Author: Sebastian

Henke Clarifies his Position on World Net Daily

Jon Hekne’s reveals his concerns about WND’s influence are largely the same as mine:

Almost everybody seems to have a misconception about what I’m doing here. I have not called for a reader boycott of WorldNetDaily.  I don’t think that would do much good, anyway.  Like Alex Jones, Joseph Farah and WND will have readers; there’s a market for the bunker mentality and criticism only rallies them. (shrug) It’s not my goal to persuade the true believers.  If they didn’t reason their way into it, they probably won’t reason their way out of it.

What I have argued is that credible organizations on the Right should not be supporting or encouraging the fevered swamps. If they do, the Right should not support them.  Most coverage seems to have misunderstood this.

That’s pretty much my position too.  Others have taken it to a slight toward grassroots.  There’s also this article by Conor Friedersdorf that Jon links to in his post:

The right’s fringe problem at this moment in time is one that elites have created as much as any crazy fringe righty. Outfits … deliberately play on the worst impulses of the conservative base, stoking their paranoia and misleading them about reality, all for the sake of bigger audiences and greater revenues.

This is a force I’ve spend a great deal of electrons speaking out against in the gun rights movement, so I am quite sympathetic to Henke’s sentiments on this issue.  The left has a specific advantage on this, because the media is more willing to bury the left’s lunatic fringe, whereas the cameras and microphones always seem to find ours.  As Mark Steyn pointed out at The Corner:

Er, okay. But the left is in power, and it’s got Van Jones the Truther in the White House. Which isn’t exactly the “fringe”. More of a lunatic mainstream, isn’t it? Which may be why The New York Times et al have decided there’s no story.

The MSM gives them a pass on their fringes, and their fringes do a better job of staying out of the limelight, whereas ours seem to seek it.  There’s always going to be a lunatic fringe, but it’s really a question of whether that’s a banner we should be walking under.  I don’t think we ought to be walking under a birther banner any more than a threeper banner.  Both will drive the movement away from the mainstream, and toward ruin.

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I Don’t Get It Either

Mostly Genius doesn’t get pistol bayonets:

Some people have made the “weapons retention” argument, but I remain unconvinced. This is about as useful as a fish bicycle.

The reason man put bayonets on long arms is because absent ammunition or in case of malfunction, it allows the long arm to be used as a pike.  I’m not sure what a pistol with a knife would offer that wielding a knife in your hand doesn’t.  For retention, it would seem you’re far better off using the knife independently on an attacker while you try to secure your firearm with your strong hand.  If you can bring your pistol bayonet to bear, wouldn’t you just be better off shooting the guy?  Knives and firearms are both deadly force, after all.

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Barriers to Entry

SayUncle notices that hunting is spendy.  I do not come from a hunting family, and have never possessed a hunting license.  Countertop has a standing offer on the table to take me out sometime, but I have to get all the proper licenses.   For me, because I am not old enough to be exempt from the hunters education requirement, it’s more difficult to get a hunting license than it was for me to get a license to carry a pistol.

Hunters education is a 10 hour course, broken up in three days.  After that, I have to pay a fair amount if I want to hunt out of state, a lesser amount, but still more than an LTC, to hunt instate.   A license to carry is one trip to the Sheriff’s office, an application, and a few weeks time to do the background check.  Now my club runs the hunters ed classes, but I have to find time, and despite what my prolific blogging might indicate, my free time is not all that remarkably abundant.

So I have yet to take Countertop up on his offer.  Hopefully one day I’ll find time.  Hunters have to change this system if they want their sport to survive.  License fees probably are a necessary evil, since they pay for the various state game commissions to manage the wildlife and hunting lands along the North American Model.  Hunters have been reluctant to allow wildlife conservation to be funded out of state treasuries, for fears state legislatures would use political considerations instead of science to manage wildlife populations and hunting.  This is as legitimate concern.  What hunters ought to push for is apprentice hunting programs, that let people like me go out into the field without taking hunters education, provided I am with an experienced hunter.  Think of it as a learners permit for hunting.  After some apprentice seasons, I could be eligible for a standard hunting license, and head afield on my own.  Virginia has already done this.  Other states need to follow suit.  I also think for those who possess apprentice licenses for a season, and who demonstrate they’ve taken animals, they ought to be exempt entirely from the hunters education requirement.

As long as hunters ed is the only pass to being eligible to hunt, hunting is doomed.

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Why Government Can’t Do Pharma R&D

Megan McArdle has been a great voice in the national health care debate.  I’ve been reading her regularly.  This is a particularly good point in regards to why we don’t want the government doing pharmaceutical research, as the left has been arguing it ought to do if their national health program destroys medical innovation:

There is no country in which government has outperformed the market at the production of basic needs (distribution is a different question that we can fight about later).  The only industry that’s even vaguely hopeful is defense, and I hope I don’t need to persuade progressives that if our pharmaceutical industry starts looking like our defense industry, we’re screwed.  It’s usually dominated by a few major contractors who are deeply intertwined with the people who buy from them, it’s wildly expensive, everyone thinks it’s horribly inefficient and produces a lot of products we don’t need because they’re the pet project of some congressman, and the rest of the world free rides off of our hog-wild spending.  You don’t like me too drugs?  Wait until the pet company of some powerful committee member wastes billions of dollars chasing a never-never cure for cancer rather than a promising antidepressant that could produce a 20% improvement over existing treatments in large classes of patients.

This! Government pharma R&D won’t work, because drugs will be developed based on political considerations rather than what’s going to give us a lot of return for our R&D dollar.

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Why LA Instead of LO?

I think Louisiana should change their state abbreviation to LO from LA.  I heard about a sales tax weekend in LA last night from NRA News on Twitter.  For a second I thought California was turning around on the gun issue.

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That Takes Some Gall

Marko asks what you would do as a parent in this situation.  I’m not a parent, but as soon as the threat was made I would have shoved him away from my kid and sprayed him.  I would assume that would stop your average 61 year old child slapper.  It’s a low enough level of force you don’t have to wait for him to follow through.  He announced his intention to commit and assault, a felony assault in most states, since it’s against a child.  Anyone who grabs my kid is getting a gun drawn on them.  I’m not going to wait to figure out what their intent is.

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