Quote of the day–William F. Buckley, Jr.

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The state is a divine institution. Without it we have anarchy, and the lawlessness of anarchy is counter to the natural law: so we abjure all political theories which view the state as inherently and necessarily evil. But it is the state which has been in history the principal instrument of abuse of the people, and so it is central to the conservatives’ program to keep the state from  accumulating any but the most necessary powers.

William F. Buckley, Jr.
[So why do conservatives think it is so important to get the state involved in sexual preferences and practices?–Joe]

Boomershoot 2006 survey

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My way overdue survey for Boomershoot 2006 is now available:

http://survey.boomershoot.org/

It doesn’t matter if you were there as a shooter, spotter, spectator, or even if you just heard about the event and didn’t attend. There is a survey for everyone.

I want feedback of any type. But just because I’m listening doesn’t mean I’ll change. But I will consider it. And if you want to send an email or give me a call that works too.

I plan to announce the dates and prices for Boomershoot 2007 sometime this weekend. If you have input that might affect that please get it to me before then. But even if you run across this posting in March of 2007 the survey will probably still be up and I’ll still be listening.

Thanks for your input.

Culvert for Taj Mahal access

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Saturday I put in a culvert for easier access to the Boomershoot explosives magazine Ry named the Taj Mahal. This will make it easier for Boomershoot helpers (who are ATF approved explosives handlers) to get to the explosives magazine. I had been thinking about it for a while and finally made it happen. It was either that or get snorkel kits for their 4x4s. More pictures are here.

While I was in the neighborhood I talked to our neighbors just across the road from the Boomershoot site. I want to help them get high speed Internet access (currently they are just on dial-up) and then making the entire Boomershoot site a WiFi hot-spot. They seemed quite agreeable to it and I’ll probably work on that enhancement early next spring. It depends somewhat on the survey of Boomershooters and potential Boomershooters I’ll be doing this week (sometime tonight I’ll be posting the survey link here and sending out emails). If no one is interested then I might not bother with the hassle and expense.

Boomershoot–It’s not just one weekend a year, it’s a year around commitment.

Quote of the day–Emma Goldman

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If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.

Emma Goldman
[I’m not quite that cynical but it does have a grain of truth in it. Think McCain-Feingold.–Joe]

Confronting your accusers

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Part of due process is being able to confront your accuser(s). Apparently that isn’t part of the law in some cases in the UK and this guy spent five years in jail before they figured out the accuser was a liar:

A father who served five years in jail for sexually assaulting a woman had his conviction quashed yesterday after new evidence suggested his victim was a liar who inflicted her own injuries.

Warren Blackwell, 36, embraced his wife, Tanya, outside the Court of Appeal in London, saying he would always love her for standing by him. But the ordeal made him “a very angry man indeed”.

“It took the police and the justice system nine months to convict me of a crime that not only did I not commit, but a crime that never even took place,” he said in a statement read by his solicitor.

And not only that she still can’t be named:

“It has taken almost seven years to clear my name.” The court was told that the woman, who cannot be named, had made strikingly similar claims of other sex attacks, had an ability to lie and a possible propensity to self harm.

…

Mr Justice Tugendhat said that when Parliament passed the law granting lifetime anon-ymity to complainants in sex cases it did not contemplate someone acting as she had.

“There may, in future, be another case in which she makes allegations against another man.”

We have a Constitution which was designed to prevent these sort of abuses by government. It’s too bad our government doesn’t abide by it. But at least it gives us a clear goal in our pursuit of regaining our freedom.

Yeah, right, that will work

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This wouldn’t work with me and I can’t imagine it working any better with Columbian gang members:

BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept 12 (Reuters) – They are calling it the “crossed legs” strike.

Fretting over crime and violence, girlfriends and wives of gang members in the Colombian city of Pereira have called a ban on sex to persuade their menfolk to give up the gun.

Suggestions for hunting regulations additions

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I have some suggestions for Jeff Soyer in regards to his last sentence in this post where he advocates some changes in the hunting regulations:

  • There are no bag limits.
  • The season is year around as with other varmints.
  • There are no restrictions on hunting with various lures, calls, traps, poisons, calibers, spot lights, magazine capacity, rate of fire, or use of sound suppression accessories as long as a reasonable person would conclude that the hunting methodology would normally be expected to result in a humane kill.
  • The markings and other means of identification for the various species should be published in the hunting regulations and be regarded as definitive.
  • Hunters are required to notify authorities of wounded animals who have escaped as soon as is practical so others can be engaged to track and put down the animal in a humane manner.
  • All carcass disposal is the responsibility of the local government body. The government body may do this in any manner it so decides as long as it does not endanger the public health. This may include, as decided by the local government body and local public health officials, the sale of the carcass in whole or in part for any lawful use.
  • Hunters are required, if they can do so without endangering themselves or other innocent life, to guard the carcass until the police have arrived to properly strip the carcass of valuables, identify the species, verify it was a legitimate kill, and search for evidence as might be needed in civil or criminal cases.
  • Sales of valuables found on carcasses shall be used for the purposes of carcass disposal by the local government body. Except:
    • Valuables identifiable as stolen property shall be returned to their rightful owners or their heirs.
    • Valuables needed as evidence in criminal or civil cases shall be retained as necessary.

Anyplace for dinner is fine

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When someone tells me “anyplace is fine” when we are trying to decide where to go for a meal I frequently tell them “Sankt Gertruds Kloster“. When they ask where it’s at and for directions I tell them it’s in Copenhagen, Denmark. They then get this confused look on their face (or a frown as in this case). You shouldn’t tell me anyplace is fine. If you don’t mean what you say or say what you mean I’m likely to expose to you your inability to communicate accurately and amuse myself in the process.

Regardless, my boss and his wife are really into fine restaurants as well as travel. I suggested this unique restaurant in Copenhagen for his benefit. I’m not sure I would travel all the way from the Pacific Northwest just for dinner but if I were spending time in the area anyway I would be sure to go back again.

I was there in ’79 so I’m sure things have changed some. But my impression from the website and a few of the other hits I got looking for it is that it is still a very nice place to visit.

Another Lautenberg Amendment victim

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I got a call yesterday from someone I have only seen once in the past six years. He barely introduced himself and immediately went right to the point. He talked so fast that I didn’t get quite get all the words. What I did get was that he was in a domestic violence situation, had restraining order against him and had to get his guns out of his house as soon as possible. He had some other possibilities but wondered if I would be able to hold on to them for a couple months until he could get things all straightened out.

I agreed but didn’t have secure storage for all of his guns here in the Seattle area. I said I have plenty of room but he would need to buy a cheap gun safe to put them in. He said he would check out his other alternatives and get back to me.

I ended up with his gun safe, filled with his guns, next to my bed, and the keys to it in my pocket. He then told me his story about the incident with his 18 year-old son, about spending the night in jail, and his search for a lawyer.

I gave him a little bit of advice–If this were to turn into the worst case scenario how much money would you be willing to spend to have a better outcome? “A lot”, he said after about 1.5 seconds of thought. So I told him, “Then spend that money now on the best lawyer you can get.” As painful as it is to hire the best up front hiring a better lawyer than your first pick to go back in time is beyond the means of everyone I know.

October explosive shoot in Missouri

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Dave, of Ozark Pyrotechnics, and I exchanged several emails in the past few hours and he pointed out something I sort of knew but it hadn’t really bubbled up to full awareness. He is planning an explosives shoot next month. The format is a little different than the Boomershoot but the targets are similar. If Missouri is in your “neck of the woods” you should check it out.

Magic vs. jihad

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Reader, friend, and Boomershooter Sean sent me a link to this article in the Weekly Standard, Return of the Tribes. It’s kind of a long article but all very interesting. Near the end is a section on Magic vs. jihad and from there Peters goes on to explain that “magic” is an essential part of dealing with people and how the magic of the forests and jungles in the hands of people that didn’t even have the wheel defeated the Muslim jihad that had swept through nearly every other culture the Muslim encountered:

The spread of Islam into Europe and Africa struck very different, but equally potent, barriers in the north and south. In Europe, it could not overcome a rival monotheist faith with its own universalist vision. In West Africa, Islam stopped, roughly five centuries ago, when it left the deserts and grasslands to enter the African forest, that potent domain of magic.

It should excite far more interest than it has that a warrior faith with an unparalleled record of conquest and conversion dead-ended when it reached the realms of illiterate tribes that had not mastered the wheel: In the forests of sub-Saharan Africa, Islam could not conquer, could not convert, and could not convince. On their own turf, local beliefs proved more powerful than a faith that had swept over “civilized” continents.

His thesis is that essentially all people need magic in their lives. In our country we have our own substitutes for it. As Sean rightly surmised this would push a button of mine. Magic???? We don’t need to stinking magic! Well… maybe I don’t but most people do and failure to take this into account will result in unexpected results when you deal with them.

As Barb points out at times I am frequently bewildered at the unexpected results when I deal with people. Apparently it’s not that they are stupid, as I would like to claim, but that they believe in magic. I guess I can buy that. From airplane security to gun control to socialized medicine they all believe in magic not realizing it’s nothing but a comforting illusion.

Quote of the day–John Stuart Mill

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War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.

John Stuart Mill
[This reminds me of the famous quote by Churchill.–Joe]

Exploding targets for sale

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Ozark Pyrotechnics is now selling binary exploding targets.

Barb and I visited Dave and his family a month ago and I saw a small stock of the targets ready for shipping. We didn’t ask for a demo so I can’t report on functionality but I fully expect they will work as advertised.

If you test them please send me a report.

Michael Moore selects another target

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From the Seattle PI:

TORONTO — First, General Motors. Then gun control, followed by George W. Bush. Now rabble-rousing filmmaker Michael Moore has turned his irreverent camera on health care in America.

Socialized medicine will be his inevitable conclusion.

“Michael Moore is a political activist with a track record for sensationalism. He has no intention of being fair and balanced,” Johnson said.

Yup.

Utah Supreme Court Justices Domonstrate Ability to Read

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Here’s something you don’t see– a gun ban struck down on constitutional grounds, thoughbeit a state constitution:

“The Utah Supreme Court on Friday struck down a ban on guns at the University of Utah, saying campus officials cannot adopt a policy that runs counter to state law.”

Did I read that right?  State institutions cannot enact policies in violation of the constitution?  This is groundbreaking stuff (well, outside the issue of public funding for Maplethorpe or Piss Christ exhibits, et al, being claimed as “free speech” elsewhere).

Here is the pertinent language out of Utah, courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation:

Utah Constitution Article I, Section 6

The individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the Legislature from defining the lawful use of arms.

Take note that security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state are mentioned as the primary reason why the right to keep and bear arms should be protected.  That blows the whole “Sporting Purposes” test concept all to hell, doesn’t it?  But Utah reserves the right to define “lawful use”, like, I guess, not allowing shooting at your local community range at 03:00 for instance, without an effective sound suppressor.  That makes sense.

And “…defense of…property”?  There’s an obscure concept.

Now, if we could only get the several states to recognize the U.S. Constitution, it wouldn’t matter what any state constitution says about the keeping and bearing of arms (unless I am mistaken, the U.S. Constitution prevents, ostensibly, your home state legislature from banning newspapers, forcing Catholics to wear crucifix arm bands, for example, or reinstating slavery, but maybe someone could correct me on that).

The NRA linked to the story also, but had little to say about it as of this writing.

Psychology of Holocaust deniers & 9/11 deniers

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I was thinking all morning about posting on this subject, then a pen pal in Israel, Howard, a marksmanship instructor for the IDF, sent me an e-mail along the same lines.  I therefore can simply post the exchange I had with him:

From: Howard in Israel
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 9:46 AM
To: GPOSUMMARY
Subject: Fw: Headlines and Editorials

Friends:

The other night Israeli TV news reported that a recent survey in the USA determined that a third of all Americans believe that there was US government complicity in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  I find it hard to believe.  I also find it hard to believe that a group of 75 (?) university professors say the evidence of such complicity is undeniable.

If the TV report is correct, all I can do is shake my head in disbelief.

Howard
—————————————————————————–

To which I replied:

Funny you should mention that.  I was just commenting to my wife this morning that I believed I had identified a parallel between Holocaust deniers and 9/11 deniers.  Yes, it is true that there are a number of Americans, many of them college professors and administrators, who are touting the notion that the twin towers were brought down in a “controlled demolition” and the Pentagon was hit with an American cruise missile.

My hypothesis is that, just as Holocaust deniers are the very ones who agree with the Nazi’s “Final Solution”, so too are the 9/11 deniers the very same people who hate capitalism and especially international free trade.  To put it another way, they agree with the premises of the terrorists, though their rationalizations may be slightly different.

I’m no psychologist, and I cannot begin to explain why those who most agree with the anti-Semitic premises for the Holocaust would be the ones most likely to deny that it happened, or that those who most agree that Western capitalism is the root of all evil in the world would deny that the attack on the World Trade Center was perpetrated by anti-Western, anti-capitalists, but I find this fascinating.

Lyle

————————

Update, 9/12/:

Lyle:
“Fascinating” is the politest term used so far.
Howard

————————

They just lost another soldier this morning in Gaza.  He isn’t joking at all about any of this.

Quote of the day–George W. Bush

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Today, America is fighting a war that is testing our Nation’s resolve. We are once again answering history’s call with confidence, and we know that freedom will prevail. Our brave men and women in uniform have stepped forward to fight our enemies abroad so that we do not have to face them here at home, and we are grateful for the courageous individuals bringing terrorists to justice around the world.

We are also confronting the extremists in the great ideological struggle of the 21st century. September the 11th made clear that, in the long run, the only way to secure our Nation is to advance liberty and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism. By working together with our friends and allies, we are helping spread the blessings of freedom and laying the foundations of peace for generations to come.

George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
September 7, 2006
Patriot Day 2006

Quote of the day–Isaac Asimov

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Creationists make it sound as though a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.

Isaac Asimov
[One of my pet peeves is that most people, including nearly all the scientists I have worked with, don’t distinguish between a theory and a hypothesis. The gun control advocates who do this are particularly irksome to me when they do this.–Joe]

Quote of the day–O’Ryan Johnson

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During Wednesday’s drill, a K-9 trooper put the Semtex on the rear bumper of a pickup truck parked in a Massport pool lot. Troopers have so far disassembled a street sweeper in the hope of finding it sucked into the device. Last night it remained as lost as luggage.

O’Ryan Johnson
September 9, 2006
Security breach at Logan — ‘It’s Keystone Kops’
[If I lose explosives, either by misplacement or theft, I have to report it within 24 hours to the ATF. I hope these Troopers have the same paperwork and hassles I would have if I would have done this.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Henry Ward Beecher

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The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.

Henry Ward Beecher
[Which is why we are supposed to have a limited government with enumerated powers.–Joe]