All of these "solutions" are crap. Unmitigated crap.

There has been a ton of comments, posts, columns and pontifications on guns and gun control over the last couple of weeks.  The screams from up on high have be especially deafening since the horrible event at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT,  I want to state categorically that this event, along with others like this (whether in more or less severity) is horrific and very saddening.  The cruelty enacted upon these children is beyond repulsive.  I am especially happy that young Adam Lanza is dead.

The question most asked is how can this be prevented in the future.  There are several schools of thought in answering this question.  One, more gun control for all U.S. citizens in obtaining weapons, ammunition and ammunition accessories (high capacity magazines).  Another is more security, with guns, in schools.  A third is more scrutiny in mental health screenings for everyone to spot potential violent, gun using individuals.

No offense to anyone but all of these "solutions" are crap.   Unmitigated crap.

I am asked why I oppose gun control.  I respond with "Why do you hold your own life, or the lives of your loved ones in such contempt?" I get blank stares.  Seriously, no one can answer this question.  Then I ask, why did the victims not have their own gun?  This question restores my opponents vigor and they begin to bombard me with the typical rants of 1) how dangerous guns are, 2) how unstable people are when provoked and if they had a gun total anarchy would result, 3) gun free zones mean no guns, evah!!!, bla bla bla.

Now, guns are dangerous.  No doubt about it.  That is why they are the greatest equalizer in history.  More on this in a minute.

Just because you have a gun does not mean you will turn into a killer when provoked.  In fact, and here is a little secret, having a gun will in fact make you less prone to violence.  Let me explain quickly.  If you have a gun, does the other person(s) you are arguing with have one too?  Are you willing to die today because of an argument?  Nope, and neither is the other person.  Think if it like this: In the animal kingdom we have predators and prey.  The prey usually vastly outnumbers the predators.  When the predators hunt, they lay in wait, ambush, stalk and chase their prey.  Now, which prey is being targeted?  Is it the strong, the fast, the most aware?  Nope, nada, wrong answer.  It is the weak, the slow, the old, the less powerful.  Why?  well, there are number of reasons.  The weak, slow, and old are an easier target.  Also the risk to injury to the predator is reduced.  See, predators are not stupid.  They don't want to get hurt.  This si true with humans as well.  That is why guns are called the greatest equalizer in history.  A 120 pound, 5'1" woman with a gun in her hand is on equal footing with a 220 pound 6'4" man.  Without the gun the woman cannot defend herself.  She is prey.  With the gun she is no longer prey.

Gun free zones.  Man, what a crock!  Better to say, hunting preserve to any homicidal scum looking to make a name for themselves.   I get the "but it is against the law to go into a gun free zone with a gun".  True, but who cares.  The homicidal scum doesn't.  And how are such zones announced?  With signs.  Let me ask another question.  Do you speed?  Yes, yes you do.  But there are signs and it is illegal.  So what.  We all do it.  I drive every day and see this law broken every time I drive.  Every time!  Also, cars kill a far higher number of people than guns.  For 2011, it is reported that there were 32,310 motor vehicle deaths in the U.S.  Now, was speeding involved in each of these deaths?  No but so what. The argument is that guns kill.  The argument does not allow for situational circumstances so I will not differentiate either.  This leads us back to the one obvious fact:  Signs mean nothing and do not work to protect us from criminals.

I have one statement that often makes people of the gun grabbing variety really look at me with hate:  Failure to protect yourself or your family (which you are obligated to protect) is your failure as a human being.  Then I ask why they hold their live and the lives of their loved ones in such contempt?

I then ask these questions: Where was the victim's gun?  Why did they not have it with them?  Why do they hold their own lives in such contempt to not warrant self protection?  I get...crickets.

I will protect me and mine.  I expect you to do the same.

Loss of Freedom

Ever since the Newtown tragedy the leftard loonies have been screaming for new laws, bans and outright confiscation of lawfully owned guns.  Guns lawfully owned and operated by law abiding citizens.  Call it what you want, but they are basically wanting our government to ignore the 2nd amendment and our freedoms.  In fact they want to basically destroy the one and only freedom put in place to defend against a tyrannical  out of control government. Coincidence?  Nope.  But here is one thing they had better understand.  There are millions of guns owned by millions of civilians that will never give up this freedom.  This right is granted by God himself.  No, not the right to guns stupid.  The right of self protection.  Life is a gift from God Almighty.  We are tasked with cherishing this gift.  Failing to protect ourselves neglects this gift.  It is like spitting in God's face.  Yes you read the right.  So lefties.  Do you really think that we will give up our one freedom that allows us to experience all the other freedoms we are granted by the Divine?  This is a question you need to ask yourself (stolen from here.  I love this site)

...We will NEVER under ANY circumstance disarm or give up ANY firearms that are currently legal to own.
And yes, we are prepared to die for it. ARE YOU PREPARED TO MURDER US FOR IT?

Well are you?  Keep in mind we will not go quietly.  We will not give in or give up.

Will YOU stand and be counted?

I have often thought about writing something like this.  In fact I have written down my thoughts on this many times. I have never been so deliberate as this man's post.  All I can say is read and enjoy.

Then ask yourself, will I stand and be counted?  Will you stand for you beliefs or cower away as the verbal (and sometimes physical) attacks come your way?

Bravo Zulu Mr. Coleman

SG

Let it BURN

I love America.  I love its philosophy.  I love the founding principles.  I love the fact that this is the place that anyone can succeed.  A place the if you know how to do it you could succeed.  Now... it is who you know.

Conservatives have been screaming from any and every perch available about the sorry direction that our country is heading.  And it has been falling on deaf ears.  The majority of folks just won't listen.  Or better yet, they are easily bought off.  Our latest election was the proof of this (not accounting for the massive voter fraud).  Everyone just wants their free shit.  Someone else should pay for it cause...well shut up that's why.  So I guess it is time for them to really experience what getting everything for free really costs.

Right after the election the stock market goes tits up.  Layoffs abound. And the usual response from the greedy moochers is to announce a boycot.  Who will be left?  As Margret Thatcher once famously said, Sooner or later you run out of other people's money.

As any parent can attest to, kids won't always listen to you.  They are convinced that hey know more than you. So they do not heed your warnings and do exactly what you tell them not to do.  Thus learning a valuable lesson the hard way.  We are at that time and place in America.  I propose that we let these petulant brats learn the lesson the hard way.  Conservative folks will survive.  We still believe in being self sufficient.  In doing a hard day's work for a fair price.  We will just need to wrap our heads around the fact the the fair price scale has shifted.

I have no intention in allowing the moochers to take what my hard work earned.  And I suspect that many others share in this belief.  I predict three things will happen over the next four years:

1. Black markets will spring up:  These will be markets for goods and services that will keep the federal government out of their pockets.  New "currency" will be used.  Oh the (once) mighty dollar will be the official currency still but trading will be at a all time high. 

2. There will be a flock of people migrating to "flyover country"  If you look at the latest election map, the blue, "give me my free shit" folks are mainly congregated along the coasts. Hard working, self sufficient folks are basically living in the middle of the country.  The population growth in the "flyover" areas will increase.  Here is where my prediction will get interesting.  Free-loaders will not be welcome.  They will be ostracized and driven out.  There will be no room for them in the re-making of America. 

3. The government will go broke.  They will need to "re-coup" lost revenue from the lost productivity of the working masses.  The Government will try to increase regulation and taxes among the working class, without much success.

And this leads me to the only conclusion I can draw.  And it is scary (at least to me).  Civil war and the inevitable breakup of the Union.  A Russian professor, Igor Panarin wrote a paper some time ago predicting the U.S. would collapse and break apart. Here is the map he predicts the former United States will look like:

Now, I don't know if this will be the final outcome or not.  I pray that it isn't.  I sincerely pray that we can come back from this disaster before it is too late.  But MAJOR changes need to happen.

For starters, the 16th and especially the 17th amendments need to be repealed.  The Senate needs to represent the states, not the electorate. With these two amendments in place, the state's rights are null and void.  Also the Senate needs to be able to hold the Executive branch accountable   With the way things are now, the Senate answers to the party, not to the state it is supposed to represent.  This is why the Senate was given its powers, so that the States would have an equal say and keep the federal government from amassing too much power.  With the 17th Amendment in place, the Senate answers to the party, not their state.  The end result is that the States are subject to the federal government, not the other way around.  This power shift is precisely why we sought independence in the first place.  And is it also why it took so long to ratify the Constitution.

The Congress needs to actually act. Impeachment needs to happen. And often.  Regardless who is power in the Executive branch at the moment they need to fear Congress.  Also Congress will need to actually impeach the Judiciary.  Doing this just once will effectively remove the absolute power the Judiciary feels it has.  The Obamacare decision is just grounds for judiciary impeachment.  By doing this just once they will fear a radical decision more and actually not reach outside of their jurisdiction so much.

Do you see any of this happening?  I didn't think so. Free men and women will not go silently into the darkness of oppression.  I just pray that the fight that is surely coming will be non-violent but I fear that we have pasted that point.  I still hold out hope that the war we are in will remain a war of ideas.  Because if it breaks down into a war of action about ideas, anything can happen.

One thing to keep in mind though, if action is the end result, we will never get back what we once had.  That time would have passed.  Once violence happens (on a large scale) the idea of the United States of America will be lost to history forever.  The end result will might be something similar but it will never be the same.

I hope I am wrong.  I really do.

SG

The Unmitigated Disaster Known As Project ORCA

This report is so awful, so hurtful to my hopes and well being that I just don't have much more to say.  I was making a HUGE assumption that Team Romney was their shit together.  Boy was I wrong.  And we all know what happens when one assumes don't we?  Yep.  That about sums it up.  It turns out that Team Romney did indeed make the moron horde, well morons.  I only got one thing to add. NOT. ONE. MORE. DIME!  No money goes to the GOP, to the Republican Committee, or to any establishment GOP type.  I will only donate to Tea Party folks, those who first prove that they believe in liberty, freedom and fight to get the government out of my life.  If everyone just stopped funding the likes of Boehner  and his coward ass associates then we would see real reform immediately.  Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and yes even Michelle Bachmann (lousy Candidate but a great congress woman).  These are the folks who hold the conservative future.  There are many more that are out there that are not part of the Karl Rove mafia but are actually wanting to change America back to America.  Can we do it?  I really don't know.  It will be very hard but I think it is not impossible, yet.

But Operation ORCA needs to go the way of the 8-track. Now.

The Unmitigated Disaster Known As Project ORCA:

As the puppy blander sayeth... I am all for educatino

Now this si something I can get behind.

My favorite line:

Only when people see that the revenue obtained doesn’t come close to covering the government’s outlays will anyone begin to believe that the cupboard is bare. Does it hurt the economy? Perhaps, but therein lies a lesson too.

Instapundit » Blog Archive » READER MICHAEL MILLER offers another suggestion to Speaker Boehner for increasing revenue: Want t…:

Hangover

What to say?  There have been rants, pontifications gnashing of teeth, renting of garments, pulling of hair, etc.  Talk of let it burn, death of a republic, it con only go down hill from here, SMOD is surely coming now, if only to remove the pain.  Then I was told to shut up already.  So now I write this screed hoping to help clear out my head.

So after the emotional roller coaster that I have been forced to ride over the last 18 or so hours what have I concluded?  Principles matter.

Romney ran a good race.  In fact, once the first debate was over I was convinced that I had judged this man wrong.  I saw a fire that I longed for.  Not a fire-brand but someone with conviction I could follow.  Someone who stood up for principle.  I eagerly watched the adds, the speeches, the rhetoric.  I drank it up like kool-aid.  Then the second debate happened.  Benghazi was becoming a big issue.  In fact it was THE issue.  And Romney fumbled the ball.  He let Obama off the hook.  He allowed Crowley (the ham-faced scrunt) to defend Obama.  DEFEND HIM for #$@#$ sakes.  I remember screaming at the tv NOOOO!!!! You had him!  Who cares if Cowley came on right after and admitted she was wrong.  Just how many of the general electorate actually watched those talking heads after the debate, after any debate?  Not many.

It was too late, the damage was done.  And the MSM had their talking points.  They got to talk about how Obama was all prezzy like with the Rose Garden speech and how Romney was so very mean and being a bully to our poor prez-e-dent.  How Obama was just so offended at the very suggestion that he didn't do anything to help out our men in Benghazi. Offended?  He was offended?  He watched them die.  He denied them the very help they were assumed they would get when called upon.  3 times he denied them support.  All for political gain.  These facts were known.  At least the facts about how the White House was covering up Obama's involvement.  And Romney went small ball.  It that moment his momentum stopped.  Obama caught his footing.  Reminded me of the scene in 300 when the enemy was charging the spartans, they clashed and the spartans lines were being pushed back.  They slid and slid until.... they stopped.  Then the push back started, with force.  This is when the election turned.

Then Sandy hit.  The Obama team pushed the shit out of that.  They had photo ops in the situation room, they had their guy out in front of any camera they could find to show just how much he cared.  He announced that all the red tape would be cut so everyone could get their FEMA help ASAP.  Who cares if he was full of shit.  Did. Not. Matter.   he had gotten away with making and then breaking so many promises why would this promise be any different?  it wasn't   5 days Romney was off the national stage.  5 days!

And this gets me to the one thing that really drives me nuts with the GOP.  Messaging.  They suck at it.
The left has their chants, their slogans, and they are catchy.  The right bitches about them but just can't stop talking about them.  In fact they even try to amend them for their side.  If they really suck and hove no point why do they stick around?  "Bush lied, People died", "No War for Oil", "Bush Tax Cuts", "War on Women".  These things are easy to remember, roll of the tongue and make a point.  THey pull at the emotional heart strings of everyday people.  They are ambiguous enough that they can be twisted easily to fit any narrative so long as they attach at the opponent.

The right is now pointing fingers at each other.  This is exactly what the left wants.  It wants to destroy the right.  Not knock it down, but destroy it forever.  They attack on multiple fronts simultaneously.  They attach the religious, the pious, the tolerant, the fiscal conservative, the traditional family.  They make accusations that are so blatantly false but do it with good messaging.  So that the right had to defend instead of counter-attack.

Racism, homophobe, bigot.  These just piss me off beyond belief.  Everything a conservative says is one of these; code words, undertow, insinuations and the list goes on.  This is done for good reason.  Because it works.  Because no one actually came out and called them on this bullshit they are empowered to use it again.  When conservatives are no longer afraid of these accusations and are willing to call bullshit and attack back.

And this leads me back to my first observation.  I thought I saw a man with passion, character and fire.  I was wrong.  Actually I was right.  My first impression of Romney was of the typical northeastern  RINO who the GOP establishment foisted on us because he paid his dues and it was his turn.   But at the end of the day a pig still stinks and a leopard can't change its spots.  I still think Romney is a good man, ran a good race and faced his defeat with class and honor. Now get me someone who will slog it out in the trenches, someone I would crawl through fire for, someone who makes me ashamed of how little I have fought and inspires me to fight harder, longer and tougher.  I want, nay need a leader.  America needs a leader.  Someone who stand and fights and demands I stand with them.  America needs leadership.  Get America such a person and then watch out liberals.

Until then, the GOP is dead to me.  The establishment GOP types will falter, bargain and cower at the first sign of trouble and we will have to pay for their fecklessness.  So in turn I support something that I thought about many times over the last decade.... a third party


Now, I don't actually thing that we need a third party.  I think we need a renaissance in the GOP.  The tired, old RINO's need to be forcibly retired.  The new, young Tea Party types need to take over and force these old established turds out.  Are we on our way?  You bet your arse we are. The GOP controls more governorships now than any time in the last two decades.  The GOP controls more house seats than yesterday.  The GOP didn't lose many Senate seats (or any, I haven't looked today).  This is where it starts.  Going forward we need to get out to the people and bring a damn message to everyone about what conservatism stands for.  Limited government...period.  Scream it from the rooftops if we have to.  Re-butt every attack head on.  Never let them get away with anything.  Get dirty with them.  So no mercy!  Attack, attack attack.  And attack again.  Show how progressivism actually destroys America.  Show how much is costs.  Defend freedom.  Defend hard working, successful people at every turn.  Do not back down, ever.

Patton famously said

No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country

Talking figuratively, make the progressive die for their cause.  Make them defend their postion and never let them attack yours.   Do this and soon the left will have nothing but chants and logans that resonate on deaf ears.

This will not be easy.  It will be hard, hard work.  But is America worth it?  Is the idea of freedom, true freedom worth it?  Are our rights granted from a higher power than some government or are we just slaves to "our betters"?

If we cannot garner up the courage and strength to fight not, then let our montra be LET IT BURN!

But

If we finally tire of licking our wounds, gather ourselves up and decide that on this day we start down the long road of recovery of our once great nation, built on honor, integrity and the basic principle of unequivocal freedom of the mind, body and spirit then let the fight begin anew.

In the words of Thomas Paine:

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death 

SG