"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

Stop what you're doing right now, click on the title link and watch the whole thing--it takes a little under 9 minutes.

Does anyone really think national security will be served if we don't have the money to finance the military--or anything else?

As Pat Buchanan noted recently:

We are thus in the position of having to borrow from Europe to defend Europe, of having to borrow from China and Japan to defend Chinese and Japanese access to Gulf oil, and of having to borrow from Arab emirs, sultans and monarchs to make Iraq safe for democracy.

We borrow from the nations we defend so that we may continue to defend them. To question this is an unpardonable heresy called "isolationism."

I've been called a single-issue voter, and freely admit the right to keep and bear arms is for obvious reasons the cornerstone, but it truly is all about freedom.

With what we've got facing us, anybody who doesn't put everything they've got into backing the only candidate who won't continue steering the economy over the precipice, and the only candidate who won't attack gun ownership, needs to reexamine the fundamentals.

A New Word for "Three"

But the spate of shootings begs the question: Did the castle law – which gives people the right to use whatever means necessary to protect themselves and their property without fear of civil liability – unleash a flurry of gunfire? [More]

"Spate."

Thanks, Dallas Morning News. I was looking for the answer to 14-down, triad, begins with "s"...

[Via Tony G]

I'm Mad as Hell...

Joe's Crabby Shack tells the GOP he's not going to take it any more.

We're the Only Ones While the Cat's Away Enough

A former Rockland County prosecutor is facing sex abuse, rape, and endangering charges in a case involving teenage boys... The incidents allegedly happened last summer at Modica's home in Sloatsburg while her husband, Spring Valley Police Chief Paul Modica, was out of town.

Because, you know, "The Only Ones" are so much more moral and everything than the rest of us...

[Via Declan]

Principles in Politics Matter

Even though I've left California, I've stayed on State Senator Tom McClintock's mailing list. I backed him in his run for governor and tried to warn people about Schwarzenegger, but, as with the current Ron Paul bid, the compromisers and "pragmatists" sided with the establishment, not only earning themselves the .50 ban, the lead ammo ban, microstamping--but providing a template for antis across the nation to use against the rest of us.

In his latest email, Sen. McClintock lists some bills he is supporting and opposing, along with why, and one he is neutral on, Prop. 93, Term Limits. As he explains:

Since I’ve only served eight years in the Senate, Prop. 93 would give me one final term; if it fails I must retire this year. Because I have a conflict of interest, I’m staying out if it.

Power does not corrupt if one places principles before it. Character counts. It counts.

But continue making excuses for following proven frauds--monsters, really, who have made no bones about trampling your rights into the ground, making you a criminal if you defy their edicts and destroying you if you don't comply.

Hey, maybe McCain will pick Fred as his runing mate...I guess there's no amount of excuse-making people won't tender. (And incidentally, McClintock endorsed Thompson, so I don't agree with him on everything, just as I don't agree with Paul on everything.)

Besides, "Ron Paul can't win." We've told ourselves so, and we're bound and determined to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's a lot easier than rolling up our sleeves and trying. Thank God that attitude of pre-ordained defeatism didn't stop the men who won us our freedom by putting their very lives on the line to secure it for themselves and their posterity. Against all odds--conventional wisdom said they couldn't win, either.

We can either honor them by maintaining that spirit, and realizing yeah, there actually is a price to pay, or we can posture ourselves as leaders and warn how if Hillary wins, we'll lose our gun rights!!!

Some of us won't, at least not that easily. And I'm sure there'll be no shortage of forum warriors to assure each other how such extremists make them all look bad.

Bedtime for Bono

U2 lead singer and activist Bono visited the Pentagon to discuss Africa and the fight against global poverty with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, representatives of the two men said on Wednesday.

Among the topics at the 20-minute meeting on Tuesday afternoon were U.S. plans to set up a new U.S. military command for Africa, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

OK, all you gun owners who claim the best course for our national security is to stay the course with foreign military interventions. Do you mind telling me what the hell business this globalist jet-setting environmentalist tax cheat (who expects others to fund his social engineering while he shelters his assets in foreign banks) has getting the undivided attention of the SECDEF, and why you think edging closer to George Clooney's war will better secure national interests than Washington and Jefferson's warning against "foreign entanglements"?

We're the Only Ones Clipping Your Wings Enough

A passenger who went through an airport security checkpoint -- before remembering that he had a loaded gun -- is facing charges after going back to report his error, authorities said.

Yeah, that's because he proved to them what a big threat he was. Plus, it's not like he's somebody important, like mayor Frank Melton or state senator Juan Hinojosa, or district court judge Sylvia James or anybody...

Note to everyone: "The Only One" functionaries are not your friends. And based on results, they're not much in the way of protectors, either.

He should have walked back out and did whatever he needed to to secure the gun, even if it meant missing his plane. It sure would have been a lot cheaper than what he's facing now.

See what trying to be a good citizen gets you?

I'd have been tempted to proceed with my flight and take care of things on the other end. But then, that's hypothetical, because I've never been in possession of a firearm where I didn't damn well know it.

Now, here's another story about TSA professionalism I thought would brighten your morning, courtesy of Jeffrey H...

Like Father, Like Son

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin survived four bullet wounds in Norris Hall, said he and other families of the Tech victims will continue to push for the legislation.

I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree...

Do you have "full trust" in the police to protect you, too, Andrew?

CeaseFire PA Director's Watch: 01/24/08

Whoever warned me to "erase [my] tracks" from the Internet over this sure has been quiet lately. Maybe it's the calm before the storm...?

This Day in History: January 24

...in 1776, Colonel Henry Knox reached the headquarters of the Continental Army in Cambridge. The young Boston bookseller had pulled off a daring plan. He had led a small group of men on a 300-mile journey from Boston to Fort Ticonderoga in New York State. Once there, the party disassembled cannon taken when the British surrendered the fort and retreated to Canada in May 1775. In less than two months time, Knox and his men moved 60 tons of artillery across lakes and rivers, through ice and snow to Boston. On March 7th, 2,000 Continental soldiers maneuvered the guns to a hill overlooking the city. The British had no choice but to evacuate Boston.

The Hallowed Halls of Learning

Rather than being the bastions of tolerance and diversity they portray themselves as, our institutions of higher learning have proven themselves rigidly anti-defense to the point of hysteria.

Nothing WarOnGuns regulars don't know...

"The Hallowed Halls of Learning," my Rights Watch column for the March 2008 issue of GUNS Magazine, is now online.

They're Awake

Is anybody still awake at the White House?

Here's another opinion piece that's, on the whole, pretty good, but I believe still misses a point.

I just don't see this as a "blunder."

I see it as a deliberate and premeditated act of sabotage.

Hard to Believe

Is it really that hard to believe that the Administration would lurch to the left on the issue of guns?

Good article on the whole.

I'm to the point where there's not much anyone could tell me about the "Vote Freedom First President" that I'd find hard to believe.

Everyone looking for some kind of genius glass-half-full strategy in this is either an apparatchik or whistling past the graveyard.

Apparently for some, the truth is what's hard to believe.

[Via Mack]

CeaseFire PA Director's Watch: 01/23/08

I've been feeling kind of alone in trying to get appropriate recognition for achievement, so I figured the college paper might be interested...

A Question for the Pragmatists

Now that Fred has bowed out, some gun owners are predictably scrambling to the Mitt and McCain camps.

Noting that the "Vote Freedom First President" narrowly won both elections only with the strong support of gun owners, does anyone think either of the Republican front runners can pull it off without that strong support?

My Kind of Protest, Part 2

SailorCurt gives a first-hand account, with pictures, of the rally we visited yesterday.

[Via Clint]

This Day in History: January 23

You must be fully sensible of the Hardship imposed upon Individuals, and how detrimental it must be to the Public, to have her Farmers and Tradesmen frequently called into the Field as Militia-men, whereby a total Stop is put to Arts & Agriculture, without which We can not possibly long subsist. But great as this Inconvenience is, We must put up with it, or submit to a greater, the total Loss of our Liberties, untill our regular Continental Army can be brought into the Field.

And Then There Were Five...

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states.

OK, gun owners for Fred.

Now what?

Hmmm...??

About Last Night...

Anybody catch the pander-fest?

First of all, can you imagine if someone proposed a Congressional White Caucus?

The way all three of these creatures tried to out-self-abase each other was nothing short of disgusting, not to mention frightening. Nothing like stoking the fires of resentment, hostility and entitlement to further divide the Republic...I mean, democracy.

Barack making repeated references to Edwards being a white man, and telling us he hasn't seen Bill Clinton dance so he can't say if he's a brother, made me wonder exactly why Jimmy the Greek's career was ruined.

I find it more than curious how not only the left, but especially the false right, is trying to paint Ron Paul as a racist, with this blatant hypocrisy shoved right in everybody's faces by CNN, with none of the usual suspects saying a word.

Forgive me if I just don't get it. I come from the school that says if you treat me like a human being, I'll treat you like a human being.

Everything else is just ignorance, propagated by those who don't know any better, or in the case of some who stand to gain power, those who do, and are counting on the fallout.

We're the Only Ones Automatically Recovered Enough

Wayne police have found a rapid-fire submachine gun that had been missing for at least two weeks.

But they won't say exactly where the nine-millimeter weapon turned up on Monday.

Oh, gee, I wonder why.

We might ask the "Authorized Journalists" why they didn't press on this point, or what New Jersey "Only Ones" intend to do with such weapons--particularly when, based on results we can see the lax control they employ in their keeping. But I'm actually more interested in finding out where one can get a magazine for an MP5 that's between around 22 and 27 feet long to accommodate being able to "shoot 700 to 900 rounds per minute."