May 31st, 2010

On Memorial Day, I always wonder what I'm doing with my life that is worth the price that has been paid for it.

God bless those that gave their all.

Those things which are precious are saved only by sacrifice.
--David Kenyon Webster

If You're Reading This -- Tim Mcgraw

The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem.
--Rev. Aaron Kilbourn

Remember

Perhaps Memorial Day seems like a time to put flags on old headstones and remember our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. It's not. It's about remembering the sacrifice made by very young men to preserve our country. Day by day, year after year, we send young men into harm's way and not all of them come back. Here's one of the most recent ones.

"Sgt. Edwin Rivera, 28, of Waterford, Conn., died May 25 at National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds sustained May 20 when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using indirect fire at Contingency Outpost Xio Haq, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry, Norwalk, Conn. He is survived by his parents, his wife and two children."

We cannot repay their service, we cannot do or say anything to ease the loss to their families, all we can do is remember.

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
we will remember them.
--Laurence Binyon

Press Conference

Pr. Obama held one. I read what he said.

Here's what he should have said if he want to tell us the truth:

"Look, I'm a politician. I can't be responsible for what a private business does, any more than I can be held responsible for a hurricane. I don't have any idea how to stop the leak. I couldn't even crawl up under my limo and point at the drain plug on my oil pan, so I sure don't have any idea what the problems are, or even what sort of equipment it would take to go a mile underwater and then work on an oil leak. The government is totally dependent on private industry, for skills, personnel, and equipment, to deal with this crisis.

It's a big mess, and I'm just sorry it happened while I was President. If this had had happened a couple of years ago, I could have gleefully blamed Ol' Georgie Bush, but now I'm stuck with it. I was slow to face this, but now I have my game face on, and I'll be traveling to the Gulf region to stand on the beach and look grim and concerned for the cameras in the next few days.

There will be a very expensive and not very successful effort to clean up as much of the oil as we can. We'll make some new rules and you can bet drilling companies will be more careful, but sooner or later, there will be more drilling, because the entire world economy is based on oil, and it's going to continue to be for the foreseeable future. We need that oil, the whole thing collapses without it, so a spill, no matter how big, isn't really going to change anything."

That didn't happen, of course. Instead we got this. 

It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
-- Thomas Jefferson

Memorial Day

Not a day to remember the veterans. That's Veteran's Day. This is a day to remember the dead. The young boys that didn't come home. The mothers and fathers that got a telegram or a knock at the door. The rows of orderly stones in Arlington that tally up the cost of our freedom.

When I was a boy, there used to be a Memorial Day parade. The Gold Star mothers rode in antique convertibles, followed by the VFW, with all of the Scouts in uniform behind them. We marched through town and up to the cemetery, where a speaker said things I cannot remember.

What I do remember are the flags and the music, and my mother explaining that the older ladies riding in the cars were the mothers of boys that didn't come home. I remember it still.

I think they would want us to have fun, to live our lives and enjoy the gift they gave their lives for. So enjoy the long weekend and the beginning of summer. And take some time to remember.

All we have of freedom, all we use or know, this our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
--Rudyard Kipling

1200 Troops

I want to open by saying I understand why most of the Mexican cross illegally. They are desperate. Mexico is corrupt. Freedom and opportunity for a better life means risking the crossing into the haven of the United States. If we really cared about the Mexican people, we'd intervene, like we did in Iraq. Overthrow the current government, drive out the graft, the drug running, the payoffs, and the socialism, and allow the people to establish a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Meanwhile, Pr. Obama has announced that he will send 1200 National Guard troops to assist with border security along the U.S.-Mexican border. 1200 additional personnel along an open border of 1,950 miles. Lemme see, 1950 miles divided by 1200 people equals not enough troops to begin to make any real difference.

Even if the Guardsmen catch someone illegally crossing, they will not have the power to arrest them. So what is the point of this exactly? I'd say it's Kabuki theater, part of the puppet show the President is orchestrating as he gets ready to pass his "immigration reform" in the next few months.

If we're so cruel to minorities, why do they keep coming here? Why aren't they sneaking across the Mexican border to make their way to the Taliban?
--Ann Coulter

Let's Pretend

Let's pretend for a moment that Pr. George Bush had been in office when the BP oil leak occurred, and he did the exact same things as Pr. Barack Obama. Would the press be as supportive?

Okay, now that you're done laughing, try this next one.

Let's pretend for a moment that Pr. Obama was in office when Hurricane Katrina came ashore. The press savaged Pr. Bush for his response to Katrina, would they have done the same to Pr. Obama?

Before anyone tells me Pr. Obama would have handled things differently, consider this. Pr. Obama has been in office since January 21st of last year. If he really thought that the President of the United States should have done something more than Pr. Bush did in New Orleans and the Gulf region, he's had sixteen months to do it.

This is not an indictment of Pr. Obama's handling of the oil spill or Pr. Bush's handling of Katrina, I doubt there is anything any President could have done in either case. This is an indictment of the way the press has shaded their reporting of events based on the party affiliations of the officeholder they are covering.

Hypocrisy in anything whatever may deceive the cleverest and most penetrating man, but the least wide-awake of children recognizes it, and is revolted by it, however ingeniously it may be disguised.
--Leo Tolstoy

Muzzle Control

I think the way she retains control of muzzle at 1 minute 20 seconds says a lot about her awareness about safe gun handling. She dances around, but keeps the muzzle pointed downrange.

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
--Col. Jeff Cooper

A New Tax Increase to Pay for Cleanups

Congress is going to quadruple the "cleanup tax" on oil. It will be raised to 32 cents per barrel, bringing in approximately an extra $11 billion over the next decade. Predictably, Harry Reid likes the idea, and crowed, "Taxpayers will not pick up the tab".

The truth is, of course, as any college undergrad who sat through basic economics could tell you, taxes are never paid by corporations. They are always passed directly to customers. Every gallon of gas, every petroleum based product, will reflect this new added cost. We will pick up the tab. We always do.

The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
--Milton Friedman

Either We Are a Nation Of Laws Or We Are Not

On immigration, Obama backs Mexico, not Arizona. Good, real good, the President of the United States is backing the President of Mexico on the issue of illegal immigration. President Obama said, while speaking of Arizona's new immigration law, "...it will lead to immigrants being treated as criminals."

Well of course it will. They are criminals. At the moment they illegally cross onto U.S. soil, they are criminals. If all we do is deport them, they should consider themselves lucky. If I cruise on down to the Mexican border and cross illegally, what would Mexico do when I was caught?

But even worse, the federal government now says they are going to selectively enforce federal laws. John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities. So the enforcement agencies funded and charged with protecting our borders will do what with the illegals? Release them? Where? If they released them in California, and knew they were there, shouldn't they then immediately pick them up and process them for deportation?

In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.
--Justice Louis Brandeis

At the Gun Store

At lunch today I visited $LOCAL_GUNSTORE. A smaller shop, well stocked, and managed by a friend that would probably call in a missing person report if he didn't see me every week or so. Today at the counter was a sight to warm you heart.

That's right, it was a woman buying a gun. She stood with a couple of .38 revolvers and an array of .380 autos on the counter, discussing pros and cons, trying triggers, and clearly making a buying decision on a concealable handgun for her purse.
Did she pick a caliber I would have chosen? Did she choose the particular firearm I would have decided on? It doesn't matter. She had taken the time to get some training, she had her CC permit, she had been reading about her options, and had narrowed it down, only wanting to hold and consider each one before laying down her money.

It was profound. As important a part of being an American citizen as voting, it was a privilege to be there to see it exercised.

Where liberty is, there is my country.
--Benjamin Franklin

Jack Webb Gives Us Just The Facts

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
--Thomas Jefferson

No Borders

So why exactly do we even pay for Customs and Border Patrol? If we're just one big happy family, we can save that 10.9 Billion Dollars we're currently expending on the borders. What do we need passports for? Going through international customs checkpoints is such a pain, anyway. Borders are so 19th Century and I guess that old "Halls of Montezuma" thing in the Marine Hymn was just an unfortunate cultural misunderstanding.

Repelling an invasion is not in the President's Constitutional responsibilities. That falls to Congress in Article I, Section 8. But even if the President thinks we should throw open the borders to all and sundry, it is up to Congress write our laws and up to the President to see them carried out, as specified in Article II, Section 3. Failing to faithfully carry out the laws would be a violation of his Oath of Office and a crime, for which Congress could move for Articles of Impeachment.

National sovereignty is an obligation as well as an entitlement. A government that will not perform the role of a government forfeits the rights of a government.
--Richard Perle

Secrecy and Extravagance

The White House chef has been silenced. His mistake? Tweeting about the menu for a state dinner. There are lots of things that need to be secret in times of war. The number and deployment of our nuclear weapons might be one of them. But the menu for some fancy dinner honoring the Mexican President? The issue apparently is that the White House thinks it appears in bad taste to be spending tax money on a lavish feast during a recession when so many citizens are struggling just to get by. The solution, apparently, is to make sure people don't know about it.

Information will not be withheld just because I say so.
--Pr. Barack Obama, 1/21/09

Stolen Valor

The Attorney General of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, gave a speech in 2008 where he spoke of his service in Vietnam and the need to honor today's veterans of the Long War War on Terror whatever the hell we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been quoted often about his service in Vietnam. Now he is running as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

The problem is that Mr. Blumenthal was never there. Here, from the Times, is the reality:

Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.

In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.

I have a lot of respect for anyone who serves honorably, active or reserves. Toys for Tots is a worthwhile effort that I support financially every year. What I have no time for is someone who inflates their service history, especially for political gain. He is stealing the the honor of men who went and served in combat while he took five different deferments to avoid the very war that he has been claiming to have fought in. He should withdraw from this campaign. Failing that, the voters of Connecticut should soundly reject him.

Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.
--Sophocles

Woody Allen's Proposal

Woody Allen, the filmmaker who married his own adopted daughter, has a proposal to get America back on track:

"I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him. It would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly."

Even if you were right about his abilities, Woody, how would you propose to remove him from power when his work was done? One of the wonders of this country is that every four years we get to pick a new President, and so far, every outgoing President has left power peacefully.

It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.
--Herbert Hoover

Rise and rise again.

I went to the movies yesterday to see the new Robin Hood. It a prequel to the usual Robin Hood story, dealing with the events that lead to Robin Hood becoming a bandit in the forest. I liked it, the reviewer in the New York Times did not. I suspect that the very message the reviewer disliked is the one that resonated with me.

Rise and rise again. Until lambs become lions.
--From the movie Robin Hood(2010)

Hope n' Change

A very funny cartoon blog that covers some very serious topics.

People say satire is dead. It's not dead; it's alive and living in the White House.
--Robin Williams

ROTC

Several weeks ago I got to spend an afternoon at the range with a group of ROTC cadets. We ran the range and provided the weapons. The cadets had the opportunity to fire smooth bore flintlock muskets, percussion cap rifles, 1903 Springfields, and M-1 Garands. There is a sense of reaching back and touching history when you get to fire these old rifles, and you wonder where they have been and what stories they hold. There is also the sense of seeing the future when you see a young cadet in a modern uniform and helmet firing a Garand into a target at 100 yards.

History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.
--David C. McCullough

Ode to Lady

From Neptunus Lex, a tribute to a beloved companion.

I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
--Gilda Radner

Let's Try This

Give them an area of the Gulf that has impacted by the oil spill and find out if their idea will work on a larger scale. If they fail, what do we lose? If they succeed...

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
--Leonardo da Vinci

Thompsons

I have had the opportunity to fire, at one time or another, a half a dozen different full-auto weapons. If money suddenly appeared, there is only one I would want to own. A 1928 Thompson. It's not practical for anything I would need, although I suppose I could use in single fire mode to shoot 3-Gun. Practical or useful has nothing to do with it. It was just fun. Loud, expensive, fun.
I bring this up because I found this post about a guy who got to shoot Al Capone's Thompson at the police range in Chicago. I don't have any idea what Al Capone's Thompson would be worth, I did find others for sale in the 13 to 25 thousand dollar range.

Want. Will not get. But still want.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.
--Napoleon Hill

Mindset 2

A man and his wife posted an ad on Craigslist to sell a ring. This is how it worked out:

The victim, his wife, and their sons, ages 14 and 10, were restrained with plastic handcuffs, Lindquist said. Two other suspects then entered the home. One pistol-whipped the older son, he said.

Sanders broke out of his restraints and attempted to defend the 14-year-old, and was shot three times, the prosecutor said. "While this is going on, other bad guys are kicking Mom in the head while she's lying on the floor."

So I give the man credit for resisting, his failure happened in the defensive mindset and training that he needed before the predators showed up at his door.

There are two kinds of killers as far as the victim is concerned: the kind that you don't see before they pounce on you and the kind you see and don't expect to pounce on you.
--Pat Brown

The Cross in the Mohave

Thieves Steal Mojave Desert Memorial Cross. The cross that the Supreme Court recently said could stay in the desert was cut off it's mounting bolts and stolen. The cross that served as a memorial to the dead of World War One. Who did this and why? It will be interesting to find out.

The story of America's quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.
--Randy Vader

The Lesson of Utah

The New York Times didn't like the way the GOP in Utah voted this week. It seemed surprising to the staff at the Grey Lady that a 3 term Republican Senator, with support from Mitt Romney, couldn't win his way to the primary. There's a lesson in here somewhere, but even though they mention it in the same article, they just don't see it.

Sen. Bennett voted for the health care bill. He voted for TARP. He was endorsed by Mitt Romney, a "Republican" liberal enough to elected governor of Massachusetts. That's enough. The Republicans exercised their own responsibilities within their party, and selected new candidates.

The same lesson may yet apply to Sen. John McCain in Arizona, another Republican that voted for the bailouts. The Republican tried to run him for President last time, handing the national election to the Democrats, because many people couldn't hold their nose long enough to pull the lever for McCain. Now he's in a fight just to retain his Senate seat, trying to defend his voting record. It may play out in similar ways across the country this year. My guess is the New York Times won't like any of it.

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
--John Quincy Adams

The President Doesn't Like Too Much Information

At least he doesn't like the information he doesn't control. I would have thought of something or another, but having read her latest post, there really only one thing to say.
Go read what Breda said.

Give me Liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to my conscience, above all other liberties.
--Milton

Mindset

You're in the house, the same safe place you've lived for years. What possible reason would you have to be in a state of readiness?

"A man was killed and his family members beaten after three suspects barged into a north Houston home Saturday afternoon, police said.

Investigators said one of the suspects pretended to be a census worker to gain entry into the house, located in the 400 block of Truman."

The world is filled with all kinds of people. Most of them are like you and me. They live their lives, they love their families, and they do not intentionally bring harm to others. It's those remaining few that see the rest of us as prey. If one of them selects you, it can be as sudden and mindlessly brutal as a lion selecting a gazelle.

When the swords flash let no idea of love, piety, or even the face of your fathers move you.
--Gaius Julius Caesar

The Real Cost

Over at On a Wing and a Whim, I read a post about one pilot harassing another about smoking. Least you think this was a self-righteous, moral high ground, don't do that, you'll die, harrassment, here's the heart of the argument:

"I mean, they're what, like, a gallon of avgas a pack?"

I am not a pilot, but I fully understand this measuring system. Money is paper. It's value exists only in what it can buy. If you buy one thing, you can't use that money to buy any other. It started as a joke, but my measuring system is based on ammunition and guns. Specifically .45ACP and 1911s. In my financial analysis system, there is a basic unit of measurement. When the pile of ammo I am using gets large enough, I transition to larger units. Prices continually creep upward, but more or less, forty dollars will get you 100 rounds of .45acp. and six hundred dollars will get you a no frills 1911. Its a great way to decide things. Plenty of the things we have to pay for in life are beyond our control, but when deciding is an option, this system helps me think through the real cost.

Of course, there are other ways to do this kind of math. A good friend of mine had to have a tooth crowned recently, and his share after insurance was neatly summed up by saying, "I could have bought a correct grade Garand for what that cost."

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.
--Jackie Mason

An Acknowledgment

The new York Times has an article about the Kel-Tec 9mm carbine that the alleged Times Square bomber had purchased. It has a relatively dispassionate description of the weapon and it's capabilities, an explanation of the reasons he may have chosen it (it looked scary), and some information about laws and gun purchasing. Here's the quote that really stopped me:

It is, in effect, a low-powered rifle.

Back on March 3rd, 2010, I had observed that every rifle mentioned in the news was described as "high-powered". I had never in my memory seen a firearm described any other way, and I think the New York Times deserves credit for the quality and accuracy of the information in this report.

Facts sometimes have a strange and bizarre power that makes their inherent truth seem unbelievable.
--Werner Herzog

Forever Changed

They did this for us.
If you find yourself in Washington, D.C., make the time to visit this memorial.

Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.
--Henri Frederic Amiel

Say Uncle has the reply from the NRA

From Say Uncle, the reply from the NRA on Convention Carry and I quote:

The claim that NRA does not want members to carry is flat out wrong. Both Phoenix and Louisville allowed concealed and open carry in the convention center. In fact, NRA fought to make sure attendees could carry at those locations.

In Charlotte, just like in every city that we have held our annual meeting, NRA is bound by legal and contractual obligations. We were unable to remove the prohibition due to state, city and convention center regulations.

Some people have mentioned an exception under the law for “A person participating in the event, if a person is carrying a gun, rifle, or pistol with the permission of the owner, lessee, or person or organization sponsoring the event.” This exception has two prongs. First, the person must be a participant. Second, the person must have permission.

While some may suggest that NRA could be the one giving permission, the reality is that NRA would not be the one who would determine whether or not someone is a participant. A prosecutor, judge, and jury would be ultimately making that determination.

Even if NRA declared all attendees participants, a prosecutor could argue that he/she was an attendee, spectator, guest of a member or a ticket holder, so that could not be relied on for a legal defense. And, in the end, it is the person with the gun who would be prosecuted. This is indeed a gray area, but without a clear exception there is a serious risk of arrest and prosecution, and NRA does not want our members risking prosecution.

The fact is if NRA only went to places that allowed CCW in convention centers, we would be limited to 2 or 3 choices. Because of the size of NRA’s conventions, we already are limited with our choices of cities that can accommodate us. We also strive to have regional balance to allow members from all over the country to attend. People should also be mindful that NRA has worked to change laws all over the country. With incremental wins, those who may not be able to carry in a certain location today may be able to do so down the road. After all, Arizona’s gun laws have come long way since we were there last year.

Now, I think that’s lawyerese.

When gun clubs in North Carolina charge admission for a shoot, everyone understands they are participating and it is the sponsoring organization that allows the guns on the property. If I paid a fee at a club, then only watched the event, would I have to worry about being arrested for having a gun?

At the local convention center, also in N.C., when they hold a gun show, I have to unload the weapon and have a ziptie put through it, but I am not disarmed. I have both the weapon and the ammunition in my possession. I paid admission there.

Who would do the search or the arrests if the venue owner or the sponsoring organization didn’t inform the police of a problem? If the law allowing the sponsoring organization to permit carry did not seem like enough, they could have registered everyone that expressed an interest as a security guard.

Where we really are is this. Beyond informing people attending that it will be illegal to carry, the NRA will be putting everyone though metal detectors. So not only do they not trust you to carry, they don’t trust you to not carry, and therefore will be searching you. Just about the way the Brady Campaign thinks it should be.

The effect of this, of course, is not just in the convention venues. It means that all the people coming to the convention hall are disarmed as they travel from their hotels and homes, because unless there is a plan in place to provide secure storage at the venue entrance I haven't heard about, they will have to make storage plans before coming to the arena.

One last thought before I let this go, the 2nd Amendment does not end with the words "shall not be infringed except at venues where admission is charged."

I'll make you a promise, though. If the NRA gets N.C. carry laws fixed so I can carry in restaurants that serve alcohol, movie theaters and other venues that charge admission, and eliminates the need for a permitting system like Arizona recently did, I'll stop paying my dues by the year and purchase a life membership.

The Founders' intent in framing the Second Amendment is perfectly clear and undeniable. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Some anti-gun elitists declare this notion outdated. However, many constitutional scholars from this country's most prestigious universities agree that the Founders' intent is clear and irreversible: To "keep and bear arms" is a right for all law-abiding citizens...
--Charlton Heston

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer Makes Her Position Clear

She said, in part, "...because there are a lot of people who want to use this terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way."

Yes, Ms. Brewer, there are, and you're one of them. You wanted to use this terrorist intent to write off people that think the United States is swinging too far left, people that were born in the United States, and people that have white skin. That makes you prejudiced and racist. Good job. Sorry that the actual bomber turned out to be such a disappointment.

New racism is no better than old racism.
--Newt Gingrich

The Internet is Fluid

Yesterday I had been linked by Oleg Volk. Today the link is gone. Only the internet cache remembers: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:VkK5q_Ak8RMJ:olegvolk.livejournal.com/805213.html+http://olegvolk.livejournal.com/805213.html&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
I don't know if he took it down because he decided he disagreed with what I had posted, or if someone asked him too, or if it was just too volatile an issue, and he wants to stay focused on his photography. It just went away.

Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
--Heraclitus

N.C. Law

The important section is in bold. Because it clearly states that the organization sponsoring the event can grant permission in North Carolina for carrying of rifle, pistol, or shotgun. If the NRA would like to justify their prohibition (ban) on weapons and their use of metal detectors at the convention, they are going to have to point at something other than N.C. laws.

§ 14‑269.3. Carrying weapons into assemblies and establishments where alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to carry any gun, rifle, or pistol into any assembly where a fee has been charged for admission thereto, or into any establishment in which alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(b) This section shall not apply to the following:

(1) A person exempted from the provisions of G.S. 14‑269;

(2) The owner or lessee of the premises or business establishment;

(3) A person participating in the event, if he is carrying a gun, rifle, or pistol with the permission of the owner, lessee, or person or organization sponsoring the event; and

(4) A person registered or hired as a security guard by the owner, lessee, or person or organization sponsoring the event. (1977, c. 1016, s. 1; 1981, c. 412, s. 4, c. 747, s. 66; 1993, c. 539, s. 165; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

Hat tip to the anonymous commenter on Oleg Volk's Live Journal.

An Observation about GM and the Drug War

In spite of decades of law enforcement, interdiction, drug prevention awareness, and prison sentences, illegal drugs continue to flow into our society. We haven't even made a dent in the problem. We been attacking symptoms. What we need to do is disrupt the profit motive.

Here's my solution. Wholesale legalization, coupled with management at the federal level. Set up a government run growing, harvesting, manufacturing, distribution and sales system. Make all the workers unionized with full benefits. Hire GM executives and government mid-level managers with no private sector experience to run the whole thing. Quality product for sale will begin to dry up almost immediately. The whole system will be hopelessly wrapped in bureaucracy in a year, a little while after that it will be bankrupt and surviving on taxpayer subsidies.

Sure the addicts would suffer, but the government could say they were doing their best and there was a plan to deliver on the "free drugs for everyone" program right after the next restructuring. They could even mean it. The United States would have solved the problem by letting government work.

Centralization at the national capital or within a business undertaking always glorifies the importance of pieces of paper. This dims the sense of reality.
--David E. Lilienthal

Two Americas

Bill Whittle explains the difference in his latest video. Close the door and get the Kleenex, this one is just outstanding. I would have embedded it, but PJTV doesn't have that feature.
We can't all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by.
--Will Rogers

From the Comments

This showed up in the comments. Kind of hard on me, but here it is in it's entirety:
------------------

Couldn't help but notice that your picture was not cited. Could that be because you don't want to admit that the picture came from the NRA's own website, and that THEY are trying to bring this policy to our attention?

The NRA also advertises this policy in their print ads. It's almost like they're trying to bring it to your attention so you can do something about it, raise the ruckus on their behalf, perhaps.

Instead, you say "Now the NRA Bans Guns." Well, okay. You're a liar, there's proof that you're a liar right there in the picture where they attribute the decision very directly, and now none of us ever has to wonder whether you're a liar. You're a liar.

I'm re-upping for another year, just to make up for you and the lies you make up.

---------------------------
And my reply: The image came from the NRA website. The NRA advertised the policy. They could have chosen a venue in another state, but instead chose to come to a location that ensures everyone who visited was disarmed. On this issue the NRA is tone deaf.

I shouldn't have to "raise a ruckus on their behalf". They should raise one on my behalf.

They advertised this heavily so that they would not have legal, law-abiding, concealed carry permit holders caught with firearms in the metal detectors at the door of the convention.

I am a member of the NRA. I pay my dues every year. I support the written goals of the NRA. I take classes sponsored by the NRA. I think every gun owner should be a member. What I will not do is attend a National NRA convention where guns are prohibited (another word for that is banned). What I wish was that every gun owner had stayed away from the convention this year. I guarantee that next year the venue would not have a gun ban in place. If that makes me a liar, so be it.

I would have written you directly, but you left no means for me to do so.

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
--Henry Louis Mencken

The Dead at Kent State

Two of the students killed were walking across campus to class. One of those two, William Schroeder, was an Eagle Scout and a ROTC cadet. He died, the same as the others. Here's a personal biography, written by his mother and father. I quote an excerpt:

Mr. Robert Ferguson, Scoutmaster, and Principal of Hawthorn Junior High School in Lorain, was interviewed by the Lorain Journal after the funeral. He said:
"Every one of the boys Bill had in his patrol when he was a Patrol Leader-and this was five years ago-everyone of those boys came to the funeral parlor. As a leader of boys, he was demanding. He expected them to meet his own standards. The last time I saw Bill was in March when he came home for a weekend and was camping with the troop out at Firelands Boy Scout Camp, and we had a long talk about college and what he stood for and what he wanted . . ."

He was 380 feet away from the Guardsmen, carrying a folder. He was on the ground, probably in response to the firing, when he was hit. He died an hour later in surgery.

If Bill was right to be where he was, then who was responsible for his death?
--Florence Schroeder, the mother of Bill Schroeder, killed at Kent State on 5/4/1970

40 Years

The question is always how much dissent a government is going to allow. At Kent State in 1970, it was college students. The next time it might be grandparents. If the Tea Party protesters I wrote about here had not heeded instruction to fall back, what exactly were the Secret Service ready to order the Quincy Tactical Response Team to do? The protest at Quincy was small. What happens as the year wears on and the protests get bigger as we approach the election?

Two things to remember. The first is that it doesn't matter if the students were right or wrong in their point of view. The second is that no one, at any level, planned to kill students walking to class at Kent State. It's just how the day turned out.

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
--John Adams

3 Boxes of B.S. is down

I got a reply to an email I sent to Bob at 3 Boxes of B.S. and he asked me to post an announcement. If his site was one of your regular stops, as it was mine, he is temporarily off-line. I don't know if he'll be back up under the same address or not. If he sends me a heads-up when he sorts it out, I'll put him back on the blogroll and let you all know.

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
--Vladimir Nabakov

From Geek With A.45

I don't need to add anything, the quote alone is full of win.

In our desecrated democracy, we need make no claim more preposterous than that our government adhere to the terms of the charters that created it.
--Geek With A .45, 4-29-2010