There is no crisis of rifle violence in this state, only a crisis of fear driven by opportunistic legislators.
Ed Pietruszka Jr.
March 31, 2013
Don’t be fooled by gun control lies
[Pietruszka was referring to Maryland but the statement is true in many other states and at the Federal level as well.—Joe]
Fade in
INT – day – Adelaide spaceport concourse
Harbin walks down the concourse, in uniform, with sidearm, being followed by a modest sized robot cart piles high with metal transport boxes of gear. He nods to the security guard near as he passes, and the guard nods back in professional recognition. He passes the info desk, where a woman, PAYTON SMITH (36, attractive, well-dressed, Caucasian) with a suitcase next to her is arguing with the info clerk. Continue reading
On Thursday, President Obama renewed his call for legislation, including a ban on some of the most lethal guns (so-called “military-style” assault weapons designed for the singular purpose of killing as many people as possible as quickly as possible.)
Andrew Rosenthal
March 29, 2013
What Now for Gun Control?
[Many millions of these “singular purpose” guns are in use all over the U.S. yet only a few hundred people are killed each year using a rifle of any type yet alone a “assault weapon”.
It’s long past time for the New York Times (Rosenthal works for the NYT) to openly state they are nothing more than a propaganda machine and have concern for, and perhaps no awareness of, facts.—Joe]
Fade in
INT – night – Lag’s office in building 1701.
Lag is seated at his desk. He is reading a screen built into his desk. A beep from his door sounds.
Lag: Come in! Continue reading
While I agree with the sentiment “Because F*$k you!” when asked something along the lines of “Why do you need X?” where X is a firearm, ammo, book, religion, speech, encryption, or any other freedom I think there may be a more productive answer.
I think my answer would be:
That is a totally inappropriate question. The proper questions are:
- Where does the government get the power for infringing upon this right?
- What justification does the government have for infringing upon this right?
- Where is the evidence that this infringement will be a net benefit?
Make them prove their case. It’s not up to us to prove ours.
Interesting slant. Basically, the guy claims that the Sikh religion require him to be able to defend himself and his family against criminal attack and injustice, and the CA assault weapon and standard capacity magazine ban violates that religious requirement.
Gun law vs exercise of religion
That is an interesting twist – could be a good thing to follow.
(There is a reason one of my characters in The Stars Came Back is a Sikh.)
OK, here are the updated patches. Two versions, and various rockers that you could put above and /or below. I would REALLY like feedback from people what you are interested in, as I’m ordering them on my own dime on spec, and there are significant price breaks at various production numbers. I’d like to not order a metric boat-load, and only have three buyers of two each (being currently unemployed that would REALLY suck), but I ALSO don’t want to send people away empty handed. I don’t need money up front – I’ll have them at Boomershoot, and anyone who can’t make it or send someone to get them there I’ll make arrangements with after I see what’s left over. They will be 100% stitched, and iron-on backing for those that are sewing-impaired. 4″ circle, matching rockers. If I can buy in reasonable quantity, they will likely be $3 a patch or two for $5, and $1.50 a rocker, perhaps even less. Let me know ASAP. Order is going in next week.
Fade in
INT – Day – top deck storage and machinery room.
Helton is leaning into an access port, working on something. Around him are a clutter of tools, e-readers, storage boxes, electronic parts and machinery, a pistol belt, and stuff. Continue reading
A fun classic from a simpler time, the 1950s, when a song about guns wasn’t about bust’n a cap in sum’uns ass. Proper etiquette was involved, like meeting pappy, the guy with the 16 ga “choked down like a rifle.”
Tennessee Ernie Ford – Shotgun Boogie
Tennessee Ernie Ford was VERY talented, as a singer, writer, and performer – when he was doing radio, starting in the late 1930s, he’d do all sorts of voices, he sung a wide variety of country, gospel, and popular songs, including famous ones like “16 tons” and “The ballad of Davy Crockett”. He had a marvelous deep baritone/bass voice, but could do all sorts of “character voices” with it, and you can tell when he’s smiling as he sings. He was still releasing music into the 1970s. He even sung things like When the Ship Hit the Sand with Dean Martin in the 60’s; good use of humor and double entendre. He was also a bombardier on a B29 in the Pacific during WW II. If you want your kids to dance to something, try some of his “boogies.” I’ve got his “Ultimate Collection” on the Zune in the car – when I have to give my (grade-school age) kids a ride somewhere with one or two of their friends, I try to play something “odd” like Ernie, and I always get positive comments. Their parents usually get a kick out of it, too.
For Progressives then and now, the welfare of the people—not liberty—is the primary object of government, and government should always be in the hands of experts. This is the real origin of today’s gun control hysteria—the idea that professional police forces and the military have rendered the armed citizen superfluous; that no individual should be responsible for the defense of himself and his family, but should leave it to the experts. The idea of individual responsibilities, along with that of individual rights, is in fact incompatible with the Progressive vision of the common welfare.
Edward J. Erler
March 2013
The Second Amendment as an Expression of First Principles
[H/T to Dwight M. from the gun email list at work who brought my attention to this quote.
There are some excellent insights in this article.—Joe]
Some other blogger, sorry but I can’t find the post, Robb recently said something about communists/socialists/liberals/progressives/whatever-they-call-themselves-these-days have as a basic premise that the people in general are so incompetent that they must have a strong, near all-powerful government/central-committee to govern their lives. But then they expect these same incompetent people to wisely elect, from within the general population, superior beings to govern them. That doesn’t exactly make sense.
That is all well and good as far as it goes but I think it can be further extended. In fact I suspect there are numerous examples of the following even though I don’t have direct evidence to support it.
Since the people doing the electing are so incompetent as to not be able to manage their own affairs then it must be completely beyond hope to for them to be able to distinguish who should be their rulers.
Hence one concludes that it is a logical necessity that those who would be rulers must assume their rightful role without concerning themselves with obtaining the consent of the governed.
It’s just common sense.
Fade in
EXT – day – the cab of a light truck driving down the road in an industrial area.
Allonia and Kaminski are sitting in the cab, talking, with Kaminski driving. Kaminski is out of uniform. Allonia is wearing a snug but not overly tight turtle-neck and pants. Continue reading
There’s not a single measure in this package of proposals the president has put forward that in anyway violates the Constitution. In fact, they reflect the president’s commitment to our Second Amendment rights.
Jay Carney
White House Press Secretary
March 26, 2013
White House to Sheriffs: Follow Law in Enforcing Gun Control Measures
[Why yes! They do, in fact, reflect the president’s commitment to our Second Amendment rights. Never mind that the sign on the level of commitment is negative.
This really gets my blood pumping. They must think we all have crap for brains.
If there was ever a more blatant example of doublespeak I am not aware of it. While arbeit macht frei was far more sinister it was not nearly so transparent to observers on their first viewing.
This example is like the kid with his or her face and hands covered in cake frosting insisting they didn’t eat the cake. I wish Carney and those he is attempting to cover for could be spanked and sent to their room (prison cell) for the next 10 years.—Joe]
The one topic Sol cannot talk about are the Jewish overseers: the Judenrat, and the Kapos, Jews who collaborated with the Nazis. Of these men and women, Sol just shakes his head in disbelief. The evil of the Nazis is comprehensible for evil is ever present. But the Jews who cooperated in the genocide of their own people is beyond imagination.
The Judenrat and kapos are still with us.
Too many American Jews worship at the altar of the state. Their religion is not Torah Judaism, but the Democrat party. So closely do they identify with the power of government, they don’t even realize that they are creating the apparatus of a soft tyranny that will enslave their children and their children’s children.
Obamacare is Egyptian slavery. It is Pharaoh’s court of magicians, charlatans who create an illusion of reality.
Robert J. Avrech
March 25, 2013
Passover 2013: Of Slaves, Slavery, Judenrat, Kapos and America
[It’s not just Obamacare. It’s the entire nanny-state. And it may not be so “soft” when the economic system collapses.—Joe]
Fade in
INT – Day – Engineering
Stenson is looking at readouts. There is a slight pulsing hum of machinery. Continue reading
INT – DAY – A-Deck hydroponics garden
Allonia is alone near the back, wearing her newly made blue ship uniform (has more pockets, and a belt with small pouches and a belt-knife, but still shows her figure well), with many racks of bright lights and growing plants, with a workbench to one side and racks of growing supplies on the other. She’s focusing on using a cotton swab to pollinate a set of flowers on the bench. We hear the sound of the screen door to the garden room bang shut gently. She keeps working.
Concerning non-violence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.
Malcolm X
March 12, 1964
[For the record and to keep people from getting themselves caught with a misquotation please beware that I have seen this misquoted and falsely attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. as “It is criminal to not teach a man to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.”—Joe]
Fade in
INT -night- top deck passageway, just down from the Captains Cabin
Quinn sneaks along in the dim red lights of the night shift, and peers around a corner. Talking to himself, looking like he’s playing a game. He’s wearing his “uniform” and a small back-pack. Continue reading
It is sad that those two men need to prove their manhood by carrying big guns around on the streets of Portland… If they need proof, joining the military is a lot better than scaring little children.
Elizabeth Arch
January 15, 2013
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via the Rivrdog comment here.—Joe]
DAY – INT – ship cargo bay
Helton is working in a panel on the bulkhead. Allonia walks up, hands Helton a package. In her other hand, she’s got a strap around a set of boxes to make carrying them easier.
Allonia: Mail call. Continue reading