This has exposed the abusive, arbitrary and autocratic nature of Chavez’s Government, a government that fears free thought, that fears opinion and fears criticism.
Marcel Granier
Chief of RCTV, the country’s oldest broadcaster
May 28, 2007
Venezuelan TV channel shut down
[Chavez is just being true to his socialist ideals. Socialism, The Road to Serfdom.–Joe]
When everyone in politics jumps on a bandwagon like ethanol, I start to wonder if there’s something wrong with it. And there is. Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn, nothing you’re told about it is true.
John Stossel
May 23, 2007
The Many Myths of Ethanol
[Remember when I wrote about ethanol a while back? My brother Doug did some quickie “back of the envelope” type number crunching and came to the same conclusions Stossel writes about.–Joe]
I believe that a persons moral compass can be determined by how he references free men the right to defend themselves. The Second Amendment is so obvious to me it’s insane that there’s an argument.
Ted Nugent
From a video found at Say Uncle
[The rest of video is a “must watch”. Not as quotable, but great stuff.–Joe]
Our data do not show whether guns at college confer a net benefit, impose a net cost, or have an indifferent effect on college communities or on individual gun owners.
Matthew Miller, MD, ScD
David Hemenway, PhD
Henry Wechsler, PhD
Guns and Gun Threats at College
Journal of American College Health, Vol. 51, No. 2
[When you read the Brady Campaign Against Gun Ownership web page on allowing teachers and students to exercise their inalienable rights keep the above quote in mind. Brady claims this paper supports their insistence it’s insane to recognize constitutionally guaranteed freedoms on college campuses.–Joe]
Replace my real light bulbs with fluorescents, in sickly yellow or morgue blue, and I’ll have to burn something else for color. Whale oil, maybe.
Tom Scocca
May 22, 2007
Fluorescent Fanatics Turn Me Off
But this is the reality of the idea that firearms in “good” hands can somehow protect us from firearms in “bad” hands. They can’t, and even if they help in one lucky situation, the balance of all the pain and suffering they make possible in every other just is not worth it.
Guy Guys
May 23, 2007
Referring to the fact that Peter Husmann was wounded while attempting to stop the shooting in Moscow last weekend.
Idaho Gunman Had Mental Illness History, CCW Owner Shot at Scene
[Apparently, according to this nut case, even police shouldn’t have guns. He is facing the problem that if you believe guns in the hands of the police can be used for good then you will have to admit that guns in the hands of private citizens must, at least sometimes, be a good thing also. He solves this dilemma by claiming guns are so seldom used for good that they shouldn’t even be in the hands of the police.–Joe]
It is not a help. In fact, it’s a hindrance and it greatly places people in danger. The police are liable to shoot someone with a gun.
Dan Weaver
Moscow Police Chief
May 21, 2007
UI senior tried to help but became victim
Referring to Peter Husmann who grabbed his pistol and went to help stop the person shooting up the Latah County Courthouse.
[I’m in total agreement with Weaver. In addition the evacuation and care of Husmann consumed resources that could perhaps have been better allocated to other tasks had Husmann not been collecting bullet wounds. If you are there when the shooting breaks out and can stop the shooter then by all means do so. But you don’t leave a safe area and seek out the shooter. There may be some exceptions such as when the police will not be arriving for many minutes or perhaps hours and your loved ones are in danger but Husmann’s actions were clearly wrong. This event took place just outside the Sheriff’s office and maybe three blocks from the Moscow Police Station. In this case the police response time could be expected to be within one or two minutes and perhaps even in seconds. A person out of uniform with a gun in hand in these circumstances when the police arrive have special names–they are call a “Target” or “Bullet Magnet”. I understand Husmann’s motivation. I am glad there are people willing to put themselves in danger to help others. But this wasn’t the time or the place.–Joe]
If a gun bill will pass because of the politics of a situation, you must see to it that its burdens are imposed upon a man because of a criminal background and not because he is an ordinary citizen and perhaps poor.
Gen. James H. Doolittle
You’re alive!
Ry Jones
7:16 AM May 20, 2007
[I was in bed. A call came in from Ry and those were the first words he said. He then told me what he knew about the shooting in Moscow were I live. I went to investigate. I took lots of pictures and had a minor confrontation with the police. Xenia and I just now got back from the Press Conference. More blog posts and pictures to follow.–Joe]
Inside sources claim the gun control community (Sarah Brady, et al) are urging D.C. Mayor Fenty to stay away from the Supreme Court and just try to rewrite the D.C. ban to allow very restrictive handgun licensing a la New York City.
Joe Waldron
May 18, 2007
GOAL Post 2007-Final Legislative Update from Olympia
[Exactly two months ago I said they should do this–If they were smart.–Joe]
I think that it is very unlikely that five justices on the Supreme Court are going to say that the Second Amendment means nothing. That’s what they would have to say to uphold the total ban on handguns that exists in Washington D.C.
It is also especially unlikely during the heat of the 2008 election—and that is when it is going to happen—because it would be a rallying cry for the whole pro-gun committee. Just like an abortion decision that overturned Roe v. Wade would animate the pro-choice folks. That kind of political turmoil is something the court is sensitive to.
Dr. Robert Levy
April 19, 2007
Interview: The Way of the Gun
Mother Jones
[Mother Jones is typically a left wing news magazine. Levy is the lawyer is driving the Second Amendment challenge to D.C.’s ban on guns. Also known as the Parker case. I think it should have been “community” rather than “committee” but still–Levy has his act together.–Joe]
And hey! Nuclear Winter will stop Global Warming! It’s a two-fer!
Kevin Baker
May 14, 2007 2:16 PM
[From the comments to the post To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. Which, by the way, is an excellent post. I kept thinking that someday I would write down my thoughts as expressed by Kevin in this post. But it would have been a far more feeble effort than Kevin’s well researched masterpiece.–Joe]
There is a demand for change. Never have the risks of inertia been so great for France as they are now in this world in flux where everyone across the world is trying to change quicker than the others, where any delay can be fatal.
Nicolas Sarkozy
May 16, 2007
Sarkozy Gets Off to a Fast Start as President of France
[He also said France needs to get back to work. Sounds good to me. And from the same article:
Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which claims links with Al Qaeda, threatened in an Internet posting on Tuesday that it would wage “a bloody jihadist campaign” in France in the coming days in reaction to the election of the “Zionist crusader,” Mr. Sarkozy.
Ditto what Tamara said.–Joe]
The guy’s as popular in France’s Muslim ghettos as a bag of pork rinds, which rates another thumbs up in my book. If non-assimilating misogynist welfare leeches hate him, he can’t be all bad.
Tamara K.
May 9, 2007
My reaction to the Frog reaction to the Sarkozy win…
[Sarkozy has a big job ahead of him. But his election gives me hope for a world where the Islamic extremist demands for world domination are thwarted.–Joe]
An unarmed person is a slave, or is subject to becoming a slave at any time.
Huey Newton
[See also Negros With Guns and blog postings one and two. Of course Newton want to implement the slavery of communism in this country but that’s a distraction from the truth of his statement above.–Joe]
We are at the point in time and terror where nothing short of a strong uniform policy of domestic disarmament will alleviate the danger which is crystal clear and perilously present. Let us take the guns away from the people. Exemptions should be limited to the military, the police, and those licensed for good and sufficient reasons.
Patrick V. Murphy
Former NYC Police Commissioner
HCI spokesman
[HCI, Handgun Control Inc, has become the Brady Campaign but the sentiment remains the same. Don’t let them tell you they respect the 2nd Amendment as a right for the people to keep and bear arms. If you have to be licensed, ask the government for permission, it’s not a right. It’s a privilege.–Joe]
Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.
H. L. Mencken
[This is no exaggeration. I’m still smarting from the checks we wrote out for taxes on April 15th.–Joe]
France has neither winter, summer, nor morals – apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
Mark Twain
[French jokes apparently go back a long time. Probably since there was a France. I had said no more French jokes for a year. But that was before I found out the pilot wasn’t French.–Joe]
My dream is to attend Boomershoot with an energy weapon.
Sean Flynn
May 9, 2007
[This was while discussing potential changes for Boomershoot 2008 with Ry and I. This is actually close to one of my nightmares from a few years ago. The fields burst into long streams of flames from dozens of laser range finders that ignited anything they illuminated.–Joe]
I’ll work to make the event so painful and expensive that nobody returns… I’ve already put out enough ideas about how to make a 1000 yard shoot hard; we’ll see how moderate they are when Joe rejects all of them.
Remember, Joe wanted a berm to shoot from, I wanted a trench full of mud. spectators would get paintball guns to distract the shooters. Joe’s no fun!
Ry Jones
May 9, 2007
You love me! You really love me!
[He forgot to mention that after Boomershoot 2006 he also suggested the entry fee be raised to $4000. And don’t forget that at Boomershoot 2007 it was his creation of the fireball target that resulted in flaming sticks falling from the sky. I love Ry’s ideas. I just don’t always implement them as originally proposed.–Joe]