And Here Is What I Love About Rand Paul

He is fearless in speaking the truth as he understands it…without the Crazy Uncle Harry vibe I always got from his dad.

Piers Morgan…

Man without a country?

Irony Upon Irony

Piers Morgan thinks it’s ironic that there’s a campaign to deport him for exercising his right to free speech under the 1st Amendment

I think it’s ironic that Piers Morgan claims 1st Amendment protection in his campaign to strip law-abiding, actual citizens of their 2nd Amendment rights.

Karma. I Hear She’s A Bitch.

It looks like JB Properties is having a bad day. That’s what happens, I guess, when you order seniors living in your adult apartment complex to take down their Christmas tree.

Bob. Just. Stop. Talking.

Please. Because I don’t really have time for all this writing.

You’re so close to the truth, here, Bob (can I call you Bob?), but you’re blinded by your anti-gun bias.

“Give me one example of an athlete — I know it’s happened in society — but give me one example of a professional athlete who by virtue of his having a gun, took a dangerous situation and turned it around for the better. I can’t think of a single one. But sadly, I can think of dozens where by virtue of having a gun, a professional athlete wound up in a tragic situation.”

Getting back to the idea that you’re a moron, how can you speak those words and not understand what you’re saying? Let me break it down for you.

1. You can’t think of a single example where a gun, in the hands of a professional athlete, led to a good outcome in a dangerous situation.
2. You acknowledge that guns do contribute to good outcomes in those situations among the general population.
3. You can’t think of a single example where a gun, in the hands of a professional athlete, led to a good outcome in a dangerous situation.
4. You acknowledge that guns do contribute to good outcomes in those situations among the general population.

Do you see where I’m going with this? You’re not talking about a problem with the “gun culture”, whatever it is that you mean by that, Bob, and you’re not talking about a problem with the law-abiding general population. You’re talking about a problem with the pro sports culture.  And when I say “pro sports,” I’m mainly talking about football today and I’m including D1 college ball.

Now, there are many, many fine, law-abiding, upstanding individuals playing pro sports and this post specifically does not refer to them; unfortunately there are also a substantial number who take their own press too seriously. They’ve been pampered, coddled and told they’re special…some of them since before they entered high school. It’s not hard to imagine how they come to feel entitled to special treatment. They indiscriminately father illegitimate children, some of them in numbers that would be comic if it weren’t so tragic. Then, they mock Tim Tebow for declining to join them in their bad behavior.

They’ve not been made to face the consequences of their own actions. A case in point? Jerramy Stevens, a man who should have been in jail for assault but instead was playing football, on “scholarship” (and don’t even get me started on that), at the University of Washington, where he committed rape, but instead of serving time, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. And who, a decade later, is still behaving badly.

Maybe it’s just me, but this is not my idea of a healthy sub-culture. And, Bob, you project it onto the larger population. Now you think we need to have a conversation about guns and easy access to guns. I disagree. I don’t think that law-abiding citizens should have to accept, or even consider, any more infringements on their Constitutionally guaranteed right to keep and bear arms. Maybe it is time, though, to have a conversation about the pro sports culture and how it contributes to producing infantile men-children who blunder about like malicious Baby Hueys, unaware of their own potential for causing harm, requiring ever increasing amounts of supervision to keep them from harming themselves and those around them.

And that’s a conversation where I think you could add some value, Bob.

Bob Costas Still Wrong on Gun Control

Bob Costas laments the fact that he broke his own rule about not commenting on nuanced topics unless there’s enough time to “flesh them out.” Sadly, given more time to discuss his thoughts on gun control, he is still wrong.

“Here’s where I stand: I do not want to see the Second Amendment repealed. … People should be allowed to own guns for their own protection. Obviously, those who are hunters. … Access to guns is too easy in some cases. I don’t see any reason a citizen should be able to arm himself in some states in ways only police or military should — to have a virtual militia [by] mail order or gun shows. Why do you need a semi-automatic weapon? What possible use is there? … Whitlock wrote about a gun culture. That’s what I was focusing on.”

 Isn’t that special? Bob doesn’t want to see the Second Amendment repealed. Good for him! But it appears that he may not be fully aware of the actual wording of said amendment.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Bob doesn’t think we need any pesky militias, but that would seem to be the very intent of the authors of the Second Amendment. A wise person once wrote, “Whether or not the ‘framers of the Constitution’ envisioned semi-automatic weapons has no bearing on the advisability of the current legislation. Rep. Kohl-Wells should re-read the 2nd Amendment and try to understand the thinking behind it. The 2nd Amendment wasn’t written to protect the rights of hunters and sportsmen; it was written to protect the ‘the security of a free state.’ Consequently, it should be assumed that the author envisioned citizens as being well armed according to the standard of the day.”

Sorry, Bob…keep spinning.

Dear Bob Costas

You, sir, are a moron.

Honestly, how can you be wrong in so many ways? First off, you were apparently under the impression that millions of Americans were waiting breathlessly on the edge of their seats to hear your opinion on gun control.  WRONG! Years of yammering on about sports doesn’t make you an expert on 2nd Amendment rights. Obviously. And if someone is going to lecture me about maintaining perspective, it had best be someone who doesn’t make a living yammering on about sports.

Next, you appear to be under the impression that depriving law-abiding citizens of firearms will magically make all firearms disappear. WRONG! The thing about criminals is that – get this, it’s a revolutionary thought – they don’t mind breaking the law. Mind-boggling, isn’t it? In fact, in the first two years after handguns were banned in the U.K., crimes involving the use of a handgun were UP by 40%. And why not…it’s not as though the criminals were at any risk of being fired on themselves.

Last, you claim that if firearms were unavailable, Jovan Belcher and Kasandra Perkins would be alive today. WRONG! Ace makes the case that a trained athlete can kill a woman with a knife. He doesn’t go quite far enough. It’s my thought that as a 6′2″, 228 pound athlete in the prime years of his NFL career, Jovan Belcher likely could have killed Kasandra Perkins with his bare hands.

Do you know what might have made a difference? If Kasandra Perkins had had a handgun of her own and been able to protect herself from an assailant of overwhelming strength. Maybe then her infant daughter would have, if not an intact family, at least a loving mother.

Three strikes, Bob. You’re out.

The Rose Still Grows Beyond The Wall

Near a shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God’s free light:
Watered and fed by morning dew,
Shedding its sweetness day and night.

As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall,
Through which there shone a beam of light.

Onward it crept with added strength
With never a thought of fear or pride,
It followed the light through the crevice length,
And unfolded itself on the other side.

The light, the dew, the broadening view
Were found the same as they were before.
And it lost itself in beauties new.
Breathing its fragrance more and more.

Shall claim of death cause us to grieve,
And make our courage faint or fall?
Nay, let us faith and hope receive,
The rose still grows beyond the wall.

Scattering fragrance far and wide,
Just as it did in days of yore.
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will forevermore.

~A.L.Frink

Please take a moment to remember Elaine Cillo.

Maybe Not So Good To Go

Credit: Seattle Weekly Blogs

The Washington State DOT installed an automated tolling system that can perform inconsistently due to “weather” or “traffic,” then charges drivers an “enforcement fee.”

Call me crazy, but in a city ranked #7 in the nation for the worst traffic and where it rains 140+ days a year, that just doesn’t seem right.

Curious

Curiouser and curiouser

Erik at No Pasaran wonders why current photos of Brett Kimberlin are so hard to come by. I wonder why he doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry under his given name like other notorious domestic terrorists, Ted Kaczynski, Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph. I wonder why the Speedway Bomber entry is devoid of all but the most basic facts.

Also, why isn’t he in prison?

Update 1: I see the Speedway Bomber Wiki entry has been fleshed out and silly me, I didn’t take a screen shot of the original, which itself appeared to have been added only yesterday.

Update 2: Oh, look. I wasn’t the only one who was curious about the Wikipedia blackout, but Patterico actually tried to find out why.