civil disobedience

Outlaws as Folk Heroes

Miss Cellania shares with us truncated tales of seven outlaws who achieved ‘folk hero’ status.  This includes an analysis as to why this occurs, to wit:

1. The outlaw is a victim of injustice from authorities, and is paying back the favor.
2. The outlaw helps common people.
3. The outlaw is sacrificing his life for a political stance.
4. The outlaw does things the average Joe would love to try, if he had the courage.
5. The outlaw’s outlandish adventures provide entertainment in the manner of a long-running serial.

I’ve often wondered why this happens, historically.  After all, some folks, in spite of their fledgling pretense at ‘social justice’ are nothing more in reality than murderers.  Bonnie and Clyde come to mind.

Also, William Ayers and the Weather Underground.  I’m all for political protest, but blowing up folks and setting fire to their homes is hardly a brave act of protest.  And being unrepentant for it years later, and saying they didn’t do enough – after becoming a college professor (!) molding young minds.  Disgusting.

Angela Davis?  The cop-killer being lauded by the N.A.A.C.P.  Mao.  Fidel.  Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. – murderer and bigot.  Every time I see some college fool or rock star wearing a Che’ shirt – it turns my stomach.

There are many others.

How are they heroes?  Except perhaps to Lenin’s useful idiots.

I used to know a guy…

…who was a friend, a mentor, a good guy.  A gun guy, Gunsite graduate.  A libertarian.  Sadly, we are no longer in touch.

He used to say he’d not know how he’d react if things got so bad in this country, that if he was stopped and asked, “Papiere, bitte!” “PAPERS, PLEASE!”, what he might do?

I’m sorry to say, Bud, that day has come.

Here’s hoping none of us loses their cool if asked.

h/t/ wirecutter, John

W.O.P. Guns – Are They Safe?

In Jennifer’s Head recently wrote about it having been the fifth anniversary of her first gun purchase!  Congratulations!

One of the commenters brought up the issue of private versus licensed dealer sales.  And that got me to thinking.

Back when I had a gun safe (with a small arsenal collection, therein) I kept my licensed dealer guns in one part of the safe, and my W.O.P. guns in a separate part.  (In politically-incorrect slang a wop was an illegal alien – it stood for With Out Papers!)  The firearms I purchased legally, but privately.

Now that this has become an issue, yet again (the whole fictitious gun show loophole) and as Senator Feinstein’s Further Remove Your Natural Rights Assault Weapon Ban bill includes a measure requiring documentation of private, personal sales,  I thought it appropriate to mention.

If indeed legislation is passed banning private, undocumented transfer of firearms, and all become ‘registered’, and ‘they’ come for them, do we really think ‘they’ will just take those in the register?  Or will they use metal detectors to look for ‘illegal’ guns secreted in the walls or buried in the yard?  Or detain individuals until they give up their stash?  (See the War on Drugs and Prohibition for historical context.)

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun – Mao Tse Tung

‘They’ (many local governments) now require you to present ID to vote, have a social security number, file your taxes, maintain your home and yard to an arbitrary standard, put your kids in school, have them vaccinated, not have church meetings in your home-if not so zoned, not sell unpasteurized milk-without a license, separate your recyclables, have your auto emissions tested for license, get a permit to carry your gun, get a safe to secure it unloaded in your own home.  Ad infinitum, ad nauseum 

And most of these rules, if disobeyed, will eventually result in a confrontation with armed government authorities.  Government is force.

Of course, in the coming socialist utopia, that would never happen.  Or we’d never read about it in the socialist-utopia controlled media, if it did.

The True Believer

I watched and listened in amusement, disdain and horror as the 17th President to achieve reelection took again the oath of office.  His discussion of upholding rights for all…WE the People, failing to acknowledge the individual rights we hold (or rather held) in this country; speaking of the collective.  And never stating that those rights are natural rights, not something issued or taken away by government.

Constantly referring to our founding documents, as though saying those wise words would make his statements go down easier.  Because the speech was about his agenda, not upholding a Constitutional vision for the Nation.

And the camera shots of the audience, obviously fans of the President, alternately staring enraptured and bored, speaking to one another during the National Anthem and the Benediction.  No respect.  Even one of his daughters was not paying attention and talking to her mom.

In 1951, Eric Hoffer wrote The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements.

The book analyzes and attempts to explain the motives of the various types of personalities that give rise to mass movements; why and how mass movements start, progress and end; and the similarities between them, whether religious, political, radical or reactionary. As examples, the book often refers to Communism, Fascism, National Socialism, Christianity, Protestantism, and Islam. Hoffer believes that mass movements are interchangeable, that adherents will often flip from one movement to another, and that the motivations for mass movements are interchangeable; that religious, nationalist and social movements, whether radical or reactionary, tend to attract the same type of followers, behave in the same way and use the same tactics, even when their stated goals or values differed.  (Wikipedia)

I fear most of the persons in the audience were such people.  True Believers.  Folks who either love the man because he’s Black, or because he’s not George W. Bush.  Or because he gives them stuff or money.  Or who voted for him as an agent of change, out of white guilt.  Hardly thoughtful reasons to vote for a chief executive.  Many who now have taken note that the government is more powerful than any previous in American History.  Not militarily, but in a domestic police role.

It was especially telling to have Senator Charles Schumer introduce the President.  A man who needs no introduction to most of my blog readers.  An individual rights bigot and hypocrite.  Another True Believer.

The President did as he did last time.  Instead of making an historic speech, he made a campaign speech, trying to sound inclusive, but ignoring the individual.

This was not unexpected.

PARANOIA Big Destroya, Part II

SO…people next to The President have suggested that he might take it upon himself to bypass all this Constitutional bother and just make an edict of gun control as he likes it.

Seriously?  Quelle surprise.

I’ve been reading weblogs for over three years.  ‘Writing’ one for almost two.  Daily.  And I find it interesting how they mimic the ‘national’ news.

Not necessarily in content, but in attitude.  And in repetition of story themes.

The President  (pick one or more)

A.  Stole the election

B.  Is using false documents and a Connecticut SSN not issued to him

C.  Is planning on becoming ‘President For Life’

D.  Will impose severe firearms restrictions extra-legally, by fiat

E.  Expanded federal surveillance rules against U.S. citizens

F.  Kept rendition rules in place and is using them.

G.  Has authorized drone and assassination of more U.S. citizens than any other President.

(ad infinitum, ad nauseum)

Regardless what you believe to be true, we must remain vigilant based on facts, not wishes or Internet hype.  Worrying about whether or not the Executive Branch is secreting alien life forms in Area 51 may make for fun reading, but is not focused on the problem(s) at hand.

And what can we do about them?

Facts will save us – rumor will kill us.

Where do we go from here?

A quick perusal of about 105 blogs (and news and opinion sites – most mornings) doesn’t bode well the answer to this question.

People who support individual, Constitutional liberties over collectivist ‘it’s for the children people sea birds, snail darters et al’ rubbish are scrambling for this very answer.

It’s obvious the Grand Old Party has no backbone, and hasn’t had for some time.  Nor does their platform have anything to do with preserving American Freedoms.  It’s our government control versus their government control.

And the Democrats Progressives have been completely assimilated by the progressive movement, in the forever-forward effort to ‘fundamentally change’ the nature of this Nation.  Brick by bloody brick.   Away from its founding documents and principles.

The Libertarians! (you answer.)  While they did best this year of any election year, ever, they are still a drop in the bucket.  And, as libertarians, they philosophically don’t lust for power and control.  It’s against their nature. And the Demopublicans are reluctant to give up any of their monopoly.

The Tea Party(s)?  And there’s is a two-fold problem.  1)  There are many of them, some with differing views, and 2)  The Left has successfully painted them as racists, even though there is scant evidence of that – largely promoted by the (largely Left) media.

Want proof of anti-Constitutional furor?  It’s all over the media…

The Second Amendment has Outlived It’s Relevance to America – The Staten Island Advance

Let’s Give Up On The Constitution – The New York Times

Haven’t 95% of all elected federal officials already done that, beginning with denying their Oaths of Office to said Constitution?

And bloggers and commenters abound on the Internet, blustering about how they’ll stand behind every blade of grass with a rifle, and the Three-Percenters will, and the Oath Keepers will refuse to take disarmament action against United States citizens…

All while the TSA, and the FBI and the NSA and a myriad-of-alphabet-soup-other-agencies quietly and consistent erode all of our civil liberties, with the tacit approval of Congress and multiple Presidents!

SO…where DO we go?

It’s for the children, you know…

THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.  -  Thomas Paine (1776)

The right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the federal constitution…

In the United States the right to petition is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the federal constitution, which specifically prohibits Congress from abridging “the right of the people…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Although often overlooked in favor of other more famous freedoms, and sometimes taken for granted,^[1] many other civil liberties are enforceable against the government only by exercising this basic right.^[2] The right to petition is a fundamental in a Constitutional Republic, such as the United States, as a means of protecting public participation in government.^{[1](Wikipedia)}

Way Up North  (and now Tam) brought to our attention (in demure fanfare, as is their tradition) a movement regarding individual States of these United States petitioning for peaceful secession from the same!

I went to the All Petitions/whitehouse.gov website, and was amazed!  First, that such a group of petitions existed and second, that ‘the government’ had allowed such behavior, given their track record on such things!

By my count, there 24 States, including mine, with listed petitions!

Is this treasonous, or simply the right to petition?

Vote Tampering and Rioting

There has been increasing ‘chatter’ on the Internet over the past few weeks, regarding the all-but-predictable rioting to occur IF the evil, nasty, richer-than-God Republicans take the White House in a close race.

Because (it is always suggested) they will have stolen the race through voter fraud and intimidation.

This is the same tactic always used by The Left (see Cloward & Piven and Saul Alinsky).  Accomplish your goal by any means, then shift blame by pointing the finger at the other side and yelling “that’s what THEY did!” as often as possible.

It’s the same stuff we saw from the Soviet Union/Red China during the Cold War (they would invade/infiltrate some country, then scream about U.S. Imperialism), and during the last election with the intimidation of voters and ballot tampering by the New Black Panther Party and the Left.

And we’re seeing it yet again.

If Romney Wins By A Slim Margin, America Will Explode!

Funny the assumptions are that all Democrats (especially Black Democrats) are unthinking, violent offenders, just waiting to strike, and that if Romney wins, it MUST be because of voter fraud.

And we’re the racists.

From infowars.com:

The threats to riot were accompanied by an even greater number of tweets threatening to assassinate Mitt Romney.

Numerous errors with electronic voting machines have become apparent over the last two weeks.

Early voters in Marion County who attempted to vote for Mitt Romney saw the electronic touch screen replace their choice with Barack Obama instead. Joan Stevens had to input her selection three times before it displayed correctly.

“You want to vote for who you want to vote for, and when you can’t it’s irritating,” Stevens told the Marion Star.

Voters in Guilford County, North Carolina experienced the same problem. Every time a vote for Romney was entered, the machine flipped it and counted it as a vote for Obama.

I overheard part of a broadcast (Bill Maher – I no longer watch him) the other morning suggesting that the Republicans need to fire-up the base of white males (the obvious suggestion being no one else will vote for Romney) to win the election.  Not that there was any racial undertone in the statements…because we all know not voting for The President is because we’re racist!  Couldn’t have anything to do with policies?

I voted a couple weeks ago by snail mail.  I’m hoping all of you have voted/will vote as well.  FOR WHOM is your business.  This is not a union election – secrecy of your vote is encouraged.

This Country has survived much, and it will survive President Obama and Gov. Romney.  Be part of the process, tomorrow!

Anarchy…or not?

A Geek With Guns gets heavy on us, with regard to the argument government is necessary (a la Hobbes).  An excerpt:

When an anarchist brings up the idea of abolishing the state around a statist they are usually met with a very Hobbesian argument. They claim that without the state humans would become vicious beasts roaming the world with the purposes of raping, killing, and stealing. Such a claim is absurd by its very nature:

Now, setting aside the fact that anarchism does not imply an absence of law or defense, and setting aside the fact that Hobbes’ ideas about the state of nature are completely ridiculous, just consider how interesting their claim was in that particular situation. Five armed men sitting in a field dozens and dozens of miles from a police officer having a civil chat about anarchism without any one of us trying to rape, rob or kill any of the others is a rather remarkable thing if Thomas Hobbes is right about human nature. Equally interesting is the fact that none of us feared or even contemplated the possibility of being raped, robbed or killed by anyone out there in the wilds of the Colorado plains that day. Like Coloradoans of the 19^th century, we met scores of armed men over the course of the day, none of which we personally knew, and yet it never even crossed any of our minds to be concerned for our chastity, our wealth or our lives.

I’ve never claimed to be an anarchist, perhaps because today’s meme for anarchy consist of Lenin’s useful idiots, touting things like destruction of property and erosion of society as laudable goals.  Funny how these folks always end up fomenting some-kind of totalitarian result.

Anyway, if you are looking for something besides Kate Middleton’s chest area on the Internet, you might find this essay of interest. – Guffaw

h/t Christopher Burg

Arab Spring – Celebrate It!

courtesy AFP/Getty images – U.S. Consulate, Benghazi Libya

GEE, whoda thunk?  (misspelled for effect – see previous post)

Yesterday was a horrific anniversary for our nation.  If you saw my post (and the posts of many others) you’d have read about the loss, dilution, forgetting of American Culture and History, and the consequences we have reaped.

Then, the news arrived…

Violent protests in Cairo over a largely unviewed film alleged to insult Mohammad.  And the rocket attack in Libya, killing our ambassador and three other staffers.  American flags burned, buildings looted and our citizens and officials killed.  Coinciding with the anniversary of September 11.

The administration reportedly issued an apology for offending Muslims, and is sending in the Marines to beef-up security.

An apology?  Seriously?

“The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”  (U.S. State Department)

The President did say he strongly condemned the ‘outrageous’ attack.

Of course, this is the paradox.  Just because we supported the removal of the previous regime(s) doesn’t automatically mean the replacements will be U.S. friendly.  No matter how much money and materiel we bribe aid them with!  Sadly, this is a lesson we have never learned.

I’ve stated before political correctness will be the death of us.

I’m not for starting wars.  But, I am for protecting ourselves and our citizens.