Month: September 2011

I Guess It’s a Matter of Perspective

I guess boring is really a matter of perspective. The last question of the CNN Tea Party Debate was an inquiry about what personal thing each candidate would have brought to the White House. Bitter over at Snowflakes in Hell found Dr. Paul’s response rather boring:

Paul – He’d teach economics classes. And give boring as hell answers to personality-driven questions.

Heh, what she finds boring I find exciting. I attend a couple of liberty oriented gathers a week and the topic of Austrian economics is often discussed. Two weeks ago I attended a debate between Austrian economics Robert Murphy and Keynesian Karl Smith. Much of my free time is reading literature on Austrian economics. Needless to say having good economics classes at the White House sounded like a pretty good time to me.

The differences in peoples’ interests has always amused me.

So what would my answer to that question had been if I were running for the presidency? My reloading bench and a good stockpile of components. Why? Because the image of me sitting in the Oval Office reloading ammunition makes me smile.

More Proof Ben Bernanke is an Idiot

I’m sure you read the headline of this post and thought to yourself, “Ben Bernanke is proof that Ben Bernanke is an idiot.” That’s true but I like to be thorough when building cases against the intellect of stupid people. Take for instance Bernanke’s recent appearance in Minneapolis (sadly I wasn’t able to join the protest as it took place a noon and I was working) where he pointed out the reason the economy isn’t recovering. Here’s a hint, it’s our fault:

Then he said something new: Consumers are depressed beyond reason or expectation.

Oh, sure, there are reasons to be depressed, and the Fed chairman rattled them off: “The persistently high level of unemployment, slow gains in wages for those who remain employed, falling house prices, and debt burdens that remain high.”

However, Mr. Bernanke continued, “Even taking into account the many financial pressures that they face, households seem exceptionally cautious.”

Consumers, in other words, are behaving as if the economy is even worse than it actually is.

Yes the reason the economy isn’t recovering is because people aren’t spending money due to their overly cautious nature. I’m not sure if Bernanke realizes this but in order to spend money you have to have money. On top of that when you’re unemployed spending any money is a scary proposition because there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to make more money in the near future. That is to say when you don’t have any sources of income all expenditures or potentially permanent reductions in your available savings.

Anybody with two brain cells to rub together would be able to reach such a logical conclusion. Of course Ben Bernanke doesn’t have two brain cells and thus he is throwing out nonsensical theories to explain why people without work aren’t spending money:

Why? Well, one possibility is that Americans collectively are suffering from what amounts to an economic version of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Let me guess, the next plan the Federal Reserver is going to develop will involve economic post-traumatic stress disorder therapy. Either that or they’ll just try to pump $10 trillion into the economy because if at first you don’t succeed try the same thing again, only harder.

My Insanity

It’s well known in my circle of friends that I’m a bit insane. For instance a sane individual looking for a light-weight rifle would probably end up with a nice AR-15. Of course that’s what a sane person would do and as I just explained I’m not sane, therefore I am looking at building a lightweight AR in .308. Why? Because I absolutely love larger caliber weapons. My USPSA gun is a Glock 21SF and my carry gun is a Glock 30SF because I seem to believe every handgun needs to be in .45 or bigger (except of course my 9mm, .44 magnum, .357 magnum, etc.).

Really all I need to build is a new upper receiver with a 16″ lightweight barrel as my current LR308 lower is perfectly fine (although an adjustable stock would be nice in some situations). My current LR308 has a 20″ barrel which is nice and everything but it does weigh a lot when you’re lugging the rifle around for any length of time.

So what do I bring this up? Mostly because I have nothing better to write about today and I like putting my ideas out in public for all to see and criticize.

CNN’s Tea Party Republican Debate Summary

Last night’s debate was more pointless than the one previous. What follows is a summary of what I took away from the debate:

Perry seems to be the chosen one as far as the Republican party is concerned. Although his record is stained with more statist agendas than some socialists he seems to have read Ron Paul’s books and is trying to make himself sound like the good doctor. He’s a typical neocon, promising small government and liberty but will provide none of it.

Romney is the other “front runner” according to the mass media. He’s so statist that he was able to get elected governor of Massachusetts which I believe is all that needs to be said about him.

Bachmann knowns here ratings are slipping and is acting like an injured animal. She’s thrashing about and lashing out at anybody and everybody who attempts to move in to finish her off. It makes for entertaining debates.

Santorum wants to become president to move his holy crusade against the enemies of Israel forward. If were up to him we’d turn the entirety of the Middle East (excluding Israel) into a giant glass bowl. Thankfully he doesn’t have a chance at this point.

Huntsman is also a neocon piece of shit. I really don’t know what else to say about him as he’s so trivial as to be non existant.

Cain is the former head of the Kansas Federal Reserver. Although he says many of the right things his past association with the Fed made him an absolute no-go in my book.

Gingrich is the prototypical neocon. He talks about small government and liberty but his past voting record shows the exact opposite. Like most politicians this man can’t be truest any further than he can be thrown.

Paul is the one guy in the race that makes sense. His record demonstrates a strong support of liberty and he’s got enough balls to say things during the debate that no other candidate will even whisper.

Johnson wasn’t even invited. I think it’s because the major media networks are afraid of having two libertarian candidates on stage.

And that’s that. I would like to congratulate CNN on being extremely large dicks. A question about the Federal Reserve came up and, I shit you not, every candidate on stage except Ron Paul was allowed to answer. The man who literally wrote a book on the subject wasn’t asked about the Federal Reserve. What the fuck?

Proof Once Again That It’s Not About Protection, It’s About Extortion

Numerous rants on this site can be found regarding the “justice” system in this country. Case in point we have the following court ruling in which a woman was prosecuted for selling counterfeit Cisco equipment:

A Virginia woman was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for leading a “sophisticated” conspiracy to import and sell counterfeit Cisco Systems networking equipment, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

I’m not going to complain about the charges or case itself but the punishment placed upon the perpetrator. This woman was nailed for selling counterfeit equipment which you can argue grants a legitimacy to Cisco’s claim of damages so I understand why she was made to pay restitution. What I don’t understand though is the rest of her punishment:

In addition to the prison time, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia also ordered Chun-Yu Zhao, 43, of Chantilly, Virginia, to pay US$2.7 million restitution and a $17,500 fine.

The emphasized parts are the source of my confusion. As this woman wronged Cisco I can see why she would be made to pay restitution to the company but I see no reason why she should be thrown in prison and made to pay a fine to the government. In this case prison makes no sense since the supposed purpose of incarceration is to separate dangerous people from the rest of society. Somebody dealing in counterfeit goods is not a danger to society as no act of violence has been made. She didn’t assault or murder anybody, she simply committed acts of fraud.

Then there is the fine. Why should the government receive any money in this case? The courts are already paid for using tax dollars so a claim of funding can’t be legitimately made. The woman in no way wronged the government or “society” either so why the Hell do they get any cut from the ruling? It’s because our “justice” system is simply another funding mechanism for our government.

Some people may ask why this kind of thing bothers me. The reason it bothers me is because it creates a conflict of interest. Courts are argued to be impartial arbitrators whom can peacefully solve disputes between two entities. This impartiality is jeopardized when the government (who own the courts) receives money based on their ruling. In such cases a situation is created where the government gains if a guilty verdict is decided and therefore it’s in the best interest of the government to proclaim judgements of guilt.

When the government stands to receive $17,000 from a fine why would they entertain any idea of the accused being innocent? If the accused is ruled to be innocent the government receives nothing but if the accused is ruled to be guilty the government receives money. How can any claim of impartiality be made in such a system?

My Application was Rejected

Uncle sent out notice that the Brady Campaign is looking for a new CEO. My application was rejected because it seems the Brady Campaign has no interest in a libertarian gun nut who specialized in making fun of anti-gun individuals and their constant parroting of lies. Still I found some rather humorous points in the requirements page:

The Brady Campaign has embraced building this grassroots strength as one of its most important priorities for the years ahead.

If the Brady Campaign has made establishing a grassroots movement against gun rights a priority I’d had to see how badly they’re failing at things they’re not concentrating on. You know what else is funny? This:

The organization is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a staff of 25. There are 5 regional staff members in other parts of the country and the two entities have a combined annual budget of $5.3 million.

So the entire Brady Campaign headquarters staff is only 1/3 the size of the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) board of directors:

The NRA organization is governed by a large (typically 76 member) board of directors.

That made me giggle. What other hilarious gems lie within the job description? How about this:

The CEO will be a proven, results-oriented manager of people, teams, and organizations. S/He will provide the Brady Campaign with strategic leadership and bear ultimate responsibility for the organization’s programs, operations, and staff. The CEO will oversee effective program delivery and the executive team in its day-to-day management of the organization. S/he will be expected to create and execute a comprehensive strategy that utilizes a wide range of voices to deliver the organization’s messages.

So basically the new CEO will have to be accomplish the exact opposite of their last CEO. Good luck on that one guys. Though it’s good to see that the Brady Campaign understands the most important skill their next CEO will need:

While no one person will possess all of the qualities enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal characteristics:

[…]

A sense of humor.

Their new CEO will need that once S/He realizes the entire organization is one giant joke.

The Winners of the Scummiest Parents of the Year Award

It’s not secret that I’m avidly against so-called gun buy back programs. First of all the terminology is misleading because buying back an item implies that you at one point owned it. For example if I purchase a car from you and later sell it back to you the transaction could be considered a buy back. As I’ve never purchased a firearm from the government they can not claim previous ownership and therefore can’t “buy it back.” The other major issue I have with so-called buy back programs is the simple fact that they’re often funded with taxpayer money. Did I mention the fact that they’re completely ineffective as no criminal is going to turn over a perfectly functional firearm for a measly $100.00 gift card?

Well it seems a group of idiot anti-gunners, but I repeat myself, got together and came up with a rather moronic idea befitting their movement. Behold, a gun buy back program for children:

The guns being bought back from the streets weren’t 9 mm handguns or Glocks. Instead, they were Nerf guns or toy pistols.

And they weren’t being bought with cash. This time, the currency was pizza slices, notebooks and dress shirts.

The FATHERS group and Bona Pizza teamed up Monday for a buyback aimed at younger teens and preteens at the pizzeria at Bailey and Kensington avenues.

You know what? So long as you’re privately funding this stupidity I’m not going to kick up too much fuss but I am going to call you on the fact that you’re bloody morons. The way I see it this move is either purely stupid or purely brilliant depending on whether or not the children of the pizzeria owner end up with a bunch of new Nerf guns. Either way the justification for this buy back is sickening:

The idea was simple: Don’t let kids get used to firing weapons, even if they’re toys.

“It makes them too comfortable, holding that gun,” said Leonard Lane, president of Fathers Armed Together to Help, Educate, Restore and Save. “Then there’s no fear holding the real gun when they get older. We want to put that fear back into our children, teaching them what guns can do, how they affect their community.”

“A toy gun today, a real gun tomorrow,” said Charles Cina, owner of Bona Pizza. “That’s what we want to stop.”

Emphasis mine. I don’t even have to take any journalistic creativity here, the own of the pizzeria actually wants to frighten children. He wants to put fear of inanimate objects into them. What kind of asshole wants to put fear into a child? That kind of dickery takes a special kind of jackass in my never humble opinion.

On top of that I don’t know why there should be fear in holding a real gun. I’ve spend more time behind the trigger of various firearms than many and I’ve never felt any fear. Sure there is respect for the device and what it’s capable of but respect and fear are completely different. Respect of potentially dangerous objects is something that children should be imbued with while fear or anything is something that they should be taught to reject.

Humans are taught to fear that which they do not understand and what this group of parents is trying to do is ensure children never understand firearms. Firearms are deceptively simple mechanical devices and once you understand that guns become far less mystical and frightening. On top of that there are safety rules which, if followed, will ensure nobody is accidentally injured with a firearm. If these parents really gave a damn about the development of their children they would take their kids to a firearm safety class instead of trying to turn firearms into a mystical black box technology.

As I said humans are taught to fear that which they do not understand but before receiving this despicable lesson children are very inquisitive. It takes years of beating fear into children before they come to the conclusion that objects they don’t understand are somehow scary. Until that fear is beat into them they are curious about anything they lack an understand of. As a parent you have two options available to you; either teach your children about things they lack an understanding of or teach your children to fear things they don’t understand. The first option will teach children to strive for knowledge while the second will teach them to just do as they’re told and never question authority. The second option is also one taken by a parent who is incredibly lazy.

A funny thing happens to children who are taught how to responsibly handle firearms, they usually handle firearms responsibly. That isn’t to say you should allow children to handle firearms unsupervised; supervision, in fact, is the teaching that will take away the mysticism of the firearm and ensure children develop a proper respect and understanding of the lead throwing contraptions instead of bumbling around with one curiously which usually ends in injury or death.

I will say that any child who participated in this program should have learned one important life lesson, some people are assholes and will try to rip you off:

So kids such as Tarence Callaham, 14, a Buffalo ninth-grader, brought in his green and orange Nerf gun. In return, Tarence got a piece of pepperoni pizza, a snazzy dress shirt and the chance to shoot some hoops in the pizzeria parking lot.

Nerf guns aren’t exactly the cheapest toys on the planet. Generally you can buy a piece of pizza and a dress shirt for less than a Nerf gun. Likewise most cities have numerous free basketball courts available for use without charge and basketballs can be had for very little money. Lets look at what another child received for his Nerf gun:

Tynell Ruffins, 9, a fourth-grader at Community Charter School, got a bigger haul in return for his orange and black Nerf gun. He got the pizza, a soft drink, a notebook, a dress shirt and a Marvel Heroes folder.

Once again a piece of pizza, soft drink, notebook, dress shirt, and folder can generally be had for far less than a Nerf gun. Not only are the parents involved in this scheme trying to frighten children but they’re also ripping them off. Make no mistake, these parents are equal to scam artists that rob little old ladies of their retirement funds. That is to say these parents are scum pure and simple. With that said I do want to take one of them up on an offer they made:

“We’ve got to be willing to exchange everything and anything to get guns off the street,” he added.

Deal, for every two ounces of pure gold you give me I’ll give you one of my firearms. How about it? I’m dead serious and this offer is available to anybody.

We Survived

I just wanted to let everybody know that even though there was a specific and credible threat yesterday we all survived. I’m sure the Department of Motherland Homeland Security will take full credit for the fact no terrorists actually tried to attack us yesterday and then claim they need even more power in order to continue keeping us under their thumb safe.

Another Reason to Avoid the Mall of America

If you’re like me then you hate the Mall of America. The place is a cesspool of boring and overpriced stores with little in the way of worthwhile destinations (there is a Barnes and Nobel and an Apple Store I guess). Well if not having anything worth your time isn’t reason enough to avoid that place how about their “security” theater which targets innocent people for no reason other than allowing the security guards to feel high and mighty while they throw their authority around:

Mall of America officials say their security unit stops and questions on average 1,200 people each year. The interviews at the mall are part of a counterterrorism initiative that acts as the private eyes and ears of law enforcement authorities but has often ensnared innocent people, according to an investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR.

In many cases, the written reports were filed without the knowledge of those interviewed by security. Several people named in the reports learned from journalists that their birth dates, race, names of employers and other personal information were compiled along with surveillance images.

Not only will the security guards harass you but they will also record any personal information that you give them. Here’s an important piece of information to note, mall security are not real police officers and you are under no obligation to humor their demands. While a real police officer has the power to arrest you if you don’t bend to their will mall security guards can only ask that you leave and call the real cops if you refuse.

There is no reason you should talk to a mall security guard whatsoever. If you find yourself in the Mall of American know two things; first there is a light rail terminal downstairs which can get you the fuck out of there and second should a guard come up and talk to you say nothing and leave the building. Anything you say will likely be recorded and placed on their records for all time. I should also note that the Bloomington Police Department does have a station inside of the mall so it takes no time at all for the mall security guards to get a real cop on the scene but there isn’t much they can do to you if you’re leaving.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

It seems the California senate has voted, not surprisingly, in favor of shitting all over the rights of its citizens again. This time the California senate voted in favor of banning the act of openly carrying an unloaded firearm:

The state Senate acted Thursday to prohibit California handgun owners from openly carrying their weapons in public, siding with law enforcement officials who say it wastes their time responding to false alarms of armed suspects and creates a risk of confrontation.

Current law allows the open carrying of unloaded handguns in public, and many activists have exercised their right by showing up in large numbers at their local Starbucks or other public places, wearing their firearm in a holster. Sen. Kevin DeLeon (D-Los Angeles) said there is no reason for that to happen in 2011.

Yeah there’s absolutely no excuse for those stupid peasants to exercise what few rights their rulers allow them to have! How dare they abide by the law in a manner their princes and barons disapprove of! The act of openly carrying unloaded firearms may slightly inconvenience a police officer on a power trip! This will not stand!

Seriously Mr. DeLeon what the fuck is your problem:

“This is not the wild west,” DeLeon said during the floor debate. “How discomforting can it be if you walk into a restaurant, a Starbucks, a Mickey D’s and all of a sudden you see someone with a handgun?”

Yeah that’s pretty discomforting. I know I freak right the fuck out every time I see a police officer enter a restaurant or coffee shop. Oh I forgot, because of their sanction from the state it’s OK when they do it, it’s just not OK for any of the peasants to do it. I keep forgetting about the government’s double standards.

Considering the real problems California is facing it’s rather sad to see their government spending time further restricting the rights of the citizenry. Perhaps if those “representatives” spent half as much time working on real problems California wouldn’t be as much of a shit hole as it is. Never mind since working to “fix” problems is what got that state in the position it currently is.

If you live in that state you should give serious consideration to moving out while you still can; you never know when the state Soviet will decide to erect a wall between California and the rest of the United States.