Just A Thought...

...is is just me, or do Apple's non-computer products get way the hell too much publicity and hype relative to their computers? I don't have an iPhone, don't plan to get one, still don't have an iPod either, but when I went to buy myself a new computer some months ago, I made the switch to Mac and have been very happy with it. Meanwhile, everyone and their brother's talking about Microsoft Vista and how it's so great...or, well, maybe not.
Call it a cult if you want, and I can see why a lot of people would think that, but Macs are awesome computers...more expensive then comparable PCs, but just like a good firearm, a good computer doesn't come cheap. If you ever get the spare cash in your pocket, you oughta try one out.

What Was Reba Thinking?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love traditional country music, but I am not completely locked into it; I'll listen to just about anything these days, and my music collection's really diversified in the last few years and no doubt will keep doing so. That said, I just have to ask...what on God's green earth was Reba McEntire doing when she decided to cover Kelly Clarkson?
I really like Kelly, and "Because Of You" is one of the best songs on the Breakaway cd, but I think some things are just better left alone and this was one of them. I suppose you could call this just the latest milestone in Reba's decline. She made some of the best traditional country to come out of the '80s..."Somebody Should Leave," "One Promise Too Late," "How Blue," and the list goes on. I hated to see her get away from that as the '90s rolled around, as I'd hoped to see her take a lesson from George Strait; some of his stuff has been a little more pop-sounding, but on the whole I think it's safe to say that he hasn't gotten that far from what got him to where he is. The same can't be said for Reba, especially in recent years, and it would seem she'd paid for that at least a little bit, as she hasn't gotten quite as much radio airplay as she once did. (And it should be noted that the Strait man is still a fixture on country radio, at least around here.) I don't know if I'd go so far as to call this a desperate attempt at popularity with the younger generation, but all the same I just don't like it.
It could have been worse, though. She could have covered "Gone" or "Walk Away."

One More Reason...

...that the only permit to carry we need should be the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: (from the Houston Chronicle)

People who received concealed handgun permits through a Harris County deputy constable charged with falsely claiming his students had completed the proper training could have their licenses suspended or revoked, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said Tuesday.

"That's something we would certainly look into," said DPS spokesman Tom Vinger. "Whether or not the licenses would be suspended or revoked would be dependent on further investigation."

Deputy Wilbert Jue, 52, was fired from his job in Precinct 1 Constable Jack Abercia's office on Monday after being charged with two felony counts of tampering with records. He was released from jail that same day on a $4,000 bail.

*snip*

"The allegations are that he falsified documents that his students performed hours or accomplished the necessary tests to carry a concealed weapon under our law," said Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, whose office led the investigation along with the Houston Police Department.

So many people say we should have to go through government certification to be permitted to carry a concealed weapon...but what happens when the government agents basically drop the ball, or in this case willfully throw it down? The Texas CHL isn't cheap...$140 plus whatever your instructor charges for the class, and we're not even getting into the cost of a good weapon or ammunition for that weapon. And now God only knows how many people are in danger of getting their licenses revoked after laying down that money. Probably at least $200 down the drain for each of them. Way to go, Wilbert Jue...way to effing go. The state should make you pay that money back to each CHL holder who loses his license, but I'm betting they won't, and as I said, things like this are just one more reason the only permit we need should be the Second Amendment...and the only reason is our natural, God-given right to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm.

Friday Morning Political Musings

...from the nightly blog-run...

First up, from a commenter at Hot Air:

I still worry that the life/guns/amnesty people will bail.

Yeah, damn those knuckle-dragging rubes who think there are other things that are just as important as fighting fundamentalist Muslims. Some people might think this to be a bit of a stretch, but I don't think it's that outrageous to contend that if the American people had not been so indoctrinated over the last 30 years or so with anti-gun propaganda, they'd be more willing to fight threats that come from the outside (as with the fundie Muslims), because it seems with all the anti-gun propaganda has come the promotion of a "let-the-badguys-take-what-they-want," or "let-the-police-handle-it" mentality..but when police get killed, or soldiers die, it has always seemed that people from various corners advocate either more restrictions of citizens rights (as with Bill Clinton's odious semiautomatic rifle ban) or cutting and running. In short, the American people have been conditioned to believe that conflict is bad and should be avoided at all costs, even when the conflict carries the potential of a positive outcome, as in a mugger with a knife getting a .45-caliber hole in his forehead as he tries to take your wallet. Rudy may well be willing to fight the fundamentalist Muslims, but his past record has shown he has no compunction whatsoever about not letting the American people fight the wolves in their midst instead of waiting on someone ELSE with a gun to do it. One more time...were it not for 9/11, we'd all be saying, "Rudy who?"

Next up, from Sithmonkey at Cold Fury...

If you think the people “doing the jobs the lazy Americans won’t do” are grateful for the chance to mow your lawns, bus your tables, and wipe the dirty asses of your spoiled rotten brood, you’re deluding yourself.

They’re bitter and resentful as hell.

How can any sane individual believe that an immigrant, illegal or otherwise, will be excited about assimilating into a culture that only sees them as a source of easy votes, or cheap labor?

France had the same attitude with the African immigrants they brought in as cheap labor…we all know how that snuck around and bit them in the ass…

Excellent point indeed...but of course, we Americans are a hell of a lot better armed than the French, at least in some quarters. It would be quite interesting to see how things would play out in Boston, as opposed to a place like Dallas, in the case of Mexican immigrants raising hell like the Africans did in France. In any event, it's not something I for one would like to see.

Political Musings For Your Wednesday Morning

First up, via the inimitable Kim du Toit, we have this, from Bill Quick:

The moment Fred Thompson enters the GOP race, Rudy ceases to be a viable candidate for the nomination. Here’s why: Absent a real conservative contender, Rudy can capitalize on the base’s visceral loathing for McCain, and swing them into his camp on the basis of the leadership issue - if not happily, at least with resignation.

I really would love to know what they're saying to themselves in Rudy's camp away from the cameras and the microphones. You know Fred has to be scaring the bejesus out of them. Hell, he hasn't even officially declared his candidacy yet and he's already just six points behind in the L.A. Times poll. And personally, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find out that the pollsters had to rig the poll to get Fred even that far behind.
As for the immigration bill, I really can't do better than du Toit's suggestions: Secure the border, deny benefits to illegals, deport them if they keep coming, and of course, make English this country's official language and mandate that it be learned by those who want to come here. John Walton, from the Walton & Johnson show, pretty much summed it up, as far as I am concerned:

"If you don't have borders and a common language, you don't have a country."

Would that our leaders took that to heart, as opposed to basically throwing our country away for another few terms in office.

Gun Grabbers Singing the Same Old Song

Via THR, Dennis Henigan of the Group Formerly Known as Handgun Control on the Parker v. D.C. decision:

The Second Amendment is the only provision in our Bill of Rights that actually states its own purpose. It says a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. And the Court has held, the Supreme Court has held, that that statement of purpose must be taken seriously and the right must be evaluated and interpreted in light of that purpose. And by ignoring that purpose the D.C. Circuit not only contradicted the Supreme Court but also years of precedent which establishes that it is not legitimate for courts to edit the Constitution. The courts must interpret the Constitution as it was written by the framers. That is what the D.C. Circuit did not do.

It would seem Mr. Henigan conveniently left out a critical part of the Second Amendment -- although, even if he had included it, of course, he'd have gone back to the militia as being what the 2A protects. Of course, going back to what the Founding Fathers believed, that's absolute lunacy, which Mac Johnson at Human Events summed up very nicely:

Henderson's second insight was that despite the right belonging to "the people" in the amendment, it actually belonged only to the militia as an organized military force. To believe this, you have to believe that the United States is the only nation on Earth that felt a need to guarantee its government, in writing, the right to have an army -- which is possible, I suppose, if Jefferson foresaw the attitude of the modern Democrat party towards the military.

And, of course, anyone who knows anything about what the Founding Fathers believed knows damn good and well that almost to a man, they absolutely despised the idea of a standing army. Which by process of elimination leaves only the people -- individuals -- you, me, and every other individual -- that have the right to keep and bear arms. Why anyone with even a shred of critical thinking skills left ascribes any kind of benevolent motive, or gives any kind of legitimacy, to Henigan and his band of nanny-staters is completely beyond me. Some time ago, Kevin Baker came across this anonymous quote:

Simply put, gun control cannot survive without an accompanying sea of disinformation.

And it just hasn't been said any better than that. If the people at large were nearly as informed and educated as they should be, gun control in this country would be six feet under.

Not Quite Sure What to Say To This...

...but, OUCH! (via Nashville is Talking, via SayUncle)

It goes without saying that the term “house negro” gets bandied about with great frequency against anyone of seemingly African descent when they are on the Right. Be you Clarence Thomas, Condoleeza Rice, Michael Steele, or J.C. Watts, you can expect a Harry Belafonte, a Danny Glover, or yes - even a Steve Gilliard to call you out for being the race traitor that you are. The sell-out, Oreo cookies who do Whitey’s bidding and put a black face on racist policies that would otherwise be rightly called out for what they are. Uncle Thomas and Aunt Thomasinas alike.

But really, who is doing whose bidding in those situations? Can Howard Dean call Condoleeza his “do right answer mammy who be smart”? Can James Carville call out Clarence for collard greens?

Which brings us to today’s marquee morbidity. The tragic, untimely death of Donk House Negro and all around bigot Steve Gilliard. Who knew that boiling bacon grease in a spoon and mainlining it into the neck vein was bad for your health?

Not exactly the classiest thing to do upon a man's untimely death, but it's about on par with the race-baiting vitriol Mr. Gilliard freely slung before he shuffled off this mortal coil. No doubt many remember the creation below...





That MS Paint creation was in response to then-Maryland U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele's lack of objection to then-Governor Robert Ehrlich's speaking to supporters at the Elkridge Club, a country club that up to that point had never had any black members. Of course, what Gilliard and his ideological soulmates conveniently failed to mention was that Democrats had also used said club, and that blacks were more than welcome to join; it was just that none had, up to that point. And, of course, you'll see Smantix (author of the above-quoted obit) savaged in the post's comments for being insensitive, racist and everything else, while the people calling him out as such resort to the same asshattery that Gilliard and those who agreed with him did when this issue with Steele was in the news. Leftist hypocrisy at its finest.

Remembering: 63 Years Ago Today

Patton's speech to the troops, before they stormed the beaches at Normandy...

"Be Seated."

"Men, this stuff we hear about America wanting to stay out of the war, not wanting to fight, is a lot of bullshit. Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost, not ever will lose a war, for the very thought of losing is hateful to an American."

"You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Every man is frightened at first in battle. If he says he isn't, he's a goddamn liar. Some men are cowards, yes! But they fight just the same, or get the hell shamed out of them watching men who do fight who are just as scared. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour. For some it takes days. But the real man never lets fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to this country and his innate manhood."

"All through your army career you men have bitched about "This chickenshit drilling." That is all for a purpose. Drilling and discipline must be maintained in any army if for only one reason -- INSTANT OBEDIENCE TO ORDERS AND TO CREATE CONSTANT ALERTNESS. I don't give a damn for a man who is not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready. A man to continue breathing must be alert at all times. If not, sometime a German son-of-a-bitch will sneak up behind him and beat him to death with a sock full of shit."

"There are 400 neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily all because one man went to sleep on his job -- but they were German graves for we caught the bastard asleep before his officers did. An Army is a team. Lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting, under fire, than they do about fucking. We have the best food, the finest equipment, the best spirit and the best fighting men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity these poor sons-of-bitches we are going up against. By God, I do!"

"My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he is hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight. That's not just bullshit, either. The kind of man I want under me is like the lieutenant in Libya, who, with a Lugar against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand and busted hell out of the Boche with the helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German: All this with a bullet through his lung. That's a man for you."

"All real heroes are not story book combat fighters either. Every man in the army plays a vital part. Every little job is essential. Don't ever let down, thinking your role is unimportant. Every man has a job to do. Every man is a link in the great chain. What if every truck driver decided that he didn't like the whine of the shells overhead, turned yellow and jumped headlong into the ditch? He could say to himself, "They won't miss me -- just one in thousands." What if every man said that? Where in hell would we be now? No, thank God, Americans don't say that! Every man does his job; every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important to the vast scheme of things. The Ordnance men are needed to supply the guns, the Quartermaster to bring up the food and clothes to us -- for where we're going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man in the mess hall, even the one who heats the water to keep us from getting the GI shits has a job to do. Even the chaplain is important, for if we get killed and if he is not there to bury us we'd all go to hell."

"Each man must not only think of himself, but of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should all be killed off like flies. If not they will go back home after the war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed brave men. Kill off the goddamn cowards and we'll have a nation of brave men."

"One of the bravest men I ever saw in the African campaign was the fellow I saw on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of furious fire while we were plowing toward Tunis. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at that time. He answered, "Fixing the wire, sir." "Isn't it a little unhealthy right now?," I asked. "Yes sir, but this goddamn wire's got to be fixed." There was a real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how great the odds, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time."

"You should have seen those trucks on the road to Gabes. The drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting around them all the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of these men drove over forty consecutive hours. These weren't combat men. But they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it -- and in a whale of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without them the fight would have been lost. All the links in the chain pulled together and that chain became unbreakable."

"Don't forget, you don't know I'm here. No word of the fact is to be mentioned in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell became of me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this Army. I'm not even supposed to be in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddamn Germans. Someday I want them to raise up on their hind legs and howl, 'Jesus Christ, it's the goddamn Third Army and that son-of-a-bitch Patton again.'"

"We want to get the hell over there. We want to get over there and clear the goddamn thing up. You can't win a war lying down. The quicker we clean up this goddamn mess, the quicker we can take a jaunt against the purple pissing Japs an clean their nest out too, before the Marines get all the goddamn credit."

"Sure, we all want to be home. We want this thing over with. The quickest way to get it over is to get the bastards. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin. When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a Boche will get him eventually, and the hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one. We'll win this war but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans we've got more guts than they have."

"There is one great thing you men will all be able to say when you go home. You may thank God for it. Thank God, that at least, thirty years from now, when you are sitting around the fireside with your grandson on your knees, and he asks you what you did in the great war, you won't have to cough and say, 'I shoveled shit in Louisiana.' No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, 'Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named George Patton!'"

"That is all."

Rest in peace, you magnificent sons of bitches. May we always be worthy of your sacrifice.

(h/t Bob Owens)

What's the Difference, When It's All Said And Done?

I really like Bryan Preston's blogging over at Hot Air, but considering he's such a shill for Rudy Giuliani, this attitude is really starting to burn my arse:

My own support for Fred depends on the extent to which he runs on issues instead of persona. Every candidate has to run on both and he’s had plenty to say in his radio commentaries so I’m not too worried, but if we end up seeing too much of the pick-up truck or hearing too much about whittling or whatever and it turns into a “he looks the part” campaign, I’m going to balk.

I can almost understand what Preston's saying, but when taking a look at Giuliani, what does he really have going for him besides the events of Sept. 11? I'd bet what I paid for my most recent pistol that were it not for that horrible day, we'd all be saying, "Rudy who?!" -- either that or taking a longer and harder look at his not-so-stellar-for-individual-rights record in New York City, or all of the above. I mean, speaking of image, that's the beginning and the end of Rudy, as far as him being a Republican that other Republicans would really be proud to vote for is concerned -- at least that segment of the party that still thinks smaller government & lower taxes should be what the Pachyderm Party is all about. At this point I really don't care how Thompson tries to cast himself in the race, because he has arguably shown his conservative bona fides to be stronger than those of every other candidate on the GOP side of the race, with the exception of Ron Paul. Cornbread 'n' taters 'n' pickup-truck imagery or not, if there's still any hope for libertarian conservatism in this country, Thompson will beat Giuliani like a red-headed stepchild. You can be damn sure Fred! will have my vote between those two.

Memorial Day Range Fun

With what, you ask? Why, the Kimber 10mm and more real 10mm ammo, what else?
Saturday morning I sat down and took my last batch of once-fired brass and loaded it, a little bit hotter than what I've done before, and Monday morning it was off to the range. Once again, the specs:

Case -- Remington nickel-plated
Bullet -- 155-grain Hornady XTP
Load -- 14.8 gr. Accurate Arms No. 9
Primer -- CCI large pistol

The load was 0.5 grains higher than the minimum in the Accurate Arms data sheet. I think that's about as high as I'd be willing to go with the once-fired; anything higher and I'd rather go with virgin brass just to be safe, at least at this point. And right now it's more about load development than anything else; I usually set up the target at the 7-yard mark and set up the chrony at the 3-yard mark, and this week was no exception. So I started blasting, and the results were quite impressive, as they've been so far with my particular components.
The average velocity was 1371 feet per second, with an extreme spread of 58 fps and a high of 1399 fps and just over half the shots running between 1360 and 1380 fps. So we're running just about on par with the Georgia Arms 155-grain Gold Dot at 1375. And the Kimber ate every one. I must admit, that was a concern of mine initially, that I would be doing something wrong and have problems with jams, especially with the Kimber's tight tolerances. So far my fears have been unfounded, and the load was very comfortable to boot. No doubt it's different with a heavier bullet, but I'd have to say that particular combination would be just about the perfect middle ground between the 9mm Parabellum and the .45acp. And every time I shoot it, I am that much more mystified as to why the .40Short&Weak overtook the 10mm as the accepted middle-bore autopistol cartridge. It works, but still, it's such a shame that the 10mm was relegated to niche status.
Before I go any further, though, the gun will get some stiffer springs and a Shok-Buff -- at least a recoil spring, maybe a mainspring as well, and a flat-bottom firing pin stop. (I've heard those help with cutting down on standard deviation, too.) I'd really rather not be posting here some horrible day about cracks in the frame or that sort of thing...

Only in Illinois

Only in the fascist state of Illinois would someone who fancies himself a man of God say something like this and have it get little to no attention...

During an address at an anti-gun rally in front of Chuck's, Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's Church, exhorted the crowd to "drag" shop owner, John Riggio, from his shop "like a rat" and "snuff" him. Rev. Pfleger went on to tell the crowd that legislators that vote against gun control legislation should be "snuffed" as well. As many know, "snuff" is slang for especially violent murder.

Once again, I find myself absolutely speechless. How someone like this could sit there and call for the violent murder of someone they disagree with is just completely beyond me. The only consolation is that this creature will answer one day for his advocacy of such evil.

Remember the Fallen

An Open Letter to John P. Hansel

Welcome, visitors from A Keyboard and a .45! Make yourselves at home! Main page is here, I hope you find my commentary worth coming back.

In response to this:

Dear Editor:

The response to my recent Letter to the Editor has been overwhelming. It proves that there is a growing sentiment to ban the manufacture of repeating arms of all types - rifles or pistols.

People don't care whether we call them "assault", "automatic", or "semi-automatic". They want to see the manufacture of repeating arms stopped and we ought to get that message to the NRA.

There is no question that some target shooters would like to have the convenience of repeating arms but that convenience is far outweighed by the potential destruction those weapons can cause. After all, our young people see it on TV every day.

NRA has claimed, since it's founding, that we need this personal armament to protect ourselves against our government. I believe the last time that need arose was the rebellion by the army shortly after the Revolution in 1776 when they threatened to march on Washington if they did not receive their back pay.

Isn't it time to tell NRA this claim is an embarrassment to the average gun owner?

Thanks again for your letter.

Sincerely,
John P. Hansel - Keene, NH

Dear Mr. John P. Hansel:
I saw this letter, and your previous one, and I thought I'd take the time as a gun owner to respond. Think of it as another letter from one gun owner to another.
To be honest, I really don't know what to make of what you've said in this letter — or, for that matter, the first letter you sent out. First it was the banning of all semi-auto rifles and now the banning of all semi-auto handguns too? It would seem to me from what you say, it's a safe bet you don't even see self-defense as a viable reason to own a gun — unless, of course, you would prefer we carry single-shot rifles instead of, say, Kimber .45s. Surely you're fully aware that at least one gun manufacturer — Smith & Wesson — makes a seven-shot revolver chambered for the .357 Magnum, which as you may be aware is one of the most effective cartridges out there for defensive purposes; arguably its only equal in autoloading pistol cartridges in terms of ballistics is the 10mm Auto. And as for the seven rounds the revolver in question will hold, that is exactly how many rounds that the Government Model 1911 — probably the most famous autoloading pistol ever made — will hold. As far as the lethality of a semiautomatic pistol versus a revolver, that would seem to me to be a moot issue, all things considered. You don't have to be a Jerry Miculek to do some serious damage with a revolver. With all due respect, it seems to me you're willing to sell out the entire gun-owning community to save your own guns, which to me is incredibly short-sighted, not to mention disgustingly selfish. Do you honestly think those who would disarm the people are going to stop with the revolvers, autoloading pistols and autoloading rifles? You really believe they're going to let you keep that long-range sniper rifle you take deer with?
As for taking up arms against the government — it's not a pleasant prospect by any means, but it's one that should always be kept in mind. Governments of men are made up of men. There are those who argue that man's natural state is one of violence, and the actions of governments against the governed prove this — right up to the turn of the 21st century. Few of us gun owners argue that the presence of arms in the hands of citizens is all that is needed to deter tyranny — but on the other hand, how comfortable would YOU feel going into the woods to hunt down a bunch of good ole boys from Texas or Tennessee with bolt-action Remington 700s in .30-06 who have, in addition to an ironclad determination to retain their freedom and control of their destiny, plenty of experience taking their four-legged critter of choice from hundreds of yards away and a much better knowledge of the terrain than you? They might not be able to stop a government bent on tyranny, but the smart money says they would surely be able to make it a fat lot more costly to the agents of said tyranny. You might think such a position is an embarrassment to average gun owners, but I read something not long ago that makes me think otherwise
(see http://waronguns.blogspot.com/2007/05/guest-editorial-resistance-is-futile.html):

"I have spent a lot of time since the early days of the Clinton Administration considering the Founders' concepts of the deterrence of tyranny by the armed citizenry from the perspectives of philosophy, history, strategy and tactics. The catalyst for all this reflection was, of course, the twin menaces of the increasing Clintonista proscriptions of firearms rights (Brady and the Assault Weapons Ban) and the massacre of the Branch Davidians at Waco. The subsequent failure of the Republican congress and the courts to do anything substantive about either threat-- legislative tyranny or rogue bureaucracy-- led many of us to conclude that we had now entered a time when we could only count on ourselves to maintain our liberties.
"The Law of Unintended Consequences decreed that there would be two unexpected results of this Clintonista constitutional misbehavior. The first was the importation and sale within a few months of several millions of semi-auto rifles (principally SKS and AK-variants) into the U.S. This was in anticipation of, and defiance of, the so-called 'Assault Weapons Ban.' Indeed, this was more rifles of these types than had been sold in the previous TWENTY YEARS. And it was in a political climate where it was fully expected that the next law would call for the confiscation of such weapons. Why, then, did this massive arming take place? Were we buying these rifles merely to turn them over later? When the Clintonistas realized that we were not buying these rifles to turn them in, but to turn ON THEM if they became even more threatening to our liberties, it gave them considerable pause. I am told the analysts in the bowels of the J. Edgar Hoover building were particularly impressed."

Say what you will, but Mike Vanderboegh, the author of the piece, makes a valid point. I know I would surely not lay down hundreds of dollars for a firearm in anticipation of a confiscation order without preparing some kind of resistance, and there is little doubt that I am not the only one. Whether those who were buying those SKSs and AKs constitute the "average gun owner" of which you speak is really neither here nor there. What really matters is what such actions show, which is that there are still more than a few of us who still believe there are things worth fighting and dying for. And personally, I would think the real embarrassment to the average gun owner is the positions of people such of yourself who naively assume they're not going to take your deer gun. I think the words of gun blogger Geek With A .45 are just about right here:

"If you own a duck gun or a deer rifle, and see nothing wrong with the 'Assault Weapons Ban', I remind you that the Second Amendment is of sober and serious purpose that is not about your trivial right to entertain yourself with sports shooting.
"When they come for your duck gun, my battle rifle and I won't be there to help you, because at that point, I either won't have a battle rifle, or it's shards will have been buried with me.
"And if that came to pass because you were sitting on your ass, you won't deserve any help either."

Something to think about, Mr. Hansel, the next time you so willingly throw fellow gunnies under the bus in a selfish attempt to save your own "trivial right to entertain yourself with sports shooting."
As far as this "growing sentiment" to ban semiautomatic firearms -- with all due respect, have you been hiding under a rock? You're probably an outdoorsman -- does the name Jim Zumbo ring a bell? You remember, the Outdoor Life writer who ended up losing his job for calling AR- and AK- type rifles "terrorist rifles"? Do you know just WHY Zumbo lost his job, Mr. Hansel? Because more than a few people who owned those "terrorist rifles" were made aware of his remarks and told his sponsors -- Remington Arms, Gerber, Hi-Mountain Seasonings, Mossy Oak, and Cabela's -- and Outdoor Life that if they didn't dump Zumbo, they would be facing a boycott. Remington was the first, and two days later, Zumbo resigned from Outdoor Life after some 45 years as a hunting writer. Impressive indeed -- but even more so considering that Zumbo penned the offending blog post on the Friday afternoon of President's Day weekend, when most of the folks in the offices of his sponsors were out and wouldn't be back until probably Tuesday morning. As it turned out, though, Remington ditched Zumbo on Monday morning, President's Day, with the others following suit in the coming days. Honestly, I haven't a clue where this "growing sentiment" of which you speak is coming from, other than the halls of Handgun Control, The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the Violence Policy Center and other like-minded imbecilic organizations. Which is really to be expected, I guess, but in any event, I'd like to think that if you call the NRA and tell them we should push for another Ban on Weapons That Look Scary, they'd collapse in fits of hysterical laughter just before they hung up. Which is just as it should be.

I Got yer Spin, Right Here...

From this morning's Chronicle:

AUSTIN — The names of people licensed to carry concealed handguns in Texas are no longer available to the public.

Gov. Rick Perry announced Thursday that he signed into law House Bill 991, which seals state records showing who is allowed to carry a gun in public. Only law enforcement agencies will have access to the information.

The law took effect immediately upon its signing Wednesday.

Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, and Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, put forth the legislation. Rose said it was needed because "the steps that law-abiding Texans take to protect themselves and their families should be issues of private concern."

Similar versions of the bill failed in previous sessions.

The newspaper industry had urged Perry to veto the bill, saying it was an open-government issue, not a gun issue.

Anyone can check on information about other state-issued license holders, such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, real estate agents and barbers, the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and Texas Press Association said in urging a veto.

The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains concealed handgun records.

Since the state's concealed gun law was enacted in 1995, the public has been able to find out whether someone has a license to carry a concealed weapon. The requester had to provide the name of the person in question.

Let's see here. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, private citizens licensed to carry sidearms, real estate agents and barbers. "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong..."

We all know how the media likes to spin things; the folks on the Chron editorial board actually tried to spin the fact of open CHL records as a property-rights issue, as you might remember. Well, how's this for spin:
I don't know if the editorial boards at the state's major newspapers ever stopped to think about this, but in opposing House Bill 991, they were effectively saying that stalkers, rapists, abusive spouses/significant others and other ne'er-do-wells had a right to check and see if their potential victims were armed, thereby putting every woman who resides within Texas' borders in a little more danger -- and in some cases a LOT more. Funny how the media likes to think of themselves as "progressive," supporting civil rights for women, minorities and others, yet here they were, actively undermining perhaps the most fundamental civil right -- the right of effective self-defense. I guess supporting civil rights only goes so far for some folks.

One of those, "Aww, YEAH!" Moments

On the Walton and Johnson show just now, from a conversation with a female Texas CHL holder, and Army vet:

Billy Edd Hatfield: "What kinda haaandgun are you operatin'?"
Caller: "A Smith and Wesson .45 1911."

My kinda lady, no doubt about it. I wonder if she'd have a problem with my Springfields and Kimbers. ;-)

Some Good Reads...

...or, all-linky-no-thinky, as SayUncle would say...

First up, the man whose page is the first thing I see every time I crank up Firefox, the great Bill Whittle, slams another one out of the park:

Cheating in class (or getting a diploma without passing the required tests), cheating by crossing the border illegally, cheating by committing crimes and not paying for it, cheating by bribery and corruption, cheating in general rewards Screw the Other Guy as a social strategy and makes chumps of the people who need a level of societal trust – they need retaliation against Screw the Other Guy – in order to continue to cooperate. Society needs to retaliate against cheaters because not to do so flips the coin from cooperation to betrayal. And that’s the end of everything we have worked for and cherish.
And – and – you don’t need to be a master of game theory to know this in your bones. Because if you are offended by cheaters, it is because you are being betrayed into – you are in fact forced into – becoming a cheater and betrayer yourself. Aways-cooperating dies quickly: if you never betray and the other guy always does, he goes free and you get 20 years every time. (In other words, he’s out getting high while you work to support him.) Sooner or later, even the most dense moralist gets the message.When a tipping point is reached – when enough people are allowed to cheat – the system swings to a different stabiltiy mode (the default mode) and Screw the Other Guy becomes the only rational choice.

The rational choice. Think about that for a moment. Does that make you angry? It damn well better. And if it does then you are not alone.

*snip*

You are in a relationship. You are nice, forgiving and non-envious. You may think it is loving and kind not to retaliate when you are treated unfairly, but you’d be wrong. Anybody with any self esteem knows that if you are being wronged, you cannot just continue to take it. You must punish behavior that tries to take advantage of your good nature, in order to maintain the self-respect and reputation you need in order to be treated well. Failure to retaliate will lead to more and more abuse. Failure to retaliate makes Screw the other Guy the optimal position for the other person: they can behave as selfishly and recklessly as they like with no consequences – what’s not to love?

That, friends, is just a taste. You owe it to yourself to go and partake of the entire feast.

Next up, more goodness from Mike Vanderboegh at David's place...

Are you concerned about gun confiscation? Its a fact of life in Mexico. Big government intrusion on private free enterprise? Can you say PEMEX? Worried about campaign finance and political corruption? The Mexicans have a word for the endemic bribery that characterizes their government: "mordida"-- the bite, and they expect to be bitten by every official at every level. No matter what issue concerns you, the undeniable tidal wave of a deliberately imported third world culture is about to swamp it.

Let's face it, the only reason we've been electorally competitive this long is that the liberals have been murdering the children within their wombs for the past 35 years. Well, they're going to be importing those wombs now to finish the job.

These folks, God bless 'em, are used to nationalized industries, gun control, soldiers walking the streets dispensing their own rough "justice" with machineguns, identity-grievance politics and, above all, the undefeatable evil synergy of crooked politicians and drug lords controlling events. They are used to being ruled by a godless oligarchy of the privileged rich who know what's "best" for them. You know, they're Democrats.

You may ask anyone familiar with Mexican history since 1912 what the rule of law means south of the border. Or, for a modern example closer to home, take a look at some of the seamier La Raza-dominated suburbs of LA. These millions of newly minted citizens will toil upon the Democrat latifundistas' political plantations as indentured servants for the next fifty years and gradually, in the end, the American Republic will be as dead as its Greek and Roman predecessors. If, that is, it doesn't catastrophically collapse in the next decade or so in a welter of racial warfare and Balkan "ethnic cleansing" that will make the former Yugoslavia look like a kindergarten at play. The devil will walk abroad in the land and our children's children's children will curse our folly.

Once again, Read The Whole Thing. And via JR, comes a few signs that our country's no longer free...

You know your country is no longer free when the ATF goes to the homes of people who are trying to legally purchase firearms at a gun show and they ask whomever answers the door and the neighbors "Why would they want to buy a firearm?" as happened in Richmond VA.

Or when Class Valedictorians cannot say what they wish to say during "graduation".

Or when you need a passport to visit friends in Canada, but commercial traffic can go right through the border.

Or when you can no longer just use your middle initial on your drivers "license" full name only please..

When kmart asks for ID before you can buy a pocket knife

And that was just from the first page...finally, tonight, Rachel Lucas, the lady who got Bill Whittle into blogging spreading his pearls of wisdom far and wide, who I see is also from Texas. She's a firecracker indeed. I read her for a little bit before she gave up blogging...and if you're reading this, Rachel, good to have you back! I'll be registering at your site before too long...

more thinky from me soon, I promise...

Now Why Didn't I Think Of That?

A big tip o' the hat goes to David Codrea for this.
Just a sample:



RINO collector cards. Now why didn't I think of that? And the great thing about these is, these quotes don't really seem to be taken out of context -- they all have quotes on them that perfectly sum up the respective candidates' Republican In Name Only bona-fides. Perfect, just absolutely perfect. Collect them all, indeed!

Bit Elitist, No?

I've heard of Professor Stephen Bainbridge but don't know much about him, really, but he comes off here as being more than a little bit of an elitist...

Haven't We had Enough Good ol' Boys For a While?

Dean Barnett conjures up a terrifying picture (albeit not one that scares him):

Now imagine what a candidate could get done if he achieved fluency in pop culture. Picture a candidate who could effortlessly segue from paying homage to Dale Earnhardt's #3 to saying how much High Noon has always meant to him. Conjure up a contender who could unashamedly admit that if owning every George Strait record makes him a square, so be it, and then quickly pivot to the many times tears welled in his eyes when sports heroes like Curt Schilling or Willis Reed rose above pain to perform in an almost super-human fashion.

That's not pop culture. That's rural Southern culture. Nascar. The opiate of the good ol' boy masses. Gary Cooper. A great movie, but hardly au courant. George Strait, gawd help us.

I suppose I can see his point, but it's been said before -- the appeal of things like NASCAR and George Strait these days goes far beyond the Mason-Dixon Line. Even just a casual look at Strait's sales figures even now and NASCAR's race schedule is proof of that. Beyond that, though, the attitude's just a little bit patronizing. I wouldn't mind so much a president who smoked cigars or didn't fish or hunt (although a president who had a gun collection with at least one 1911 and AR-15 would get serious bonus points), but I have to wonder of the professor ever stopped to ask himself why these "Good Ol' Boys" have such high approval ratings. You think it might be the perceived lack of authenticity from the Northeastern bluebloods? Hell, just look at their opinions on gun control. Who's the more authentic one here -- NY's Rudy Giuliani mouthing support for the RKBA, MA's Romney becoming a life member of the NRA last August, or Tennessean Fred Thompson's full-throated attack on the gun-grabbers' twisted interpretation of the Second Amendment?
Seriously, I think the most important thing is the candidate's willingness to protect the Constitution from all attacks foreign & domestic, but I still find Bainbridge's commentary to show him to be little more than a patronizing jackass.

Monday Music Musings: Steve Wariner

I was driving home from work Saturday listening to the radio, and Steve Wariner's "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" came on. Probably one of the more sappy songs to come out from any country artist, but I always liked it anyway...
But something hit me as it was playing...it's been almost ten years since that song and cd was released. I remember it like it was yesterday...1997 and early '98 was a bit of a time for renaissance for the Christmas baby from Noblesville, Indiana. Two No. 1 hits to his credit as a songwriter in 1997 (Clint Black's "Nothin' But the Taillights" and Garth Brooks' "Longneck Bottle") and a third to come in 1998 as a singer with a duet with Anita Cochran, "What If I Said." Steve got signed to Capitol Nashville sometime in late 1997 or early 1998 partly because of that resurgence, and "Holes" was the first single from that first Capitol Nashville album, Burnin' the Roadhouse Down. I remember that cd very well...I bought it the day it came out, and I was just absolutely floored. If you'll remember, Wariner's hits from the '80s mostly had a very strong adult-contemporary feel to them, with not that many exceptions -- "Life's Highway," "What I Didn't Do" and "Some Fools Never Learn" come to mind. (In fact, that last one's actually my favorite song of all time...) But "Burnin' the Roadhouse Down" was a world away from that, with some great old-school honky-tonk, guitar-driven country-rock and even a little Western swing with the title cut (which was actually another duet with Garth Brooks). Quite honestly, I never thought Steve actually had it in him to do an album like that, but boy, was I ever wrong. If you don't have it, I highly recommend you change that...

This Is What Happens When Rabid Antis Run Things

One more time, it's great to live in Texas...
(emphasis mine -- ed.)

The Continental Army and the Redcoats may have to go at each other with baseball bats in New Jersey.
Revolutionary War buffs who annually re-enact historic conflicts like the Battle of Monmouth with muskets contend they will be disarmed by a proposed gun ban aimed at modern .50-caliber rifles that gun-control advocates call potential terrorist "sniper" weapons.

*snip*

"Just about every rifle carried on the American continent prior to 1855 were larger than .60-caliber," said Peter Hefferan of Wantage, a re-enactor and owner of Reactive Technologies, a private firearms consulting operation that works with law enforcement.
"You'll wipe out re-enactors of the American Revolution. The whole concept of the re-enactment is history, and it is required that everything be accurate right down to the threading of the garments and the number of buttons, even the type of buttons," he said.

*snip*

"We have no intent of damaging or impeding the ability of hunters to hunt or re-enactors to do what they do," said Bryan Miller of Cease Fire New Jersey. "But every time we try to get people from the other side of this debate to help us draft a bill that works, they refuse. If this bill is flawed, it's their own fault."

I just really don't know where even to begin with this. Instead of standing up and raising ten kinds of hell about one more infringement on their natural rights, New Jerseyans are whining about their damned reenactments. I don't know what's worse, that or this arrogant jerk Bryan Miller blaming them for the bill going too far. Maybe if they'd stood up to Miller and those who think like him 40 years ago they wouldn't be here, but no, they had to sit down and actually work with them instead of telling them to go straight to hell. Sickening. I remember back when I was in college, one morning on the classroom TV one of my professors was showing a clip of Bruce Springsteen in concert, talking about all the American landmarks that were in New Jersey, and he mentioned "the Statue of Liberty, which is actually in New Jersey!" No doubt the irony was completely lost on him.