Monday, March 24, 2008

Welcome Back


You guys see anything you like?

Why is it when I write you directly I never get a reply? Just because I say I intend to post it? If I can repeat an often-used question, if you're not doing anything wrong, what have you got to hide?

Hey, one other thing I'm wondering: what do you think those custom-engraved Leatherman tools will bring on eBay?

UPDATE:


Looks like they're building their "case"! Here's what they're pinning their hopes on. Do you realize what this means is that someone actually looked up related posts with the intent of seeing if they could come up with a charge worth pursuing?

This is just plain creepy that vindictive little reptiles like these have any place in American government.

A "Pro-Gun" Democrat

“I talked to Senator Clinton last night,” Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said on Friday, describing the tense telephone call in which he informed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that, despite two months of personal entreaties by her and her husband, he would be endorsing Senator Barack Obama for president. [More]
Yeah, see, when you're endorsed by Fairfax, it makes perfect sense to support a rabid gungrabber. Party over principle and all that...

A Republican Constitutional Lawyer

Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States.
There seems to be enough room for everybody in the Big Tent except people with core principles.

Don't Mention It

What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
I guess some things are best left unsaid. We don't want to spoil anyone's illusions or excuses.

When Candy is Outlawed...

With candy sales banned on school campuses, sugar pushers are the latest trend at local schools. Backpacks are filled with Snickers and Twinkees for all sweet tooths willing to pay the price.

...This has become a lucrative business, Nason said, and those kids are walking around campus with upwards of $40 in their pockets and disrupting class to make a sale.

Who could have possibly predicted such a thing?

We're the Only Ones Piling Up Enough

I had a lot of emails waiting in my inbox upon my return, and it's tough keeping up with them all. If I haven't replied personally, my apologies--I'll try later today.

I need to be out of the house in half an hour so here's my best shot at responding to many of the "Only Ones" entries forwarded to me during my absence:

We're the Only Ones Emulating Lee Paige Enough

We're the Only Ones Puzzling Enough

We're the Only Ones Who Know How to Treat the Ladies Enough

We're the Only Ones Kittenish Enough

We're the Only Ones Allowed to Defend Ourselves Enough

We're the Only Ones in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time Enough

We're the Only Ones Blasting Ourselves Enough

[Via Gunthing; Michael S; JG; TonyG; Carl S; Jeffersonian; Mark G--sorry if I missed anybody else and hope you understand]

A Pilot Program

A US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally discharged during a flight from Denver to Charlotte Saturday, according to a statement released by the airline...

A Transportation Safety Administration spokeswoman reached by WCNC Sunday said the pilot is part of TSA’s Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, which trains pilots to carry guns on flights...

A statement from TSA said the airplane was never in danger...

Again with the gun went off. Maybe they should have let real professionals train these guys.

Still, I note that--dire predictions notwithstanding, Goldfinger didn't get sucked out of the plane.

[Via Plug Nickel Times]

Gutting the Second

If you ever had a Right to Keep and Bear Arms – you have it now – and Government can Never take it from you Lawfully. It is unalienable, and it is necessary to protect your own life and property, and the lives and property of your family and neighbors – even the Union – against all enemies foreign and domestic.

The notion that certain weapons are not suited to personal protection is also sophistry that preys upon gross ignorance.
The high court really has only one function in Heller--and that's to confirm that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Questions along the lines of which infringements are "reasonable" are indeed sophistry.

I note that GOA is taking no small amount of heat from the no line in the sand crowd for its recent criticism of Alan Gura's concession, and that he has reacted heatedly.

This may surprise some of you, but I do agree with Gura that had he presented an absolutist argument he would have lost the judges--which tells us more about the sorry state we have allowed our government to degrade into than anything else. Gura "didn't make the last 219 years of constitutional law and [he's] not responsible for the way that people out there -- and on the court-- feel about machine guns."

He didn't and he's not. We can't expect him to undo all that for us.

But I don't agree that anticipating the question--and he must have--with a rejoinder that machine guns were outside the intentionally narrow and limited scope of the case being argued would have been perceived as "fudging," and objections for his totally misinterpreting Miller as excluding arms "not appropriate for civilian applications" are legitimate and appropriate.

I don't know where some get off acting like there's no room for criticism, and the expected reactionary hostility I've seen is way out of proportion to what was really a rather mild statement on the part of Larry Pratt & Co. If the "pragmatists" flipped over that, wait 'til they see what Vin Suprynowicz has to say.

[Via Ron W]

"Always Think Forfeiture"

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms requires the following items, Purchase Description Determined by Line Item, to the following:
LI 001, EXACT MATCH ONLY - Leatherman Micra Color: Blue - Part number 64340101K Engraved with: ATF-Asset Forfeiture AND "always think forfeiture" PLEASE REFER TO THE ATTACHMENT. NOTE: ATF MAY REQUEST A SAMPLE TO DETERMINE IF IT MEETS OUR REQUIREMENT. A picture of the item may be substituted in place of the actual sample. ***Partial Shipments are allowed. Please use the space below to explain your delivery schedule. Preferred Delivery is between November 15th-23rd, NLT November 23rd***, 2000, EA;
Think about the mindset that conceived "Always Think Forfeiture," and believes it's an appropriate government mission statement. Know that BATFU management intends to ingrain it in the minds of its functionaries as indelibly as it is engraved on its self-promoting motivational swag.

Think about it in relation to the Quartering Act that we recalled today--and think of the mindset that views private property as government's to seize and use to further its control.

Now compare it to Founding Era intent:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men...
Compare it to "the mission statement" described and agreed to in "the supreme law of the land":
...in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity...

These irredeemable thugs don't think they're above the law--they think they are the law.

And make no mistake: this reflects the culture established and encouraged by "Maximum Mike"--the darling of John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and our wonderful "Vote freedom First President."

Have you haven't written your senators yet demanding they oppose Sullivan's confirmation--with the "or else" that you'll oppose them if they don't? You have, right?

As long as I'm chiding, why not put the squeeze on John McCain and tell him it's time to stop ducking the issue?

And finally (you didn't think I was done, did you?), why not report this abuse of plunder to the Office of the Inspector General? If for no other reason than we know that light makes creatures of the dark scurry for cover and it's fun to watch?

[Via Jeffersonian]

This Day in History: March 24

WHEREAS . . . [by the Mutiny Act of 1765] . . . several regulations are made and enacted for the better government of the army, and their observing strict discipline, and for providing quarters for the army, and carriages on marches and other necessary occasions, and inflicting penalties on offenders against the same act, and for many other good purposes therein mentioned; but the same may not be sufficient for the forces that may be employed in his Majesty's dominions in America: and whereas, during the continuance of the said act, there may be occasion for marching and quartering of regiments and companies of his Majesty's forces in several parts of his Majesty's dominions in America: and whereas the publick houses and barracks, in his Majesty's dominions in America, may not be sufficient to supply quarters for such forces: and whereas it is expedient and necessary that carriages and other conveniences, upon the march of troops in his Majesty's dominions in America, should be supplied for that purpose: be it enacted . . .,