"Grandmother" of Obama's Socialist Philosophy Calls for Violent Revolution Against Capitalism

I saw yesterday that Ron Radosh had uncovered a recent rant from leftist agitator Frances Fox Piven in the pages of the the radical left The Nation. Piven and her husband Richard Cloward had formulated the so-called "Cloward-Piven" strategy to overwhelm the welfare system and collapse capitalism in a prior article in The Nation in 1966, and the strategy has been a focus of leftist ideologues for more than four decades, including ACORN and it's most famous community organizer, Barack Hussein Obama.

The Blaze wades back into the newer article again today, noting:

She's considered by many as the grandmother of using the American welfare state to implement revolution. Make people dependent on the government, overload the government rolls, and once government services become unsustainable, the people will rise up, overthrow the oppressive capitalist system, and finally create income equality. Collapse the system and create a new one. That's the simplified version of Frances Fox Piven's philosophy originally put forth in the pages of The Nation in the 60s.

Now, as the new year ball drops, Piven is at it again, ringing in 2011 with renewed calls for revolution.

In a chilling and almost unbelievable editorial again in The Nation ("Mobilizing the Jobless," January 10/17, 2011 edition), she calls on the jobless to rise up in a violent show of solidarity and force. As before, those calls are dripping with language of class struggle. Language she and her late husband Richard Cloward made popular in the 60s.

Americans well aware of Barack Obama's influences have always regarded him as a potential threat to the Republic, and when his Administration's "accomplishments" are viewed through the prism of Cloward-Piven, and that suspicion seems well-grounded.

New Years Looking Back - Road Trips

First inkling. If I had to look back to where the lure of some far off place beckoned, it would be to the thought of blue. Not the blue of a night sky, but the light blue of a well traveled station wagon. The blue was the color of ocean meeting sky, catching the sun like water, reflecting upwards the glint of the day off abundant chrome, as we set out for yet another weekend or vacation drive. As children we were highly embarrassed by this car, but I could see Dad's point, it was paid for, it was in good running order and it wasn't so pristine that anyone would panic if there was a dent or a spill .

What I remember from childhood is "going out for a drive". Does anyone just "go out for a drive" in these days of high priced gasoline? When was the last time you got into your car or truck with no real plan as to where the day would take you? Driving simply to drive, not maneuvering from Point A to Point B while also doing other things. Simply heading to where the sky slaps the horizon line. No phones, no TV for anyone in the back seat, no teleconference. Sure the radio might be on sometimes, but you don't need to send a fax at the same time. It seems as if everyone in a car anymore has to multi-task. Talking on the phone, eating. drinking, reading the newspaper (yes), putting on makeup, singing along to the iPod while waving both arms in the air. Usually while one of the rest of us are slamming on the brakes, cursing and giving them that "you're #1" hand signal.As kids we'd pile into the old station wagon every summer and drive Southwest to my Aunt and Uncles ranch about 500 miles from us. While we were there, our folks would relax and joke and drink cold beer and listen to music that I listen to today. We would play with our cousins outside all day, throwing stones at bats flirting through night trees, swimming in the irrigation ditches, riding a small motorbike around. But as fun as that was, what I remember most is the drive to get there. As kids we mostly got along, but there was the occasional "Mom! he's on MY side" and such. Dad threatened to pull over at least once as has every father in recorded history. So one trip, when we made it a point to be little angels, Mom said at the next stop she'd buy us all a present! She comes out of this store with these small cactus plants. Remember, we're little kids. What kid under the age of seven that you know, wants a Cactus?? We looked at each other, politely said "thank you", and spent the rest of the drive planning mayhem with mutual conspiratory glances and the words we didn't have to say. . . . "We were robbed". But you know, we remember it, and we laugh about it together and it's a good memory now. If she'd just bought us a soda or a candy we'd have long forgotten that trip.

But the majority of memories of those drives were happy ones, long treks across new landscapes. There's a time in every trip, no matter how long, where you settle into the drive as a family. For my Dad the driving seemed almost effortless, as we watched the landscape change from green to brown to mountains and back to brown and we'd hear stories of his youth, of he and Mom growing up together in Montana, the radio off, the only music the sound of my Mom's relaxed laughter, a sound I can still hear in my own voice. We'd sing and we'd tell stories and we'd laugh, I could crack open the window and the coolness of the wind would blow in and around us, cooling my cheeks and the back of my throat and as I looked up to a hawk that had caught my eye, our laughter would echo in the wide spaces ahead.

Artist: David Govedare

I had never in my life been next to an animal that big. He was old, and completely tame, raised by the husband and wife with the restaurant, with a few acres to roam, and enough wild memory to twitch in running freedom in his dreams. I was afraid at first to approach him, almost blind in my fear, but I crept up, drawn by soft eyes the colour of a seashell, and the warm flank. Judging by his breathing, the slow, patient release of air, that sound of a concertina, I knew he would not hurt me and I reached out through the fence rails and touched the great big muffin of a nose, the velvet structure of a face as enormous as time, as he looked back with those pink eyes, a countenance as strong as history, as unmoving as memory. And we stood there, together, a little auburn haired girl and that lone remnant of a past that's faded to nothing but dust and cornered thought, all alive and all alone.

We made our way that weekend, those summers; to happily anticipated destinations. We had no videos, we had no electronic toys, we had no air conditioning. Yet there would always be a point a few hours into the trip, where already settled in as a family, we would settle into the road. Like my long drives today, there was a point where the journey became a game, matching wits against the elements and the curve of asphalt, red barns and giant outcroppings of soil and rock, semi trucks and flashing lights blending into a moving diorama of the land. In my truck, in those miles, I can find myself without asking for direction, as I did those years ago. Trips where, with nothing more than some water and promise, we experienced our true selves; we shared grace and and honest laughter. We had no fixed plans, simply intent on the journey, not the destination.

When I get home, and have a couple of free days of clear roads and sunshine, I'll simply fire up the truck and head west, to where the horizon takes me. I'm going to round up Barkley, grab some water and just take a drive. We'll head out through the fragrant morning, and watch new vistas come into view. I'm going to leave the radio and the phone off. I'm going to just take in the landscape, a horizon that beckons. I'll leave the map put away, for where I'm going is not in any map, places of truth never are. For the real journey, the real adventure, is not simply seeking new landscapes but to see them through the scrapbook of past roads traveled, with an anticipation honed by time and miles and memory.

Because the being and cadence of the open road calls to me, has always called to me, the sound of the car, the hum of a small tailwheel airplane overhead, the movement of life continually cresting another hill, another mountain, hurtling down a path of fluid need. The affirmation and promise of road and open sky has been present with me since those early road trips, and it only takes a long afternoon drive to take me back. Somewhere out there I might meet that horizon I seek, but in the meantime I'll continue on. If I need fuel I'll stop and if I get hungry I'll see if I can find a quaint little Mom and Pop restaurant.

Just maybe someone out there still has an albino buffalo.

Quick Takes: December 30, 2010

Welcome to the last Quick Takes of 2010. On to the fun:

ITEM: According to the U.S.Treasury, the national debt, as of December 22, stands at $13.859 trillion dollars. That represents $44,886.57 for every man, women and child in America. Another way to put it is that the 111th Congress racked up more national debt than did the first 100 congresses combined. Something to remember in 2012.

ITEM: It’s difficult to stop talking about Barack Obama, if for no reason other than that he is constantly sticking his nose into matters that aren’t the business of any president, constitutionally or otherwise. Mr. Obama, on Dec. 28, called Jeffrey, Lurie, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, to congratulate him for hiring animal abusing felon Michael Vick. Whatever one believes regarding redemption for felons, this is just one more example of Mr. Obama debasing and lowering the office of POTUS, though it’s hard to imagine how he could harm the office more than he has in his first two years. Has to be some kind of record.

ITEM: The Good Guys Win One. The Ohio Supreme Court struck down an “assault-weapon” ban and handgun registration requirements imposed by Cleveland, ruling that the state law on such matters preempts local ordinances. Yet again is the brilliance of the urban elites who would rule us for our own good exposed as so much bovine flatulence.

ITEM: Barack Obama, arguably the most vacationed president in memory, currently suffering the unimaginable horrors of Hawaii for all of us, has announced that he is planning to extend his vacation at least another day due to the stresses of the extended lame duck session of Congress which delayed his vacation so that he could more effectively and extensively damage American national security and the economy. This has to be some kind of record.

ITEM: Union workers--at least some have a conscience--have confessed to a NYC Alderman and other that their union purposely conducted a “slow down” during the recent NYC blizzard as a crude power play protesting potential budget cuts. This sabotage is responsible for at least two known deaths. Mayor Bloomberg says he doesn’t think the Union would do anything like that, but he’ll look into it. Big of him. Surely no labor union would do anything like that? Engage in thuggish, dangerous tactics that endanger the lives of others for the purpose of enriching themselves? Nah. Manslaughter charges anyone?

ITEM: It is, from time to time, good to recall what those who would rule us actually think of us. Recall, please Mr. Obama’s explanation of most Americans to a group of self-imagined elite San Franciscans as the incomprehensible and dangerous who cling to God and guns and who have antipathy for those who are not like them. Remember too, please, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor who believes that a “wise Latina,” is uniquely qualified to sit on the Supreme Court. Have either of them done anything that would tend to make us believe that they think otherwise? What’s the definition? A gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth? That’s it.

ITEM: He did it again. Mr. Obama, and his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, both recently claimed that Gitmo is the number one Jihadist recruitment tool. Why would they say this? What could they be planning? They must truly believe that Americans are irredeemably stupid. In this, as in much else, common sense is generally sufficient, but for those who would appreciate a quick brush up on the facts, read Karl Rove’s recent addressing of this self-inflicted wound to the foot before it disappears in someone’s mouth.

ITEM: Lisa Murkowski is now legally certified to the Senate from Alaska. Harry Reid won reelection from Nevada. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is considering a pardon for Billy the Kid for the murder of a sheriff. Can entire states actually go temporarily insane?

ITEM: Food For Thought Department: Recent zero tolerance idiocy by local school officials has, as usual, renewed conservative calls for school vouchers. Question: Why do conservatives rightly abhor governmental interference in local control, and reject public handouts in every area but this? Shouldn’t conservatives merely redouble their efforts to fix local problems through their elected school boards, who are, after all, their neighbors? Wouldn't we all be better served by removing incompetent school officials, one nitwit at a time?

That’s all for now until next time. Stay warm!

The New McCarthyism

An arresting poster making the rounds of the Internet depicts American soldiers shielding an Afghan man and child above the legend “HONOR” (view it here). The point being that the dishonorable make others involuntary human shields while the honorable voluntarily make themselves human shields. This concept is apparently far too common and crude for the elite who imagine themselves, in the exclusive company of like-minded souls, to be the epitome of courage for denigrating the truly honorable.

Comes now Colman McCarthy, billed as ”a former Post columnist” who “directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington and teaches courses on nonviolence at four area universities and two high schools,” writing in the Washington Post what he and those like him no doubt consider a very courageous denunciation of ROTC, apparently in the hope of establishing new, compelling justifications for keeping ROTC at arm’s length. McCarthy’s article may be accessed here.

Mr. McCarthy opens with a charming tale of lunch with Father Theodore Hesburgh who served as Notre Dame’s president for 35 years. Fr. Hesburgh, in McCarthy’s telling, was proud of Notre Dame’s long relationship with ROTC, with patriotism, and with the university’s role in preparing capable, Christian officers for service in the military. McCarthy is clearly one of those progressives who is absolutely certain of their intellectual and moral superiority, and he boldly flounces in where angels fear to tread. To wit:

“I asked if he actually believed there could be a Christian method of slaughtering people in combat, or a Christian way of firebombing cities, or a way to kill civilians in the name of Jesus. Did he think that if enough Notre Dame graduates became soldiers that the military would eventually embrace Christ's teaching of loving one's enemies?

The interview quickly slid downhill.”

No doubt.

Let us, for the moment, put aside the juvenile presumption of accepting the hospitality of such an accomplished man, a man of God, and crudely insulting him and all for which he has labored in a life of distinguished, selfless service, the like of which McCarthy can’t possibly imagine or equal should he live ten thousand lifetimes. For one supposedly versed in issues of peace, he shows a revealing lack of understanding of history, just war theory, scripture, theology, rhetoric, common sense and simple good manners.

Fr. Hesburgh is a priest, a man who has dedicated his life to the service of God and of God’s creation. In this, he shares many qualities in common with the lowest ranking enlisted man or woman, for they too have voluntarily dedicated their lives to the service of others and are willing to give their lives in that service. Fr. Hesburgh and our Soldiers, Sailors and Marines create peace every day. Untold millions live today because of them and because of all they have followed on the martial path. McCarthy and those like him create ephemeral utopias that have never existed and never will. In this, they perpetuate the fundamental progressive failing: The studious ignorance of the realities of human nature. Fr. Hesburgh surely recognized that he was in the presence, not only of a boor, but of a fool, a man who could not be reached through reason, kindness or fact. No wonder the interview “slid downhill.”

As one who “teaches peace,” what might McCarthy believe? “It should not be forgotten that schools have legitimate and moral reasons for keeping the military at bay, regardless of the repeal of ‘don't ask, don't tell.’ They can stand with those who for reasons of conscience reject military solutions to conflicts.” McCarthy goes on to argue that maintaining a military is costly and impractical and that some colleges “teach alternatives to violence.” Hmm. This has to be formally taught? On the college level? Don't most people have mothers?

And what, according to Mr. McCarthy, constitutes academic, institutional greatness? “ Only one of the eight Ivy League schools - Cornell - offers a degree in peace studies. Their pride in running programs in women's studies, black studies, and gay and lesbian studies is well-founded, but schools have small claims to greatness so long as the study of peace is not equal to the other departments when it comes to size and funding.”

One might roam the halls of the Pentagon for many years before finding a member of the military who would prefer to go to war rather than first exhausting all other reasonable avenues toward peace. Ronald Reagan was prescient in observing that none of the major wars in his lifetime occurred because America was too strong. Again, understanding human nature provides an inconvenient--for the Progressive--reminder that the strong will inevitably attempt to prey upon the weak unless restrained.

And of what, pray tell, might an undergraduate degree in “peace studies” consist? Heaven forbid that a graduate degree might be offered in such ephemera. No doubt it is of the same academic rigor as “women’s studies, black studies, and gay and lesbian studies,” in which Mr. McCarthy takes ill-founded pride. Do such courses of study teach one to be more feminine? More black? More gay or lesbian? Perhaps they teach those enrolled to appreciate peace? Do they primarily produce lobbyists for those causes? Should a given university elevate the study of “peace” to the same exalted level of the study of gays, lesbians, blacks and women, that is a mark of greatness in higher education? Why? Diversity? Inclusiveness? Elevating the oppressed over the oppressors? Being invited to the right parties?

An honest man would, upon careful--yet easily accessible--study, have to conclude that few institutions in history have done more good than the American military. The military was one of the first major institutions to abolish racism and to give minorities the opportunity to succeed on merit, and this certainly includes women. Throughout more than two centuries, when the weak have been oppressed, when tyrants have murdered millions, the US Military did not talk about peace, but made it happen by stopping those who wanted to impose the peace of the grave on sensitive souls like Mr. McCarthy, and in so doing, have always paid an enormous price. When disaster struck in Indonesia and New Orleans, the U.S. Military was first on the scene, saving lives from the first possible moment while UN bureaucrats spent weeks securing first class accommodations and feckless politicians wildly tossed blame. But of course, Mr. McCarthy cannot acknowledge this and must denigrate such self-sacrificing, real accomplishments while exalting victim-group navel gazing cloaked in the “greatness” of higher education.

Like Senator John Kerry who believes that if one isn’t Ivy League, they end up in Iraq like all the weak-minded, little people in fly-over country, McCarthy deigns to gaze down from his peaceful, Olympian heights to cluck his tongue at the great unwashed: “At Notre Dame, on that 1989 visit and several following, I learned that the ROTC academics were laughably weak. They were softie courses. The many students I interviewed were candid about their reasons for signing up: free tuition and monthly stipends, plus the guarantee of a job in the military after college. With some exceptions, they were mainly from families that couldn't afford ever-rising college tabs.”

Ah. Considering what Mr. McCarthy sees as laudable academic rigor, he may be somewhat less than uniquely qualified to pass judgement on the academic rigor of an ROTC curriculum, but allow that to pass. Mr. McCarthy reveals the lack of depth of his character by sneering at the lowly, the stupid, the unenlightened who might wish to jump on the military gravy train for “free tuition and monthly stipends, plus the guarantee of a job in the military after college.” Oh yes, and they were tricked, perhaps forced into ROTC because they were poor and couldn’t afford ever-increasing tuition.

Is it not a contemporary progressive article of faith that everyone should go to college, and on the public tab? How then does Mr. McCarthy justify sneering at someone who is accepting government money to attend college? But more, is Mr. McCarthy really so dense as to fail to realize that in return for such “free” tuition and stipends, each officer candidate is willingly giving up months of their time in college, time that might be otherwise spent in important college pursuits such as various “studies” classes, or waking up in pools of their own vomit after nights of high-minded debauchery? Doesn’t he know that in return, each ROTC student is being guaranteed a government job, a job that will consume six years of active duty service and might very well cost their life and that will, day in and day out, require that they willingly surrender the kinds of liberties and choices with which Mr. McCarthy would never voluntarily part? Indeed, ROTC students get financial aid, but the nation is getting, by far, the better part of the bargain. Surely Mr. McCarthy knows this, or does he merely think the public too stupid to understand the true nature of the ROTC and the military? Surely no enlightened being would think so poorly of his fellow citizens?

Ah, but Mr. McCarthy is not anti-soldier, no. He admires “those who join armies, whether America's or the Taliban's: for their discipline, for their loyalty to their buddies and to their principles, for their sacrifices to be away from home.” There apparently is, in Mr. McCarthy’s moral universe, absolute moral equivalence. There is no difference between our warriors and the Taliban, the Taliban who recognize no laws of war and torture (the real thing, not progressive imaginings) and murder prisoners and innocents, who murder women for being women, who murder gays and lesbians for being gay and lesbian, who wantonly destroy priceless treasures of antiquity, who seek to murder all infidels--that’s you, Mr. McCarthy--and who even murder other Muslims when it suits them as it often does. The American Military and the Taliban are equally worthy of Mr. McCarthy's esteem and respect. Is one who does not understand that evil exists worth anything? Is one who recognizes that evil exists, yet ignores it and attempts to convince others that it does not exist worth even less?

Mr. McCarthy admires the Taliban for their loyalty to their principals. The principal of absolute, perverse, deranged, blood-thirsty, unrestrained evil? Perhaps it is this that Mr. McCarthy wishes elite universities to study? Perhaps this will elevate them to greatness? And yes it’s a sacrifice to be away from home, as so many American soldiers wish to return to their families so that they can love and support them, and see that their wives and daughters have every opportunity for education and self-actualization. And the Taliban, in Mr. McCarthy’s imagining, want the same: To return home, to beat their wives and to mutilate the genitals of their wives and daughters, to keep them covered, to never allow them out of the presence of a male relative, to keep their daughters equally terrorized and uneducated, and to reserve the right to murder any female relative who, in their fevered brains, brings the slightest dishonor to the family. Such is the peace of the Taliban, 7th century barbarians all.

Even so, Mr McCarthy’s appreciation for the ethic of the warrior remains undiminished: “In recent years, I've had several Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans in my college classes. If only the peace movement were as populated by people of such resolve and daring.” Hmm. Perhaps Mr. McCarthy might want to consider that those who are truly resolved and daring tend to involved themselves in callings and endeavors where resolve and daring are required and appreciated, endeavors such as actually fighting for peace rather than talking about it. Could this be why Mr. McCarthy finds himself surrounded by weak-minded milquetoasts?

Mr. McCarthy saves his big guns--please pardon the military metaphor; I can’t help myself--for last: “ROTC and its warrior ethic taint the intellectual purity of a school, if by purity we mean trying to rise above the foul idea that nations can kill and destroy their way to peace.”

“The intellectual purity of a school?!” No. That’s too easy. Readers who wish to discover the level of intellectual purity on contemporary “elite” campuses have only to research names such as Bill Ayers, Cornel West or Ward Churchill.

No, Mr. McCarthy, nations can’t kill and destroy their way to peace. They can kill and destroy their way to conquest, misery and subjugation. There have always been tyrants whose imagined destiny was doing just that; such men will always exist. America is based on a different hope, that all men deserve what God has intended for them: The ability to live in peace and to enjoy the blessings of liberty.

History teaches us that peace is not Man’s natural state. Mankind has never enjoyed universal peace for there will always be those who seek the subjugation, even the extermination, of others. Such men are evil, and evil must be destroyed, person to person, institution to institution and nation to nation. It cannot be reasoned with, enticed or dissuaded, bought off, or changed through “smart diplomacy,” hope, change, "engagement" or good intentions. It must be destroyed, so that peace has a chance. That is why the U.S. Military exists and why its support is money well spent. That is why ROTC exists. In the most down and dirty sense, our military is the last, best hope of the last, best hope on Earth. Without those willing to give their lives for the hope of peace for millions they will never know, without those willing to sacrifice to lead them, there will be only death, destruction and abject misery, a state of nature where life is, as Thomas Hobbes put it, "nasty, brutish and short."

In his unfortunate dealing with Mr. McCarthy, Fr. Hesburgh surely knew this. Mr. McCarthy will never acknowledge it, for this simple fact of human nature utterly undermines his field of "study." But you know it, and now you know where the study of "peace," as Mr. McCarthy would have it, inevitably leads.

Ezra Klein Less Well-Educated Than Thought

Twitter users have been ripping Ezra Klein apart for his dim-witted televised pronouncement that the Constitution is too difficult to understand because the document was written "more than 100 years ago."

The thing is that Klein isn't nearly done on displaying his ignorance of the Constitution, baring his ignorance for all to see in print as well.

My friends on the right don't like to hear this, but the Constitution is not a clear document. Written more than 200 years ago, when America had 13 states and very different problems, it rarely speaks directly to the questions we ask it. The Second Amendment, for instance, says nothing about keeping a gun in the home if you've not signed up with a "well-regulated militia," but interpreting the Second Amendment broadly has been important to those who want to bear arms. And so they've done it.

The contextual ignorance Klein puts on display in this one simple paragraph is stunning.

Anyone with a decent classical education would know that "well-regulated" in this context has nothing to do with a legislation. When something is "regulated," it is brought into a state of uniformity. Something that is "well-regulated" is in proper working order, or in colloquial terms "well-oiled." It functions smoothly.

The purpose of the Founders, easily reinforced by the their own writing, was to assure that the civilian militias could function effectively in their military role. They wanted America's citizens to shoot, and shoot well. They wanted us to be able to fight, defending both our rights and our communities.

That Klein—a supposed intellectual—is dim to this rather common definition simply lends credence to the theory that a "liberal" education involves very little actual education at all.

Another Kind of Death, From Another Kind of Death Panel

We've watched Obamacare become the poster child for death panel socialism, but that is hardly the only venue that leftists are using to destroy America.

Investors Business Daily has a very disturbing article on how left wing environmentalists are in the process of destroying the most fertile farmland in the nation—and forcing people to go hungry—in order to save a nonviable species of minnow:

Fresno is the agricultural capital of America. More food per acre in more variety can be grown in the fertile Central Valley surrounding this community than on any other land in America — perhaps in the world.

Yet far from being a paradise, Fresno is starting to resemble Zimbabwe or 1930s Ukraine, a victim of a famine machine that is entirely man-made, not by red communists this time, but by greens.

State and federal officials, driven by the agenda of environmental extremists, have made it extremely difficult for the valley's farms, introducing costly environmental regulations and cutting off critical water supplies to save the Delta smelt, a bait fish. It's all driving the economy to collapse.

This isn't really about saving a forgettable species that contributes little to it's own ecosystem. It's purely about human's attempting to exert power and control over other humans. More to the point it is about evil humans subjugating their fellow man to economic ruin and starvation in order to assert their own political agenda.

I suppose it could be worse. Those responsible for this debacle could wall off the region they are starving and put up a gate that glibly suggests "work will set you free," putting aside all pretense of being representative of a "free" society.

Frankly, I'm surprised that dams and irrigation-restricting controls haven't mysteriously started experiencing malfunctions or outright failures.

Perhaps the starving farmers in Fresno aren't feeling the pangs of hunger severely enough to take direct charge of their own futures. Or perhaps like far too many citizens of California, they've simply lost their sense of self worth, and lack the will to exist.

(h/t Hot Air)

Lucid HD7 Review

I've been trying (with varying amounts of success) to confine my gun-related blogging to my new-ish gun blog, but I figure it's fine to may exceptions for special occasions.

I've joined Shooting Illustrated to write about guns and gear, and have my first article, a review of the Lucid HD7 red-dot optic, posted now.

The staff I've worked with so far have been excellent, and I'm hoping that we team up for a long an fruitful relationship both online and in the print magazine.

R. Lee Ermy Rips into the Obama Administration

I'm starting to think the character of Gunny Hartman wasn't that much of a stretch to play. He's no fan of the Socialist-in-Chief, and flat out states that Obama's goal is to bankrupt the country.

"...We should all rise up and stop this administration from what they're doing because they're destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so they can impose socialism."

I'm not sure where he's raising troops, but listening to the crowd, he's still one hell of a recruiter.

Sorry, Gun Owners: Chris Christie No Better Than a Liberal Democrat

New Jersey Chris Christie commuted Brian Aitkens. Too bad he supports every idiotic left-wing gun law that put him in jail. So much for "President Christie."

My latest post is up at Pajamas Media.

Choices

I've always believed, and experience has born out, that the true test of character is not how one behaves when life is easy, but when life is hard, when choices have to be made, choices that pit personal comfort and security against what is best for others.

Bob and I have been delighted and honored with the presence of our co-blogger, Brigid. She also blogs at her own blog, Home On The Range, which is very much worth your time on a regular basis. I recommend her most recent post which is not only intensely personal, but compelling and revealing of the kind of character of which I speak. It also proves that happy endings are still possible, even if they take a long time.

The story can be accessed here.

Is America Worth Defending

Recent developments in the domestic and international arenas have raised several important questions. Among the most important is: Does Barack Obama believe America is worth defending? My most recent article at Pajamas Media seeks to answer that, and other pertinent questions. The article can be read here.

The Road to Mecca

My latest post on Pajama Media is about a middle school teacher who asked for three weeks off during December to attend the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca observant Muslims are expected to make once in their life, if possible. When her principal sensibly refused, she took offense, decided to sue, and found an ally that, for the first 232 years of America's existence, would have been most improbable.

The article can be accessed here.

It's ReVolting

Life comes at us fast, as the commercial tag goes, and change is ubiquitous. In our fast paced, ever-changing lives, we can take occasional comfort in the fact that some things never change. We can rely on death, taxes, McDonald’s, the fecklessness and narcissism of Barack Obama, and above all the obsequious New York Times.

Yes, the NYT has, once again, lived down to expectations. Thus comes Lawrence Ulrich, on the Times website, with a review of the much-ballyhooed Chevy Volt, a review that could not be more fawning if it was named “Bambi.” In fact, “Volt” could easily be replaced with “Obama” in much of the review and it would yield yet another Obama puff piece for which the NYT has become justly infamous. That review, entitled “Loaded with Baggage and Planning to Go Far,” may be accessed here. My original take on the Volt may be accessed here. Oh, and about the title...I couldn’t help myself. Stop me before I pun again!

Let’s take a brief trip to that magical land where socialists run free to regulate as they please and where all-electric, union built cars roam like wild, majestic mustangs, mustangs that are relegated to a 40 mile range and tethered to electric outlets powered by coal fired power plants.

“The Volt leaves you grinning with its driving-the-future vibe. Yet the car operates so seamlessly that owners need not think about the planetary gear sets, the liquid-cooled electrons and all that digital magic taking place below.

Just don’t forget to unplug it when you back out of the garage.

And plugging it in is what you’ll want to do, as the Volt was designed with an operating strategy entirely different from other hybrids. It is meant to be driven primarily on the energy stored in its battery; the gasoline engine’s contribution to moving the car is largely indirect, by turning a generator that powers the electric motors once the battery has been depleted.”

Mr. Ulrich might want to restrain his giddy, vibrating grinning a moment and reflect on basic economics. The Volt is a $41,000 compact car that, unless one wants to take 8-10 hours to charge its battery, requires a 240 volt fast charger in the home which costs another $2000. The fast charger will top off the battery at the warp speed rate of 4-5 hours. Ah, but the government is providing a $7500 tax credit, which brings the total price down to something like $35,500. Set aside, for the moment, that the taxes paid by the buyer on a $30,000+ car are substantially greater than those paid on a car costing only about $20,000. Set aside, for the moment, that this government subsidy does not appear out of thin air, but is comprised entirely of tax revenues being wasted to subsidize the union cronies and pie-in-the-sky greenie dreams of our new socialist masters. Automobile manufacturing economics are relatively simple: Build a car enough of the public will want to buy in numbers large enough to turn a substantial profit. In this basic, simple equation, the Volt fails abysmally. In a real, Capitalist world, a world where the Government did not own a controlling percentage of General Motors, the Volt would have never been built.

It is tempting to believe that Ulrich moonlights writing ad copy for Chevrolet as he and Chevy have labored mightily to hide the fact that the Volt is nothing more than a unnecessarily complex, common hybrid. The gasoline engine’s contribution to moving the car is not, in fact, “largely indirect.” When the battery charge falls below a predetermined level, the gasoline engine directly powers the wheels. It’s an ridiculously complex and expensive hybrid.

Still, despite giving it the good old college try, Ulrich can’t hide all the warts: “Having delivered the energy-use equivalent of about 112 miles per gallon in battery mode, the Volt continued to have admirable economy with the gas-driven generator supplying the electricity: 44 m.p.g. over all, whipping the E.P.A.’s estimate of 35 city and 40 highway. With its 9.3-gallon gas capacity — premium fuel required — you can exceed 300 miles per tank, in addition to the initial E.V. miles. That’s the crux of how the Volt maintains everyday practicality while affording owners all-electric motoring on short local trips.

After logging 120 miles (60 electric and 60 in gas-electric mode) the Volt returned the no-fudging equivalent of 64 miles per gallon. That average accounts for the 18 kilowatt-hours of plug-in electricity the Volt consumed — just over a half-gallon’s worth of gasoline using the conversion of about 33 kilowatt-hours of energy per gallon.”

So, when we combine the all electric range, multiplied by the gasoline equivalent, divided by the kilowatt-hour cost, added to the furlongs per fortnight factor, and throw some banana peels in the gas tank, the Volt gets unbelievable, earth-shaking mileage at virtually no cost!

This is a large part of the Volt’s problem. There is no rational, easily understood means of comparing the Volt with gas powered vehicles. It’s all smoke and mirrors, as the EPA produced mileage sticker suggests. In order to arrive at any figure, one must make a great many assumptions about relative costs, among the largest of which is that electricity and gasoline will remain relatively cheap even as the Obamites labor to make all energy prices “necessarily skyrocket,” as Mr. Obama himself dreamed on the 2008 campaign trail. Keep in mind too that premium gas--notice how slyly Mr. Ulrich slipped that little bit of economic disaster in--commonly costs $.50 to $.75 more than regular (a substantial, costly difference). And the “everyday practicality” about which Mr. Ulrich writes requires downtime of from 4-10 hours for charging, which means planning trips in advance to take advantage of that “practicality.” No spur of the moment, all-electric trips for Volt owners.

Mr. Ulrich ultimately settles on 64 MPG for his Volt driving experience and blithely claims: “Most owners, I think, will do better, determined to drive most of their miles on battery power.” Ah yes, the practicality! Ulrich continues: “Early adopters with the means and mind-set to buy a Volt--$41,000 on the window sticker, but $33,500 after subtracting the $7,500 federal tax credit, or $350.00 a month on G.M.’s sweetheart lease--will plug in faithfully, rarely sullying their Volts with a fuel nozzle.”

Let’s hope that Volt “adopter” doesn’t live in a cold climate where about half of the year its battery will be substantially--even completely--drained of power, hence, range. Let’s also hope that they understand that they’ll have to invest heavily in gasoline stabilizers as gas unburned in a tank for long periods of time breaks down. But Mr. Ulrich is somewhat honest here in that he hints at the real nature of likely Volt “adopters.” These are people who see the Volt as a social, political statement, a badge of ecological honor. People who are willing to trade real everyday practicality for a multi-thousand pound, rolling statement of their green purity and virtue. That and people who are wealthy enough to buy a Volt for its novelty while still maintaining a fleet of conventional vehicles for, you know, everyday practicality.

And what is this “sweetheart lease?” What Mr. Ulrich apparently means is that GM isn’t going to make a penny off the lease; GM will probably lose money. Ah, but the taxpayer will pick up the difference. What sweethearts!

To be completely honest, Mr. Ulrich does get around to noting that the Volt is “...really a plug-in hybrid...”, but he quickly falls back into cheerleading. “But please, enough with stories that cherry-pick statistics comparing worst-case Volts against Priuses running downhill on the nation’s cheapest gas,” writes Mr. Ulrich, who immediately begins to pick his own cherries. “In California...Pacific Gas & Electric plans to charge as little as 5 cents a kilowatt-hour for nighttime E.V charging.”

So many fish, such a small barrel. Remember that one of Mr. Obama’s fondest, often and explicitely expressed wishes is to obliterate the coal industry in America, the coal industry that supplies coal for coal-fired power plants. Remember too that he has essentially stopped all nuclear plant building and his greenie allies have stopped solar and wind power generation projects. With this in mind, how does PG&E plan--as opposed to, you know, actually charging--to charge “...as little as 5 cents a kilowatt hour for nighttime E.V. charging?” This would only be economically feasible if there were hundreds of thousands, even millions of electric vehicles to charge each and every night. Absent that, only government subsidies could make such largess possible. Forget, for the moment, the utter improbability of millions of electric vehicles, even in green-obsessed California and remember the very nature of California. Rolling brownouts sound familiar? Wasn’t there something in the news recently about California being bankrupt, about to default? Weren’t California politicians vehemently denying it, which is a sure sign it’s true? Hmm. Maybe California wasn’t such a great example after all...

Mr. Ulrich adds one odd bit of information when he writes “...owners can also cool or heat the car remotely, using grid electricity rather than draining the battery.” Apparently, while a Volt is plugged in, an owner can remotely pre-warm or cool the interior of the vehicle, otherwise a rather long electric cord would be required. But this inadvertently reveals what Mr. Ulrich apparently doesn’t realize, or has chosen not to mention: Functions such as heating and air conditioning the vehicle will dramatically reduce range as they drain battery power. Even such luxury functions as running the radio, using turn indicators or headlights will also quickly diminish range.

Describing the Volt, Mr. Ulrich dissolves into the language of oh-so-chic fashion reporting. “Call the Volt quietly handsome, with a pleasingly sporty stance and uncluttered visage...The flush-mounted touch panel controls look all Logan’s Run...the Volt’s cabin is comfortable and whimsically futuristic...” Remember that the NYT is the same newspaper whose David Brooks thought that Barack Obama would be a very good president--and, as Dave Berry says, I am not making this up--because of the crease in his pants. Mr. Ulrich even explains that the Volt handles well for a car that isn't designed to handle well and doesn't really have the tires for it, which is rather like observing that a professional basketball player can't jump, but makes up for it by being 5'2" tall.

Toward the conclusion, Ulrich engages in a bit of fantasy-laced reality: “Certainly, you could buy a conventional Chevy Cruze for $20,000, get respectable mileage and save thousands. But the Volt isn’t for people looking for the lowest possible price or operating costs — it is designed for those willing to spend extra for new technology that can wean them off gas and cut pollution.

In other words, the Volt is a car that will make fans feel good about driving and about themselves. If that’s not your cup of green tea, don’t buy it. But if the Volt appeals to you, my hunch is that you’re going to love it more than any car you’ve driven in years.”

Indeed, the Volt is for people--at least some people--who want to feel good about themselves in a particularly smug, self-righteous way. Such people will likely love the Volt more than any car they’ve driven in years because they love themselves more than anyone they’ve met in years and they’ll see the Volt as a reflection of themselves. But particularly if greenie hopes of a Volt in every garage come true, from where, pray tell, will all that electricity come? Even the government can’t print it. Won’t the greatly increased electric demand itself keep pollution at the same level, likely even increase it? Notice too, Mr. Ulrich’s math. Buy a Chevy Cruze for $20,000 and save thousands. Yes, that’s from $13,500 to $15,500 (there’s that 240V fast charger again). I suspect most folks see “thousands” as two or three, not 13.5 to 15.5. Even if a Volt saved $1000 a year in fuel costs over a comparable high-mileage sedan, it would take 13.5 to 15.5 years to break even in those costs alone. If, for example, an economy minded buyer purchased a Ford Fiesta for say, $18,000, the numbers become even worse: From 15.5 to 17.5 years to break even. Most people would never come close to breaking even. This is what economists call a "disincentive."

Firearm Guru Col. Jeff Cooper called double action trigger mechanisms for semi-automatic handguns “an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem.” And so it is with the Volt. Its only potential virtues are somewhat higher mileage than comparable vehicles, and the potential to reduce pollution. However, these virtues depend almost entirely on wildly optimistic projections and hopes, and on infrastructure that does not exist and will not exist unless the sheer number of electric vehicles on the road make it economically feasible to build. Or, of course, unless the government spends money we don't have building it regardless. On the downside, compared with its competition, the Volt is substantially more complex, far less flexible, offers inferior performance in virtually every measurable category, and is so much more expensive, even considering a $7500 tax advantage (explain to me again why the Volt needs a huge tax incentive just to get it off dealership lots, and how long do you suppose the taxpayers will be rendering that advantage? 2012? 2016, if Mr. Obama is reelected?), as to make the mere economics of building and marketing the vehicle an exercise in fiscal insanity.

Under normal circumstances, the Volt would be an interesting engineering and development exercise and nothing more. The much reviled “bean counters” at GM would have prevailed, justly pointing out that the technology had not caught up to the dream (the engineers would likely have agreed), that the manufacturing costs were simply too high, that the potential customer base was far too small, and that even with an unprecedented taxpayer subsidy, the list price was simply too high. They surely would have added that when the subsidy evaporated, building the Volt would change from mere stupidity to absolute lunacy. All of these factors would add up to tell GM that every Volt manufactured would plunge GM further into red ink at a time when GM’s continued existence depended entirely on taxpayer bailouts. Under normal circumstances.

But the Volt will not quickly go away. It owes its existence to Barack Obama and his bureaucrats who will not allow it to die until they no longer have any choice or say. And when it dies, as it surely will, the multi billion dollar price tag for this particular green boondoggle will, as always, come out of the pockets of taxpayers, the same taxpayers who one morning awoke to find themselves 61% owners of GM, the same taxpayers whose energy costs Mr. Obama is working so diligently to make “necessarily skyrocket.”

Oh well. What’s billions of squandered taxpayer dollars compared to the incomparable public service provided by Mr. Brooks and Mr. Ulrich writing about the rapture of pants creases and gee-whiz automotive features?

Racing the Wind - a Story of a Hunt

I remember what it felt like to jump off the ledge. That was the best part, the part where I was just a little afraid. The swimming hole. Out West there were multitudes of rivers and streams in which we could swim, many with ledges that looked down on deep pools in which the braver kids would jump.

First steps, first leaps. Over the years it became a car, then an airplane, then marriage. All attempted with the luminosity of not knowing any better, each a new journey, some ending better than others.

Such as my first antelope hunt. It's not just a tasty steak on four legs. It's North Americas fastest game animal

Racing goats.

Like deer and elk, the rut is the time to go, with the antelope exhibiting behavior much like you'd see with your whitetail. They snort, they grunt, they try and draw the attention of any nubile doe in range. They'll fight with other males for the attention of the female. In a nutshell, during the rut, pronghorn bucks are just as stupid as the males of most species under similar conditions; you don't even have to add alcohol.

But this is the time to go, when there's movement and the animals natural sense of wariness is doused by raging hormones. During spring and early summer, if you live in the area that the antelope play, you might see several bucks hanging out together with the womenfolk long gone. Normally, after breeding is over with, the antelope gather in large herds with a mix of both bucks and does.

Late August was when we went. The pre-rut prep in most states starts as early as mid August, as the bucks begin to split up and concentrate their attentions on the females. Most of the action is over by late September, depending on the same factors that affect elk and deer hunting. Weather and temperature. A heavy early snow will damp the ardor of about any pronghorn stud, and cooler weather early can change when the rut begins.

As it was my first time, I went in knowing I may not take one home the first time. Antelope are a challenge regardless of your skill or the flat shooting rifle that you select. It's not just speed, it's habitat. Antelope love to hide out under vegetative ground if they have the slightest inkling danger is near. If your presence is felt, even a couple hundred yards away, they will disappear as quick as you would expect into the underbrush, not to come out until you're muttering four letter words on the hike back out.

In deer season, we normally scout out our hunting area first. Og, RB and MH and I will go on up to Frank James spread of land ahead of time, watching for ruts and scraps and paths. Like whitetail, antelope will leave a rub, which serves a dual purpose, to mark the area for other antelope and to prep them for the shoving and sparring that occurs between the male fighting for dominance and does. The scout is useful, it helps you gauge where the population groups might be, where their escape routes will likely go, as well as evaluate just what you have in the area (i.e. do you want to take the smaller buck when you know there's a trophy in the corn patch?). Scouting for antelope is much the same though you'll need a good set of binoculars. In this landscape just wandering around a small area is NOT going to be enough,

But we didn't have a chance to do this, though we had an informal guide, a friend from the area who would hopefully lead us to where the antelope were. I had a .270 Winchester with 110 grain bullets on hand, binoculars, and a white hanky. No, I wasn't expecting to wave it like the damsel in distress, but as antelope are by far more curious than the whitetail, waving one from a distance has, for more than one hunter, brought one in for the perfect show though some states don't allow "flagging".

Antelope are typically shot from long range, their bright white rumps making them easy to spot, even as their vision and speed make them a challenge to get close to. I had a rifle for the long range, but this was my first hunt, and to sit and treat them like prairie dog on steroids was not our goal. We were going to try our hand at stalking and getting close in, hopefully for a shot from 100-200 yards (and likely becoming vegetarians).

The landscape was perfect for stalking. Sure they have vision like a fighter pilots times 10, but they don't have superman x Ray vision either. We had rocks, we had brush, We had some camo that perfectly matched the landscape. The countryside may have looked flat when I flew us in, but it was not flat,; there were no stairs like the hills in Ireland, and my thighs were telling me that with every step.

If you looked out across the draw you would see them come into view. Not the antelope, but us. A small brace of tall bodies, moving deliberately, guns in hand, sweat evaporating into the high desert air, the movement of the bodies, that of predator stalking, far away from the cities unsleeping and melancholy murmur. In our pockets and bags back in the jeep were ammo and supplies, toilet paper, aluminum foil, duct tape and other things that might be needed. In my pants pockets, string, a compass, paper clips, a bit of dark chocolate, a map. McGyver would have liked pants like these. I was armed, I had duct tape. I was ready to try my hand at stalking an antelope.

What is stalking? It's not getting in your car and driving by the antelope's house 8 times a day, it's not hacking his computer, it's finding him at distance and then using the terrain and the wind to get close. It's hunting at its most elemental, and for me, more exhilarating than any leap off a cliff into the water. Not that many game animals lend themselves to stalking. Most hunting I've done as been from tree stands or blinds, or sitting at the base of the tree, calling in a horny Jake and his buddies during Spring Turkey season.

If this type of movements sounds uncomfortable, rest assured it is. I considered stalking closer in, I had the clothing for it, with dyed knee and elbow pads (not useful against a rattlesnake mind you) but I wasn't sure I was experienced enough to pull it off this time. But I also0 wasn't sure I had any other choice, there not being enough vegetation to walk in further.

It was painful work, but worth it. I'm looking out across terrain few men have crossed, peering out from a slope that is kicking my butt to simply see the world as it is. A world raw, untamed, marked by nature and the years, the wetness and the sheer juice of life bubbling up from what appears to be dry land. My feet crouched proud on rock as strong as God and as fragile as a pheasants egg, steady, yet perilous.

The guys were letting me go in first, as this was my first antelope hunt and as much as my flanks burned, I wasn't going to give up and let them down. . We were in this thing together, because hunting was the heritage of us all, out of the earth and beyond it, the miles of footsteps up a slope simply following where others had gone before. We were simply part of the long chronicle of men and women who share the love of the hunt, of the outdoors, and in that sharing, become one with each other, and the earth. We hunt in the face of darkness and cascading water, gathering around the fire at night, sleeping to dreams of antelope in flight, drawing an invisible firearm from the darkness and thumbing the safety off.

The buck John had spotted wasn't doing so well rounding up his women and so he didn't notice me closing up the distance, though I was still too far away for a shot. I lay flat, watching him for what seemed like an hour. I think the does had spotted something (perhaps my movement) that made them nervous, and in their nervousness they were trying to move out. He was thinking they weren't in the mood and was doing his best to bring them back. All while I continued to stalk from the down wind side as in his hormonal anxiety he wasn't paying as close attention to the surrounding area as he should be. When I got about 275 yards out, I sat still for a long while, while they settled down. Then I took a chance with a little bark call with the primos Antelope call as Pronghorn Romeo moved out from the girls towards me, ready to challenge a rival. At about 250 yards, he decided against it, though not alarmed, simply turning back. Broadside, it was now or never and I jumped of that ledge of first time anything.

Bang!

The sound of that rifle flew through that ravine I had just left like a gully washer. There was nothing left in the air but the echo of motion and speed. The friction, the form, was gone, the antelope not racing away, but walking as though not quite of what had happened, before he fell, the does already bouncing off to find a new boyfriend.

No one spoke. I stood, and there was only the trickle of sweat on my cheek and the velvet air and the smell of gunpowder in my hair. My flanks still trembled, but not from fatigue, but from the adrenalin.

The antelope will not be a lot of meat, but enough for nourishment, but that's not why we are here really. It's for a moment of brief unsubstantiated glory, of the sharp, shock of sound that belies the silence of a heart, the crack of decision, the momentary cessation of breath that comes as through willful act you cause another to cease its life. It is life and it is death, sustenance from the land that is earned, not purchased in bulk at a supermarket. It's summer and fall, wet and sporadic springs coming on the conceit of the last days of winter. As a fleeting white bottomed rocket bursts forth from the remnants of the West, I realize, it's not about the antelope.

It's seizing that last brace of freedom for both predator and prey. It's a jump off a ledge, for one a moment, the other eternity, that both echo in the places we all remember.

American Gunned Down, Framed by Mexican Troops

Remember folks: it's American gun dealers that are the cause of violence in Mexico, not rampant Mexican corruption:

Joseph Proctor told his girlfriend he was popping out to the convenience store in the quiet Mexican beach town where the couple had just moved, intending to start a new life.

The next morning, the 32-year-old New York native was dead inside his crashed van on a road outside Acapulco. He had multiple bullet wounds. An AR-15 rifle lay in his hands.

His distraught girlfriend, Liliana Gil Vargas, was summoned to police headquarters, where she was told Proctor had died in a gunbattle with an army patrol. They claimed Proctor — whose green van had a for-sale sign and his cell phone number spray-painted on the windows — had attacked the troops. They showed her the gun.

His mother, Donna Proctor, devastated and incredulous, has been fighting through Mexico's secretive military justice system ever since to learn what really happened on the night of Aug. 22.

It took weeks of pressuring U.S. diplomats and congressmen for help, but she finally got an answer, which she shared with The Associated Press.

Three soldiers have been charged with killing her son. Two have been charged with planting the assault rifle in his hands and claiming falsely that he fired first, according to a Mexican Defense Department document sent to her through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

It is at least the third case this year in which soldiers, locked in a brutal battle with drug cartels, have been accused of killing innocent civilians and faking evidence in cover-ups.

A ban of non-commercial travel and mined border would go a long way towards minimizing this and other problems, including illegal immigration, terrorist infiltration, and drug smuggling.

Snow Makes Concealed Carry Illegal in North Carolina

It is difficult to hold the intellect of politicians in the proper disdain. As citizens, we hope that our elected officials are the best of us, or at the minimum, are as intelligent as we are.

Here in North Carolina, that is decidedly not the case. We've awoken to a rare covering of snow, and can expect a half-foot or more of it across much of the state. As a result of the winter wonderland, hundreds of thousands of our most law-abiding citizens are now potential felons.

North Carolinians have been plagued with Democrats in our state legislature for far too long, and one of the more ignorant bits of legislation they've passed is a law making it illegal for concealed carry permit holders to carry their firearms during any state of emergency declared by our elected officials.

It is an absurd law, by any measure. A coating of snow or ice or does not revoke the God-given rights recognized in our federal or state Constitutions, and yet the dim representatives of year's past have attempted to usurp these natural rights.

The 2010 elections have swept a Republican legislature into office, and gun owners in our fair state are determined that these an other restrictive laws passed by anti-gun Democrats are defeated. Freedom is not a weather-related phenomenon.

It's too bad past legislators lacked the common sense to understand that.

Christmas Reflections

The greatest blessing of Christmas is giving; giving to those you love, to your community, to those whose lives you might touch in ways you can’t possibly imagine. We often forget that something as fleeting as a smile can make all the difference to those upon whom we bestow it.

One of the ways I give is through music. I’m a classically trained singer, a professional singer...but not really. I often sing on a professional level, yet I don’t make my living by singing--relatively few singers do that--but I’m sometimes paid for my talents which, after decades of training and practice, is satisfying. I write these observations after three Christmas Eve services at the wonderful church that employs me to sing, a church modeled after English country churches, wrought of stone and wood, with stone floors, high, vaulted ceilings and a cruciform shape.

As I sat there, in that beautiful building that reflects the hopes, labors, devotion and dreams of many generations, and sang in each service, I had occasion to reflect. Here are a few things that occurred to me:

One of our highest aspirations should be to be a part of something greater than ourselves.

It is often the simplest, daily blessings we take for granted, things like waking up next to our spouse; it is these many small blessings that make up our lives.

Too seldom do we tell those who enrich our lives that they do. Thanks, Bob and Brigid. You enrich my life and I’m proud to be your colleague and friend. It's a shame my first name doesn't begin with a "B."

We too often take for granted the almost miraculous technologies that make our work and lives more productive. I learned to type on a manual typewriter and didn’t own a personal computer until the late 1980’s. My first cell phone came in a package the size of a large Bible and was out of range of a cell tower at least as often as it was in. We live in a time of magic.

We also need to keep such little bits of magic from isolating us. Human communication is best done face to face.

We need to listen to our loved ones; really listen to what they want to tell us. William Shakespeare said it best: “Man, proud man. Dress’d in a little brief authority” (Measure For Measure). Our time is short, and tomorrow is never guaranteed.

We need to tell our loved ones that we love them at least once every day; we need to mean it, deeply, truly and sincerely, for them, but particularly for us.

We need to believe that America is truly unique, and that Americans are--by any measure--the most generous, caring people on Earth. We also need to know that America is more than worth defending and that a people who do not understand and value the majesty of the Constitution and the blessings of liberty are doomed to lose both.

I need to thank our readers for their time, attention, comments and suggestions, and hope that what I do is useful to them.

But above all, we need to pray that we may become useful servants of God. I suspect there is no higher calling, no matter our profession.

But above all, on this, of all days, we need to remember that our Christmas can be Merry because of a sacrifice on a lonely hill, more than two millennia ago. There lies true hope, hope that can be realized not through fallible, transient government, but from the kind of change that occurs within an open, willing heart. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve already?

Somehow the holiday season always seems to sneak up on me like a cat in the night. We typically host a Christmas Eve party, then have Christmas with the kids here, commute to my parents to have Christmas lunch with my brothers and their families, and then drive back to my in-laws for Christmas dinner and my father-in-law's birthday (he's a Christmas baby). At least that is what we do most years.

This year we're dealing with earaches, sinus infections, the flu, bronchitis, and other maladies throughout out extended family, so we're keeping it very low-key and staying home for Christmas. We'll miss the family fellowship, but will have a little less stress and time to heal.

Despite the illnesses, I have much to be thankful for this holiday season. I work for a wonderful company and with intelligent, friendly people.

I have two wonderful co-bloggers that have joined me here at Confederate Yankee that are very gifted writers and just good people who give of themselves in everything they do, in writing and in their chosen professions.

I have wonderful support at Pajamas Media, have had a low-key but successful debut of my gun blog, and offers to expand my writing to other publications in the New Year.

And of course, I have a wonderful, beautiful woman at my side who isn't just my wife, but who is my best and dearest friend and who has provided me with two wonderful, miraculous daughters.

I am truly blessed by God, and so it is always important to me to remember the reason for the season isn't crass commercialism, but the celebration of birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. My older daughter, a very thoughtful and introspective 10-year-old, suggested that we start a new Christmas tradition tomorrow morning, by singing "Happy Birthday" as we place baby Jesus in our family's Nativity scene.

It is my sincere hope for all of you that this Christmas that you find what will sustain you and warm your soul. Presents are nice, but His Presence is the greatest gift of all.

God Bless, and Merry Christmas.

Quick Takes: December 23, 2010

ITEM: Vice President Biden: The US will be out of Afghanistan by 2014 come “Hell or high water.” Achmed the Taliban in a cave: “Well OK. We’ll lay in supplies until then.”

ITEM: Vice President Biden: The Republicans forced us to extend the Bush tax cuts during the lame duck session. Republicans: “Hey, didn’t the Dems have the White House and majorities in both houses?”

ITEM: Vice President Biden recently declared that failing to tax everyone into oblivion is a moral issue. Oh, I get it: Being annoyed when people like Sheriff Joe forcibly take the money I earn to distribute it to their cronies and favored victim groups makes me immoral. Of course.

ITEM: Vice President Biden: “The President and I are space aliens.” OK. I made that one up, but how many of you thought “I knew it!”?

ITEM: During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama visited all 57 states. Now comes Janet Napolitano, director of Homeland Security who assures us that the DHS is working 24/7/364 to protect Americans. I wonder if the Jihadists know which day DHS takes off? Napolitano is apparently off every day...maybe that’s not such a bad thing...

ITEM: During an ABC TV interview with Diane Sawyer on December 20, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted that he knew nothing at all about the Dec. 20 arrests in England of 12 Islamist terrorists. The DNI had no idea. The man solely responsible for knowing everything about terrorism, and, you know, intelligence, had no idea. Oh well. He probably thinks his primary job is to install foot washing stations in public schools so no Muslim will feel unclean.

ITEM: President Obama and Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson are poised to announce new, onerous emissions regulations on power plants and refineries within the next few days as a means of bypassing Congress. When even Al Gore is admitting that the Global Warming jig is up, apparently all you have left is bureaucrats and regulations. Some in Congress are threatening to cut off EPA funding. What’s the saying? I’ll believe it when I see it? That’s the one.

ITEM: In a June speech to something called the “Network of Spiritual Progressives,” America’s only Muslim member of Congress, Keith Ellison (D; Islam)
prayed that America’s borders would become “an irrelevancy.” He also observed that military strength does not provide security. What does, you ask? Are you sure you want to hear the answer? Don’t say I didn’t warn you: Only policies of “equity, generosity and engagement,” provide security. Hmmm. Hasn’t President Obama been engaging the Muslim world senseless for the last two years? And hasn’t that hopenchangy approach been, you know, a total failure? Perhaps we just haven’t been equitable and generous enough as yet...

ITEM: In a press conference on December 22, President Obama said: “And I think we are past the crisis point in the economy, but we now have to pivot and focus on jobs and growth. And my singular focus over the next two years is not rescuing the economy from potential disaster, but rather jumpstarting the economy so that we actually start making a dent in the unemployment rate and we are equipping ourselves so that we can compete in the 21st century.”

Hmm. Let’s review, shall we class? A number of states, including Illinois and California are bankrupt, but have yet to completely collapse, businesses are afraid to invest or hire because they know that whenever Mr. Obama’s lips are moving, he’s lying. Gas prices are rising, and Mr. Obama is trying to make good on his pre-election promise to ensure that energy prices “necessarily skyrocket” by doing a regulatory end run on Congress to protect us from the global warming that virtually no one outside of UN bureaucrats actually believes is occurring. And to top it all off, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been making very pessimistic noises about the economy while simultaneously printing money as though it grows on trees. But Mr. Obama says the crisis is over, so I guess we just wait for his pivot. Oh wait. He’s vacationing in Hawaii and will, of course, be golfing as much as humanly possible. I bet he meant “divot.”

CODA: The good news is that after the mid term elections, America now has a chance to limit, perhaps even reverse some of the damage for the next two years.
And on that positive note, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's a Canine Christmas

Barkley the black lab watched me quietly as I sipped tea and picked up a book, Celtic Women Christmas playing softly, as I read out loud a poem by Boris Levinson. He picks his head up as if he can almost understand the words.

Yes, as many people might say, he's just a dog. He'll never win any awards as a rocket scientist. He still sits patiently by the spot next to the counter where once a roast chicken fell on the floor, as if there's a secret poultry shrine there and if he waits long enough, another will reappear on its alter. He'll chase the same ball for an hour, convinced he's on some major breakthrough in retrieval tactics. And he's consumed an entire pizza, a sock, a plastic sandwich bag, a jalapeno pepper and a dead worm, all with the same gusto.

But our pets are family to many of us, and are much more than animals. They teach us about unbridled living in the moment and following your heart. They teach us to appreciate the simple things. . . fresh coffee cake warm from the oven, the glint of sun off a pond that matches the brilliance of the Christmas lights, one last walk around the neighborhood as the stars finally fade. As Barkley goes into full point on a plastic reindeer in someones yard, I think how he has also pointed me to the things that matter in life. Loyalty, devotion and love without strings attached.

Just an animal? So much more I think, as he pulls me through the the woods as the Christmas season is upon us. Ignoring the cold, we look into the heavens for a last glimpse of the Dog Star; we run joyfully up the nearest hill, as Sirius is so near.

Sure, She Says For Us to Diet...

...but why do Michelle Antoinette's actions always amount to "let them eat cake?"

Iran Just Shipped Missiles to Venezuela. Hello? Is This Thing On?

Where the Hell is the President?

Mikes' latest article is posted at Pajamas Media.

What Do the ‘Holiday Terror Warning’ Targets Have in Common?

Our lovely elected leader do such an effective job of making us into unarmed targets, don't they?

My latest at Pajamas Media.

Reparations, By Any Other Name

Our racist, Marxist (two decades in a church espousing Black Liberation Theology) President continues his divide and conquer, "I'm gonna get me mine" approach to racial divisiveness in the Pigford Scandal, where fraudsters could get a cool $50,000 payout for "attempting to farm."

One common misconception is that Pigford is about people who defrauded the government by pretending to be farmers. From the research I've done, there's almost nobody who pretended to be a farmer. The shocking truth is that you didn't have to fake a farming resume to collect $50,000 — all you had to do was to make a credible enough claim that you "attempted to farm."

This category of "attempted to farm" was a huge slap in the face to the bona fide black farmers that the Pigford case was supposed to help. Many of these farmers faced real discrimination at the hands of the USDA and it's clear they had legitimate claims.

I would love to see inside Barack Obama's mind, to know what motivated him here. Was it purely the old cry for reparations for slavery? Was it the cynical buyout of rural votes? These theories and more have been floated, and I would not be surprised if each theory had at least some merit. The "first post-racial President" continues down his path of polarizing the nation along racial and political lines, almost as if he hopes to cause an implosion.

I don't know that I believe in a Manchurian candidate, but the Hawaiian one proving to be every bit as effective in sabotaging this nation. Let us hope the Republic survives his term.

A Dickensian Defense of Christmas

At this time of year, A variety of organizations--such as the ACLU--and other cold, narrow souls wrap themselves in the cloak of public morality and virtue and renew their yearly attack on Christmas and its related symbols. It’s not that they’re the embodiment of Ebeneezer Scrooge, no; they’re taking on this crusade for the good of us all, so that we may live up to our highest and most cherished principles:

Average Citizen: Oh yeah? Like what?

Christmas Crusher: Like what? Well, uh, like, uh, diversity!

AC: Diversity? What’s that supposed to mean?

CC: Well, uh, like, you know, so like no one feels, you know, left out...

AC: Don’t you mean inclusiveness?

CC: That’s it! Inclusiveness. And diversity.

AC: But Christmas doesn’t leave anyone out.

CC: Yes it does! It’s about the birth of...of...you know...

AC: Of?

CC: (Choking and gagging) ...of...

AC: C’mon, you can do it...Je...

CC: Hack! Je...

AC: ...suuuuus...

CC: ...suuuuus...(choke)...

AC: Oh never mind. You don’t have to say it. Why does celebrating the birth of Jesus leave anyone out?

CC: Whew! It violates the First Amendment!

AC: That’s just silly. You can still enjoy Christmas even if you’re not a Christian.

CC: No you can’t! No you can’t!

AC: Now you’re being childish.

CC: Am not! Am not! You are! You are!

AC: That’s it. I’m taking my candy canes and going home.

CC: Candy canes? Could I have one of those...?

One of the great joys of America is that we are free to celebrate common holidays, common traditions, as we please. One may experience Christmas as the most joyous, meaningful religious observance, merely take pleasure in the generosity of gift giving, or simply enjoy a day or two of sleeping in, and as Thomas Jefferson said in speaking of the American religious tradition, it neither picks our pockets or breaks our legs. That is part of the simple genius of the Constitution, and the wonder of Christmas.

Charles Dickens said it best in “A Christmas Carol”:

“Nephew!” returned the uncle, sternly, “keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine.:

“Keep it!” repeated Scrooge’s nephew. “But you don’t keep it.”

“Let me leave it alone then,” said Scrooge. “Much good may it do you! Much good has it ever done you!:

“There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round--apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that--as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good and will do me good; and I say, God bless it.”

Because of common beliefs and celebrations, Americans remain the most generous people on Earth. Christmas is, in large part, the inspiration for this national generosity, as well as being a reflection, in countless nativity scenes, beautifully adorned trees and billions of twinkling lights, of the innate kindness and good will of Americans.

So let us leave those who will not keep Christmas alone, but let us also demand that they leave us alone as well. It’s the American way. Sadly, that’s a large part of what so bothers them. But with good will toward all, let us join with Tiny Tim, who said, “God bless us, every one!”

The Tyranny of Technology

The Federal Communication is expected to declare themselves Lords of the Internet, disappointing leftists that wanted the tyranny to be more strict—perhaps more punitively Chinese—and infuriating everyone else.

It is just the latest example of the Obama Administration's creeping tyranny, delegating authority to itself that is not provided in the law or the Constitution. Like all leftists, Barack Obama's classmate Julius Genachowski craves power and control. The wide-open, unregulated and free-wheeling, market-driven success of the Internet was far too much for him to bear.

Like Obamacare, this is yet another usurpation by petty would-be elites that will have to be overturned by the next Congress, siphoning away time and resources better spent restoring an economy leftists have likewise laid to waste.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

In I897, eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of the New York “Sun.” The response of Francis Pharcellus Church in an unsigned editorial spawned the immortal, widely known phrase: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” but many don't know the whole story. For all of us who have never lost hope--not hopenchange, but real hope in all that is kind, comforting, honorable and loving--here’s little Virginia’s letter and Church’s timeless response.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. 
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. 
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.' 
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"

VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

"

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.



Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.



Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.



You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. 



No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
 

Is Instapundit Ever Wrong?

They told me that if I voted for the crotchety old Republican, the evil Sith Lord Karl Rove would be prosecuting the nation's political enemies, and they were right!

.308 Winchester/7.62 NATO Outlawed by Iraq for PMCs?

I just had a very interesting phone with a defense contractor, who informed me that the Iraqi government just passed a law that outlaws the use of .308 Winchester/7.62 rifles in Iraq by private military contractors.

As a result, overwatch teams that have been using rifles chambered in this caliber for counter-sniper roles are going to have to find other long-range calibers that meet the standards of Iraqi law. I have no idea if this affects 7.62 machine guns as well.

Why has this been done? I have absolutely no idea, and cannot find the first mention of this in the MSM or military media at this time. There is the possibility that this is a false alarm or miscommunication of some sort, but if it is, it is a miscommunication serious enough that PMCs are reaching out for alternative weapons.

I'll update if I learn any more.

12/20 Update: This doesn't appear to be a "law" as such, but perhaps a directive or "suggestion." I can get my hands on the language, but it appears that the intent it to require counter-sniper weapons to be chambered in 5.56, something similar to a Mk 12.

Considering much of the PMC work and Iraqi population is contained in urban areas with high population densities, it makes sense to reduce the risk of over-penetrating or off-target bullets to nearby civilians, and the reduced range is probably mitigated by the reality of reduced lines of sight anyway (that is purely speculative, btw).

All things considered, this seems to be a pretty logical request, does it not?

Cage Walker

I've been busy working on several projects at work and for some of the other publications I write for (just added one, and will have another coming soon), and so I missed World Extreme Cagefighting's WEC 53, and one hell of a performance from Anthony Pettis. His fifth-round cage climbing kick has got to be one of the most athletic I've ever seen.

That kick didn't knock out his opponent Ben Henderson, but it did help him win the WEC lightweight belt. The UFC (which owns WEC) is pulling the lightweight division into the UFC, and Pettis retires the WEC lightweight belt and posiitions himself for a fighting against the winner of the Frank Edgar/Gray Maynard fight at UFC 125, where Edgar is defending his title against the only fighter to ever defeat him. The title unification fight will then occur sometime in early-to-mid 2011.

Sports betting sites like BetUS are already picking their winners, and have Edgar over Maynard. I think that is likely, and if it holds, sets up a interesting match between Pettis and Edgar.

Unfounded Fears

I got into a couple of arguments about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" earlier today on Twitter. Quite frankly, they weren't really much in the way of arguments, just what I thought were logical reactions to rather hysteric fears of several people that seemed to be of the opinion that if they gay folks currently serving in the military were now free to admit who they are, they it would lead to them compulsively attempting to shag every soldier they see every waking moment.

I wish I was kidding, but some people seem to think that way:

The armies of other nations have allowed gays to serve openly in the military. The reason they could afford to do this is simple: they could allow homosexuals to serve in their military because we didn’t allow them to serve in ours.

They knew they could count on the strength, might, power, and cohesion of the U.S. military to intervene whenever and wherever necessary to pull their fannies out of the fire and squash the forces of tyranny wherever they raised their ugly heads around the world.

Those days are now gone. We will no longer be able to bail out these other emasculated armies because ours will now be feminized and neutered beyond repair, and there is no one left to bail us out. We have been permanently weakened as a military and as a nation by these misguided and treasonous Republican senators, and the world is now a more dangerous place for us all.

It’s past time for a litmus test for Republican candidates. This debacle shows what happens when party leaders are careless about the allegiance of candidates to the fundamental conservative principles expressed in the party’s own platform.

Character-driven officers and chaplains will eventually be forced out of the military en masse, potential recruits will stay away in droves, and re-enlistments will eventually drop like a rock.

The draft will return with a vengeance and out of necessity. What young man wants to voluntarily join an outfit that will force him to shower naked with males who have a sexual interest in him and just might molest him while he sleeps in his bunk?

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wrote that, either fearing that the most combat-hardened military in world history is ripe for the picking, or perhaps, he's just guilty of a little fantasizing of his own.

His is an absurd position, one that portrays gay soldiers as uncontrollable rutting beasts, and our straight servicemen as docile sheep waiting to raped. Such a point of view is hysterical and illogical and shows that those holding such views think very little of the professionalism of all soldiers regardless of their sexual preference.

It also taps into a deep-seated phobia that some seem to have that homosexuality is a communicable disease, and that soldiers that serve with gay soldiers could be "turned gay."

I wish I was joking, but the folks who hold these views are dead serious. Some are borderline frantic, apparently unaware that tens of thousands of gays serve in the military right now. This kind of freakish paranoia brings out the worse in some people, and in some, it simply seems to be striking fears that their own sexuality isn't quite as black and white as they profess it to be.

I find a gay soldier willing to sacrifice his life for my family's safety to be on much firmer moral ground than a sputtering viper like Fischer the serves up division and fear.

Perhaps that is the greatest irony; a professed Christian, Fischer certainly seems to be batting for the other team.

MIKE'S UPDATE, 12/20: In the military, everyone knows who is and isn't gay, and there are regulations addressing public displays of affection and any kind of favoritism or misbehavior that might be likely to arise from this change in policy. Any additional regulations required should be relatively easy to identify and enact. Remember that the military has significant means of compelling proper behavior from its members that have no civilian analog. While I agree with Bob that the hoopla over this incident may well be overblown, it would be wise to keep a careful eye on things and not to allow this to become a camel's nose under the tent for additional "progressive" social engineering. Since the Progressives have had their noses whacked, and hard, in the civilian arena, they may well seek to implement on a captive audience--the military, members of which are not allowed to criticize Congress critters--what they can no longer easily do in the civilian world. And should this politically motivated change during wartime begin to clearly cost lives--no doubt there will be unintended consequences that cannot be easily foreseen; there always are--The Tea Party movement can perform another public service by running everyone who voted for this bit of political expediency during a lame duck session out of office once and for all. And while the "elite" colleges are now making noises about welcoming ROTC and recruiters, the depth and breadth of their understanding and implementation of honor remains to be conclusively demonstrated. Of course, the Obama Administration could simply enforce the law requiring fair treatment of the military at colleges that receive federal funds, but I haven't seen any flying pigs of late, nor is there snow in Hell's weather report when last I looked. There is much to watch out for in this situation.

Quick Takes, December 17, 2010

ITEM: At 0001 Sunday, December 19, the Federal Government will shut down unless Congress can pass a temporary funding bill. As this is being written, there is no bill in sight, at least in part because Democrats (and a number of Republicans) are desperate to moon the voters one last time, and to pass a repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, a massive land grab that would make even more acreage off limits to development of any kind, and that would make even more of our southern border off limits to the Border Patrol for environmental reasons, carving in stone union favors, illegal alien amnesty, environmental measures sure to hasten national bankruptcy and a wide variety of other looney tune measures in the two or so weeks before many Congress critters have to return to--the horror!--real lives.

Shutting down the Federal Government for any period of time would be a bad thing because...?

ITEM: At a recent “Environmental Justice Conference” at the White House, Janet Napolitano, former Governor of Arizona and current head of the Department of Homeland Security professed her undying belief in climate change, which is causing and will cause “increased drought,” “catastrophic [wild]fires in the West,” “more category four and five hurricanes,” and “other natural occurrences that are affected by changes in climate.” All of this, and more, of course, is directly related to national security, well...because she says so, and she’s the head of DHS! She's the very same head of DHS who thought the system was working beautifully when the underwear bomber’s bomb, through incredible dumb luck, only torched his junk instead of blowing an airliner out of the sky. I suspect his fellow passengers, exposed to the sights, sounds and smells of that little bit of systemic competence, might think otherwise.

But in a deranged, bureaucratic way this makes all kinds of sense. After all, we now know that NASA’s proper, enlightened, primary mission is to make Muslims feel good about the scientific accomplishments of other Muslims who have been dead for centuries. Why then shouldn’t the DHS be primarily concerned with hurricanes, climate change, rising sea levels, toads, delta smelt and melting glaciers that really aren’t melting? After all, it’s not like DHS is in charge of keeping Americans secure from terrorist attack or actually has any real work to do. Right?

ITEM: In the aftermath of the December 14 shooting at the Bay County School Board in Panama City Florida, some interesting, recurring misconceptions have popped up. The gunman, who would like his name to be mentioned, fired approximately 15 rounds from a semi-automatic handgun at ranges from 5-20 feet, and didn’t hit anyone. Fortunately, School Security Chief Mike Jones was present and shot him. The gunman dropped and briefly exchanged fire with Jones, hitting no one before shooting himself in the head. The misconceptions? (1) The gunman obviously didn’t want to hurt anyone, because he was shooting at close range and didn’t hit anyone. (2) This just goes to show how important and effective gun free schools zones are.

And now for a quick dose of reality. It is very common for people, including police officers, to get into gunfights at inside-a-telephone-booth range, empty their weapons, and hit no one. Outside of movies, calm, deadly accurate marksmanship is unusual, not the opposite. It would be interesting to know how those school board members feel about gun free school zones today. The GFSZ signs around the Bay County School District obviously weren’t terribly effective in protecting the innocent, but a handgun in the hands of someone ready and able to use it was. But what would have happened on December 14th if Mike Jones was home with the flu? I wonder what the School Board would have thought of that--if they were still around to think of anything. It was Winston Churchill who said that nothing is more stimulating than being shot at without result. Perhaps the School Board, post-stimulation, learned something: Good intentions and thin metal signs protect no one.

ITEM: You owe it to yourself, during the Christmas season, to attend a live performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” My article on the history and experience of “Messiah” can be read here. You also owe it to yourself to acquaint yourself with the finest female voice--ever--in popular music: Karen Carpenter. Sadly, Carpenter died on Feb. 14. 1983 from complications of Anorexia Nervosa. But her delightfullly beautiful “Merry Christmas Darling” is more than worth your time.

Merry week before Christmas until next time!

Lessons in Socialism

I worked hard all year, barking at strangers, fetching game birds and keeping Brigid company. So I earned a toy!!! I'm proud of my toy.MY TOY! Hard work and loyalty DO pay off!

But Barkley, there is a dog down the road that doesn't do anything but lay on his ass and whine all day. HE doesn't have a toy. So the man will come and give him YOUR toy. Come on, we're not taking it we're just redistributing the toys.
How do you feel about the whole idea now Barkley?Bad Politician. No Vote!

Go Green... and Kill People

Reality comes to Cancun with a lesson from Stephen Crowder.

Good. I Can Go Back To Hating The Traitor Again

It turns out Bradley Manning, the treasonous little turd that leaked thousands of documents to Wikileaks, is being treated "just like every other maximum security detainee at the military brig" in Quantico. He's not being singled out or abused, despite claims from Manning supporters.

I know I should have followed that age old advice, "never trust a sockpuppet with a taste for Brazilian cabana boys."

That'll Do, Donkeys

The Obama tax increase failed, and the earmark-packed budget was pulled in favor of a continuing resolution.

It wasn't a perfect outcome—that would have involved torches and pitchforks, which is desireable nearly every time Congress is in session—but considering what the bitter, vengeful and outbound liberal caucus had hoped to ram through, it wasn't a bad night.

Why Won't House Democrats Stop the Coming Tax Hike?

The answer of course is simple: the lame liberal ducks want their revenge for being cast out of power, and the next few weeks are their last chance to get even with America.

God Help Me, I Agree with Greenwald

My feelings about U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning are well documented by The Google, which has my blog entries Let's Try Bradley Manning for Treason and Brad Manning, I Hope They Hang You High being the #1 and #2 search results for a search on "Bradley Manning traitor."

In my opinion, by turning over that massive amount of data to a foreign national—including the names of agents and informants that are risking their lives to help our efforts against terrorism—Manning's treason is on par with Benedict Arnold's treasonous attempt to hand West Point to the British. If I had my way, Manning would have a swift and just trial by a military court martial, be found justly guilty of treason by the overwhelming preponderance of evidence against him, and then executed.

I detest Bradley Manning... but the extended solitary confinement he has endured before even being tried sounds very much like prisoner abuse.

From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day -- for seven straight months and counting -- he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he's barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he's being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch).

If Manning had been convicted of a capital offense, I would not have such misgivings about his treatment, but treating him to this kind of behavior before he is even tried seems extreme. Do we treat even treat violent murder and rape suspects in the military with pre-trial solitary confinement for months on end like Manning has experienced?

Give him his day in court, and if he is found guilty, put him back in a small isolated cell for the rest of his life or strap him to a gurney and let the drip-drip-drip of poison end him. If convicted, pin a target to his chest and let a firing squad deliver justice.

But Bradley Manning, traitorous little bastard that I suspect him to be, is still entitled to defend himself in court, and it seems to go beyond the pale to treat him in the manner Greenwald describes and that the military doesn't dispute.

He deserves better that this, and as a nation of free men, we must demand better for the sake of our own souls, if not for his.

Horrors! Media Matters Freaks Over Email From Fox News Executive That Calls For Accuracy in Reporting on Climate Change

Lighten up, Francis:

In the midst of global climate change talks last December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the "veracity of climate change data" and ordering the network's journalists to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question."

Unless you've been living under a rock—or inhabit a cultish, community-based reality—you are well aware that the "science" of climate change science is being hotly debated, and has been for several years. This has been exacerbated by allegations of climate change scientists hiding and/or manipulating data, and of course the heavily-politicized nature of the subject.

Is it a scandal to point out that contested theories are, in fact, hotly contested?

It is for Media Matters, just one of along line of activist groups that has decided that using the near-certain threat of short-term ecological disaster is a great way to establish control over the general population in the service of their wider agenda.

Despite protestations to the contrary by those with vested political and financial interests, climate change science is a field of study in its infancy with significant room for debate.

Asking for reporters to note the controversial nature of climate science claims is the only responsible position for a news manager to take.

The real question Media Matters should be asked is why they refuse to push for that kind of transparency in other news agencies.

Any Gun Bloggers Going to the SHOT Show?

If so, UTM is interested in setting up a demo for you.

Justice Breyer Lays Down His Cards

Pajamas Media was kind enough to publish a piece I wrote about Fox News Sunday's interview with US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on December 11th. Justice Breyer revealed himself to be a stereotypical leftist believer in a "living, breathing, Constitution," which is essentially Progressive-speak for ignoring the Constitution in favor of implementing Progressive policies. The article may be read here.

Hey, Big Brother

From this...

To this:

Citizen Concepts announces the launch of PatriotAppTM, the world's first iPhone application that empowers citizens to assist government agencies in creating safer, cleaner, and more efficient communities via social networking and mobile technology. This app was founded on the belief that citizens can provide the most sophisticated and broad network of eyes and ears necessary to prevent terrorism, crime, environmental negligence, or other malicious behavior.

Simply download, report (including pictures) and submit information to relevant government agencies, employers, or publish incident data to social network tools.

So That's What You Meant...Right?

One of the joys of teaching high school English is reading student writing. While many teachers in other disciplines recoil in horror at the amount of reading and grading English teachers do, we tend to enjoy it because it is in student writing that we see their progress and share their epiphanies, their sudden bursts of insight and understanding. On the other hand, we also experience the kind of linguistic pile-ups that can leave a sentence, a paragraph, even an entire essay battered and bleeding.

Over the years, I’ve taken to collecting the bruised victims of those collisions, and rather than patching them up, I cruelly allow them to live as written for the mirth and merriment of others. Sometimes, I can infer what a student actually meant. Often, well, there’s just no telling. You’ll see what I mean.

For your Christmas merriment, enjoy the small gift of these sixty examples of good intentions, yet bizarre accomplishments, from my students!

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF FRACTURED FILM AND LACERATED LITERARY CRITICISM:

(1) I’m Glad You Clarified That: “There was some dialogue when the characters spoke.”

(2) I’m Not Sure If I’m Glad You Clarified That: “From start to finish, the entire story had action. It was like having a climax the entire book.”

(3) So That Explains It: “When Charles Dickens was around, people did not have much of an imagination due to not having televisions.”

(4) He Can?: “Charles Dickens’ way of writing is unique because he can turn a sentence into a paragraph.”

(5) Starring As What?!: “The Princess Bride is a movie directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman. It starred Cary Elwes as Wesley, Robin Wright as Buttcup...”

(6) That’s A Good Thing: “When Mark Twain wrote this book he had the attention to write it the way he wrote the book.”

(7) Aren’t You More Or Less Born That Way?: “In the end she [Elizabeth Proctor] was saved and watched her husband become hung.”

(8) Uh, OK...: “The confusing was confusing and a let down in the happy ending department.”

(9) So That’s What Good Art Is!: “The work had good art like the contents of his stomach in the back seat.”

(10) Adventures In Gender Confusion: “This poem is called “The Truth The Dead Know” and the speaker is a mid-age man who has lost her husband in a tragic death.”

(11) I’d Like That Too: “This story was very good. I would like to finish the story some time.”

(12) Uh, I’m Not Sure You Got The Point...: “You could see the whole story in your head when Mr. McDaniel described the snot coming out of his mouth.”

(13) So That’s What Students Are Waiting For!: “When Mr. McDaniel was reading this piece of work it held the reader’s attention because the reader wanted to know if he was going to kill himself.”

(14) He Did? They Did?: “There were special effects with people coming out of the screen, and with the same person talking to each other...”

(15) They Are?: “The theme of ‘Roxanne’ is that someone that you are in love with might be cute, but the real people that love you are the ugliest person in the world.”

(16) You Do?: “The theme [of Cyrano DeBergerac] is a good plot of what might happen in life except the fact you may have a huge nose.”

(17) I’m Glad You Clarified That: “If I were to read it [a book] myself it probably would have had the same impact on me as if I were to read it myself. . . .”

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC DEPRECIATION AND CONFUSION:

(18) Well, Of Course!: “Yes, it is well composed because the composer (Mozart) knew what he was doing otherwise people wouldn’t have hired him to compose a Mozart piece.”

(19) She Was?!: “’Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive’” was very short and her voice was loud.”

(20) Well, Of Course! II: “The music totally enhanced the film to a new level because when no one was talking, it would have been silence.”

(21) Well, That Explains It: “The music was pretty loud but so was the lyrics. That is why this is pop music.”

(22) Images We Can Live Without #237: “It [an a capella piece of music] made ones back hairs stand up, and that’s neat when it happens.”

(23) Decisive Choices Department: “This music isn’t breaking new ground, but it isn’t innovative either. It’s right in the middle of both breaking new ground and innovative.”

DEPARTMENT OF SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDIES:

(24) Standing Ovations For Shakespeare: “Perhaps we will never know why Shakespeare wrote the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet the way that he did. It will remain a mystery to the world. But I know one thing, if he did go out in public, tomorrow, and pull his pants down, people would applaud.”

(25) So That’s What Makes It Good!: “But overall the play [“Julius Caesar”] has a good theme, only because a lot of people die.”

(26) Fun With Shakespearean Cooking: “But on the good side of him [Brutus] he did stick to his pan...”

(27) It Has?!: “Julius Caesar was killed by his best friend, Brutus. This sort of thing has happened to me.”

(28) How To Win Friends And Influence People: “Mark Antony is a good friend basically because he stabbed one of his good friends...”

IT’S GREEK TO ME DEPARTMENT:

(29) Epic Greek Poem By A Ninth Grader: “Clever, quick and cunning, Leia got into Jabba’s palace. Her enemas is slow yet powerful. . . .”

(30) Greek Confusion #1: “The women in the Odyssey were treated vary badly because when they would sing the men would plug there ears. . . .”

(31) She Did What Where?!: “Since he [Odysseus] was gone for 20 years. . .his wife tested him on the bed that he made.”

(32) Greek Confusion #2:“The ancient Greeks were the first to develop a way of life.”

(33) That’s My Favorite Too: “My favorite part is where king Creon and Antigone were arguing and he sentenced her to death. I would like to do more of these plays.”

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL LITERARY DERANGEMENT, FLOOR ONE:

(34) I Knew Cape Cod Was Different, But...: “When the pressure came on he turned his back and ran to Cape Cod, to relieve himself.”

(35) This Is Either Really Insightful Or Amazingly Dense...: “America should fight to gain world peace. . .”

(36) Student Responding To A Teacher Request To Read Newspaper Editorials: “I tried reading some but it didn’t work.”

(37) That’s A Good First Step Alright: “Yet the facts are there that one major concern before teens consider an abortion is, “Am I Pregnant?”

(38) They Are? They Do?: “Humanities are called ‘sea cows’ that swim, and most of them die because of the boaters.”

(39) Are You Sure That Will Improve Your Grades?: “Now I am going to do a lot more studding, so my grades improve.”

(40) He Did?: “A mad scientist whose name we cannot mention, admitted that after seeing the movie he began experimenting to bring his own dead body back to life.”

(41) Who?: “Lovell had to travel to the moon with his crew, something that had only been accomplished once before by Lance Armstrong and his crew.”

(42) Why, Indeed?: “Why do you have to put such big words in this English book?”

(43) It Is?: “This technique [catching one by punishing all] is called a Buckwheat and is used by the Mafio.”

(44) She Did?: “Lilly ended up marring the second prince and she was the next queen.”

(45) It Was?: “He saw a woman taking a bath that was very, very pretty.”

(46) Sounds Like A Good Idea To Me: “I was privileged to be able to attend a Kendo class. It was a very enlightening experience. This was the only class that I was allowed to hit the teacher. There should be more classes like this.”

(47) So That’s Where It’s Done!: “Women today can do more because of feminine rights activists. They can vote and hold jobs and go out in public, which is done a lot in the mall.”

(48) I Guess We’re All Potential Victims...: “Good art leaves you feeling pleasant or in disbelief. If this ever happens, you have been a victim of good art.”

(49) I Hate It When That Happens!: “Satire is holding up individuales to riticual by the hyperboles.”

(50) It’s Good To Have Certainty...: “We have a strict definition for everything--mostly.”

DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES:

(51) In Depth Scholarship Department: “In order to tell you about this religion or belief, I had to do a whole bunch of research, stretching over a long period of time; a week and a half.”

(52) He Had A Dream: “The father of the Protestant Reformation was Martin Luther King.”

(53) I Really Hate It When That Happens: “The freedom of religion is best cuz you ain’t forced to believe in something that you believe is right.”

(54) Profiles In Religious Persistence #2049: “Jesus is the best example of courage. Even though he had it the hardest, he still hung in there.”

(55) Well, That Explains A Lot...: “Today, Utah remains the main place for Morons to worship freely. . .”

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL LITERARY DERANGEMENT, FLOOR TWO:

(56) I’m Glad To Hear That: “I learned that I am a better person than I who I am being am.”

(57) Are You Sure?: “...you can find it in many books...around here...somewhere...”

(58) The Horror...: “Police and firefighters [were] helping people. That was terrible.”

(59) Uh...What?: “Then in 8th grade, I got on the A [volleyball] team and I was the only white girl. I loved it.”

(60) Limited Experience Department: “It is not only the only Latin piece I have heard, it is the best Latin piece I have heard.”

Anybody Bought Ammo Here?

The Sportsman's Guide has been used by my family over the years for stuff like hunting boots and camping gear, but I also noticed they seem to have a decent selection of ammunition, at what seems to be reasonable prices.

I'm getting low on 9mm practice ammo, and am due for a carry ammo refresh as well.

Has anyone bought from them before? Are their shipping rates and shipping times as reasonable as their prices seem to be?

Did Harry Reid's Incompetence Doom Obamacare?

A VA judge has struck down the individual mandate, and a mistake by the Democratic Senate may leave the entire law undone as a result.

If this ruling (certain to be appealed) stands, would Obamacare really be dead?

H/T Animal Mother

It's 10:30 AM...

...do we know who our President is today?

WaPo Reprises the "90% Lie", Whines for Selective, Ineffective BATF

The Washington Post rehashed the infamous and oft-debunked Mexican Gun Canard again this morning in a story they laughably call an "exclusive."

The only thing exclusive about this fabrication is that they are the only fools outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave still pushing it.

The foundation and the National Rifle Association aggressively challenge statistics that show 80 to 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico are first sold in the United States, calling the numbers highly inflated. After being criticized by the gun lobby, ATF stopped releasing such statistics this year.

"To suggest that U.S. gun laws are somehow to blame for Mexican drug cartel violence is a sad fantasy," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

Cox said guns are coming to Mexico from other Central American countries and from former Mexican soldiers who have U.S. weapons and are now working for the cartels.

ATF disagreed, saying the biggest factors are the high number of dealers along the border and the convenient location.

When the Post reporter claims that the "ATF disagreed," he doesn't speak for the entire agency, just a regional supervisor that is either pushing a political agenda or lacks the big picture. Either way, his superiors have overruled his opinion with facts for over a year.

The myth that legal guns sales in the United States are responsible for Mexican drug cartel violence took another serious blow last week when an ATF official testified in Congress that only eight percent of weapons recovered in Mexico came through licensed U.S. gun dealers.

This figure is far lower than the 90 percent claim made previously as an appeal to reinstate ineffective gun laws that expired in 2004. The claim — still active among the less informed or serially dishonest — officially became myth during congressional testimony last week when Bill McMahon, deputy assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, revealed the eight percent figure, how it was calculated, and where the 90 percent myth arose from.

Of the 100,000 weapons recovered by Mexican authorities, only 18,000 were determined to have been manufactured, sold, or imported from the United States, and of those 18,000, just 7,900 came from sales by licensed gun dealers.

The Post can't even get through their accompanying photo gallery without exposing their dishonesty; this FN MAG this South African Vector SS-77 machine gun certainly didn't come from a U.S. gun store.

Let's be clear: I am personally of the opinion that too many guns are heading south of the border from the United States, but the media and Administrations in both the U.S. and Mexico need to be honest. The number of guns imported from this country is dwarfed by the number of guns sold, stolen or given to the cartels by Mexican law enforcement and military sources, and from black market smuggling from Central and South America and Asia. You simply cannot get the machine guns and grenades the cartels favor in the United States. They come from corruption in Mexico and the same pipeline that bring in drugs from overseas.

The rest of the article is a complaint about just how dang hard it is for the ATF to prosecute criminals.

Bull.

You can give them all sorts of evidence, including pictures of felons with a gun in their hands, and they will actively fight against prosecuting them.

This article is about politics, not crime prevention.

Update: Per Big Country's expert eye, I've updated the post to correct the machine gun type in the photo. I await with baited breath for the media to explain how an American gun store is responsible for a weapon that cannot be sold on these shores.

Last Thing

© Brigid Durham

I'll be all right in a minute, I said, but nothing came out.

I'm looking down on my still form, thinking I must have a concussion, for the vision could not be real. I close my eyes and recite the steps to field strip my AR in the field. "bolt fully forward", "remove the bolt carrier and the charging handle", open my eyes.

The Magic and Miracles of "Messiah"

It is, once again, the season of Christmas. Many people of many faiths celebrate the season. Some as a profound religious observance, others to take part in the giving, the music, the colors, sights, smells and tastes. But all can share in a centuries old tradition: George Fredrich Handel’s ‘Messiah.” A small taste of the magic of Messiah can be seen here. While I delight in sharing the honor of blogging here with Bob and Brigid, I delight too in sharing another honor, that of regularly performing with a fine choir and symphony orchestra. I thought it might be interesting, at this time of year, for our readers to experience a performance of “Messiah” from the stage, and to learn of its history, through the eyes of a classically trained singer, a first tenor, one of the many of the chorus. It is surely being performed near you. If you've never experienced it, you owe it to yourself and to your family to take advantage of the opportunity.

As befits the Christmas season, random acts of magic are breaking out around American and in Canada. In shopping mall food courts, in huge department stores, choirs are singing the “Hallelujah” Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.” As recorded in many clips on the ubiquitous You Tube, those present first react with surprise, amazement and ultimately delight and emotion. Such is the miracle of music. Such is the transcendent, transformative magic of “Messiah.”

[It is September 14, 1741 in London, England. After 24 days of working like a man possessed, George Fredrich Handel bursts from his composing chamber clutching the finished 259 page manuscript of “Messiah” in his trembling hands. Confronting a stunned servant, Handel, tears streaming from his eyes, exclaims “I did think I did see all of heaven before me and the great God Himself!”

Considering the mystical power and majesty of the work, this dramatic story is plausible, but it is almost certainly an exaggeration. Handel, a transplant from Germany, was not known as a devoutly religious man, but was, without doubt, a passionate man. There are many “he did what?!” stories of Handel’s adventurous life, such as his mid-performance, orchestra pit fistfight with a friend over one of the finer points of conducting, or his duel with another friend, a duel that nearly resulted in his death. As the story goes, Handel’s opponent produced a deadly thrust, but the point of his sword hit one of the large metal buttons of Handel’s coat, snapping the blade of his sword. The duelists, perhaps with considerable relief, took this as a sign, embraced and became fast friends again.]

Fast forward 269 years: It is December 6, 2010, Bass Hall, Ft. Worth, Texas. The annual performance of “Messiah” begins in an hour. This, of all the performances held in Bass Hall, is always sold out. The forty one members of the Ft. Worth Symphony who will be playing the Oratorio and the 110 members of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Master Chorale have already begun to arrive and prepare, but their preparations are different, unusual.

At virtually any other “classical” concert, the players can be heard practicing sections of the work that are challenging, unfamiliar, passages not quite under their fingers. Singers do the same, working on passages that force them to keep their eyes only on the music rather than on the conductor. But not tonight. It’s not necessary. Virtually every member of the Symphony has played “Messiah” many, many times. It’s familiar, comfortable. The Master Chorale is comprised almost equally of Seminary students and community singers, musicians from 18 to 70 from around the world, and like the Symphony, most have performed “Messiah” many, many times. But it is part of the magic of “Messiah” that in every choir, some are singing “Messiah” for the first time, and in every audience, some are hearing “Messiah” for the first time. Some will sing, or hear, it for the last time. The experience will touch them all.

One of the great powers and pleasures of good art is that one can, one must, return to it over time, because each and every time they will experience it anew. They will find new insights, new ideas, new wonders, not only because of the depth and transcendent beauty of the work, but because they are new each time they return. Their experiences, their knowledge acquired since the last exposure to the work allows them to see, to understand, to appreciate what they could not before. In music, “Messiah” is one of these essential works, a work that is never tiring for listener or performer, a work that holds new, undiscovered surprises and joys at each hearing and each performance. One cannot be said to truly know music without knowing “Messiah.”

[It was Charles Jennens (1700-1773) who approached Handel with the libretto for “Messiah.” The son of a wealthy landowner, Jennens, a devoted Christian, received a fine classical education at Oxford. His careful, harmonious choice of scripture from the Old and New Testaments combined seamlessly with Handel’s music. “Messiah” was written in three parts: The first extolls the prophecy about and coming of Christ. The second, begins with the chorus “Behold the Lamb of God (That taketh away the sins of the world)” and ends with the triumphant “Hallelujah,” (praise ye the Lord). The section concerns the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. The third, which speaks of the triumph over death and sin purchased by Christ begins with the achingly beautiful soprano solo “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” and ends with the thunderous, joyful chorus, “Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain/Amen.]

“Messiah” is an Oratorio. Think of it as an opera, but without costumes, sets and props. The same types and level of singing are required. It consists of 53 separate pieces of music, beginning, like opera, with a solemn, powerfully soaring overture, which is only one of the two pieces the orchestra plays alone. The other is the brief, beautiful, contemplative “Pastoral Symphony” in the first section. The other pieces are recitatives (short solos, usually with sparse accompaniment, known as “dry” recitatives), arias (also known as airs; technically demanding, longer solos characterized by long runs sung on a single vowel) and choruses, sung by the entire choir, which can be quite short, such as #17, the 49 measure long “Glory to God,” or #53, the 159 measure long “Worthy Is The Lamb That Was Slain,” which incorporates the final, thrilling “Amen” (so be it) chorus. If performed in its entirety, “Messiah” lasts for a bit under three hours. Modern audiences, having a multitude of entertainments at their fingertips, generally lack the patience for the entire work, so this performance will last only about one hour and forty minutes, which is common for contemporary “Messiah” performances.

The musical life of classical musicians consists of learning long, complex works, and usually performing them only once. They have one chance to get it right, to create magic, and it is put aside for the next work. Still, there are some works, such as the Mozart Requiem Mass in Dm, that a musician will perform many times over the years, but for singers, even singers who can sing most of the score from memory, “Messiah” provides an unusual opportunity to truly master the score. It is always challenging, inspiring them to sing more perfectly, more artistically and beautifully with each performance.

[Writing “Messiah” in 24 days was an amazing feat, but was not uncommon for Handel who usually wrote with a specific performance--even performances--in mind. He was not afraid of recycling his own previous musical ideas, a number of which appear in “Messiah.” Like most composers of his time, plagiarism was not only not forbidden, but widely embraced. Speaking of his pilfering of the works of others, Handel once said: “I know what to do with these tunes and they don’t.]

It’s 7:20 PM. Most of the orchestra is seated. The choir files in, folders in their left hands--away from the audience--and remains standing until all are present. A few players run portions of the work, but only to warm up. The concert master, the first chair first violinist, takes the stage to applause and directs the initial tuning of the orchestra to A 440--concert pitch. In Handel’s time, concert pitch was a half step lower. One instrument unusual on the modern concert stage is the double manual harpsichord. The piano had not yet been invented in the 1700’s; the only keyboard choices available were the organ and harpsichord. The two-keyboard instrument which resembles a small, angular grand piano, gets its characteristic sound by means of tiny picks that pluck the strings, guitar-like, when keys are depressed rather than striking them like the hammers of the piano. This creates a quaint, sparkling sound that reaches back to Handel’s time, reminding the musicians of the long, sacred tradition in which they are about to take part.

Tuning complete, the soloists--bass, alto, soprano and tenor--take the stage to the eager applause of the audience which renews for the conductor, Dr. David Thye (“Tea”), Professor of Church Music and Chair of Conducting. Dr. Thye came to the Seminary after years of directing at Carnegie Hall. He’s a conductor’s conductor, authoritative, precise, but friendly, passionate, funny, even outrageous. Every movement of his baton and hand have meaning. There is an old joke about the beginning conductor who takes the podium to find a note on the music stand: “Wave stick until music stops, then bow.” With Thye, there is no doubt about the performance he desires. He is a superb interpreter of the score and every musician on stage watches and follows him closely. He will gauge the performers and audience carefully and will direct some portions of the work differently than he did in rehearsal to better fit the mood.

After the overture, the mood is established. The audience watches with absolute quiet and rapt attention. The burden of first impression falls on the tenor
soloist, John Cornish, Associate Master Chorale Conductor and doctoral graduate student at the Seminary. He will be the first singer heard by the audience, performing the recitative “Comfort Ye My People,” followed immediately by the fast, bright, demanding aria “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted.” The aria is an opportunity for a good singer to show off, to make the audience smile, or to experience the musical equivalent of a fiery NASCAR crash. John is a good singer, a strong singer who sings the high notes with such ease and assurance they don't sound high, and the audience smiles in satisfaction. He has made the right impression. They’re expecting a technically accomplished, moving performance. They’re expecting magic.

For those who have done the solos--and there are many in the choir--it is hard to sit still, but sit still they must while keeping emotion off their faces. It’s unseemly to facially review a soloist’s performance in real time while sitting onstage behind them. The theater lights make it impossible to see most of the audience except the first few rows. The singers also avoid reading the music, merely opening their scores to their next chorus. All performing arts are about properly focusing the attention of the audience, and all attention must be on the soloist, so the choir remains silent and still while mentally taking it all in, analyzing the performance of the orchestra, the response of the audience and the obvious confidence and mastery of the conductor, which in turn gives them confidence.

[It is April 13, 1742 in Dublin Ireland. “Messiah” will be performed for the first time, with Handel conducting, for charity. The Charitable Musical Society, hoping for space for as many patrons as possible, begged “the Favour of the Ladies not to come with Hoops” and the Gentlemen “to come without their Swords.” The audience listened and approximately 700 people heard the first performance, which was a financial and critical success. The Dublin Journal wrote: “Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audience. The Sublime, the Grand, and the Tender, adapted to the most elevated, majestick and moving Words, conspired to transport and charm the ravished Heart and Ear.]

In the first section, the choral highlight is “For Unto Us A Child Is Born,” with its uplifting chorus: “And His name shall be called: Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” The chorus, like many in "Messiah," contains difficult runs sung on a single vowel made doubly difficult by the necessity of every singer being perfectly coordinated, light and energetic. Tonight, the runs flow, the consonants are well placed, the vowels true and the piece dances joyfully. The bass soloist, Dr. David Robinson and Alto Soloist, Dr. Angelo Cofer, Seminary Professors of voice, add strong, dramatic performances, as does soprano soloist Lynda Poston-Smith.

After intermission, the second section passes quickly as musicians and audience alike anticipate the “Hallelujah” Chorus. At the downbeat, the audience, following centuries of tradition, rises. The story goes that when the King of England first heard “Messiah,” he spontaneously rose for “Hallelujah. ” Of course, when the King stood, everyone stood. It has since been tradition, a tradition that pays homage to the most widely known and emotionally affecting piece of music of the oratorio. Another lasting tradition has become the performance of “Messiah” during the Christmas season.

In classical concerts, protocol dictates that applause be reserved until the end of the entire work. Tonight, at the dying of the final chord of "Hallelujah," applause breaks out, hesitantly at first, but the audience quickly abandons tradition and propriety and delivers a long, heartfelt ovation. Dr. Thye, and all of us, gratefully soak it up. Live performance is irreplaceable for its ability to, upon occasion, deliver moments of magic, magic that lives on in the hearts of those fortunate enough to experience it. This was one of those moments. But the ovation is also a challenge to surpass its inspiration with the remainder of the work. Musicians are always only as good as their last performance.

[Despite its initial success in Dublin, Messiah was not well received in London. Many thought it near blasphemous for opera singers to perform scripture in, of all places, a music hall, and Handel advertised “Messiah” not by its true title, but as “a sacred oratorio,” obviously anticipating just this sort of trouble. Yet, the work inevitably, gradually won over the public and by 1750, began to be regularly performed at Covent Garden in London in April or May. A young man later to be recognized as one of Christendom’s great theologians, John Wesley, attended a rare performance of “Messiah” in a church (church performances are now common) in 1758 and wrote: “I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance.]

A highlight of the third section is "The Trumpet Shall Sound," which features soloist Dr. David Robinson and Steve Weger playing a true, tasteful, wonderfully controlled and era-perfect trumpet part. Near the end of the section, Lynda Poston-Smith, accompanied only by a single violin, cello and harpsichord, sings the soprano aria “If God Be For Us, Who Can Be Against Us.” The delicate grace of Handel’s instrumental and voice writing sparkles, as do the performances. Dr. Thye does not direct, but merely stands, unmoving, as captivated by the music as everyone present. Turning the piece over to the musicians is a mark of confidence and generosity that few conductors would make, but it is amply rewarded by yet another delightful moment of magic.

The final chorus, “Worthy Is The Lamb, That Was Slain,” begins with great volume, intensity and majesty and ends in the same way, giving birth to the slow, soft and gentle “Amen” section which builds in intensity, volume and power, as if sung by the hosts of Heaven, to the final chord. Dr. Thye swells the last chord, and the choir gives every last ounce of focus and energy. At his cut off, it is as if all the sound has suddenly gone out of the world. Everyone in the hall holds their breath...until the applause begins and does not stop for the departure and the return of the soloists and the conductor: Two vigorous standing ovations. As Dr. Thye acknowledges the choir, we are pleased at the increased volume and intensity of applause. When Dr. Thye and the soloists leave the stage for the last time, the choir sits, drenched in sweat, exhausted--few realize how physically demanding singing on this level is--but satisfied, fulfilled and already looking forward to next year.

[As Messiah became accepted in London, Sir John Hawkins wrote: “a change of sentiment in the public began to manifest,” and “Messiah was received with universal applause.” In a letter to her brother in 1750, Mrs. Dews wrote: “His wonderful Messiah will never be out of my head; and I may say my heart was raised almost to heaven by it. It is only those people who have not felt the leisure of devotion that can make any objection to that performance."]

It is perhaps a truism that Christians may experience the work more intimately and intensely than others through their appreciation not only of the brilliant music, but of the message and inspiration of the libretto which is, after all, holy scripture. Yet, one would truly have to have a heart of stone to fail to appreciate such beauty. As long as civilization persists, “Messiah” will be performed and continue to inspire faith, devotion and magic. Works such as “Messiah” might well be said to reveal the presence of God’s inspiration, and of God Himself. Surely, I cannot perform "Messiah" without seeing the hand of God.

POSTSCRIPT: Four days earlier the musicians of the Master Chorale and Ft. Worthy Symphony Orchestra gathered at historic Truett Hall, a majestic, domed building at the Seminary, for the annual, free performance of “Messiah” done for the community. After the performance, dripping in sweat, my voice raw and barely functional, I stepped through the front doors onto the portico of historic Truett Hall and there, 20 feet away, was a young man actually, dramatically on his knee, holding an open wedding ring box, in mid proposal to a small, beaming brunette woman. It was a moment far better than the movies because it was unposed, unrehearsed and absolutely delightful. She nodded and he carefully slid the ring onto her slender finger, stood and they embraced with relief and abandon. I immediately broke into the opening bars of “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” Everyone around, including them, laughed and applauded. Some might call it a small miracle, others magic, but those who know “Messiah” know that such miracles are always present when and wherever it is performed.

Merry Christmas to all of our Confederate Yankee readers and Hallelujah!

The Handy-Dandy, All-Purpose Entrapment Defense

On December 8, Muhammed Hussein--Antonio Martinez before his conversion to Islam--was arrested by the FBI. But why? Was the evil FBI engaging in racist, anti-Muslim profiling? Not unless one considers arresting Hussein after he actually tried to detonate a bomb which was, thankfully, an FBI supplied fake, at a Baltimore County military recruiting facility to be racist, anti-Muslim profiling.

This is yet another in a series of good catches on the part of law enforcement, catches wherein dedicated, home-grown jihadists, have been discovered and intercepted before they could actually kill innocent Americans on American soil. This is the good news. The bad news is that, as always, we have to be lucky every time and everywhere, and the jihadists have to be lucky only once and only here and there. This situation also illuminates a danger to which America is uniquely susceptible due to, as usual, politically correct good intentions. I’ll explore that danger and an effective, easily implemented fix to largely remove it as a danger in a multi-part series in the near future, but for this post, the issue raised by Hussein and his supporters is: Entrapment.

Entrapment is a term much bandied about, particularly by common criminals, defense attorneys, creatures of the left, community activists and organizers and increasingly, by jihadists. It’s an easy charge to make and one easily believed because most Americans don’t know what it actually is. Even the always annoying and often disgusting Geraldo Rivera--he of the Snidely Whiplash mustache--joined in the entrapment game, perhaps because of a race-based knee-jerk reflex toward defending Hispanic criminals. Appearing on the O’Reily Factor shortly after Hussein’s arrest, Rivera sagely observed that Hussein/Martinez was “just a gullible youngster,” and of course, accused the FBI of entrapment. Hussein, by the way, is 21.

The ‘Lectric Law Library provides a useful, and quite commonly understood, definition of entrapment (here):

“A person is 'entrapped' when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit.”

The LLE also provides a useful, commonly understood, three part test to determine if entrapment has occurred:

“- First, the idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.

- Second, the government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime.

- And third, the person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him.”

In plain English, if someone is inclined to kill innocents in furtherance of Jihad, and the police merely provide the opportunity for that person to act on their clearly professed desires, no entrapment has occurred. Despite the howls of outrage of civil liberties types to the contrary this makes perfect sense; it is absolutely how the police should conduct business.

In the case of Muhammed Hussein, the facts are clear: He came to the attention of the FBI after posting on his Facebook page calls to commit violence against non-Muslims and expressing his hatred for infidels (non-Muslims). The FBI made contact with Hussein through an informant and rapidly determined that he was not just a loud mouthed blowhard with no homicidal intent, but a genuine, home-grown jihadist who was quite serious in his deadly desires. Unless one is willing to say that investigating such a person is a violation of their First Amendment rights and that the mere process of determining their intent amounts to harassment or entrapment, then the FBI did exactly what should and must be expected of them. The alternative is that law enforcement officers must ignore potentially deadly threats in favor of waiting until after bombs explode in the midst of innocents.

What is known of this case suggests that the FBI conducted a textbook, completely legal and honorable, sting. The idea for committing Jihad came from Hussein who announced his intent to the world. The FBI did not talk him into committing the crime and in fact, carefully and on multiple occasions, recorded Hussein expressing his murderous intent, intent that he was more than ready and willing to act upon if only he had the means, means supplied by the FBI. The FBI made such recordings over time because an attorney working an entrapment defense will try to show that their client was, as Rivera suggested, “just a gullible youngster,” minding his own business until the police--who apparently have unlimited time and resources to waste persecuting random citizens--came along and coerced him into trying to blow up a military recruiting center. In this, as in most such cases, the defendant’s own words--as well as his actions--will serve to convict him.

Once again, our security services were not only very good, but lucky, and Americans are alive because of their dedication and skill. Those who cry “entrapment” in such cases, whether media personalities or Congressmen, willfully put themselves on the side of those who would gladly kill us all. We would be well served to remember their names.

And Just Like That, Bill Clinton Became President Again

Surreal:

"I've never seen anything like that," said MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur after cutting back following a press conference on the tax plan. It had begun with a surprise appearance by President Obama who then brought in a further surprise, none other than Bill Clinton, to help him explain the deal. However, after introducing Clinton and letting him begin to talk, Obama suddenly announced that he was leaving for a Christmas party and vanished, letting Clinton talk for 25 more minutes as if it was 1996! I guess it could have been worse. Obama could have left to go play hoops.

Seriously, what was the thinking here? This has to be one of the worst PR moves in the entirety of the administration. Obviously, Clinton is probably a more popular Democratic figure right now, but they had to imagine this would hurt Obama. I mean, letting a former president explain your tax bill while you head to a Christmas party? A Christmas party?

Consider this a test-abdication, of what could be the first Presidency ever quit by a POTUS who has come to the realization that he simply isn't up to the job for which he campaigned.

Betting sites should start odds-making on whether or not Barack Obama will simply quit the Oval Office, after discovering that governing is simply not something he has the intelligence, fortitude, or experience to do successfully.

Do I personally think Obama would quit the Presidency? No, not at all.

But then, I didn't expect him to leave Bill Clinton in charge at his press conference while he scurried away like a hen-pecked weakling, either.

Make sure you read Mike's take on this bizarre incident as well.

"It's Deja Vu All Over Again"

So said everyman’s philosopher, Yogi Berra. But it was “The Onion,” during the Clinton years, that wrote the immortal headline: “President Clinton To Feel Nation’s Pain, Breasts.” And just when Americans thought it was safe for wholesome, American breasts to once again roam free, the man responsible for diminishing the office of the presidency more than anyone ever thought possible poked his head into the White House Press Room and said “I’m baaaaaaaccckkk!”

For those just emerging from Afghan caves, President Obama met with President Clinton at the White House today. After their meeting, Mr. Obama held a press conference, accompanied by President Clinton. That’s when things got weird. Mr. Obama abruptly excused himself to attend a Christmas event, leaving Mr. Clinton to continue the press conference, which, as Mr. Clinton is prone to do, ran substantially longer than any press conference Mr. Obama has ever held. Words such as bizarre, surreal, inexplicable, even bull goose looney seem inadequate to describe the spectacle of Mr. Clinton, once again standing before the press in the White House, calmly and authoritatively taking questions as though he was still POTUS, as though he had--shudder--never left.

While Mr. Obama has certainly inflicted substantial pain on America with a great deal more to come as Obamacare, the bill we had to pass to discover its contents is, bit by bit, revealed, Mr. Clinton’s blast from the past was surely one of the strangest things ever done by any American president. Even for a President as utterly inexperienced and politically tone deaf as Mr. Obama, this was truly an epic feat, ironically accompanied today by the announcement by Gallup of the lowest ever approval ratings for Mr. Obama.

It’s well known that Mr. Obama is simply bored with the trivialities of the Presidency while simultaneously having no idea of the importance of related symbols. But can Mr. Obama actually be so empty-headed as to fail to grasp the symbolism of leaving his own press conference and turning it over to only the second president in US history ever to be impeached? At a time when Iran is planning to install missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to America in Venezuela, when Iran is impeded in its quest for those warheads only by a computer virus, when the Koreas could be at war at any second, when even fourth rate nations feel free to insult and ignore America, when our nation is going bankrupt faster that Mr. Clinton could take a congressional phone call while simultaneously undergoing a, ahem, presidential staffing, America is in desperate need of strong, adult leadership. So Mr. Obama turns it over to Bill Clinton.

America’s only hope is that this is just a temporary glimpse into an alternate reality, or perhaps we are reliving a bad episode of “The Twilight Zone,” and as soon as we change the channel, it will all go away. The alternative is that Mr. Clinton will, all too soon, have an unimaginable amount of American pain to feel. American breasts, widely believed to be under wraps, could not be reached for a comment.

So, is Someone in Hot Water at the BATF?

After publishing Felons Can’t Own Guns. So How Did This Guy Acquire Three … Gun Companies? in October at Pajamas Media, I reached out to the BATF in an effort to try to understand why convicted felon Lee Franklin Booth hadn't been arrested for what appear to be clear violations of federal gun laws.

Several weeks later, after questions had reverberated from Washington, DC to the regional office overseeing the Carolinas, I was contacted by Charlotte-based BATF Special Agent and Public Information Officer (PIO) Earl Woodham on November 2.

I had a cordial 20-minute preliminary conversation with Agent Woodham outlining my concerns. He seemed to think that the regulatory end of the ATF had investigated Victory Arms before, but wanted to read the article. He said he was "getting hammered by a chain of inter-agency emails" and wanted to resolve the issue. At the same time, he understood that the Pardon of Forgiveness Booth was given would not allow him to possess firearms, and found that perplexing.

In that initial conversation—based upon my description of what we'd revealed—Woodham seemed to be of the opinion Booth had probably violated the law.

The cordial tone was gone from our next conversation, a very clipped and formal affair where Agent Woodham told me that after conferring with his colleagues (fellow BATF agents in Charlotte and Greensboro), that they had "no interest" in pursuing an investigation against Mr. Booth.

The abrupt shift in the official BATF response from Agent Woodham was stunning. I thought about his response, and wrote back to him in an attempt to clarify and understand the agency's position.

Good afternoon Agent Woodham,

I just want to make sure that I am accurately citing the BATF's position regarding Lee Booth and the allegations we've made against him in our Pajamas Media article and during our telephone conversations last week.

It is the BATF's position that Lee Franklin Booth is a convicted felon, and that his Pardon of Forgiveness does not restore his right to own firearms.

It is the BATF's position that the agency has looked into Lee Franklin Booth's business relationship with Detonics USA Industries, Inc,, Victory Arms, Inc, and the Victory Arms acquisition of Templar Consulting, and have found that while Booth is listed as a principle officer in these corporate entities in legal documents as CEO, and/or President, and that eyewitness testimony will reveal that he ran day-to-day operations of at least Victory/Templar out of a property that he owns, that this felon's involvement with these companies was not a crime, even though these associations appear to be in direct violation of 18 USC 923 and 18 USC 922(g) which both recognize Booth as clearly being a "prohibited person."

It is the BATF's position that a photo of convicted felon Lee Franklin Booth holding a pair of Detonics pistols, taken January 6, 2007 at 1:41:04 with a SONY DSC-T5 camera belonging to Lee Franklin Booth, witnessed by two individuals currently in possession of the photo, and willing to testify in a court of law that Booth both held and fired those firearms, is not worth additional investigation.

It is the BATF's position that the agency has no obligation to determine if Lee Franklin Booth illegally obtained a concealed carry permit in Guilford County, even though his attorney Dan Hardway of Angier, NC freely admitted Booth was issued a permit by the Guilford County Sheriff's Department in discussions with Pajamas Media legal counsel.

It is the BATF's position that all auditors and agents within the Greensboro, NC, BATF office followed the letter of the law and were not in any way influenced by Lee Franklin Booth's relationship with an IRS CID agent who administers the Victory Arms/Templar page on Facebook, and who restricted the public version of the site and his own personal Facebook page after the Pajamas Media article posted, even though he was never cited in the article.

It is the BATF's position that documentation amassed by the Pajamas Media legal team that apparently shows Booth in violation of federal and state laws, including an internal exhibit within Skipper and Detonics vs. Booth and Detonics Consent Order, Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction, labeled "Exhibit B," lists by serial number the 23 firearms Lee Franklin Booth took into his personal possession, is not something the agency is interested in reviewing, based upon the BATF's previous investigations into these allegations.

It is the BATF's position that their investigation into Lee Booth and his involvement is thorough, and that no further investigation is warranted.

Thank you very much for your time and clarifications on this matter. I want to document the BATF position precisely for my next article.

I then forwarded the same letter to BATF-Washington as well.

Agent Woodham never responded.

Someone else did.

On November 15 I spoke with Jan Kemp of the BATF Public Affairs office after being asked to call the agency's main number in Washington. I provided her with a copy of the above letter, and mentioned that I had questions I was trying to address regarding the kind of discharge Mr. Booth received from the Marines while in prison, and the status of the two Federal Firearms Licenses for Victory Arms. We also informed her of the expert analysis that confirmed the validity of a photo in the original article showing Mr. Booth literally gun in hand.

Two days later Ms. Kemp graciously wrote back to say that she was sorry, "but I don't have anything to tell you regarding this matter."

I wrote back:

Jan,

That is a very, very interesting response, and I do want to be fair in my characterization of it (nuance is lost via email very easily).

Is it the BATF's position that they do not owe the public an explanation for why field agents and supervisory agents in the Charlotte and Greensboro offices are purposefully declining to enforce clear and direct violations of criminal statutes in the case of Lee Booth, even though they agree (and I speak of Supervisory Agent Earl Woodham) he is a felon that cannot own guns?

Or are you saying that the BATF doesn't have anything to tell me because you do not comment on current investigations?

Ms. Kemp then replied, "ATF does not confirm or deny the existence of investigations." I've been told by various law enforcement sources that such a statement typically confirms the existence of an investigation. In this case, that might include an internal investigation of the Charlotte and Greensboro offices themselves.

It appears that before all is said and done, Lee Booth may not be the only person in hot water for his apparently criminal activity.

When Entitlement Socialism Fails...

...the results aren't pretty.

Expect to see this kind of behavior on a wider scale when big government entitlements fail under their own weight here, as they assuredly will in the near future.

Made in America

Not too long ago, high school students in California were sent home for wearing the American flag on their clothing. They weren't doing so in a disrespectful manner, but as a show of support for their heritage. I'm beyond stunned.

The flag is not a symbol of political correctness. It is a sacred symbol of a nation. A representation of a promise of freedom. Freedom to life and liberty. The freedom for the law abiding citizen to protect their family and what they hold dear. Freedom to work hard and prosper and enjoy the fruits of your honest labor without fear that it will be forced from you to support the degradation of the Constitution. The flag is more than fabric, it's a promise. I am an American, and I will honor the flag, wrapping myself around it as a patriot would, to protect it, not wrapping it around words or actions to justify that which we know to be a breach of this promise.

On the days I'm working closer to home, the drive home is a leisurely one through open cornfields. Being raised out West, it's taken me a bit of time to get used to "flat" even after being here for years. Now you might say, like the poets did, that the land "gently rolled" but that would be implying way too much action on the earth's part. Other than the occasional wooded down slope into some low creek and river land, it's flat. Plain and simple. It is so different than Montana where my Mom and Dad are from, or from Seattle where I worked after college briefly.
When I first arrived, I noticed that I could drive for miles without seeing a Starbucks or a sushi place, and out of habit, I'd check the side of the roadway for elk, an action that even after years of more sky and less mountains, was still second nature for me. But here, the only large animals are in the corn, a multitude of unseen deer hiding like silent nuns from human contact and not likely to stray out in the roadway during the daylight hours.

On the day I moved here, the city where my Dad's Mom was from, I noticed that. Everywhere I looked were the remnants of corn, sentient rows of former proud stalks, that stood fading in the early winter air, dead to silent hints of abundant summer past. Summers of green and hard work and plenty. Yet though the texture of the landscape was unfamiliar I knew that where I stopped there would be one familiar thing, for every welcoming, every greeting, would be in English.
I can't remember all the many times in Miami or L.A. or Houston, when I stopped for gas or for directions, the response to my "hello" or "do you know where?" was anything but English. I couldn't even find a SIGN in English to help guide me in ever growing parts of some cities.

My Mom's parents were immigrants. My grandmother, though, like the Norwegian logger she eventually married, retained some of the customs and expressions and recipes of her native land. But she was very proud to learn the customs and the language of her new homeland as it was spoken. She came alone at age 18, surviving a long voyage in the most paltry of quarters deep within the ship; laying awake at night under a threadbare scratchy blanket, listening to an arpeggio of tiny rodent feet overhead, as she dreamt of the possibilities of liberty.

She arrived, without family, job or English skills, simply the necessary papers to be here legally, a little money her family had pressed into her hand, and a remarkable skill as a cook. She soon found lodging and work in a kitchen for a wealthy family. She found a new life, marrying and moving from Minnesota to Montana where my Mom and her two brothers were born very late in her life. But what I remember of her stories was how she very gratefully embraced, not only her new country, but the words of its President at the time.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Teddy Roosevelt - 1907
So when I moved so far away from the familiar, to this sea of corn, it was reassuring to shyly wander in anywhere and when I said "thank you", I heard "you bet!" in the language of my nation. Sure it might occasionally have an accent from birth in a land far away, but it was still the language of this country we have taken as our own, by birth, or by choice, spoken with pride.

People here are essentially good and I've made some wonderful friends in this state. That is why in the years I've lived here, I'm becoming more comfortable and less hesitant, as the area has embraced me even though I wasn't "local". I now join these hard working people, now my neighbors, as we make the drive into the city from our rural homes, catching the glimpse of silver grain elevators, waving fields of corn, red winged Cardinals, and 18 wheelers, all blending into a fluid diorama of the Midwest. The mountains of the West are far behind me. What is ahead of me, is the America of my heart, full of promise and honor, hard work and the ethics of owning what you make of your own hand, the values of our past. It's a part of the country where you can still get "In God We Trust" in big bold letters on your license plate if you want to.

You don't have to be born on this soil to be an American, but you need to make a conscious choice to embrace this land, not just reside in it, to truly be its citizen under the law. I am the granddaughter of immigrants, yet I am one of tens of thousands of proud Americans; those who will not back down from a fight, be it for our jobs, our land and our Constitution. There are those that would whip us down, we, the gallant, the proud and the brave, the acknowledged citizens of a land that has a history of courage and pride. To those people I too will stand my ground.

For I'm proud to be here, and make this my home. Like my ancestors, I retain some of the kitchen recipes and customs of their homelands. I keep some old and treasured bits of their art and fabric and glassware in my home on shelves my father made, proudly displayed. But it's the United States flag that hangs proudly from my porch and that of my neighbors.The drive home from the city to my home reveals a landscape of work. Land cleared and plowed, neat farm houses with fresh paint dotting the landscape like tiny flowers. The truck roars past it all with undiminished speed, and a toot of the horn to a farmer out working a field, the wave back as welcome as a hello. Before I get to my house, I stop in at the small, locally owned grocery store to get some makings for an early supper. As I leave, the checker, smiles warmly at me and said "are you from around here?". To which I promptly replied "you bet!"

This is small town America. A place where perhaps only a few hundred people know its name, this little town of people that reaches out and touches one another as we pass in and out of our daily lives, none too big that they won't somehow be touched, none too small that we will be forgotten. This is small town America. A place where men and women have lived and loved, whether they had time to truly reflect on all they were accomplishing.

This is my small town, where the names of those who came before remain, they who arrived on these shores and cleared this land, and sweated and sustained because they never expected to be given the land, they would have to earn it. These people, our grandparents and great grandparents and those before them, who arrived speaking many tongues, and tamed the wildness and swept west past the plains, growing and going on as the shape of America expanded with their will.

They are still here, in the land, in me, the names of who they are and the names of what they claimed and what they died for in the claiming, becoming just one resounding, sweet word that is mightier than any one man, as unlimited and clear as any prairie sky. That word is America. It is my home
--Brigid

The Spin Factory Shrieks

Think Progress—an organization built from the ground up to skew media coverage to the left—is complaining this morning because they were provided with a memo of a Fox News executive playing their game... and playing it just as well or better.

At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option."

Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion against the Democrats' reform efforts.

Both sides play the spin game, and always have. Think Progress is particularly aggrieved at this particular example because (a), they had it, and (b) calling it the "government option" was both more effective and more accurate messaging than than their less-accurate "public option" construct.

There is nothing morally, ethically, or legally wrong in choosing the more accurate term "government option." We are, after all, talking about a government-run health-care law.

Think Progress is throwing a hissy-fit because Sammon sent out a memo because he wanted to make sure that his network used the more accurate and yes, more divisive description of Obamacare.

As much as these totalitarians would like to regulate the words we can use, they haven't managed to establish that level of control.

Then again, that is probably what irritates them the most.

Aaron Sorkin is a Whiny Little Man-Bitch, Isn't He?

It's starting to feel like "all caribou, all the time" around here, but you take your litmus tests where you find them.

Sarah Palin's less-than-picture-perfect caribou hunt on her reality show has earned her some derision on both sides of the political spectrum.

On the right, critics find her gun handling and shooting skills suspect, as well as her decision to shoot a rifle that had been dropped earlier in the hunt. Not only did she fire it and complain about it missing high, she shot it five times before going to another rifle with which she finally dispatched what must have been one of the world's dumbest herbivores. Some doubt her authenticity as a hunter and shooter as a result of the episode, while some question her judgment as she continued to use a damaged weapon. By and large, these criticisms have all be rational.

And then there is the comically absurd commentary frothing forth from the Left.

I discussed Maureen Dowd's mangled attempt earlier, but shrill screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was so furious that he produced a self-parodying gem that simply must be read to be appreciated for it's stupidity.

Like 95% of the people I know, I don't have a visceral (look it up) problem eating meat or wearing a belt. But like absolutely everybody I know, I don't relish the idea of torturing animals. I don't enjoy the fact that they're dead and I certainly don't want to volunteer to be the one to kill them and if I were picked to be the one to kill them in some kind of Lottery-from-Hell, I wouldn't do a little dance of joy while I was slicing the animal apart.

"Torturing animals"?

I'd invite Mr. Sorkin to visit any commercial slaughterhouse of his choice, and compare the killing processes there against the taking of a game animal by a hunter. His belt and loafers lived a tortured life in a factory farm and died a tortured death in a commercial slaughterhouse. Palin's caribou lived free in nature, and died there.

I'm able to make a distinction between you and me without feeling the least bit hypocritical. I don't watch snuff films and you make them. You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals. I can make the distinction between the two of us but I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing.

Oh, what nutty goodness. As noted above, the commercially raised, slaughtered, and butchered animals that Sorkin exploits for his needs and comforts are done by others with cold efficiency, stripping the animals of their dignity along with their flesh. Palin's kill was explicitly made to fill her freezer. His argument that she, like millions of others in America and generations of mankind going back to the beginning of our species, should not find pride and an feeling of accomplish in one of mankind's oldest rituals merely shows how ignorant this pretender really is about the human condition... and it perhaps explains the thinned excrement he typically produces as entertainment.

Hunters hunt for many reasons, but the most common are to connect to our shared cultural past, to commune with nature, and feel the satisfaction of being self-sustaining. It shouldn't be a surprise that a parasite that derives his existence from mimicking the human condition is unable to relate to the authentic state.

I'm able to make the distinction with no pangs of hypocrisy even though I get happy every time one of you faux-macho shitheads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face.

Oh, the compassion of the faux compassionate. Sorkin, a cookie-cutter liberal, gives unrestricted sympathy to animals he finds adorable, exploits the ones that upholster his custom-made furniture and adorn his plate, and harbors hatred in his heart for those who can do what he cannot... provide for themselves. You can almost hear his testosterone-deprived raisins shriveling with anger as he rages.

So I don't think I will save my condemnation, you phony pioneer girl. (I'm in film and television, Cruella, and there was an insert close-up of your manicure while you were roughing it in God's country. I know exactly how many feet off camera your hair and make-up trailer was.)

And you didn't just do it for fun and you didn't just do it for money. That was the first moose ever murdered for political gain. You knew there'd be a protest from PETA and you knew that would be an opportunity to hate on some people, you witless bully. What a uniter you'd be -- bringing the right together with the far right.

(Let me be the first to say that I abused cocaine and was arrested for it in April 2001. I want to be the first to say it so that when Palin's Army of Arrogant A$%holes, bereft of any reasonable rebuttal, write it all over the internet tomorrow they will at best be the second.)

I eat meat, there are leather chairs in my office, Sarah Palin is deranged and The Learning Channel should be ashamed of itself.

Sorkin thinks the distant past needs to be dredged up for us to mock him or find his perverse sense of morals and manhood cheap.

That he is a living parody simply wouldn't cross his mind.

Update: And can someone please explain to these idiot liberals the difference between a moose and a caribou?

Dowd Inexpertly Slaughters and Guts a Metaphor

Bitter Maureen Dowd indulges in Palinism again, using the caribou hunting episode of Sarah Palin's reality show in order to... do something with words.

It appears to be a metaphor, but she pokes at it with uncertainty.

The caribou that waited too pliantly in the cross hairs is doomed to become stew for Palin and an allegory for politics. The elegant animal standing above the fray, dithering rather than charging at his foes or outmaneuvering them, is Obambi. Even with a rifle aimed at him, he's trying to be the most reasonable mammal in the scene, mammalian bipartisan, and rise above what he sees as empty distinctions between the species so that we can all unite at a higher level of being.

Palin's father advises her to warm up her trigger finger. And trigger-happy Sarah represents the Republicans, who have spent two years taking shots at the president, including potshots, and tormenting him in an effort to bring him down.

The Republicans think they have hurt their quarry on the tax-cut deal, making him look weak and at odds with his party. There's an argument to be made for what the president did, but he doesn’t look good doing it.

When all the Democrats are complaining and all the Republicans are happy, it just can't be a good deal for Democrats.

If it appears that Dowd was starting to make a comparison between our President and a caribou before boring herself with the subject by the end of the paragraph, then your reading is correct.

The next paragraph barely attempts to lift its head, muttering a bit about political potshots. The next after that only mentions quarry, but by then Dowd is spent, and the comparison fizzles out. It is the kind of pointless and random comparison we'd expect from substance abusers (a "methaphor?").

Dowd clearly doesn't understand the beast or the circumstances it faces. It is not "elegant animal standing above the fray, dithering rather than charging at his foes or outmaneuvering them."

The Obambi is instead a timid beast, unable to identify the clear threat standing out in the open in front of him or make the basic decisions that would save itself.

It isn't "a reasonable mammal." It isn't trying to "rise above" anything. It's simply too dumb to act in its own best interests. It cannot function apart from the herd.

It is perhaps that bitter and bloody realization that caused Dowd to abandon her her comparison. Any hunter can be successful when the game leads itself to slaughter.

Pardon or Perish

Chris Christie should pardon Brian Aitken, an 27-year-old graduate student that is just the latest victim of New Jersey's paranoid, confusing and restrictive gun control laws. But can Christie overcome his all-too-liberal anti-gun leanings?

All part of the discussion in my latest article at Pajamas Media.

Elizabeth Edwards Has Died

After a prolonged battle with breast cancer, may she find peace and her son waiting for her.

Always Zero Your Weapon

As Cubachi notes, liberals are not going to be happy that Sarah Palin shot and killed a caribou during a hunt featured on Sarah Palin's Alaska. I'm not real happy, either.

It appears that the rifle she used had not been sighted in before the hunt, or was banged around enough to come off-zero. In any event, she shot high every time she fired thate weapon. In the end, she put the caribou down with a single shot from another weapon. This suggests the problem is the weapon, not the shooter.

Always be sure of your target, but also always be sure you are using a weapon sighted to hit your target. There may or may not be some political wisdom in that statement as well.

Bloody-Minded Tyrants Are Never Subtle

Battleship Row, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

Oh Noes! Lefty Professor Calls for Obama to be Primaried

I guess he's a um, racist?

t is not easy to consider challenging the first African-American to be elected as President of the United States. But, regrettably, I believe that the time has come to do this.

It is time for Progressives to stop "whining" and arguing among themselves about whether President Obama will or will not do this or that. Obama is no different than any other President, nominated by his national party. He was elected with the hard work and 24/7 commitment of persons who believed and enlisted in his campaign for "Hope" and "Change."

You don't have to be a rocket scientist nor have a PhD in political science and sociology to see clearly that Obama has abandoned much of the base that elected him. He has done this because he no longer respects, fears or believes those persons who elected him have any alternative, but to accept what he does, whether they like it or not.

I'd point out that if Jones and his fellows had looked beyond Obama's half-black heritage to his utter lack of executive leadership or substance then they wouldn't be in his predicament, but that is perhaps a bit more reality than the "reality-based community" can handle.

Ultimate Training Munitions

I had some private trigger-time with some of the cutting-edge training munitions just being deployed to the U.S. Army for close-quarters battle training.

Check it out at Bob's Gun Counter.

Off To War

What to make of President Obama’s recent “surprise” trip to Afghanistan to visit the troops? Certainly, having the Commander in Chief actually making contact with the troops is, generally speaking, a good thing. However, it is certainly fair, considering how little actual contact Mr. Obama has had with our soldiers, particularly those serving in combat zones, to wonder about his motives.

Recent news reports of Mr. and Mrs. Bush welcoming troops home at DFW Airport likely were not happy making for the Obama Administration. That Mr. Bush did not publicize those visits in advance, as he virtually always kept private his many contacts with the troops and their families during his years in office, speaks well of him, just as thinking or speaking well of George W. Bush has been quite impossible for Mr. Obama or his minions. And Mr. Bush’s recent media appearances in support of his best selling memoir, combined with persistent reports of his rapid and unexpected personal rehabilitation, are unlikely to have set well with the Obama White House.

Likewise, Mr. Obama’s political fortunes, to say nothing of his approval ratings, have taken a recent nosedive. What better to perk up those ratings and Democrat morale than photo ops, with Mr. Obama wearing a leather presidential flight jacket, and smiling troops? But there again, Mr. Obama came up short. In all of the videos and photographs I’ve seen, there has not been a single smiling soldier, just soldiers posed as backdrops, standing at parade rest, remaining professionally impassive. Remember Mr. Bush’s surprise visits? The joy and appreciation on soldier’s faces was genuine, spontaneous and lasting.

Let’s not forget that when Mr. Obama made visits to the troops at the beginning of his administration, his aides were caught handing out digital cameras to hand picked soldiers who supported Mr. Obama so as to give the appearance of spontaneous troop adulation and support when the media filmed soldiers filming Mr. Obama. Let us also not forget that virtually every public appearance Mr. Obama has made as POTUS has been carefully stage managed with hand picked audiences in hand picked venues to ensure the appearance of universal support and adulation.

It is likewise amusing to recall the outrage of the media and Democrats at the sight of Mr. Bush in genuine pilot’s regalia, outrage born of the ugly realization that Mr. Bush looked like a fighter pilot because he was, in fact--like his father before him--a fighter pilot and knew exactly how to wear the equipment and how to walk in it. Not only could he talk the talk, he walked the walk. Compare this with such images as Senator Kerry in a haz mat bunny suit, Governor Dukakis exemplifying the phrase “political weenie in a tank,” and now, Mr. Obama portraying...well...Barack Obama in someone else’s leather flight jacket. Contemporary Democrats just don’t do well in martial pursuits, whether pursuing them, directing them or speaking about them.

Ultimately, it is the troops who will decide whether Mr. Obama’s visit was motivated by a sincere desire to show his appreciation and support for them, or whether it was a cynical PR ploy to try to boost his badly sagging political fortunes. Our troops are very, very good at telling the difference. No doubt, Mr. Obama's cause will not be helped by the fact that his Justice Department did nothing to enforce the laws written to ensure that military absentee ballots were mailed in time to allow those serving overseas to vote. Those simple folks in the military tend not to forget such small oversights. Mr. Bush was the real thing, and they knew it. Mr. Obama? Not so much.

WikiLeaks is Now A Terrorist Organization

I've been critical of WikiLeaks in the past for several reasons, from the fact that they are pursuing a clear political agenda designed to harm the United States to the highly inflammatory language and distorted context of some of the illicitly garnered information under their control.

I've also been quite clear that I consider Bradley Manning one of worse traitor's in American history (easily the worst in terms of volume) who deserves nothing less than the death penalty for passing along classified information during wartime.

I've been a bit more forgiving of Julian Assange, the glory-hounding promoter and leader of Wikileaks, and of Americans invovled with Wikileaks, but now that I've read of their "Doomsday device" containing unredacted information that assuredly will put lives in danger, I view the group—and individuals in possession of the file who intend to release it—as nothing more or less than information terrorists, and urge that our military, intelligence, and law enforcement assets treat them as such.

At over 1.4GB of information, the NSA and other federal agencies should have no problem identifying and tracking who has downloaded the file, the release of which constitutes a clear and present danger to the United States. All overt official and covert extrajudicial remedies should be authorized by the President to reacquire control over this information.

This is classified information that enemies of our nation are threatening to use against us during wartime, risking the lives of our soldiers and operatives worldwide. They should be hunted with the same vigor as al Qaeda, and offered the same mercies if they resist.

TUF 12 Finale Tonight

The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP versus Team Koscheck is tonight on Spike TV.

Those of you into MMA mma betting have already probably made your calls for tonight. While I've watched season 12—well, I've DVR'd it and fast-forwarded through the Real World crap in the house to get to the actual bouts—I don't have that good of a handle on the undercard fights as I have on past episodes, and won't hazard a guess on who will beat who among this season's TUF fighters. I will take a stab at the main event, though.

Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson of Team GSP made it to the finals, and on paper seem to present the opportunity for a good fight. I'd be surprised with a first round knockout or submission with these two fighters, and predict this fight goes to the third round, and maybe even to the judges. While I admire Johnson's heart, I think Brookins is the more tactical fighter and will be able to stick to his game plan better, particuarly if they keep it on their feet. Brookins wins by ground and pound stoppage in the third or in a unanimous decision.

Stephan Bonnar, one-half of the TUF 1 finale (along with Forrest Griffin) that put on arguably the best fight in UFC history at any weight class, is stepping in the ring against Igor Pokrajac. is a Croatian and a training partner of Mirko Mirko Filipović (AKA Cro Cop). Pokrajac is 1-2 in the UFC, while Bonnar has won just one of his past four fights. He once tested positive for horse steroids after a fight, and if he loses again to drop his record to 6-7 in the UFC, he may be sent to the glue factory. I think both fighters understand that a loss may be the end of their appearances in UFC events, but think Bonnar is the better fighter, and will pull out a submission in round 2.

Kendall Grove is an imposing 6'6" at 185, but is spotty. If he shows up wit his "A" game this could be a good fight. If he doesn't, this one will be over quickly, with BJJ expert Demian Maia tying him into a knot to climb back up the middleweight ladder towards another title shot. Maia in round one by triangle choke.

No Friends of Reality

Progressives like to think of themselves as belonging to a "reality-based community"... and I concur. Anything "-based" is inherently less than or not the object they aspire to mimic. That precisely describes the problem with Senate Democrats today, as they try to ram through a doomed vote on the Obama tax increases:

Seeking to paint Republicans as guardians of the rich, Senate Democrats are forcing a vote Saturday on extending the Bush tax cuts to only the middle class – a defeat that is inevitable as negotiations between the White House and Republicans for a compromise continues.

But Democrats, already eyeing the 2012 elections, want to use this showdown to weaken a resurgent GOP.

"All those people out there in the Tea Party that are angry about the economics of Washington, they really need to look at this," Sen. Claire McCaskill., D-Mo., said Friday as Democrats took turns pummeling Republicans.

"They need to pull back the curtain and realize that you've got a Republican Party that's not worried about the people in the Tea Party," said McCaskill, who will be on the ballot next year. "They're worried about people that can't decide which home to go to over the Christmas holidays."

It is the height of hilarity that McCaskill and her fellow Democratic senators think that this vote actually helps their image with the Tea Party-affiliated voters that drove so many of their allies out of office just over a month ago. It is cognitive dissonance on a massive scale.

These Democratic Senators—and progressives in general—are under the illusion that by pushing for only the middle class to avoid the Obama tax increases, that they will find sympathy from the American people.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

If the Tea Party has done one thing extremely well, it is to espouse the values of fiscal conservatism, and highlighting the importance of the health of the small business sector. While corporations employ millions of Americans and have the lobbying dollars politicians crave, it is small businessmen that employ the majority of Americans. The Tea Party and other fiscal conservatives have done an excellent job of explaining to the American people that when small businessmen aren't hiring, it severely affects the economy and jobless rates.

As a result, the American people are not long susceptible to the worn liberal lie that the Obama tax increases are a sop to "the rich." Americans know that the people that will be hurt the most are the small businessmen who can hire them and drag this economy out of a recession, if politicians will just get out of the way.

Claire McCaskill and liberals like her simply lack the cognitive processing ability to think that way. They are fundamentally unable to understand the simple truth that an ever-expanding government is an impediment to growth and prosperity, or that lower taxes means that employers are able to hire more workers.

On one level I feel sorry for the birth defect of liberalism that prevents them from understanding such simple economic realities. On the other, however, I can feel not pity for a group of would-be elites that has watched big government socialism collapsing economies worldwide, and somehow is delusional enough to think that the solution is more of it.

And so the Democrats persist in a bit of Saturday theater that will make the the public revile them all the more, unable to understand the people that the simply no longer represent in any meaningful way.

They'll have their vote. They'll be defeated. And they'll be utterly unable to understand the contempt with which they will be held for the useless spectacle they've engineered.

Necessary Needs

I don't think any of us here can say we've never bought anything "used". I'm sure, as well, most of us have done so at least once with regret.

My first used vehicle as an adult, was a used truck. I already had a small car bought new, but I wanted something to head up in the hills for camping. I didn't want new and pretty, I wanted broken in and cheap. There was an ad in the California newspaper for a Toyota Truck, 120,000 miles but in good shape, for $3500. There was ust a name and a phone number. I was hesitant to go alone. having a mental picture of some truck seller sitting in the shop at his house wearing garments made out of the skin of the last 3 people that answered his ad.

So I took my partner at work. He's tall, he's imposing looking. Firearm or not, he'd keep me from being made into a vest,

When we showed up, the truck was in the driveway. Clean as a whistle, camping shell COVERED in Grateful Dead stickers. The seller was a "deadhead".

I could almost picture how this was going to go. . .

The fellow came out, long hair, clean clothes, and as nice as good be. I asked him if he'd come down $500 to $3000 and he said "well, no, you see I had this drug deal go bad and I need the bucks".

My partner is trying not to smile. I'm picturing all the marijuana seeds that are probably in the carpet of this thing, but it's really in good shape and I had $3000.

Suddenly the guy REALLY looks at us. Let's see, clean cut, toned arms, white starched shirts, blue pants, dark sunglasses (that fashion sense that just screams Academy) and gets this sort of panicked look on his face.

"uh. . oh, .are you guys. . COPS?

"Mister", I said. "I'm just a nice gal looking for a cheap truck".

I got it for $3000. No seeds, it ran like a top and with the stickers on there, I'd get lots of waves from people who looked like the name on their birth certificate really was "Flower" or "Moonbeam".

There were 300,000 miles on it when I finally sold it, still running, still reliable. Best decision I ever made, to purchase that thing, stickers and all.

I've also had some not so good used purchases. The chain saw which made a better door stop, and a used riding mower that liked to fling out its muffler like that whale jumping in that movie. (fly free!!!!)

But there are treasures to be found if you look closely and more so if you look past the shiny new carton, and the fancy sales pitch. Not every one can. I had a guy I'd met once cancel our date when he found out I'd been married. He said "I don't want used". I prefer to think of myself as "pre owned".

We place so much value on the obvious, not seeing past that slight ding or scratch, that may be the best pistol you ever owned. We place too great of value on shiny fresh looks and a catchy marketing slogan until too late, we realize we elected a spokesmodel, not a leader.

Sometimes though, we look deep, look past a little dust, a couple of scars, and start an adventure. It's that giving over to our gut feeling as to the validity of something or someone, that often reaps the most reward. Look in your gun safe. Is what you treasure the newest or the shiniest? That which you prize the most may be that firearm for which the number of deer that had fallen before it were legion,. Your most treasured possession, a weapon in which you knew that the fierce heat of its holding, there in the blaze of a new autumn, would renew you better than that plastic fake camo looking one.

Look to your friends, are the ones you trust with your life, likely to be some 24 year old driving a Lexus or some person your age driving an old truck or Volvo.

I recall an antique apple cider press that belonged to a friend's family which my truck brought out here from out West a couple of years ago after there was a death in that family. The wood is old, there's scratches on it, and with it, he can make the sweetest cider ever imagined. I look at the picture of an old friend I keep in my desk, the hairline receding, the hands worn with work, but an artists hands. When I look at the picture, I feel a curious elation as if I'm finally noticing the details that matter.

Look at the world around you, to that which has withstood time, things carefully tended. Stop at the gun show and talk to that 80 year old veteran about something more than the price of his brass. Chances are he won't regail you with stories of the war, no riposte of sweaty storytelling of gunfire and noise which all war stories are composed of, no ragged lines of gaunt infantry beneath the tattered flags of courage. No, what he will tell you quietly, is simple This was my gun, it served me well, but I'm willing to sell it. Let me tell you about it. And what stories it can tell.

The tables of new AR15's are interesting, like a 20 year old in shorts is interesting. But give me the tables of Mausers, of Colts, of wood and flint and powder, the galloping thunder of guns which have fired through the fading fury of smoke into the night.

I don't care if my safe is full of plastic and shiny and new. Our lives are sublets anyway, and too quickly gone. Give me something with history, something of strength and purpose and years, that will give as much back as I can possible give it in return. Not everyone understands. I have a coworker who, like I, loves old guns, but his wife said "no more". It's not a matter of cost, but simply her not understanding the need She really has no idea how many he has, just that she didn't want him coming home with any more. So he leaves with a gun in a case "to trade". but the case is empty and when he comes home with another old firearm, she said "well good, at least it's an even trade".

How do you explain to someone whose life is driven by "what will the neighbor's think", that there are just some things essential to you, that when you see them, you not only recognize them, you wish to experience. But I think it's probably the same thing I think when I see a woman's closet with a 100 pairs of shoes and think "why on earth would someone want a closet full of shoes?"

Of course, not everything that is used is useful, not everything of weight has measure.. There will be things you find that end up costing you more than money. But you still seek those treasures that remain. You may find them on a table in a hall, you may find them, in a house where they've been locked for far too long. You may find them just breathing, at that same moment in time you are, that small place on a planet spinning in space, destined to meet.

If you're over 40 you've experienced it. You're walking, talking surrounded by noise and clutter, and people clutching at you, demands on your time, living your life, you thought, quite happily. And there it is. Life isn't exciting but it's steady. And like that moment in Jaws, where the camera looms in on Sheriff Brody, and the whole world focuses, it does. For just a moment. And you suddenly notice every little detail around you, the sun running straight and empty, like gash down the corridor, a tiny spider web there at the corner of the room, the sun piercing it, illuminating the empty spaces there between the delicate strength.. And you see what it is you desire, held in that moment with conviction, that sense, that feeling of home.

And you know, you were meant to hold it, for just one moment, that small piece of history, that large piece of yourself you never knew you needed. And you reach for it, one of those impulses, inscrutable yet unassailable which occurs at intervals in all of us, driving us to set down the known and the safe, and seek the possession of something rare, blind to everything but hope and fate.

Or you can just push it away, leave it behind, common sense taking over, and go home quietly to die.

You won't do that a second time.

For you are like I am, and some night when you are old, you will lay in that tent, that old firearm by your side, unable to sleep, but quiet and peaceful, listening to the nights whisper. The past was your future, but you couldn't taste it until, it too was past. Anything else was an illusion. You lay there without regret, for seeking that which you needed, that moment of time, when history and fate were held in your hand and you knew what you wanted. Perhaps it was just a moment, before you set it away, perhaps you made it yours for all time, but in that moment the two of you were joined, it was grace.

A need so necessary, part of the history that remains.
- Brigid

www.mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com

Seeing the Emperor

After the Democratic "shellacking" in the midterm elections, everyone wondered how President Obama would respond. Would he show what he was made of? Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of political adversity?

Of course President Obama has shown us what he's made of! He's been showing us "what he's made of" since that first terrifying second that he realized that he'd actually become President.

Barack Obama's entire life history is a story of running from one job to another, finding it miraculously easy to succeed—or at least dash away from his failures—all the way into the White House. Now, there is nowhere to run, and he can no longer fake substance anymore.

Do not pity him, or those who support him.

Liberals such as Paul Krugman, who put down his glass of arsenic long enough to cobble together the tortured prose above, elected to vote for vague promises of "change" over a semblance of competence twice, in the primaries, and then in the general election. Now he and his fellow cultists have the audacity to feign shock when a man most famous for having accomplished nothing of note in his entire life, continues that tradition in office.

Despite blame-casting from the left, conservatives can't destroy Obama, because there is no "Obama" to destroy. In him, Democrats are getting exactly what they elected. There simple is nothing more to the man other than a cheap veneer, falling away under pressure.

You showed us what you were made of, Mr. Krugman, when you championed for President a man without substance. Please pardon me if I have no sympathy for you learning a hard lesson about your own failed leadership as an over-rated pundit.

Reporting Failure

The so-called Debt Commission's co-chairmen, Erskine Bowles and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson provided President Obama what he wanted in the form of a do-nothing report that will be pilloried by both sides and allow politics as usual to wreck what is left of our economy. Of course, that is precisely what we should have expected from a blue-ribbon panel of politicians.

What this report shows is that the political class is not yet serious about addressing the federal government's spending addiction. It may suggest that they simply aren't bright enough to understand the depth of the problem, nor amenable to those steps required to put us on a true corrective course.

They cannot bluff their way through this crisis. Sooner, rather than later, it will catch up to them, though I fear we'll be the one's left holding the bag.

Another Clark County Cop Kills and Walks

This time, a man a month into a trial separation from his wife goes to their home at 1:15 AM apparently attempting to catch her in the act of cheating. He succeeds, and gets four bullets for his trouble. The shooter—a Henderson Police officer—walks away without so much as a corner's inquest, and his department declared the shooting justifiable self defense.

Check out my latest disturbing look into questionable law enforcement oversight in my latest post at Pajamas Media.