The other day Lyle posted “We Can’t Drill Ourself Out of This Problem”.
Today I was poking around in my quote collection and ran across this:
Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
Apparently the “progressives” still haven’t caught up with the capitalists of 150 years ago.
With the Heller decision we successfully landed on the beach and are now advancing.
The Apex of the Triangle of Death reports on the latest victory in Morton Grove Illinois where they surrendered without firing a shot.
We’ve all heard it. That’s the current mantra of the Left, and if there’s anything we have for certain all heard a thousand times, it’s a Leftist mantra.
There are two camps on this issue. In one camp, the people suck it right up, fully accept it, and repeat it any time the discussion comes up.
The other camp is incredulous. “How could anyone be so stupid..” they might ask, “..to believe we can’t drill for more oil, increase the future supply, send a message to the market that lots more oil is on the way, and thereby bring down the price?”
That’s a perfectly sensible question. To say that we can’t drill our way out of an impending oil shortage is of course exactly like saying you can’t eat your way out of hunger, you can’t warm your way out of hypothermia, and you can’t drink your way out of thirst.
It’s just plain incomprehensible that anyone would make such a claim, so why do the Leftists keep saying it? They seem all to understand it, and they all seem to embrace it, so what’s going on?
The problem, as always, is in the use of the language. We are assuming that by “this problem” the Left means, “the combination of high demand and restricted supply that results in a high price”. We’ve been wrong about this the whole time, however. What the Left means by “this problem” is actually, “human success” particularly “American success”. Translated properly into Left-Speak then, the phrase, “We can’t drill our way out of this problem” make perfect sense. It would read something like, “We can’t drill our way out of American success” which is of course perfectly true and obvious. We could drill and pump and drill and pump, and still we’d be a vibrant, successful, creative and productive nation. For the Left, that outcome would of course be insufferable.
Now you understand.
Carry on.
Steve Chapman appears to have all his facts correct but overlooks what I think are the most important points. Yes, all the gun control laws failed to make people safer. Yes, shall issue concealed carry laws did no harm. Yes, legal scholars concluded the NRA was right all along. But that isn’t what made the difference. Facts and reason have never been the most significant factors in politics.
What made the difference was the gun grabbers getting their asses handed to them in elections. It started with the 1994 national election a month and a half after the so called “assault weapon ban” was passed and was sealed when Al Gore lost his home state in the 2000 election. From there it was still a fierce battle but astute observers on both sides could see, baring some major upset, who was going to win. September 11, 2001 came and both sides tried to take advantage of the event. Gun owners came out on top. The next major event, hurricane Katrina, proved such a disaster for the gun grabbers that there was no doubt which side had the momentum.
Another significant factor was the militia movement in the mid 1990s. It faded away in the late 90s when the ballot box appeared to be having the desired results. The politicians realized gun owners were preparing for war and dialed down their hate filled rhetoric. If the soap box and ballot box didn’t work the cartridge box was being readied for use. They heard the whispers from the gun ranges, gun shows and any other place where gun owners gathered. The shout of defiance had changed even though Heston still used the old one. And the new one was not said from the podium with the television cameras running. It was a deep growl which could only be heard if you were standing close enough. But the politicians got the gist of it anyway, “You can have my gun when you reanimate Your Cold. Dead. Hands.”
When I was little, got upset about something and was presenting my case with “the volume set to 11” my great Uncle Walt used to tell me, “Speak softer, I can’t hear your” and I would have to repeat myself without all the “enthusiasm” of my first explanation. His advice was good. But some members of congress are turning that sage wisdom against us. 10s of thousands of us had comments in favor of being able to defend ourselves with the best available tools in the National Parks and rather than listening to what was said they want to “get more input”.
The real story is the anti-gun bigots in congress are trying to delay the allowing of firearms in National Parks until their is a new administration in the White House. The Apex of the Triangle of Death has the details and what to do about it.
As Jed points out (and I had noticed a few minutes earlier via a Google News Alert) World Net Daily quoted me when reporting about the ACLU getting ripped apart by comments on their own blog regarding their stand in regards to the Heller decision.
Cool! I was proud of that rant but I didn’t expect any big names to pick it up. I should have put a link in the comment I guess. No traffic from WND is being directed here.
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
Milton Friedman
[Gun control, laws against recreational drugs, welfare, socialized medicine, and rent control are just the examples that come to mind in the first few seconds.–Joe]
My father in law sends me all sorts of chain mail. My response follows at the bottom, but for the intro, here’s the chain letter:
Subject: A Billion?
How many zeros in a billion?
The next time you hear a politician use the word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about whether you want the ‘politicians’ spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it’s releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
(Actually, that’s 1.5 billion, but that’s not the point)
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New Orleans …
It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number…What does it mean?
A. Well… if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D. C
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, we had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened? Can you spell ‘politicians’?
And I still have to press ‘1’ for English.
I hope this goes around the USA at least 100 times
What the heck happened?
For my money it is called greed.
———————————————-
My response:
They left out special, punitive state and federal taxes on guns and ammunition, which account for a large portion of the cost of the product.
The list of taxes does not address the many and various requirements and restrictions on businesses. One small example out of thousands is; a window was broken in our Clarkston, WA store during a robbery. Had it been in Moscow, we could have called one of several glass shops and had it replaced the same day. Because this happened in Washington, there is a tempered safety glass requirement for storefronts that increased the cost of the window by several hundred dollars (wanna bet some legislator’s cousin owns a safety glass business?). But that wasn’t the main expense created by the law. Far and away the biggest expense was that we had to wait several weeks for the window, meaning we had no storefront for that amount of time– just boards.
That cost, and thousands like it, never figure into the costs with which we are saddled by local, state and fed restrictions.
Add things like minimum wage laws, which outlaw many entry-level jobs outright. Add laws requiring handicapped access, which can amount to 100s of thousands of dollars for a small business, even if they have no handicapped customers. The list of such requirements and restrictions would take more than your e-mail in-box could hold, and these all amount to increased cost of doing business. Often, the reporting and compliance requirements necessitate the hiring of extra employees– people doing jobs for the government, paid by the business owner, producing nothing. Ever see a WA state sales tax report? Every city and county can have its own tax rate. Since our music store does business in two states, and in many cities throughout WA state, we have a huge tax report for WA State (Idaho’s is about the size of a post card). As a very small business, the WA reporting requirement costs us and our customers at least as much as the actual tax money paid.
And did I mention that property taxes and utilities prices are higher for businesses than for a residence? How many people know that unless they’re in business?
Now add to the list of costs; the number of businesses that couldn’t bear these burdens, and just gave up and quit. Then add the number of businesses that started up in other states because they had more freedom there (this is known as “brain drain” and it happens in all socialist societies– the creative and the productive want the hell out of there).
But that’s just the beginning. Add the untold thousands of creative people who never went into business because the hurdles were just a little bit too much to bother with (business being a stressful and risky proposition in the best of situations) and/or they knew the “safety net” would take care of them anyway, or they could get a government job with full benefits.
And so the monster grows– fewer people paying taxes to support an ever-growing government sector. Three trillion dollars annually and growing fast (it’s gone up almost 50% during this current “conservative” administration). Divide 3 trillion by the total U.S. population, boys and girls, if your calculator can handle that many digits.
Many of these costs are impossible to measure. They don’t show up on the spreadsheets or in the statistics, but I submit that they account for the greatest percentage of the total cost of socialist/statist systems. But then, some would (and often do) applaud anything that shackles the creative, productive human mind and forces it to either serve their purposes, or just give up. Everyone knows the score– business (peaceable, voluntary exchange) is greedy and deserves to be punished, whereas “public servants” are altogether selfless and benevolent, right?
We look forward to showing him ‘bitter’. Our members understand how bad Barack Obama is on the Second Amendment. Apparently, he thinks gun owners are either fools or have short memories. I can assure him he’s wrong on both.
Chris Cox
NRA chief lobbyist.
July 1, 2008
NRA Plans $40M Campaign Blitz
[Even us a red-necked knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, can see Obama is the enemy of gun owners. Cox and company are just getting the facts out.–Joe]
The ink isn’t dry on the Heller decision and we have already attacked the bigots in Chicago.
I was worried when I first heard of it. I was worried it was someone that didn’t know what they were doing and they would mess it up. The Second Amendment Foundation is involved which helped ease my worry some. Reading the entire complaint I broke out into a big smile. I can hear Alan Gottlieb’s mischievous voice and carefully calculated plan coming through. Then at the very end I saw the attorney–Alan Gura.
As Sean just told me in IM, “Yeah, baby! Sleep well, Mayor Daley”.
But that’s not all! The NRA is on the attack in California as well and perhaps New York. There should not be any rest for the wicked.
This is going to be great for the election in November too. It will have a very strong component of the gun rights issues. And I think we can get out the votes better than the other side can. Plus with the Heller decision on our side with Obama flip-flopping it’s going to look bad for him.
..and the worst fear of anti-gun bigots nationwide now that Heller has been upheld, is that DC’s violent crime rates will start to drop. What could be worse for the anti-gun movement than a noticeable drop in crime after a gun ban is overthrown?
Expect them to do anything within their power to prevent such an outcome, hide it, redefine it, or try to take credit for it somehow. Keep a sharp eye.
In a few hours my world will change. I’ve been actively involved in gun rights since Bill Clinton (spit, spit) was elected. He was the reason I bought my first gun. My second gun was because of Diana Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, and of course Clinton again. A significant part of Boomershoot and the website for Boomershoot was because of a law pushed through by Diane Feinstein.
Ruby Ridge was a motivator for my first gun too. I lived just a few miles from where that went down and know things that were never in the news reports. By the time the Butcher of Waco did her thing I was fully immersed and, as Barb will tell you, very difficult to live with.
Those were very dark days. Many leaders in the gun rights movement believed we had lost and were only fighting a holding action that merely slowed down the inevitable. I remember one prediction in the news group talk.politics.guns that captured the sentiments of many at the time. I didn’t save a copy because I didn’t want that sort of thing on my computer. I just went looking for it in the news groups archive–it took me 45 minutes to find it:
Robert Lewis Glendenning
Sep 4 1994, 10:39 amNewsgroups: alt.politics.org.batf, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, alt.conspiracy
From: rlgle…@netcom.com (Robert Lewis Glendenning)
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 16:21:41 GMT
Local: Sun, Sep 4 1994 9:21 am
Subject: Re: The RevolutionDuring the next 3 to 5 years, the Supreme Court will rule on a gun
case. This case will have national media attention, and every gun owner,
libertarian and proto-revolutionary will be watching closely.If they rule by the plain meaning of the Constitution, it will be a
signal that we are moving back to Constitutional rule.If they rule for the federal government, it will be a signal that
the gov has permanently escaped the Constitution. In this case,
I expect:1) That every major federal building in the US outside of WDC and
army bases will be burned in the next 48 hours.2) That the Federal gov’s ability to enforce laws will be restricted
by the lack of anybody willing to identify themselves as a federal
employee.3) That many states will pass resolutions demanding return to
Constitutional gov, and opting out of federal control via the 10th.4) That the US Congress capitulates by passing a revolution
pledging return to the Constitution, and listing a preliminary set
of laws which they intend to repeal. This list will include all
Federal gun laws.Note that this is as close to a bloodless revolution as one can
imagine.In preparation for these events, may I suggest that you learn all
about your local federal buildings?Lew
—
Lew Glendenning rlgle…@netcom.com
The CONSTITUTION, the WHOLE CONSTITUTION, and NOTHING BUT the CONSTITUTION.
We are now hours from that moment Glendenning predicted. What will be the result? The only thing I am certain of is that neither of predicted potential outcomes will come to pass. Even if the Heller decision goes against us all the Federal buildings will be standing 48 hours and even 48 weeks later–barring an severe earthquake someplace. Overturning the D.C. gun ban and declaring the 2nd Amendment is an individual right won’t put the government “back on the path to righteousness” or any such thing.
Some people have been predicting (here and here for example) a favorable ruling on Heller will mean the anti-gun forces will find it difficult to raise money and get people excited if they know they can’t actually ban guns. Sort of like if they can’t win the fight with a knock-out they won’t even bother to stay in the ring and knock all the teeth out of their opponent. I’m not convinced of this.
When the south lost the war of northern aggression and all their slaves were freed did they suddenly start treating blacks as equals? No. They paid little regard to the Federal laws protecting blacks as they discriminated against, scorned, beat, and lynched blacks for 100 years after that decision was made. I believe we could still have a 100 years of political fighting ahead of us still. It could, for all practical purposes, be an eternal fight.
I don’t really think freedom is a natural state of mankind. Some semblance of freedom has only really existed for about 200 hundred years in a relatively small portion of the human population out of the roughly two thousand years that we have any sort of written history. I think the concept of “the tribe” is more important than the individual was a powerful meme that enabled our distant ancestors to be more successful than their individualist neighbors. That concept selected for anti-freedom mindset at a fundamental level in the personality of the human race. It was only in a small subset of the world population that the individual, the smallest minority, was regarded as important as “the tribe”. That resulted in a remarkable burst of economic and personal freedom that, in the big picture, was extremely shocking.
Western culture developed the concept of individual freedom and, in essence, conquered the world. It went against the inherent personality of all the civilizations and tribes before it. We did not breed that out of the human mind as that concept took root and flourished. At best it was suppressed in a sufficient number for a short (on the civilization scale) time. The group that values the individual is less inclined to kill or put the anti-individual person at a serious disadvantage of passing on their genes than the other way around. Hence you can think of the meme of individual freedom as sort of a recessive gene. The “tribe is more important” meme is more like a dominate gene. Hence freedom is likely to always be unfinished business.
So how will a positive Heller ruling affect us? As I said in my first line my world will change. I will be in a better position to claim the anti-gun people are bigots just like those that promoted the Jim Crow laws against blacks. If we are to come close to anything resembling a complete victory I believe that meme will be the key. We have to drive those bigots into political extinction. We can, and probably must, leverage concepts that already resonate with the majority of people. The comparison to minority (non-whites, Jews, gays, women, etc.) rights of all types is the most winning strategy I can think of. Sure the courts and legislatures will need to overthrow the existing repressive laws against us but that only comes after the public opinion has changed. They aren’t leaders. They are servants of the people and only enforce the will of the people. To win we must make the will of the people match our mindset. That is the job ahead of us.
If Heller goes against us my world will change in a different way. I don’t want to contemplate that scenario. That is the stuff of nightmares and dark ages.
I expect we will have some semblance of a win but still I’m sad. It could just be the late hour as I write this but a significant component is the freedom fighters that carried the fight for decades before I ever said a word or donated a single penny to the cause who didn’t make it to see this day. Neal Knox (and here) especially comes to mind. I met and talked to him at two different Gun Rights Policy Conferences. I was very, very impressed by him and I wish he could have seen this day. The best tribute we can pay to him is to win the fight.
Let’s celebrate and analyze the ruling for a few days then–Let’s roll.
The Apex of the Triangle of Death is selling signs to advertise your bitterness:
They have other signs available too.
In response to this (re: The Left)
“Ideological descendants of Marx and Rousseau now lead the Democratic Party and they have turned it into a disloyal opposition to an increasingly accommodating GOP.
…a pseudo-intellectual sinkhole filled with perverse, tried-and-failed ideas repulsive to the majority of Americans.”
“Tried-and-failed”… I must remember to use that one the next time I have to explain to some Lefty puke why socialism is a really bad idea.”
It won’t work. History will not touch a socialist. All past failures happened because the wrong people were in charge. It’s like trying to convince someone that his perpetual motion generator will never, ever work. He knows, from direct observation, that it came extremely close on his last try.
That no one else ever made it work is proof of nothing. There is a first time for everything, and our inventor knows, deep down, that he has the right idea. The right idea will work. Somehow it will work. It must. Then the major problems of the ages will be solved. Just… need…. to keep… tweaking.
The problem with the socialist and with the perpetual motion inventor is they both fail to understand basic laws of nature. Their theories violate those laws. End of story.
The perpetual motion inventor I can tolerate– he stays out of my face. I can laugh at him from a distance and he’ll leave me alone.
I wasn’t going to do this because I was very busy when the NRA offered me another wheelbarrow full of cash. But Sebastian has a good point. I’ll add a link from some of my other websites soon.
Barack Obama on guns. It’s not a pretty picture for gun owners. And of course he claims he supports the Second Amendment. But he voted and campaigned against gun ownership before he was for it then he whined about people clinging to their guns. And don’t forget that he thinks cities and communities should be able to make their own gun laws that meet their circumstances and needs. That concept has just as much merit now as it did decades ago.
Snoqualmie Pass is getting snow today. Probably not so much that I can’t make it home on Friday but of interest because its so unusual for this time of year. It is snowing in Moscow Idaho (my home) and the Boomershoot site too. Maybe I should schedule Boomershoot 2009 for July 4th so the snow will be light enough the roads will be plowed and people can make it without snowmobiles.
Crank up those coal fired power plants and rev the engines in your trucks while waiting at traffic lights–we need to head off the next ice age.
Either Al Gore has crap for brains and/or his motivation is solely for political gain.
Update: Daughter Kim says not to blame Al Gore:
From: Kimberly
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 11:10 AM
To: Barbara Scott; James Huffman-Scott; Joe Huffman; Xenia JoyI apologize for the snow it was my fault I cut the dogs hair yesterday
Update2: From my weather advisory email alert:
OROFINO/GRANGEVILLE REGION-
135 PM PDT TUE JUN 10 2008…SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM PDT WEDNESDAY ABOVE 3500 FEET…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 3500 FEET…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 8 AM PDT WEDNESDAY.
TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING ABOVE 4000 FEET AND OVER THE WHITE BIRD GRADE ON HIGHWAY 95. ELEVATIONS DOWN TO 3500 FEET…INCLUDING THE CITY OF GRANGEVILLE…CAN EXPECT TO SEE ACCUMULATIONS UP TO AN INCH.
A SNOW ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES…AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
This could mean certain types of crops in the area will be killed by the cold.
Something the global warming doomsday people ignore is that, typically, farm yields are better with abnormally warm weather than abnormally cold weather. Hence to be on the safe side of things we should try to push things in the direction of excess heating rather than risk excess cooling.
I wrote this as a comment on thehighroad.org but figured it should have its own post. Someone started a thread about NDs at gun shows (smells like an anti to me, akin to the standard MSM interview wherein the conservative guest is asked, “What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?”) Here’s my response:
I used to exhibit at gun shows. I always felt as safe at a gun show as anywhere else. Much safer than some places I’ve been. NDs at shows were always something you heard about, but never witnessed, kind of like Sasquatch and space aliens.If you ever find yourself afraid for your life, running into a gun show would be a good choice if available.
If you’re worried about safety, don’t drive to a gun show though– you’re vastly more likely to be injured or killed during the drive to and from the gun show than while you’re there. I suspect this would be true even if 3/4 of the people at the gun show were drunk and all the people on the roads that day were sober.
On that note; I go to my kid’s school football games (you know where this is going, right?) and at each and every game there is an ambulance, complete with paramedic crew, on location all during the game.
Ever seen an ambulance and crew on standby at a gun show? How about at a shooting match, where people are, you know, actually loading and firing guns?
Me neither.
Do NDs happen? Yes. Very, very rarely. Usually, they result in no injuries or serious property damage. Do people get killed falling down in their own homes? Yes, and it is a more common occurrence.
Carry on.
Tomorrow ATF inspector Sue will show up at my house and we will go for a little ride into the country. My ATF type 20 license to manufacture high explosives is up for renewal and they need to inspect my storage facility before they renew it.
As I was going through my closet this morning I wondered what I should wear tomorrow. I considered my Boomershoot t-shirt with this image:
But that’s a little tame. I wanted something a little more edgy for the occasion.
For about a half second I considered this one from JPFO (they no longer sell it so I’m saving mine for special occasions):
Elian’s story can be found here and occurred during those dark days while Janet Reno (The Butcher of Waco) was still in power.
I decided that shirt was a little too over the top even for me when meeting with someone from the ATF–in particular a meeting with Sue. Sue is very nice, I had lunch with her a few years ago and then we had a nice talk as we drove out to the Boomershoot site. She was helpful with getting my explosives storage facility into compliance with the government regulations. A couple years later I saw something posted on a website that could have been a threat toward her. I sent an email to her with the link and although Sue never responded alternate sources indicated I was the first one to tell her about it and everyone took it serious enough to put extra effort into her safety.
I decided it would be very rude and completely uncalled for me to wear the above shirt.
So… what shirt to wear tomorrow. I finally decided on Celebrate Diversity:
I’ll let you know how it goes after I drive back to my bunker in the Seattle area tomorrow night.
The other day Jed said, “I’d like to raid Joe’s quotations database.”
I just got around to extracting the politics related stuff. There is lots of personal stuff in the master collection that some people would rather I didn’t make public. The politics related things are here. It includes things that aren’t really quotes such as political jokes. And because I have traded collections with other people some of the stuff does not necessarily represent my political leanings.
Washington [D.C.] is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.
John F. Kennedy
[And the brilliance of a black hole*, the integrity of a sociopath, and the morals of an alley cat.–Joe]
* Yes, I’m aware of Hawking Radiation and speculation about it’s existence is on par with my observations of intelligence in D.C.