July 2011 – Page 13 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Quote of the Day

Dave Hardy takes on the New York Times editorial on the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal:

OK, so they had to allow thousands of guns to get to Mexican drug cartels because they didn’t have better databases? I suppose seeing illegal buys and ignoring them (or even pestering dealers into allowing them) is not a “database”? And that agencies cannot stop crimes if they are not on a “database”? Real cops and supervisors do that every day.

This meme about how all we need is better tracing, and more databases, and then ATF can lick this problem doesn’t stand up to the smell test. You don’t prevent crime by mining databases.

One Thing to Like About Florida Gag Law

It’s pissing off the right people, and there’s something to be said for that. I will still oppose it on constitutional and civil liberties grounds, but if makes editorial boards of papers like the Boston Globe wet themselves, I’ll still enjoy the spectacle:

But there are good reasons why the American Academy of Pediatrics considers inquiries about guns to be important in protecting children. Doctors can advise inexperienced parents on ways that young children might accidentally play with guns, or that older kids might be tempted to use them.

And really, I don’t have a problem if this was all doctors did, provided they also inform the parents about the dangers of bathtubs, swimming pools, and dangerous household chemicals, which kill far more kids accidentally every year than guns do. Homicide is not, and can’t be an excuse for doctors to ask parents about guns, because it will do nothing to prevent or ameliorate that kind of social ill.

Let us also not forget what the American Academy of Pediatrics position is on firearms ownership. It’s not just about advising parents of the dangers, and helping them minimize them. It’s about promoting prohibition, and using their exalted profession to bring down social shame on patients for gun ownership. I don’t agree with this gag law, but consider this a shot across your bow, AAP.

Guns and the Mentally Ill

The New York Times has a rather lengthy piece on the subject, with examples they found of people having their rights restored who pretty clearly were still disturbed. No mention of how many people have had their rights restored and are doing fine. Several of the examples were committed involuntarily for being suicidal, had their rights restored, and then killed themselves. I don’t consider this much of an example because someone who was committed for being suicidal should be more prone to having rights restored than someone who is schizophrenic and on medication. I’m far more understanding of right restoration for transient mental health issues like depression, PTSD, and other manageable conditions. I’m open to the notion that some states may not have good procedures for rights restoration for mental infirmities, but one of the examples appearing repeatedly is California, a state relatively strict when it comes to firearms, especially with regards to mental health.

It’s relatively unsurprising that with enough digging you can find example of where the system failed. No one wants to do a story on a solider who was committed for severe PTSD, got treatment, got better, got his rights restored, and then went on to live as an ordinary citizen and responsible gun owner. There’s no story there.

On the Dole

Just filed for unemployment with Pennsylvania. Snowflakes in Hell is now officially suckling at the teat of big government. Pennsylvania does not consider severance in unemployment claims, though it is my understanding that some states do. I am fortunate here in that between unemployment and severance, I can last quite a while. I won’t be living high on the hog, and have had to curtail my lifestyle quite a bit, but we’ll manage.

The big thing I’m worried about is going stir crazy. There’s plenty of things around the house I could do, like replace the shower, and redo the kitchen, but all those things take money I don’t want to spend. Entertainment is expensive too, so I am glad for cheap forms of entertainment like Netflix and the Internet.

So what’s on the agenda otherwise? I’m thinking about downloading the iOS development kit and trying my hand at an iPhone/iPad app, but I need a good idea in that regard. I’m probably not talented enough in the 3D modeling or art department for a game. But surely there’s something I could make a few bucks on? There’s also monetizing the blog, but one of my fears with blogging is that I will have significantly less time for it, or may not be able to do it at all, depending on the new job situation. The last job left me with enough flexibility to work all hours of the day, with little regard for schedule. Some jobs are pretty 9 to 5. I hate those kinds of arrangements, but at some point I need a paycheck.

Flat Earthers Have Company

Apparently there’s an insurrectionist branch of the Catholic Church in Chicago that’s pushing the church reject Galileo (again) and embrace a geocentric universe. I’ve always wondered how these folks explain the fact that our space probes managed to sail by the outer planets, taking plenty of pictures, land on Mars, land on Venus, and visit asteroids. All the mathematical calculations for guiding these probes is based on a heliocentric solar system.

This whole gravity thing is a conspiracy by the orthodox science establishment man!

If You Watch Nothing Else This July 4th

Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video, but go watch this symposium between Prof. Robert Churchill, author of To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant’s Face: Libertarian Political Violence and the Origins of the Militia Movement, and Joshua Horwitz, co-author of Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea, and also Executive Director of CSGV. This is great insight into the kind of philosophy Horwitz promotes. He is truly an enemy of liberty.

UPDATE: The more I look at Horwitz’s insurrectionist idea, the more I’m impressed at his straw working abilities. This is one of the most elaborate and impressive straw men I’ve seen erected. The idea he’s arguing against isn’t even really something most of us believe. It’s a caricature erected only in Horwitz’s mind.

More Independence Day Insurrectionism

Rumor has it, on this day, 235 years ago, a bunch of right-wing militia whack jobs signed their name to this document which supports this insane insurrectionist idea promoted by the NRA:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Sometimes I really believe our opponents would probably rather still be British. It’s hard to believe the ideas they peddle without thinking that. Of course, they will never say that, because that puts them further outside the mainstream than they already are. But it’s hard for me to see how you accept the United States of America when its founding document is essentially a justification for violently overthrowing its previous government.

Pool Mystery Explained

Remember the story from a few days ago about a woman drowning in a pool in Fall River Massachusetts? But the body wasn’t found for two days. And the pool was open. It would seem this mystery has an explanation:

An initial investigation showed the water in the pool was murky from the time the pool opened for the season last Saturday. Visibility tests conducted Wednesday revealed a diver couldn’t be seen at a depth of 3 1/2 to 4 feet below the surface of the water.

Unfortunately I was eating when I read that.

“He did tell two lifeguards – one said she was on break, and had to leave and the other told him they were going to do a pool check,” the woman told the newspaper. “But he told me they never did.”

So it would seem the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can’t even run a public swimming pool, yet folks want us to believe they are competent enough to control all our health care?

Dangerous Common Sense

Call up Ladd again. I found even more of the insurrectionist propaganda directed at children and trying to turn their poor impressionable minds against those who want to restrict liberty.

Here’s a sampling of the dangerous lyrics hidden in this propaganda: “Like Thomas Paine once wrote:/It’s only common sense/That if a government won’t give you your basic rights/You’d better get another government.”

This video also shows why CSGV needs to add fireworks on their list of things to ban. They are used to celebrate dangerous ideas and history that is best re-written for the good of their political agenda.

Insurrectionist Propaganda

It looks like Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has a new target to set their sights upon: Schoolhouse Rock!

Look at this insurrectionist propaganda piece that spreads a message of violence & promotes militias. It’s clearly designed to recruit children into accepting the dangerous right wing ideology that Americans are supposed to be free.