Scozzafava withdraws in the New York 23rd Congressional District Race

You've seen the headline. Scozzafava, a liberal "Republican" has been lagging in the polls, so she's withdrawing from the race. The only reason I'm commenting is the AP's ridiculous writing.

Some have called the race a test of the GOP's future: whether traditional conservative ideology would lead the way forward or if a more inclusive approach would draw more people back to the party. Hoffman and his backers said Scozzafava was too liberal to truly represent the Republican party, specifically noting her support of abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

I'm absolutely sick of the "more inclusive approach" liberal line. The Republican party is losing members (including me, some years back) because it's become a Progressive party. Given polls of American ideology, it's clear Conservatism is the more inclusive approach.

We've already tried the "inclusive" progressivism prescribed by the media. His name was John McCain. That didn't go so well. Scozzafava's loss is simply a reaffirmation that conservatives reject the leftward movement of the Republican party.

Happy Halloween!

Obama topples his first government

Zelaya returned to power

This wanna-be-dictator attempted to hold on to power, violating the Honduran constitution (he was termed out, and wanted to hold a Chavez-style referendum to allow him to ignore it, and there is ample evidence showing he was preparing to forge the results of the referendum). So their supreme court ordered the military to toss him out of the country, and their parliament

The US response? We cut off humanitarian aid, winning the approval of thugs Castro and Chavez. Oh, and Senator Kerry tried to sweep a Library of Congress report under the rug showing that the ouster was legal.

The only good news out of this is that there appears to be a deal to have the normal election at the end of November, hopefully Zelaya will be tossed out, but between now and then, he's there because the US thugs pushed for it.

Congrats Mr. President! (Yes, that's sarcasm.)

The polls continue, conservatism is strong and growing

If you watch the major media, you'd think that conservatism doesn't exist anymore. According to them, everyone agrees on implementing socialized medicine, a.k.a.'s the "Public Option" and Government Health Care.

Gallup polls over the Summer showed otherwise. Poll results released June 15th showed Conservatives to be the largest ideological group in the U.S., outnumbering liberals 2 to 1. Poll results released July 6th showed that the country is moving more Conservative, not more liberal. Results released Monday of this week show Conservatives still outnumbering Liberals 2 to 1, with the number of liberals falling from the results released just 4 months ago.

Evidently the media can elect a President, but they can't change reality or alter the underlying, fundamental principles of America, or the thought processes of Americans.

In reality, President Obama owes less to the media than they might think. He burst onto the scene as a relative unknown. The unknown candidate always polls better than the candidate of the same ideology once he's named. Mr. Obama's popularity may well have been due to the fact that nobody really knew who he was, or what his policies might be. Only people willing to dig into his political past knew.

While hard core liberals who knew who this president was to begin with will always support him, and the ignorant will probably continue to support him blindly as he gives them things (ironic, given his recent statements), those paying attention to the issues and the man are recognizing that his policies are a massive departure from American principles, and the success of those policies would jeopardize any chance of a prosperous future for our nation.

Governments Don't Control THINGS

Rush Limbaugh has been playing portions of Ronald Reagan's "Rendezvous with Destiny" campaign speech for Goldwater and one of the phrases took my breath away. It's amazing what force the truth has when presented clearly and simply:

Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government."

Well, I for one resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me--the free man and woman of this country--as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government"--this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.

(emphasis mine)

What a simple and true statement. Remember that when you want stuff from the government or a friend says that the government has given him something.

Andrew posted a link to the full speech on Youtube back in April, if you want to watch it. It's no slow, lumbering speech. In 28 minutes, Reagan presented a clear vision, easy to understand and crystal clear in its message. Watch it again, or read the transcript and see if you agree.

Who's Tolerant?

Here's a fascinating article from the Washington Post about Matt Hiltzik, who handles PR for the currently controversial Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck had plenty to say about the article, of course.

What fascinates me enough to post about it is the underlying assumption of the article. Naturally it's a hit piece that's supposed to hurt Glenn Beck. However, the whole tone conveys a sense of shock and dismay that Matt Hiltzik, a liberal, would do any business with Glenn Beck, a conservative.

It seems like media is trying to make mainstream the idea that people of different viewpoints must vehemently hate one another. People may be surprised to realize that is a fairly recent idea in the U.S. It's also not healthy.

I have friends with whom I disagree so strongly on political matters that we don't discuss them. I've had an ongoing discussion with a liberal friend that has been enlightening, though neither of us has changed his mind at all.

I recently discussed the Balkanization of the U.S. through the perpetuation of insular language groups. Even more dangerous than that may be hatred based on ideological differences. That's something we have seen lead to war on our own soil, and something we shouldn't hasten to repeat.

It's okay for a PR firm headed by a liberal to represent a conservative. It's okay to discuss politics and disagree without hating one another. It's okay to disagree so vehemently that you don't discuss politics with your friends at all--and it's still okay to be friends. That's an idea that's kept America peaceful and prosperous for hundreds of years. We should all staunchly resist the media's assertion, unfortunately repeated by the president, that people who disagree with us are stupid, bad, or worthy of our hate and derision.

60 Minutes Reports on Medicare Fraud

This really doesn't help the government's case for a public option. This is worth a watch whether you support a public option or not.

Part I:


Part II:

The Armed Citizen, Special Edition

Here's a fantastic story. That's not to say it's fantastic someone died, but rather that innocent people didn't, even though they were at risk.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSAZ & AP) -- Police say it was 70-year-old grandma from Ironton who shot and killed a man who was attempting to rob her and other family members in their Columbus, Ohio motel room.

Police are not releasing the woman’s name.

The woman and other family members were in Columbus for a horse show and were in the motel Wednesday night when police say a man with a gun barged through the door, which was open slightly.

The woman’s 51-year-old son, who also does not want to be identified, says the gunman demanded everyone’s money and jewelry.

The son says when the gunman ordered everyone to the floor; his mom grabbed her purse, pulled out her 357 handgun, came back over the bed and fired.

Police say 25-year-old Wayne Winston died after staggering to the parking lot.

The son also says his mom is saddened having to shoot and kill someone.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that the woman had a permit to carry a concealed weapon and that gun belonged to her late husband.

Police say no charges have been filed against the woman, but they expect the case will be presented to a grand jury.

One of my friends believes that the government has exclusive right to use of violence. Not in our society. We lend the government the rights it has through common consent. The right to self-defense is one we've reserved to the citizens explicitly through the 2nd amendment. I'm sorry Mr. Winston died. I'm grateful grandma and her family are safe.

Somebody in Congress gets it

Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan gets it. This may be because he's seen what out of control government has done in Michigan.

The Armed Citizen

Police say two or three men who broke into a home looking for drugs messed up big time."The victims had never seen them before. They probably picked the wrong house," explained Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Charles Jurcak. "[The suspects] entered the location, confronted the husband and demanded to know where the pot was!' When the couple said they didn't know anything about marijuana, the frustrated intruders began to beat them. While they focused on the husband, the wife went to the bedroom to retrieve a firearm. On her way back, she was confronted in the hallway by one of the intruders and shot him several times. The suspects fled, but the injured intruder was found lying nearby and arrested. (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Ontario, CA, 06/15/2007)

Leroy Hudson was asleep upstairs while his wife, Janice, slept down-stairs. Both awoke with alarm to loud, suspicious noises coming from their enclosed back porch. Leroy got a firearm while Janice called 9-1-1 to report an intruder. Leroy, 71, opened the door and encountered a man in his mid-20s. He demanded to know what the intruder was doing in hopes of getting him to leave. But the man refused to speak, instead moving toward Hudson, who fired a single shot, incapacitating him. (The Oregonian, Portland, OR, 06/30/2007)

A pastor and a 17-year-old boy were guarding their church's fireworks stand late at night when a group of suspicious juveniles approached. According to police, the suspects tried to enter the stand and concocted a phony story when confronted. They returned thirty minutes later. This time, two or three suspects attempted to distract the pastor while the others went around and again tried to sneak inside the stand."When the 17-year-old confronted them, they began assaulting him" said Muskogee, OK, Deputy Police Chief Johnny Teehee. "The boy was screaming for help .... " The pastor answered his cries, shooting one of the assailants, who will be arrested after his release from the hospital. Four other juveniles were also arrested. The 17-year-old was treated at the hospital and released. (Tulsa World, Tulsa, OK, 06/26/2007)

Three armed men allegedly barged through the unlocked front door of a home occupied by five men and one woman, most of them students. Police say the residents fled in multiple directions as the suspects raided the home. One of the victims grabbed a semi-automatic AK-47 and hid in a closet. He heard two shots fired somewhere in the home and the next thing he knew one of the intruders was trying to force his way into the closet with a handgun. The victim fired three rounds, killing the gunman. "He did everything possible to avoid a physical confrontation. The last thing he wanted to do was kill somebody," said Orlando Deputy Sheriff Carlos Padilla, who didn't know why the house was targeted. "Deep down in his heart, he felt his friends were getting killed." (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 06/22/2007)

According to police, a teenager asked a 16-year-old acquaintance if he could stay the night, claiming he was experiencing problems at home. The acquaintance agreed, presumably under the impression the teen was a friend, but this was no friendly visit. Once invited inside by the 16-year-old and his mother, the teen left the front door unlocked. During the night, two youths used the unlocked door to rush inside with a shot-gun and pistol. While they demanded money, the mother snuck into a back bedroom to phone police and a neighbor for help. The neighbor, armed with a firearm, showed up first and held the would-be robbers at gunpoint until police arrived. As police handcuffed the boys, they discovered that the teen who had been invited to stay the night also had a gun. (News Channel 5 WTVF, Nashville, TN, 06/18/2007)

Mack and Wanda Crawford were awakened about 1:40 a.m. by a thump in the night. When Mack Crawford grabbed a 9 mm handgun and went looking for the source of the noise, he encountered a masked man in his kitchen. The masked intruder demanded Crawford's prescription for OxyContin and then pulled a weapon. Crawford reported that he thought it was a gun. A struggle ensued and Crawford fired his gun several times, hitting his assailant twice in the torso. Crawford then removed the man's mask and discovered it was an acquaintance of his. The intruder was taken to the hospital where he was listed in critical condition. During their investigation, police took into evidence a straight-blade knife that Crawford said did not belong to him. (Kingsport Times-News, Kingsport, TN, 10/15/2002)

Note: Ironically, the intruder probably got his own OxyContin prescription following the incident.

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?

The importance of language

A story caught my eye this morning about the Dallas police ticketing people for not speaking English. It's not against the law not to speak English, of course, so such tickets shouldn't be issued. I think a few officers probably let frustration get the best of them and acted unwisely. The following quotation sparked some thoughts on the subject, however:

"I was surprised and stunned that that would happen, particularly in the city of Dallas," Police Chief David Kunkle said. "In my world, you would never tell someone not to speak Spanish."

That's a silly statement, really. No one would tell anyone not to speak Spanish. In reading discussions on the article, I saw the inevitable charges of racism hurled about and was disgusted by the wholesale acceptance of the media's portrayal of the subject.

When lawful immigrants retain their language and culture, it only adds to the richness and resources of the United States. On top of that, they need to learn English and understand the customs that exist here, simply as a practical measure.

Stop for a moment to think of expectations in countries that don't accept the strange self-loathing liberals seem to think is appropriate in the United States. In France, if you want to do business, especially official business, you'll need to speak French. To expect them to speak your native language would be arrogant. In Mexico, while proximity to the United States means many do speak English, if you want to engage in any official business, it must be in Spanish. Government publications, voting materials and so forth, are all in Spanish.

Are other countries racist, or practical?

Worldwide, there are approximately 7,000 living, spoken human languages. It's a good bet that speakers of most of those languages have come or will come to the United States to resettle. We may not be perfect, but we're still one of the best places to live on Earth.

Is it more reasonable to expect police, firefighters and hospital staffs to be prepared to handle 6,909 human languages, or to expect those who settle here to learn the dominant language? In theory, anyone obtaining citizenship must be proficient in English. Our voting materials, signage and official business should all be printed and handled in English only.

There's another important aspect to having a unifying language. Most readers of this post will have some knowledge of the Balkans, and of the term Balkanization. When people do not have language and at least some culture in common, the result in time is usually civil strife, from minor clashes in the streets to ethnic cleansing and war. The strength of the United States has been the melting pot concept. Note that the materials within that pot don't have to be homogeneous; it's fine for them to retain unique characteristics. Ethnic and language groups can't be insular, though. That way leads to disaster.

Unity and practicality demand a common language in any nation. Even those that do relatively well with more than one language (Canada, Belgium) still suffer disunity and other forms of disunity because of that linguistic divide. If we permit, or worse perpetuate or promulgate insular language communities in the United States, we aren't being understanding or multicultural, we're setting explosive charges under the foundation of our nation.

Special note from the poster: I speak Spanish fluently (although I'm a bit rusty these days), and consider the time I spent in the Latin culture a valuable and enriching part of my personal past. I would never want anyone to give up their cultural or linguistic heritage, but rather encourage others to expand their own experience and enrich themselves by learning English in addition to their native language. English as a unifying language in the United States isn't just a practical necessity, learning it is a way to help lawful immigrants advance and take full advantage of the opportunities available in this great nation.

Could the Government be less responsive?

In a republic based on democratic principles, one expects the government will respond to the demands of its citizenry. In a government originally supposed to be a citizen government, not one comprised of professional politicians, we should expect even more.

This is inexplicable, then.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that nearly three-quarters of all Americans would like to see a decrease in the number of illegal immigrants in the country.

Seventy-three percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday morning called for a drop in the number of illegal immigrants, with 22 percent saying the number should remain the same and just 3 percent stating that there should be an increase in the number of illegal immigrants. That 73 percent figure is the highest number since CNN started asking this question four years ago.

According to the poll, 37 percent want to see all illegal immigrants deported, also the highest number since the questions was first asked in 2006, and another 23 percent say that the number of illegal immigrants in the country should be decreased significantly.

Note that this is a CNN poll, not something from a right wing think tank. Three quarters of Americans want to see illegal immigration decreased, and illegal immigrants deported, and our Congress is working on forcing upon us health care legislation and cap and trade legislation we've rejected, even marching in the streets to protest. It would be hard to imagine a better example of an out of control government filled with legislators completely confident that they'll never lose their seats because their districts are completely gerrymandered.

Could he be more insulting?

This clip comes from a fundraiser in New York on October 20th. He was discussing the health care debate.


It's amazing how easily and quickly this man can insult the entire nation. If you're not a Democrat, you're a mindless zombie following the commands of Rush Limbaugh. If you are a Democrat, you're a free-thinker, but he's had it with that and it's time for you fall in line and do what he tells you to. Your disobedience is disrupting his reign.

It makes sense that he's trying to belittle anyone who disagrees with him. Conservatives outnumber liberals about 2 to 1 and are the fastest growing ideological group in the United States.

2012 can't come fast enough.

We're just trying to clean up the mess we inherited

An image really is worth a thousand words.



It really doesn't work to pretend you're a helpless victim inheriting a mess when you helped create the mess as a U.S. Senator who voted for many of the things you're complaining about and you sought (quite vigorously) the office you've been elected to knowing full well the problems you'd face.

The Backwardness of Political Correctness

Mark Steyn wrote a brilliant (as usual) article entitled Limbaugh bad, Mao good juxtaposing the fallout with regard to the news of Rush Limbaugh potentially holding a minority stake in the purchase of a football team to Anita Dunn's idolizing of Mao.

The whole thing is worth a read, and I'm sure the OC Register won't keep it up forever, so I'll post it in its entirety. I will be happy to post excerpts instead if requested by Mr. Steyn or the OC Register.

Limbaugh bad, Mao good

Here is a tale of two sound bites. First:

"Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."

Second:

"The third lesson and tip actually comes from two of my favorite political philosophers, Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa. Not often coupled with each other, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is: You're going to make choices. ... But here's the deal: These are your choices; they are no one else's. In 1947, when Mao Tse Tung was being challenged within his own party on his own plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai-shek and the nationalist Chinese held the cities, they had the army. … They had everything on their side. And people said 'How can you win? How can you do this against all of the odds against you?' And Mao Tse Tung says, 'You fight your war, and I'll fight mine.' You don't have to accept the definition of how to do things. … You fight your war, you let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path."

The first quotation was attributed to Rush Limbaugh. He never said it. There is no tape of him saying it. There is no transcript of him saying it. After all, if he had done so at any point in the past 20 years, someone would surely have mentioned it at the time.

Yet CNN, MSNBC, ABC and other networks and newspapers all around the country cheerfully repeated the pro-slavery quotation and attributed it, falsely, to Rush Limbaugh. And planting a flat-out lie in his mouth wound up getting Rush bounced from a consortium hoping to buy the St. Louis Rams. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the talk-show host was a "divisive" figure, and famously nondivisive figures like the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed the hope that, with Mr. Divisive out of the picture, the NFL could now "unify."

The second quotation – hailing Mao – was uttered back in June to an audience of high school students by Anita Dunn, the White House communications director. I know she uttered it because I watched the words issuing from her mouth on "The Glenn Beck Show" on Fox News. But don't worry. Nobody else played it.

So if I understand correctly:

Rush Limbaugh is so "divisive" that to get him fired Leftie agitators have to invent racist sound bites to put in his mouth.

But the White House communications director is so undivisive that she can be invited along to recommend Chairman Mao as a role model for America's young.

From my unscientific survey, U.S. school students are all but entirely unaware of Mao Tse Tung, and the few that aren't know him mainly as a T-shirt graphic or "agrarian reformer." What else did he do? Here, from Jonathan Fenby's book "Modern China," is the great man in a nutshell:

"Mao's responsibility for the extinction of anywhere from 40 million to 70 million lives brands him as a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin."

Hey, that's pretty impressive when they can't get your big final-score death toll nailed down to within 30 million. Still, as President Barack Obama's communications director says, he lived his dream, and so can you, although if your dream involves killing, oh, 50-80 million Chinamen you may have your work cut out. But let's stick with the Fenby figure: He killed 40-70 million Chinamen. Whoops, can you say "Chinamen" or is that racist? Oh, and sexist. So hard keeping up with the Sensitivity Police in this pansified political culture, isn't it? But you can kill 40-70 million Chinamen, and that's fine and dandy: You'll be cited as an inspiration by the White House to an audience of high school students. You can be anything you want to be! Look at Mao: He wanted to be a mass murderer, and he lived his dream! You can, too!

The White House now says that Anita Dunn was "joking." Anyone tempted to buy that spin should look at the tape: If this is her Friars Club routine, she needs to work on her delivery. But, for the sake of argument, try a thought experiment:

Midway through Bush's second term, press secretary Tony Snow goes along to Chester A. Arthur High School to give a graduation speech. "I know it looks tough right now. You're young, you're full of zip, but the odds seem hopeless. Let me tell you about another young man facing tough choices 80 years ago. It's last orders at the Munich beer garden – gee, your principal won't thank me for mentioning that – and all the natural blonds are saying, 'But Adolf, see reason. The Weimar Republic's here to stay, and, besides, the international Jewry control everything.' And young Adolf Hitler puts down his foaming stein and stands on the table and sings a medley of 'I Gotta Be Me', '(Learning To Love Yourself Is) The Greatest Love Of All' and 'The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow.' And by the end of that night there wasn't a Jewish greengrocer's anywhere in town with glass in its windows. Don't play by the other side's rules; make your own kind of music. And always remember: You've gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?"

Anyone think he'd still have a job?

Well, so what? All those dead Chinese are no-name peasants a long way away. What's the big deal? If you say, "Chairman Mao? Wasn't he the wacko who offed 70 million Chinks?," you'll be hounded from public life for saying the word "Chinks." But, if you commend the murderer of those 70 million as a role model in almost any schoolroom in the country from kindergarten to the Ivy League, it's so entirely routine that only a crazy like Glenn Beck would be boorish enough to point it out.

Which is odd, don't you think? Because it suggests that our present age of politically correct hypersensitivity is not just morally unserious but profoundly decadent.

Twenty years ago this fall, the Iron Curtain was coming down in Europe. Across the Warsaw Pact, the jailers of the Communist prison states lost their nerve, and the cell walls crumbled. Matt Welch, the editor of Reason magazine, wonders why the anniversary is going all but unobserved: Why aren't we making more of the biggest mass liberation in history?

Well, because to celebrate it would involve recognizing it as a victory over Communism. And, after the Left's long march through the institutions of the West, most are not willing to do that. There's the bad totalitarianism (Nazism) and the good totalitarianism (Communism), whose apologists and, indeed, fetishists can still be found everywhere, even unto the White House.

Rush Limbaugh's remarks are "divisive"; Anita Dunn's are entirely normal. But don't worry, the new Fairness Doctrine will take care of the problem.

In reflecting on this column, I was reminded of a story from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. The relevant excerpt is the plot of a fictitious book by a character, Kilgore Trout, who writes pulp science fiction novels:

It was about a robot who had bad breath, who became popular after his halitosis was cured. But what made the story remarkable, since it was written in 1932, was that it predicted the widespread use of burning jellied gasoline on human beings.

It was dropped on them from airplanes. Robots did the dropping. They had no conscience, and no circuits which would allow them to imagine what was happening to the people on the ground.

Trout's leading robot looked like a human being, and could talk and dance and so on, and go out with girls. And nobody held it against him that he dropped jellied gasoline on people. But they found his halitosis unforgivable. But then he cleared that up, and he was welcomed to the human race.

I am constantly amazed that people can become apoplectic over the the use of a term not deemed politically correct, yet smile vapidly and judge acceptable positive lessons from a mass murderer who might well have been responsible for more human deaths than any other person in history. These are the people who would call Limbaugh racist over made up quotations, never having actually listened to what the man has to say, while wearing their favorite Che Guevara t-shirt. If a democratic republic depends on an informed electorate, such people are cheerily hacking away at the foundations of our great nation.

Oath Keepers Will Hold the Country Together

The Drudge headline (READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in USA...) was the first I'd heard about them. But here's what their goals are (according to Drudge's linked article):

More specifically, the group's members, which number in the thousands, pledge to disobey orders they deem unlawful, including directives to disarm the American people and to blockade American cities. By refusing the latter order, the Oath Keepers hope to prevent cities from becoming "giant concentration camps," a scenario the 44-year-old Rhodes says he can envision happening in the coming years.

It's a Cold War-era nightmare vision with a major twist: The occupying forces in this imagined future are American, not Soviet.

"The whole point of Oath Keepers is to stop a dictatorship from ever happening here," Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper and Yale-trained lawyer, said in an interview with the Review-Journal. "My focus is on the guys with the guns, because they can't do it without them.

"We say if the American people decide it's time for a revolution, we'll fight with you."

The slant of the article (and the last sentence of the quote) is that these people are preparing for revolution. I believe that's exactly backwards -- that they'll prevent revolution.

If you're wondering why they suggest that the government might try to disarm Americans, it's because it happened after Katrina in New Orleans. Not many people know about it, because the news ignored it, but here's the proof:

But if law enforcement officials agree to disobey such an order, the average citizen doesn't have to worry about it, and is thus less likely to join a militia or revolutionary movement.

The Armed Citizen

Police are praising the courage of a concealed-carry permit holder who helped subdue a gunman in a deadly bank robbery. Chris Chappell was making a withdrawal when a man opened fire, killing two tellers and wounding two others. Chappell ran out of the bank and drew his gun, taking cover behind his SUV.The gunman tried to flee the bank, but encountered Chappell and ran back inside. At that time two passing sheriff's deputies noticed the disturbance and turned around to investigate. The gunman grabbed a hostage and made another attempt to escape, but he was met by Chappell and the deputies. When the gunman stumbled, one of the deputies subdued him with a gunshot."It's certainly commendable; said Jefferson County, Alabama, Sheriff's Sgt. Randy Christian. "It's obvious he played a key role in keeping the guy there until we could get there. It's a great testament to someone willing to take action." (The Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, 05/16/2007)

Five people on a crime spree with an unloaded pistol and a baseball bat had robbed a 16-year-old of his cell phone, silver chain and wallet, and had also attempted to carjack a couple in their driveway. Later, according to police, they attempted to carjack a man at a car wash.The would-be victim, however, had a concealed-carry permit and a 9 mm handgun, which he used to shoot one of his assailants. The injured suspect's accomplices took him to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The surviving suspects face armed robbery charges. (Detroit Free Press, Detroit, MI, 05/19/2007)

Brian Smith was walking toward his apartment when two men approached him. Police say the men pretended to be lost, but became violent as Smith gave directions. One of the men pulled a revolver from his waistband, but Smith, who has a concealed-carry permit, reacted swiftly, drawing his own revolver and firing two shots. One suspect was injured and arrested at the hospital, while the other remains at large. (Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, MI, 05/18/2007)

Upon having her ex-boyfriend charged with domestic violence and stalking, a woman began carrying a firearm for protection. According to police, her next encounter with the violent ex-boyfriend occurred at a store, where the man "threatened great bodily harm." The woman reported the threats to police, and they followed her home to be sure the man wasn't there. Officers searched inside the home, and found nothing suspicious -- but they didn't check under the porch. When police left, the ex-boyfriend burst from under the home. The woman shot at him, but she missed and fled inside. Minutes later the ex-boyfriend broke down the back door and rushed at the woman, who shot her assailant twice. He was found hiding in a nearby garage by police. (The Town Talk, Alexandria, LA, 06/01/2007)

Monroe, La., resident Mattie Ann Givens became alarmed at two men "moaning and groaning" on her porch. Retreating to her bedroom, she called police and then ducked behind a bed when she heard someone breaking in through a rear window. Seconds later, when a man entered the bedroom, Givens leaped up, pointed a revolver at him and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. (The Daily Reveille, Baton Rouge, La., 01/25/1984)

An elderly man discovered an intruder less than one-third his age burglarizing his boat. Police say the young criminal sprang at the man, stabbing him in the chest. Despite his injuries, the victim retrieved a shotgun and fired upon his assailant, causing him to flee. The victim was expected to recover from his injuries. The suspect was charged with attempted murder after he was found seeking treatment for gunshot wounds. (The Mendocino County Observer, Laytonville, CA, 04/19/2007)

California boat-builder Robert Eeg was making a deposit at his bank in Laguna Hills when a man announced an armed robbery. After the man took money and left the bank, Eeg followed him into the parking lot and from his van retrieved a pistol and ordered the crook to stop. When the robber instead charged, Eeg fired several shots, killing him. The dead man was also the prime suspect in the armed robbery of an auto rental office a few minutes before. (The Times, Los Angeles, CA, 6/11/1991)

According to police, a 36-year-old man awoke to popping noises resounding from the back of his residence. He took a .40-caliber hand-gun from his room and walked down the hallway to investigate. Detecting movement from the rear bathroom, the man opened the door and found a 16-year-old climbing through the window and another standing outside; both boys wore cotton gloves. The homeowner held both suspects at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived. Police arrested the boys on suspicion of burglary and possession of burglary tools. (The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, CA, 05/21/2007)

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?

Free Money!

As I heard it recently put, our tax code is a horrible mixture of class warfare and loopholes. Our current taxation system came about as a mistake, and there are better solutions to increase tax income while decreasing the burden on the public. These don't increase government power, however, and so our politicians won't implement them.

Here's the really scary part. Nearly half of all Americans are not paying significant taxes, so they're willing to vote themselves more money at the expense of others. Worse yet, many of them have no idea where the money government gives them comes from. They don't realize it's taken from the hard-earned labor of their fellow Americans.

Here's some very scary audio from WJR, Detroit interviews with people applying for stimulus cash. The Republic can not survive this kind of ignorance.

How's That Inflation/Deflation Going?

Back in January, I recommended buying some gold, when the price of gold was $855/oz. The price today is about $1050/oz. If you bought gold when I recommended it, you'd have a return of nearly 23% in 9 months. How are your other investments going?

Month		Monthly Inflation Rate	Annual Inflation Rate
May	2008	0.84%	0.34%
June	2008	1.01%	0.41%
July	2008	0.53%	0.46%
August	2008	-0.40%	0.44%
September	2008	-0.14%	0.40%
October	2008	-1.01%	0.30%
November	2008	-1.92%	0.09%
December	2008	-1.03%	0.01%
January	2009	0.44%	0.01%
February	2009	0.50%	0.02%
March	2009	0.24%	-0.03%
April	2009	0.25%	-0.06%
May	2009	0.29%	-0.10%
June	2009	0.86%	-0.12%
July	2009	-0.16%	-0.17%
August	2009	0.22%	-0.12%
September	2009	0.06%	-0.10%

(Note: When I posted this in May, the April numbers were still preliminary.)

The CPI is showing annual deflation. Gold is going nuts. What does that mean? The FED is trying to fight deflation by pumping out as many dollars as possible, but they're not stopping it. The dollar is on its way to being worthless. Yay!

Another note about this is over at zero hedge, where they've looked at the Dow Jones in constant dollars and vs. gold. The first time the Dow hit 10,000 was in 1999, and the cost of that 10,000 in gold was about 30 oz. Today's Dow at 10,000 costs less than 10 oz. of gold.

Goodbye, dollar -- it was nice knowing you.

A VAT is a VAT and Makes Government Fat

One of the proposals being thrown around by politicos is the idea of a VAT (Value-Added Tax). The CATO institute has a great video about what a VAT is, etc.

By the way, while watching this, keep in mind GDP means "Gross Domestic Product" or how much economic activity goes on in the US. Once we use that as a measuring stick, we can talk about percent of GDP as a measure of government's impact on the economy generally, regardless of the highs and lows of economic cycles.

The Liverpool Care Pathway: Making sure any serious illness is your last

I've linked the amazing story, Sentenced to death on the NHS a few times. It's an important story because it really is the method to kill off the elderly or extremely sick. Quite a few people are responding to it. The Liverpool "Care" Pathway is the denial of food and liquids, anything but pain medication, which hastens a patient's death even if proper care would help them survive. Anecdotes are only anecdotes, but many people in the UK report that there's some pressure to give permission to use the Liverpool Care Pathway instead of treating elderly patients properly.

That's right. The NHS is making sure any serious illness is an elderly person's last illness by sentencing them to death.

The UK's NHS hits just keep coming

The UK's National Health Service is often touted as a model for Government, or Socialized Medicine. NY Times columnist Paul Krugman has told us horror stories from the NHS are just made up lies.

Unfortunately for Mr. Krugman, the hits just keep coming from the NHS.

Here are a couple for your review. 31 year old Matthew Millington, a British Iraq War veteran, required a lung transplant due to a respiratory condition. He received it, but the NHS gave him the cancerous lungs of a man who evidently smoked 30-50 cigarettes a day. Matthew Milligan couldn't be given a second set of lungs, due to hospital rules, so he died of cancer. Story here.

Remember the story about being sentenced to death by the NHS? Here's a family living with the results:

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'.

Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for 76-year- old Jack Jones, and his family claim he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers.

He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer had not come back and he was in fact suffering from pneumonia brought on by a chest infection.

To his family's horror, they were told he could have recovered if he'd been given the correct treatment. Full story here.

I appreciate the NHS in the UK continuing to prove the point that government run health care is the real "die quickly" plan, and hope people in the U.S. will increase their pressure on Congress not to implement it here.

Maria Shriver Busted Breaking Husband's Own Law

The headline tells the story: Maria Shriver Busted Breaking Husband's Own Law. Here are the TMZ pictures. While most are probably just amused, I'm upset at the continued sense of entitlement the elite seem to have. Yes, the rich have always been privileged. It's a different matter when a that country prides itself on the idea of egalitarian justice has political elites making laws for the plebeians to which they will not be subject. One of the best examples is "public option" proposed by Democrats as part of a health care "reform" bill. Would they take the same medical coverage they want to foist on the masses? Of course not.

California Assembly Bill 962

I have just heard that the Governor signed AB 962 in California. If this still contains the 50 round purchase limit, the Governor has just ended firearms ownership in California.

If you can't buy ammo, your gun is an expensive club. If you've ever been to a range, you know 50 rounds is just a few minutes practice time. There is no way the average gun owner will be able to practice enough to stay accurate and retain enough ammunition for personal defense. That's if the average owner can afford to buy ammunition, since the cost of the other requirements of this law will drive prices up.

At a time when budget cuts are forcing staffing reductions in law enforcement, the signing of this bill demonstrates what little regard Governor Schwarzenegger has for the average California family's safety.

The Armed Citizen

Cashier Theresa Stuckey sold a woman groceries, and the next thing she knew the woman was outside pleading for her life. "She was screaming, 'Help, he's trying to kill me!' She was rolling on the ground, trying to get out of the way, but he kept stabbing her" Terrified onlookers yelled at the man and honked their horns. Ignoring the crowd, the rampaging man poured gasoline on the woman and attempted to set her ablaze, but a passerby entered the scene armed with more than a car horn. According to a witness, the Good Samaritan drew a gun and, "He told the man, 'Stop, or I'm going to shoot! And if you run, I'm going to kill you"' Police say the heroic man held the suspect until they arrived; however, he left before anyone got his name. The victim was listed in good condition at the hospital. (The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss., 03/05/2007)

When James Wiggins' dog began barking, he peered out a window and spotted two men approaching, clad in black ski masks, dark clothing and toting a handgun. Wiggins fled to his bedroom, retrieved his firearm and braced for an attempted invasion of his home. According to police, the masked men forced open the back door and Wiggins opened fire on them. Both suspects were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. (WRAL-TV5, Raleigh, N.C., 03/10/2007)

Police say two brave brothers with concealed-carry permits quashed an apparent road-rage incident. It began when a man was rear-ended and started yelling at the occupants of the other car. The argument escalated until he began shooting a gun into the air. At that point, passersby Paul and William Webber saw the man and quickly did a u-turn. The Webbers unholstered their guns, demanded the man put his hands in the air and held him for police. "If you see people doing wrong and especially putting lives at danger, said William Webber, 23, "it's pretty clear what you have to do." Memphis police Sgt. Robert Tutt called the brothers' actions, "Very responsible, very restrained" (The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn., 03/07/2007)

A concealed-carry permit holder from Florida is fortunate thanks to reciprocity laws. Police say he was walking his dog during a trip to Missouri when two men inquired about the pet. Then one of the men pulled what looked like a pistol and demanded the man's jewelry and cash. The suspect's pistol turned out to be a EE gun, but the victim had a real gun. "I definitely thought he was going to shoot me, so I pulled out my gun and started firing; he said. The suspects fled; one was apprehended. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo., 03/14/2007)

Something didn't add up about the two men claiming to be policemen, and Jason Daniels wouldn't answer the door. Police say Daniels' suspicions proved valid when the suspects broke into the home and tied him up. They began ransacking the home, and Daniels took the opportunity to free himself and grab a 9mm pistol from a cabinet. According to the police report, "When the suspects returned, they found Mr. Daniels armed and in a shooting stance." One of the suspects attempted to draw a revolver, and Daniels shot him. The injured suspect died and the other was apprehended. (Associated Press, Ashland, Ky., 03/08/2007)

Joshua Nicholson and his roommate were allowing Sarah Enkler and her two children to stay with them while she fled an abusive husband. Late one evening, Nicholson was jolted awake by the sound of someone breaking in through his back door. Police say he retrieved his .380-caliber pistol and walked down the hallway. When Nicholson saw the suspect entering the home, he fired a shot, causing the man to flee. The suspected invader -- Enlder's husband -- was arrested after seeking treatment for a gunshot wound. (The Morning News, Springdale, Ark, 03/27/2007)

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?

Mainstream admission the debate is not over

For years, those skeptical of the claims of global warming alarmists have been insisting we need to do more research before making sudden, drastic (and economy-killing) changes to our activities. So, it's nice to see the BBC, which has been reporting for years as though global warming were simply a fact, publish an article confirming there's credible evidence supporting skeptics of the theory of anthropogenic global warming, and definite room for debate. That article is here.

I'm convinced that though many of our friends in the "green" movement are true believers in doing their small bit in helping the environment, others have ulterior motives, and during the height of the great global warming swindle, they weren't shy about sharing them, as shared in this post:

Gore and other global warming activists seem very committed to global socialism, and the global warming scare is a perfect vehicle for the institution of socialist policies. How bold is that claim? Not very, if you listen to Christine Stewart, Canada's former environment minister: "Climate change provides the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world." On another occasion, she said, "No matter if the science is all phony, there is still collateral environmental benefits to global warming policies."

The BBC column is worth a read. Here's a part of it:

What is really interesting at the moment is what is happening to our oceans. They are the Earth's great heat stores.

According to research conducted by Professor Don Easterbrook from Western Washington University last November, the oceans and global temperatures are correlated.

The oceans, he says, have a cycle in which they warm and cool cyclically. The most important one is the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO).

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, it was in a positive cycle, that means warmer than average. And observations have revealed that global temperatures were warm too.

But in the last few years it has been losing its warmth and has recently started to cool down.

These cycles in the past have lasted for nearly 30 years.

So could global temperatures follow? The global cooling from 1945 to 1977 coincided with one of these cold Pacific cycles.

Professor Easterbrook says: "The PDO cool mode has replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global cooling."

So what does it all mean? Climate change sceptics argue that this is evidence that they have been right all along.

They say there are so many other natural causes for warming and cooling, that even if man is warming the planet, it is a small part compared with nature.

But those scientists who are equally passionate about man's influence on global warming argue that their science is solid.

The UK Met Office's Hadley Centre, responsible for future climate predictions, says it incorporates solar variation and ocean cycles into its climate models, and that they are nothing new.

In fact, the centre says they are just two of the whole host of known factors that influence global temperatures - all of which are accounted for by its models.

In addition, say Met Office scientists, temperatures have never increased in a straight line, and there will always be periods of slower warming, or even temporary cooling.

It wasn't long ago the same scientists working so hard to explain why global warming isn't happening the way they predicted were telling us human influences were the overwhelming factor in warming, and no cycles of nature could stop it. Their models and the predictions based on them were simply wrong, based on lies, assumptions and faulty data.

It is wise to find new, cleaner ways to generate power. Nobody wants to pollute the environment. However, we have time to do it. There is no need for "cap and trade" (cap and tax) legislation to drive up energy prices in the U.S. and further destroy our economy. We don't have to live in mud huts and stop raising any food animals. We can take a more sane approach to energy policy and environmental responsibility.

Most importantly, in science the debate is never over.

More on Meg Whitman

There's a lot to not like about Meg Whitman. It's not just her voting record (or lack thereof) or the video of her gushing over Van Jones (available here).

As a firearms enthusiast and 2nd Amendment supporter, I don't like her position on guns. You can find the brief version here.

"She said she supports Second Amendment rights, but that an assault weapon ban and handgun restrictions are 'probably the right thing in California.' She does not own a gun."

What this really tells me is that she doesn't know a thing about firearms and won't stand up against ludicrous anti-gun restrictions churned out by the California legislature.

The "assault weapons" banned in California are functionally identical to semi-auto hunting rifles. Example video here.

Low capacity magazine restrictions for rifles and handguns don't do anything but handicap lawful citizens at the range and in emergencies.

Support of such regulations is a problem for me as an informed voter.

Other Whitman positions many conservatives will find objectionable include supporting the use of tax dollars to fund abortions and supporting Barbara Boxer during the 2004 election.

California conservatives need a viable alternative. Meg Whitman just isn't looking very likely to do anything but get her Democrat opponent elected.

P.S. On reviewing the Van Jones video, I noticed that Meg was on a Climate Change cruise to Alaska with Van Jones. A Climate Change cruise should be offensive to anyone who has reviewed the evidence.

Thoughts from a Conservative Professor

I recently heard about a fantastic article, and thought I'd share it. It's published at American Thinker, specifically here.

Here's a bit of it:

Swimming Upstream: The Life of a Conservative Professor in Academia
By Ron Lipsman

I have been a faculty member at a major State University for 40 years. Several years after my arrival, I voted for George McGovern. Eight years later, I voted for Ronald Reagan. In those eight years, my family and I experienced several traumas that caused me to reevaluate -- and ultimately, drastically alter -- the political, cultural and economic axioms that had governed my life.

Within months of buying my first home in an excellent neighborhood, within walking distance to the University and, most importantly, located in a district with an outstanding local public elementary school, my five year old son was forcibly bussed to an inferior school, many miles away, in a horrible neighborhood in order to satisfy the utopian vision of a myopic federal judge. This betrayal of my fundamental rights was undoubtedly the greatest shock to my political psyche.

Another was a Sabbatical year spent living and working in Jerusalem, during which time the UN issued time the infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution. I was able to observe firsthand that the standard propaganda about Israel and Zionism that was promulgated in America and elsewhere -- almost exclusively by those on the Left that I had formerly supported -- was nothing more than bald-faced, hateful lies. This and other events in the 1970s caused me to rethink everything that I had taken for granted since adolescence about how the world worked.

I emerged from the exercise as an enthusiastic conservative. Thus I was no longer your average faculty member who adhered to the liberal party line, but instead one of a tiny cadre who completely disagreed with the leftist mentality that dominated the thought of campus faculty and administrators.

The overwhelmingly liberal atmosphere on campus is well known. In the one place in society at which there should be diversity of thought, exploration of conflicting ideas and a propensity to challenge conventional wisdom, we have instead a mind-numbing conformity of opinion and a complete unwillingness to entertain any thought or idea that deviates from the accepted truth.

I'd encourage anyone with interest to read the full article.

Advice from George Washington

In reading "The Real George Washington" I've become more convinced than ever that the Constitution is more relevant today even than it was in the time it was written. This is because, as I'm fond of saying, the Founders based the Constitution not on contemporary political theory of the 1700's, but on the immutable principles of human nature. They understood humanity very well.

George Washington proved that in his often quoted farewell address. One part of it struck me as I read because it is particularly relevant today:

"Toward the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown."

That is not to say he didn't feel the Constitution should be amended. He counseled with regard to change, "let it be by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed." (The Real George Washington, pages 586-587)

In other words, if anyone tells you we must change the way the system works fundamentally to resolve a present crisis, it should be rejected. Basic changes should be approached carefully and deliberately, never in a rush or panic, and considered fully before implemented. This is why the Amendment process is such a difficult one. It forces full consideration of any proposal. This is vital, because hasty changes can foul a great system of governance even when those making them have the purest of intentions.

When those proposing change have less than pure intentions, an unsuspecting populace may have freedom snatched away in the surprised blink of a complacent eye.

Michael Moore's new film

Here's a very entertaining and telling piece at Sweetness and Light. Michael Moore clearly believes what he has to say. Just as long as you have to live it and he doesn't. How very Soviet of him.

More Global Warming Lies exposed

You know I've been following the issue of global warming. Another excellent article has come out based on the recent opening of some of the data that served as the basis for the current movement.

Turns out, the data was manipulated, some of it outright false.

Ross McKitrick wrote about it in the article Defects in key climate data are uncovered. In essence, rather than taking hundreds of tree ring samples, 10 were used to produce a desired result, with heavy emphasis on one tree that best supported the theory the researcher wished to prove true.

In other words, the basis of the global warming movement is junk science, supported by more junk science.

The Armed Citizen

Employees at Texas Components were stunned when the daughter of an employee entered the business armed with archery tackle and a realistic-looking toy gun. Police say the crazed woman drew her bow and fired an arrow into an employee's chest, then pointed the fake pistol at others. Fearful for their lives, two employees, both of whom had concealed-carry licenses, drew pistols and shot the woman several times. She fled to an office and police were called. When the woman pointed an arrow at a responding officer, he shot her once more. The suspect and injured worker were both listed in stable condition at the hospital. (The Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX, 01/20/2009)

Police say two suspected burglars have already been dealt a great deal of punishment. First, a homeowner caught the suspects rifling through his garage. "I asked him what the hell he was doing and he said, 'Cleaning the garage,'" the homeowner recalls. The homeowner ran inside to get a gun, and the suspects fled. Police caught one of the men hiding under a nearby vehicle. His accomplice was arrested after he brazenly broke into a second home. In that incident the homeowner shot the suspect with a shotgun and held him for police. (The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 12/20/2008)

Ninety-year-old Berlie Mae Johnson was watching the evening news with her husband when two men burst through the back door. "Be quiet. Don't say a word. Don't move!" demanded one of the intruders as he put a gun to her head. "It's terrible. You expect at any moment..." she said, her voice cracking. "My nerves are shot. He'd probably have killed me." But her husband, Charles, age 91, came to the rescue. He grabbed his .38-caliber revolver from under a sofa cushion. One of the intruders fled immediately. "He saw the gun and, boy, he was gone," Mr. Johnson recalls. The other intruder was still threatening his wife, but a single shot from Johnson's revolver sent him running. Johnson said he has a message for others. "Be prepared. Keep your doors locked. And be alert." His wife added, "And have a gun ready." (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 12/25/2008)

The owner of Midwest Grillz and Jewelry, Andre McKesson, let two men into his store while a third man waited outside. The men expressed interest in purchasing a decorative mouthpiece known as a grill, but an argument ensued. The man outside recalls hearing, "Why you playing games with us, man? Where's our teeth? Can you give us a refund? Then give me my teeth!" Police say one of the men pulled a gun and fired two shots into the wall where McKesson had been standing. McKesson grabbed a semi-automatic rifle from behind the counter and killed both assailants. (Omaha World-Herald, Omaha, NE, 01/17/2009)

While fetching wood from her garage one evening, a 70-year-old woman heard what sounded like people fighting. "I looked over into the road to see what was going on, and about that time a guy comes running around the house," she explained. The woman ran inside, got her gun and dialed 9-1-1. The man circled the house, pounding on all the windows. He broke through the living room window and knocked over the television. The woman can be heard on the 9-1-1 tape yelling at the man, "You stay right where you're at!" Police say she aimed her gun at the intruder and told him, "If you come any closer, you're going to be dead." She then ordered him to the floor and he obeyed, collapsing into a fetal position. He remained that way until police arrested him. (South Bend Tribune, South Bend, IN, 01/06/2009)

A frequent customer at a convenience store noticed a man looking around the store as if casing it. Suspicious, he decided to go to his vehicle and call for help. "As soon as I touched my cell phone, I heard [the store clerk] screaming, 'Help, help, help!" the customer explained. The 5-foot-4 man grabbed his Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol from the vehicle and bravely ran back inside the store. Surveillance video shows the suspect hitting the female clerk with a beer bottle and wrestling her to the ground. The customer fired two shots, killing the suspect. Police found a knife and a wad of cash on the attacker. (Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, 01/08/2009)

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?

Where we should have tried to hold the Olympics

I'm really sorry for the people of Chicago that they won't get to go into massive public debt to host the Olympics so a few of the slum lords that reportedly helped Obama get into office can make massive sums of money selling their otherwise worthless properties.

However, I think we really missed the boat on an opportunity. We should have offered to host the Olympics in Detroit.

First, horrific crimes in Detroit aren't making worldwide news the way they are in Chicago. I suspect the population density in Detroit is too low to support that sort of thing now. Secondly, real estate is really cheap! We could bulldoze whole sections of the city for next to nothing to make room for Olympic venues. Thirdly, with all those abandoned houses, you don't have to build an Olympic village. Athletes can move right in! In fact, the only complaints they might have are the high tax rates and government corruption they'll experience during their stay.

The best part, though, is the opportunity to showcase what decades of electing liberal politicians can do for a city. Thank you unions and the Democratic party!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few images from Time's photo essay, "The Remains of Detroit."

Detroit's Central Station:


Other compelling images of blight:

Alan Grayson's comments and the real "Die Quickly" Plan

Recently, Alan Grayson (D-FL) said on the floor of the House of Representatives that the Republican health care plan is to not get sick, and if you do, to die quickly. He also apologized "to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America." Story here.

What's deeply ironic is that if one judges by our allies' care, he's exactly described government health care's plan, not that of any Republicans. From a report in the Daily Telgraph, "Sentenced to death on the NHS":

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.

Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.

But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.

As a result the scheme is causing a “national crisis” in patient care, the letter states. It has been signed palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke’s cancer centre in Guildford, and four others.

“Forecasting death is an inexact science,”they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.

“As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."

The warning comes just a week after a report by the Patients Association estimated that up to one million patients had received poor or cruel care on the NHS.

We need a real health care solution, not a copy of failing systems, and not alarmist rhetoric that is precisely the opposite of the truth.

Whether or not it's your issue, liberal policies help abort about 100,000 babies a month in the US. Now that's a holocaust.

The Roman Polanski Affair

Roman Polanski has made quite a stir in the news lately. You may have noticed, I tend not to comment on an issue immediately, but rather after I've had time to read, listen and digest the information.

I usually believe in reserving the money involved in incarcerating a person for those who must be locked up to protect society. I don't see retribution as a good reason to send someone to jail; justice isn't purely a matter of punishment in my mind, but again, one of defending society. Part of that is making the experience sufficiently unpleasant that criminals will not want to go back to jail, though not so awful it is cruel or unusual.

I can say I don't think the aged Polanski is much threat to anyone at this point, so despite the heinous nature of his crime, he doesn't have to go to jail to protect society. He does still have to go to jail, however.

The reasons are simple. The first is that no one must learn from Polanski that all you have to do to avoid punishment for your crime is to leave the country and hang out until you're elderly. That would encourage others to commit crimes and leave to escape the consequences. The second is to underscore the egalitarian nature of our legal system. You do not get to avoid jail because you are rich, famous or talented. If you break the law, no matter what your societal status, you must abide by the decision of the jury and court that hears your case.

The argument that Polanski feared a capricious judge is ludicrous. That is why the appeals process exists, and he could have returned to the U.S. to settle the matter after the judge retired or passed on, but he didn't.

This man broke the law in several ways, and has demonstrated contempt for the system by using money and mobility to avoid paying his debt to society. That can't and shouldn't be tolerated.