What Can Brown Do to You? (The Silence is Deafening)

NRA management can't say they're not aware of things. And still no word after an email from a past members' council president, 3 phone calls from me, and an open invitation to explain to us all what's going on.

A reader copied me on an email he sent to Cam Edwards, so let's see if that yields any result (after he's back from break).

Meanwhile, I can't help but note the following from Wayne's new blog:


In this matter, Mr. LaPierre, I'm afraid I trust Larry Rankin. And I'm not the only one--I just got this in my inbox:

Just wanted to say that I have known Larry Rankin for more than 12 years. Larry and I spend quite a bit of time together when we are not working. He told me about the interview with Bill Brown several weeks ago. Larry's always been a man of his word.

I suspect the "prudent" course will be charted by Fairfax: Ignore it and it will go away. Only a few people will even learn of this (they've got that right--the only places I've seen a link to the story are on Gun Law News and Fodder's blog).

And so it goes.

Life on the Bizarro World

Mal Soon Jin, a Korean woman who has lived in the United States for 20 years and run a fruit store with her husband, was minutes away from a moment that looms large for many immigrants in their quest for the American Dream: the naturalization ceremony that would make her a United States citizen.

But when she walked into the marble lobby of United States District Court in Brooklyn about 8 a.m. yesterday to take the oath, and placed her handbag on the X-ray machine’s conveyor belt, she hit a snag. A court security officer operating the machine spotted an unloaded five-shot .22-caliber silver derringer in a zippered compartment in her handbag, according to the authorities.

As a result, Ms. Jin did not attend the morning naturalization ceremony on the second floor with hundreds of other soon-to-be citizens. Instead, she was arraigned on federal gun charges in a smaller courtroom, just steps away on the second floor.

Talk about someone I want to have as a fellow citizen. She has been a productive and contributing member of society for 20 years, she knows from experience that she must not only take care of herself economically but also in terms of personal security, she is exercising her right and obligation to do that as a free and sovereign individual, and she wishes to be one of us.

So instead, this "free" society she wishes to be one with will now attempt to destroy her life.

Something's Rotten in Hackensack

One of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal employees was beaten by a thief who then stole the billionaire's car in New Jersey, authorities said.

The employee was driving the gray 2001 Lexus Wednesday morning in Hackensack, New Jersey, on an errand for the mayor shortly before 9 a.m. when a woman came to the window to ask for money, police said. As he declined and began to roll up the window, a man got into the passenger seat and punched him in the face, authorities said.

Uh...doesn't a 2001 Lexus have automatic safety door locks that activate whenever it's being driven?

I'm trying to think of a reason one would stop and have the window rolled down near a streetwalking woman. Come to think of it, the AP reports "a woman came to the window" as though it were an accepted fact, rather than the aide's story. But it was a man who got in the (volitionally?) unlocked car door.

Not that I'm the suspicious type, so I'll take the easy way out and repeat the irony stated by others that, had he been armed, he could have protected both himself and the car, had being armed been legal he would have faced no repercussions, and if the billionaire mayor was such a great humanitarian, his employees ought to have a few dollars to spread around to the needy when they rub elbows with the hoi polloi...

Nah, I like my first fantasy scenario better...

[Via SayUncle]

Well, I Got it Half Right

Kerry Healy is a woman.

I was probably listening to "Lola" at the time, and anticipating getting that copy of "Glen or Glenda" from Netflix....

JR has some thoughts on the matter (Healey and preemption, not my gender confusion about her)...

This Day in History: October 19--VICTORY DAY

On this day in 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, bringing the American Revolution to a close.

I wonder how many Americans will know this, and will celebrate it as one of the most important dates in our history? I wonder how many schools will teach this, as opposed to anti-American subversion?

If you have children, ask them when they get home from school today. If no one said anything, a note to the history teacher might be in order.

I'm almost through with 1776. If I believed in things like required reading, it would be high on my list. The sacrifices made on behalf of liberty and the near-impossible odds overcome should fill us all with awe, and should fill most of us with shame.

How evil are those those monsters who would rob us of our heritage. How contemptible are those cowards and fools who would let them.