Changing Human Nature

Marko Kloos makes some great points here, but I would like to expand on something he said:

The will to defend your own hide cannot be legislated, nor can it be curbed by legislation.

He's exactly right, of course, and the enemies of liberty know this. They know it can only be conditioned or bred out of us. So, of course, they indoctrinate us all with the damnable lie of The Only Ones, as David Codrea so artfully puts it every time. You know what I mean. The police and the military are The Only Ones perfessional enough to handle teh Glock Fotay. So what do we do? Well, we see what we do at places like Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech. We wait on other people to come and save us. We don't take action ourselves with whatever weapon we can scrounge up, even when there's a break in the action, as evidenced by this chilling line from one news account: "The gunman paused to reload his shotgun after opening fire on students in a geology class." I guess they were waiting on the police, but you might as well call that for what it is -- waiting to die. The warrior spirit isn't completely bred out of us yet, as the great Bill Whittle observed a few years ago and as was seen on United 93, but I can't help but think it's getting to be more and more that way, every single day. We'd better hold on to it, though...because if we don't, we're finished.

Random Sunday Morning Gun Musings

Xavier's Ugly Gun of the Week is STILL better-looking than Gaston's plastic monstrosity. But I still want a Glock 20. Almost three times the firepower of a .357 in one's initial battery...you need more than that and you shoulda brought a rifle. ;-)
Searches for the Eff Oh Are Te Eye Ess personal defensive arm have brought me quite a few visitors. If that's any indication at all then maybe the 10mm cartridge isn't quite as dead as some say it is. From what I've read, it'll be rolled out by the end of the year. And yeah, guys, I want one too.

Saturday Morning Media Snippets

I thought it might be interesting to see what was on the op-ed pages of today's Houston Chronicle vis-a-vis the shooting in Illinois this week. Let's just say I was not disappointed.

How many more horror-filled shooting rampages will have to occur in our country before Americans come to their senses and demand strict gun-control laws comparable to those in place in virtually every other civilized nation on the planet?

You mean comparable to the ones they have in Illinois -- you know, where that crazy piece of shit went on that rampage? From what I've heard about Illinois firearm laws, the requirements and process for getting a Firearm Owner ID card there -- which you have to have to even get ammunition -- are more or less equivalent to the requirements and process for getting a license to carry everywhere else -- background check and all that good stuff. It should also be noted that said crazy piece of shit jumped through every single one of those flaming hoops to get his tools. And I've also heard that if you have a single round of even .22LR in your possession and you don't have a FOID, that makes you a felon as per Illinois laws -- which means, of course, that you can say bye-bye to your rights. And of course, Illinois is one of only two states where law-abiding subjects -- no, they ain't true citizens -- cannot legally carry a personal defensive arm under any circumstances. And all of this, of course, is on top of the 20,000 federal gun laws on the books now. As for those other civilized nations...well, let me just say, from everything I've heard about jolly olde England *hawk-spit* these days, it ain't exactly civilized. Hell, it's like Kevin Baker said, it's a damn island and guns STILL come in. So I say, ever so hopefully, that Americans will demand those laws right about the time that mules sprout wings and fly. And even if that day comes, there's still only one thing that needs to be said by true lovers of liberty...
Molon Labe.

The shooting at Northern Illinois University was very tragic, as were all the others, beginning with Columbine. These assaults will continue as long as the media continues to dramatize and glamorize these events. This is the only chance these sick attackers have at fame and glory.

When does freedom of the press begin to infringe on people's rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Bwaaaahaha, you naive FOOL! Don't you know that responsibility is only something that only those who exercise their SECOND Amendment rights should exercise? And that this is, of course, defined as licensing, registration and all those other nanny-state reindeer games? The First Amendment protects the right to say whatever we want and by calling the wisdom of actually saying whatever we want into question, well, bubba, you just don't understand the First Amendment at all, do you?

This is...inconceivable!

Inconceivable, I say!

A gunman dressed in black stormed into an oceanography class at Northern Illinois University Thursday afternoon and opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns, killing five students and wounding 16 more in a matter of seconds.

Then, still on stage, he killed himself, authorities said.

The gunman was not a current student at the school of more than 25,000 that rises from cornfields and subdivisions 65 miles west of downtown Chicago, authorities said.

Do you know how I know this was inconceivable...unpossible, even? Because as per its regulations, NIU was a gun-free zone. The Brady Campaign and Violence Policy Center have told us that gun-free zones are SAFE from deranged lunatics with firepower. They said it, I believe it, that settles it. This has got to be some sort of joke. Question is, what is the Chicago Tribune doing, running such a damnable lie of a story?

Oh, wait....you mean it was TRUE? Some deranged lunatic went on a rampage in one of these gun-free zones? For some reason the words of the great Mike Vanderboegh come to mind...

"Gun Free School Zone" is a lie every bit as much as "Arbeit Macht Frei" and every bit as deadly.

Ooooh, more straw men to burn!

Which in its own way isn't all bad, 'cause it's a tad nippy outside, for Southeast Texas anyway.
Via THR, comes this, from Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald...

You have no right to read this.

The First Amendment gives me the right to write it, but doesn't necessarily give you the right to read it. Or so I was once told by an attorney. While the right to free speech certainly infers a corresponding right to hear what is being spoken, he said, the First Amendment doesn't explicitly grant such a right. So theoretically, it could be argued that no such right exists.

I guess one could make that argument, but only someone as dense as an attorney or big-city journalist would make that argument. Just because it isn't spelled out in the Constitution doesn't necessarily mean it's not a right. And I know I may be going a bit out on a limb here, but I'd argue the Founders likely figured we would all be smart enough to figure out what our rights were without them all being explicitly spelled out in the Constitution -- otherwise they'd still be writing the thing.

Do you really think, regardless of what the court rules, it would be possible to ban firearms on a national scale? I think any attempt to do so would lead to uprisings we can scarcely imagine.

Which, my good man, hardly stops some people from thinking it could actually be done. See Simpson, Dan.

What if supporters of gun control could concede that hunting is, for some, an honored tradition? That some people feel it necessary to have a weapon at home for protection? That some entirely rational folks simply like guns?

Leonard, you might as well be asking, "What if pigs started flying out of my ass?"

Could gun-rights people then concede that you don't need an assault weapon to go deer hunting?

If you really were all about compromise, Leonard, you'd be asking, "Could gun-control supporters concede that semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-10/AR-15, AK-47 and M1A/M-14 might actually have a defensive purpose, as we all should have seen during the 1992 Los Angeles riots and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina? And that they actually may be used for hunting as well, as evidenced by the fact that AR-15 pattern rifles are getting to be one of the most popular hunting rifles in America?" And get with the gun-grabber program, Leonard. It's "intermediate sniper rifle," not "hunting rifle."

And that manufacturers who flood poor, violence-prone neighborhoods with cheap handguns ought to be held accountable?

If there was a shred of solid evidence that any manufacturer was doing this and not being held accountable, it would have been front-page, above-the-fold news in newspapers across the fruited plain. Since it's not, I think it's safe to say there's no credible evidence of said phenomenon and you, Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, you are talking out of your ass. Yet again. I guess you could make a big stink about "cheap handguns," but as for me, I prefer the term "affordable defensive arms." But that's ok, I say tuh-may-duh, you say tuh-mah-doe, right?

And that background checks and gun-safety classes for new gun owners make us all safer?

I guess I couldn't really argue with a gun-safety class if it began and ended with the Four Rules, but anyone who's paying attention would know that it's a bit naive to think that any kind of program administered by the .gov -- and you know that's what Pitts and his ilk are advocating, gun-safety classes taught by government standards -- would end there. As for the background checks, I'd argue they only make us feeeeel safer, but maybe that's just me.

And that gun registration isn't totalitarianism any more than a driver's license is?

Perhaps it isn't, but one more time, it just makes it so much easier for the would-be totalitarians to do their dirty work.

And, most of all, that all of us are tired of seeing children shoot children with guns they never should have had access to?

Right, Leonard, because it's just so much better seeing teh childrenses! stab or beat each other to death.

When theory confronts reality, put your money on reality every time.

Take your own advice, Leonard. Take a look at what more often than not comes after gun registration, for starters. And then take a look at just why teh childrenses! are killing each other. Or is that "too close to reality" for you?

Sometimes I Get Some Really Strange Referrals...

This time, from San Antonio: "texas country song fuck you".
From what I remember, the name of that song is actually "Leavin' Tennessee," by Cross Canadian Ragweed. It's a pretty popular number in their live show but as far as I know it was never committed to record, though you could probably find some recordings of it on YouTube. "Fuck you, fuck Nashville, fuck everything, I see..." And you better believe I drank to that when I heard 'em sing it, too...

Another "what the hell" moment...

So I got a wild hair and decided this morning to drive to Houston. Before I muse on what I went for, I do have a couple of things to say about what I heard on the radio on the drive back.
I was listening to Rush, and he played some snippets of a speech Barack Obama gave, I guess it was last night. I'd never actually heard this guy talk or read any transcripts of his speeches, but after hearing that all I can say is what DO people see in this character? If what Rush played of that speech was any indication, he has absolutely nothing going for him besides his ability to talk. It really WAS little more than believing in hope and change. The first thing I thought upon hearing it was, this is basically the rhetorical equivalent of cotton candy. But I'd also bet that if he talked more about his ideas and what he has in store for this great country should he get elected, there would be more than a few who would be turned away by that. There was actually a self-proclaimed conservative who called in to Rush's show who said that he'd vote for Obama just because of his rhetorical skills, even though he didn't agree with a lot of Obama's thus-far elusive ideas, just because "he makes me feel good about myself" or some such claptrap. (The actual quote I do not remember, although I will say it was very close to that.) Rush later opined the caller was a plant because the caller said he was inspired by Reagan in high school -- and, as Rush asked, what high school is actually going to teach GOOD things about Reagan? I swear, though, this cult of personality is going to be the death of us all if we don't watch out...
Now, where did I go? I went to Houston to check out Carter's Country, the outdoors place that's kinda like Gander Mountain but a good bit smaller. I'd always heard great things about it but had never been, so I figured I'd take a ride & check it out. It's a pretty neat place, actually, with just about any kind of gun you could want, from revolvers to EBRs. They were also the only place in the region that dealt the Shooting Chrony. I needed another one but didn't want to have to get it through the mail, and I was off work today, so I figured I'd just gas up the truck & go over there and get one. I picked up the Beta model, the blue one with the 60-shot memory that stores the data even when it's turned off. I've had good luck with the Shooting Chrony products themselves; it's just my aiming too low that's been the death of them, so to speak. ;-) We'll see how long this one lasts! I think I've learned my lesson, though...

So, it wasn't just an urban legend...

that anti-freedom bigot Josh Sugarmann had a Federal Firearms License!
Of course, the question is, if one cannot legally own a firearm in Washington, D.C., what the hell is he doing with the license to sell them in that locale? And of course, the VPC has no brick-and-mortar storefront with regular hours as required by the BATFU, which makes Sugarmann's ranting about "kitchen-table dealers" that much more hypocritical. I'm as much in favor of the abolition of the BATFU as the next lover of liberty, but I'll freely admit it would be quite satisfying indeed to see Mr. Sugarmann hauled off to federal prison for about ten years for such a blatant violation of the laws he advocates. But I'm betting that much probably isn't going to happen, if only because the BATFU's spending their time and resources going after people who actually make their livelihood selling firearms. We'll see how it goes, though...

Another Great Old Song...

but no, it's not a country song on the radio now...made you look!
No doubt most of you are quite familiar with all my rants on how modern country music has gone to the dogs with its basic consolidation with bubblegum pop. Well, because of the sorry state of modern country, many times in the truck I go back to the rock stations. Saturday night was one such night, and I had it on this station out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. And lo and behold, what should I hear, but my favorite George Thorogood song.



Sometimes it seems like the only Thorogood songs they play on the radio anymore are "Bad To The Bone" and Move It On Over," with "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" now and then. Now and then they'll pull this one out, and it's great when they do.
"....Yeah, you know when I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself..."

Once again, Misha nails it...

...and yeah, it's a few days later, but the observation's still quite relevant...

A big, hearty fuck you to whatever mouth-breathing troglodytes thought up our sequential primary system, from the roughly half of the country who never had a chance to vote.

We’re so very fucking grateful that a bunch of damnyankees and cross-over liberals got to decide our candidate for us.

Time to start putting the “Republic” back in the “Republic of Texas.”

The rest of y’all can go fuck yourselves. Y’all have fun now, y’hear?

A-yep. I'd just about give my left family jewel to see what the shit-sandwich Republicans everywhere else would say to that if the people of my great state actually up and decided to take our marbles and go back to the way it was. No doubt half of them would keel over and die right there. But with what the political situation has come to, it'd be worth all the trouble to see the heads of all the sanctimonious hacks like the Anchoress explode. To what extent the old values of liberty and self-reliance still live here in the Lone Star State I don't know, but I'd like to think there's still some truth to the image many have about Texas and its residents -- that we were and are forged in a hotter fire, as Southeast Texas native Bum Phillips so eloquently put it. I don't know if it'd ever happen, but the thought of it gets more and more appealing with every tick of the clock...

Random Saturday Morning Musical Observations

I guess the anti-gunners must think we're all like the main character in the old Johnny Cash song "Don't Take Your Guns To Town," who drew his gun because someone laughed at him. I'm almost surprised someone hasn't brought that up in the comments to Josh Sugarmann's or Paul Helmke's posts at the Huffington Post. But I'm betting it'll come, sooner or later. They're just that intellectually bankrupt.
Am I the only one who thought it was a bit hypocritical of Charlie Rich to burn the envelope when John Denver won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1975? Maybe I'm missing something here, but it would seem to me that Charlie Rich wasn't really any more of a country artist than John Denver was. It'd be like Faith Hill burning the envelope if Rascal Flatts won. As someone observed long ago in a discussion I was participating in, this is just a bit absurd. It ain't Tammy vs. Loretta or Merle vs. George we're talking about here.

Hey, Congress is taking our side, for once!

Imagine that!

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who might start a run for Texas governor next year, has mustered support from a majority of Senate and House members to help persuade the Supreme Court to strike down the District of Columbia's gun laws.
Hutchison said Thursday she is filing a friend-of-the-court brief in a challenge to the laws. Fifty-five senators and 249 House members have signed the brief to be filed Thursday by her and Sen. John Tester, D-Mont.

Good on them for taking the stand by signing their names to this. No doubt it's going to be controversial and cause no small amount of consternation in the ranks of the victim-disarmament crowd, but that's all right with me. Anything that gives those rat bastards even a little more heartburn or makes them lose even a minute more sleep at night can't be anything but good. D.C.'s House delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, however, gets a nice, steaming cup of FAIL for this, though:

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the congressional delegate for Washington, D.C., said Hutchison's brief is an attempt to get done in the courts what she couldn't get done in Congress. She has filed a friend-of-the court brief in support of the law.
Norton said the rules have been supported by all four mayors the district has had since it got home rule and has not been opposed by any City Council members.
"This is entirely a home rule, self-government matter. That is not anybody's business but our own," Norton said.

Home-rule, self-government matter. Here's a big ole SCREW YOU, Ms. Norton, m'kay? I could be off, but I'm sure there were more than a few in the run up to the Civil War who were saying the matter of slavery was a "home rule, self-government matter, not anybody's business but our own," supported by local officials, too. But we fought a war to put that injustice to rest. Would you like to fight another one? Do not pass go, do not collect $200, never mind go straight to jail, you, Ms. Norton, and all of your ilk can go straight to hell. It never fails to amaze me how these people can say with a straight face that blatant violations of fundamental, natural rights should not be stopped just because certain people agree with said violations. In any event, though, once again, good on the Congresscritters that signed the brief. As they say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

More Observations On The Great Divide

Sebastian had this to say, in comments here:

You and I might know that we don't mean to denigrate hunters with terminology like "Fudd", but someone just coming into the issue will have no idea.

To an extent I think that's true, but I can say from personal experience that might not be as big of a problem as one might think at first blush. I remember when I first got into guns and started studying the issue I saw the term and didn't have any issues with it. I knew intuitively who it was referring to, even though I had no idea how deep the division might have been. But I am willing to admit I might have a different perspective, considering my political views and the fact that I was raised in a state that is widely viewed as one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation despite such things as the prohibition on open carry and the various restrictions on where CHL holders may carry their weapons. I can see where it might be a problem with new gunnies who are from places where the gun culture isn't so healthy, but either way the animosity is still going to be there. We all know that, of course; that was just an observation more than anything else on my part. I remember as Jim Zumbo was taken down, one of the guys at Cold Fury made the point that "it's the Second Amendment for a reason...you can't get any more political than guns." What I took that as, was saying that owning a gun is in and of itself a political act, probably more so now than it used to be. It makes all the sense in the world, and those just entering the wonderful world of firearms owe it to themselves to get educated regarding the act of owning a firearm and all its concomitant issues and ramifications. And that includes the term Fudd and everything it means.
And on that note, I'm sorry if I came off as an ass in the last post, Sebastian. You're a good guy and I know you and I are on the same side. Just call this a case of honest disagreement. Or even Reasoned Discourse(tm)...

Oooooh, good stuff here: "Has it been a year, since the last time I saw her, my God, I could swear it was ten...and the ocean of liquor, I drank to forget her, is gonna kill me, but I'll drink till then...I've been living in hell, with a bar for a cell, still payin' for my cheatin' crime....oh, and I've got a long way to go, still doin' time..."

One of the greatest songs EVER

here: "...Everybody said you'd make it big someday, and I guess that we were only in your way....but someday I'm sure you're gonna know the cost...'cause for everything you win, there's somethin' lost..."

Who's Making It An Adversarial Relationship Here?

It's bad enough when the antis prop up straw men. We don't need to be doing it too.

I do think we need to dispense with the term “Fudd,” and drop the generally adversarial relationship we often promote with the hunting community. We need hunters, for a lot of reasons. I’m a proponent of getting them more on board with the gun rights thing, and it’s hard to do that if they see us insulting them, and denigrating their sport.

I would think all the handgun/EBR folks were and are proponents of getting the hunters on board with the gun rights thing, but that's not the straw man I speak of. Maybe it's just me, but I have never once seen one of us insulting hunters as a whole or denigrating their sport. The only people I've seen denigrated as far as the hunters go are the people the term Fudd describes -- people like Charlie Meyers, David Petzal and the man Jim Zumbo was before President's Day weekend last year. Hell, I'd be willing to bet that at LEAST 90 percent of the people I've shot with at my friendly local gun club have hunted at one time or another or still hunt. If anyone's making it an adversarial relationship, it's all the 3-week-a-year hunting types such as the one Thirdpower describes here, who are perfectly willing to throw other shooters under the bus for the sake of protecting their sport. And while we'd do well to make it clear that those kinds of gun owners are who we're calling out, we need to point out to the rest of them that their intermediate sniper rifles are next on the gun-grabbers' list. (God, but I feel so dirty now.)
As for the round the VPC is hyperventilating over, the .338 Lapua, if I am reading this right, it has a point-blank range of about 300 yards -- not much longer than that of the classic .30-06. Also, from what I remember reading, there was an Army shooter over in Iraq who took out an insurgent from 1,200 yards -- more than four times the .30-06's point-blank range -- with the .30-06's little brother, the .308.
Still, though, we have tripe like this:

I believe the NYSPRA presents an intractable absolutist stance on too many issues on which the public at large has reached an opposite consensus, and cries wolf on molehill issues. For instance, I am willing to live with magazine restrictions if it preserves the larger right. That doesn’t win me many friends at the range.

And unfortunately, because of my principled stance I am viewed by most people inside the gun lobby as an enemy or naif instead of a moderate ally.

Principled stance. Moderate ally. (Not to mention, no small amount of sanctimoniousness.) But, no, according to some people, it's the SHOOTERS who are making the relationship an adversarial one. (Here's a hint, to one and all -- if anything hunters or any other group supports includes a BAN of any kind, then no, they're not an ally, not even a moderate one, and they nigh well deserve to be called out as the selfish motherfuckers they are.) Sweet bleedin' Jeebus on a rocket-powered sled, it's enough to drive a man to drinkin' if he doesn't already.

I know well that there's no accounting for taste...

and pardon my french, but, well, my gut reaction upon reading this was, the commenters at Hot Air are just fucking stupid..

Willie was always a fraud to me anyway. A hollywood discovery, he went from a C level artist to a legend in about 5 years all based on hollywood loving him.

for one thing I’ve never been impressed with Willie, he’s a hack that can’t sing

Sorry but crazy-willy’s music has always sucked… He’s been hyped more than the freakin’ Stones. Julio and Willie? check please… On the road again, *audible Yawn*.

He was Waylon’s wierd friend until hollywood “discovered” him in about 1974. Canned music, that’s all he is.

Bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. I am one of the LAST people on earth who'd agree with Willie Nelson's politics, but to say that Willie became a star because of Hollywood, that he's a hack and that he can't sing is just stupid. "Georgia On My Mind," anyone? Anyone? "Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain?" I wonder how many of those mouth-breathing morons were saying Willie was a genius after he did he did "Beer For My Horses" with Toby Keith a few years ago. As far as I'm concerned that was as big of a blot on Willie's musical record as the duet with Julio Iglesias...for the singer, not the song. And something else I wonder, does the fact that I won't be tossing my Willie cds make me a commie heathen?

Food for thought...

in the comments to a post over at David's place...
I don't know if Suzanne Grimes doesn't love her son, as straightarrow said, but I do think he was dead-on when he said this:

Imagine your daughter was raped, would you demand a law that she and all other young women go out in the world naked and unarmed?

That is what this woman did.

Yup. Ms. Grimes, whether she realizes it, is allowing herself to be used as a tool of the anti-liberty forces in this country and as such should be dealt with harshly -- and better with words now than copper-jacketed lead (at 2500 feet per second) later. We've been trying to make nice with the gun-grabbers for at least four decades now, and while we have things to show for our efforts, they're still here making the same old long-discredited arguments they've been making since time immemorial. This whole "honest disagreement" bullshite left the train station a long, long time ago. It's long past time to call these people out for exactly what they're doing -- enabling more slaughters on all fronts, whether they be on the level of the Petit home invasion in Connecticut or not-so-good-old-fashioned government tyranny by jack-booted thugs. And that last thing is scary to a lot of people, but I saw a pithy statement somewhere that summed up the whole shebang better than anything.
"If you fuck with me bad enough, I will shoot you."
It ain't pretty, but sometimes life's that way.

Interesting news on the gun front this Sunday morning...

from Utah gun dealer Larry Correia, making the rounds at the SHOT show...

Vltor is making a Bren 10.

I see this and think, "Bren Ten? As in the very first pistol chambered for my beloved 10mm cartridge?" So off I went, and teh Google-fu was strong this morning, as it yielded this, via the Calguns forum:

"Tucson, AZ - Feb 01, 2008 - Vltor Weapon Systems today announced the launch of the Fortis Pistol Project, a modern version of the famous Bren Ten style pistol.
Originally released in 1982, the Bren Ten pistol was designed to advance the state of the art in handgun technology. Designed to fill the need for a full size, full power, double action pistol, the Bren Ten created immense interest as a potent choice for law enforcement and military use.
Developed as a pistol and cartridge combination, the Bren Ten was the first production pistol to chamber the powerful 10mm Auto cartridge. In its original loading, the 10mm Auto was capable of launching a 170gr buller at 1,300 fps - generating over 600ft/lb of muzzle energy.
Unfortunately, the original Bren Ten and its successor fell victim to business management and financial problems - but the demand for a high quality American made, full size, double action pistol has still not been filled.

According to Eric Kincel, the General Manager for Vltor, the Bren Ten may have truly been a design that was ahead of its time; "Now is the time to make this pistol. With today's precision manufacturing techniques and the superior materials available, the Fortis will be a pistol line that is everything people hoped previous attempts would be."
Eric pointed out that the Fortis is nearly identical to the original Bren Ten in exterior appearance and ergonomics, but that some changes have been made to improve reliability, safety and strength. "The Fortis, while based on a twwnty-five year old idea, is very unique. It offers a high tech, high quality pistol that more than fills the demands for a full size, magnum power auto loader."

The first released Fortis will be a "duty gun", a full size, all steel, high capacity 10mm Auto that will reliably answer the call of professionals and sportsmen that rely on a good pistol. However, Eric is quick to point out that the Fortis Project is a line of pistols based on one common design. "There will be other versions of the Fortis...different calibers, sizes and options specific to certain applications." When asked if they intend on releasing a faithful reproduction of the original Bren Ten, Eric's answer was simply "We sure want to".

Fortis Pistol Proposed Specifications (subject to change in final production)

Manufacturer - Vltor Weapon Systems
Model - Fortis (original release)
Type - autoloading pistol
Operation - Semi-automatic, Double/single action
Caliber - 10mm Auto (others to follow)
Barrel length - 5.00"
Overall length - 8.75"
Height - 5.75"
Width - 1.30"
Weight - 38 ounces
Safety - reversible thumb and firing pin block
Sight radius - 6.88"
Sights - Adjustable, 3-Dot combat style
Rifling - 5 Groove, radiused, RH twist
Stocks - Engraved polymer panels
Capacity - 12 rounds
Finish - Black Steel Slide and Subdued Finish Stainless Frame"

Gonna be keeping a sharp eye out on this one. From everything I've heard about the Bren it was a hell of a gun, just with not-so-good quality control; since the demise of it and the S&W 10xx series there hasn't been much of a choice for the 10mm enthusiast at least as far as non-1911 platforms go, beyond Glock and EAA. I had been considering the EAA Witness for a while, but honestly I'd be afraid of getting a lemon -- and from everything I've heard about EAA, its customer service is nonexistent. And as far as 1911s go, both Kimber and Dan Wesson will set one back at least $850 for one of their 1911s NIB, though in my experience they've both been worth the price. I don't know if the Fortis will be any cheaper than that, as I don't know anything about them, but in any event the pistol sounds VERY appealing. Kurt Hofmann, if you want an affordable 10mm that isn't a Glock, this might be your chance, buddy...

Ooooh, my favorite Reba tune! "If I siiink any more, I'll go under, if I cry anymore, I'll go blind...oh, there ain't no relief, for this missin' you grief, how looong can you torture my mind...How bluuuuue, can you make me....how looooong, till I heal..."

UPDATE: Bloody hell, I'm gonna go even more broke...I heard the Colt Delta Elite was also re-introduced at SHOT...

Another of my favorites, from Glen Campbell...

here: "I am a lineman for the county, and I drive the main road....searchin' in the sun for another overload..."
1968, the year "Wichita Lineman" came out, was a great one for country music...other hits from that year include "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "Harper Valley P.T.A.," and "Mama Tried." And I am sure I could think of more...
Well, speak of the devil! Right after that, "I wanna tell you all a story 'bout a Harper Valley widowed wife..."
11:10 pm, from nine years later: "My hat don't hang on the same nail too long...my ears can't stand to hear the same ole song...and I don't leave the highway long enough, to bog down in the mud...'cause I've got ramblin' fever in my blood..." Like Rowdy Yates said, I never would have believed that song was not a No. 1 record...went to No. 2, if I remember right...

Yep, that's about what I figured...

What military aircraft are you? B-52 Stratofortress You're a B-52. You are old and wise, and you absolutely love destruction. You believe in the principle of "peace through deterrence" and aren`t afraid to throw your weight around.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Yep, that's about what I figured...the B-52 has always been my favorite, no matter how unattractive everyone else thought it was...
(h/t Ambulance Driver)

Quotes Of The Day

seen here...
"1911. It's an American thing. You wouldn't understand."
"Of course the 1911 is an outdated design. It came from an era when weapons were designed to win fights, not to avoid product liability lawsuits."

I Get Referrals: Dan Wesson Better Than Kimber?

...this time, from Park City, Utah, "dan wesson 1911 better than kimber".
Depends on who you ask. Regular readers know that not quite a year ago, I talked with a guy at a pawn shop in Beaumont who carried a Pointman Seven at one time, if I remember correctly, and said the Dan Wesson 1911 was much better than the Kimber -- even before CZ bought the Dan Wesson operation. Which would make sense, I suppose, considering that from what I've heard, not a lot changed on the Dan Wesson manufacturing front -- the guns are made now by the same people, at the same factory, using the same processes, etc. that they always have -- but the prices went up about $200 or so after the CZ acquisition. Even at those higher prices, though, I can honestly say that my Razorback was more than worth what I paid for it. But I will say that if there's any truth to what they say about the price difference, and if the quality was the same, the Dan Wesson was arguably hands-down the best 1911 value on the market, Kimber Kool-Aid drinkers be damned. Even as things stand now, though, they still run neck and neck with the pistols from Yonkers even on Kimber's best day. Dan Wesson 1911 better than Kimber? I don't know if I'd go quite that far, as I have a bit of a hard time saying that one gun maker is better than another at least as far as reputable manufacturers like DW, Kimber, Springfield, Ruger, Glock, Sig, etc. go. Is it at least as good? Yes. Now, when you factor in the price, maybe that would make it easier to say the Dan Wesson is a better gun. If you're looking to save a few dollars and still get a top-quality gun, the DW is indeed the way to go.

I guess it's par for the course...

...but still, what is it with some people?!
Following up on yesterday's post about the thin-skinned sharpshooter who can take anyone down with a single round of .22LR, I had to ask him something. So I did, below, in plain text.

bloodthirsty warmongering Texan said...

You know, one well placed round from a single shot .22 pistol will kill a thief burglar, or attacker just as dead as it would if you totally obliterate his head with a torrent of automatic weapon fire. Or do you have a lucid argument to that?

Why does it have to be a choice between a single-shot .22 or belt-fed automatic weapon? Why not something in between? Like, say, a Model 1911 pistol with 8 rounds of .45, or 9 rounds of 10mm? As for the single round of .22, if you want to bet your life on that round's ability to stop an attacker no matter his size or any other condition, be my guest, but as for me I'd prefer to have a little more room for error -- notwithstanding those with little to no experience of firearms who ask asinine questions like "who NEEDS more than that?"

And out cometh the whiny bitch again.

I'm sick and tired of having my words taken out of context, and twisted just so you gun nuts can use them to insult me.

Geeeez, I bet you guys jerk off to gun magazines, don't you?

If you idiots had read my post, you would have seen that I am on your side, as distasteful as that is for me.

So, it doesn't matter what your particular favorite weapon is, you have the Constitutional right to own it as I stated plainly in my post.

If I was as obssessed with ANYTHING as you mental defectives are with guns, I would have had the good sense to commit myself.

And his reply to me:

And by the way, bloodthirsty warmongering Texan, your user name says all I need to know about you and your buddies. Why don't you all go find a war somewhere and lease yourselves out? Maybe then you will get your bloodlust out of your system.

Cripes, what a judgmental asshole. Note he had absolutely nothing to say about what I actually said, just the handle I chose. Maybe people like that defending themselves with single-shot mouseguns against 275-lb. ex-college football players strung out on meth wouldn't be such a bad thing. If they made it out alive maybe they'd see the utility of having as much firepower as they could manage, and if they didn't make it out alive, well, how about we just call it survival of the fittest?

Ooooh, good stuff early in the mornin'...

"....we were diggin' and siftin' from five to five, sellin' everything we found, just to stay alive...the gold flowed free like the whiskey in the bars, sinnin' was the big thing, Lord, and Satan was his star...."
I always loved the Marshall Tucker Band, and that's probably my favorite song of theirs.

8:37 am: "Fly away, with me tonight...take me on a one-way flight, in your lovin' arms...and everything's gonna be all right..."

9:35 am: "Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train..." Not Janis, but Roger Miller. Interesting how some of those old songs are so good in multiple genres...

Hey, I just learned something new!

In addition to "Faded Love," Willie Nelson and Ray Price also recorded a duet of "San Antonio Rose"! And a quick trip to Amazon yields this. As much as I love that old country I can't believe I never knew those two actually recorded a duet album. I might have to pony up for that...

Oh my, another of those songs I haven't heard in yeeeears, 10:58 pm..."Lord, it's been ten bottles, since I tried to forget her, but the memory still lingers, lying here on the ground...if drinkin' don't kill me, her memory will..."

What do you say...

...to someone who's woefully ignorant of firearms and the situations in which they're used and lets his inner whiny bitch out when someone tries to educate him?
http://leftfieldperspectives.blogspot.com/2008/01/gun-control.html

All I said is I don't see a NEED to own anything other than single shot rifles and pistols. And that's my OPINION! So get off my back!

Sure it's your opinion, Sparky, but it's dangerously devoid of any knowledge of how defensive situations go down, in addition to ignorant. And it makes you look like a petulant ass when you tell people more knowledgeable than you to shut up.

Now, I have no love for criminals who are willfully trying to take the lives of myself and my family, and who try to steal my property. But if I can prevent them from doing so with one small caliber bullet, and I can, why would I need to blow him into an unrecognizable mass of tissue and blood? Wouldn't that be non-essential overkill?

If a criminal can be stopped by wounding them with one shot from a small caliber weapon, why would we need to use a multiple shot weapon using armour piercing shells? Unless a burglar is trying to break into my house with a tank, I think a .22 or a .38 is sufficient for protection.

Sweet-bleedin' Jeebus, PSH in abundance here! One small-caliber bullet. Unrecognizable mass of tissue and blood. Whatever, dude. Personally, I'd prefer at least six of something at least 0.357 inches in diameter, with a speed of about 1450 feet per second. As it happens, I have eight on hand in my nightstand, each with a diameter of 0.451 inches and a speed of about 825 feet per second. If you would like to take that as a definition of "small-caliber" (I am betting you wouldn't, though), then that's cool, but as for that single-shot bullshit, I like to leave as much margin for error as I can get away with. Which, in my case, is where those other seven 0.451-inch diameter projectiles come in. Whiny bitches' qualms about "non-essential overkill" (more like non-existent) be damned.

(h/t SayUncle)

Hey, the only Garth Brooks song I am not tired of...

here: "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," his first hit record, from 1990. But, if I NEVER hear "Friends In Low Places" again, it'll be way the hell too soon...

Ooooh, more Hag right after that! "That red bandana tied around your auburn hair, you look like you oughta be somebody's wife somewhere..." I was surprised to see Pat Green & Cory Morrow cover that song on their Songs We Wish We'd Written cd, for as far as I can tell it's not one of Hag's better-known records. They did a great rendition of it, too.

Random Musical Musings: Conway Twitty & Merle Haggard

Earlier this morning these guys played Conway Twitty's 1981 No. 1 hit "Tight-Fittin' Jeans." I've always loved that song, thought it was one of his best, but more and more in the last few years, I wonder. If the woman in the song wanted so badly to be a "good ole boy's girl," then just why in the hell didn't she go after one? It sounds to me as if she was settling for less than what she really wanted. I suppose more than a few would offer various reasons for that, but in the end, do they really matter? I am guessing the answer is no, if it's to the point that the married woman in question is bar-hopping alone. Maybe I am over-analyzing that song, or maybe I am just hopelessly old-fashioned.
(Ooooh, old-school Johnny Cash, 9:27 am: "Big River," 1958. Oh, HELL YEAH! Right after it, one of my favorite Waylon Jennings records, "I'm A Ramblin' Man," 1974.)

On my drive home last night, I was jamming to the Hag. I downloaded the Down every Road box set onto my iPod, and as I was parking the truck "Ramblin' Fever" was playing. C'mon, sing along, you know the words...
"I caught this ramblin' fever long ago, when I first heard that lonesome whistle blow,
If someone said I ever gave a damn, they damn sure told you wrong,
I've had ramblin' fever all along..."
There's no telling how many times I've heard that song in the last ten years, and still I am not tired of it; I can say the same of pretty much anything else in the Hag's catalog. Sometimes I wonder how I'd feel if I had come of age when all those songs were hit records and were getting played several times a day -- or if Hag had been treated by radio as Garth Brooks was when he came along, i.e., "every time we play 12-in-a-row, you will hear Merle Haggard," as one of the radio stations did with Mr. Brooks in the town where I was raised. Or WAS Hag treated that way? Comments?
Oh, speak of the devil! 9:46 am: "Aaaalways wanting you, but never having you...makes it hard to face tomorrow, 'cause I know I'll wake up wanting you again...." another of those songs I still haven't gotten tired of...

Spontaneous Trigger Time

Yesterday I was sitting around the house with absolutely nothing to do, so I thought I'd pull out the Dan Wesson Razorback and get myself some trigger time. It'd been a while since I'd taken that pistol for a drive and I didn't have any handloads readily available, so I swung by the local Academy to pick up a couple of boxes of the only 10mm they had in stock, the 200-grain Blazers loaded to 1060 fps. It'd been about a month since I was behind the sights of a gun and it felt damn good to be back out there, even if I was settling on ammo that wasn't loaded to its full potential -- although, to be fair, the Blazers are a fun way to kill time and just shy of 500 ft-lbs of muzzle energy it's pretty respectable. And it could have been worse...I could have had the little Walther PPK the guy next to me had, that was jamming on every third pull of the trigger. As it was, though, the Razorback ran like a champ, and I was more accurate with it than I thought I'd be considering it'd been so long since I'd shot it. I really ought to see what it'd do with some of those 155-grain Hornady XTPs backed up with Accurate No. 9...

I love that Texas music, especially Roberl Earl Keen...

here: "Well, I went out last Sunday, with my little Mary Ann, she said, please stay till Monday, and she grabbed me by the can...She laid a big one on me, surprised me with her tongue...but her surprise was waitin' there between my cheek 'n' guuuuum....."

Oooh, MORE good stuff! 10:39 pm: Willie Nelson, "Stay A Little Longer," 1978. Quite different from the original, but still a KILLER record, with the trademark harmonica, acoustic & electric guitar, too...

And another GREAT cover, 11:27 pm: "Sometimes, I think it's a shame, when I get feelin' better, when I'm feelin' no pain..." I first heard Deryl Dodd's cover of this old Gordon Lightfoot song on Dallas-Ft. Worth's 99.5 the Wolf in late 2000-early 2001. He had been off the scene for a few years, and that was his comeback hit of sorts -- at least as far as the Texas scene goes, because as far as I know the record never garnered any significant nationwide airplay. It was a shame, too, because I always thought Deryl Dodd was a real Texas talent. No wonder the establishment pukes didn't appreciate him...

11:57 pm: the last song on KILT's Texas Roadhouse for the evening, the title track to Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend cd. People just thought Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" was edgy...and I was among them, until I was reminded of this song.

Another one of those "Hell yeah!" moments...

here, another one of those old songs I ain't heard in way too long...
"There ain't no good in an evil-hearted woman, and I ain't cut out to be no Jesse James...and you don't go writin' hot checks, down in Mississippi, and there ain't no good chain gang..."

A bit of lunacy for your Sunday morning...

...from the Houston Chronicle:

It was a lofty idea: Formulate a British "statement of values" defining what it means to be British, much the way a document like the Declaration of Independence sets out the ideals that help explain what it means to be American.

Because of the peculiarities of its long history, Britain has in modern times never felt the need for such a statement. But in an era of decentralized government and citizens who tend to define themselves less by their similarities than by differences of region, ethnicity or religion, the government felt that the time was ripe for one.

The proposal, part of a package of British-pride-boosting measures announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government last summer, raised a host of questions. What does it mean to be British? How do you express it in a country that believes self-promotion to be embarrassing? And how do you deal with a defining trait of the people you are trying to define: their habit of making fun of worthy government proposals?

I can't find the words to describe this. I mean, seriously, it just defies comment, but I'm gonna give it my best shot...
This is what once-mighty England has come to? A government program to make people proud of their nation? How ironic it is, too, that the author of this piece compares this government program to our Declaration of Independence, since it was England that we were declaring our independence from. And Britons still have their lives, of course, but if they even had liberty, they lost it long ago, along with the pursuit of happiness. Which, of course, would explain why the government felt the need for such a campaign. I mean, if they were free to do whatever they chose, don't you think they'd be a little more proud to be Britons? I think it's worth asking why one doesn't need to do this sort of thing in America, or in Texas. (Incidentally, I think it's also worth asking why the reporter indirectly characterized this asshattery as "worthy.") For some reason the words of Johnny Cash's "Ragged Old Flag" come to mind...
"...And she's gettin' threadbare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in..."




For what our country's come to, I think there's still some truth to that observation...



"...You know, when I was in school, we used to sing it somethin' like this, listen here...oh, beautiful, foooor, spacious skies, for amber waves of grain..."

A Question That's Been Answered

Caleb says he never understood the .357 Sig. He's not the only one.
I've heard it said that this bottlenecked cartridge was an attempt to replicate the ballistics of the .357 Magnum in an autoloading pistol. That makes sense and with, say, a 125-grain bullet at about 1350 fps it ain't too shabby. But still, why? This objective was already met with the 10mm, which as far as I can tell is a good bit more versatile than the .357 Sig. I guess the Sig would be good for smaller-framed pistols, but I can't help but wish the 10mm had been given more of a chance...

Naked Hypocrisy

Welcome, War On Guns, Illinois Carry, and Reason: Hit & Run visitors! Main page is here, pull up a seat & stay a while!

Several other bloggers have already addressed Sylvester Stallone's anti-gun hypocrisy, but I did hear something a bit interesting on the Rush Limbaugh show in the truck today. Transcript here, but here's what I heard...

I actually did a lot of research on these people. They actually believe what they're doing is right and that someday there's going to be this mystical moment and we're all going to join hands and sing "We Are the World," and when the truth is, Rambo says, "War is natural. Peace is an accident." That's a fact of life. It's unfortunate that we can start a war in five minutes, but it takes us a hundred years to make peace. So what comes more natural? So what he's trying to tell these people: all the medicine, all the Bibles, all the optimism and this naïveté; doesn't work in a savage world.

How ironic it is that the fictional John Rambo is so much smarter than the real-life Sylvester Stallone, who says things like, "We need one person in an influential position to stand up and tell the truth about gun control lobbies... Until America, door to door, takes every handgun, this is what you're gonna have... this is an escalating problem that’s eventually going to lead to, I think, urban warfare...It [2nd Amendment] has to be stopped, and someone really has to go on the line, a certain dauntless political figure, and say, ‘It’s ending, it’s over, all bets are off. It’s not 200 years ago, we don’t need this anymore, and the rest of the world doesn’t have it. Why should we?"
The above was in my head as Mr. Stallone was elucidating on Rambo's motivations, as he talked about what's been going on in the country formerly known as Thailand, and as I cursed him for being a blind, hypocritical son of a bitch for not realizing or refusing to see that stripping Americans of their right to arms would lead to the very same thing eventually. I know Rush has only been a supporter of the RKBA to the extent it helps the GOP, but it was still quite disheartening to see him bring Stallone on his show like he was some sort of conservative hero. I guess Stallone has done us all a favor to the extent his movie propagates the message that optimism and words will only take one so far, but I would love to have seen Rush ask Mr. Stallone why he thinks that door-to-door disarmament makes him any different than the guy who tells John Rambo it's never right to take a life. But I guess that would have been asking too much.

Yup, I got a kick out of this..

I wonder, would these nimrods like some cheese with that whine?

Members of a black ministers group on Thursday called on Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas to resign for sending e-mails depicting national civil rights figures Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton getting zapped and reduced to a puff of smoke.

The e-mail, obtained by Channel 13 and aired on a recent news segment, includes a copy of an editorial cartoon that shows Jackson and Sharpton looking up at a star in the sky. A bubble over their heads reads: "Oh, wishing star, we wish for an end to racial strife and bigotry."

In the next image, the two leaders are gone under a puff of smoke.

"Poof," the cartoon reads.

"I wish all this hatred and bigotry would just go away," said the Rev. Robert Jefferson, pastor of Cullen Missionary Baptist Church and member of the Houston Ministers Against Crime, an organization that works with law enforcement officials. "He sent it to his staff promoting hate against black folk. We are not going to sit by as our public officials sit around being bigots."

I'd say the bigots in this situation were Sharpton and Jackson, but that's just me. And you can add Quanell the Tenth to that list as well. The fact is that these people have made racial bigotry their stock in trade, and their bread and butter. Without said racial strife and the attendant publicity it brings, they would all sink into the obscurity they so richly deserve. As for the hatred and bigotry the good (sic) Reverend speaks of, well, whether he wants to admit it or not, the people the cartoon lampooned are just as hateful and bigoted as any Klan member. And the sooner he and his fellow grievance-mongers figure that out and cast the lot of them aside, the better we'll all be.

Another good '80s tune for your Friday morning...

here: Alabama, "My Home's In Alabama," from 1980. Though the boys from Fort Payne were another of those not-so-traditional acts from that decade, I still think they put out some great music and this song was probably their best. As a Texan, I know I can certainly relate; even though I wasn't born in Texas, it'll always be home. I was not that big on their later music, but a mention of mainstream country in the '80s just wouldn't be quite complete without a mention of them.

Somebody tell me again...

...why we should ride the McCain horse to November? (h/t AlanDP)

As if there wasn't already plenty of evidence that Senator John McCain is the wrong choice for pro-gun Republicans in the Presidential primary, the Columbus Dispatch has added one more item to the list:

The specter of Mike DeWine as U.S. Attorney General.

*snip*

...as a member of the House, DeWine supported the Brady Bill, which required a waiting period and criminal background check before a gun could be sold. When he ran for the Senate in 1994, he backed the Clinton Gun Ban. In 2006, Human Events Online named DeWine among the Top 10 anti-gun U.S. Senators. And shortly before his defeat, DeWine took a position in opposition to legislation which barred gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers from frivolous lawsuits designed to put them out of business.

So, if for some strange reason that ghastly combination made it to power, we would have a President who has taken a dump on the First Amendment and and an Attorney General who would take a dump on the Second. Would I vote for that? Mmmm. Let me think on that. NO. But it seems, alas, that some people might...

Oh, boo-hoo, people. Get a grip. The truth is the GOP had produced several reasonable candidates for the presidential nomination. None are “perfect,” but neither are you. A vote for any of them will require from you an end to the thrust-lip tantrum. You’re going to have to wipe your little eyes, haul up your drawers and - egad - do what Reagan would have done; he would have looked for the candidate who he felt was - taken all-in-all - best for the whole nation, not just for some little one-issue subgroup; he would not simply vote for his comfort zone.

In unserious times, and vacations from history, it is possible to hold oneself aloof from a process and declare, “fiddle-dee-dee, I’ll think about voting next election!”

It cannot be said enough: we are in serious times. In this election you do not have the luxury of complacently waiting for the next bus because you don’t like any of these drivers. In this election, you either get on board and take the damn uncomfortable, bumpy ride with the rest of us, or you marginalize yourself into irrelevancy on your little bench.

That sort of preening, self-righteous horseshit is exactly why I stopped reading The Anchoress long ago. I just couldn't take any more of it. As Mike Hendrix over at Cold Fury said, this "serious times" line gets trotted out pretty much every election and it's wearing quite thin. Furthermore, that whole "looking for the perfect candidate" thing was a straw man if ever there was one, and the people who accuse the dispirited Thompson backers of looking for that perfect candidate ought to be well and truly ashamed of themselves. It's not that any of the other candidates aren't perfect -- indeed, they're all far from it -- but that they don't even rise to the level of good. Fred Thompson wasn't perfect -- witness his since-recanted support of McCain-Feingold and opposition to tort reform -- but along with Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul he was damn good, and about the closest to perfect the GOP field came. The remainder of the GOP field could barely get elected in Texas as Democrats. I know well that politics is going to involve some sort of compromise now and then, but I think I'm just gonna have to borrow Mr. Hendrix's words here because I couldn't have said it any better: "if every conservative principle is to be abandoned one by one because each and every election is just too critical to at last take a stand in support of them, would one of you more mature, moderate pragmatists let me know when you are finally ready to defend them?" As for the Anchoress and her ilk, the whole sorry lot of them can take that attitude, stick it someplace dark and smelly and ride it straight to hell.

Another good one, from a local boy...

here: Mark Chesnutt, "I Just Wanted You To Know," a No. 1 hit from 1994. That's always been one of my two favorite Chesnutt tunes, along with his later remake of the John Anderson record "Down in Tennessee." I haven't heard either of those songs on the radio in ages, but the latter wasn't even a top-20 hit for him. It was still a great song, though...

Oh my God, I haven't heard this song in YEARS! 11:50 am:
"Hank, let's talk about your daddy, tell me how your mama loved that man."
"Well, just break out a bottle, hoss, I'll tell you 'bout the driftin' cowboy band."
"We won't talk about the habits, just the music and the man..."

Well, there goes the republic...

It was good while it lasted:

A Statement from Fred Thompson...
Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.

Well, here we go, boys and girls! Quite possibly our best shot at getting a conservative in the White House gone. I don't know what lies ahead, but I don't know how it could be anything but bad considering the choices we're likely to face in the general election. I can't help but agree 100 percent with what Kevin Baker says here:

I've about had it with the political process. While normally I would pull the lever for the nominee with (R) next to his name if for no other reason than Supreme Court nominees, I don't know that I can bring myself to do that this year. Instapundit comments about "teaching the Republicans a lesson" that they seem immune to learning. I'm not concerned about that now. I know they won't learn. I know that the people running for office who actually have a chance of winning shouldn't be given access to the levers of power.

I'm at the point where I know things can and probably will go as they have gone in the petri-dish of the UK, and I don't see any way to stop it. I'm at the point where I almost - almost - want to help pull it all down.

FV@K IT. I'll write-in Thompson on election day.

All hail President Clinton.

There are times I don't share Kevin's pessimism, but this time around I do. What does it say about the Republican Party that they wouldn't get behind a candidate like Thompson? He had his flaws, but on the whole I think he was the most reliably conservative candidate with a chance to win. Ron Paul would be great, but the fact is that his foreign policy proposals drive many voters away who would otherwise cast their vote for the GOP ticket. No matter what, though, I will still not cast my vote for McCain, Giuliani or Romney. If that puts Obama or Clinton in the White House, well then, so be it. I'll tell you what I WILL be doing at my earliest opportunity, though, and that is, going to my friendly local FFL and asking him to get me a price on an AR-type rifle, most likely at this point a DPMS AR in .308. Before they farkin' get banned, again...

Hey, what about shooting back?

Welcome, visitors from A Keyboard And A .45! Main page is here, pull up a seat 'n' stay a while!

Via The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, we have this, from the leftists at the Anti-Defamation League, who quite obviously have learned nothing from the extermination of six million of their brothers and sisters:

Gun violence and the caching of dangerous weapons are commonplace among extremists. If states lose the right to regulate firearm ownership, it would help violent bigots in their efforts to create an America based on hate and intolerance.

Now, there's only one way, really, that the "violent bigots" mentioned here would actually be able to create an "America based on hate and intolerance" -- and that is, if the people who would be the targets of said hate and intolerance sat there and took that hate and intolerance and did not, say, SHOOT BACK. As Aaron Zelman of the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership said, "If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic." And, of course, Hitler was a far more formidable foe than the boogeyman the asshats at the ADL are so afraid of. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again because it fits -- I used to think no one deserved the consequences of going disarmed and unable to protect himself, or herself as the case may be. But I don't think that anymore, and even less when I see members of a group such as the ADL advocate leaving the door open for disarmament and slaughter. And if it was someone like Abraham Foxman or Glen Lewy being marched off to the camps, it would be nigh well impossible for me to muster up even a shred of sympathy. It's not as if history isn't crystal-clear on the consequences of letting the all-powerful State do as it wishes in regards to the tools of self-defense.
"Hey, I tried to tell you, f*cker. Six million of your brothers and sisters dead because they couldn't fight back, and your day's coming soon. But noooo, you wouldn't listen. Think about that as the bullet goes in your brain."

Oh, and this comment at the Rott was so good I had to pull it in its entirety, even though foul language follows...

God damn you, Abraham Foxman.

Hashem Yishmor another Jew should ever listen to a single syllable that falls from that festering hole underneath your nose, you willfully ignorant, purposefully stupid piece of shit.

When Foxman and his ilk are done their work, we’ll all be following Ghandi, and allowing our persecutors to exterminate us in order to maintain some ‘higher moral ground’.

You know which ground I prefer, you fucking coward?

The kind I ain’t buried in. You see, people cherish very little so much as not being dead- and if killing someone who wants to harm me or mine makes me a bad person, then I’ll see you in hell, Foxman…

No doubt you’ll beat me there.

I'd say that about sums it up perfectly...

What a way to close the day...

...here: Ricky Skaggs, "Highway 40 Blues," 1983. I am tired, but that song always gets me revved up. Ricky Skaggs is a master of the bluegrass-tinged traditional country, and he put out some great songs during the 1980s as well. If I remember right he did the original version of "Waitin' For the Sun to Shine," which Lee Ann Womack masterfully re-recorded on her There's More Where That Came From cd. I think "Highway 40 Blues" and "Cajun Moon" are probably my two favorites from him, though...

George Strait Set List, Alltel Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas, Jan. 12, 2008

A-yep, been gettin' hits from this search, so here ya go...

Deep in the Heart of Texas
The Fireman
Check Yes Or No
Seashores of Old Mexico
Carrying Your Love With Me
Amarillo By Morning
Honk If You Honky Tonk
I Just Want To Dance With You
There Stands the Glass
Run
Ocean Front Property
How 'Bout Them Cowgirls
It Just Comes Natural
I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore
Give It Away
A Better Rain
Cowboys Like Us
The Chair
Wrapped
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Hate Everything
Write This Down
Heartland
Unwound

Encore:
High Tone Woman
Folsom Prison Blues
The Cowboy Rides Away

Ooooh, HELL yeah! Now playing here, 10:47 am: "Oh, come with me Lizzie, and the stars will write your name...and if you still think I'm lying to you, look a-yonder, there comes the rain...step back non-believers, or the rain will never come...someone keep that fire a-burnin', somebody beat the drum...he said, some may think I'm crazy for making all these claims, but I swear before this day is over, you folks are gonna see some rain..."

Another great moment from the '80s...and they just keep

here: "...he gets off on country music, 'cause disco left him cold...and he's got young friends into New Wave, but he's just too friggin' old...and he dreams at night of Woodstock, and the day John Lennon died, how the music made him happy, and the silence made him cry...yeah, he thinks of John a lot now, and he has to wonder why..."

For the uninitiated, that's "Old Hippie," the Bellamy Brothers No. 1 record from 1985. I liked the Bellamys, but nothing else they did quite measured up to the greatness of that record. I was a young'un back then, but I think it'd have been interesting to see how many people could relate to that song when it was out. 4 minutes and 3 seconds of relevant social observation that was not preachy or cliched. That's a rarity in popular music, to be treasured when it does come down the pike. I am glad to see this song still gets played these days.

And another, from the year before! 10:27 am: "Pardon me, you left your tears ooooon the jukebox...."

And another great one, but this one was from 1975, 10:30 am: "Always wanting you, but never having you, makes it hard to face tomorrow, 'cause I know I'll wake up wanting you again..." I have that one on my iPod, along with 99 other Haggard gems, some well-known and some not-so-well-known. Those 100 songs can be found on the Capitol-issued Down Every Road four-disc box set from 1996. If you're a Haggard fan it's something I cannot recommend highly enough. The folks at Capitol even managed to get most of his MCA and Epic hits on there, although I did miss "Yesterday's Wine," "Cherokee Maiden" and the live version of "Okie From Muskogee."I think the last two were from Capitol, but overall those are just minor omissions.

Realization of the dream? Not quite...

On this Martin Luther King Day, we have this, from the Houston Chronicle...

Clement said she is heartened by the prospect of the nation getting its first black or female president. Such a victory, she said, would set the stage for "a better nation and a better world."

Such a development, she said, would represent a significant realization of King's dream of a color-blind society.

I don't agree. Personally, I think that when you look at the beliefs of both the black and female candidates in this race, we'd be getting more of the same old identity politics that have plagued this nation for far too long. Just look at the reaction Oprah Winfrey got from her announcement that she was backing Barack Obama for president:

It started with a message on her website entitled "Oprah is a traitor" and rapidly expanded to include several discussions that attracted hundreds of comments.

In the original post, a reader called austaz68 said she "cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama. For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black MAN. She's choosing her race over her gender."

In this case, I'd say schaedenfreude describes perfectly what I am feeling right now. How ironic it is that the leftists talk about tolerance and diversity, but when it's their preferred group that gets slighted, the mask comes off! I must admit, that's a sweet, sweet irony indeed.
But no, King's dream of a colorblind society most certainly is not realized yet. It will only be fully realized when, in addition to a black man mounting a viable candidacy for president, those who call black conservative luminaries like Clarence Thomas and Michael Steele "Uncle Toms," sellouts or whatever other pejorative they can dredge up are called out for the bigots they are. I'm betting we have a loooong way to go to get there, though...if we ever do, that is.

A-yep, I love it...

Now playing here: "...Well, I've tried everything, baby, to get along with you...now I'm gonna tell you, what I'm gonna do...I'm gonna stop my cryin', gonna leave you alone, and if you don't think I'm leavin', big mama, just count the days I'm goooone..."

10:28 pm: "...and it's uuuup against the waaaaalll, redneck mother..."

Sunday Morning Radio Musings

I still have that great Arkansas station on here that I've been listening to and raving about, and been thinking that the words of the Houston Press' John Nova Lomax were just about right, as he spoke of Country Legends 97.1 during his marathon 24-hour spin around the Houston radio dial...

Cox, the owners of this station, pissed away a golden opportunity here. When Country Legends debuted, it shot straight to the top country slot. A slow slide set in thereafter. There is only one DJ on the station -- the rest of the week, Country Legends is simply a jukebox, one that spits out the same lame songs way too often. ("Hello Country Bumpkin" once an hour, it seems.) If Cox had given this station even a little TLC -- hired some old-school country DJs, involved the listeners a little, played less country-pop pap -- it coulda been a contender.

I like a lot of the music they play on 97.1, but that whole so-called jukebox radio thing is something I just can't stand. Too much radio DJ talk is bad, of course, but it'd be great if Cox had taken the same route with 97.1 that the folks at Clear Channel apparently took with this Little Rock station. I mean, I'm hearing stuff on this station that I NEVER hear anymore outside of Rowdy Yates' Saturday-night country gold show on KILT or that I haven't heard at all. I don't know how much of that has to do with the fact that the station has a full DJ staff, but it's great that, just for instance, I can call in and request a song. Can't do that with Country Legends, or, for that matter, that incredibly irritating Jack 103.7. ("...Playing...what we want!" Kiss my ass.) Much as I hate what Clear Channel's done to American radio, they do get things right once in a while, and 106.7 the Wolf is one of them. I don't know where terrestrial radio is going to go, but I will say this much....if it does keep going toward the automated jukebox format, I'll be going to satellite. I know people who have it and every time I can get to tune in, I think, "Wow...this is great." We'll see how it goes...
Now playing: Jerry Reed, "yeah...here comes Ayyyyy-mos!"

Another oldie but oh-so-goodie....

...here: "It's a cheatin' situaaaaation, just a cheap imitation....doin' what, we haaaave to do, when there's no love at hoooooome..."

And another! 10:16 am: "I've been living in hell, with a bar for a cell, still paying, for my cheatin' crime...oh, and I've got, a loooong way to go, still doin' time..."

...and I said, "listen bud, I've traveled every road in this here land, I've been everywhere, man..."

So I was doin' the blog-run this mornin', and I came up on this delightful little number over at Leslie T's place....



And if you're a Texan or wish you were, you'll smile too!

Haven't heard this 'un in a whiiiiile....

Now playing here: Gary Stewart, "Out Of Hand," 1975. "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" was the hit he became known for, but the one I just heard is my favorite from him. Honky-tonk at its finest...

Ooooh, but I only wish...

More referrals, via the Sitemeter, this time from Austin... "george strait recorded there stands the glass".
He did? I would love for someone to point me to where I could find it. I would die a happy man! Ha...I think I've said it before, but I'll say again that I'd love to see George do one of those albums of nothing but the songs that influenced him. If it was recorded at a place like Gruene Hall that'd be even better. I don't think he'll ever go back to that, but a George Strait fan can dream, eh? Even a covers album recorded in the studio with his road band would be good, though. He's taken them into the studio for several album cuts over the years and they sound great. To name a few, the studio version of "Milk Cow Blues" was recorded with the Aces for the Chill of An Early Fall cd, as well as "Lovesick Blues" and "Home In San Antone," the old Bob Wills standard. Oooh, another idea...a Strait Western swing album, drooool....

...yes, I do love this song...

"...if I die before I wake, feed Jake...he's been a good dog, and my best friend, right through it all..."

I get referrals, and ideas, too...

...from Gladewater, up in the East Texas Piney Woods, "Dan Wesson shooters club."
I don't know of anything like that that exists outside of cyberspace, but it is a pretty neat idea, for shooters of a particular type of gun to get together and talk about their guns. Personally, I think it'd be great to get together with, for example, other Dan Wesson Razorback owners and talk about what kinds of loads they drive through them, mods for them and general shop talk like that.
And here's another interesting idea. I don't think it's so original either, but then neither was the last one. I think it'd be neat to get a bunch of shooters together and have maybe an IDPA-type shoot-off -- with the same gun in the same scenario. Using the above example, you could give five shooters five Dan Wesson Razorbacks (or insert your gun of choice here) as close to exactly alike as you could get them, and may the best shooter win. Sort of like IROC for gunnies. Thoughts?

A-yep, that's about right...

Rolling down the High Road, I saw this, from L. Neil Smith:

...during any election season, a lot of comparisons are invariably made between politicians and "ladies of the evening". Some individuals with different values than mine might call me a square, I suppose, but I have never sought nor ever employed the services offered by the latter. Knowing history and human nature as I do, however, especially the history and nature of politicians -- and keeping in mind all of the tragedy, destruction, wastage, and death for which even the least of their ilk is historically responsible -- I have always believed that such comparisons were a grave insult to prostitutes.

Consider: did a prostitute ever show up on your doorstep demanding that you fork over a significant fraction of your income, whether you want her services or not? Did she have an entire bureaucracy of goons to threaten you and make sure you pay up? Has a prostitute ever thrown you into prison or stolen your house or car because you wouldn't pay her?

Has a prostitute ever told you what religion to practice or how to practice it? Has she ever threatened to censor you or punish you for something you wrote or said? Has she ever shut down a single newspaper or radio or TV station? Has she ever demanded that you purchase a license from her to hold a meeting or a march, or put you on a list of suspected terrorists just because you wrote her a letter she didn't like?

Politicians do that sort of thing all the time....

An excellent point, one that should be spread far and wide, and then we have this rather trenchant observation over at Mr. Bane's place:

Libertarians are always saying that if they can get the gun nuts and the pot heads together, they would run the country.

I think that the basis of the libertarians is that you accept that there are liberties that you may not value but other people do and together you have to willing to fight as one for the protection of both.

Sounds about right to me, although sometimes I wonder how many of the "potheads" are for more government intrusion into other people's lives via odious measures like the Assault Weapons Ban. By the same token, of course, you could say that there's a fair number of gun owners who are all for things like the War On Some Drugs. But somehow I think there's more than a grain of truth to the above-quoted observation. It'd be quite interesting to see what would happen if a candidate went after those two voting blocs with the message that an attack on one liberty is an attack on all of them. Somehow I don't see that happening any time soon, though, and it's a bit disheartening...

thought for the early morning...

Hearing "I'm sorry it didn't work out, but we can still be friends" is a bit like hearing your mother tell you when you were eight years old, "I'm sorry your dog died, but you can still keep it."

More Musical Observations: Records & Venues

(Oh, YEAH! Now playing here, 8:27 am: Merle Haggard, "The Fugitive," 1967.)
Reader Greg, in comments to yesterday's post...

Absolutely agree on King George and his act. Paid $5 to see George in the early 80's...now he has my money for every CD he has put out (plus albums; you know, those big round discs in a cardboard jacket...

Haha! I may be young, but not that young. I remember listening to my uncle's albums way back in the '80s, when I was growing up. I don't remember him having any George Strait records, though I'm sure they had to be around there somewhere, because he's always been a huge George Strait fan. I couldn't tell you for sure, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he's seen the Strait man as many times as I have. Next time I see him I'll ask him about that. Would that I had been of age to see King George for $5. I have come pretty close, though; the last couple of years he's been at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, I snagged tickets for about $16 apiece. Granted, they were in the nosebleed seats at Reliant Stadium, but hey, it's George Strait, I certainly am not going to complain. I was happy just to be there! Venues like Alltel are just great, though. I think it seats about 18,000 people. That sounds pretty big, but even on the lower level, where I was, there was a great view. I was telling someone as I was there that if I couldn't see George in one of those standing-room-only holes-in-the-wall, a venue like Alltel Arena was the next best thing. But I'll take George where I can get him...
(Now playing here, 8:47 am: Lacy J. Dalton, "16th Avenue," 1983. "they walk away from everything, just to see a dream come true, so God bless the boys who make the noise on Sixteenth Avenue...")

Observations from Saturday Night

So yeah, I went to see George Strait Saturday night at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas, a little more than 400 miles from here. To date that's the longest distance I've driven to see George Strait or anyone else. But it was quite worth it, even if it was more or less the same thing I've seen more than 10 times prior to that night. As a matter of fact that's one of the things I've always liked about seeing George Strait live -- you know exactly what you're gonna get, and you know it's gonna be good. There's a lot to be said for that kind of consistency, especially after 27 years of going at it. There are a lot of people who say George is boring because he just stands there and sings, but as for me I prefer to think of that as him letting his music speak for itself. Besides that, the adrenaline rush I get from hearing songs like "There Stands the Glass" and "Folsom Prison Blues" is worth more than any kind of bullshit theatrics anyone could come up with. I must admit I was surprised that "Milk Cow Blues" and "Take Me Back To Tulsa" were not on the set list -- just as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo aren't quite complete without George Strait or Clint Black, a George Strait show isn't quite the same without the extended "Milk Cow Blues" jam. But they more than made up for it with the "Folsom Prison Blues" encore. And I was also pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of "Ocean Front Property" and "Carrying Your Love With Me." I had not heard that last one in a a couple of years, at least that I remember, and I had never heard "Ocean Front Property" live. It just goes to show you, even someone as predictable as George Strait is capable of some surprises now and then. I don't know if George will keep touring to the point that I'll be able to see him 20 times, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does make it. You better believe I'll be there, too.
Little Big Town was the opening act this go-round, and they were pretty good. They have quite the stage presence. I really liked "I'm With the Band," and I found myself wishing they'd do an encore performance of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," because it was THAT good. Speaking of cover songs, I find myself what they could have done with "Seven Bridges Road," yep, the harmonies were that good, too...I may have to check them out further as well. So many cds, so little money!
Oh, and if you like a GREAT mix of old and new country, you need to check this station out. I discovered it on the drive in and found myself going back to it again and again. More than once I found myself saying, "Awww, YEAH!" when they'd play one of my favorite songs...and I bet you will too!
Now playing, 10:27 am: Merle Haggard, "Branded Man," 1967. One of those "Awww, YEAH!" moments, indeed....
And another! 10:35 am: Alabama, "There's No Way," 1985.
Ooooh, and another! 10:56 am: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, "Dance Little Jean," from about 1984, I think...
And another! 11:01 am: George Strait, "Let's Fall To Pieces Together," from 1984, my favorite tune from the Strait man...
Oooooh, another one! 11:04 am: Cal Smith, "Country Bumpkin," from 1974.

Random Observations From The Road

...after 888.9 miles since 9:00 yesterday morning...
1. Nickelback's "Side Of A Bullet" sounds a lot like something Metallica would have done on its ...And Justice For All record. I like most of what I've heard off that Nickelback cd. I need to get off my lazy arse & go pick it up.
2. I could never make it as an over-the-road trucker. I love to drive, but I can only take so much at one whack. And don't even get me started on eating. I had IHOP after George last night and it was great, but I couldn't afford to eat so well every day. I stopped a few times for drinks & snacks, but there's only so much of that I could take, too.
3. Jeff Foxworthy is a hell of a lot better as a stand-up comedian than he is as a radio show host.
4. Kix Brooks...well, he ain't the world's greatest singer, but but he isn't any better as a radio show host than Jeff Foxworthy. (Ironically, my favorite Brooks & Dunn song -- "Mexican Minutes," an unreleased cut off 1993's Hard Workin' Man -- has Mr. Brooks singing lead on it. Go figure...) Oh, and...
5. George Strait has still got it. More on that later. ;-)

...now what was that about staying out of the primaries?

Hmmm...

Government files amicus -- on DC's side!

Quick read: Gov't says, yes, it's an individual right. BUT we join with DC in asking Court to reverse the DC Circuit, because it applied strict scrutiny to the DC law. It should only have applied an intermediate standard. That is, the legal position of the US is that DC CIrcuit was wrong, a complete ban on handguns is NOT per se unconstitutional, it all depends on how good a reason DC can prove for it.

Interesting. And this is from an administration that most if not all of us probably thought was much more friendly to liberty than the likes of, say, Rudolph Giuliani.
But remember, guys, it's not a good idea for the NRA to get involved in primary politics because we might end up alienating someone who would basically tell us to go to hell anyway! I would call what I am feeling right now schadenfreude, but considering it's my own misfortune, it's just a general feeling of pissed-offedness.
And with that, I am off to Little Rock...y'all be good. ;-)

"...and today he joined up with Jesus, wearing shiny pearl snaps..."

It was 13 years ago this morning that I woke up to the very first day without my best friend in the whole world, my grandpa on my mother's side. He had gone to walk with God the day before, January 10, 1995. He had been sick for a long time, and I knew the day was coming when he wouldn't be here anymore, but you just can't really prepare yourself for such an occasion. We had his memorial service in the afternoon, and that's when it hit me that he was gone. I remember walking in the chapel there at the funeral home and seeing his flag-draped casket, and I got so weak I could barely stand up. I did my best to retain my composure through the service, but they opened the casket and I could barely stand to look at him in his pearl-snap shirt and blue jeans. I cried on my grandmother's shoulder till I didn't have any tears left, and I remember her saying afterwards, "You're gonna miss him like the mischief, but just remember, he's in a better place." I knew that, but Lord, was it hard. I remember two days after we buried him I was sitting at an Applebee's in Memphis, Tennessee and finding out that the Cowboys lost their playoff game and not caring the least little bit. I just wanted to go home, even though I knew what wasn't gonna be there anymore. Of course, the world started turning again, and I came to terms with it all, but those were the darkest days of my entire life. Incidentally, that flag now sits in a beautiful wooden display case on my desk...
Rest in peace, Pepaw. I love you.

Small Consolation, or the Snakes In Our Midst

There are those who say it's not a good idea for organizations like the NRA to get involved on the primary level of politics. I'll do my very best to keep that in mind when President Romney signs an Assault Weapons Ban Redux with no grandfathering or President Giuliani signs legislation putting into place some labyrinthine registration and licensing scheme. I really don't think it'll be more than infinitesimally small consolation, though. Politicians do reneg on campaign promises, I know, but it does seem a bit odd that someone like Romney would come out and say he actually supported the AWB -- considering it cost the Democrats both houses of Congress -- if he didn't really support it. And I don't remember it being a campaign promise that Romney would sign another ban, or for that matter that Giuliani would push for that licensing and registration scheme, but even so I am reminded of an old story...

A young girl was trudging along a mountain path, trying to reach her grandmother's house. It was bitter cold, and the wind cut like a knife. When she was within sight of her destination, she heard a rustle at her feet.
Looking down, she saw a snake. Before she could move, the snake spoke to her. He said, "I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food in these mountains, and I am starving. Please put me under your coat and take me with you."
"No," replied the girl. "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite is poisonous."
"No, no," said the snake. "If you help me, you will be my best friend. I will treat you differently."
The little girl sat down on a rock for a moment to rest and think things over. She looked at the beautiful markings on the snake and had to admit that it was the most beautiful snake she had ever seen.
Suddenly, she said, "I believe you. I will save you. All living things deserve to be treated with kindness."
The little girl reached over, put the snake gently under her coat and proceeded toward her grandmother's house.
Within a moment, she felt a sharp pain in her side. The snake had bitten her.
"How could you do this to me?" she cried. "You promised that you would not bite me, and I trusted you!"
"You knew what I was when you picked me up," hissed the snake as he slithered away.

We know who the snakes are in our midst...what harm is it really going to do for the NRA to call attention to their clear record of poisonous bites?