Friends are starting to shower me with links to other blogs, some of which appeal to my evil sense of humor.
A tale of a heavy metal rocker dude after multiple gigs without shower facilities willing to do most anything, even bend his brain, to for JUST ONE NIGHT feel clean again.
In other news, the dark forces of well-meaning censorship in New Zealand demonstrate that well-meaning ninnyism originates on BOTH the left and right of the political spectrum.
And then in less cheery news there's the case of the student in Illinois, I believe, who followed directions (rather too enthusiastically, but still) and was arrested for writing an essay, diverted to an off-campus program, and it looks like his career in the Marines is trashed.
From mass-backwards, the legendary concealed carry kilt...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Pink Pistols & Ad Hominem Fun
From: Ray Hill
To: LoneStarActivists@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 08:14:14 AM
Subject: [LSA] Was Cho Gay?
here is no way to tell for sure if Cho was a Pink Pistol. They have a don't tell, don't ask policy about membership but he has several things in common with the other members of the group. He also looks like a guy I dated recently but since I only date married guys, I, too have a don't tell, don't tell policy. Some things are to remain a mystery, I guess.
From: Brandon Wolf
To: LoneStarActivists@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 12:44:32 AM
Subject: [LSA] Was Cho Gay?
Goodness. My breath is simply taken away at the correspondents, umm, chutzpah in tarring an entire group of folks with the taint of a mass murderer. Quite amazing, really. Particularly from a senior leader in a community (the Houston LGBT Community) with diversity and non-discrimination (you know, that silly thing about taking folks as individuals and not tarring them with a broad brush?) as loudly announced core values.
Oh - that's right. LGBT Gun owners aren't a designated pitiable group, so it's ok for senior members of the LGBT Community to slander them in vile ad hominem attacks that would result in crowds with torches and pitchforks (a la Transylvania) turning up on the offenders doorstep if the assaulted *were* members of officially designated victim groups.
Never mind. I should have recalled consistency and honor were a bit much to expect.
I was invited to join the LoneStar's predecessor Houston Activist Net some years ago by Dan Weiner, a then-leading luminary of the Houston LGBT Community who had played a key role in founding Q Patrol (an LGBT Guardian Angels sort of group) and the Houston Area Pink Pistols - he'd put out an appeal for like-minded souls to join since he was feeling a bit out-numbered in terms of viewpoint. Dan has since passed away, but I and a few others from that era remain involved with HAN's successor, the LoneStarActivists list.
To: LoneStarActivists@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 08:14:14 AM
Subject: [LSA] Was Cho Gay?
here is no way to tell for sure if Cho was a Pink Pistol. They have a don't tell, don't ask policy about membership but he has several things in common with the other members of the group. He also looks like a guy I dated recently but since I only date married guys, I, too have a don't tell, don't tell policy. Some things are to remain a mystery, I guess.
Love,
Ray
----- Original Message ----From: Brandon Wolf
To: LoneStarActivists@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 12:44:32 AM
Subject: [LSA] Was Cho Gay?
Okay, I know it’s The Globe, but it’s a long article, and they quote a number of different people, naming their sources. According to their theory, Cho went on his killing rampage because of his intensely repressed homosexuality.
Different witnesses place him at two Roanoke gay bars in the past year, on several occasions. The weekend before the killings, Cho made a reservation at a motel, even though it was just 26 miles from the campus, but it was near one of the gay bars. The theory is that he planned to meet a man there, but was stood up, or rejected when the man arrived.
I haven’t seen any news like this anywhere else. Has anyone else??
Goodness. My breath is simply taken away at the correspondents, umm, chutzpah in tarring an entire group of folks with the taint of a mass murderer. Quite amazing, really. Particularly from a senior leader in a community (the Houston LGBT Community) with diversity and non-discrimination (you know, that silly thing about taking folks as individuals and not tarring them with a broad brush?) as loudly announced core values.
Oh - that's right. LGBT Gun owners aren't a designated pitiable group, so it's ok for senior members of the LGBT Community to slander them in vile ad hominem attacks that would result in crowds with torches and pitchforks (a la Transylvania) turning up on the offenders doorstep if the assaulted *were* members of officially designated victim groups.
Never mind. I should have recalled consistency and honor were a bit much to expect.
I was invited to join the LoneStar's predecessor Houston Activist Net some years ago by Dan Weiner, a then-leading luminary of the Houston LGBT Community who had played a key role in founding Q Patrol (an LGBT Guardian Angels sort of group) and the Houston Area Pink Pistols - he'd put out an appeal for like-minded souls to join since he was feeling a bit out-numbered in terms of viewpoint. Dan has since passed away, but I and a few others from that era remain involved with HAN's successor, the LoneStarActivists list.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Fred Thompson for President?
In, allegedly, his own words...
http://abcradio.com/article.asp?id=389928&SPID=15663
http://abcradio.com/article.asp?id=389928&SPID=15663
On Journalism...
I sometimes write. For two years I edited a now-defunct magazine out in the Palm Springs area. I still knock out the occasional article for Absolute Palm Springs (Umm...still waiting for that check....), and do layout for church and organizational newsletters as a sideline. I like to think I have some faint vague clue of journalistic ethics...
That said, and spurred by another blog (what can I say, my inspiration is needing the occasional kick in the slats of late), I'm forced to agree...after aspiring to far more, news coverage is descending to the late 19th century levels of yellow journalism.
I'd commented on this prior to the recent Anna Nicole Smith/Don Imus/Virginia Tech incidents, but this last is kind of a final straw for me.
To me, good journalism means objective journalism with opinion pieces (Human Interest, Editorial, etc) clearly labeled as such and well separated from factual content. Good journalism is not advocacy, pandering, or propaganda - it's "that's the facts, ma'am".
And that "good journalism" is what I am consistently failing to see from todays media....and frankly I don't know what we can do about it.
That said, and spurred by another blog (what can I say, my inspiration is needing the occasional kick in the slats of late), I'm forced to agree...after aspiring to far more, news coverage is descending to the late 19th century levels of yellow journalism.
I'd commented on this prior to the recent Anna Nicole Smith/Don Imus/Virginia Tech incidents, but this last is kind of a final straw for me.
To me, good journalism means objective journalism with opinion pieces (Human Interest, Editorial, etc) clearly labeled as such and well separated from factual content. Good journalism is not advocacy, pandering, or propaganda - it's "that's the facts, ma'am".
And that "good journalism" is what I am consistently failing to see from todays media....and frankly I don't know what we can do about it.
Meme: Gun Laws
As a mental exercise, another blogger (Hammer, I think) posits: "Congress & the President have spontaneously repealed ALL gun laws. You and Sarah Brady are locked into a room for thirty days to bring forth a new compromise on the topic, which will become the law of the land. What trade-offs are you willing to accept?" Anti folk welcome to comment/meme as well...
1) In exchange for an objective-standard national/federal CPL to include transit spaces (air/train/bus/etc) - I'm willing to trade about $250/2yrs, annual background check for holders of the Holy Grail, a requirement of 40hrs training every 2yrs, and a licensee-submitted list of self-defense tools that may be carried under this license (I'm not willing to include "limiting the number thereof in the trade"). I might be willing to throw in some kind of "deputization by Federal Marshals in state of emergency clause" to get this. I'd even be willing to throw in language about "while in holders home state, home state rules take precedence" allowing New York to continue to tormenting New Yorkers, but not out of state folks.
2) In exchange for moving the current subjective NFA Local Law Enforcement approval standard to an objective standard with attestations under oath (and thus liable for discussions of perjury), I would be willing to trade a 6 mo. NFA waiting period.
and then I get stumped....
1) In exchange for an objective-standard national/federal CPL to include transit spaces (air/train/bus/etc) - I'm willing to trade about $250/2yrs, annual background check for holders of the Holy Grail, a requirement of 40hrs training every 2yrs, and a licensee-submitted list of self-defense tools that may be carried under this license (I'm not willing to include "limiting the number thereof in the trade"). I might be willing to throw in some kind of "deputization by Federal Marshals in state of emergency clause" to get this. I'd even be willing to throw in language about "while in holders home state, home state rules take precedence" allowing New York to continue to tormenting New Yorkers, but not out of state folks.
2) In exchange for moving the current subjective NFA Local Law Enforcement approval standard to an objective standard with attestations under oath (and thus liable for discussions of perjury), I would be willing to trade a 6 mo. NFA waiting period.
and then I get stumped....
Public Service Announcement (Cribbed)
"Borrowed" from Lawdog, a Public Service Announcement I believe in - the folks over at Fuzzy Bunny are offering free CCW/CPL instruction to Utah university students, helping to empower these young men and women in their quest to decline victimhood.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
I'm angry...
I am angered that someone would take a fundamental human right, and some of the more useful tools therefore, and pervert them to inflict suffering and death on the innocent.
I am angered that, predictably, those who would limit the rights of others practice "waving the bloody shirt" as a tactic.
I am angered that 33+ lives are snuffed out and 50+ lives affected in some physical way in the service of political correctness.
I am angered that victims of a madman were deprived of the legitimate means of self-defense.
I am angered that the majority of a generation has been raised believing "all violence is bad", "the best survival strategy is to give an aggressor what they want and follow directions", and "confronting evil is futile" - and that a generation of youth are largely deprived of the mindset necessary for self-defense.
I am honored at the heroic self-sacrifice of 76yo Prof. Liviu Librescu, blocking the door against the gunman with his body while exhorting students to flee and by the similar efforts of Zach Petkewicz, a senior, and Derek O'Dell, a 20-year-old sophomore.
Perhaps there is hope. We are not completely bereft of heroes.
I am angered that, predictably, those who would limit the rights of others practice "waving the bloody shirt" as a tactic.
I am angered that 33+ lives are snuffed out and 50+ lives affected in some physical way in the service of political correctness.
I am angered that victims of a madman were deprived of the legitimate means of self-defense.
I am angered that the majority of a generation has been raised believing "all violence is bad", "the best survival strategy is to give an aggressor what they want and follow directions", and "confronting evil is futile" - and that a generation of youth are largely deprived of the mindset necessary for self-defense.
I am honored at the heroic self-sacrifice of 76yo Prof. Liviu Librescu, blocking the door against the gunman with his body while exhorting students to flee and by the similar efforts of Zach Petkewicz, a senior, and Derek O'Dell, a 20-year-old sophomore.
Perhaps there is hope. We are not completely bereft of heroes.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Dancing in the Blood
October 1, 1997, Pearl High School, Pearl, Ms. - 16 year old Luke Woodham carried a rifle onto the school campus, killed his ex-girlfriend and one of her friends and wounded seven other people. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick retreived a handgun from his truck and held Woodham for police. It was later learned that the teeneager had beaten and stabbed his own mother to death before the attack at the school.
January 9, 2002, Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va. - 43 year old Peter Odighizuwa, who had flunked out of the small law school earlier in the week killed three people and wounded three others. Two law students - Tracy Bridges and Ted Besen - retrieved a handgun from Bridges' vehicle and held Odighizuwa at gun point for several minutes before police arrived. (Bridges was a reserve deputy sheriff, but was not on duty at the time of the incident.)
January 31, 2006, Virginia legislature affirms ban on student and employee carry of self-defense tools on campus of Virginia Tech and other state schools.
January 9, 2002, Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va. - 43 year old Peter Odighizuwa, who had flunked out of the small law school earlier in the week killed three people and wounded three others. Two law students - Tracy Bridges and Ted Besen - retrieved a handgun from Bridges' vehicle and held Odighizuwa at gun point for several minutes before police arrived. (Bridges was a reserve deputy sheriff, but was not on duty at the time of the incident.)
January 31, 2006, Virginia legislature affirms ban on student and employee carry of self-defense tools on campus of Virginia Tech and other state schools.
"I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus," the Virginia Tech spokesman said.
April 16, 2007, 32 members of the student/staff population of Virginia Tech are killed by an armed assailant who met little or no resistance in multiple attacks before taking his own life. Lockdown appears to prove primarily a method for gathering victims in convenient groups for the killer. Initial reports indicate VT may have failed, after the first attacks, to have notified the University community such that they might escape and "be elsewhere". Investigations continue.
That victim disarmament plan really works well, doesn't it? An adult is an adult is an adult - whether they are on a University Campus or in a supermarket - if they are lawfully entitled to carry in one, they should logically be entitled to carry in another.
Lawdog posts insightfully. Ambulance Driver chimes in.