How Far Have We Strayed?

Turns out that the rifle used in the Navy Yard shooting was NOT a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.  Knee jerk reporting again.

Notwithstanding that error – it’s not a critical mistake, just a sign of a bias – the anti-freedom lefties will yet again suggest that we institute ‘back-ground checks’ or some other form of ‘reasonable’ gun control.  In other words, they want to institute a set of rules, established by the government, that will stipulate who is and who is NOT allowed to own a gun.  And, they’ll scream over and over “we’re not talking about taking away anyone’s guns, we just want to make sure only the ‘right’ people have them and the wrong people don’t have access” as if there is a substantive difference between obtaining and keeping a firearm. See, no one will lose his gun – well, unless ‘we’ decide he is not worthy of keeping it, in which case we’ll take away his license based upon random standards no one can define or know.

We’ve been here before.  To recap – after the most recent two school disruptions, their solutions were respectively to (1) punish the shooter’s mother for not properly securing her guns and (2) train receptionists to negotiate with murderers and convince them to put down their weapon peaceably and let the police drag them to jail.  Now, AGAIN, we’re going to be smothered with the constant refrain of “if we save just ONE life” as their only pseudo-argument meant to justify their prescription.

Their solutions are based on the belief that people are merely spectators to the food fight that passes for governing in Washington, DC, and ordinary people are not to be trusted with the duty of protecting themselves.  It is an extension of the ideology that teaches that the state must take care of the poor, provide health care, educate the young, inspect your food, design your car, test your kids’ toys, monitor and restrict the flow of capital, tax your intake of nicotine and fatty acids, and build your infrastructure – all so you will bow and genuflect in gratitude, yearning and pleading for more of their benevolence.  In their world, you are not a man, you are a ward of the state, a willing and compliant subject, not a citizen.

Men thrive when they live free under self governance.  Democracy, universal suffrage and active participation in political matters is NOT self governance.  Governing oneself is to live responsibly.  Our forebears did not constitute a force to rule over us.  They founded a nation based on the rule of law and the fundamental principle that each and every man is sovereign, is born free and able, nay obligated, to rule himself, subject only to the limit that every other man is equally free and is possessed of the natural right to resist any forcible or fraudulent coercion to act against his will or self-interest.  The government they instituted was not meant to make its inhabitants dependent on the state that protects or provides for their lives.

How far we have strayed boggles the mind.

A Police State – Safe, But Free?

Every time there is a ‘crisis’ there ensues a race to make an appearance on TV to make mundane, banal statements about all the things ‘we don’t know yet’ and so forth.  It has always seemed an ugly scene to me, and tonight I made myself think about WHY as I watched the DC Mayor, police chief and others pat themselves on the back and praise their teams’ work following the shooting at The Navy Yard.

First, it’s unseemly; 12 people are DEAD and not even in the grave, probably not yet cold. Second, and more important, the idea that the police can protect us from that kind of violence is an utter and deceitful lie. It is not the place of the police or any other state agency to protect us from random acts of violence. The level of surveillance and police presence necessary to accomplish that level of safety would cost billions and, more to the point, stifle life as you know it. The role of the state in preserving safety comes in the form of a deterrent against crime, and that is accomplished by performing the function of punishing crime, meting out justice. My safety is MINE and I do not want a police force that’s large enough to catch criminals in advance – I prefer that a criminal would fear the gun I will pull when he threatens me – that is the only thing that is worthy of the word ‘prevention’.

The state has predictably failed at its attempt to deliver the nirvana of absolute safety, and as usual want failure to justify even more government – they will soon want to ramp up the effort.  Their praise of their own response and the ongoing investigation is nothing more than a campaign to make you look away from the failure while they ask for an even bigger police budget, an even larger force to monitor your daily life in the name of safety and security.

Don’t let them fool you.  Be free.

Update, Syria – Mighty Casey Has Struck Out

The Obama crowd is pushing the line that the pressure is now on Russia and Putin to force their puppet Assad to give up his chemical weapons. They keep repeating that the prestige and credibility of Putin is at stake. Hogwash. Neither Putin nor Assad care about chemical weapons, they care only that Assad stays in power. With no threat from the USA, he’s safe with his Russian tanks, bullets and bombs.

More to the point, why do these children think that Putin cares? Just because the DC politicos live and breathe based upon what is said about them at Georgetown dinner parties or in NY Times editorials and OpEds, they surmise that the former fist of the KGB gives a damn. They are unaware, it seems, that he (and Assad) is in charge of a country because he does not give a goddamn what anyone thinks of him. He does not have power because he’s a really sweet guy whose supporters voted for him enthusiastically or otherwise. He takes and holds power the old fashioned way – brute force.

As usual, the DC crowd is projecting. They believe that their reflexive praise of Barack Obama is what props him up, so they conclude that Putin needs the same approval from the non-entity which they have named the “world community.” Meanwhile, Putin and Russia take over the agenda in the Middle East, and American interests and ideals are at increased risk.

Putin is not playing to win Most Popular World Leader, however Obama is, and it seems that both will get what they desire – a diminished American presence in the world. That’s bad not as a patriotic matter or because we really like being No. 1; it’s ominous because America is the beacon of individual liberty and rights. Dim that light and, little by little, country by country, the world regresses into totalitarianism, and when the oil in the Middle East is controlled by tyrants, there will be no joy in Mudville.

We Will Send Missiles . . . NOT!!

Secretary of State Borat Forrest Gump, oops, I meant John Kerry, off-handedly and facetiously suggests that the US would hold its fire if Assad would unilaterally disarm, if he handed control of his WMDs to an international body.  The State Department confirmed his unserious and immature point of view within hours of his losing control of his big mouth.

“Secretary Kerry was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used,” a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

“His (Kerry’s) point was that this brutal dictator with a history of playing fast and loose with the facts cannot be trusted to turn over chemical weapons, otherwise he would have done so long ago. That’s why the world faces this moment.”

So Vladimir Putin figures “yeah, that’s the ticket”  Now the adept, fleet-of-foot Obama administration wants us to believe, they’re bragging that, their astute use of credible threats to act militarily (really?!) is the cause for this sudden retreat by Assad.

It’s dangerous having a rodeo clown as our president, especially when his chief diplomat seems to have learned his trade at the drive-in.

Yes, and this suit is black . . . [that’s a pause] . . .  NOT