Guffaw in AZ
lost culture
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
We all remember THIS guy. He gave friendly advice, not just for children, but for all of us.
Mr. Rogers
How well do you know your neighbors? Or do you even know them?
I currently rent a room in a townhouse. The neighbors to the immediate South (sharing the common wall) have a practice of going into their backyard (just over a fence) and SCREAMING with each other about family matters. I think it’s a mother and daughter, and some male hangers-on of some sort. This sometimes happens well into the night. Then, someone ‘over there’ is up early, like 0545, and makes a practice of throwing a bowling ball down the stairs, bouncing it off the wall in the process (again, common wall) REPEATEDLY.
(At least, that’s what it sounds like!)
This is in direct opposition to the North neighbors, again a mother/daughter team. We rarely hear anything from them through the common wall, and they never seem to be in their adjacent back yard. The word on the street is, however, mind your Ps and Qs, if mom spots someone parking crooked, or spilling trash, or some other small infraction, she will SCREAM. To the Homeowners Association, at least. And THEY will contact you.
I know these all folks on sight, and wave, all friendly-like, and sometimes even say “Hello”. The neighbors North of the North women seem to be a nice couple. He even helped J. corral one of her dogs when she ran loose (a favorite game – ESCAPE! Wheee, I’m FREEE!), when J was unable to catch her.
I think I know the first name of the North neighbor mom. That’s it.
In my former neighborhood, I made it a point of knowing my next-door neighbors, the one across the street and across the alley behind me. Just in case.
The Art of Manliness again addresses this issue. In short, it says knowing your neighbor is lubrication for civilization. Much as being polite can defuse friction.
I remember my childhood neighborhoods. All the kids on the block knew each other, and so did all the parents. If you did something wrong, not only did the neighbor yell at you, but, by the time your returned home, your parents had received a telephone call from said neighbor. So you got it, again. And, you could run to any neighbor’s home for help or safety.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have neighborhoods, again?
Government v.2.0
Kevin Baker (of The Smallest Minority) brings to us an essay of enormous import. In part:
The Information Age is here. Government v.2.0 is massive, sclerotic, invasive, inept, corrupt, incompetent, malicious, vindictive – it is, in short, what the second type of bureaucrats make it in the furtherance of the bureaucracy and their own power and privilege. And the Iron Law of Oligarchy says:
Historical evolution mocks all the prophylactic measures that have been adopted for the prevention of oligarchy.
People keep acting as though things can keep going on as they have, but as Glenn Reynolds keeps repeating, “Something that can’t go on forever, won’t.” ~
~ One thing’s for sure – the powerful and privileged will do whatever it takes to keep as much power and privilege as they can. And Government v.2.0 will be the tool by which it’s accomplished.
You need to go and read the entire work. Kevin draws on the wisdom of historical giants, and his own, to weave for us this important message quoted above.
I’m hoping mercy will be included in the process, but if history is any indication, I doubt it.
“We are CITIZENS. They are SUBJECTS.”
The Armed Lutheran makes an excellent point in comparing two similar cultures – The American and The British.
The brutal near beheading of a British soldier by Islamic savages in the streets of London brought more than a few comments from gun rights activists, myself included. After extending my condolences to the family of Lee Rigby, I tweeted the obvious point: “Good thing nobody had a gun, somebody might have been hurt.” Gun banners like Piers Morgan and others were indignant, angry that we would “exploit” the tragedy, but failing to recognize his own history. Morgan, never one to shy away from a blood puddle to dance in, was so shocked that he banned Dana Loesch from his show within minutes. For me, as shocking as the crime was, the reaction of the public was more shocking still. ~
~Britain banned most firearm ownership in 1997 making armed self-defense impossible. Pompous Brits like Piers Morgan like to point out how civilized and safe the UK is as a result. Far from being safe and civilized, UK crime rates have soared in the years following the ban. What’s more telling is not the crime, but the public reaction to it. ~
~The English people, with the stiff upper lip and steely resolve, are reduced to unarmed spectators who watch and wait for police to protect them from bloodthirsty home-grown terrorists, common street thugs, or anarchist rioters. They are left helpless by do-gooders like Piers Morgan who don’t trust them to protect themselves. Rather than run from the danger to escape it, or run toward it to stop it, they simply watch, take pictures, and wait for unarmed policemen. If that is civilized, I want no part of it. The contrast could not be clearer.
The American experience is vastly different. The passengers of United 93, knowing they would likely die, hoping to prevent greater mayhem, confronted the hijackers. The men and women who ignored the danger and charged a deranged gunman who had already killed six people and gravely wounded a US congresswoman. 22-year-old Nick Meli, confronted a killer at the Clackamass Mall in Oregon to prevent him from killing more people. The people of Boston, who rushed toward the bombs to help the injured, not knowing if there might be more explosions.
There is evil in the world, and it must be confronted. With a gun, when necessary. We recognize that. Gun banners do not.
We are citizens. They are subjects.
Go and read the whole essay. And recognize we have evolved. They have devolved. Great Britain, not so much, anymore.
Land of The Free?
Walls of the City reminds us (by way of Sharp As A Marble) that while we continue to speak of ourselves as the Land of the Free, we certainly are no longer:
30 years ago, you’d just assume that anything that wasn’t obviously contrary to morality was legal. That is, you’d have a built-in default setting of assuming liberty. And that assumption of liberty would then propel you to take actions.
But now, you have to assume that many things that aren’t contrary to morality are illegal anyway. And so you now have — quel coincidence! — a built-in default setting of assuming prohibition. And that assumption that many of the things you’d like to do are illegal and criminal thereby reduces your desire to take any action at all.
Can you name all of the crimes in your state that are felonies? Can you name all of the crimes in your state that are misdemeanors? Have you ever uttered the words, “Is that legal?” without actually being able to intuitively guess whether it is or not?
Welcome to the club. And the problem.
You should go and read the whole thing. It’s well worth your time, and even has some Latin words in it! 
The Country for whom I would have probably died (in Vietnam – had I not been a disabled 4-F) no longer exists. She does on paper (The Constitution), but that was long ago, and like Benghazi, is no longer relevant.
Did you know The United States has more prisoners per capita than any other Nation? How many of these folks zigged when they should have zagged? Or were caught with weed. Or carrying a gun for protection?
Lets stop electing people to legislatures to pass more incomprehensible laws. Lets elect them to remove laws. And hold those accountable who messed everything up. THEY are the people who should be afraid. And incarcerated!
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
There’s a point here…
So…
Initial investigation has determined that there were two individuals proximately responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings. They later shot and killed a police officer. One of the suspects was DRT*. (Reportedly run over by the other suspect during his escape!)
The two suspects are of Chechen origin, and have lived in the United States for 10 years. They are reportedly Muslim (as are many Chechens) and brothers. I’ll not grant them any more fame by posting their names or photos here.
It’s been reported by family members that the two brothers never assimilated into American Culture, and had no American friends. After 10 years (!)
“…never assimilated into American Culture”
The point of the information reported is not that the suspects are Chechen, or Muslim, or brothers. It’s that they lived here TEN YEARS and did not assimilate. Period.
I’ve no problem with folks legally migrating to the United Stated and retaining connections with their home country and culture. Hell, I’m part German and part Irish stock – have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and Octoberfest. But, I’m an American.
It used to be if folks came to America, it was to find the freedom here – to become American. I used to know an Italian family who owned a pizza place. Tiny Italian and American flags all over the restaurant, coupled with a picture of the President and the Pope on the back wall. And they had many friends and customers of all ethnicities and nationalities.
I don’t know if these guys were home-grown terrorists, turned by a radical Muslim/Chechen faction, or part of a sleeper cell. Perhaps we’ll never know.
But, I do know if they’d assimilated, there’d have been less of a chance of violence used against us.
I wonder if the families of the Mexican kids who tore down the American Flag at their high school and ran up a Mexican flag understand this?
Come here to be part of American culture – or stay home.
*dead right there – thanks to John Farnham
Smith & Wesson Military and Police Revolver
(NOT the modern AR-15 rifle clone, you ninnies!)
The classic, later known as the Model 10 .38 Special revolver.
I’ve never owned one. I’ve shot a bazillion of ‘em, and carried some. With the exception of those without the strength to pull the trigger, I’ve recommended these (or similar models) for self protection, CCW, and general home/business carry for years.
Why? Not everyone likes the semiautomatic, even those with minimal levers and buttons (e.g. Glock). And the .38 Special cartridge is street-proven, but not so full of blast and flash to scare the new shooter more than the shootee! Good for a beginner.
Barrel length? That’s a matter of personal choice, although a 4″ barrel is fairly ubiquitous and inexpensive (used) at gun shows and pawn shops.
And they come with a fixed sight – nothing to hang up, break or misalign on a coat or in a purse. One could ‘bob’ the hammer and remove the single action function if one were moved to do so.
Disadvantages? Medium caliber and six rounds; slow to reload. Although I’ve known a few folks who could reload from belt loops two-rounds-at-a-time faster shot-to-shot than some folks using a pistol with a magazine!
And, I’m old-school, so there!
Is There No One?
Knuckledraggin’ My Life Away reports about a D.C. Council member recommending legislation that would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance.
The Council Member is Mary M. Cheh, a constitutional law professor!
Is there no one out there, no constitutional law professor who actually has read and understands the U.S. Constitution? All of them appear to be progressive folks pushing their dystopian agenda on us, under the guise of constitutional law?
Then there was that constitutional law professor a while back who proposed scrapping the Constitution.
Or are they all like this ‘professor’, cut from the same cloth as another ‘constitutional law professor’, the President?
Someone needs to look up the phrase shall not be infringed.
Where are you? They’re giving constitutional law professors a bad name!
Tyranny of the Majority
The Liberty Sphere advises us as follows:
US tyranny to increase for foreseeable future
A close friend who is politically astute, a Tea Party activist and Christian conservative, stated Wednesday in a private conversation that America as we know it is already lost, gone, destroyed.
And not a single shot was fired. This was done entirely through the electoral process, the courts, and a clear majority of the electorate that does not share the philosophy, the mindset, or the world-view of the Founders, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or our nation’s rich religious heritage.
An all-important threshold was crossed, quite imperceptibly and thus totally without notice, that brought the nation into what the Founders referred to as “the tyranny of the majority.”I seem to remember the difference between a Republic and a Democracy was defined exactly by this. That a democracy elicited ‘tyranny of the majority’, and a Republic protected the rights of all.When I was growing up, the phrase was, “Majority rules – Minority rights!”However the education of the youth has devolved as described above. In our Civics classes of yore, we were taught to revere, honor and respect The Constitution. Now, the meme seems to be something akin to ‘whatever the United States is or has done is WRONG and BAD. This country needs to progress beyond the old, outdated document forged by rich White guys to a New World Order. ‘Leveling the playing field’ by fiat or diktat is more efficient and certainly more FAIR!Somewhere within Jeff Cooper’s Commentaries, he makes a statement to the effect that the cry of THAT’S NOT FAIR is the epithet of pre-schoolers who learn as they get older that the World is just that. Not fair. And they demand their due. Just like the OWScriminalsterroristsprotestors did – whom I suspect are those same children, older, but not yet mature.And now, many of those children have done as Van Jones suggested. They’ve left the collegiate quadrangle protest groups for government service. Just as Saul Alinsky wrote in Rules for Radicals. A cancer inside the mechanism of the Nation. To make it ‘better’.But, it’s not.h/t Jeff Cooper
Another Hero Gone…
(stolen borrowed from Old NFO – because our history IS important! – Guffaw)
