Saturday, April 26, 2008

South Side Story


The problem is guns...
The problem is bad parents...
The problem is drugs...
The problem is jobs...
The problem is our schools...
In other words, you clearly have no idea what you're doing. But you're bound and determined to keep doing it, even if it kills people.

Nice.

Still, their mantra sounds familiar...where have I heard it before? Ah!

The trouble is he's crazy.
The trouble is he drinks.
The trouble is he's lazy.
The trouble is he stinks.
The trouble is he's growing.
The trouble is he's grown.
Krupke, we got troubles of our own!
Emperor Daley
You've done it again
If there were any justice
You'd get life in the pen
And commie pal Snuffy
Would get what he's due
Gee, Emperor Daley,
Snuff You!

[Via John R]

Time for Some Hunter Education

The Medford Mail Tribune, a newspaper which has repeatedly editorialized against self defense for public employees, has won a court case .pdf to get the names, addresses and occupations of all concealed handgun license holders in Jackson County.

Yeah, you can email the ironically-named editor Bob Hunter, but fascists like him probably get off on knowing how mad they make us.

I believe the most effective way to handle this is by making it their advertisers' problem, as they are the ones who finance and enable these subversives.

The first step would be to determine who their big regulars are--maybe come up with the top 5, and then send their CEOs a letter. It ought to be nice, that is, let them know you know they don't set editorial policy, but since the paper depends on them for their lifeblood they have been inadvertently drawn into this thanks to a newspaper management that places its subversive crusading above the interests of its customers. And who knows, maybe some of them will be gun owners.

I think if a business like a car dealership knew they could expect about a dozen protestors on the sidewalk outside their business on a busy weekend with signs highlighting how they are enabling undermining of rights, most would not want the controversy. If they knew their businesses were going to be regularly randomly selected for this, it would give them incentive to bring requisite pressure to bear.

This, of course, all depends on whether or not Oregon gun owners are interested in personally pursuing this and have the manpower to make good on it.

Being in Ohio, there is only so much I can do, but I will report on it via the War on Guns if anyone there wishes to pursue it. I'll also do what I can to recruit support from others.

Newspapers are fighting for survival right now, with circulation and revenues way down. Case in point, The New York Times will undergo a major bloodletting from among their reporting staff in the coming days. I just don't see the Medford local having the kind of against-the-trend prosperity to be able to sustain this, especially if their advertising guys are getting angry calls from big revenue sources demanding to know what the hell they've dragged them into.

[Via Jeffersonian]

Meanwhile, Over at the Ministry of Sausage and Biscuit Crumbs...

A single mother has been fined £75 for "littering" after her daughter dropped a piece of sausage roll on the pavement...
I guess it's safer than taking on criminals.

The UK truly has devolved into an actualization of "Brazil."

[Via Zachary G]

Why Illinois 10th District Gun Owners Should Vote Third Party*


Recently, Congressman Mark Kirk from Illinois 10th District introduced a bill to create a “Secure Social Security Card”. This new card is clearly a run around to the state’s opposition to Real ID and we must do all in our power to prevent it from becoming law.
This Kirk character is a real piece of work. He's an anti-gun extremist and an enemy of just about any core conservative belief you could name--in short, the essence of "moderate republicans" who have taken center ring in "The Big Tent." I mean, the guy's endorsed by the Brady Campaign, for the love of...

Illinois gun owners, why put up with it? Who cares if his "democrat opponent" is also an evil gungrabbing collectivist? You need to teach the GOP the object lesson that betrayal will not be rewarded, but will be properly punished. There is no "lesser of two evils" rationale to use as an excuse here. Aside from the "R" he campaigns under, the guy's a democrat Fifth Columnist.

The only way to change this is to force Kirk out. That means, as odious as the prospect is, helping Dan Seals beat him.

Do, it, make it known you are doing it, and let everyone know afterward that you did it. And make sure they know why.

That is, if you're serious about sending the party a message and getting an acceptable candidate next time around.

[Via Less]

*UPDATE: I'd originally said "Democrat," but 45Superman gives a superior alternative in "Comments."

We're the Only Ones Getting in Our Licks Enough

The two page complaint was filed April 11th, regarding an incident in late march, when Sheriff Morton allegedly groped and performed oral sex on the woman against her will.
You said a mouthful, sister.

In all seriousness, though, I had doubts about the plausibility of the charges once I read her claim that he "forc[ed] her to get drunk."

I also don't think serious charges ought to be leveled against anyone while shielding the identity of the accuser. I understand the arguments for doing so in rape cases, but still think the danger to freedom must be the paramount consideration. Likewise, I don't believe in withholding the names of minors from news accounts--if the twisted 12-year-old down the street is setting fire to kittens, I think I have a need to know about that.

Anyway, back to this: Something was going on, and I guess the investigation will tell us whether we're dealing with an "Only One" predator or a disgruntled employee.

But there's something fishy here. The story, I mean.

[Via rabid]

We're the Only Ones Absolutely Immune Enough

Generally speaking, it is smart public policy to shield prosecutors from lawsuits when it comes to determining in which cases they'll pursue charges...

But you could make a good case that absolute immunity takes this idea too far. Even police officers are given what's called "qualified immunity" from civil rights suits, which in 1983 the Supreme Court determined meant, "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known."

That sets a hurdle for lawsuits against the police, but not a wall (some would argue that this hurdle is also too high). It might be time to consider applying that standard to prosecutors, too.
Actually, it's past time. The absolute immunity doctrine should never have been established.
The simple fact is, freedom depends on responsibility and accountability. You just can't have one without the others.

Having "Only Ones" impervious to the laws the rest of us are bound by is the essence of tyranny.

And as for incentives for prosecutors, the incentive ought to be to reduce prosecutable "offenses."

[Via Carl S]

This Day in History: April 26

Hannah Bradish, of that part of Cambridge, called Menotomy, and daughter of timothy Paine, of Worcester, in the county of Worcester, esq. of lawful age, testifies and says, that about five o'clock on Wednesday last, afternoon, being in her bed-chamber, with her infant child, about eight days old, she was surprised by the firing of the king's troops and our people, on their return from Concord. She being weak and unable to go out of her house, in order to secure herself and family, they all retired into the kitchen, in the back part of the house. She soon found the house surrounded with the king's troops; that upon observation made, at least seventy bullets were shot into the front part of the house; several bullets lodged in the kitchen where she was, and one passed through an easy chair she had just gone from. The door of the front part of the house was broken open; she did not see any soldiers in the house, but supposed, by the noise, they were in the front. After the troops had gone off, she missed the following things, which, she verily believes, were taken out of the house by the king's troops, viz: one rich brocade gown, called a negligée, one lutestring gown, one white quilt, one pair of brocade shoes, three shifts, eight white aprons, three caps, one case of ivory knives and forks, and several other small articles.