As in he spent a lot of our green, and still lost the jobs. Government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winners and losers, or in this case, just losing.
Month: September 2011
Concealed Carry Illustrated
Sunday Hunting Hearing
There are hearings being held around on the state on what appears to be NRA’s next legislative priority in Pennsylvania. There is little doubt that animal rights extremist groups, like HSUS, are going to oppose this move. But the biggest opposition that will be faced, from what I’ve seen, is from farmers and other hunters.
I don’t think hunting can be saved. I don’t think this because it’s impossible, but because hunters don’t seem to have the “no one gets thrown off the lifeboat” attitude that’s become prevalent among gun rights activists. Divide and conquer is an easy strategy with that community, and it’s certainly one that will be relentlessly exploited by the opponents of hunting until it is no more.
Unfortunately for those of us in the shooting community, hunters are still people of the gun, and once they are gone, we will have to hope not to be eaten last.
Debriefing on National Reciprocity Hearing
From Dave Kopel on NRA News:
Use it or Lose It
SayUncle finds some evidence for why SWAT teams are so predominant these days. I kind of wonder whether there’s not a good bit of wanting to be what you see on TV in law enforcement circles. Years ago, you’d cowboy up to go deal with the local town trouble, not unlike what you would have seen in a TV Western. I can remember as a kid, the ending scene in National Lampoon’s Vacation, where the SWAT team closes in on Clark Griswold, armed with a BB gun. That was supposed to be a joke back then, but I don’t think anyone would get the humor today. It would be interesting to find how much TV culture shapes the law enforcement culture.
Some Old Childhood Memories
Tam’s wikihole adventure yesterday morning, in regards to the world of Sid and Marty Krofft, took me back. Some of my formative childhood experiences were from one of their shows, namely Land of the Lost. Looking at the date on those, I was probably picking up reruns a few years after it originally aired. My sister and I had a stay  home mom, who’s stay at home mom gossip circle were the ladies by the kiddie pool at the local swim club.
There were two shows I’d throw fits over missing if we were dragged to the pool. One was Star Blazers, and the other was Land of the Lost. We were fortunate to be early adopters of VHS technology, which enabled my mother to set the primitive timing device to record my shows, and get me to the pool with minimal complaint. Sadly, I don’t think I kept any of these recordings, but for those of you of a different generation, thanks to the miracle of YouTube and internets, you can find it here:
I had a horrible little boy crush on the Holly character. I can remember being young begging my parents to take me to a place regularly advertised on TV in the Philadelphia area, Crystal Cave, in Kutztown. As a small child, I was convinced if I could get to these caves, I could unlock the secrets that would allow me to control the universe, bring on the Sleetak/Dinosaur revolution, and be with Holly forever. Eventually my parents relented, and we went. I was thrilled with anticipation. When I got there… no friggin pylons. In case you’re not sure what I’m saying here, there were no friggin pylons! What kind of lame-ass place calls themselves Crystal Cave, and no only are there no pylons, there aren’t even any damned crystals. No Sleestaks, and definitely no dinosaurs. The secrets of the universe turned out to be pretty damned lame to me as a young kid.
I’ve been in caverns since, but I’ve never been back to Crystal Cave. Maybe it’s time to go back and give it another chance.
An Opportunity
This was the final question from the CNN/Tea Party Express debate:
BLITZER: Eight Republican presidential candidates on the stage.
You know, Americans are looking at you. They also want to know a little bit more about you.
I’m going to start with Senator Santorum. I want to go down and get your thoughts on something you would bring to the White House if you were the next president of the United States.
An example, President George H. W. Bush put in a horseshoe pit. President Clinton put in a jogging track. President Obama added a vegetable garden.
Here are the responses:
Santorum – More beds.
Gingrich – Get rid of czars, my wife’s music, something ballet-related, and a giant chess set.
Paul – He’d teach economics classes. And give boring as hell answers to personality-driven questions.
Perry – A First Lady whose husband knows how to kiss ass.
Romney- Bust of Winston Churchill.
Bachmann – Things that make the Tea Party people cheer.
Cain – “I would bring a sense of humor to the White House, because America’s too uptight.”
Huntsman – Harley-Davidson and motocross bike.
Wouldn’t it have been great if one of them had named a gun? Hell, I wouldn’t care if they said a shotgun or hunting rifle. I still would have gone nuts over a broad answer like more hunting gear. Or even something like freshly harvested venison, for the White House Chef to cook up more often. I wouldn’t expect something like more great targets to display on the walls, but with Gov. Perry in the debate, it wouldn’t be out of the question.
I don’t expect any hardcore gun nut answers from a presidential campaign, but some nod to at least one of our sports and our overall community values would be nice.
Once Again, We’re the Scapegoats
We’re made out to be responsible for the acts of murdering criminals. I know about this unfortunate murder, because in Twitter Space, the Brady Campaign have been hanging about like a sleazy ambulance chasing lawyer at the scene of a fatal accident.
Sorry, but I didn’t kill that young woman. It’s illegal under federal law, in case the NY Daily News is not aware, to buy firearms in South Carolina and smuggle them to New York City to sell on the streets to criminals. You can do ten years for each count in the federal pen. I don’t know what else we’re supposed to do, that still respects the fact that being able to buy a gun is a basic, fundamental right if you’re law-abiding.
Getting the blame for the criminal actions of others is one of my primary motivations for staying active in this issue. There’s no practice of our opponents that I find more motivating than their attempts to make me the scapegoat for these social ills. It’s ironic that the New York Daily News probably believes it’s helping fan the flames of gun control, but in reality they are sowing the seeds of the destruction of New York City’s gun laws, by keeping people like you and me in the game.
Ready, Set, Go!
It’s a race to the bottom. This is a bottom I am quite happy to race to, because all the noise being made in opposition is nothing by the hysterical ramblings of irrelevant and frightened people.
CSGV Latest Pathetic Attack
CSGV’s latest message seems to be that when it comes to gun scandals, at least four out of NRA’s 76 elected board members have some experience backing anti-communist guerrillas in Cold War proxy conflicts, some of which didn’t have the nicest of bedfellows. Shocking, I know, that our government engaged in lot of unpleasantness to rid the world of Soviet communism, resulting in a lot of folks with dirty hands. But what exactly is the greater strategy at work in Fast and Furious? At best, and this is still a dubious claim, there’s some elaborate cloak and dagger affair in play to prop up the Sinaloa Cartel. If that’s the case, I’d really like to know how that helps the situation in Mexico. At worst, Fast and Furious was meant to get more guns into Mexico to make the case for more gun control, and bigger budgets at the Department of Justice.
I don’t think four NRA Board members can be construed to represent an endorsement by NRA as a whole of their past activities. Whether Horwitz likes it or not, Ollie North is a hero to many Americans, and enough NRA members, to get him the votes he needs to be on the Board. If you think this article is utter fail, this web site on NRA Board members should give you a better idea of just how sad, pathetic, and bitter the folks at CSGV are. But I do have to thank them. Their little web site provided at least fifteen minutes of amusement for me in realizing just how out of touch they are with ordinary Americans, in terms of what they find to be “controversial.”
I think it’s also quite telling that, rather than trying to get to the bottom of F&F, CSGV is instead of spending it’s time looking for ways to smear NRA. That should tell you just how much of a masquerade the whole gun violence thing is. The difference between NRA and CSGV is NRA is still being true to it’s mission. CSGV has shown they care more about hurting NRA than they care about gun violence.