On legends, awards and success...

or, Maybe I have a mild case of cognitive dissonance too...
Being a fan of a lot of non-mainstream artists, I'll admit I've gotten to the point that I don't really put much if any stock in awards shows anymore. Not that I ever really did, but there was a time that I got a little ticked if my favorites didn't win. That changed after I started getting into the Texas music scene and discovered a lot of great music from artists who in all likelihood won't ever make it to the stage at the CMAs, ACMs, Grammys or what-have-you. Since then I've pretty much gotten to the point that I go, "another awards show, yawn, that's nice..." I'd run into people here and there who would point to those awards as some sort of justification for liking the artists who won them — as if those awards made said artists better than all the others — and I'd just have to roll my eyes.
But, as Ron White might say, I told you all that to tell you this. Even with that lengthy disclaimer, I must admit it was still quite gratifying to see the great George Strait take home the CMA Album of the Year award last night for Troubadour. A lot of artists get less and less attention as time goes on, both on the radio and in the record stores. But the Strait man carries on, still putting out music that runs neck-and-neck with what he was doing when he was the hottest thing in Nashville in the mid-to-late-'80s. And it still gets played, still gets bought, and still gets recognized. It'd still be good even if he didn't win any awards, but I do think it's great that Strait can still do that well and get that recognition after almost 30 years on the scene — still doing pretty much the same style of music that he did back then, to boot.
Compare that to Reba McEntire, who strayed far from the neo-traditionalist style she started out with and pretty much peaked out artistically and commercially in the late '90s. As bad as it sounds, I got a little bit of gratification from that too. "You see, that's what happens when you get away from your roots..." I know that's not what always happens, but still I thought Reba's early stuff was far, far better than the lion's share of her later work.

A Few MORE Words On Molly Ivins...

More or less continued from here...
So I got a referral, from the search for this phrase: "it was the dearest wish of thomas jefferson's heart that teenage drug dealers should cruise the city".
That was from a column written by the late, lamented Texas *snort* columnist Molly Ivins in 1993. I don't know how she ever got to characterizing herself as a "civil libertarian," as going by most of what she wrote, she was about as much of a "civil libertarian" as was Benito Mussolini or Idi Amin. She was a beloved Texas personality to a lot of leftists, which just goes to show you how much respect many on the left had for the Texan ideals Molly so gleefully shat on so often during her time at her keyboard. I may well catch some incoming for this, but as a Texan, Molly Ivins always struck me to be about as real as a three-dollar bill. I've said it before and I'll say it again — Molly Ivins was more or less a Maureen Dowd from Houston. Just like Maureen Dowd has her cutesy-nickname shtick, Molly Ivins had her down-home country-bumpkin Texan shtick leavened with a hearty helping of leftist bile, which basically could be boiled down to, "Shucks a-mighty, Ah shore do hate me some Republikens, 'specially that dumb ol' George Dubya, hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!" And it was bullshit, just like most of the word vomit that came off her keyboard. Fake, insincere, ignorant and hateful bullshit at that. I know it may be disrespectful to speak ill of the dead, but as far as I am concerned, such disrespect is only fitting for someone who used her First Amendment rights to so vigorously shit all over my Second Amendment rights (and everyone else's too, of course). A lot of people bemoan the lack of civility in modern political discourse, and I'll admit I am one of them...well, Molly Ivins contributed a hell of a lot more to that lack of civility than was her fair share. Even if the more polite of us don't want to admit it.

Well, maybe because it IS...

Lisa Falkenberg is without peer in Texas print media when it comes to not getting it, and today's column is no exception...

Some see pride in Obama's win as wrong

...Some of my fellow whites apparently are feeling a bit confused, disturbed and even threatened by all the smiling, chest-puffing, Obama T-shirt-wearing black folks strutting around like they run the country or something.
Well, finally, for the first time in our nation's history, someone who looks like them will be running the country. Can we blame them for celebrating?
Yes, apparently, we can. Where some of us see pride, and share in it, others see divisiveness.
"Unfortunately, all these good black Americans see is the color of a man's skin," read one comment under my column last week featuring the perspectives of 1960s freedom fighters.
"I thought this election was not about race, but that's pretty much all I've heard since the result was declared final," wrote another, who went on to lament how Jesse Jackson wept openly, Condoleezza Rice "could barely contain herself" and a "usually composed Colin Powell was unabashedly happy that a black man was now our president."
Another reader e-mailed Viewpoints on Saturday, apparently in sarcastic response to the Houston Chronicle's promotion of a special section on Obama's historic win: "Is it still possible to get reprints of the special Sunday section highlighting George Bush when he was elected in 2000 or 2004?"
A white loss
All these people can't be oblivious to the historic moment our country has just witnessed: A man who would have been sent to the back of the bus in the 1950s will soon be riding on Air Force One.
Black schoolchildren learning about America's presidents will finally find among the row of white faces an image that resembles their own.
So why the sour grapes?
"It's a classic argument," says Eric McDaniel, a University of Texas assistant professor who specializes in racial and ethnic politics. "The victory of a black person is automatically seen as a loss for white people."

Oooh, logical fallacy alert! Namely, straw man argument. I have seen no one anywhere saying that the election of a black man to the presidency would be a loss for white people. And it would seem to me that Lisa Falkenberg and her ilk are placing the fact that this is a "historic" occasion above the fact that we just elected to the presidency a gun-grabbing Constitution-hating Marxist who couldn't pass a government background check for a defense contract with the government. It's worth asking, just exactly why the guns and ammunition have been flying off the shelves since Barack Bill Ayers Obama was elected. Considering his record, I find it difficult, nay, impossible to believe that all those munitions were just for target practice or hunting — especially considering it hasn't been the traditional bolt-action hunting guns whose demand has skyrocketed. I don't understand why the next step on the way to a completely non-racist society has to be the targets of past racism getting a pass on their own racism. And that's exactly what it is. If you vote FOR someone just because of their skin color, you're just as much of a racist as one who votes AGAINST someone for that reason. And it really is just that simple.
In yet another bitter irony, the clueless Falkenberg wrote last week about '60s freedom fighters supporting Barack No Guns For You Obama — ironic because of the fact that the President-elect deigns to bring back involuntary servitude via "mandatory volunteer service" for certain groups, although this time people of all colors will be under the lash if he gets his way. (How's THAT for equality?) Who is it once again that's distracting from the real issues?

How many times has Bryan Miller jumped the shark, now?

I knew Bryan Miller was a delusional, no-class, unhinged asshole, but I never thought I'd see him accuse the mainstream media of being shills for the "gun lobby." Really now. And you note he spews that shit from a computer in an overwhelmingly blue state. Compare that to the Associated Press, who actually had people who, y'know, went to gun stores and talked to people as opposed to just pulling shit out of their asses, as Doug Pennington from the Brady Campaign did. (Imagine that. News reporters observed and reported on those observations, for once.) Speaking of the Organization Formerly Known As Handgun Control, check this out:



Second visit since Friday. I do believe I've hit the big time! Hiiii, guys! I see you didn't have jack to say about me calling you out as the professional prevaricators you are! So it's true! I always knew it was. I got yer (not-so-)narrow subsection right here, you evil sons of bitches! It's a whole new world now, you don't have just the big old mainstream media hauling your water anymore, how does THAT feel? I see your frustration has become more evident as you and your evil minions lash out, and it's rather ugly...but at the same time it's a thing of beauty as well. I'm not counting on it, but I'm hoping your buddies in Congress have learned the lesson that catering to you costs them votes. We'll see how that goes, but I do still have some, um, hope.

Not so narrow, nope...

Mike W., in comments to this post:

Narrow subsection my ass. I bet if you ran down your blogroll you'd find that almost everyone on it owns a gun (or several) that'd be banned under HR1022 or similar AWB's.

Yep. ARs, AKs, Garands, M1As, G3 clones, FALs, Mini-14s, I know all of those are represented on my blogroll. And I know there's probably no way to know for sure, but I'd bet there are a lot of people buying the in-demand rifles for whom those rifles are their first EBRs. (I'm one of them — yep, believe it or not, last week's purchase was my first battle rifle.) And the way the story's been told in both the MSM and the blogs (blogs from gun store OWNERS too, mind you), the spin that it's a "narrow subsection" of gun owners being afraid here is a load of horseshit. So yeah, Doug Pennington was more or less talking out of his ass. His organization and others like it seem to be are really good at that.

Nice, I suppose, but I still ain't so sure...

I didn't have the visceral reaction to this that some other folks did, but that's not to say that I don't understand that reaction. The spirit of the thing is nice, but that's about as far as it goes. I suppose it'd be real nice if we all did work together, but what about those on the left side of the aisle who opposed those in charge on the right side every step of the way over the last eight years? And what are those 52 percenters going to be doing when Barack Black Racist Jesus Obama and his cohorts in Congress, say, bring back involuntary servitude, throw the country into a depression with their confiscatory taxation and start making ever-bolder moves towards citizen disarmament via the Democratic Congress and the United Nations? Are we supposed to go along to get along then too? I don't theeeenk so, Lucy.

Maybe we're not as stupid as they think, eh?

....at least, if this is any indication...

...gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.
"I think they're going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them," said Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children — ages 4 to 10 — to shoot because the family relies on game for food.
Last month, as an Obama win looked increasingly inevitable, there were more than 108,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in October 2007, a 15 percent increase. And they were up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26, according to the FBI.
No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.

Huh. Looks like freedom-loving Americans didn't buy Barack Piss On The Founders, You Don't Need Guns Obama's shuck-and-jive about respecting the constitutional rights so many have fought and died for. Or, to put it another way, they're buying guns 'n' ammo instead of hope 'n' change. One would almost think gun owners thought he and Joe Biden were feeding them a line of shit. (I know that's exactly what I thought.) It's good to see that not all of us have either stopped using or completely lost the ability to evaulate things and think critically.
And if this story is any indication, I got off my ass and went to the gun store right in the nick of time...

And he says this with a straight face?

I believe he does...

Obama has said he supports an individual's rights to own guns with reasonable restrictions, so it seems that a "narrow subsection" of gun owners are afraid of being denied access to assault weapons, said Doug Pennington, spokesman for the Brady Campaign, which supported the weapons ban.

You know what this is? This is what is commonly referred to as a lie. Ever since the AWB expired, the guns it proscribed — as well as the guns that are proscribed in HR 1022 — have come to be the best-selling weapons in the country, no doubt due in no small part to groups like the Organization Formerly Known as Handgun Control agitating for them to be banned. So I'd say it's more than just a "narrow subsection" of gun owners who are afraid of being told they can't buy those guns anymore. I see the AP hack didn't bother to find any kind of figures that contradicted his claim. So much for the press looking for both sides of the story...

Another guilt-ridden white liberal spews word vomit...

in this morning's Chron:

It has been disheartening to see, during the last phases of this long, bitter presidential campaign, unmistakable signs that the seeds of racism, while no longer flowering forthrightly as in the bad old days, still lurk just beneath the surface of the soil, waiting for a chance to bring forth another sickly bloom. The spectacle of attendees at McCain/Palin rallies yelling "Kill him" and "Terrorist" and "Off with his head" when Obama's name was mentioned, the repeating of all the Big Lies, that Obama is a secret Muslim, that Obama "pals around with terrorists," the encouragement and unleashing of the witless fringe, this is just racism in another form. Even "Joe the Plumber," given a national forum, could not restrain himself from indulging in a little casual racism by comparing Obama's "tap dancing" on the issues to "Sammy Davis Jr." How far back are we willing to wade in the racist muck in order to win an election?

Really. So if Mr. Wurzelbacher had compared Barack Jimmy Buffett Obama to Fred Astaire it would have been ok? How far back are we willing to wade? Why don't you ask that question to all those who demonized Michael Steele, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice? As for the contention that our President-elect "pals around with terrorists"...well, considering one of those pals did indeed want to kill 25 million Americans in the aftermath of his socialist revolution, well, I'd say that would be pretty damn terrifying if you were one of those 25 million. (Oh, and then there's the thing about the "kill him" meme...as it turns out, that one was more or less an urban legend...) But what the hell do I know, I'm just a bitter hick clinging to my guns and religion down here in the hinterlands of flyover country...

Parting Stabs...

Interesting, but not surprising...

As the running mate with a potentially brighter political future, Palin has more at stake going forward than McCain, whose aides now have an interest in blaming outside factors for their loss, making Palin a tempting target.
...
Fox News reported Wednesday that Palin's lack of knowledge on certain topics also strained relations. Carl Cameron reported that campaign sources told him she had resisted coaching before her faltering Katie Couric interviews; did not understand that Africa was a continent, not a country; and could not name the three countries that are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- the United States, Canada and Mexico.

*FOUL LANGUAGE FOLLOWS*
Ah yes, the ever-reliable "campaign sources said." It's bullshit -- snarky mean-girl he-said-she-said middle-school rumor-mongering bullshit, all of it. Unless I miss my guess, most of us learn the seven continents around fifth grade. And mark my words, Palin was no exception. You just don't get that far in life without that basic knowledge. It was bad enough to see the conservative intelligentsia dump on Sarahcuda the way they did, but this, this is just...despicable. Can you fucking believe these people? Damn them all. How the fuck many people do you think went to the polls voting for "Sarah Palin and that other guy?" I would lay money down that most of them did. Because let's face it, while McCain deserved respect for his service to our country, he would have been a piss-poor choice for President just like Barack Obama was and I guaran-damn-tee you he would have lost by an even bigger margin had it not been for Sarahcuda. I am still wondering why in the hell Fred Thompson didn't get any further than he did in the primaries....because while he had his flaws, he was a far, FAR superior choice. But nooo. Damn these people. Sarah Palin is arguably the best thing that happened to the Republican Party and the conservative movement since Ronald Reagan and now even more people supposedly on our side are trying to destroy her. Pardon my french, but may these people roast in hell. Every last fucking one of them. And for you people who claim Fox News is basically the PR branch of the Republican Party or the conservative movement...here's a big ole FUCK YOU too.

As Ron White said, you can't fix stupid...

So the Organization Formerly Known As Handgun Control thinks that "America should take notice that reasonable policies on guns are carrying the day." You know, things like laws that would ban the purchase of rifles just like the one I picked up yesterday. It's worth asking where in the hell they get that idea, as it was the gun owners who the Democrats were pandering to, with just a mention here and there of bringing back the Clinton gun ban. And then there are those gun owners out there who are morons or who just suck. (Apparently there's a shitload of 'em too.) As Mike Vanderboegh said, these people are just like the "rooster who crows just before dawn and concludes that when the sun rises, it is because he has commanded it to do so."
They go on to say, "There is no indication that candidates, at any level, lost their elections because of support of reasonable gun measures." Question is, though, how many of those candidates made those unconstitutional laws a centerpiece of their campaign, or even pointed to them as a plank as opposed to downplaying them or not talking about them at all? I see that Blanco County, recently mentioned in this space, went 70 percent for John McCain and John Cornyn...do these fools think that county's Dem party chair mentioning the Brady Bill and the Clinton gun ban in the local newspaper actually HELPED Barack Obama or Rick Noriega in that county? As Ron White said, you can't fix stupid.

Random gun stuff

Reader and fellow blogger Ted, in comments here...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, it to find yourself in possession of ZERO rounds of 7.62x51 NATO Ball.

Bring it on, buddy. And the next mission too, which will be to replenish the ammo supply. As they say, an unloaded gun ain't nothin' but an expensive club. ;-)

Shooter, in the same post:

Enjoy the hell outta that rifle. I take pleasure in thinking that maybe I put the bug in your head about it in the first place.

You kinda did. I thought about getting something in .223, but I wanted something a bit more versatile. I'd heard great things about the HK91 but the prices on one deemed it completely out of the question, no doubt due to the 1989 import ban (thank you George H.W. Bush, you motherfucker). When I read up on the PTR-91 and checked it out more it looked to be quite an attractive option. Just for grins, do you reload for it? I've heard that if you get a port buffer for it, that salvages the brass leaving it in decent shape for reloading. I got that milsurp 7.62 for a pretty good price, but I know there's only so much of that.

Oh, you think? Check out this nice bridge...

Subhead from this story in the Houston Chronicle:

For some, Obama's victory signals a move toward equality and a dramatic change in attitudes toward race in America

Dramatic change in attitudes towards race? My aching ass. If these people actually believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell them. It might be a stretch to say that white guilt was a deciding factor in what happened last night, but considering the treatment of people like Clarence Thomas and Michael Steele, I refuse to believe this country's that much less racist than it's always been. In fact, I'd say in a way the tables have turned...now it's the blacks who are the dominant racists in the country now. You'll just never see it pointed out in the mainstream media, just like you'll never see it pointed out that a great portion of the violence committed with guns in this country is black-on-black. (And once again, it's worth looking at how that violence is fueled by turf wars over illegal drugs. Nary a word on the War On Some Drugs during the campaign from either side, so I'm guessing the current insanity will continue, on both the drug AND the gun front.) When a black Republican is elected to the Presidency, I'll believe that there's been a "dramatic change in attitudes toward race." Till that day comes, I'll be thinking the blacks are the predominantly racist ones now.

Really, there's only one thing appropriate this morning...

...and that's some Rudyard Kipling.


As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

A nice surprise...

or, I did double my patriotic duty today! In my possession as of 11:30 this morning: one of these, along with 100 rounds of surplus 7.62x51mm NATO ball. More to come...

How did I vote, you ask?

Well, let's just put it like this. I am not a f$cking moron and I do not suck. :-)

Just an observation for this Election Day...

They say character is really measured by what a man does when no one's looking...well, it's insulting enough what Barack Gruene General Store Obama does when everyone IS looking....

Irony...

I had a lot of downtime at work yesterday, and during that downtime I came upon and re-read one of the stories I read in one of my freshman English classes, and the question came to me — is it not just blindingly ironic that a story like Harrison Bergeron was written by a raging leftist? I know that if you could buy most leftists for what they're worth and sell them for what they think they're worth, you could buy yourself an island in the Bahamas and still have enough cash to live the life of five Donald Trumps until you shuffle off this mortal coil...but to see someone like Kurt Vonnegut write something like that, that exposes the very philosophy he espouses as the morally bankrupt, evil thing it is, now that I think about it, that just blows my mind. One wonders if he ever caught even a glimmer of the contradiction...

Oooh, good one...

Oldsmoblogger, over at Snowflakes in Hell:

We must hang together does not mean "we must hang together, except for Wayne Fincher, David Olofson, and other people who might get me disinvited to the cool parties if people think I’m like them."

Now that was a good one. Seems to me David Olofson was thrown under the bus by the same self-proclaimed voices of reason who would preach about throwing certain other people or groups under the bus. David Olofson's case might well not have been the best to take to court to challenge any particular statute, but the ATF's misconduct in this case — their basically making shit up as they went along and rigging the game for an outcome favorable to them — should have been the deciding factor in the Olofson case. If it had been any other law enforcement agency doing that in any other case, the defendant — whoever he or she might have been — would have gone free. And I can understand pointing out what David Olofson did wrong, but it's the government's wrongdoing that should have been the deciding factor here. And it's what everyone on our side should have been screaming the loudest about.

Sooner or later you gotta do it...

Regarding the whole brouhaha with Cooper Firearms and Dan Cooper's support of Obama...
I am really tired of the self-appointed "voices of reason" lecturing and saying we shouldn't use terms like "Fudd." It could be argued the term doesn't represent all hunters, and indeed it doesn't. And we live in a different world now than we did 10-15 years ago. We've had a moderately pro-gun president and Congress since the '94 elections, and in the meantime we've had significant gains on the RKBA front — just to name a few things, some form of CCW in 48 states, the sunset of the semi-auto ban and the AR-15 platform becoming the best-selling in the country in the aftermath of that, and the Supreme Court declaring the Second Amendment to be an individual right. And anyone with any working brain cells should have seen the gun issue come roaring back into national politics after Heller was handed down. It's become more prominent now than it ever has been. Now here we are, very well on the cusp of having most if not everything we've gained taken away. Here we are, we could very well have the most anti-gun Presidential ticket in history elected next Tuesday, one allegedly "pro-gun" hunter organization endorsing said ticket, certain "hook-and-bullet" writers *cough*David Petzal*cough* remaining not fully convinced the Obama ticket is bad news for anyone who owns a boomstick, and now this? And said "voices of reason" are claiming the SHOOTERS should be the ones trying to smooth things over? Excuse me, but the hell with that. It's not the shooters that are or have been selling other gun owners out in return for the thirty pieces of "we'll let you keep your deer rifle and duck gun" silver. If there's any hunter out there that doesn't know what the term "Fudd" means that's one thing, but if they get irritated at it after it becomes clear what the term really means in this context (there's a pretty good definition in this post), then I'd argue they're part of the problem and damn well deserve to be called out for exactly what they are — traitors. And yes, Fudds. I'd argue that with the records of Barack Guns For Me But Not For Thee Obama and Joe I Wrote The Original Assault Weapons Ban Biden, and their buddies in Congress like Teddy No More .30-30s Kennedy, Dianne Mr. And Mrs. American Turn 'em All In Feinstein, Chuck Waiting Periods Are Only A Step Schumer and Carolyn That Shoulder Thing That Goes Up McCarthy, the stakes should be quite clear by now. I mean, are they not? Am I missing something? Is it really that hard to figure out that an attack on one gun is an attack on all of them?