This Public Servant Bit Needs More Discussion

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This is an addendum to the post below.


As stated; as a public employee, as a public servant, your job, your individual tasks, your pay and the very existence of the department for which you work, exists purely at our (The People’s) pleasure.  It is our prerogative to alter this relationship, to dismiss you, or to eliminate your department entirely, at a whim.


As a public servant, you have no “right” whatsoever to a particular salary, or to a particular job, etc.  If we decide we must lower your pay or dismiss you altogether, your proper response would be something like; “I understand.  Thank you for the opportunity to have served you.”  At that point you are free to go your own way and prove your worth in the marketplace as you see fit.  May you live long and prosper.


If you decide, on the other hand, to get hostile about it and start in with the name-calling and the threats, what can We The People conclude about the relationship we’ve had with you?  Look at me when I’m talking to you!


In private practice, a servant that gets hostile with the home owner will probably result in the police being called in on a domestic disturbance.  At the very best it would result in an unflattering reference when you apply for another job.  This is OUR house.  If the hostility continues and becomes threatening, what are we to do?  If the police aren’t able to help us get you public servants under control, well then, what?  What are we left with for options in that case?  You aren’t going to get your way, let me just put it like that.  Not for long, I can tell you.  This is OUR country.

Someone Doesn’t Know Their History…

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…as Dan here at UltiMAK said about this.


I’ve often said that the socialists are calling the anti-socialists socialists for not being socialist enough.  Or the Communists are angry at the socialists for not being communist enough.


Christie is being called “Hitler” for trying to cut government spending.  The name-caller would have more credibility if he simply called Christie a “snotty nosed poopy pants”.


There is the fact that the communists are often bitterly angry at Progressives (who believe in achieving the goals of Marx through progressive steps).  The communists think the time is right to pounce– to take off the masks and have the “People’s Revolution” right now.  The Progressives are still in progressive mode, so there is a real conflict, but invoking the name of a famous socialist, as an epithet, doesn’t help their case.


There is also some conflict between the National Socialists verses the global socialists (FDR, Stalin and Hitler all held the same basic tentets, but differed only on the details and the execution) but I’m no more interested in the details than in the differences between rival crime gangs.  They’re all enemies and they all have to be ground into the dustbin of history if we’re going to have a free society.


ETA; You public employees around the country seem to be terrible confused.  See, you’re not “The People”.  You’re The Government– our servants.  Big difference.  Your jobs, your pay and your benifits, exist at our pleasure.  It’s when you tell us what our jobs, pay and benefits etc. should be, that’s Nazi-ish.  Get it?


HT to Drudge.

Trunk Monkey!

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I’m not sure how well it’d work, but the idea is interesting.


HT to Castboolits.

Nice view

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I was dreading working in downtown Seattle but the nice office with a view at least partially makes up for it.

Puget Sound is in the distance on the left:

WP_000076Web_20110615

While doing the orientation in California earlier this week I found some other things out about the company that pleased me too. It would appear they very strongly encourage innovation and the particular focus for my MSEE (communication theory) is a better match that what I first thought it would be. Plus they are looking to leverage my experience at Microsoft rather than expect me to retrain for Linux as I had feared.

One of the first things I did after getting my computer up and running was search for, find, and add myself to the company email list for the gun club. Nice!

Also a guy just down the hall from me has several targets on his desk with bullet holes in them. I haven’t talked to him yet but I expect I will before the week is over.

Any gun collectors interested in this pair?

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I’m not into collecting guns but maybe someone else out there is. Even if I were into collecting guns the sales price on these wouldn’t pass the wife test. And even worse—they don’t even shoot!

I do admire the mechanics though. That is very impressive.

Via email from K.W.

Quote of the day—Dennis R. King

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If government is the solution; Then it is highly probable that government created the problem in the first place.

Dennis R. King
2004
[Dennis is my cousin. Until yesterday it probably had been close to 20 years since I had seen him. He had framed this and put it on the wall of his home. I thought it qualified as QOTD material. Living in California with all the examples to chose from he talked at length about how messed up the government is. Frequently the rants extended to the Federal Government and Washington State government where his brother lives. I had a very pleasant visit.—Joe]

Exposing Leftists

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College students are asked to sign a petition to impose Affirmative Action upon the basketball team (for diversity), to redistribute GPA points, ban conservative talk radio, etc.  Good stuff.  Enjoy.


What I took away was the students’ apparent total lack of ability, or preparation, for these discussions, meaning that high schools and universities aren’t encouraging such critical thinking at all.  I believe my son, who just graduated from high school, could give these petitioners a resounding talkin’ to.


HT to Glen Beck

And You Thought FEMA was All About Helping People

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Admit it– somewhere in the recesses of your mind, you thought there were only the best of intentions behind the creation of FEMA.


Little Grasshopper; I’ve been trying to get this across for some time now.  I know it’s extremely difficult, but you have to try harder to grasp this pebble from my hand.  People with good intentions want YOU TO BE STRONG ALL ON YOUR OWN.  In the harder times, when you fall down and get seriously hurt, they want YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY TO BE STRONG ALL ON ITS OWN.  In the hardest of times they want YOUR REGION TO BE STRONG ALL ON ITS OWN.  If the end of the world seems to be upon you, they want EVERY INDIVIDUAL TO BE AS INDEPENDANTLY STRONG AS POSSIBLE.  Only then can Mankind face the biggest challenges and come out strong.


Creating a system that operated through coercion, funded coercively, which by its nature weakens charities and weaken individuals in favor of centralized power, is not the result of good intentions.  It is the result of hatred.  I know it’s extremely difficult, Little Grasshopper.  I know there are all those assertions of warmth and light and compassion, but those are deep, deep lies, all the more the egregious because of their mockery of love and compassion.


What evidence will it take to convince you?

Quote of the day—Cork Graham

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Firearms are only as good or evil, or as decisive, as the one brandishing them. Yet, every week, federal, state, and city lawmakers and politicians propose a Rubik’s cube of laws diminishing the Second Amendment–laws impinge on the God-given right and responsibility of every human to self-preservation.

It’s our responsibility to remember the purity and simplicity of The Constitution. That it’s a document intended for eons based on simple truths, and though can be added to, cannot, must never, be modified to meet the whims and agendas of political fancy.

To do so is not only counter to the vision of the founders of the United States of America, it also risks our sliding further down the slope of corruption and elitism that infests the governments of Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Cork Graham
June 14, 2011
Third Culture Kid Learns Respect for the Second Amendment
Cork Graham is a former CIA paramilitary operations officer and combat photographer, who wrote the international best-selling Vietnam prison/treasure hunt memoir The Bamboo Chest.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Just say no to vaginal rejuvenation

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This creeps me out. But then I’m adverse to rubber breasts, tattoos, body piercings, and most other cosmetic body modifications. Sure, I’m okay with reconstructive surgery to repair damage due to trauma or disease but that’s not what is going on here.

The only surgical body modifications in an otherwise healthy adult for enhancing sexual enjoyment I’m comfortable with are sterilizations. But “your body and your choice” overrides my preferences.

Posted in Sex

Plaxico teaming with the Brady Campaign

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Isn’t extraordinarily odd that Plaxico would team up with the Brady Campaign? There are two basic reasons I have to conclude this:

  1. If he had a class in basic gun safety while in grade school like I did (I think it was in the 5th grade) he would have known to have used a holster. The Brady Campaign would (and do with the Eddy Eagle program) scream bloody murder if schools were to teach gun safety of any type.
  2. He went to prison after violating repressive (and probably unconstitutional) laws against carrying a firearm in public. Had these laws not been in existence he might not have gone to jail (there might still be legitimate laws against reckless endangerment or discharging a firearm inside the city limits, etc.). The Brady Campaign supports these laws.

I find this very much like a person of color married to a Caucasian getting a divorce and supporting a white separatist group after getting beat up by members of the KKK for their choice of marriage partners.

Could he have “made a deal with the devil” to get paroled early?

Quote of the day—Candice Hoeppner

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The long-gun registry is a massive Liberal policy failure and it needs to end. It makes no sense to force law-abiding individuals with firearms’ licences to register their long guns. It makes no sense to believe the registry will prevent a gun crime taking place.

Candice Hoeppner
Conservative MP
June 10, 2011
Gun registry Time to scrap it
[The problem is that liberals don’t judge their policies by the facts. They judge them by their intentions. It is as if intentions are all that matter. The “war on poverty” intended to improve the lives of the of the least “fortunate” in society but created many more “poverty stricken” people than it “lifted up”. Gun control was intended to prevent and/or fight violent crime but it enables more violent criminals to work in victim disarmament zones.

Because of their insistent on only considering intent and not results they report numbers that only reflect their views. One of the most blatant is their reporting of the “success” of the Brady Act requiring background checks. They report the total number of people prevented from purchasing a firearm. They do not report the number of people denied a firearm who should have been allowed. They do not report that violent crime rates did not improve as a result of the background checks.

As I have said before, they are either unwilling or unable to distinguish between their hypothesis and their conclusions. If Canada is able to undo the much hated long gun registry via the political process it will be something of a miracle. Outside of the U.S. it is extremely rare for repressive gun laws to be repealed without violence.—Joe]

More Shooting Last Week

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Dan here at UltiMAK put a new trigger on his Mosin, and since the snow has been out of the hills long enough to let the ground firm up, we had to get out to a favorite spot and try it.


Dan hit an aerial clay with the Mosin on his fifth shot, so I had a go at the clays with an M1 30 Carbine.  I did poorly – only three hits in about 40 rounds, whereas at time I’ve made 20% or better, which would have been 8 hits  On the 500ish yard targets, using a Rem 700 .308, I did a bit better, after some confusion over yards and meters.  My cold clean bore first shot was a near miss on a gallon jug.  Second shot was a hit, and by the third shot I felt it was not a matter of whether, but where I could hit the target.  The jugs don’t explode from the .308 fire at 500 yards like they do closer in, so I got to hit the same one twice.


Lessons learned were; 1. My Remington 700 trigger sucked as delivered, compared to Dan’s new Timney.  2. As a shooter/spotter team we suck at communication.  This happened at Boomershoot too– spotter on one target, shooter on another, and after many words thrown this way and that.  Very frustrating, and a waste of time and ammo.  We made a pact to fix that.  3. My rangefinder is not adequate beyond 400 or 500 yards, depending on conditions, and that is not acceptable.  I guess I know where my next 500 or so bucks are going.  4. See, I’m doing it right here– talking in yards, when I was in fact ranging in meters, because my scopes are BDC graduated in meters.  That’s been a source of confusion in the past, as I was accustomed to ranging in yards.  This time, I was ranging in meters, but still doing the corrections from yards to meters out of habit.  That of course wasted more time and ammo.  I seem to recall NASA (or was it JPL?) having a similar problem with a Mars probe that made an expensive crater instead of a soft landing.  OK.  Got it now.  Reading in meters, BDCing in meters.  No conversions.  5.  I don’t know how you can dope the wind when you’re shooting across a very deep ravine.  Surface clues aren’t necessarily applicable.  Come to think of it, I’m a lousy wind doper anyway.  Must fix that too.


I found out only recently that Timney uses the Remington trigger design, which means I could have adjusted my 700’s trigger a long time ago.  I knew the Timneys were adjustable for weight, engagement, and overtravel.  I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t taken apart my Remington strictly for the purpose of understanding every aspect of its design, as I’ve done with my other guns.  That means that only as of yesterday do I have a decent trigger after using this rifle, on occasion, for several years.  Much better now.  JEP (Joe’s Evil Plan) marches on.  We have to get right back out there very soon.

He knows he is engaged in deception

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Jim Kessler words things so carefully that it is clear he knows the subject matter well enough to tell the truth if he wanted to:

Since 1993, we’ve had two rules for gun sales. If you buy a gun at a store, you must submit to a criminal background check. If you buy a gun from an individual at a gun show, you are exempted from the background check.

…

There is a very simple solution to this problem: Require gun sales at gun shows to follow the same rules as gun sales at gun stores.

Kessler is Senior Vice President for Policy at Third Way. It is clear his policy is to deceive the public. Gun sales at gun shows do follow the same rules as gun sales at gun stores. If you buy a gun from an individual at a gun store (or gun show, or any other place) the Feds exempt you from a background check. So why the deception? The only reason I can come up with is that the truth yields results contrary to his desired outcome. Such people should acquaint themselves with 18 USC 241. They are treading a very fine line…

Decisions, decisions

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I have an encounter with TSA this afternoon and am trying to decide which shirt to wear. The finalists have the following written on them [thoughts in brackets]:



  1. Microsoft Gun Club—Point and Click Technology [gentle prod]
  2. Exercise your freedom with rifles and explosives—Boomershoot Staff [sort of in your face about them violating basic human rights and I let them know I have the ability to realize their worst nightmare]
  3. Quality control supervisor—Mustang Ranch [While they are feeling me up I can tell them, “You are doing it wrong and I should know, I’m a professional.”]

What say ye?


Update @13:15 PDT: I had already put on the Boomershoot shirt before I made this post. I was ready to swap it out if the reactions in the comments made a good case for a different one. But it was unanimous for the Boomershoot shirt so I wore it.


I made it through the security theater without a second glance. I even used by Idaho concealed weapons permit when asked for my “government ID”.

Quote of the day—fabian_solutions

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History is on the side of progress, on the side of socialism.

fabian_solutions
June 12, 2011
Comment to American Way: Sarah Palin email frenzy backfires on her media antagonists.
[I think someone needs their anti-psychotic drugs adjusted.—Joe]

Random thought of the day

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Since the Violence Policy Center says:

Civilian semiautomatic assault weapons incorporate all of the functional design features that make assault weapons so deadly. They are arguably more deadly than military versions, because most experts agree that semiautomatic fire is more accurate—and thus more lethal—than automatic fire.

And the Supreme Court says that guns in common use, such as the “assault weapons” demonized by the VPC, are constitutionally protected and cannot be banned then it follows that the VPC cannot have a logical objection to the full legalization of fully automatic firearms. Full autos are “less deadly” than the semi-autos, which are protected, so any substitution of full autos for semi-autos in the marketplace should be embraced by the VPC, right?

Quote of the day—Sarah Brady

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Michael Barnes’ stature and experience with important national and international political issues made him the inevitable choice to lead Handgun Control and the Center at this critical time. As we work towards the next generation of sensible gun laws, we need a leader with vision, with understanding and with the courage to take on the gun lobby. Michael Barnes is that leader, and I am overjoyed to welcome him to our crusade.

Sarah Brady
February 3, 2000
HANDGUN CONTROL, CENTER TO PREVENT HANDGUN VIOLENCE NAME FORMER CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL BARNES NEW CEO
[And how is that crusade working out for you Ms. Brady? And what would that “next generation of sensible gun laws” be?

I know what the pro-gun people were working on in 2000. We were working on advancing shall-issue concealed carry laws. We are almost done with that and now we are working on our “next generation of sensible gun laws”—Constitutional Carry.

My advice to the Brady Campaign is to give it up. The Constitution is on our side, the courts are on our side, and the people are on our side. Handgun Control Inc. is dead and no matter what you rename it the organization belongs in the disgraceful anti-freedom dustbin of history like the KKK, the Communist Workers Party, and American Nazi Party.—Joe]

Guns and Coffee

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I don’t even drink the stuff but I like this:

29566fedwaystarbucks_guns

Hypocrisy and failure

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As the NRA says, the Brady Campaign will say anything at anytime to get what they want:

Yesterday, however, the Brady Campaign spoke with a new enthusiasm for “states [and cities’] rights,” demanding that Congress “Let D.C. residents govern themselves,” while complaining “Every year we see members of Congress interfering with the fundamental American principle of self-government.” This nonsense follows the group’s opposition to limiting state and local power over the right to keep and bear arms through the Supreme Court’s McDonald v. Chicago decision last year.

The Brady Campaign should stop their hypocrisy and phony arguments. The notion that the group believes in the Tenth Amendment is laughable. Everyone knows that the group believes in restricting the right to keep and bear arms any way it can, with federal gun control, state gun control, local gun control, by executive regulation, by court decisions, by lawsuits designed to bankrupt gun manufacturers, and by any other means it can think of. Trying to cast itself as a defender of our country’s federal system, it only discredits itself even more than usual.

Is it that they have crap for brains or do they think everyone else is afflicted?

In other news their YouTube videos viewing statistics are telling:

  • Beau Bridges Presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to Jim & Sarah Brady: Added 1 day ago, 6 views
  • Sarah Brady at the 2011 Brady Center Gala in Washington, DC, Added 2 days ago, 10 views
  • Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi Pays Tribute to the Work of Jim and Sarah Brady, Added 3 days ago, 31 views
  • President Clinton remarks on Jim and Sarah Brady, Added 1 week ago, 86 views

Compare that to my video, Planting the Seeds for Gun Owner Rights in India , added 2 days ago with 124 views.

When some third tier, part time gun blogger in the middle of Idaho throws together a crude video of some people going shooting and gets 10 times the attention than a D.C. based organization with the ear of movie stars, the Speaker of the House, and a former U.S. president it’s a sure thing that Paul Helmke isn’t earning his 250K/year salary. They should just fold up shop or break out the Tequila while we maintain a suicide watch.