For the New York Times, this is a really fantastic article. It includes a quote from Michael Bane. Seriously, I’ve not seen an article this good from an outlet like the New York Times, quite possibly, as long as I can remember and have followed the issue. They get a few very minor things wrong, but overall, it’s very factual. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that it’s coming out of the business section.
Category: The Media
Maybe this is off base…
… but showing contempt for your readers seems to be a losing strategy for a newspaper.
Rosie the Reviled
Damn, Elizabeth Hasselbeck is friggin hot:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOz4cOk8GM[/youtube]
Am I the only one who thinks so?  Full version is here. The good news in all this is that Elizabeth saved the universe of another three weeks of Rosie O’Donnell.  Apparently Alicia Silverstone snubbed her later in the show by refusing to even shake her hand. Don’t worry Elizabeth, Alicia is a skank ;)
You know the networks are desperate…
… when they are turning commercials into TV shows. I don’t even give this one two weeks before it’s canceled.
Because, Of Course it’s a Bad Thing
Removing “gun-free” zones on concealed weapons license holders, is, of course, such an obviously bad thing, that the media doesn’t even need to bother talking to supporters of the bill. And of course, it won’t pass, because it’s such a bad idea after all.
Watch the video. Â It’s been a while since I could stomach TV news.
Meme Battles
I’m hopping angry at Attorney General Gonzalez and the Bush Administration over this terrorist watch list anti-gun bill. He might as well have handed the anti-gun groups and the media the rhetorical vise with which to put the screws to us.
Here’s the meme we’re fighting, it’s all over the media:
NRA wants to allow suspected terrorists to purchase guns
Take a look, and you’ll find this everywhere, and it’s incredibly damaging to us. The reason is because these battles are waged in the public mind through use of memes, and that is a powerful one. The answer to that is not a meme. It’s complicated, and difficult to dispense with in a sound bite.
Much of the left, which normally strikes out against the administration for various perceived or real infringements on civil liberties, has embraced this one, since it’s damaging to a core conservative constituency.
How do we fight this meme battle? How do we make the position that no citizen should be deprived of constitutional rights without due process? How do we make people understand that we don’t want terrorists getting a hold of firearms any more than anyone else in this country does?
I don’t have an answer to this. Â And I’m quite getting tired of the media, who are quick to defend liberties they find dear to them, so carefully maligning liberties other people find important, and not even having the courtesy, and actually having the gall, to suggest that our concerns are driven by a desire to arm terrorists rather than legitimate due process and civil liberties concerns.
The Three S’s
Conservative Scalawag, amused by a local news report on pet eating coyote troubles in suburban Atlanta that recommends swinging a broom at the varmints, tells us how to deal with the problem in a proper manner:
I will be over on my side of fence with a Ruger 10/22 with a suppressor practicing the 3 S’s. Shoot, shovel, and shut-up. This is the proper way to handle coyotes folks.
Sounds like a good way to piss off PETA, which is a good reason to be for it.
UPDATE: Link fixed
Because They Don’t Trust Us
In relation to the Tennessean controversy over the publication of CCW holders in that state, SayUncle asks:
That seems to be the question of the day: Why publish this information in a story that is only marginally related to such data?
I think because these journalists actually do believe that CCW license holders are like sex offenders, and deserve to be tracked and outed. They think the public has a right to know who these dangerous and clearly paranoid individuals are. Who would want to carry a gun anyway? What is the reason for it? If these people have nothing to hide, they won’t mind the light of our pure and good journalistic truth shining into the dark corners of where these people lurk, waiting to shoot our children and eat them1.
And the sad part is, our reaction will just reinforce the preconceptions these people have in their minds about license holders. To me, it’s a game. They have preconceived notions about us being sneaky and paranoid, and our reaction to this provocation just proves it in their minds.
1 OK, OK, maybe they don’t think we’re actually out to eat their children, but I would venture to say that most people that move in these types of circles don’t think that much more highly of us than this.
No Bias Here, Please Move Along
SAF is calling on ABC to bar Sam Donaldson from reporting on gun issues for ABC news. Why?:
The Second Amendment Foundation today sent a letter to ABC News President David Westin, asking that reporter Sam Donaldson be barred from ever again reporting on gun rights issues, because he is serving as master of ceremonies at a fund-raiser for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.Donaldson is hosting the event May 15 in Washington, D.C. His appearance, said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, reinforces the opinion of this nation’s gun owners that ABC and its reporters for the most part share an anti-gun philosophy.
But apparently we’re all paranoid gun nuts when we say the media has it in for gun owners. Nope, no bias here!
Article in the Rutgers Observer
This article in the Rutgers Observer is worthy of some perusal. They have a comment section, so feel free to (politely and respectfully) inform them of our viewpoint on the issue:
Five weeks ago, Cho Seung-Hui used a credit card to purchase a Glock 19 handgun and a box of ammunition. He paid $571.
In the mid-90’s Bubba Clinton signed a ban on assault rifles with no conceivable civilian use during a period when Democrats across the country were trying to impose modest gun controls. However, pandering to the NRA, Republicans have done their best to ward off even the slightest gun controls, exemplified in President Bush allowing the aforesaid ban to lapse in 2004.
Yes, even though the killer didn’t use an “assault weapon”, we nontheless have to once again ban bayonet lugs and flash hiders.