Once Again, Ladies and Gentlemen…

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…Bill Whittle, or rather, not Bill Whittle but an essay written by Bill Whittle.  He’s an excellent writer to be sure, but his work is backed by research which makes it downright valuable.



In fact, in all of human history, there has been only one genuinely progressive, genuinely liberating idea: a lightning bolt across the pages of history – the why in 1776, the how in 1787 – the idea of limited government, god-given rights, personal liberty and rule by the vast collective wisdom and industry of the common man, and not by the bored, pampered and self-hating elites that have run everything before and since. This is a once-in-history idea. This is why we have to conserve it. We have to conserve this fundamentally liberal idea.


That’s our argument.  Ronald Reagan said it in different words, but that’s the come-back to any and all modern “liberals” or “Progressives”.


I was a little disappointed by the lack of mention of education.  Talking with each other, yes, but that bloated, hateful, destructive monster we’ve been accustomed to calling “Public Education” has to go.  Just as our first amendment protects religion from corruption by government, so too must we protect education from corruption by government.  It is every bit as important.  Hillsdale College perhaps shows us one way to do that, but feeding the monster at the same time one is trying to mind one’s own business makes it more difficult.


Whittle wraps it up thusly;



We can do it. And we’re gonna do it.  We are going to whip these communists out of their boots. And starting next time, we’ll start figuring out exactly how.


Ok.  Good.  By all means, read the whole thing.

Quote of the day–Kathleen Strand

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No one needs a semiautomatic weapon on the streets of Chicago, and no convicted felons or domestic abusers need a weapon anywhere in Illinois. These are not questions of constitutional rights — they are questions of public safety and common sense.

Kathleen Strand
August 9, 2010
Spokeswoman for Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulia.
Mark Kirk supports court’s overturning of gun ban–Alexi Giannoulias opposes ruling used to gut Chicago law
[It’s called The Bill of Rights. Not The List of Sometimes Allowed Needs. And we have nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices that disagree with her.

I think she needs to take a remedial course in U.S. government before she involves herself in any further discussion of politics.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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And when has anything like this ever happened at the NRA? Or even at any place of employment that did not have a victim disarmament policy?


As is usual for bigots they base their opinions on unrealized fantasies.

Are they being weaned?

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Paul Helmke whines:

Two years ago, I never would have guessed that the sharpest focus of the ATF
under President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder would be cigarette
smuggling.  I guess that’s what happens when the Administration refuses to say
or do anything about guns.

He fails to make note of the fact that gun ownership is a specific enumerated right of individuals. Tobacco use is not. If the people of the ATF are to keep their jobs then they need to have at least some support of the people they are supposedly serving. They get beat up pretty bad when they mess up with gun owners. Cracking down on cigarette smuggling is politically safe. It may even be revenue positive.

I would like to think weaning the ATF off of guns on keeping them on a diet of tobacco and alcohol might be a partial solution to our problems with them.

Eventually they should be weaned of the government teat entirely and forced to get productive jobs in normal society like everyone else. But I don’t see a big downside them focusing on the cigarette black market in the short term.

Quote of the day–Bill Clinton

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I also support a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons, which have no legitimate hunting purpose. This will limit access to multiple-round
clips like the one used in the tragic killings in Killeen, Texas.

Bill Clinton
August 10, 1993
[This is the 17 year anniversary for that statement Bill. How did that work out for you? Any advice for present day politicians facing the mid-term elections?–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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Nice representation of the NRA as Nazis. And, of course, no concept of due process or the effectiveness of the “terrorist watch list”.

The gun representation is pretty messed up too.

Quote of the day–Barbara Scott

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Can we drive anyplace we want to go after this?


We can drive to the Bahamas, right?


Barbara Scott
August 9, 2010
After going through TSA at the St. Louis International Airport.
[Her experience was rather ordinary compared to mine. But I have mine on video for mocking later when I’m a little more removed from the situation.


In other news we have treated all the chigger bites, removed all the ticks, and are waiting for our plane to board and take us back to the Seattle area. Once we get home we will remove our sweat soaked clothes and take a shower.


It will be good to be back home in our underground bunker.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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This is the last of the Charlton Heston cartoons I have. I meant to post it yesterday but was in a hurry and grabbed the first one on my list.


I mostly give the artist a pass on this one too. It’s not exactly classy to criticize someone on their death but compared to some of the other crap that was thrown at him this is pretty mild.

Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton

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Universal Unloading Place

Translation: Bathroom.

From the Greg Hamilton to English Dictionary by Meredith Robinson.
[If you travel and carry a gun a lot you will find yourself needed to load and unload as you cross political jurisdictions and entering/leaving an airport. Bathroom stalls are your friend. Although I have successfully done it at baggage pick up, while at the curb waiting for a shuttle and other nearly open places.

We really need to fix these stupid laws that force this sort of behavior. The more gun handling the greater the chance of an accident. The gun should be put on when you get up from bed and taken off when you go to bed.–Joe]

Not helpful

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This sort of thing is not helpful to the cause of gun rights (found on a towel dispenser in a bathroom). If this particular politician was signing orders to put people in cattle cars to send them to the “camps” then sure that would be appropriate. But we aren’t anywhere close to that.


When Alan Gura spent time with a bunch of gun bloggers at the NRA Convention last May I asked him what bloggers could do to help the civil rights war. He said (paraphrased), “Make guns fun. Don’t bring up or associate with Threepers. It scares people.”


I’ve elaborated on this sort of thing before and don’t see a need to elaborate further at this time.

Gun cartoon of the day

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Even if you ignore the U.S. Revolutionary War (it was prior to the 2nd Amendment but it was enabled by the inalienable right to keep and bear arms) the scorecard is far from complete. It doesn’t show the (probably incalculable) number of tyrants prevented in places all over the world. It doesn’t show the number people murdered by tyrants who successfully infringed the right to keep and bear arms. And it doesn’t show the number of innocent lives saved by people who exercised their specific enumerated right to to keep and bear arms on a much smaller personal scale.


But it’s anti-gun artist. Of course they are going to leave information out and distort things. It’s what bigots do.

Quote of the day–T-Shirt

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The economy is worse than a divorce.


I lost half my money and I’m still married.


T-Shirt
August 7, 2010
Seen on a t-shirt in a restaurant in Camdenton, Missouri this evening.
[I wouldn’t mind the temporary economic situation so much if it meant we were getting a divorced from an oppressive big government. But like the t-shirt says (after twisting the meaning a little bit), we are stuck with both.–Joe]

Gun cartoon of the day

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So… do you think the artist thinks that when they go for a walk in Seattle, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Dallas, Tampa, Phoenix, or any of the state parks in (probably) 40 different states? Of course not.


Then why the big deal about National Parks? It’s those damn uppity gun owners–they let them go anywhere rather than staying in their place where they belong.

Quote of the day–Ronald Reagan

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Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don’t have that problem.


Ronald Reagan
[I have had this in my collection for quite a while but never had the appropriate occasion to use it. Today I saw it printed on a tile at the restaurant at Middle of Nowhere. The owner is a former Marine.


While I was at Middle of Nowhere I put 1000 rounds of .40 S&W and 500 rounds of .22 into steel plates. I have a couple sore fingers and I’m tired of standing but I also trimmed about 0.1 seconds per plate off my time and I can shoot weak handed a lot better.–Joe]

Real Men…

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…and women should have available, and know how to use, either a micrometer or a good caliper that reads in thousandths of an inch and/or hundredths of a millimeter.  I don’t see how a person could get through life without one.  They’re cheap and they last a long time.  A set of hole gauges and snap gauges is good also, but the calipers are essential.


That’s in my book.


Jeff Cooper wrote about some other things;



Before the young man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain skills he should acquire, apart from any state-sponsored activity. Certainly the youngster should be taught to swim, strongly and safely, at distance. And young people of either sex should be taught to drive a motor vehicle, and if at all possible, how to fly a light airplane. I believe a youngster should be taught the rudiments of hand-to-hand combat, unarmed, together with basic survival skills. The list is long, but it is a parent’s duty to make sure that the child does not go forth into the world helpless in the face of its perils. Shooting, of course, is our business, and shooting should not be left up to the state.


Or something like that.  I recall he had learning to handle a motorcycle in there too.


My son took it upon himself to row a boat across Hood Canal a few weeks ago without telling anyone.  We saw him heading over, until he disappeared from sight.


I was miffed.  That is, until I remembered some of the crazy things I did at that age (16) like piloting a canoe (two canoes, four people) up one side of Priest Lake in Idaho, by moonlight, and then navigating up the channel to Upper Priest Lake by starlight (after moondown) then landing and setting up camp on a low cliff.  We figured flashlights were for sissies, back then.  Nowadays I carry one.  Must be getting soft.


But I digress.  Being able to measure the difference between .678″ and .710″ can be pretty important, and it’s not complicated.  This sort of thing comes up often while talking to customers.  Most of them have the tools and the skill, but a disappointing minority do not.

Gun cartoon of the day

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I almost have to give the artist a pass on this one.

Quote of the day–Edward Abbey

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The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.


Edward Abbey
(1927 – 1989)
[The same thing could be said of freedom. I wish we could get to that place in politics and public discourse.–Joe]

I sucked all the bits out of this town

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I’m in a small town in central Missouri. I’ve been accessing the Internet via Internet Sharing with my cell phone and that worked well for a while. Then the data transfer rate gradually went to zero. Rebooting the phone and computer didn’t help. I started “borrowing” wireless bandwidth from someone with a SSID of “Linksys” (it is my understanding they are the largest free Internet provider in the country). That went away about two hours ago and I’m back on the cell phone which gives me a few bits every once in a while before drying up.


It’s like I am pumping water from a well and I pulled the water table down below all the intake pipes in the town. I’m mostly sucking air now with just an occasional few spurts of water.


Another indication of the low bit table is that my new phone with the weak cell signal (known issue, we are working on it) runs its battery dead, even while plugged into USB power, trying to sync my email from work.


Until I leave town blogging and email responses will be marginal at best.

Gun cartoon of the day

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The same things Lyle said yesterday apply to this cartoon.


Also note that even Heston’s death does not stop the anti-gun people from attacking him.

We’re All Gonna Die! – Details at Eleven

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This post from Uncle reminded me of John Stossel’s campaign to ban dihydrogen monoxide.  It’s about what I call ignoracracy– control of the people through ignorance, or the “Ignorati”– those who use that tactic.  Stossel got plenty of signatures on his petition.  He told people things like; dihydrogen monoxide, used heavily in industry, corrodes metal, and it kills thousands of people each year including children.  Congress is doing nothing about it!  All totally true of course.


Yellow journalism could be seen as a form of ignoracracy, except that we can turn it off or look away at will.


Education would be the obvious antidote, except that education is owned by the Ignorati.