This Day in History: February 10

"That an Exchange of all Prisoners now in our possession, Officer for Officer, Soldier for Soldier and Citizen for Citizen, so far as number and rank will apply," be carried into execution, as expeditiously as the nature of the case will admit, and without regard to any controverted point, which might prove an impediment to so desireable an End. And here, as I may not clearly understand your meaning when you say "In the mean time I shall wait the arrival of the British Officers whom you have released upon their paroles, and shall without delay send an equal number to you in return"; I take occasion to request, that you will be pleased to favor me with an explanation; Whether you intend to consider such Officers on both sides, as still continuing under the Obligation of a parole, or as absolutely exchanged in pursuance of the General Cartel. I see no reason why an effectual exchange should not, at once, operate with respect to them.

Looks Like It's a Moot Point

"With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero."

Which means Ron Paul publicly admits he cannot win the GOP nomination, which is no surprise. Some of us were holding out another hope.

"Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run."

That's a significant departure from "I have no plans to run," which he's said before and which would have given him an out should he have been drafted. If I am to take him at his word, and I've backed him so far because I have, this is unequivocal, and dashes all hopes.

So he's trimming staff and focusing on his congressional seat. Fine, but where does that leave the national movement?

I guess, according to his Rah Rah team, the plan is to go to the convention and keep getting out the message . We've seen how the mainstream media has managed to stymie that tactic.

If it's a matter of getting out the message of liberty, why not do that directly instead of diluting it with the distraction of running what he admits is a losing campaign? If he focus on the one, he detracts from the other--if he wants to run a liberty message campaign, as opposed to a presidential one, what's the plan? He says he has one, but he said he had a plan to win the presidency, too.

Come back to me when you have a plan you can share, Doc, but don't expect me to stay revved up by this.

I see no reason to put any more energy or reputation into stumping for this guy if that's his final answer. Does the campaign think this will do anything but immediately discourage future contributions?

I have to admit I am tremendously disappointed by this. I don't take back anything I've said, because my support for his candidacy has always been based on the information at hand. And I certainly don't take back anything I've said about the other GOP frauds we're expected to roll over for.

So no, don't expect any "lesser of two evils" backtracking here--I'll continue to speak out on that train of abuses as I think circumstances merit--as well as doing what I can to decry Hillary and Obama outrages.

I would like to see someone from the Paul campaign give me some credible reasons why we should spend one more minute talking about his apparent non-campaign, though. And yeah, I'll still vote for him in the primary out of protest. But with this latest development, you're going to have to come up with your own reasons for doing the same.

I'm going to end this for now and put it aside before I say something based on emotion. I don't think this is an indictment on Paul's character, message or principles-- I've just never seen admitting you can't win as a particularly effective strategy for effecting change before, and unless someone can give me some compelling arguments to change my mind, I've got my own agenda to focus on.

I'm open to hearing why I shouldn't do just that.

WND Makes Straightarrow a Star

"Using the agency's own standards, this agent should be headed to the slam," wrote straightarrow on the blog managed by Ryan Horsley at Red's Trading Post in Idaho.

"Because it was left in a TSA secured area for anyone to pick up, anyone who found it was a prohibited person due to location," he said...

Continued straightarrow, "No matter whether the firearm gets sent to the FTB, this officer made a 'willful' illegal transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person or persons. … She willfully went to the restroom, she willfully removed her firearm from her person and she willfully departed sans firearm. When should we expect the indictment and the expert government witnesses to tell a judge to trust them, she is guilty and he doesn't need to know anymore?"

I guess now that he's hit the big time, he won't have time for us, the little people, any more...

Are there like, famous blog commentator groupies or anything...?

[Via Ryan Horsley]

And Now from the Candidate the VC* Love to Hate

Congressman Ron Paul has signed on to a letter to the President asking that an amicus curiae brief filed by U.S Solicitor General Paul D. Clement on DC v. Heller, otherwise known as the DC Gun Ban Case, be withdrawn...

Congressman Paul, as a strict constitutionalist and in keeping with his strong record on gun rights, has signed on to another brief submitted by several members of Congress which asks the Supreme Court to uphold the lower courts decision and allow the precedent of applying a stricter standard of review for gun control cases to stand.

Funny. I wonder why no headlines or announcements from Fairfax...?

The Paul campaign apparently has to pay for a press release on this, even though Paul is a presidential candidate and Cheney is not, and even though Paul signed onto two Heller-related documents and Cheney only signed one--and not the one directly challenging the "Vote Freedom First" President. Now that would be news.

It's a good thing I'm not suspicious or cynical, or I'd start to wonder if maybe the information I was getting had some sort of agenda behind it. I hate it when that happens, because then I just can't devote full attention to enjoying my Kool-Aid.

* Vichy "Conservatives"

They're Ba..ack...

Regular visitors know this has been going on for some time, both here and at Red's Blog. I literally had a dozen visits yesterday from various federal agencies, so I decided to see what would happen when I pinged back--this goes to BATFU's Freedom of Information Act edress:




And I wrote the following to Ryan:

I wonder, Ryan--should we be saving these and giving them to your attorney--having him ask BATFU about what they're doing, under oath and in front of the judge...? Because really, this is irrelevant to any alleged infractions they find in your shop--totally outside the scope of what they have even the pretence of a rationale to be investigating. This definitely shows a motive to go after you by investigating your First Amendment activities...and the fact that they don't mask it, while they will say shows they're not hiding anything--has the second edge of being chilling, with citizens knowing people who bust down doors and haul people off (the ones they don't shoot) are scrutinizing them.

A lesser man would have clammed up the first time this happened.

I mean seriously--what does this have to do with any "violation" they could possibly find at Red's Trading Post, with either your paperwork or your inventory? If there is no direct correlation, why the hell are they expending government time and resources looking at websites? Who authorized what is now demonstrably an ongoing investigation, and why? If it's not a form of harassment, what is it?

I'd like to see those *s have to answer those questions in front of a judge.

*-Sanitized for your protection

Huge Dick News!

Cheney Joins Congress In Opposing D.C. Gun Ban
Vice President Breaks With Administration

I mean, it must be huge. It's front page stuff with all the right "Authorized Journalists"--you know, like the ones we've learned to trust over at We Black Out--You Swallow:

Even Wayne 'n Chris have jumped on the bandwagon, so it's gotta be something big! I mean, Lord knows they don't select what they want to emphasize (or ignore) for just anything...

What?
Oldest trick in the book...?
Haven't I ever heard of "Good Cop/Bad Cop"?

What do you mean the administration is hedging its bets, playing both sides against the middle? You say if they were really serious, the "Vote Freedom First" President would have ordered his Solicitor General to take it back...? That we're being played like a cheap violin, and we're so desperate to deny it we'll actually fall for this being significant? That it's design, not accident that so much emphasis is being placed on this story?

See, that kind of tinfoil hat conspiracy kook cycnicism just divides us, which is what our enemies want. Plus it makes us dribble Kool-Aid all over our nice new McCain for President T-shirts.

Now if only we could figure out who are enemies are, we'd know in which direction we should unite...

Little Lies

McCain Signs Heller Brief!!!

Wonderful! Now we can convince ourselves he's our pal!

I mean, it's not like he's already broken any oaths or anything...

Ms. McVie, you're up...

Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies
(tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you cant disguise
(you cant disguise, no you cant disguise)
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies

There. Don't we all feel better now?

The Jackboot on the Other Foot

A handgun found unattended inside a TSA Secure Zone at an International Airport one might even consider that a crime. If it were a crime, then according to the "ATF Evidence Collection Handbook", the firearm should be sent to ATF Firearms Technology Branch [FTB] for proper classification.

Why is this relevant? There are only (2) female special agents at the Milwaukee ATF Field Office, [according to my sources, not yet confirmed]. I am told both female agents were involved in US v. Olofson. So that amounts to a 100% chance of this agent being involved in Olofson's prosecution, and a 50% chance of being the same agent from ATF who prosecuted Mr. Olofson, [as the lead agent in Olofson's case was Jody Keeku].

Len Savage weighs in on the great BATFU Bathroom Brouhaha.

The institutionalized hypocrisy and elitist arrogance shouldn't surprise us at all any more.

We're the Only Ones Friendly Enough

As Boston police prepare to go into some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods, knock on doors of private houses, and ask if they can search for illegal guns without a warrant, officials are trying to pitch the idea of the plan as friendly cooperation to residents who still see it as a threatening intrusion.

A friendly looking logo - a drawing of a house surrounded by the sun - adorns the brochure police have drafted to explain and promote the initiative, "Safe Homes." Photos of officers playing baseball with children and chatting with teenagers dot the pamphlet.

Well there's a rose in the fisted glove...

Oh, but it's "voluntary"...

The very concept ought to be offensive to a free people. As it is, the offensive concept for most is freedom.

Massachusetts again, I see...where "The Only Ones" intend to make sure they are the only ones.
What did Mr. Franklin say about exchanging Liberty for Safety...?

These people are starting to sound like Vichy "conservatives", or as I'm going to start to call them, The VC...

This Day in History: February 9

On February 9, 1775, Parliament declared Massachusetts to be "in a state of rebellion," and events began to move ever quicker. The colonists' local Committee of Public Safety, which included a number of prominent Dorchester men, responded with a vote to procure arms and supplies for an army of up to 15,000 and to organize local contingents of Minutemen into companies of 50 volunteers each.

And now these heirs of Liberty give us Teddy Kennedy.

John Kerry's Favorite Republican

McCain, Kerry United by Ideology, Divided by Party

It's not hard to deduce John Kerry's favorite Republican. The same person is also one of the Bush administration's least favorite Republicans - John McCain.

McCain: I'd 'entertain' Democratic VP slot

"John Kerry is a close friend of mine. We have been friends for years," McCain said Wednesday when pressed to squelch speculation about a Kerry-McCain ticket. "Obviously I would entertain it."

John Kerry: McCain Approached Me About Joining Dem Ticket in 2004

According to Sen. Kerry, it was John McCain's staff who approached his campaign about potentially filling the Vice President slot on the Democratic ticket in 2004.

Kerry Aides See McCain As Perfect Running Mate

"If there is a consensus among Kerry aides about who would be the boldest and most potent pick, it is Senator John S. McCain of Arizona -- a Republican."

McCain a liberal demagogue

In 2004, one of John McCain's closest associates, John Weaver, spoke to John Kerry about the possibility of McCain running as Kerry's vice presidential running mate. In "No Excuses," Bob Shrum's memoir of his role in numerous presidential campaigns, including Kerry's, Shrum writes that Weaver assured Kerry that "McCain was serious about the possibility of teaming up with him," and Kerry approached McCain.

Need I go on? Are our memories really that short? Are gun owners truly that oblivious?

God damn you idiot Vichy "conservatives" who are pushing this fraud on those who don't know any better.

What the hell is wrong with you?

Yes, I Know...

The blog is loading maddeningly slow. It's been doing this for the past few days, and is particuarly irritating when you click on an embedded link and then try to return to the post you were reading.

I suspect it's Blogrolling--the links to other sites in the left sidebar. The way it works is, it loads first and delays everything else until it times out. Or something--I've said it before, the tech side ain't my strong suit.

I'm hoping this is just a glitch they'll get resolved, and soon, because I put too damn much work into this to have it rendered inacessible by what is supposed to be an enhancement tool. I have neither the knowledge nor the time to do anything other than just delete the blogroll. Of course, it could also be these stupid Google ads--they take up a lot of space and the return for ceding that is pretty much pathetic. But I'm almost up to the first hundred bucks and they don't pay off until you reach that threshhold, so I'm not going to throw in the towel this close to the goal (only $9.74 to go after what, a month-and-a-half?).

If anybody else is experiencing similar technical difficulties on your blog, please advise.

"We Want Change!"

Yes We Can!

Sí Se Puede! With a clenched fist for emphasis! (I wish Barack Obama would stop encroaching on John McCain's and Mike Huckabee's turf.)

Yes you can...what?

For most, it's all about slogans and feeling good, and the vacuous celebrities lending their dubious talents to this video prove the point. Between the production itself and most of the comments, this is like concentrated stupid.

If you want to prove it to yourself, ask a random Obama supporter to name one concrete accomplishment of his that falls within the legitimate Consitutionally-enumerated powers of a senator. You'll probably get something back like "He cares..."

And "We want change!"

We're the Only Ones Pooped After a Long Flight Enough

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said a special agent returning to Mitchell International Airport at Milwaukee left her firearm in a bathroom there Tuesday night.

And naturally we don't know her name and nothing has happened to her. But she gets to take her gun along when she travels because she's obviously so much more responsible with it than you and I would be.

Oh, and "she's embarrassed." Well la-de-frickin'-dah. I guess we should just be grateful she made it to the bathroom on time, though, because we all know how unsightly stained man slacks can be.

Just what would BATFU do if a dealer could't account for a gun? Hell, they want to close family businesses down for accepting "Y" or "N" on a few forms.

We'll keep an eye on this one--there may be more of interest to come...

[Via Len Savage]

We're the Only Ones Not Threatened Enough

"I specifically asked the officer, 'did he threaten you?' She said no. I said, 'did he threaten any other child?' And she said no.

So what better reason to slap the cuffs on a child?

I wonder what this brave "Only One" would be prepared to do against someone who was threatening her, along with the children she is paid to protect?

[Via DONE! SEO]

Money, Money, Who's Got the Money?

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

So if it's OK to use alternative foreign currency as legal tender, can someone please explain to me why the feds raided Liberty Dollar?

And yeah, that's a rhetorical question. As is the title of this post.

UPDATE: I guess some people read into things what they want. For the record, in case it wasn't clear, what I'm pointing out is the unfairness of unequal treatment. If a business owner wants to accept obsolete Deuchmarks or even informed consent forms in exchange for goods and services, that's between him and his customer.

What's in a Name?

CeaseFire Maryland...failed to file the corporate personal property returns as required by state law.

So by law, they forfeited the state charters of both that name and also Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, which were promptly picked up and registered by pro-RKBA activists. It also upsets a gubernatorial appointment to the Maryland Handgun Roster Board.

Read the whole thing. What a hoot.

Excellent heads-up action from the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore!

[Via Stephen Stamboulieh]

"Everyone Should Have a Plan"

A Public Service Photo Essay from Your Department of Homeland Security

DHS has a plan. Do you?

[Thanks to SameNoKami for the Real ID article link]

"A Good Listen"

That's how WarOnGuns correspondent HZ describes this interview featuring IllinoisCarry.com spokeswoman Valinda Rowe.

I haven't had a chance to hear it yet, but I have a lot of confidence in HZ's opinion and will get to it as soon as I can pay proper attention.

Paul Names Foreign Policy Advisor

Regarding the campaign, Professor Pape said, “Ron Paul's campaign is making a lasting contribution to the security of the United States and its allies. Indeed, I often tell audiences ‘Ron Paul has the right foreign policy to safeguard America.'"

Here's more on Pape, as well as bio sumaries for foreign policy team members Ivan Eland and Leon Hadar.

This has been the subject of much discussion here at WarOnGuns, where foreign policy in general, and the Iraq war in particular, have been raised as sticking points. I found this analysis from another post's comments thoughtful and compelling, and agree with most of what the writer had to say.