February 2007 – Page 10 – Shall Not Be Questioned

It’s Called Natural Selection

A ranch or cabin in the middle of nowhere is really starting to look like a more attractive option than living anywhere near New York City.Â From Slashdot:

New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens.

That’s three people who won’t be able to pass their defective street crossing genes onto future generations.Â My mother always taught me to look both ways before crossing the street.Â When I was in college and commuted to school via rail, and listened to headphones, I knew to take them off and listen for the Amtrak trains that zoomed past a 100MPH before crossing the tracks.Â Of course, today you can’t do that, because they put up fences to stop you.Â You have to go the long way around now, whether you want to risk it or not.

I have one basic philosophy when it comes to my relationship with governemnt: leave me the hell alone.Â Â I’ll pay my taxes, leave other people to their quiet enjoyment of life, serve in the military if called on, do jury duty, and all those things we have to do as part of a society.Â But don’t start looking out after me.Â I can do that just fine on my own.Â If I want to cross the street while talking on a cell phone and risk getting hit by a bus, that’s my damned business.Â Life is risky, and sometimes people make bad choices.Â There’s nothing government can, or should, do about that.

Lost Begins!

The ABC series “Lost” starts again in about 40 minutes.Â My addiction to the show will unfortunatly cut into blogging time tonight.Â I noticed that Lost is filmed in Hawaii, which probably explains why all the Kalashnikovs on the show have the silly looking Clinton magazines.Â The odd thing is, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them with the full sized mags in them as well on the series.Â Maybe they don’t shoot everything in Hawaii.Â A few of the “Others” have been seen with M1As on the show.Â Sayid seems to like the SKS.Â Some on the show need to learn the lesson that when you’re expecting a fight, take a rifle, and take 5 friends with rifles.Â Heading off to look for trouble with a 9mm pistol seems like a bad idea.

What’s Going on With the NSSF?

Dave Hardy points to an NSSF¹ statment warning gun owners about Rudy Giuliani and his record. Now, I totally agree with the NSSF on the matter of Giuliani, but what doesn’t make sense to me is why the NSSF is cozying up to Mitt Romney, who’s record on the second amendment is nearly as despicable.

What has Romney promised or stated to you guys that make you feel okay about him? I’d really like to know. I don’t exactly trust the NSSF, because it was the manufacturers that got us the GCA ’68 importation restrictions. I don’t always expect that NSSF’s interests align themselves nicely with the shooting community, but they aren’t doing themselves, or us, any favors by blowing kisses to someone this early in the game. Especially someone like Romney, who has a record of banning cosmetically incorrect guns, among other things.

¹For the non-gun blogger types that read, the NSSF is the National Sports Shooting Foundation, which is the group that represents the interests of the gun industry. Despite what the anti-gunners say, the NRA does not represent the industry, they represent the shooters. The two organizations don’t always have like agendas. Romney was invited to SHOT, which is the NSSF’s trade show, a few weeks ago.

McCain Wants to Mend Fences

According to Captain Ed and Mary Catherine Ham, John McCain wants to mend fences with bloggers and play nice. Ed thinks McCain has a ways to go:

John McCain has a record of courageous stands on behalf of the war on terror and on spending, two key issues for conservatives in the 2008 cycle. However, as MK points out, he has not taken a market-driven approach on campaign finance reform, instead relying on intrusive government control of political speech. How committed will he be on free markets as President in any sense, if not in political speech? He now sings the conservative tune on tax cuts, but we still remember McCain the Maverick opposing them when George Bush pushed them through Congress — and his part in blocking the efforts to make them permanent.

I won’t ding McCain too much for opposing the tax cuts, but he has to repudiate that Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act if he wants to mend fences with me. My chief problem with McCain is that I think he’s too convinced of his own correctness and infallibility, and that makes him shut his mind off to other ways of looking at things. It’s some of the same “I know what’s best!” traits that I despise in Hillary Clinton. My problem with John McCain is that, while he seems to support freedom as a political issue, he doesn’t seem to grasp freedom as a philosophical concept.

Back to Captain Ed:

He may well wind up as the best of the choices that present themselves during this long campaign season, and I would encourage open minds and ears for the next year. However, until McCain either makes a case for government oversight over political speech that convinces conservatives or pledges to reverse the BCRA, I don’t see him winning many converts, no matter how expert his campaign staff is — and they are certainly working their hearts out early for McCain.

Yup! Let’s not forget he needs to start acting like he’s from Arizona on the gun issue too.

What’s In a Name?

I guess it’s time I told everyone the story behind the name that no one seems to be able to spell.Â I’ve seen people spell it Sebastin, Sebastion, Sebastard, and Sebasturd.Â Unlike some folks, it’s not my real name.Â I have chosen not to reveal my real name, not because I’m private, or afraid of anyone, but because I don’t want employers, potential employers, or coworkers finding out what I do in my spare time.Â Also, it would totally ruin my fantasy of someday meeting Ed Rendell, or any of the other politicians I regularly impugn, and have them say something like “Well, it’s been nice talking to you.” then hit them with “It has?Â Ha ha!Â I am your arch-nemesis Sebastian.”Â Well, OK, that will probably never happen, but I can dream can’t I?

When I was in college, I was a member of a group called The DUsers, which was a MUG (Macintosh Users Group – we were the first in the country actually).Â A bunch of DUsers and former DUsers (pronounced ‘doozers’ or ‘d-users’, your pick) ran something called a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon).Â When I first went to sign on to play, I tried to use my middle name (John), which was taken, so next I tried my middle name in German (Johann), also taken. Â Being a classical music fan and pianist (at the time, I stopped after college, and it ain’t like riding a bicycle), the next thing I tried was Sebastian, after Johann Sebastian Bach, and that one was free.Â I’ve been using the moniker for anonymous internet purposes since 1994, and have gotten so used to it, I’d probably answer to it in public.

The MUD that we ran was called The Dragon’s Den.Â It’s still operating today, though no one really does much on it these days.Â We have a few players left, but it’s mostly a means to communicate with my old college friends; the instant messenger of the early 1990s.Â You can still log on.Â I’m still Sebastian, and sadly, still follow my habit of logging on whenever at computer.Â Old habits die hard I guess.

As for the blog: my college friend and MUDder, David (a.k.a. Zeron), picked out the name.Â I thought it was appropriate, because I always thought it would be a cold day in hell before I would start up a real blog.Â But someone managed to talk me into it.

Read My Lips, More New Taxes

Ed Rendell is a tax raising madman! In addition to a 1% boost in the state’s sales tax, he’s also now proposing an increase in the state gasoline tax as part of the 2007-2008 state budget:

â€œWe propose a tax on gasoline. But for the first time we propose a tax on those who make gasoline rather than those who buy it.â€

Umm, Ed, what’s the difference? You think the gasoline refiners are going to just eat that tax rather than pass it on to consumers? Do you think we’re that stupid? Plus, I would point out that Sunoco is a huge employer for both Pennsylvania and particulary the Philadelphia area. We have plenty of other refiners in the state too. It would seem to me that a new tax on them would not really encourage them to create more jobs. If there’s one thing that Pennsylvania definitely does not need it’s higher business taxes. That’s what this is. Don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes.

Oh, also:

In his speech, Rendell also called for legislation that would allow local governments to make their own gun laws and would limit handgun sales to one per month.

Push that, and we NRA types will do everything we can to make sure the Democrats lose their newfound control of the PA house. You got into office by keeping your mouth largely shut on the gun issue. Open it again, now that you have lame duck status, and you’ll hurt your party in downstream elections. We didn’t elect you governor to act like the Mayor of Philadelphia. But even that’s not enough:

Rendell also wants to increase the tax on waste haulers, increase cigarette taxes by a dime a pack, impose new taxes on cigars and smokeless tobacco products, and impose a surcharge on electricity of about 45 cents a month for the average residential user.

Jesus Christ, Ed. Given the cold weather we’ve been having lately, you’re making Arizona or Texas start to look damned attractive. And you wonder why young professionals like myself don’t stay in the state?

Mitt Romney’s Innovative Leadership

Check out Bitter’s post on Mitt Romney’s leadership of the Bay State, which lost nearly a quarter million people in the five years between 2000 and 2005.Â But Mitt wants to paint himself as “the president who can see around the next corner, who will equip Americans to meet the competitive challenges of the 21st century, who will bring innovation and reform to government.”

See around the next corner?Â I hope he hasn’t gotten a hold of a pair of these.

What’s Our Responsibity?

Ahab has an interesting post about our responsibilities as armed citizens, in regards to our obligations to defend others:

There seem to be a couple of schools of thought on this issue, which I’ll divide into three major camps. Camp A would say “Absolutely, being armed gives you the obligation to assist if at all possible”, Camp B would say “Absolutely not, your only obligation is to defend your life and the lives of your family”, and finally Camp C seems to say that “You should do what’s appropriate to the situation at hand.” Of course, that seems kind of wishy-washy, but at the same time I’m more comfortable with that than I would be the absolutism in Camp A or Camp B.

I think I’m firmly in Camp C. It really does depend on the situation, and I think it has to. I do think we have an obligation to help others in trouble, even if it means risk to ourselves, both physically and legally, but it has to be circumstance sensitive. In using deadly force in protection of others, one has to be exceedingly careful, but if we find ourselves in a situation where something must be done, and we’re the only ones around who are capable of doing it, it’s our duty.

We should leave the situation to the police when that is the prudent path, but I don’t think it’s just the police and military that responsible for the safety and security of our communities, states and nation.Â We all have a role to play.Â As armed citizens, we should not run around acting like police officers, because we are not; armed citizens should become involved only in dire life and death circumstances.Â But I strongly believe that, as members of a society, and citizens of a nation, we have an obligation to be prepared and ready.Â You never know when circumstances might call on you to go from citizen to soldier.Â Look at the brave folks on Flight 94, who, on that day, answered the call, with no weapons and no training, and gave their lives to save others.Â I don’t think we should expect less of ourselves.

One Month Blogoversary Traffic Record

Snowflakes in Hell is now one month old. I can’t think of any better way to celebrate the conclusion of my first month by setting an all time traffic record.

1140 hits. 345 hosts. 487 Vistors. 600 Sessions.Â Not bad considering I was down for a few hours because of a power problem! Thanks to SayUncle, John Lott, The Bitch Girls, and Gun Law News for bringing me most of the traffic today. Especially to Uncle for sharing his Instalaunch by linking to me in his post. Thanks also to all the linkers and commenters over the past month. It’s encouraging me to keep it up. Thanks also to all the politicians out there for being such worms that we all have something to write, bitch and complain about, and especially to Al Gore for inventing the modern interwebs.

Bloomberg Under Federal Investigation

According to tan SAF press release, the ATF has begun an investigation into New York Mayor Bloomberg’s “sting” operation against out of state gun shops:

Five months after the Second Amendment Foundation called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for obstruction of justice relating to Bloombergâ€™s rogue â€œstingâ€ operation against gun retailers in five states, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has confirmed in a letter that an investigation is underway.

Great news! Not much more detail than that, since the ATF is claiming that it can’t comment on an active investigation, but for everyone who called the ATF, it would seem it has paid off. The letter can be seen here.