Another Czar–bzar

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I thought we appropriately articulated our opinion of czars in America on April 19, 1775. And the last Czar and his family were permanently removed from power with extreme prejudice on July 17, 1918. So why is it that our government is creating new czars? I would think we have had enough of them in this world. But apparently our government doesn’t see it that way because tomorrow President Obama is expected to announce still another czar:



President Obama is expected to announce Friday the creation of the position of cyber czar, a person who will coordinate the nation’s efforts to protect government and private computer systems from hackers, criminal gangs, terrorists and spies, people familiar with the plan said Thursday.


The czar will report to both the national security adviser and the head of the National Economic Council, the sources said.


Obama will not name anyone Friday to the post because the selection process is ongoing, they said.


In addition, the White House will release a 40-page report that sets broad goals for combating cyber intrusions, but does not spell out in detail how to do so, said the sources, who would not agree to be identified because the report has not been released.


Several years ago I was asked to comment on some preliminary Homeland Security plans for the Feds to “protect the Internet”. As one might imagine they were just the opposite of what I thought should be done. I gave them my feedback as politely as I could while still making my points and my boss said he passed it on up the chain with his blessing.


I don’t know if they have come up with something having better alignment with reality by now. We will have to see what the “40-page report” says. But just the fact that the Feds want to extend their reach into still another area where they don’t have any Constitutionally granted powers when they are so deeply in debt they can’t pay for all the stuff they already messing up does not bode well.


Update: The document is now available. A quick scan doesn’t reveal any of the stuff I disapproved of a few years back. But it is a very high level document without many details that can be addressed. And, of course, frequently “the devil is in the details”. What I did find a little odd was the frequent use of the phrase “State, local, and tribal governments” (emphasis added). There were 12 instances of the use of “tribal”. Is it usual to include tribal governments in such documents? And it makes me wonder…could I set up my own tribe and tribal government? I need to look into that sometime. I own land that is on an indian reservation (Boomershoot is held on indian reservation land as well).

Hello Josh!

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It always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when one of my enemies stops by and sees what I have to say about them. I looked up the IP address from the Sitemeter visit description below and it resolved as being from Washington D.C. That combined with the search words “coalition to stop gun violence” leads me to believe it was the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence looking to see what I had to say about Josh Horwitz:


 




























































































Domain Name   (Unknown) 
IP Address   173.8.20.# (Unknown Organization)
ISP   Unknown ISP
Location  













Continent  :  Unknown
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Language   English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinNT
Browser   Firefox
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10
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Resolution  :  1024 x 768
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Time of Visit   May 28 2009 1:41:47 pm
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Referring URL http://blogsearch.go…ce&btnG=Search Blogs
Search Engine blogsearch.google.com
Search Words coalition to stop gun violence
Visit Entry Page   https://blog.joehuffman.org/2009/05/27/quote-of-the-day-josh-horwitz/
Visit Exit Page   https://blog.joehuffman.org/2009/05/27/quote-of-the-day-josh-horwitz/
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC-5:00
Visitor’s Time   May 28 2009 4:41:47 pm
Visit Number   514,094

Bigotry knows no boundaries

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Most of the time I’m not particularly surprised when I hear about bigotry against gun-owners. It’s pervasive, common, and often inadvertent. It is so common that people engage in it without realizing it because it is sort of a “conventional wisdom”. But this surprised me:



CCAC also told Brashier that the college must pre-approve any distribution of literature to fellow students, and that pamphlets like hers would not be approved, even insisting that Brashier destroy all copies of her pamphlet.


Brashier reports that she was also interrogated about why she was distributing the pamphlets, whether she owned a licensed firearm and had ever brought it to campus (she has not), whether she carries a concealed firearm off campus, and whether she disagrees with the existing college policy banning concealed weapons on campus.


When Brashier stated that she wanted to be able to discuss this policy freely on campus, she was told to stop doing so without the permission of the CCAC administration. Dean Burns reportedly said, “You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us.” Brashier was then told to cease all activities related to her involvement with SCCC at CCAC and that such “academic misconduct” would not be tolerated.


I thought maybe the poor woman threatened with retaliation for attempting to exercise her first amendment rights had got a little carried away with the pamphlets the college demanded she destroy. But after reading one I was shocked. There is nothing in it that is even a little bit threatening or “over the top”.


H/T to Say Uncle and Sebastian.

One mile range proposal

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Via email from Jason comes this link to a proposal for a one mile range in central Washington State.


It sounds like they are talking greater than .30 caliber. My hottest loads with the highest BC bullets in my .300 Win Mag won’t meet the requirement of being supersonic at the target.


For those of you that want to run the numbers yourself assume range conditions of 400 feet above sea level and 75F.

Quote of the day–Milton Friedman

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Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.


Milton Friedman
[The Feds are buying debt. Where do you suppose they are getting the money for that? They are printing it.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Josh Horwitz

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It’s time for all advocates of gun violence prevention to stand together and demand principled action from our elected officials. Capitol Hill needs to receive a clear message—they cannot continue to ignore a majority of Americans in order to do the gun lobby’s bidding without paying a price at the ballot box.

Josh Horwitz
Email newsletter
May 26, 2009
Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
[Poor Josh, he’s such a Sad Panda. No one is listening to him anymore.

I’ve always wondered what “principles” they adhere to. It’s not some sort of advocacy of safety as they hint at on their web site. If it were then they would be able to answer Just One Question. It’s certainly not constitutional principles or freedom/liberty. As near as I can tell it’s some modern day equivalent of “We don’t want no damn n**gers around here.” It’s no wonder people don’t pay attention. Bigotry is such an ugly thing.–Joe]

I must be getting old

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Barb, Kim, son-in-law Caleb, and I went boat camping over the weekend. We left Friday morning and got back yesterday.

After setting up camp on Friday we noticed some rocks up on the opposite side of the lake that we thought would be a nice place to hike and take some pictures. Here is an aerial view. In the picture below, on the upper right, you can see the rocks:


View from our campsite.

On Saturday morning we packed up our cameras, some water, and walkie-talkies. Barb said it looked like too tough of a climb and stayed with our old dogs who would have to been carried (little lap sitters, they are more like cats than dogs anyway). We took the boat across the lake and found a sandy beach to tie the boat up to:


Kim ready to hop off the boat for our hike up the hill.

On the way up the hill we found at least two sets of bones from deer that had been considered food by some other animals (photos by Kim):

It was steep, there was no trail except for occasional game trails, and I had to stop, rest, and drink some water a few times. But it was a nice view when we got to the top (photo by Kim): 


Caleb inspects the edge.


View from the top.

We called back to camp and told Barb we had made it and asked that she come out of the trees near the tents to where we could see her. It was about a half mile away but I used a telephoto lens (300 mm) and took her picture:


Barb (upper left quadrant in blue) near our campsite from 1/2 mile away.

That was all nice and good, but then there was this bird that started circling us:




It was a Turkey Vulture. None of us had ever heard of vultures in Idaho and certainly not this far north in Idaho. But there it was. Circling and getting pretty darned close.

We took some more pictures of the view:


Elk Creek on Dworshak reservoir.


Kim and Caleb from the top of the Rocky Cliff.

We then noticed there were five vultures circling us. I could only get four in the frame at once. It was all a bit surreal–almost like in the cartoons except we weren’t in the desert and we didn’t feel like we were near death:


Vultures circling us.

Reading about them on Wikipedia, I discovered they are one of the few birds that forage for food by smell. We were probably more than a little smelly from the climb up the hill but I don’t think we smelled dead so I have to conclude Xenia has the better hypothesis. I must be getting old.

Quote of the day–Richard K. Willard

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The link between handgun legality and aggregate crime levels has little constitutional significance. The purpose of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is to allow individuals to privately protect themselves, not to reduce overall crime rates or curb gun-related accidents. … The framers knew that an individual right to keep and bear arms would carry with it the risks of crime and accidents, just as an individual right to speak freely carries with it the risk of libel. Faced with these trade-offs, the framers deliberately chose a form of government that can accept such risks as the price for protecting individual liberties.


Richard K. Willard
February 11, 2008
D.C. versus Heller
Brief Amicus Curiae Of The Heartland Institute in support of respondent
[This one is for Lyle. Who, rightly so, says safety is irrelevant to the constitutionality issue.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Xenia Huffman-Scott

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They probably said, “There’s the old guy. He’ll keel over first. Dibs!”


Xenia Huffman-Scott
May 25, 2009
[After hearing that when Kim, Caleb, and I climbed to the top of a cliff on Saturday there were five vultures circling us. Pictures tomorrow.–Joe]

Alternate use for a rifle stock

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Via email from friend and co-worker Kris comes this nifty bit of history and an alternate use for your rifle stock.

Quote of the day–David B. Kopel

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Robertson v. Baldwin declared “the carrying of concealed weapons” (presumably, handguns and knives) to be an exception to the Second Amendment. 165 U.S. 275, 281-82 (1897). The exception proves the rule: that a ban on all handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment. Similarly, Justice Holmes’ opinion in Patsone v. Pennsylvania upheld a state statute against legal aliens possessing long guns for hunting, because the statute “does not extend to weapons such as pistols that may be supposed to be needed occasionally for self-defence.” 232 U.S. 138, 143 (1914).


David B. Kopel
Brief of The International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA), The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI), Maryland State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, Southern States Police Benevolent Association, 29 Elected California District Attorneys, San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association, Long Beach Police Officers Association, Texas Police Chiefs Association, Texas Municipal Police Association, New York State Association of Auxiliary Police, Mendocino County, Calif., Sheriff Thomas D. Allman, Oregon State Rep. Andy Olson, National Police Defense Foundation, Law Enforcement Alliance of America, and The Independence Institute as amici curiae in support of respondent. D.C. v. Heller


 

Quote of the day–M. Carol Bambery

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The District’s current prohibition against handguns and immediately serviceable firearms in the home effectively eliminates a woman’s ability to defend her very life and those of her children against violent attack. Women are simply less likely to be able to thwart violence using means currently permitted under D.C. law. Women are generally less physically strong, making it less likely that most physical confrontations will end favorably for women. Women with access to immediately disabling means, however, have been proven to benefit from the equalization of strength differential a handgun provides. Women’s ability to own such serviceable firearms is indeed of even greater importance given the holdings of both federal and state courts that there is no individual right to police protection.


M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent.

Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

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Now, it just so happens that most things that are positives prior to collapse turn out to be negatives once collapse occurs, and vice versa. For instance, prior to collapse having high inventory in a business is bad, because the businesses have to store it and finance it, so they try to have just-in-time inventory. After collapse, high inventory turns out to be very useful, because they can barter it for the things they need, and they can’t easily get more because they don’t have any credit. Prior to collapse, it’s good for a business to have the right level of staffing and an efficient organization. After collapse, what you want is a gigantic, sluggish bureaucracy that can’t unwind operations or lay people off fast enough through sheer bureaucratic foot-dragging. Prior to collapse, what you want is an effective retail segment and good customer service. After collapse, you regret not having an unreliable retail segment, with shortages and long bread lines, because then people would have been forced to learn to shift for themselves instead of standing around waiting for somebody to come and feed them.


Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices

The girls’ grades

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Xenia and Kim got their grades. Xenia just finished her sophmore year in college and Kim her freshman year. They got all A’s except for one B.


Barb and I are very proud.

More evidence of security theater

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Breda conclusively demonstrates TSA is nothing but security theater. As conclusive as that story is I could tell better stories than that–but the statute of limitations hasn’t expired yet.


TSA, it’s A Security Theater.

What fire?

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Yesterday Caleb and I did some more work at the Boomershoot site. We folded a bunch more boxes, and inspected the repairs Caleb had made on the stairs. We hooked up the generator and charged the batteries for a while and did some other odds and ends.


What really surprised us was the place where we had two fires recently. Unless you looked closely it was difficult to know there had been a fire:


Gone camping

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I’ve been on vacation the last couple of days and have not had time for blogging. Tomorrow we are going camping and won’t have an Internet connection or even cell phone service.


I’ve posted some QOTDs that may or may not show up on the appropriate days.


I’ll get back into things Monday or Tuesday.


Part of what I spent part of my vacation doing was fixing my parents boat so we could take it out camping to some boat accessible only campsites. It had a heating problem. When the engine was running at slow speed it would quickly get hot. At high speed it was fine. Brother Doug and I hypothesized there must be a bad hose that was feeding water from the stern drive (it’s in inboard/outboard Mercruiser) to the engine. The boat doesn’t have that many hours on it but it is 36 years old.


Kim, Caleb and I took the stern drive off and found the hose we knew must exist. It as as hard as a rock and it must have took us about two hours to get it off. It came off in dozens of pieces. Here are some of the larger ones:



It didn’t help that the ends of the hose were only accessible with our finger tips or tools. Getting a clear view, with light and tools on the object was impossible.


Doug happened to be in town and called just before he returned. We gave him a parts list and he picked up the hose, gaskets, O-rings, and a few other things we needed and we started putting the boat back together.



 



That took hours too. Just putting the hose on must have taken an hour by itself.


We didn’t get home until about 21:45. We were tired and covered in grease.


Next time, 35 years from now with the hose goes bad again, I advise our kids and grandkids to take it in and have an expert fix it. We must have put 25 man-hours into it. It wasn’t worth a day of my vacation for the dollars saved by doing it ourselves.

Quote of the day–Clayton Cramer

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No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.


Clayton Cramer

Quote of the day–ErnestThing

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This was a lot of fun. Joe had said that some people like to blow up Boomers at long range, while others prefer to “pick grass and dirt out of their teeth.” I could understand why. By the end, my cheeks hurt from smiling so severely.


ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[This was referring to the High Intensity close range shoot. I’m thinking of doing it both Friday and Saturday evening in 2010.–Joe]

Safety Shmafety

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We in the pro-freedom camp (Americans) spend too much time arguing about safety.  Or rather, we argue safety far too often in the terms laid down by our enemies– the enemies of liberty.  Though the statistics are often on our side, we’re granting the basis for the argument (that government exists to promote the physical safety of the individual) to the enemy.


Wrong premise.


Too many police departments, for example, call themselves Departments of Public Safety and the like.  That’s not their function, per se.  Their proper function is to enforce the law and the primary purpose of law, in the uniquely American sense at least, is to promote and protect your rights.  That this function has been corrupted over the years does not change the original intent.


The American Revolution was indeed fought for safety, but the safety so dearly bought therein was a rather different kind of safety from that promoted by the neo-Fascists.  It wasn’t the kind of safety taught at your local public school.  It wasn’t the kind of safety we’re training for in a fire drill or in a drivers’ education class.  That kind of safety is properly the responsibility of the individual or of private interests.


The kind of safety for which the Revolution was fought and for which the constitution was written is safety from government interference– safety from the enemies of liberty both foreign and domestic.


Historically, out-of-control governments have presented a danger to public safety far greater than all common criminal activity and standard physical danger combined.  Some government or left-wing hack asserting that we need more government intrusion as a means of promoting “safety” is a bit like advocating mass sex orgies for the promotion of abstinence.


When we’re arguing safety and public policy then, we need to make it clear beforehand which particular kind of safety we’re discussing– the safety of subjects owned by the government (the safety of tyrants and sycophants) or the safety of a free people.  They are near polar opposites.