Diane Watson (D) CA on Castro Care

I heard this this morning, and it made me ill. So, of course, I had to share. The below is really just audio.



Ms. Watson's tone, her loving admiration for Che Guevara, a murdering thug, and Castro, a dictator that provides amazing services only to the political elite, not to the rank and file Cuban, really caused me an almost physical response. I'm revolted.

Reason TV did a great job of discussing who the real Che Guevara was (along with some other communist "revolutionary" figures):



Glenn Beck, who has an amazing research staff (if you don't like Glenn, please feel free to check the facts for yourself):



Che Guevara and Fidel Castro were and are filthy murderers. They do not deserve to be remembered with reverence, they do not deserve to be idolized. If you believe in human rights, these two should go down in history with Stalin and other dictatorial mass murderers.

If you're looking for more gems from Diane Watson, they're not hard to find:

A quick one--that Coexist Bumper Sticker

This is the best retort to the "Coexist" bumper sticker I've seen to date.



Don't get me wrong. I'm all for the concept. I'm just not the one standing in the way of implementation.

The Armed Citizen

Lowell Wilson heard a noise coming from the bedroom where his wife was resting and went to investigate. When he tried to open the door, a man closed it, so Wilson retrieved his gun. "My wife is blind, and she thought it was me [in the room]," he said. "He opened the door ... and stuck his head out. He said, 'It's cool, man. It's cool.'" But it was far from "cool." Wilson shot the intruder, who fled with an accomplice. Police planned to charge the injured suspect after his release from the hospital. Wilson said he'll always feel safe in his home as long as he has something to use for protection. "I know I can take care of myself," he said. (The Times News, Kingsport, TN, 03/11/2006)

A pair of surprises occurred inside a Michigan residence in March. The first was on the part of the homeowner who awoke in the early morning hours to find a woman he didn't know counting his cash on the dining room table. The second was on the part of the intruder when the homeowner drew a handgun and detained her for police. The woman, wanted for writing bad checks, was arrested on suspicion of home invasion. (Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI, 03/23/2006)

According to authorities, a 29-year-old man entered the bedroom window of a sleeping 70-year-old Tom Ritter and his wife, and viciously stabbed Ritter with a knife. Ritter's wife, awakened by the commotion, fired one round from her revolver into the intruder's chest. Ritter was listed in stable condition. The suspect was under police observation in the intensive-care unit at another hospital. (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, TX, 03/26/2006)

When a man heard his doorbell ringing incessantly, he ignored it in hopes that the person would go away. But, shortly thereafter, he heard a pounding at his back door; so he grabbed a firearm as a precaution and went to investigate. According to police, the man then saw someone trying to force his door open, and when he pulled back the window blinds, he saw an arm reach through a broken window. The homeowner fired one shot, striking his assailant in the chest. The would-be intruder ran around the front of the home, collapsed and died. (Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis, IN, 04/13/2006)

Jason Goettsch knew something wasn't right when he saw a man in his back yard in the early morning hours, because it meant the prowler had scaled Goettsch's fence. According to authorities, Goettsch went into his back yard with a handgun, yelling that he was armed and had called the police. At first, he didn't see anyone, but when he walked around the corner of his home, the prowler appeared and swung a baseball bat at him. Goettsch shot his attacker twice, killing him. (The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, 3/14/2006)

According to police, four young men intended to burglarize the home of an elderly couple. Two men wearing masks entered the home and woke up the couple. After a verbal exchange, the woman yelled to her husband to get his gun. The man was on his way when the suspects ran from the house, got in their car and fled the scene. The homeowners called 9-1-1, and the suspected burglars were apprehended shortly afterward. (Echo Press, Alexandria, MN, 04/19/2006)

Dressed in black with socks on his hands and armed with a tire iron, a would-be robber certainly looked the part as he approached the southwest Houston home of 26-year-old Derriun Raney and knocked on the door. Police say that when Raney opened the door, the man struck him in the head repeatedly with the tire iron. Raney drew a pistol and fired several shots, striking his assailant in the stomach. The unidentified man died in the front yard. Raney suffered a cut on his head, but was otherwise uninjured. (Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, 04/15/2006)

The same day in another Houston incident, police say two men armed with handguns approached Antione Reshad Carter as he arrived home. One ordered Carter to his knees and took his wallet and cell phone, while the other thug got into Carter's car. The man robbing Carter was threatening to kill him when the man in the vehicle shot at Carter, missing him. Then Carter took action, pulling out his pistol and killing the mugger, while the other man sped off in Carter's car, struck another vehicle and then fled on foot. (Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, 04/15/2006)

Want even more stories? Visit the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

Other accounts of self-defense collected on this blog:
Shopkeeper Defends Himself and Employees,
2nd Amendment Saves a Pregnant Woman,
Armed Student Saves 10 People,
2nd Amendment vs. a Serial Rapist,
Crime Spree Stopped with the Simple Presentation of a Firearm.

Failures of Gun Control:
UK Government under reports gun violence to pretend their policies work,
Scotland holds a Summit on their Failed Gun Policies, Chicago's gun ban continues to fail,
Real Women's Rights (This one includes one of my favorite personal accounts),
Opposition to CA AB 2062,
Knife Control?!,
Protecting Children through Gun Control?,
Futility of the Gun Banning Philosophy,
A Contrast to VA Tech.

Thoughts just prior to the release of DC v. Heller, with one of the best appellate court quotations ever.

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting. Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas in which to slaughter innocents.

Why no one should support gun control.

Carrying a Firearm is an Inherently Civilized Act.

Right to Carry Statistics.

Does Violence Beget Violence?

Former Marine asks Congressman Brian Baird tough questions

This is well worth your time to watch.

The Armed Citizen

The 15th post of the Armed Citizen is a bit of a milestone. The goal of these posts is to consistently demonstrate that lawful owners of firearms are saved from harm, often by the simple presentation of a firearm, far more often than whackjob criminals go out and commit atrocities with guns. The difference is the media loves to cover the whackjobs much more than the lawful citizens. In part, that's simply sensationalism to sell ads, but it's hard to argue against the fact there is an anti-firearm bias in the news that isn't justified by either statistics or anecdotal evidence.

When a man dressed in black approached a woman on the street, implied he had a gun and demanded cash, she initially tried the passive approach. Police say that although she had a concealed-carry permit and a revolver tucked away, she handed some money over and hoped the robber would leave. But when that didn't work, and fearing her life was in danger, the victim drew her revolver and pointed it at the robber, who ran away. According to a police officer, "She was in fear of her life, and she defended herself appropriately." (The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ, 03/08/2006)

"I turned around and saw these guys come in with hoods over their faces," recalled Linda Lewis, a grocery store employee who lay down on the floor in fear of impending violence. "I thought we'd be next," she said, after hearing two shots. But what she heard was an armed citizen with a concealed-carry permit coming to the rescue. According to authorities, the suspects, one of them holding a pistol, approached the register and demanded cash. A customer waiting in line nearby pulled out a revolver and shot the armed bandit, causing him and his accomplice to flee in a sedan. (Tulsa World, Tulsa, OK, 03/19/2006)

Note: It's very frequent that the criminals think things are like what you see on television. If the criminal pulls a gun, he will be unopposed, get what he wants, maybe hurt someone, then leave. Only the police can come and stop him or investigate the crime. When that preconceived scenario is firmly dissolved, criminals seem to flee. This is an indisputable win for the lawful firearms owner. In this story, no one was killed, but he criminal was stopped, the business owner suffered no loss, and the criminal very likely will think twice about ever attempting this again.

A 75-year-old grandmother had problems with people trying to break into her home, which is why she bought a small pistol she fondly calls "the peacekeeper." So she was ready when, according to police, two teens came looking for trouble. The burglars could not see the woman, but with the assistance of a mirror, she observed them breaking into her door while she tried to dial 9-1-1. Once inside, the thugs found themselves face-to-face with the woman's pistol, and one look was all it took for them to flee. Police caught up with the suspects after a brief pursuit. (NewsChannel5, Cleveland, OH, 03/07/2006)

When Edward Lucas, Sr., checked to see why the neighbor's German shepherd was barking in the early morning hours, he found a man trying to break through his door. "I yelled, 'Get out of my house!' but he kept coming," Lucas said. "I was scared to death." The 63-year-old then grabbed a .22-cal. rifle and yelled for his girlfriend to jump out the window and call the police at a neighbor's house. According to police, when the intruder crashed through the door, Lucas shot at him at least four times. The assailant, who had 14 criminal convictions including seven felonies, died on the scene. (Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, FL, 03/06/2006)

Note: As opposed to the "Scenario-driven" criminal above, hardened criminals seem to try to execute their plans no matter what obstacles they encounter. Many of these stories also involve drugs, which would help explain unreasonable insistence by criminals in the face of credible resistance by their intended victims. The loss of human life is a always a tragedy, but it is always better that a felon multiple times over should lose his life while trying to victimize someone than that the crime succeed, possibly with innocent loss of life. It is a sad truth that what the courts can not stop will sometimes only be stopped by a justifiable homicide. This indicates a problem with our system; situations should never come to that. Someone who has committed 7 felonies should never see the outside of a prison again, so an innocent citizen is never faced with the imminent fear of death that forces him to take a criminal's life and live with the very real psychological and often legal repercussions of that act. Even when the criminal does not survive to brutalize, the lawful citizen is often still made a victim. That also indicates a problem with our system.

A pregnant woman was lying on the couch in her home when she heard the mini-blinds on her kitchen door rustle. Police say the woman, whose 1- and 3-year-old children were also in the home, got up to investigate and found a man trying to break in. When she spotted him, he ran around the corner of the duplex to the front door and tried to kick it in. The woman warned the prowler that she had a gun. When he replied that he also had a gun, she shot at him and he returned fire. The intruder was hit in the chest and died on the way to the hospital. No one else was injured. (The Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, NC, 03/15/2006)

There can be no more basic nor noble instinct than that of a mother protecting her children. That this woman had to use deadly force is awful. That she saved her three children is a testament to the power and necessity of lawful self-defense.

Police were still investigating an odd string of events that ended with a home invasion. Witnesses said the intruder approached at least four homes, banging on and breaking windows and jumping over chain-link fences before breaking through Pete Frinks' front door. "It's scary that he would do this in broad daylight, knowing people are in the house," said a neighbor. Police say the man approached Frinks, who later described the intruder as acting "aggressively" and "irrationally." In fear of his life, Frinks grabbed a handgun and shot his assailant in the chest, killing him. (Florida Today, Melbourne, FL, 02/22/2006)

The manager of a cell phone store was behind the counter when two men brandishing pistols burst inside. Police say one would-be robber jumped over the counter and slammed the manager to the ground. A store employee tried to run, but she fell, and the crook behind the counter grabbed her arm and put a gun to her head. At that point, the manager grabbed his own handgun and shot the man holding the female employee, then shot the second robber as well. The suspects fled the store, but the manager identified one of them when he turned up at the hospital. (The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, 03/05/2006)

Want even more stories? Visit the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

Other accounts of self-defense collected on this blog:
Shopkeeper Defends Himself and Employees,
2nd Amendment Saves a Pregnant Woman,
Armed Student Saves 10 People,
2nd Amendment vs. a Serial Rapist,
Crime Spree Stopped with the Simple Presentation of a Firearm.

Failures of Gun Control:
UK Government under reports gun violence to pretend their policies work,
Scotland holds a Summit on their Failed Gun Policies, Chicago's gun ban continues to fail,
Real Women's Rights (This one includes one of my favorite personal accounts),
Opposition to CA AB 2062,
Knife Control?!,
Protecting Children through Gun Control?,
Futility of the Gun Banning Philosophy,
A Contrast to VA Tech.

Thoughts just prior to the release of DC v. Heller, with one of the best appellate court quotations ever.

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting. Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas in which to slaughter innocents.

Why no one should support gun control.

Carrying a Firearm is an Inherently Civilized Act.

Right to Carry Statistics.

Does Violence Beget Violence?

Sharia in America

Most of Islam is actually peaceful. It's a personal faith. However, there's also a branch of political Islam that seeks to enforce Shari'a, or Koranic law on everyone, whether we wish to be subject to it or not. Please note that Shari'a law is not compatible with the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Armed Citizen

A man's reputation for generosity is, sadly, what may have nearly killed him. Police said a 29-year-old neighbor, whom the man had helped in the past, knocked on the front door and asked to use the phone. But that was not all he wanted. After talking on the phone, the young man asked for cash, which the homeowner refused to give him. That's when the 6-foot-1-inch, 250-pound neighbor attacked the homeowner with a knife, viciously stabbing him. In the ensuing struggle, the homeowner retrieved a handgun and shot his assailant once in the chest, killing him. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was recovering from stab wounds. (South Bend Tribune, South Bend, Ind., 02/07/2006)

The motivation behind a brutal assault in Oregon has yet to be determined. According to police, a man answered a knock at his front door and quickly found himself under attack by a stranger wielding a collapsible metal baton. The intruder beat the victim on his head and back, while yelling that he was going to kill the man as they fought throughout the first floor of the two-story dwelling. The victim managed to break free and run to his upstairs bedroom. It was there that he grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and turned the tables. He shot the intruder at least twice, killing him. (The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore., 02/11/2006)

After an 87-year-old woman's home was burglarized, her daughter gave her a .38-caliber handgun so she’d be prepared if it happened again. That gesture may have saved the senior citizen's life. According to the police, early one morning, the woman awoke to the sound of a man breaking into her home. Calling for help wasn't an option; he had cut her phone wires. After the man removed the security bars from the woman's porch and attempted to access the front door, she fired a round from her pistol. The would-be intruder lay dead on the woman's porch for nearly four hours before her daughter showed up for breakfast. "She couldn't call for help and was afraid to go outside," said a state policeman. Authorities are investigating whether the man, a career criminal, was also responsible for the first burglary. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo., 02/07/2006)

Sandra Phillips was about to take her two dogs for a walk when, according to police, an armed assailant dressed in black and wearing a ninja-style mask grabbed her outside her garage. The woman struggled, broke away and ran screaming into the house with the attacker in pursuit. Her screams awoke her husband, Lou Phillips, who grabbed his .357 Mag. revolver and fired three times. The intruder died at the scene. He had been carrying a gun, handcuffs, tarps, a blindfold and, curiously, a pocket full of hot dogs. The local police chief said the incident was "completely out of the blue" for the town. (The San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, Calif., 02/28/2006)

Um, hot dogs? Really? And the SFPD won't issue a CCW permit for any reason...

According to police, Perry Stephens walked out of an auto parts store and grabbed his .45-caliber handgun after hearing a man yell for help. The citizen in distress was an off-duty police officer working as an escort for a funeral procession. The officer had pulled a man over for illegally entering the line of mourners, and the man became irate over the traffic ticket he was issued, knocking the officer to the ground and throwing punches at his face. As the officer cried for help a second time, Stephens ordered the man to get off the policeman. When he did not comply, Stephens shot the man four times in the chest and again ordered him to get off the officer, who had also shot the man once. Incredibly, the man continued his assault, Stephens shot him in the head, killing him. (The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La., 02/21/2006)

I have always said that the police should feel very comfortable with the idea that should they find themselves in trouble, lawfully armed citizens with the proper training will show up to help. What criminal would open fire or otherwise attack an officer if he knew 5 armed citizens might show up and aid the officer? I've never understood the hostility displayed toward lawfully armed citizens (or the mere idea) by some law enforcement departments.

A man was talking to a friend outside his home one evening when four men approached and forced them inside the home at gunpoint. According to police, the suspects made the victim kneel on his living room floor, then forced him into his bedroom where they demanded money and property. The victim reached into his nightstand, but instead of grabbing cash, he produced a .38-caliber pistol. When the intruders attempted to wrest the gun away, he shot one of them twice in the torso, prompting the others to flee the scene. The injured burglar was later pronounced dead at the hospital. (The Reporter, Vacaville, Calif., 02/09/2006)

Want even more stories? Visit the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

Other accounts of self-defense collected on this blog:
2nd Amendment Saves a Pregnant Woman,
Armed Student Saves 10 People,
2nd Amendment vs. a Serial Rapist,
Crime Spree Stopped with the Simple Presentation of a Firearm.

Failures of Gun Control:
UK Government under reports gun violence to pretend their policies work,
Scotland holds a Summit on their Failed Gun Policies, Chicago's gun ban continues to fail,
Real Women's Rights (This one includes one of my favorite personal accounts),
Opposition to CA AB 2062,
Knife Control?!,
Protecting Children through Gun Control?,
Futility of the Gun Banning Philosophy,
A Contrast to VA Tech.

Thoughts just prior to the release of DC v. Heller, with one of the best appellate court quotations ever.

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting. Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas in which to slaughter innocents.

Why no one should support gun control.

Carrying a Firearm is an Inherently Civilized Act.

Right to Carry Statistics.

Does Violence Beget Violence?

I guess we didn't learn from the 70's

A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.

GBS attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal.

The letter, sent to about 600 neurologists on July 29, is the first sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications.

It refers to the use of a similar swine flu vaccine in the United States in 1976 when:

* More people died from the vaccination than from swine flu.
* 500 cases of GBS were detected.
* The vaccine may have increased the risk of contracting GBS by eight times.
* The vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when the link with GBS became clear.
* The US Government was forced to pay out millions of dollars to those affected.

The source is the Daily Mail in the U.K., full article here.

Shopkeeper Defends Himself and Employees

MSNBC story from the Associated Press here.

72-year-old Charles "Gus" Augusto Jr., a wholesaler of commercial restaurant equipment had been up all night, questioned by police about how he'd drawn a shotgun and killed two of four armed robbery suspects who entered his Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame store Thursday afternoon.

When 4 robbers walked in at about 3 p.m. and confronted Augusto with guns, "I didn't want to shoot them," he said, sitting bleary-eyed in his dusty, windowless warehouse, with a fly swatter hanging above his head.

He said the bandits drew their handguns, yelling, "Where's the money? Where's the money?"

They pistol-whipped a worker and waved a weapon at a cashier's face, he said.

"There is no money," Augusto said he told them. "Go home."

Stashed away nearby was the 12-gauge shotgun he bought decades ago and said he had never used since a test-fire. He reached for it when he sensed one of the men was about to shoot, and pulled the trigger once.

"I hoped after the first shot they would go away," he said.

When they didn't, continuing to menace his employees, he fired again, and again.

Police said one of the men collapsed and died outside the door, just feet from a Baptist church.

"He died in the hands of God," said a neighborhood resident, Vincent Gayle, pointing to the blood-spattered pavement by the church. "But what goes around comes around."

Another fatally wounded suspect managed to cross the street, leaving a trail of blood before he collapsed. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

More blood led police to the other two suspects, who were arrested and taken to the hospital. Charges against them were pending.

Police said Augusto didn't have a required permit for the weapon used in the headline-grabbing shooting the Daily News called a "Pump-Action Ending."

But he was a victim, police said, and no charges had been filed on Friday.

"I'd rather not have done it," Augusto said, "and I'm sad for those mothers who have no sons."

It's no surprise, though it shocking, that Mayor Bloomberg's New York doesn't want it's lawful citizens protecting themselves and their employees "without a permit." Here's a decent man who, having defended himself and his employees, might end up with criminal charges. Let's hope the NYPD has more sense than that, but just the thought should be astounding to lawful citizens.

You'll note the 4 criminals had no problem flouting New York City's ridiculous and unConstitutional gun laws in order to commit their crime. The taking of human life is always abhorrent, but better these criminals than the store owner and his hard-working employees.

The Problem with Universal Health Care

Proponents have been calling the socialized medicine bill happy euphemisms like "Health Care Reform," "Single Payer Health Care" and "Public Option" rather than Government Health Care, Socialized Medicine and so forth.

Universal health care is a flawed concept. Top down control of health care at the national level is a ludicrous concept. Let me explain why.

The concept of Universal health care would involve everybody being treated according to the recommendations developed for the average populace. That would be fine, if everyone were average. We'd need just a few doctors developing policies and a lot of nurses carrying out those policies.

Instead, we have trained scientists specialized in the human body, who we call doctors, and we have a lot of them.

There's a simple reason for that: averages work fine for statistical analysis, but they're not so good for individual care. Any doctor will tell you that while we have usual, expected responses to procedures and medications, individuals vary widely. That is why you need a trained scientist involved in caring for the health of an individual.

Health care is not, nor can it ever be, controlled centrally by a government, applying average recommendations to every individual. Laying every other issue aside (and we shouldn't there are plenty to examine and excoriate), the concept of Universal health care is at best a joke, and at worst, a death sentence for individuals who don't fall within the statistical averages.

Paying for Health Care "Reform" "Volunteers"

Now that's an awkward use of quotation marks, but this will make the point. The Health Care bill isn't reform, and the "volunteers" aren't volunteers. This is unbelievable. I don't know how long the SEIU or other organization will leave these up, so I've grabbed an image as well as the link:

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=obama&catAbbreviation=jjj



Grassroots conservative movements have been denigrated by the Left, with Democrats claiming they're racist or organized by some Republican machine, yet they're the ones paying for help to try to jam this plan down the throats of an increasingly reluctant American public. If your representative supports this bill and recall is an option in your area, let's demonstrate actual organization and make them realize how very unpopular this bill really is.

The Armed Citizen

Upon returning home, an NRA Life member received some alarming news. His wife had just seen people running in and out of her father's home. Retrieving a pistol and a shotgun, the man drove his pickup the short trip to the house in question and cornered three suspicious men sitting in a car. "I jumped out of the truck and they stuck their hands up in the car. I made the driver get out," he told a local newspaper. As he held the suspects at gunpoint, they told him they had stopped to urinate, but he didn't believe their story. "I said, 'You don't need to talk to me because the sheriff's coming and you need to talk to him.'" When police arrived, they charged the men with third-degree burglary and recovered several stolen items. (The Selma Times-Journal, Selma, AL, 01/26/2006)

While sitting on her couch working on her computer in the early morning hours, a woman heard a noise at her front door. According to police, she saw two men through the peephole, so she grabbed her shotgun and chambered a shell. The would-be burglars kicked the door open only to find themselves staring down a gun barrel. "Get the [expletive] out of here!" the woman shouted, according to a police report. The men fled the scene. (Gazette-Journal, Reno, NV, 01/18/2006)

A man asleep in his apartment was awakened by a knock at his door. Police said that when he answered it, no one was there. Then a man shattered a window in the home and began entering through it. The resident armed himself and ordered the intruder to leave. When the alleged burglar failed to comply, the resident shot him. The suspect was treated for wounds to his leg and hand at the hospital and charged with burglary. (Deseret Morning News, Salt Lake City, UT, 02/01/2006)

A 22-year-old man confined to a wheelchair had just returned home from work when he heard a noise outside. According to police, he peered outside though his bedroom window and saw two people climbing into his house. When the intruders kicked open his bedroom door, the victim opened fire on them with a semi-automatic handgun. One of the alleged burglars was hit and his accomplice ran out the front door. Authorities said the suspect who was shot would be charged with first-degree burglary upon his release from the hospital. His accomplice was arrested after a brief foot pursuit. (The Huntsville Times, Huntsville, AL, 01/07/2006)



Walking through the woods in a state park in Wenatchee, Wash., Michael Vanney was horrified to see a cougar pounce on his five-year-old daughter Jessica. Armed only with a hunting knife, Vanney yelled for his wife to bring a handgun, then jumped on the cat, knocking it off the girl. When his wife arrived with the gun, Vanney fired two shots, treeing the cat, which was later captured and held in quarantine. Jessica suffered only minor scrapes in the attack, according to an Associated Press report. (The Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT, 6/24/1992)

When two masked men -- one of them armed with a pistol -- entered a Birmingham, Ala., convenience store and demanded money, the 29-year-old clerk grabbed his own pistol. Police said that when the armed robber pointed his gun at the clerk, the clerk shot the masked gunman, killing him. The clerk then held the second suspect for police. The second man was charged with first-degree robbery. (Associated Press, 12/30/2005)

According to police, a man stole a fire extinguisher from a dialysis center, then attempted to use it to break into a nearby home. A detective responding to a burglar alarm at the dialysis center witnessed an armed citizen thwart the alleged home invader. "While [the detective] was waiting for uniform patrol, he noticed a commotion across the street at a home," said a police spokesman. The detective reported that the man was allegedly trying to break through the front door using the fire extinguisher, but was shot in the groin by one of the occupants. The suspect was arrested on multiple charges after his release from the hospital. (The Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA, 01/14/2006)

Carlton Whitted, Sr., woke up after hearing a loud noise reverberate throughout his home. "It sounded like a bomb went off," he said. What he heard was two men in their 20s kicking in the door of the isolated, rural North Carolina home. Police say the men shot Whitted's wife and daughter in the legs. Whitted then grabbed his .22-cal. rifle from the corner of his bedroom and shot both intruders, who fled on foot. The suspects turned up at a hospital where they faced several felony charges upon their release. (Associated Press, 01/17/06)

And a bonus story, as people have been defending themselves in this country for a very long time:

Lemuel Earl and his wife were awakened by suspicious noises in their store, in front of their home at Mendon, Utah. Armed with a .45 automatic, Earl investigated. In front of the store, he confronted a youth who claimed to be alone. Just then, Earl saw a rifle barrel emerge from the shattered window of his store. He fired a shot which wounded one bandit and caused another to dart from the store with his hands up. Police arrested the three, and said they found a stolen car with four rifles in it. (Standard Examiner, Ogden, UT, 09/1967)

Want even more stories? Visit the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

Other accounts of self-defense collected on this blog:
2nd Amendment Saves a Pregnant Woman,
Armed Student Saves 10 People,
2nd Amendment vs. a Serial Rapist,
Crime Spree Stopped with the Simple Presentation of a Firearm.

Failures of Gun Control:
UK Government under reports gun violence to pretend their policies work,
Scotland holds a Summit on their Failed Gun Policies, Chicago's gun ban continues to fail,
Real Women's Rights (This one includes one of my favorite personal accounts),
Opposition to CA AB 2062,
Knife Control?!,
Protecting Children through Gun Control?,
Futility of the Gun Banning Philosophy,
A Contrast to VA Tech.

Thoughts just prior to the release of DC v. Heller, with one of the best appellate court quotations ever.

Thoughts on publicized shootings: Shootings early in 2009, Alabama Shootings, Finland School Shooting. Remember: The only proven method to mitigate the disaster of a rogue criminal shooter is to have more first responders, e.g. CCW permit holders lawfully armed and on scene. These criminals do not respect "gun free" zones, but simply view them as target-rich opposition-free areas in which to slaughter innocents.

Why no one should support gun control.

Carrying a Firearm is an Inherently Civilized Act.

Right to Carry Statistics.

Does Violence Beget Violence?

Why Conservatives shouldn't compare President Obama to Hitler

Recently, I've seen many friends comparing Obama to Hitler. I don't think that's wise, and I'd like to share why. I'd also like to share a far more appropriate comparison, and one which should strike educated readers as far scarier than any Nazi.

Let me admit that there are some similarities. President Obama is a great orator (but remember, so was Ronald Reagan--this talent can be used for good or ill). There can be no doubt, given the recent thuggery, that the SEIU (headquartered with, and many believe one organization with ACORN) is reminiscent of the "brown shirts" and a fulfillment of President Obama's July 2008 statement:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

We just never thought we'd see it carried out so quickly; we didn't realize they were already in place, or that TARP would provide a rich source of funding to do exactly as he intended.

Still, despite their recent violence against conservatives at town hall meetings, SEIU hasn't carried off and killed anyone. They're not mindlessly obedient, they just share President Obama's goals.

Let's address the pure debate reasons not to compare President Obama to Hitler. For better or for worse, the Left has successfully made it an internet doctrine that when you refer to Hitler or the NAZIs, you lose the argument. There may be several reasons for this. One of them is that the comparison is admittedly usually over the top. Save Stalin only, Hitler may have been the most evil man ever to live. Also, making him off limits helps them avoid the fact that Fascism has always arisen from the political left, not from conservatism as they argue. There's a reason they don't mention what NAZI stands for: National Socialist German Workers' Party. While we shouldn't let them dictate the terms of the debate, it is unavoidable that to the average reader, the moment you mention Hitler, you're a kook and your argument is crazy.

Fortunately, there's a better comparison anyway. Woodrow Wilson is a better historical analogy, and actually much scarier. He's more obscure, but we can fix that. As people active in politics and informed in our opinions, it's our job to educate and enlighten others.

Woodrow Wilson was a "Progressive." So was Theodore Roosevelt, by the way, which makes the movement bipartisan, but Wilson brought Progressivism to a new level. The Progressive Movement chose its name deliberately, using a word with positive psychological associations. Don't believe it. They're evil* to the core. By his own admission, the NAZI propagandist Joseph Goebbels derived inspiration from the propaganda produced by the Wilson Administration.

Woodrow Wilson held some 150,000 political prisoners during his administration. He passed Alien and Sedition acts. He believed in more authoritarian government for the good of the masses. More comparisons and explanation may be had in this prior post. You can also search this blog for Woodrow Wilson.

I'd argue Woodrow Wilson is a much better historical analog because he exposes what the progressive movement really is. He's not some cartoonish caricature from across the Atlantic, but a President who was elected here, in the United States, who tried to bring us totalitarianism, and who came very close to succeeding. He was far more insidious than the 1940's Hitler, because he represented totalitarianism wearing a pleasant, charming face that most people didn't recognize as evil. His brand of fascism was actually popular among those who didn't know better, which included many in the U.S. who simply weren't paying much attention. Sound familiar?

Woodrow Wilson encouraged people to turn in their neighbors should they overhear them speak out against the government. He employed thug squads to force compliance when other threats weren't enough. Does this remind you of the SEIU at Town Hall meetings?

When your friends compare President Obama to Hitler, please encourage them to use this much more appropriate example. He's the modern Woodrow Wilson, every bit as dangerous as any of the evil leaders of history, but masked in charismatic, genteel mannerisms and lies.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santayana Woodrow Wilson happened here, and he's a mistake we can't afford to repeat.

*Hey, P&R, you use "evil" a lot. What do you mean? I mean any person or movement that restricts the freedom of humankind in an authoritarian fashion. We may choose to restrict our own freedom (which really is an exercise of freedom, not a restriction), and we may surrender freedom through the commission of crime, but it is evil for any person or group to try to take it by fiat.

Nancy Pelosi says Town Hall protesters are carrying Swastikas

Here's an incendiary commentary from Nancy Pelosi:



Can anyone help me understand why a member of the National Socialist Worker's Party would object to Socialized medicine or expanded government control over individuals in the U.S.? Either Speaker Pelosi isn't very bright, or she believes we aren't. In her words, "You be the judge."

Common Sense vs. the Black Panthers

I guess there's still some common sense in the U.S. after all. The Black Panthers, according to the poster, were trying to protest the home of a man who shot burglars in his home. The community responded. I strongly recommend turning your volume to the lowest setting before starting the clip. Also, the first minute or so is all one needs to see to get the gist. The Black panthers left after about 10 minutes of this.



By the way, I don't begrudge the Black Panthers their activism, so long as they keep it within the bounds of the law. If the story is as presented they need to choose better reasons to demonstrate, however. Shooting a burglar in one's own home, if one believes there is imminent danger, is considered acceptable everywhere in the United States. It's not a race thing, it's a self-defense thing.

First Pitch Humor

I'm not a sports guy, and I don't really care how someone pitches. However, this series of photos was too funny not to share.

Well-Dressed Protesters

From Hot Air:

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) appeared on Hardball last night in support of the Left’s attempt to discredit the people showing up to townhalls in protest of ObamaCare. Boxer says she can tell that they’re fakes, because they’re too well dressed.

Full story and video here.

In the end, I guess that's a very reasonable argument for her. After all, everyone she knows who is well dressed is a compulsive liar.

What Gates & Birthers Teach Us About Obama

Amazingly, both of these events teach us the same thing about Obama:

1. Obama is incredibly arrogant, and,
2. Obama is the quintessential community organizer

The arrogance is obvious in the Gates case, Obama jumped in without knowing the details. Even for the so-called "beer summit" he allowed this not-so-flattering picture to be taken (the police officer he accused of racism is the one helping his friend down the steps):



Obama wouldn't lower himself to dignify the birthers. He sees it as below him. Also, he was arrogant enough to jump into Gates' arrest even though he didn't have the details. Andy McCarthy points out that given the number of lies Obama has told about his past, it's not really that unreasonable to ask for it (though it's silly to spend as much time on it as people have):

Yet we now know that this life story is chock full of fiction. Typical and disturbing, to take just one example, is the entirely fabricated account in Dreams from My Father of Obama’s first job after college:

Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant. Like a spy behind enemy lines, I arrived every day at my mid-Manhattan office and sat at my computer terminal, checking the Reuters machine that blinked bright emerald messages from across the globe. As far as I could tell I was the only black man in the company, a source of shame for me but a source of considerable pride for the company’s secretarial pool. They treated me like a son, those black ladies; they told me how they expected me to run the company one day. . . . The company promoted me to the position of financial writer. I had my own office, my own secretary, money in the bank. Sometimes, coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers or German bond traders, I would catch my reflection in the elevator doors — see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in my hand — and for a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal, before I remembered who it was that I had told myself I wanted to be and felt pangs of guilt for my lack of resolve. . . .

As the website Sweetness & Light details, this is bunk. Obama did not work at “a consulting house to multinational corporations”; it was, a then-colleague of his has related, “a small company that published newsletters on international business.” He wasn’t the only black man in the company, and he didn’t have an office, have a secretary, wear a suit and tie on the job, or conduct “interviews” with “Japanese financiers or German bond traders” — he was a junior copyeditor.

Now, think of Obama as a community organizer. Community Organizers don't solve problems, they aggravate them and then take advantage of them. Obama did that with Gates, trying to play the race card. He only backpedaled when it blew up in his face and even then didn't apologize. In the birther case, Obama hasn't found a way to exploit it. Letting it fester is doing the job for now, but if he's backed into a corner, he will use it somehow, just you wait.

Report your Neighbors! Woodrow Wilson is back

I was shocked when I saw this information, forwarded by a friend from Red State. Here's that post. Here's the scary information:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

You can find that here at WhiteHouse.gov between the videos presented there. Um, excuse me? You want us to report people exercising their 1st Amendment rights to the Government? Since when is that a real American value?

Oh, right. Since Woodrow Wilson held 150,000 political prisoners for disagreeing with him in the early 1900's.

Obama on Single Payer Health Care

Here we have the frank admission of Obama's feelings on single payer (government health care or socialized medicine). This means the elimination of private plans, not that you can keep your current plan. Here's the raw, uncut version.



Here's a more refined version put together by the Glenn Beck Program.

Reincarnation Bank

This is amusing randomness, not politics. Need some money? Oh why don't I think of things like this.

Meet Reincarnation Bank. They promise to hold your assets while you reincarnate, so they'll be there for you in your next life (note: what happens if you reincarnate as a cow?). The process is that you transfer your assets to the company in Gibraltar with no strings attached, and they'll "hold" them for you.

What was that phrase about a fool and his money?

Socialized Medicine causes care rationing in the U.K.

I stumbled across this one while looking for entirely different stories this morning:

The Government's drug rationing watchdog says "therapeutic" injections of steroids, such as cortisone, which are used to reduce inflammation, should no longer be offered to patients suffering from persistent lower back pain when the cause is not known.

Instead the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is ordering doctors to offer patients remedies like acupuncture and osteopathy.

Specialists fear tens of thousands of people, mainly the elderly and frail, will be left to suffer excruciating levels of pain or pay as much as £500 each for private treatment.

Source here.

I'm not a doctor, but thought inflammation-reducing shots also helped prevent additional damage to joints.

If you don't think similar rationing will happen in the U.S. should the current socialized medicine "reform" bill go through, you're kidding yourself. We have more people, and we're in much deeper financial trouble than the U.K. The effects on care would likely be immediate.

Egalitarianism in Health Care

As a libertarian, I really don't think the government has any business interfering in most private matters, and for the most part that includes health care. Much like the current financial market, things have grown so complex that some regulation seems to be in order, but I still believe that government interference is a last resort, and an informed consumer is still the best way to control any system. If a practice is unfair, people won't buy that product or service, ending it without need for regulation. This is similar to politics. the best way to moderate politicians isn't term limits, it's an informed electorate that will vote out a bad politician.

The focus of this post is commentary made by President Obama about the current socialized medicine bill being worked on in Congress. The first comes from President Obama's fifth news conference:

Q And what about yourself and Congress? Would you abide by the same benefit package?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, I would be happy to abide by the same benefit package. I will just be honest with you. I'm the president of the United States, so I've got a doctor following me every minute -- (laughter) -- which is why I say, this is not about me.

I've got the best health care in the world. I'm trying to make sure that everybody has good health care, and they don't right now.

The second comes from a health care forum at the White House:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: ...end-of-life care is one of the most difficult sets of decisions that we're going to have to make...But what we can do is make sure that at least some of the waste that exists in the system that's not making anybody's mom better, that is loading up on additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care, that at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn't going to help. Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.

For the interested, here's the video of that exchange:



The second has been characterized as indicating that for the old, it's better to give them pain medication than to use precious resources to treat them. In short, we should let them die. That's not quite what he's saying if one reads the whole quotation. However, the health care bill does include mandatory end of life counseling for senior citizens. That is, the government to reduce costs does seem interested in making sure seniors die sooner than they do now rather than go through expensive treatments.

Both of these quotations point to a real problem in the health care plan. In previous posts, I've indicated I don't believe there should be a political class living by a separate set of rules. They should have to abide by the same rules they make for their constituency, and live as their constituency does. When a separate political class with special rules exists, there is no justice, no egalitarianism, and none of the founding principles that made the U.S. great will stand.

What's truly irksome about the first quotation is that it's very easy to say, "Sure, I'd live with that plan," when the President knows he doesn't have to. He'll retire with his full pay and elitist health care plan paid for by the taxpayer. That's not acceptable even under the current system. I appreciate a president's service, and recognize he needs some pension and some protection for the rest of his life. I agree that in office, he needs the best medical care possible. Once he's out, however, he can buy insurance like the rest of us out of his pension.

"I would be happy to abide by the same benefit package... I've got the best health care in the world," is horrifically condescending and astoundingly arrogant. It is saying, "While I'd live like you plebes if I had to, I don't, and never will. My care is top notch, but you'll have to live with what you get." Thanks, Mr. President. Show some real dedication to egalitarianism and forfeit your Federal health plan when you leave office, and I'll believe you.

I don't think that socialized medicine is the answer for America. If it's to be implemented, however, I absolutely insist that there shall be no special classes of people, because that will mean it will be overturned in time. We've seen how the political elites of the U.S.S.R. were treated, and how they're treated in China and North Korea now. It's happening to a lesser degree in the U.S. and other Western countries. It must be stopped, not expanded.

Other evidence of the disparity between the elite political class and plebeians comes from current treatment of our politicians. Remember, at end of life, it might be a better option to save resources for younger, healthier people and let the elderly take pain killers, according to President Obama.

If that's the case, then why was Ted Kennedy given extensive and expensive treatment for his brain cancer? Why was his son Teddy given experimental treatment for bone cancer? Why will Senator Chris Dodd have surgery and treatment for his prostate cancer? If we're going to let nature take its course more often under this socialized medicine bill, the same way E.U. countries and Canada do, then these expensive treatments shouldn't happen, ever, for anyone. You get end of life counseling and some pain killers. Nearly all men will develop prostate cancer later in life. In many men, it won't progress quickly enough to end our lives before other causes cause our passing anyway, so wouldn't be treated under this new plan. So, Senator Dodd, I challenge you to let this cancer take its course. Let's see your dedication to health care "reform."

Now, while I do actually object to Senator Kennedy and Senator Dodd getting expensive treatments on the taxpayer's dime, I don't object to people with coverage getting these treatments. End of life care should be up to the individual and his or her family, never the government. If Senators Kennedy and Dodd are paying for these treatments out of pocket, I'm fine with that.

What I do object to is the abandonment of the excellent founding principles of our country for a health care system that is failing in most countries and locations where it has been tried (including Massachussets and Hawaii) under the guise of egalitarian health care for all. It won't be egalitarian, everyone still won't get it, and it will be used to extend government control into the lives of ordinary Americans using the excuse that we must reduce costs. That's unAmerican, unConstitutional and unacceptable.