hacker wouldn’t steal the keys. But in the end the Administration ignored the advice. In early February, after computer- industry leaders had made it clear that they wanted to adopt their own encryption standard, the Administration announced that it was putting the NSA plan into effect. Government agencies will phase in use of Clipper technology for all unclassified communications. Commercial use of the chip will be voluntary — for now.


Philip Elmer-Dewitt
March 14, 1994
Who Should Keep the Keys?
[Those that criticize Republicans for “spying on U.S. citizens” forget how hard the Clinton administration worked to do the same thing.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Ayn Rand

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It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.


Ayn Rand
[I’m thinking of certain Democrats and their tax plans.–Joe]

A match made in hell

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Obama is trying to woe gun owners telling us how he “supports the Second Amendment”. As if this should even be an issue, have you ever heard politicians say they oppose the Bill of Rights?? Of course he is a like a teenage boy thinking he is going to get laid for the first time if he says, “I love you” enough times–no matter how insincere he is.


The Apex of the Triangle of Death has a little quiz to help cut through the fog of raging hormones and see the truth about what Obama is really about:




Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

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However, gun owners are not so foolish to believe that House Democrats embraced this legislation just because it was the right thing to do. Many voted for H.R. 6691 to give themselves some pro-gun-rights cover for the upcoming election, and they know it.


Those Democrats are fully aware that chances of this bill getting through the Senate during this session of Congress are virtually nil, but this issue gave them a chance to cast a pro-gun vote they can brag about on the campaign trail over the next seven weeks.You can bet your gun collection that Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will block a vote on this measure.


Alan Gottlieb
Founder of Second Amendment Foundation
September 17, 2008
HOUSE RIGHT TO VOTE ON D.C. GUN REGS, MAKE COUNCIL BEHAVE, SAYS SAF
[It about symbolism over progress on the civil rights front. But at least they using symbols that appeal to us rather than to the Brady Campaign. I’m annoyed D.C. is defying the Supreme Court chastisement for their 30 year repression of civil rights with the attendant hundreds, if not thousands, of lives lost. But at least they are headed in the right direction even if they have their feet dug in and are being dragged into compliance. I’m annoyed at the situation, can you imagine what the anti-gun bigots are feeling? I think I can–at least partly. I remember the passage of the Brady Act and then a few months later the “assault weapon” ban. I felt anger that lasted for months. But I had an outlet. I purchased guns, ammo, reloading equipment, training, and then in 1996 started working on explosives. The Brady supporters don’t have nearly as good an outlet. They can only whine, complain, and scream. That isn’t nearly as satisfying as putting a bullet through a pop can filled with explosives from 500 yards away. But then they have been whining, complaining, and screaming for years now and are good at it–it what they do. We have better things to do and it is part of the reason why we are winning. We have positive activities with tangible social and self improvement results. They are a hate group and have zero positive results to show for all their decades and even lifetimes of hate. To have even their minimal accomplishments in a few square miles of swamp wasteland near Virginia and Maryland be taken away from them as got to be extremely discouraging. Pity them as individuals but drive them as a group into political extinction.–Joe]