Category Archives: Politics

Quote of the day–P. J. O’Rourke

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Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.

P.J. O’Rourke
[I was reminded of this after my officemate came back from a meeting over in building 33 last week. Hillary was in town trying to buy votes with promises of “rebuilding a strong and prosperous middle class” and gave her sales pitch to people Microsoft. I wasn’t aware of the visit until after my officemate came back and gave me a report or I would have attended. If nothing else just to take some pictures.–Joe]

A letter From Son

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My son, a freshman in high school, occasionally sends me e-mail from school, but due to a busy study schedule and extremely slow computers (it’s a public school) they are rare.  Today’s letter was notable.  Our complete exchange follows:

In the last period of the day, we had a study hall, and I had no homework. So, I decided to go on the boomershoot website and look at explosives. I also had the ultimak webpage open at the same time. I actually had a teacher come and tell me to find another subject!

To which I replied:

Sorry to hear that (actually, I read it but “sorry to read that” just doesn’t have the same effect) but I’m certainly not surprised. Our popular culture has been effectively trained, like Pavlov’s Dogs, to recoil (like the metaphor?) from anything that shows guns in a favorable light.

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html

Racist bigots once behaved in exactly the same way toward blacks or other minorities– back then you might have been looking at Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings while in a study hall in Alabama, and been told to read something else! We don’t hear much from the racist bigots any more, because they tend to keep their mouths shut in polite company. Now we have anti-gun bigots instead, who feel no compunction and mouth off regularly.

On a side note; many have never learned (because this story doesn’t fit the popular, leftist anti-gun action line) that during the civil rights struggle, many black leaders and religious figures joined the NRA and encouraged their black neighbors to arm themselves. As one would expect, violence against blacks tended to fall precipitously in those areas where such advice was taken.

Many would also be shocked (shocked, I tell you!) to learn that the KKK not only supported gun control (see above paragraph) but their political party of choice was the Democratic Party. No self-respecting KKK thug would ever vote for a Republican.

Give that to your social studies classes, et al, and let them chew on it for a while. They may hate it, but unlike much of what they say, they can look this up and verify it. Then you can explain that you were looking at your father’s web site and the site for an event that you attend annually.

Now, keep up on your homework, be nice, and have fun! That’s an order.

I’ve always had the policy of not “talking down” to my kids.  I use the same language I’d use in a conversation with an English professor.  If they don’t understand something, they’ll either ask me or they’ll look it up.

Your NRA dollars at work

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Jeff reported on the end result here but I also got an email from our new friends at the apex of the Triangle of Death we met in Reno who helped make it happen:

Based on our discussion at the GBR, I thought this would be of interest to you; an area detailing where NRA’s efforts, and the efforts of the bloggers, have produced some movement in the area of BATFE reform.   Please cross post this to your lists so all are aware of our efforts on this front.

Thank you,
Glen
Glen Caroline, Director
NRA-ILA Grassroots Division
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, VA  22030

www.NRAILA.org
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Based on concerns raised by NRA, the House Appropriations Committee report on the Commerce/Justice/Science appropriations bill (H.R. 3093) includes the following language: 

“The committee has heard reports that [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has pursued license revocations and denials against firearms dealers based on violations that consist largely of recordkeeping errors of various types that are unlikely to impede tracing investigations or prosecution of individuals who use firearms in crime.  The Committee encourages ATF to consider lesser gradation of sanctions for recordkeeping errors.”

This is a continuation of NRA’s longstanding efforts to reform the BATFE, and to ensure that any penalties administered by BATFE against FFLs appropriately fit the transgression and that BATFE does not abuse its authority.  Last spring, NRA-ILA secured passage in the U.S. House of H.R. 5092 (http://www.nraila.org//News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=8224 <http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=8224> ), a bill that included many reforms to the process by which BATFE punishes violations of federal law and regulations (more information on bill here: http://www.nraila.org//Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=205 <http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=205> ). These reforms would have provided a fairer process for FFLs accused of violations.  Passage of the bill followed on the heels of House hearings (also prompted by NRA’s efforts) on BATFE abuses with respect to FFL enforcement and gun show operations. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to consider the bill before adjourning for the year. 

Others in the pro-gun grassroots community have reported on this issue, including Ryan Horsley of Red’s Trading Post, and numerous other bloggers.  Working together, it is our hope that we can continue our mutual efforts to reform BATFE once and for all to reduce and eliminate unjust harassment of legitimate gun dealers.

Quote of the day–Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

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Our analysis of the current stalemate in the national debate over gun control has led the Ed Fund to believe that activists must challenge the idea that guns protect freedom and democracy. We have begun to fuel a debate among academics, journalists, progressive leaders, and the general public over the relationship between guns and the values that define us as Americans. By demonstrating how the “insurrectionist” philosophy of the National Rifle Association has helped to build and sustain the conservative movement, the Ed Fund hopes to drive a wedge between the highly partisan and ideologically extreme leaders of gun rights organizations and moderate gun owners, as well as the non-gun owning public. We believe this strategy will give policy makers the best chance of enacting sound, progressive gun laws at the federal and state level that will ultimately save lives.

Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence
Objectives for Fiscal Year Beginning 01/01/2007
[They are correct about driving wedges but not about saving lives via their wedges. They need to answer Just One Question and reevaluate their objectives.–Joe]

The best government

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Thoreau said, “That government is best which governs least”.

Kevin explains in greater detail.

Quote of the day–P. J. O’Rourke

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. . . don’t I sometimes get called a Nazi?  Yes, name-calling, in which conservatives such as myself are loathe to indulge, is a favorite tactic of the liberals.  I have often been called a Nazi, and, although it is unfair, I don’t let it bother me.  I don’t let it bother me for one simple reason.  No one has ever had a fantasy about being tied to a bed and sexually ravished by someone dressed as a liberal.

P. J. O’Rourke
Give War a Chance
[He has a good point. And on a more practical note you can probably end the name calling if you use this line.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Dr William Gray

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It bothers me that my fellow scientists are not speaking out against something they know is wrong. But they also know that they’d never get any grants if they spoke out. I don’t care about grants.

Dr William Gray
October 12, 2007
Gore gets a cold shoulder
[Man is not causing global warming. Policitial correctness, desire for political power, and a hatred of capitialism are the driving forces behind the global warming scare.–Joe]

Quote of the day–James Dale Davidson

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Democracy is that form of government where everyone gets what the majority deserves.

James Dale Davidson

Societal engineering

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This started out to be a comment in response to Lyle then it got a little out of scope. The short background story is that Lyle says gun control advocates are vacuous loons and that if we had our act together would have politically crushed them decades ago.

Lyle, It’s a little more complicated than what we would like. Read what Dar Korra’ti has to say to get a feel for just one of the issues involved. Another is, as I like to say, it is irrational to expect people to be rational. For example, people have a very strong tendency to believe what they want to believe regardless of the facts.

Also, many would like to believe that it’s possible to create a perfect world–if only someone was given sufficient power/control/money to do it. They don’t understand that trade-offs are a part of any engineering task whether it is an automobile, a plane, a computer, or a society you are trying to engineer. Most people accept a certain number of automobile, plane, and computer crashes while realizing, at some level, that with the money, time, and other constraints things are working pretty good and certainly they wouldn’t be able to do any better themselves.

But when attempting to engineer a society nearly everyone believes themselves to be an expert and that anything short of perfection is reason to throw some baling wire and duct tape at the perceived deficiency. Then with nothing more than opinion they forge ahead. The rare few that bother to try to put numbers on things and pretend to do an actual engineering analysis almost always only look at one side of the equation. They only look at the potential good that might occur from their changes. They fail to look at the actual and/or potential damage their proposed changes will cause.

Are they “vacuous loons”? Well, yes. But I’m of the opinion that is the present state of the average person and there isn’t much we can do about that. And that a form of society/government in which the loons are unable to participate is likely to have serious deficiencies of its own.

Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson

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Advertisement: The most truthful part of a newspaper.

Thomas Jefferson
[Apparently problems with the mainstream media are nothing new. One might conclude that the problem will never be solved. Perhaps the best that can be done is to provide alternate outlets exposing the problems. The great thing about the Internet is that the barrier to entry is so low.–Joe]

Update: What Kevin said.

Quote of the day–Edward R. Murrow

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Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.

Edward R. Murrow
[Something to keep in mind as the candidates fire up their slogan machines for the next election.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Joseph Goebbels

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That propaganda is good which leads to success, and that is bad which fails to achieve the desired result. It is not propaganda’s task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success.

Joseph Goebbels
Fest, The Face of the Third Reich, 90
[Does this remind you of any politicians and/or media outlets in the present day?–Joe]

Quote of the day–H. L. Mencken

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Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

H. L. Mencken
[I keep thinking there has got to be a better system. The competing political systems of today are a minimum of 100 years old. Our communication technology, mass media, and perhaps other technology surely make some sort of new freedom based political system viable rather than enhancing a police state. But what is it?–Joe]

Time for a Quorum Amendment

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Listening to the radio on the way to work, I heard that a small town school bond levy in Idaho had passed by an approximately 70:30 vote.

Let that sink in for a moment…70:30 approval.

The next thing I heard was that the voter turnout was 30 percent.

If my math is correct, 70 percent of 30 percent comes to 21 percent of eligible voters who approved the levy.  21 percent of the people wanted the levy, and the other 79 percent either opposed it, figured it was a forgone conclusion, didn’t care enough to vote, or didn’t know about it (the latter leaves me wondering who was in charge of publicizing it).

In a very small town where the school district is possibly the largest single employer, how many of those 21 percent who approved the levy do you suppose were school district employees, the families of school district employees, and contractors to the school district?

Forget how you would vote on something like this– you could be on either side of it, depending on the particular issue.  Looking at it conceptually; how is it that 21 percent of the people, most of whom are the direct recipients of the tax revenue, are able to impose taxes on 100 percent of the people?  Is that outcome consistent with the idea of democracy, or of a free society?  No and no.

Why don’t we have a quorum rule for something like this?

Cop Threatens to Fabricate Charges, Then Lies

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I found this at Say Uncle.

The video pretty well speaks for itself (the audio anyway– there’s not much to see).  Full transcripts are provided also.  I  truly did not believe what I heard the first time through: The cop actually threatened to fabricate charges against an innocent man because he dared to ask questions.  The cop then lied to a fellow officer, saying the motorist had been weaving and had failed to signal (he was driving perfectly and the signal indicator is clearly visible in the video).

Cops have to put up with a lot of really insane crap.  Having worked in the late-night music scene for many years, I’ve seen cops put up with the most outrageous behavior from people, and do it with amazing patience.  LEOs need to present a far more calm demeanor than the average person.  This cop on the other hand is a fight picker– a frustrated, undisciplined prick with a chip on his shoulder, and that is a disaster in the making.

The fact that our LEO said what he said, knowing he was being recorded, suggests he had reason not to worry much about being disciplined for it.  On the other hand, it seems the recording taken from his cruiser has turned up missing.  Put those two facts together and what do we have?  Was he contemplating the destruction of his victim’s recording?

Understand that when you’re out in the middle of the night this sort of thing is far more likely.

On a broader point: Our foolish “war on drugs” has led to far more abuse, as cops are looking out for drug deals and the like, with full knowledge of current forfeiture laws.  In this environment, “probable cause” has morphed from that-which-is-required-to-obtain-a-warrant-from-a-judge, into whatever-the-cop-decides-at-the-moment-is-cause-for-a-warrantless-search.  As with much of our Leftist speak, “Probable Cause” has taken a meaning opposite to its original.  It is now used to enable the exact abuse it was intended to prevent.

My experience with city and county law enforcement (north Idaho/Eastern Washington) has been pretty good over the years, and in most cases, very good, even when I was clearly in the wrong.  Lets hope it stays that way.  You get one retarded mayor or one bad sheriff at the next election, and things could go to hell fast.

Quote of the day–Clayton Cramer

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…it does seem as though when you want corrupt politicians by the bushel, Democrats are a more reliable supplier.

Clayton Cramer
September 10, 2007
New Jersey Corruption
[Yup. I suspect it has to do with the lack of fundamental political principles.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Charles De Gaulle

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Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.

Charles De Gaulle
[Which is why they don’t understand when we get all upset after they don’t honor their campaign promises.–Joe]

Did someone say “explode”?

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On Hillary and Guns:

If a majority of the Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the District’s handgun ban, the NRA and the entire gun community will explode.

Oh, not literally–at least not necessarily.

Hillary needs to cross her fingers and hope that Breyer and Ginsburg can somehow read the 2nd amendment to the constitution as it is actually written and not how the liberals would like it to be written.

Interesting conundrum. According to this analysis if the court comes down on our side regarding the meaning of the 2nd amendment Hillary could be our next president. If we don’t end up with Hillary it will because the court ruled against us.

Quote of the day–Neil deGrasse Tyson

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When people believe a tale that conflicts with self-checkable evidence it tells me that people undervalue the role of evidence in forming an internal belief system. Why this is so is not clear but it enables many people to hold fast to ideas and notions based purely on supposition.

Neil deGrasse Tyson
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries
[This is a good book. It’s especially entertaining when he lets lose with a rant. But, back on point, I believe the reason is very clear. People believe what they want to believe. It’s rare that people will believe the evidence when it is contrary to a position they have invested in. That investment can be of any type including political and emotional, as well as financial. Belief in god(s), gun control, communism, and (redundancy alert) the Democrat party are prime examples. Chris Phillips encapsulated the appropriate conclusion and cure with much wider application than he originally suggested. Although he never discussed it with me I believe that conclusion was based on the basic truth of investing in your beliefs tends to close your thinking. See also When Prophecy Fails and Cognitive dissonance.–Joe]

Happy Labor Day, Socialists

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Now I don’t suppose you’d be ready and willing to honor all the creative people, the inventors, those who put their dreams into action, and the venture capitalists who have put their capital at risk so you could have a chance at a job in the first place, by going to work on a weekend at no charge to your employer.  What; turnabout isn’t fair play?  Its all one way with you?