Codevilla does a better job at explain in more detail, the thoughts and substance I was trying to convey in my Cojones in Politics post from the same day.
While I hate to keep referencing 1984 over and over again, the truth is that the plot line is ever present in today's Washington. Instead of dividing the nation into three different classes of people, the high, middle, and low, Codevilla's piece divides them into just two; The Ruling Elite Class and the Country Class.
The distinction is quite simple between the two. The Elites want nothing but power, and look down upon those who don't have it. Like I discussed on Friday, the two parties are really one in the same, using their opposition of one another for mutual beneficial distraction of the masses. Those who belong to the Country Class, have a severe lack of connection to the Ruling Elites, and for the most part, despise everything associated with their hellbent power grab. A distinction between Codevilla's article and Orwell's book however is that those who follow the ruling elites are members of the party themselves; i.e. if you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Find yourself a good 30 minutes to dig into the meat of this article, as it is well worth the read.
20 July 2010
19 July 2010
Shameless Plug: Lucky Gunner Ammo Engine / Sales
In the voice of Billy Mays: Need Ammo? Who doesn't these days. Deer season is coming, paper is always in season, and you never know when a good crop of zombies will attack. Unfortunately, Lucky Gunner Ammo Sales doesn't sell the latest and greatest in silver bullets for vampires and werewolves, but they do have in stock ammo that's ready to ship.
Need it fast? They've got great shipping. You can grab your share of their in stock ammo by click HERE to order. Of course, check your local laws for restrictions.
Run your own blog? I'll double your lucky gunner offer today by clicking HERE to go to the Firearms Blog and doing a similar write up in a chance to win 1000 rounds of the elusive .380 cal. But wait there's more! If you feel so inclined, you can also broadcast your affections for www.luckygunner.com and www.thefirearmblog.com on your facebook, providing links, for a second chance to win.
Odds of winning depend upon number of entries, certain restrictions do apply, void where prohibited.
Need it fast? They've got great shipping. You can grab your share of their in stock ammo by click HERE to order. Of course, check your local laws for restrictions.
Run your own blog? I'll double your lucky gunner offer today by clicking HERE to go to the Firearms Blog and doing a similar write up in a chance to win 1000 rounds of the elusive .380 cal. But wait there's more! If you feel so inclined, you can also broadcast your affections for www.luckygunner.com and www.thefirearmblog.com on your facebook, providing links, for a second chance to win.
Odds of winning depend upon number of entries, certain restrictions do apply, void where prohibited.
Slice of Life: Adjusting to your Surroundings
Some areas of Maryland are still rural, enough so that you can shoot in your own back yard. I used to live in one of those places, and didn't realize how good I had it until I got married and moved to a more urban area. I regret not having a higher degree of interest in perfecting my shooting at that time in my life. Ammo was cheaper, range time plentiful and now it's a struggle to complete house projects, entertain guests, run to see friends, and make sure I fit in enough family time that everyone is happy and shinny and new.
I still have not adjusted to the fact that the fire house a block away gets a medic call about once every hour and worse still, the drone of 695 is heard when my windows are open. Factor in police helicopter fly-byes every now and then, or the dog barking it's head off, and it's no wonder I sometimes awaken in the middle of the night to assume something is afoot.
As the saying goes, train as you fight, fight as you train, and I know my ability (location) and time to train is severely lacking. What's worse is the cost to train those skills has also increased. I recall when I purchased my first handgun some 7 years ago, .45 ammo was a lowly 9 bucks a box of 50 when it was on sale. Last time I made a .45 purchase, it was forty cents a round. That's a huge contrast in ability to put rounds down range. Even .40 cal ammo is pretty pricey, which has me thinking it's time to trade the .40 down to a 9mm at 3/4 the cost for 500 rounds. Thankfully, I have an AK that eats all of the cheap mil-surp ammo all day long and still keeps on going. My heart goes out to those of you who chose to shoot .223 or .308, outch!
Fortunately, I still have access to that free area to shoot, but many people I know, don't. They are either forced into paying for memberships at gun clubs and ranges that don't afford them enough opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment Rights. If you consider some clubs can run you as much as $200 a year in membership dues, or public ranges that are not feasibly accessible due to distance or lack of hours, shooting has started to become a rich man's sport. Somewhat...
It is nice to see leading manufactures offer their popular models in .22 LR chamberings, simply due to the cost effectiveness. Don't get me wrong, you won't learn how to control the recoil on a .22 handgun like you will on a center-fire, but trigger time is trigger time. As I start to enter the world of long range shooting later this year, the research has shown me .22 LR round has similar windage correction at 200 yards as your standard 308 at 1000 yards. Cost difference? One thousand rounds of .22 LR match ammo will probably run you 20 buck compared to $1.50 a round for 308 match.
I have also seen some nifty products out there from manufactures like Laser Lyte that allow you to actually get trigger time on your gun in your home. From time to time, it's good to just practice draws, sight downs, and other basic, non-firing techniques to be able to perfect the motor skills while we dream of our trips to the range (or zombies to kill).
So, for you urban readers (or central Marylanders), how do you adapt to finding places to put rounds down range? Do you belong to a club / range? What kind of costs do you see? Do you use any of the available training provided by the range or club? Do any of you spend a significant amount of time dry firing or using products like the Laser Lyte system?
Happy shooting!
I still have not adjusted to the fact that the fire house a block away gets a medic call about once every hour and worse still, the drone of 695 is heard when my windows are open. Factor in police helicopter fly-byes every now and then, or the dog barking it's head off, and it's no wonder I sometimes awaken in the middle of the night to assume something is afoot.
As the saying goes, train as you fight, fight as you train, and I know my ability (location) and time to train is severely lacking. What's worse is the cost to train those skills has also increased. I recall when I purchased my first handgun some 7 years ago, .45 ammo was a lowly 9 bucks a box of 50 when it was on sale. Last time I made a .45 purchase, it was forty cents a round. That's a huge contrast in ability to put rounds down range. Even .40 cal ammo is pretty pricey, which has me thinking it's time to trade the .40 down to a 9mm at 3/4 the cost for 500 rounds. Thankfully, I have an AK that eats all of the cheap mil-surp ammo all day long and still keeps on going. My heart goes out to those of you who chose to shoot .223 or .308, outch!
Fortunately, I still have access to that free area to shoot, but many people I know, don't. They are either forced into paying for memberships at gun clubs and ranges that don't afford them enough opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment Rights. If you consider some clubs can run you as much as $200 a year in membership dues, or public ranges that are not feasibly accessible due to distance or lack of hours, shooting has started to become a rich man's sport. Somewhat...
It is nice to see leading manufactures offer their popular models in .22 LR chamberings, simply due to the cost effectiveness. Don't get me wrong, you won't learn how to control the recoil on a .22 handgun like you will on a center-fire, but trigger time is trigger time. As I start to enter the world of long range shooting later this year, the research has shown me .22 LR round has similar windage correction at 200 yards as your standard 308 at 1000 yards. Cost difference? One thousand rounds of .22 LR match ammo will probably run you 20 buck compared to $1.50 a round for 308 match.
I have also seen some nifty products out there from manufactures like Laser Lyte that allow you to actually get trigger time on your gun in your home. From time to time, it's good to just practice draws, sight downs, and other basic, non-firing techniques to be able to perfect the motor skills while we dream of our trips to the range (or zombies to kill).
So, for you urban readers (or central Marylanders), how do you adapt to finding places to put rounds down range? Do you belong to a club / range? What kind of costs do you see? Do you use any of the available training provided by the range or club? Do any of you spend a significant amount of time dry firing or using products like the Laser Lyte system?
Happy shooting!
16 July 2010
Cojones in Politics: The Lack Thereof
I am an unapologetic listener of the Rush Limbaugh show, whom had Mark Davis from Dallas, TX filling in today. Mark had this to say in his opening monologue:
The intriguing item is that I had this post title worked up a few days ago, and it seemed that Mr. Davis was reading my mind today. There truly is no real political will to do anything in Washington any more. Why? Simply put, the rewards to neglect the country and make for real progress are far too great for the individuals in positions of power. We the People are the keepers of the Republic but systematically we have become a part of the political corruption as well. Our dereliction of duty to be well informed voters has gotten us into this mess and the Tea Party movements still have not reached enough of a fever pitch to actually undo the damage that has been done to our Constitutionally protected system.
AK Fan and I had a lengthy discussion in a futile attempt to understand the premise behind the lack of political will to make for a real return to our Constitutional Republic. I have no idea how such a young mind (we're the same age, few months apart) can teach me so much, or perhaps I just ask the right questions to inspire his wit and wisdom.
First, one must define progress for our country. Progress to most people is more. More widgets, more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, more trucks, more Play Stations, more napkins, more, more, more. More of everything in the world as we the people of the world are always increasing. For the government, more government is progress. More bureaucracies, more greed, more control, more power. It's a never ending cycle merely so someone high enough up the command structure can justify their positions.
AK Fan offered this question:
The progress that us Conservative- Libertarians seek in Washington is a policy of less. While trying to define political progress, I asked the question of "At what time in our history have our political parties been drastically different?" My point being that along the ever swinging political pendulum, have the Republicans and the Democrats ever been so drastically different that they were effective enough in pushing the country into a perfect model of justice and liberty? Or, as we learn from 1984, is the primary objective of the political party (or two party system) nothing but power and perpetuation of the party itself; a worldly immortality if you will.
Within the political parties, we can surly find Congressman and Senators that know exactly how to live within their own means, use common sense in their personal lives, and live as all normal Americans live. Send them to Washington to do the people's work, and suddenly they change into a self fulfilling prophecy that they simply can't resist the personal gain that exists with the position. They enter the "Matrix" of DC, and they completely forget that the reward of their job is to truly do "good."
The main problem we see is that our government officials don't define progress and good from the same philosophical spectrum that most of us do. Good to them becomes a game of justifying the needs of the legislature, the government positions and jobs they create, the programs and handouts they are able to deal, and the subsequent votes that keep them in their comfy positions of nobility. It truly is the age old adage of "absolute power corrupts absolutely."
So is there any will inside Washington to do the will of the "people?" Yes, it does exist, but it is in all honesty, something extremely rare. It is only seen by the likes of Paul Ryan and Ron Paul (and others) who actually use the limiting power of the Constitution to put all of Washington's workings into a context of liberty and personal freedom. The framers understood that ANY party system was merely an extension of the monarchy system that they were oppressed with. Instead of having a single person head, the modern day political system uses the party to assume, focus, and retain power and control. Of course it is hard to understand why someone (almost anyone in DC) of good moral standing claiming to believe in equality for all, would treat other people in such serfdom ways.
Are there solutions? Sure. Term limits are one solution. Limiting the amount of time to gain personal reward for public service would be a huge factor. Being able to prevent the insider network from remaining in tact for too long is exactly how we've come to create these problems. Limiting the number of staff for each Congressional member to one or two would be another. This would prevent the political hacks from being too recycled and having an impact on the freshman Congressman and junior Senators. The network of unelected staffers is a major problem as they are more self-serving than a 5 term senator.
Education of the populate electorate would be another huge step. Making sure that those pulling the voting lever understand that somewhere along the line, the Government steals from everyone, not just the created classes within which the immoral parties have placed them. Additionally, a check and balance via the states on the Federal Government would help to quash some of the none-sense that has been occurring in DC. Tenth Amendment resurrection as well as state legislature election of the Senators would make sure that everyone with an honest interest in the governing of the nation, has a stake and a say.
America was built on a bottom up foundation. I know a return to pure local politics and party control is nearly impossible at this point, but there is always hope. If the people, not the parties, retake the leadership positions of this country, only then will we see real progress. Unfortunately, there is a lot of corruption to overcome.
"Any solution that doesn't make people nevrious or scared, isn't a solution to the problem. Paul Ryan's (R-Wisconsin) his road map makes many Republicans nervous."
The intriguing item is that I had this post title worked up a few days ago, and it seemed that Mr. Davis was reading my mind today. There truly is no real political will to do anything in Washington any more. Why? Simply put, the rewards to neglect the country and make for real progress are far too great for the individuals in positions of power. We the People are the keepers of the Republic but systematically we have become a part of the political corruption as well. Our dereliction of duty to be well informed voters has gotten us into this mess and the Tea Party movements still have not reached enough of a fever pitch to actually undo the damage that has been done to our Constitutionally protected system.
AK Fan and I had a lengthy discussion in a futile attempt to understand the premise behind the lack of political will to make for a real return to our Constitutional Republic. I have no idea how such a young mind (we're the same age, few months apart) can teach me so much, or perhaps I just ask the right questions to inspire his wit and wisdom.
First, one must define progress for our country. Progress to most people is more. More widgets, more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, more trucks, more Play Stations, more napkins, more, more, more. More of everything in the world as we the people of the world are always increasing. For the government, more government is progress. More bureaucracies, more greed, more control, more power. It's a never ending cycle merely so someone high enough up the command structure can justify their positions.
AK Fan offered this question:
"If someone went to a McDonald's CEO and said, I have a business model that says you would earn more profit, on a higher margin provided you closed X number of restaurants, in X number of areas by selling off the assets, the properties and the shipping / supply channels, would they do it?"His answer of course was no, they would not. Every manager, store owner, and employee works to increase sales and market share, not decrease it. Obviously, this too is exactly how Washington works.
The progress that us Conservative- Libertarians seek in Washington is a policy of less. While trying to define political progress, I asked the question of "At what time in our history have our political parties been drastically different?" My point being that along the ever swinging political pendulum, have the Republicans and the Democrats ever been so drastically different that they were effective enough in pushing the country into a perfect model of justice and liberty? Or, as we learn from 1984, is the primary objective of the political party (or two party system) nothing but power and perpetuation of the party itself; a worldly immortality if you will.
Within the political parties, we can surly find Congressman and Senators that know exactly how to live within their own means, use common sense in their personal lives, and live as all normal Americans live. Send them to Washington to do the people's work, and suddenly they change into a self fulfilling prophecy that they simply can't resist the personal gain that exists with the position. They enter the "Matrix" of DC, and they completely forget that the reward of their job is to truly do "good."
The main problem we see is that our government officials don't define progress and good from the same philosophical spectrum that most of us do. Good to them becomes a game of justifying the needs of the legislature, the government positions and jobs they create, the programs and handouts they are able to deal, and the subsequent votes that keep them in their comfy positions of nobility. It truly is the age old adage of "absolute power corrupts absolutely."
So is there any will inside Washington to do the will of the "people?" Yes, it does exist, but it is in all honesty, something extremely rare. It is only seen by the likes of Paul Ryan and Ron Paul (and others) who actually use the limiting power of the Constitution to put all of Washington's workings into a context of liberty and personal freedom. The framers understood that ANY party system was merely an extension of the monarchy system that they were oppressed with. Instead of having a single person head, the modern day political system uses the party to assume, focus, and retain power and control. Of course it is hard to understand why someone (almost anyone in DC) of good moral standing claiming to believe in equality for all, would treat other people in such serfdom ways.
Are there solutions? Sure. Term limits are one solution. Limiting the amount of time to gain personal reward for public service would be a huge factor. Being able to prevent the insider network from remaining in tact for too long is exactly how we've come to create these problems. Limiting the number of staff for each Congressional member to one or two would be another. This would prevent the political hacks from being too recycled and having an impact on the freshman Congressman and junior Senators. The network of unelected staffers is a major problem as they are more self-serving than a 5 term senator.
Education of the populate electorate would be another huge step. Making sure that those pulling the voting lever understand that somewhere along the line, the Government steals from everyone, not just the created classes within which the immoral parties have placed them. Additionally, a check and balance via the states on the Federal Government would help to quash some of the none-sense that has been occurring in DC. Tenth Amendment resurrection as well as state legislature election of the Senators would make sure that everyone with an honest interest in the governing of the nation, has a stake and a say.
America was built on a bottom up foundation. I know a return to pure local politics and party control is nearly impossible at this point, but there is always hope. If the people, not the parties, retake the leadership positions of this country, only then will we see real progress. Unfortunately, there is a lot of corruption to overcome.
Why Win Legitimately , When You Can Steal It?
If you are the Democrat party, why win an election legitimately when you can steal it? If you're power hungry and the rule of law is simply an inconvenience as a means to your end, then you can't be bothered with the details. Obama's crew (since he's basically nothing more than a Chicago mobster) have decided to create a widget to allow blogs to register new voters. Apparently, the user of the widget will consent to indemnify and hold harmless the DNC, and the onus is on the registering voter to provide "truthful" information. I suppose the "Organizing for America" group figures it is "unpossible" that people lie on the internet. Or is that what they are hoping for?
In reality, our laws are so screwed up with regards to voting, we should honestly take a page out of the Iraq "ink your finger model." Why is it that the US DoJ has sued states that mandate display of your photo ID prior to voting, yet a young republic is intelligent enough to "brand" voters to keep them from voting the Chicago way of early and often.
I wonder how many people from this retirement community will be registering to vote this fall?
In reality, our laws are so screwed up with regards to voting, we should honestly take a page out of the Iraq "ink your finger model." Why is it that the US DoJ has sued states that mandate display of your photo ID prior to voting, yet a young republic is intelligent enough to "brand" voters to keep them from voting the Chicago way of early and often.
I wonder how many people from this retirement community will be registering to vote this fall?
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