An Important Message for All Sipsey Street Irregulars...uh...Regulars

While society rewards the likes of Snooki from Jersey Shore with celebrity and fortune, and while  lying, incompetent "Authorized Journalists" enjoy their paychecks, benefits, matching 401K contributions and the like, the market for liberty leadership is flat.

We need the leaders, but no one seems willing to pay for them.

Friends of Mike Vanderboegh have contacted me and are concerned that he's financially hurting.  I know for a fact that he is--with health problems also being a concern--and have been wondering what we who look to him on a regular basis for analysis, guidance and leadership can do.

As would be expected, Mike is not only proud, but selfless.  When I contacted him about saying something--because I don't wish to embarrass him--his response did not surprise me in the least.  I don't make a practice of sharing private emails, and I trust he'll forgive me for sharing a portion of this one--while admitting the difficult time his family is facing, this was his primary response:

I am loath to ask other people for money when things are so very tight everywhere and they should be preparing themselves.

Regulars here know I never ask for money for myself (although I do shamelessly hound to share my Examiner links so those cheap ########! can pay me).  In this case, I'm not going to ask you to send Mike a donation either.

Not a cent in gift money.

What I will ask you to do --all of you who visit his site every day and receive value from it--is pay for that value.  I'm asking you to voluntarily subscribe to Sipsey Street Irregulars and help Mike continue to bring YOU his daily reports and insights.

Just so we're clear: This is NOT CHARITY.  This is PAYMENT FOR SERVICES BEING RENDERED.

How much?  I won't put a ceiling on the maximum, but would submit the recommended minimum should be something we all, with very few exceptions/excuses can afford: A dollar a month.

I see from Mike's Site Meter that SSI brings in around 2,400 discrete visitors each day.  That means if we all do this, the guy will actually be able to pay most of the bills and focus on giving us what he's been selflessly providing every day for years--with no compensation or expectations of personal gain.

What is this guy, our slave?  Do people pay you for what you do?

I'll accept that some--a few--are simply not in a position to do this, with financial straits of their own.  But I bet most of us are able. How much do we spend a year on ammo?  Do you think we can get through this without intellectual ammunition and leadership?

How many will man up and do the right thing? 3/4? Half?Under a dozen of you?

My experience with trying to get simple things done, like sharing a link or sending an email, does not fill me with great hopes. Sorry, not trying to start a fight here, but I've said before, if anything induces me to finally hang things up and take care of Number One, it will be those "Profiles in Apathy" that to me represent a greater threat than the antis will ever be capable of presenting.

I don't want to hear great words of Liberty and "Is it time yet?" and all the other brave words of defiance from thousands of self-professed Threepers who won't even do this small thing.  If you won't do it, if you won't help when you know in your heart you could, my guess is it will show the oppressor all he needs to know about the personal commitment of those who say they'll stand up to him.

Regulars here know I never ask anyone to do anything I'm not willing to do myself.

My envelope with my $12 annual subscription fee is in the mail.

Mike Vanderboegh

P.O. Box 926

Pinson, AL 35126.

If you agree with me, yours will be too, and you'll spread the word.

And I apologize to Mike if this embarrasses him. I did not get his permission to do this. But unless he tells me flat out that leaving this plea up will end our friendship, I'll not obey any orders from him to take this post down.

We're the Only Ones Eluded Enough

“I didn’t know an Escort could go that fast,” he said. “Not the best escape vehicle you would think.” [More]

You're right. I would think that.


[Via Hazmat]

Once You Are Approved

You can’t just go pick up a pistol license. Oneida County Judge Michael Dwyer, the county’s chief pistol license officer, requires prospective applicants to complete the first eight hours of the National Rifle Association basic pistol course.

“After that, you can make an appointment to be fingerprinted, and it’s a four-month process (background checks and more),” Sullivan said. “Once you are approved, you can buy a gun.” [More]

They're not only oath breakers, they're blasphemers.

But perhaps I'm being too hard on them, and too ungrateful for the safeguards and protections they offer: After all, if they can get the violent criminals to do this, they're keeping us all a lot safer.

And remember: Enforce existing gun laws!

We're the Only Ones Pulling Out Enough

Harpole says the 42-year-old officer, a 9-year veteran of the force, pulled out his gun and shot the man with the knife. [More]

"Only Ones" can do that in Milwaukee.

A Disarming Video

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot's gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

A follow-up letter from the sheriff's department said the CCW permit would be reevaluated following the outcome of the federal investigation. [More]

Make sure you watch the video. That's quite a gang-up. I'm surprised they didn't at least kill his dog.

So much for depending on the government for permission to keep and bear arms.  They don't like you and so much for that.  But doesn't this just show the ridiculousness of the whole presumption--that videotaping official thugs and boobs makes someone who knows them when he sees them too dangerous to be trusted with a firearm.

But he can still fly.

So say the "Only Ones."

[Via Lots of You]

We're the Only Ones Instructive Enough

An instructor for the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy is recovering from a gunshot wound suffered during a training session Tuesday in Summit County. [More]

He "was shot."

And "the shooting happened."

And no, of course they won't tell us who he is. Which will make entering his name as a Lee Paige Award finalist problematic...

Senate ducks Traver ATF vote

Had they done that—and had a vote occurred—it could have widened fractures in Democrat solidarity and further weakened the administration’s influence. [More]

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column looks at a dodged bullet, but notes the gun ain't empty yet.

And speaking of guns, why not resolve to buy one?

Shoot the link over to your friends?

This Day in History: December 24

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