Some anti-fun maroon stuck together a video to demonize recreational explosives. Joe’s daughter, Kim, appears in the last quarter of the segment. Too bad the anti-fun maroon is a TV station in Atlanta.
Ry Jones
May 22, 2008
Kim is Famous
[It looks like I have some work to do after I get off work tonight.–Joe]
Before I pay over $10 for a gallon of gas I will drill through a polar bears head. — I would feel bad. But I would do it.
Glenn Beck
NRA Annual Convention
Keynote speech
May 17, 2008
[He also pointed out that polar bears have been dramatically increasing in numbers recently. I think he should have said “hugger” instead of “head”, but that’s just me.–Joe]
We have a long, hard road ahead of us. I feel more comfortable knowing you all will be there by my side as we battle the forces of stupidity and take comfort in the knowledge that each of you will do everything they can to retain our rights as citizens of the free world. And, if God forbid it all goes south, at least we have Joe Huffman on our side.
Rob Allen
May 20, 2008 in an email he sent to bloggers he met at the NRA convention.
[Rob is Sharp as a Marble, but for some reason he wasn’t the only person that has been saying things like that about me. I would like to think it was because of my target from the friendly little air-gun competition we had. But there were hints that wasn’t it. It was before that and/or in a completely different context Kevin said the same thing and numerous others that said the same or something similar. Bitter, for example, said she would never look at powdered sugar the same way again. I appreciate all the nice things people are saying but aren’t you just moving me to the top of some list I really don’t want to be on?–Joe]
We like lawyers, crooks, and crack dealers better than Washington!
Glenn Beck
NRA Annual Convention
Keynote speech
May 17, 2008
[After pointing out the President and Congress have approval ratings that are some of the lowest ever.–Joe]
It comes down to Larry, Curly, and Moe?
Glenn Beck
NRA Annual Convention
Keynote speech
May 17, 2008
[He was referring to the remaining three viable candidates for president in 2008.
He showed us his cummerbund decorated with a skull and crossbones, said he was going plunder, rape, and pillage this evening. He did not disappoint.
After McCain had given a speech here the previous day with lots of favorable things said by the NRA. The Three Stooges reference above was just one of many negatives toward the Republican candidate. Across the table from me Bitter Bitch covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes bugged out as Beck ragged on McCain as well as the Democrats who “sold their soul to Karl Marx”.
I have more great quotes from Beck (and some pictures) but right now I have to get ready for dinner and then prepare for a 7:00 AM flight tomorrow.–Joe]
No Osama
No Obama
No Chelsea’s Mamma
Bumper Sticker
[Seen on a bumper sticker outside my motel.–Joe]
They don’t fear me. They fear you.
Chris Cox
NRA-ILA Executive Director
9:32 AM May 16, 2008
[Regarding talking to politicians and what motivates them. It is the voters and the activists, not the lobbist themselves that have the power to influence politicians.–Joe]
Our main goal is to destroy gun control. We are an organization that believes we have the moral authority to point out to the rest of the world the evils that have come from gun control and how humanity has suffered because of gun-control schemes.
…
We’re not interested in compromise. We are only interested in the destruction of something we consider to be a very evil and deadly policy known as gun control.
Aaron Zelman
May 15, 2008
No Compromise Against Gun Control
[The goal must be to drive anti-gun bigots into complete and total political destruction. Too many people have died to let these people have their way any longer.–Joe]
And now we’re at a point, politically, where there are three candidates running who have a realistic shot at the Presidency, and I wouldn’t urinate on any of them if their hair was on fire.
Where the hell is the space colony they promised me when I was a child, watching men leave bootprints and tire tracks in the lunar dust? Where is my new frontier, my place to go to so that I may live free?
Kevin Baker
That’s 35 in Dog Years
[That’s me on a “down” day.–Joe]
Laws against the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither disposed nor inclined toward violence.
Thomas Jefferson
Quoting Cesaro Beccari.
…the recent signs of violent times occasion an opportunity for broadening our collective sense of what ”rights” should be in terms of our social consciousness. Our political and judicial discourse would benefit from moving beyond a purely libertarian view of rights, which emphasizes freedom from governmental coercion or constraint, to incorporate also a dignitarian view of rights, which promotes freedom for the good of each other and for society as a whole.
Thomas F. Dailey
May 11, 2008
Let’s think carefully about gun ‘rights,’ society
[“Freedom for the good of each other and for society as a whole?” Hasn’t this already been tried a few times by others? And the body count from these efforts just keeps growing. There are only individual rights. Collective “rights” are more properly called powers.–Joe]
Political tags–such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, conservative, and so forth–are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.
Lazarus Long
A character in Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein
From Page 47 in The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
[This correct division of political philosophy explains why so many people are dissatisfied with the current set of political candidates for U.S. President. In essence all the candidates are on the same side of the aisle.
My reason for using this quote today will become more apparent after reading my next post.–Joe]
Why should democracy rise against bribery? It is itself a form of wholesale bribery. In place of a government with a fixed purpose and a visible goal, it sets up a government that is a mere function of the mob’s vagaries. Its security depends wholly upon providing satisfactory bribes for the prehensile minorities that constitute the mob . . . the very head of the state, having no title to his office save that which lies in the popular will, is forced to haggle and bargain like the lowliest office seeker.
H.L. Mencken
[Think about it; Elections are bribery in both directions. The people who seek and win elections are those willing to engage in bribery and are best at it. Do not expect politicians to be honest. The system discriminates against honest politicians. This is just one more reason why our government is (theoretically) and should be limited by strictly enumerated powers.–Joe]
This trial is supposed to be held in a federal court, not a kangaroo court. What’s next, a request that Judge Weinstein not allow defense witnesses or rebuttal? Why not just dispense with the trial altogether and lynch Mr. Wallace from the limb of a tree out in Central Park?
…
Apparently, in Mikey’s world, a fair trial is one in which a defense attorney is muzzled, and the defendant is already guilty until proven innocent. Bloomberg missed his calling. Instead of being mayor of an American city, he should have been the administrator of a gulag.
Alan Gottlieb
Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation
May 9, 2008
Bloomberg outrage: Asks judge to ban 2nd Amendment references!
New York Sun article on the topic.
Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive.
Milton Friedman
[Translating to present day for the weak-minded (Clinton and Obama supporters–I’m talking to you) the same applies to low cost medical care, housing, oil, and gasoline. Columbus wanted to get rich by finding a shorter shipping route for spices and other goods. People seek to make goods and services available at a lower cost because they want to make money for themselves. The allure of “getting rich” is a great motivator and “majority directives” by government take the incentive away from the real goal–providing goods and services at a better value than others. Government directives and incentives motivate the creators of goods and services to please the government not the consumers. This leads to corruption in government, high taxes, and goods and services of lesser quality and greater cost than if the free market were allowed to work.–Joe]
Once the right to keep and bear arms is separated from its long-established tether to a militia purpose, it is unclear what legal standard gun laws would need to survive constitutional challenge. There is little doubt, however, that recognition of a broad private right to be armed will create a new presumption against the constitutionality of gun laws, whereas currently there is a virtually absolute presumption in favor of their constitutionality. Guns would achieve a specially protected constitutional status imposing unique limits on the legislative authority of the elected representatives of the people that would apply to no other dangerous products. Ironically, regulation of guns, the only publicly-available consumer product designed to inflict lethal injury, would be required to meet a higher constitutional standard than regulation of cars, lawnmowers and other dangerous products capable of inflicting lethal injury, but not designed to do so.
Dennis A. Henigan et al
Director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Legal Action Project
Some time after March of 2007
Second Amendment Fantasy–The Brady Center’s Critique of the Parker v. District of Columbia Decision
Emphasis in the original.
[Henigan et al overlook two important points:
Ignoring the first point for today and concentrating on the second point a little thought will reveal the regulation Henigan supports is much different than that of cars and lawnmowers.
A regulation requiring a self-propelled lawnmower to turn itself off when the operator releases their hands from the controls would be analogous to something like requiring a gun to tolerate being dropped without discharging. Which, if it were done by a state legislature, I wouldn’t pick a constitutional fight over. A regulation which restricted self-propelled lawnmowers to government employees is analogous to the type of restrictions Henigan advocates.
Beyond the above points the 2nd Amendment specifically protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. So yes, assuming the Heller (formerly Parker) decision goes our way, guns would achieve a specially protected constitutional status imposing unique limits on our government. This was the original intent of the 2nd Amendment.
Therefore a more succinct response to Henigan et al would be, “And your point is?”–Joe]
I almost used this exact paragraph from here as my QOTD but decided to look around some more and save that for some other time. I then saw this exact paragraph while visiting here and again was sorely tempted. As I continued to wander my RSS feeds revealed Sebastian and Kevin eliminated my backups. Either it is a conspiracy against me or great minds think alike. I’m inclined to think the later because Say Uncle has the same complaint as I do.
May No Soldier Go Unloved.
Slogan of Soldier’s Angels
[See my next post for more context.–Joe]
We’ve got to tighten up our gun laws. I’ve said before we should have a much tougher background check system, one that’s much more effective and make sure there aren’t loopholes out there like the gun show loophole.
Barack Obama
April 25, 2008
Laws alone can’t stop violence: Obama
Chicago Sun-Times
[I’m probably just bitterly clinging to my guns, but it sure doesn’t sound to me like Mr. Obama thinks of the 2nd Amendment as right. After all, I don’t hear him talking about background checks for books and the “book show loophole”. There is other stuff in the same article that makes it very, very clear where he stands on the gun issue. I’m going to remain very bitter about him being a public servant instead of behind bars as a felon.–Joe]
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I’m beginning to believe it.
Clarence Darrow
[With the pond scum we have available for choices this November Darrow could have been speaking about 2008 instead of sometime 60 or 70 years ago.–Joe]
Never go to clubs with metal detectors. Sure it feels safe inside. But what about all those niggas waiting outside with guns? They know you ain’t got one.
Chris Rock
[The same thing applies with schools and other “gun free zones”.–Joe]