Taking off the gloves

Chalk these up in the "hard to believe, but don't ignore" category, the Vice President of the United States just called Tea Party conservatives "terrorists."

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/joe_bidens_tea_party_terrorists.html

I quit reading my local paper years ago, due to its insanely biased reporting. I could never get through the first section without wanting to drop it in the trash. But now, one of its main cartoonists shows President Barack Obama calling in the SEALS to get a "Tea Party Congressman."

http://blog.cagle.com/2011/07/send-in-the-seals/

If I may, go back in the time machine to 1964 best seller "None dare call it treason."

http://www.amazon.com/None-Dare-Call-Treason-Years/dp/0914053108/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312317007&sr=1-2

This classic revealed how those in power write history, and "those" have certainly come into power.

“Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide.” — James Burnham.

Don't let them pull the plug on our children's future: arise and defend our constitutionally recognized freedoms!

On the 4th, SWAT, and Guerena

Very informative piece if you want to understand how SWAT works, what's the deal with "no knock warrants," and former Marine Jose Guerena:

http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/316833.php

"Note the Navy SEAL who took out Osama Bin Laden with two rounds and two rounds only, one to the chest, one to the head. This is a classic example of cool, perfect shot placement under stress, and is precisely the sort of thing SWAT troops are supposed to be able to do. After all, if they are no better at this sort of thing than the average street cop, all that has been done is to give average street cops more destructive, longer ranged weapons.

"UPDATE 052911, 1329 CT: According to a more recent local news story, the medical examiner has reported that Guerena was hit not 60 times as originally suggested by doctors, but only 22 times. This is far more in line with common results of police shootings where most rounds fired do not hit their intended targets. This is also far more in line with what would be expected of the wild and uncontrolled fire of the SWAT shooters in this particular incident, particularly those firing on full-auto. Highly skilled operators can control fully automatic fire in a submachine gun or light carbine such as the AR-15, untrained operators cannot. In any case, carefully controlled and aimed short bursts are always preferred. Police officers are directly responsible for each and every bullet they fire. In this case, nearly 70% of the rounds fired by the police missed. This might make more likely my contention that the officer's vision was compromised and that at least some of them had no real idea of their target or why they were shooting at it, other than the knowledge that one of their number was initially shooting at something. As shocking as all of this might be, the hit rate is about average for police shootings. SWAT teams should do much better. Knowing this, it is even more incredible that the officers did not shoot Mrs. Guerena, her child, themselves, or anyone else in the neighborhood.

"Notice that there is no information to indicate that any drugs or money were found in Guerena’s home, or that Guerena or his home, were in any way directly related to criminal activity. In fact, the police have, to date, not released the search warrant affidavit, warrant and return for Guerena’s home. However, there is no evidence to indicate that they found anything at all illegal in Guerena’s home. If they had, considering the public and Internet attention this case is generating, they surely would have made it public. Any drug case they were working has long been blown. Secrecy is no longer an issue.

"None of the items listed as having been found in Guerena’s home are illegal, or indeed, unusual, particularly for a former Marine who had served two combat tours. One reason that the warrant information has not been released is likely that it was non-specific. In other words, the grounds for searching Guerena’s home may have been shaky at best."

Oh, and of course consider all of this in light of my post on the 4th Amendment just a few days ago...it's feeling eerily like the editor's first cut from John Ross's "Unintended Consequences," to keep that now out-of-print 20th century alternate reality under 1,000 pages.

What's Next?

At this pace, I seriously wonder how many Rights will be legal within a generation.

KENTUCKY v . KING just found that police can knock and enter without gaining the property owner's permission. Buh-bye 4th Amendment.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/09-1272.ZS.html

Six years ago Kelo v. New London found that municipalties can take someone's property if they feel it is in the community's best interest...like to add a shopping center, not to expand an easement for the interstate as we traditionally thought. Buh-bye 5th.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-108.ZS.html

Hmm, what about "life and liberty?" Yeah, the Declaration of Independence. Well first ya gotta get through the birthing process...thanks Roe v. Wade of 1973.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-108.ZS.html

And what about common knowledge, that you should be able to keep and bear arms, and that right not being infringed? O.K. as long as the government can register you, decide how long the gun barrel is, and if the stock is adjustable, and restricting the attempt to quiet it down so you don't get tinnitus, and a waiting period, and and... Hello, 2nd Amendment?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Control_Act_of_1968

Enter Health Care, AKA anti-capitalist, anti-rule-of-law movement of 2010:

"The danger of waiver power is that it will be used differentially, giving one private entity a competitive advantage over another."

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/mona-charen/2011/05/17/wielding-waivers-as-weapons/

Well thank God for the 10th, and our recent attention to it...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/26/tenth-amendment-movement-aims-power-states/

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/the-10th-amendment-movement/

And "Teach you children well

Your father's hell did slowly go by..."

But by gum, don't simply look at them and sigh and let them know you love them...

But rather teach them to be patriots and defend this land where my fathers died.

Let freedom ring!

We identify genius by its impact

No, not a review of "Good Will Hunting."

Rather the intro line to this article: http://www.sightm1911.com/1911%20History.htm

...in which we see detailed today, the 100 year anniversary of the 1911 semiautomatic pistol in caliber .45acp.

See also this fine entry: http://www.m1911.org/history.htm

For you movie buffs and patriots alike, consider Sergeant York :

"On the morning of 8 October 1918, elements of the 328th Infantry, 82nd Division, United States Army, were pinned down by German machine-gun fire. Seventeen men, under the command of Sgt. Bernard Early, were ordered to out-flank the machine guns.

"Shortly after they left their own lines, they came across a German officer and several soldiers having breakfast. Believing that they were surrounded, the Germans surrendered. However, before Early could detach a man to take the prisoners back through the lines, intensive machine gun fire swept the patrol. Eight American soldiers survived. Sgt. Early was killed. As the remaining non-com, Cpl. Alvin York took command of the patrol. While the remaining Americans covered their prisoners, trying at the same time to avoid enemy fire, York spotted the location of the German guns, about 30 yards away. In addition to his Enfield M1917 rifle, he also carried a Colt .45 automatic pistol. The German gunners peeked over the tops of their Maxim guns to avoid hitting their own men.

"With the appearance of each face, framed in its "coal-scuttle" helmet, York's Enfield spoke. One shot equaled one dead gunner. York was from the Tennessee mountains where firearms were used to put food on the table. Mountain folk were frugal, making each shot count.

"Unnoticed by York, several Germans moved forward, locating York's position. Out of sight, they counted the shots from York's rifle, establishing the pattern of his shooting. They counted a series of 5 shots from his Enfield and rushed York to gain the advantage of the few extra seconds it took to reload the rifle.

"As the Germans charged, they came into easy pistol range. York brought the .45 automatic into action, stopping the patrol in its tracks. He continued shooting and advancing, killing a total of 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 by himself. York was promoted to Sergeant and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor."

Gunwalker update

You've got to be kidding me...no, it's worse than that:

"Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

"ATF named the case "Fast and Furious."

"Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

"So it turns out ATF not only allowed it - they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let gobegan showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets... the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.

"One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."

"Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. "I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two," he said. "The more our guys buy, the more violence we're having down there."

"Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.

"Their answer, according to Dodson, was, "If you're going to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml?tag=strip

Project Gunwalker

After all the braying about the so-called gunshow loophole, and registration, it comes down to this? For shame! We in Arizona are sickened by the border violence, and it's time for the BATFE / ATF to own up.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/14/sen-grassley-probes-border-agent-slaying/

"...wants Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to explain why Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents allowed suspected gun smugglers to purchase and keep assault rifles that later may have been used in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In a letter, Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa said ATF agents told his staff the agency allowed the sale to “known and suspected straw purchasers for an illegal trafficking ring near the Southwest border” and two of those weapons reportedly were recovered at the site of the Dec. 14 shootout that killed Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry.

"Terry, 40, was attempting to arrest bandits who prey on illegal immigrants when he was killed about 10 miles north of the U.S.-Mexicoborder. A member of the Border Patrol’s elite Search Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) team, he was waiting with three other agents in a remote area north of Nogales, Ariz., when the gunbattle erupted..."

If you want to know more, just google "Project Gunwalker."

Amendment on the block

[title edited, since it appears TJIC has pulled his own blog pending legal...]

http://borepatch.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-am-tjic.html

Whatever you believe about the 2nd, I hope you seriously consider the 1st and say with me...I am TJIC...

"It was not a famous Massachusetts citizen who said We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin was more circumspect than the men from Massachusetts, such as Sam Adams, who said this:

Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!

"Eliminationist rhetoric right there. Clearly, the Arlington Police would have seized his firearms. What a sad, degraded state for a once proud Commonwealth. It seems that I got out just in the nick of time."

http://reason.com/blog/2011/01/25/the-saga-of-travis-corcoran

"Last week, law enforcement officials in Arlington, Massachusetts seized the (legally owned) guns of Travis Corcoran, a blogger and owner of an online comic book store. They also revoked Corcoran's gun permit. They were responding to posts on Corcoran's blog, TJICistan..."

His response, commented here: http://www.eternityroad.info/index.php/weblog/single/i_am_tjic/

"11. > Did they revoke your concealed carry permit, or did they confiscate your firearms all together?

I was told that if I voluntarilly surrendered my firearms, as a “show of good faith”, that my LTC would not be revoked. On the advice of counsel, I did so.

As soon as that transaction was completed, my LTC was yanked. Whether this was planned all along or not, I can not say. Technically, it has not been “revoked”, it has been “suspended”.

In either case, it sure feels like my RKBA has been infringed.

> if they revoked your firearms, did they have a warrant to do so, and under what authority?

MA is a “may issue” state.

As I understand it, under the law, the Chief of Police may revoke my right to store in MA, or carry in MA, firearms, but he may not confiscate them.

None the less, when my LTC was suspended, I was ORDERED to turn in all of my firearms; moving them out of state was not presented as an option.

> Do you have a legal defense fund set up somewhere where we can donate?

At this point in time my legal bills are noticeably but not crushing (my lawyer is ~$500/hr, and other experts we’ve called in have their own price tags). I own a home and a business, and would - at this point in time - feel awkward about accepting any help when there are so many more worthy folks out there. Please feel free to drop an extra $5 in the church collection plate, or give it to the local animal shelter or home for battered women to help those truly in need.

If this legal battle escalates, I reserve the right to revist this topic, of course!

> As you know from my comments on your website, I disagreed with you at the time you posted that. However, no matter how boorish or insensitive your statements, they were not an incitement to violence, that much is clear. What you said was “One down, 534 to go” which to me is no more an incitement to violence than the joke that goes something like this: “What do you call 500 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean?” ... a good start!”

Indeed, the post was meant as an homage to that exact joke.

> And no, Fran, it isn’t lock and load time.

Agreed. I had a long post up on my site, before I took it down, analyzing America’s current political situation in terms of the four point test of Catholic Just War doctrine. I also conclude that we currently only satisfy two of the four points.

> I think this will be turned around in court in very short order.

I’ve got my fingers crossed ... and a good legal strategy, which is a bit more important!

Thank you, all, for your support.

Posted by TJIC on 01/20/2011 at 02:53 PM

Tucson debate

The Case for Arming Yourself - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com

Limiting clip size won’t lower crime -- if only criminals get higher clips, they have an advantage.

• • 
    
  • The "opinion", which mostly cited anecdotal evidence, was in the NYT. But so were several others, on the other side of this debate. I liked the position by James Fox, "More Guns Means More Guns" at http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/01/11/more-guns-less-crime/more-guns-means-more-guns which seems more reasonable from more of an authority.

    
    
  • Thanks for mentioning that, Jim. Armed resistance may not dissuade criminals (tho overwhelming statistics say it does--Fox must be very selective to deny that), but the writer also conveniently fails to mention one of the heroes was armed when he made the tackle. Perhaps the fact he was armed gave him more confidence to stop further killings. More reprehensible is Fox's implication that there was something wrong with non-law enforcement being involved in maintaining law and order: "it wasn't clear which one was the perpetrator among those struggling for control." Sorry no uniformed cops were there, so "we the people" did the job. Obviously this kind of thinking is utilized by gun control advocates. Fox did rightly note the importance of Luby's Cafeteria and that AZ has ironically (in name) "liberal" gun laws. I frequent that store with my children, and I'm glad to have the option of defending myself and them...
    
    

    • I could relate to John Cory's comment athttp://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/4600-american-madness that "nothing protects innocent life like a mob of armed citizens shooting back and forth at one another." That image is particularly poignant right now here in Seattle where a well trained police officer has been accused of unjustly shooting and killing a street person. If a well trained police officer can't always make the right decision, I'm not sure the help of several other armed citizens would help.
    • 
      

      Jim, that's sheer "Wild West" propaganda. Please let me know where that has occurred since Florida's 2005 passing of the Castle Doctrine and consequent exponentially increasing gun sales. No, instead we see plummeting of violent crime rates. We have a saying: "When seconds count, police are only minutes away." For all the violent crime reported in the mainstream media, too bad they don't report the crimes which are stopped by armed citizens. Of course no news is good news. I encourage you to peruse "The Armed Citizen" for a few months and let me know what you think of this topic: http://www.americanrifleman.org/blogs/armed-citizen-january-2011
      /

      about an hour ago

    • I did do a little independent research to try and verify some stats prepared by the Violence Policy Center athttp://www.vpc.org/press/0905gundeath.htm What I found was that it's a supercharged topic and there is very little rational thought or reliable statistics on either side. No doubt there are some real "facts" but I haven't found any I trust yet. Meanwhile I do trust my own experiences based on my third world travels, life in inner city neighborhoods, work with delinquent youth and my left wing anti war past. I have found that guns are an attractive nuisance - more likely to be involved in suicides and accidents than helpful in protecting against assault or home invasion. And as for the Second Amendment goes, I agree with the intent but it's way out of date. With my pistol or shotgun I wouldn't stand a chance defending against an oppressive government armed with assault rifles, infrared detection and long range listening devices backed up with helicopter gun ships and drone missiles. I'd be more likely to be shot if I did have a gun.
    • about an hour ago
      
      

      Jim, it could be argued that 3rd world countries became that way at least in part via the disarming of the populace: thus the overt intent of our 2nd Amendment. However, what is not stated, but found in innumerable other accounts by the founding fathers—as well as “common sense” until late-20th Century America--is the indisputable right to defend oneself and responsibility to defend one's family. This is how I see this argument: one either believes we the people are sheep under the protection of the government-shepherd, or we are responsible for ourselves and the government is our servant. You likely see that as a false portrayal...how do you see our relationship vis a vis the gov't?

      about an hour ago
    • 
      

      Maybe like you, Clint, I see the relationship between the people and the government as adversarial. I'd go a step farther and argue that it's even worse than that - it's an adversarial relationship between the people and the combined power of the government doing the bidding of the corporations. That's by definition, fascism.
      
      So, for me owning guns or not is a matter of tactics. Americans still believe in fairness and we have a government with the trappings, if not always the reality, of rule of law. And we have a media which, while increasingly subjective and polarized, at least in theory shines the light and keeps a check on corporate greed and overreaching government.
      
      In Somalia or Afghanistan, where guns are plentiful and government corrupt and rule of law non-existent, owning a gun might be your only defense. You would still be up against armed bands out to kill you and it might, even in that situation, be more effective to work toward peace, disarmament and an effective government as is being attempted now in Sudan. By the way your premise that "3rd world countries became that way at least in part via the disarming of the populace" is just not consistent with the facts.
      
      In America we are not badly off yet. We still do, as I say, have the trappings, if not the reality, of rule of law. I think a non-violent approach modeled after Gandhi or MLK would be far more effective and successful than arming ourselves and waiting for the SS comes to get us.
      
      On a much more personal level I just can't imagine who I would shoot. As I've said, I would probably not be ready and would not be able to defend myself against an armed and awake burglar or attacker. I'd be better off with a whistle, mace and a cell phone or asking the attacker if his mother knew what he was doing. Would-be attackers are likely to be kids on drugs or people desperate about something. They might be pretty much like some members of our own families or the families of people we know. I don't want to kill them.
      
      And to defend against the government or some real but amorphous and intangible corporate enemy? Just who do I shoot? The town cop? The Exxon gas station attendant? I am not in to being a sheep but I don't think I can realistically protect myself from my government with a gun. It would be better to persuade, organize, write articles and support the people when and where they are attacked and abused.

      about an hour ago
    • 
      

      Jim, I have other friends who also think guns should not be in the hands of non-law enforcement, and they too would rather use a cell phone or mace than a firearm to defend themselves. I just can't agree in this post-modern concept. If myfamily is attacked with lethal force, it's my responsibility at least to try to save them, right now. I also don't agree with the adversarial relationship concept about the government. Call me an idealist: I still believe in positive change, through initiative, referendum, recall, elections, etc. If I didn't think it was the best on earth, believe me brother, I'd leave. I don't know about 2nd Amendment rights in Somalia and Sudan, but I sure wouldn't want to move there, and this is hard to ignore:
      
      http://jpfo.org/pdf02/genocide-chart.pdf
      
      Gandhi: "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn."
      
      "As we have seen, the first public expression of disenchantment with nonviolence arose around the question of "self-defense." In a sense this is a false issue, for the right to defend one's home and one's person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law." Martin Luther King, Jr
      
      And Never Forget April 19, 2011 will be the 68th anniversary of the final battle of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto uprising.
      
      "In early April, German soldiers began rounding up Jews for their final shipment to work camps. On April 19th, Passover eve, a group of less than 20 of them began fighting back, by killing a single German soldier, stealing his gun, and killing another, then another, and so on until perhaps 1000 men were armed and fighting back against the entire German army. An entire brigade worth of Germans were killed, along with 6,000 of the approximately 7000 Jews resident in the Ghetto. It ended on May 16th in a massacre by poison gas. The last of the fighters were trapped in a few buildings, and some sewer tunnels. They flooded the tunnels with gas, and then went in and exterminated all but a few who they saved for show trials. 6,000 died on their feet, rather than on their knees.
      "
      
      

      • Clint, Anyone can write anything on facebook or the Internet. Your information about Gandhi and MLK and others is twisted or out of context at best and seems to come from the website, "http://jpfo.org/" Jews for the Preservation of FirearmsOwnership (JPFO) which is a 4,000 member group dedicated to the preservation of gun rights and founded by former firearms dealer Aaron S. Zelman. I've read history more broadly from a variety of view points, especially the history of India and China and I don't buy the premise that disarming the population leads to genocide. Look at England.

        Sunday at 11:32am ·
      • 
        

        Jim, this is backed up by facts...According to the BBC News, handgun crime in the United Kingdom rose by 40% in the two years after it passed its draconian gun ban in 1997. "Handgun crime 'up' despite ban," BBC News Online (July 16, 2001) athttp://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/uk/newsid_1440000/1440764.stm. England is a prime example of how crime has increased after implementing gun control. For example, the original Pistols Act of 1903 did not stop murders from increasing on the island. The number of murders in England was 68 percent higher the year after the ban's enactment (1904) as opposed to the year before (1902). (Greenwood, supra note 1.) This was not an aberration, as almost seven decades later, firearms crimes in the U.K. were still on the rise: the number of cases where firearms were used or carried in a crime skyrocketed almost 1,000 percent from 1946 through 1969. (Greenwood, supra note 1 at 158.) And by 1996, the murder rate in England was 132 percent higher than it had been before the original gun ban of 1903 was enacted. (Compare Greenwood, supra note 1, with Bureau of Justice Statistics, Crime and Justice in the United States and in England and Wales, 1981-96, Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 1998).
        "You are more likely to be mugged in England than in the United States," stated the Reuters news agency in summarizing the study. "The rate of robbery is now 1.4 times higher in England and Wales than in the United States, and the British burglary rate is nearly double America's."6 The murder rate in the United States is reportedly higher than in England, but according to the DOJ study, "the difference between the [murder rates in the] two countries has narrowed over the past 16 years."

        Monday at 9:17am ·
      • 
        

        From the article linked above, uncanny and timely info for the US today: "A new study suggests the use of handguns in crime rose by 40% in the two years after the weapons were banned.
        The research, commissioned by the Countryside Alliance's ...See More

        Monday at 9:21am ·
      • 
        

        It's more of a point of view than a fact, Cllint. The Countryside Alliance's Campaign for Shooting clearly is a pro-gun lobby and the "other side" says it's more complicated than that and the reason for the increase in crime is illegal international gun sales that criminals, but not law abiding citizens, take advantage of. So, once you regulate guns it's easier for police to identify and regulate criminals but the crime rate might take a while to drop.
        
        Crime and gun control really isn't my issue. I just don't need to have a gun because I think I'm safer without one. But I'd be interested in whether crime with a gun went up or down in Chicago and New York after their strict gun laws were overturned recently - as reported by a legitimate news source like the NYT, Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post that practices "fact verification".

        Monday at 11:08am ·
      • 
        

        Will you accept the Washington Times?http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/21/guns-decrease-murder-rates/
        
        "According to D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, more guns in homes would cause more violent crime.
        
        "This has never been the case. Local politicians enthusiastically embraced the 1977 handgun ban predicting it would make Washington a safe place by dramatically reducing murder rates. But they were as wrong three decades ago as they are now.
        
        "A telling story is illustrated by the murder numbers since the handgun ban and gun-lock bans were struck down. Between 2008 and 2009, the FBI's preliminary numbers indicate that murders fell nationally by 10 percent and by about 8 percent in cities that have between 500,000 and 999,999 people. Washington's population is about 590,000. During that same period of time, murders in the District fell by an astounding 25 percent, dropping from 186 to 140. The city only started allowing its citizens to own handguns for defense again in late 2008.
        
        "Few who lived in Washington during the 1970s can forget the upswing in crime that started right after the ban was originally passed. In the five years before the 1977 ban, the murder rate fell from 37 to 27 murders per 100,000. In the five years after the gun ban went into effect, the murder rate rose back up to 35. One fact is particularly hard to ignore: D.C.'s murder rate fluctuated after 1976 but only once fell below what it was in 1976 before the ban. That aberration happened years later, in 1985.
        
        "This correlation between the D.C. gun ban and diminished safety was not a coincidence. Look at the Windy City. Immediately after Chicago banned handguns in 1982, the murder rate, which had been falling almost continually for a decade, started to rise. Chicago's murder rate rose relative to other large cities as well. The phenomenon of higher murder rates after gun bans are passed is not just limited to the United States. Every single time a country has passed a gun ban, its murder rate soared."

        Monday at 11:55am ·
      • 
        

        Chicago gun deaths are rising and Mayor Daily and the police want tighter gun control according to the Christian Science Monitor at - http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0427/Homicide-rate-jumps-in-Chicago-Daley-pushes-for-more-gun-control
        
        The solution, Daley says, is to continue pressing state and federal courts to tighten restrictions on gun ownership – and to uphold the city’s ban on handguns and assault weapons.
        “This is all about guns, and that’s why the crusade is on,”
        
        And in Baltimore "Targeting guns to reduce violent crime" athttp://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0110/Targeting-guns-to-reduce-violent-crime
        
        I get the impression that the police and elected officials want gun control while the NRA doesn't.
        
        Reading through these articles, it's clear to me that it's not safe to be on the streets in Chicago and Baltimore. One gang member who shot a 20 month old girl in Chicago said he was aiming at her father, not the girl.

        Monday at 12:46pm ·
      • 
        

        I agree with your conclusion: don't live in those cities. It's clear that when guns are criminalized, only criminals have guns (and law enforcement, who can't be in all places at all times to defend you). Too bad Daley's political opinion runs counter to the facts.

        Monday at 2:53p
        m

Marine Corps Birthday

http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/marine_corps_birthday.htm

Semper Fi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXpUcRVzV1s

If your toe isn't tapping under your desk right now, call 9-11 'cause there's a medical problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0uw8jhQx5U&feature=related

Christianity in the Middle East

This is hilarious...and true IMHO...

ABC News found that Trijicon, which makes rifle scopes for the military, stamps references to Bible verses on its equipment [1]. The defense contractor subsequently announced [2] that it will voluntarily stop stamping these references on combat rifle sights. These sights are used in Iraq and Afghanistan — sometimes to train Muslims, sometimes to shoot them. According to ABC News, this is very important. If a Muslim were to see this code on the side of a rifle and then look up the verse in one of the many Bibles you can easily find in Muslim countries, then that Muslim might become indoctrinated with Christianity and then … chaos or something.

read it all...

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/does-the-middle-east-need-more-christians/?print=1

Founding Minds Write

My friend Troubled Corinthian is moved to spread the reading of our founding documents to anyone who will get together. He gave me the book "5000 Year Leap" for Christmas which should be required reading for all U.S. high schoolers. I suggested this book would be a great starting point, since most Americans (let alone students) are rarley able to digest the founders' writing.

http://www.amazon.com/5000-Year-Leap-Miracle-Changed/dp/0880801484

Indeed, unless you are a law student, it's a rare person who picks up, say, the Federalist Papers for light reading. Also, I think the below service is excellent for sharpening one's mind in the writing of our founders. I easily recall how in college my mind worked to process reading Shakespeare, and within a few plays it was cake. Much easier than learning a new language, but it takes a little patience and attention at the start. Of course the founders came much later than Shakespeare, and their language is the same as ours...excepting their glorious choice of wordsmithing...e.g.:

"There is something so far-fetched and so extravagant in the idea of danger to liberty from the militia that one is at a loss whether to treat it with gravity or with raillery; whether to consider it as a mere trial of skill, like the paradoxes of rhetoricians; as a disingenuous artifice to instil prejudices at any price; or as the serious." --Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 29

I thoroughly enjoy daily quotations from this service, followed by weekly editorials.

http://patriotpost.us/subscribe/

Thank your military

http://media.causes.com/576542?p_id=92681239

"Show our military there are still plenty of people who appreciate their service and sacrifice. Pass this YouTube video link to every person you know so it will eventually reach every present and former military person across the globe! Love your freedom? Thank your military."

Nehemiah Group

This just in from Gabe Suarez:



THE NEHEMIAH GROUP



Nehemiah 4:9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.



Nehemiah 4:17 Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.



Nehemiah 4:13 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people,"Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."


The Nehemiah Group is a new section of Suarez International focusing on the security analysis of places of worship, as well as the training of Church Security Groups around the world. This has been a long time coming. Interested pastors, or rabbis please contact us at info@suarezinternational.com



Some of my Bible study guys and I have discussed the matter of church security many times. After 9/11 our pastor asked around to see who among the flock carries a pistol, in case of a violent attack. We have more than a few, in and out of law enforcement and military, so we'll have a fighting chance.

Since July 4th, I've spent much less time in the news, and more time in The Word. That's a good thing, folks. Nothing like the Sword of Truth to cut through modern times.

Christian warrior

BoG disclaimer. In reference to the Winston Churchill quotation some time ago, and my adjacent invective that conservative should make life hell for socialists, a liberal friend of mine said she's not interested in my blog because it is partisan. Let me be clear. Socialism leads to tyranny and the death of innocents. If you don't understand this, please Google that, and expand your historical knowledge base. I am interested in God's grace, and in His blessing this country such that it defends people's "rights" to practice religion, defend themselves, and so on. (To what extent God is concerned with human rights we will leave for a later date.) No other country was founded on such principals. No other country goes out of its way to defend others around the globe, in the way the U.S. does. To the extent the U.S. falls away from its original principals, it will also quite likely fall out of grace with the Almighty, upon Whose Name it was founded. Those who wish to re-write the Constitution to fit their political agenda, making it more like failed systems aroud the globe and less like the proverbial City on the Hill, these are either misguided souls, enemies of freedom, or both. As Churchill also said, in one of the most quoted graduation speeches, "Never, never, never, never, never give up!" And with Christian love, we will continue to promote the Gospel of Christ, and the remaining foundation of this country which still stands upon His principals.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The below is quoted from one of Gabe Suarez's emails to which I subscribe. This one in particular exemplifies our themes of the supplication of God's Will and the absence of coincidence.



CHRISTIAN WARRIOR



Suarez International is dedicated to His service, and this section exists to glorify His name and to provide encouragement to our brothers-in-arms that serve Him as Christian Warriors. We believe that God gave us courage and called us to the profession of arms, and that its His will that we be strong and dangerous in the face of evil and the sons of perdition that walk this earth.

Responsibility and Preparation

When a publically-traded business fails, investors quite reasonably look at the CEO to ask what happened - and to place the blame. When a military unit is captured, the generals will want to interrogate the team leader for the same reasons. This is all very reasonable. One might even expect it would be an inherent aspect of leadership to "accept" such responsibility.

Yet today, when a church fails, many church leaders are very quick to simply blame their Boss - The Lord. "It was not His will", they will say, "that this church succeeds". What might we say of the CEO, of say, a failed automobile manufacturer, or a failed bank, if when asked about the jobs and livelihoods of those dependant on him, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "C'est la vie"? (That means "That is life" in French for any liberals that might be reading). Probably nothing you would repeat in front of a gaggle of girls at a Sunday service, yet it is OK for a pastor to use such an excuse?

What about when a family fails? You know - kids go bad, relationship ends in divorce, poor spending discipline, etc. Stuff like that. Whose responsibility is it? God's will, or the failure of leadership?

Listen. Do not blame God for your own mistakes. I often see failure in leadership as far as churches go because the pastor makes some sort of decision with his own interest in mind and not necessarily the interest of his church. Then, falling in love with his decision, convinces himself that it is God's will. Yet at every turn there is nothing but resistance and closed doors and problems. An attentive man might be thinking that God does not want him to go that way, but not the pastor (or Christian Leader) that has already made up his mind. He will press on and dismiss the resistance as spiritual warfare.

I do not believe God forces us to do things, rather, having free will, He will guide us. But all too often we refuse to pay attention. I remember back in 2002 when the idea of moving out of California first came up for us. It was a difficult thing as we owned a home, belonged to a church there, and still had family and friends there. So what did I do? I prayed. I asked the Lord that if it was in fact His will that we move, to please make it so easy that we would in fact know it was His will. Some might say such a prayer was unfaithful. Truth is, I don't care what they think. If they prayed such prayers (just as Gideon did in Judges) I suspect they would not make as many life mistakes.

In any case, God made the transition so simple it was almost too funny. Think of a door not only being opened after such a prayer, but that door being blown up by det cord and a big suction sucking us through the opening! But I consulted God before moving a finger. And most importantly, waited for an answer before moving. David did likewise as I recall.

In the old martial arts world we had a saying about preparations - Those destined to win, study first, then fight the battle. Those destined to lose, fight the battle first, and then study why they lost. Same thing here. Don't you think?
__________________
Gabe Suarez

One Source Tactical
Suarez International USA
Christian Warrior Ministries

Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to
send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a sword.

*******************************************************

We have begun a new website titled

Christian Warrior Ministries

Take a look. http://www.christianwarriorministries.com/

BoG aside: I heard a market report last night which suggested that if Chrysler were allowed to fall a few decades ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today...not to say that would eliminate failure, but rather it would set a better precedent for success. It also made the interesting note: "Capitalism needs failure like religion needs sin." Well, let's not delve into the theology of that, but rather reflect upon our sinful nature, and need for a saviour, and upon capitalism's natural tendancy to have market cycles, successes and failures. To the extent to which the government interferes with that failure and subsequent recovery, the market will take longer to recover. It's take plenty of academic openness to admit recently that the Great Depression was prolonged by the New Deal, NOT solved by it. We can only hope that the U.S.'s inherent economic strength, and God's Will, don't make us pay for this meddling.

And on the poetic side, this is from a year-old mailing from Gabe:

To prevent the unforeseen when I’m alone and down the block, I pack a Holy Bible…a Bible and a Glock.
If the enemy opposing has a Christian soul to seal, I will bless him with a scripture, but if not…with lead and steel.
I want to live in peace with everyone I see. I shall always try to do so, as much as depends on me.
But there’s no evil I will stand, no devil hand that I won’t still, like the Lion and the Lamb,
the very hand that blesses you can kill!
To prevent the unforeseen when I’m alone and down the block, I pack a Holy Bible…a Bible and a Glock.

Gabe, thanks for all you do, as a Christian, and as an American.