For Sale

JCPennys happily announce their new line of dress pants.  The Steve Kroft trouser.

Comes with padded knees and a zipper in the back.

In Their House (Updated)

Unless the Dhimmicrat Jackboots come kicking in my door to search for the offending high-capacity magazine clips, my whole Saturday gets to be planned around a televised skirmish, the UNC vs. NCSU basketball game, slated to tip off at 7PM.  Not because of who it is the Tar Heels are playing, it's the same at the House of Livermush for every game.

What time is the game?  Okay, that's take out the trash here, get tires here, write blog post here, eat here, here, and here, fend off unforeseen household drama (which isn't planned, but set aside time for it anyway) here.  And have Jones, Eric, Adam, et al giving me the pregame atmosphere by 6, then...action!

My red-clad friends with the little woofy hand-signals will behave much the same way, but not because this is the way they block out time for any game.  This is the only game that matters, or has mattered, for at least the past week and the following week, but possibly since the moment Gio broke their pitiful little hearts with his magical punt return a few months ago on the Kenan Stadium football field and onward for months, as well.

It must truly stink to be perennially defining your team's success by its outcome versus only one opponent.  Honstly, I can't imagine thinking that it was okay to lose four games, so long as we won this one game.  But, that very mindset of theirs is exactly why Adam Lucas warns you not to assume logically lofty expectations for tonight: Uh-Oh.

For little UNC-Raleigh, it counts as more than one game.  To Wolfpack fans, it may be a single move of the pawn, but it's the one step to the far end of the chessboard that regains them their queen.  Nevermind that nobody but them considers that single move "queen-worthy".  Oh, the unparalleled glory!...If only in their pathetic little minds.

It is their house, and there will be much venomous energy.  Well, their "rented" house, that is, the RBC-come-PNC Arena.  And the game is just a pawn, in the bigger game of a season's success.

Hope we can capture this pawn, anyway.  If we do, for us it's just another pawn...but for their season, it's Check and Mate.

Go 'Heels.

UPDATE: Nevermind.

NUTHER UPDATE: Told ya so.

Hillary Clinton

Secretary of Skank

Imagined editorial segment on Fox News...

Brit Hume: Thanks, Brett.  Today's testimony before the Senate No-oversight Committee on Blaming Things On An Obscure Flavor Of Jello Pudding, acting Secretary of Skank, Hillary Clinton said...

Brett Baier: Excuse me, Brit.  Don't you mean, Secretary of State?

Hume: Sorry, but no.  We're expected to believe from her testimony, that either she's so inept that she couldn't envision a need for basic security (much less enhanced security) in Libya, on 9/11, for the single American in that country most likely to need enhanced security...or she just did not and does not care.  What part of her skankified life holds priority over her doing this most basic part of her job? She's unqualified to be the Secretary of anything but Skank.

At the very least, the next time she's called to testify, I hope one of those Senators has the balls to say, "Instead of smiling and smirking Mizz Clinton, and before you start pounding your fist indignantly, weigh your impertinance against these two phrases: 1) treasonous subterfuge versus the American people, involving the death of an American diplomat, and 2) firing squad."

On other, seemingly unrelated, imaginary news happenings...

If you watch this Katie Couric interview with Manti Te'o, think about the likelihood that there was a recent production meeting that featured Mizz Couric saying, "If there's a massive hoax, involving a pillow-biting odd,  juiced-up reknowned football player from a Catholic school, why aren't we in on it?  Furthermore, how can we get in on it?"

Dear Dr. Thomas Sowell,

NO.

You are wrong, sir.  Not in the presentation of, or solution to, your argument, but primarily in the basic answer to its title: Do Gun Control Laws Control Guns?  And secondarily, to your notion within that argument that "the over-riding factual question is whether gun control laws actually reduce gun crimes in general or murder rates in particular."

As with most other news and editorial pieces regarding the issue, you make valid points to rearrange deck chairs on a sinking ship.  And miss the opportunity to make a more-vital point.

Start with the question in the title, Do gun laws control guns?  And, instead of treating the symptoms, look at the sickness, get to the very real meat of the matter for your answer.  And it is this:

Gun control is not about controlling guns.  It is about controlling people.

To paraphrase your supposition, the over-riding factual question is whether the rights of government can abridge our natural rights.

I have as much respect for your political aptitude and Constitutional scholarship as I do anyone's.  So, it is my hope that you will redirect your focus on the genuine issue, rather than dance around the edges like most of the other editorialists.  There are plenty of folks ready to take the easy road, centering the dialog over my right to hunt and your right to fend off a burglar.

Those are valid and important uses for our guns.  But they have nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment.  Criminalizing guns is part of their victory.  Another part of that victory is fogging the issue on the Conservative Right.  Don't let that happen, please.

They'll come for my guns, and then for your voice.

It's about controlling us.  You and me, both of us.

Thanks to William Grigg at Pro Libertate (with a H/T to WRSA), here's the solution to your argument.  Well, not your argument, but what your argument should have been.  See here: it's not the gun being controlled; it's the citizen.  Regardless of his rights.  Regardless of his actions.  Regardless of his intent.



Dr. Sowell, we need you to keep your eye on the ball, sir.

These Will Stand

These North Carolinians will stand, and they will fight like they have Tar in their Heels.

Consider this from LT, NC Renegade:

But I am a soldier, and I know what must be done; and so I shall put away my sadness and I shall harness up the bitter steed of war, and gird myself up for the battle; and I shall ride out to meet the enemies of Liberty; not in rage, not for anger sake or the hope of vengeance; but because I swore an oath before God, to jealously guard our Republic and its Constitution against all enemies; Him I shall not disappoint, for He is my Hope and my Trust.

And this from Bob Owens:

From NFA ’34, to GCA ’68, to FOPA ’86, and the ’94 Crime Bill, the federal government has chipped away at the rights of gun owners in the name of “public safety.” Tellingly, the safety they’ve sought to protect in each and every one of those laws has been their own, attempting to defang the people so that when the people finally realize they have been cornered by their would-be masters, they have nothing left with which to strike back in their own defense.  

Not one step more. That is what I pledge to my children.

It is a crossroads we approach.  Our army from one direction.  Theirs, in opposition, from another.  And if I suggest that you will soon have to decide into which camp you'll make your allegiance, which one will it be?  If you haven't thought much (or any) about the possibility of having to choose, please go read those two linked essays, and get back to me.  Or, don't get back to me...but at least, start thinking about the ramifications of such a decision.

Their tyranny is not something on the horizon.  It is here now, and almost fully realized.  It is something with its cancerous tentacles already insinuated into our fabric.  The necessity for an incision is practically unavoidable.  Their tyranny and our Liberty cannot coexist, not peacefully or otherwise.  Sooner or later, one side or the other will have to be eliminated.

"Harnessing up the bitter steed of war."

Oh yeah.  I'll stand.  The Old North State is as good a place as any to start this thing up.  Not like it'll be the first time we picked a fight against a tyrant.

Looking at the folks on our side...I really like our chances.  God bless America.

Tactical Assault Rock For Sale On Ebay

The guy is getting bids at $37 right this minute: Tactical Assault Rock from CroMagnum Arms Int'l.

This is a market that is FAR from saturated, and I have lots of rocks.  Matter of fact, I know where there's a cache of Ancient Indian Throwing Stones.

Ka-ching...

(H/T to Sipsey Street Irregulars)

Thank You, Mr. Bracken

To Matthew Bracken, former Navy Seal.

Thanks for this very timely essay.  I'll be shopping for your books.

To my friends and relatives, and those who are neither, this essay is one of the most important things you will ever read.  And it comes to you at probably the most important time in the history of your country.

Seriously, imagine your own life as if you were going about your business in 1775, when King George was hatching his own schemes to keep you in your place, would you have been able to re-stick your head in the sand? Would you know which side was which when the bullets started flying?

Dear Mr. Security Agent, 

Federal, state, or local. You, the man or woman with the badge, the sworn LEO or FLEA and those who inhabit the many law enforcement niches in between and on all sides. This essay is directed to you, because in the end, how this turmoil about gun control turns out will depend largely upon your decisions and actions over the coming months and years.

[...]

Why is this essay titled Dear Mr. Security Agent, when it dwells mainly upon the media and coastal-dwelling urban liberals and their utopian belief in the benefits of new gun control laws in the United States? Mr. Security Agent will protest that he is no liberal, he is ex-military, he’s a cop, he’s a fed—he’s one of the good guys! He took the same oath to defend the Constitution that you did, Buster! He doesn’t need any lectures on defending the Constitution! So why single him out in this essay?  

Friends, this essay will take you a good thirty minutes to read.  And it will be thirty minutes well-spent.  Please don't dismiss it as just more hyperbole in the gun-rights versus gun-control dialog.  Set aside the time to do it.

Please.

(Tip o' the cap to Cold Fury.)

Fiscal Secession

First, let me state that this argument needs a more eloquent and forceful voice than I can give it.

The time is right for North Carolina to defund and deligitimize the federal government.  I might propose that our newly elected state legislators seize their mandate to lead the country toward fiscal responsibility, and away from rampant irresponsibility.  Affirm to the rest of the country that North Carolina is a safe-haven for business and personal tax-relief, eliminate income and revenue taxation in favor of a flat sales tax.  Pledge to submit a "fund" payment to the federal government to cover defense obligations.  Shelter NC citizens from federal law/regulation/fiat.  And fiscally sever all other ties.  Tell Washington, DC that our citizens are not their subjects.

Reassert our state sovereignty, as it were (and as it once WAS!)

We North Carolinians don't want to depart America, we want to take America with us.  We're America Classic (with apologies to Coca Cola), and they're New Coke.  We want our country to be as it was founded and intended, not that which it is being perverted into by the Progressive/Socialist/Modern Liberal/Left.  We can tolerate taxation, but have absolutely reached our boiling point with the thievery and misuse of our monies.  Not to mention the cancerous intrusions into our personal space, and trampling on our Liberty and liberties.

Most of the rest of America is straining against their leashes to follow the lead that we'll set.  Truly, within minutes, South Carolina will jump in with both feet (and claim it was their idea).  Same thing for Texas.  Then, like dominos...the rest of the South, the Dakotas, the Southern border states (for obvious other reasons), the Midwest...

New York and California can simultaneously lead a charge for the New Coke crowd.

And just like North Dakota, our economy will explode.  Freedom and legislative predictability (if not certainty) will draw that hoarded wealth like a magnet.

Personally, I'd go so far as to have a swearing-in of Mitt Romney as Actual President, but that is perhaps a different argument.  Seriously, and even if it's only symbolic, we are owed a President that respects our Sovereignty.  One who wouldn't lie to us about Benghazi.  Who wouldn't deceive us about Fast & Furious.  Who wouldn't steal from us like Obamacare does.  Who wouldn't subvert the Constitution with Executive Orders.  Who wouldn't keep printing and borrowing money.  Invite Mr. Romney to Charlotte and sell tickets for the ceremony.  Do we have a big-enough venue?  Oh, I know, have it at the NC Moter Speedway!  The D's couldn't fill it, but WE can.

Okay, I'm getting too excited, and there is work to do.

Please tell me you like the idea.  Or, tell me why you don't.  Get some of our politicians into the discussion.  Our country was built on the notion that the individual States could peacefully walk away from the Union if they so chose.  We tried it once before and couldn't carry enough of the moral high ground.  We were right then, but right about a thing which was wrong.  The time has never been more right, and North Carolina should step out front to lead.

Secede!

Reading "Kindergarden" 0108-13

I'm reading Evan Sayet's The Kindergarden Of Eden.  Here's an excerpt:

About five years ago, I presented my thesis on "How the Modern Liberal Thinks" in a lecture to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.  I began the talk by saying, "I've got to imagine that just about every one of us in this room recognizes that the Democrats are wrong on just about every issue.  Well, I'm here to propose to you that it's not just 'just about' every issue; it's quite literally every issue.  And it's not just wrong; it's as wrong as wrong can be."
 
Half a decade later, I am even more convinced that the Modern Liberal is, in fact, as wrong as wrong can be on quite literally every issue.  That is, I have no doubt that he will at every turn side with the lesser over the better, the wrong over the right, the ugly over the beautiful, the vulgar over the refined, the behaviors that lead to failure over those that lead to success and, first and foremost, with the evil over the good.

There'll surely be more such excerpts in the coming days.

If They Aren't Going To Obey Any Laws...

...then why should you?

G.O.

On Friday October 26, I was trout fishing and got a call with an offer of two tickets at face value for the UNC/NCSU game the next day in Chapel Hill.  I'll forever recount my good fortune that I didn't hesitate to claim them.  I couldn't find anyone on short notice to come with me, and didn't even make an effort to sell one outside Kenan, but when I got there I just spread my countenance over both seats and cheered hard enough for two people.

Those seats were uncomfortably close to the visitors' section, and there were two red-clad knuckleheads sitting right behind me, one of which couldn't bear to keep his trap shut for 60 seconds at a time.  Like any of the regular inhabitants over at Pack Pride (you may have to work around or -even worse- FOR folks like these) they constantly spew little half-compliments laced with that tinge of venom dripping off their pointy teeth.

With the score tied in the waning moments, and during the timeout that preceded the punt return, the Tar Heel fan seated next to me said something about hoping for the presumed returner (Smith) to fair-catch or get out of bounds, which would leave "X" amount on the clock for a game-winning drive.  I looked through my binoculars and confirmed (instead) that Gio Bernard was in the defensive huddle, then said to him: "I don't think Smith is going to fair catch anything...that's Gio coming on the field."

And I turned my camera on to record...

G.O. from liv erm'ush on Vimeo.

As you'll notice in the video, I didn't check on the guy behind me after the punt return.  But I did look around, right after turning off the camera, and he had excused himself from the remaining festivities.

I hated Tom O'Brien, State's coach, for whipping my team FIVE years in a row, and have to say am tickled for that reason to see him go.  But, I give him a hearty tip o' the cap for having the huevos to kick it to Gio in that situation.

Yeah, That One Hurt

I haven't felt much like blogging since that Day of Blackness, November 6.  But, in spite of the broken heart I have for America, her Founding Fathers, and the Constitution, there wasn't any slitting of wrists in Livermush Land.

And I don't quite feel like weighing in on the "why we lost" debate, yet.

While I'd certainly prefer to be basking in the hard-fought glory of a win, losing round #9 on a technicality (imposed by the Russian judge) does not mean that we're not coming out of the corner for round #10.

So, how best to win round #10?  Maybe some rope-a-dope, maybe some counter-punches, but most certainly we should plan on landing a few haymakers.  I like what Mark Davis wrote, No Time To Give Up in the Fiscal Fight:

We should not sign on to any plan that involves making job creators pay higher tax rates. If we are to entertain any closing of loopholes or striking of deductions (which are also tax increases), it should be upon receipt of iron-clad commitments from Democrats for real entitlement reform and other meaningful spending cuts.

That would seem highly unlikely. Still high on the adrenaline buzz of an election that seemed to smile on their big-government aspirations, Democrats are not in the mood to make deals.

Fine. Then let them be judged by that.

I know the media will paint any dark result as the fault of Republicans. Let them. It is time to stop worrying what the media say or how young and non-white voters might recoil at first.

We must do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may. Only then can we go to those voters we so deeply want to attract and say that we did it for them. They may not have appreciated it, but when we refused to let spending get even more obscene, we said no, and we did it for all Americans.

Again, I did not send my Congresswoman to Washington to cooperate or compromise.

Fight.

And every 2014 Senate candidate should start practicing the phrase, "...the flat tax will eliminate all other (illegal) taxation: income tax, estate tax, payroll tax, obaminationcare tax, capital gains tax, gasoline tax, soda tax, fat-quotient tax, internet tax, and so on..."

Tomorrow...

...Represents our last best chance to reclaim Liberty in a peaceful manner.

And if you came by here one last time, with lingering questions as to how to use your vote (whether to vote, or which way), allow me to submit these two videos.

God bless America.






And yes, I was once a Democrat, too.

Reaping What They've Sown

I'm heartbroken for the loss of life & property those in NY & NJ have incurred.  I really am.

But, part of me hopes that they're feeling the negative repercussions of their very bad choices.  And that they begin opening their eyes to the very real nature of the thuggery they casually embrace as "standard operating procedure."

Do you want to know the true nature of Unions?  Witness the fact that while you (and your gas station) goes without electricity, your Union "bretheren" are shunning outside volunteer assistance because, get this, the crews from Decatur (AL) Utilities haven't signed Union affiliation contracts, and IBEW is chasing them away.  The International Brotherhod of Electrical Workers is part of the AFL-CIO.

The company that sent those crews tells about their presence being, at first being on condition of union allegiance, then rejected:

"We made a decision late last night, to go ahead and bring our crews home."

Such is the way with a parasite: You may be in peril and you may die, but they'll just keep sucking your blood.

Dear New Yorkers and Jerseyans, may God help you.

I also have some vandalism to my truck, that I believe is attributable to some Union intolerance toward the "NOBAMA" sticker on it.  No big whup...If there weren't any cowards in the world, there'd be little need for heroes.  If a dent in the bed of the truck is the price I pay for getting shed of the UnionThug-In-Chief, so be it.

Want to see more of those Union-folks at their best?  How about these folks that are happy to steal from you and suppress your 1st Amendment rights?

Throwing Lead Downrange

There probably aren't many bigger "hawks" than me.  If there exist enemies to my country, I say, "let's go shoot 'em."  Or even, "Let me go shoot 'em."

But given the deplorable rules of engagement currently in place, I see no value to having fine warriors such as Ty Woods and Glen Doherty (and the thousands more like them, actually wearing the uniform) in harm's way.  If we can't let them be more than mere targets, let's get them out.  Bring them home, and bring the concept of actual diplomacy home too.  Because, if we can't keep Ambassadors safe, there's little point of them being there.

And to everyone who would dare cite "the fog of war" as justification for abandoning those men and the Consulate, or for even the brief hesitation to act (much less the ensuing coverup for political dithering), I say damn you to hell.

Please consider reading this, from Mad Medic, contributed to Ranger Up, entitled A Tale Of Four Heroes...excerpted:

On October 3^rd, 1993, in a forgotten corner of east Africa, an RPG caught a UH-60 in just the right spot, causing the second crash of a Blackhawk that day. (There would actually be two others that suffered enough damage that they barely made it back to base). The Blackhawk, call sign Super 64, spun into Mogadishu and landed hard after a nearly 70 foot free fall. When the dust settled, the crew was either dead or dying and only the pilot, CWO Mike Durant, was able to respond when a mob started to surround his crash site.

At this moment, two Delta snipers—SFC Randy Shughart and MSG Gary Gordon—requested three times to be inserted to hold off the mob until ground forces arrived to secure the crash site. Finally, they were given the go ahead, after being informed that Bravo company 3^rd Battalion 75^th Rangers was in heavy contact, and 2^nd Battalion 14^th Infantry was just then mobilizing. It was made absolutely clear that there was no certainty when help might arrive. They went anyway.

H/T to Blackfive.

Got Your Six

I thought the video of Hollywood celebrities, with their backs turned to the camera, saying to Veterans, "I got your Six", was highly offensive.  The pretense that they even care is repulsive to me.

Tom Hanks, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alec Baldwin, et al remind me of the Bob Dylan line:

You got a lot of nerve, to say your are my friend.

When I was down, you just stood there grinning.

You got a lotta nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend.

You just want to be on the side that's winning.

 

Where were these same people when those troops were first sent to the sandbox?  They were doing their level best to undermine victory.  And, they deserve nothing less than eternal shame for their hypocrisy.

 

Re-viewing the ad online (I won't link to it, 'cause it turns my stomach), I was encouraged to read this one comment posted below it...

 

To all you political celebrity hacks, no thanks! We neither trust you nor did we give you our SIX. Our six is earned in the crucible of service to The Constitution of the United States of America and forged with sweat, tears, blood and life which you have zero understanding of. Keep your hollow face saving bs campaign in hollywood. You don't deserve any part of six unless it's to kiss our American loving ass.

Perfect.

 

You wanna know who really has their six, and always has?

 

BLACKFIVE.  "Earned in the crucible of service."  Those guys are great.



Voting "Present" Didn't Cut It

A little less than four years ago, I cranked out my very first blogpost here.  The thrust of that initial piece was a committment to BE that to which I aspired herein.  That is, to be a blogger, speaking my mind, rather than just occupy a space in the innerwebs.

I'm not too disappointed in the effort or the results.

Conversely, I'm completely disappointed with the occupier of the White House, as I was back in January 2009 with the wave of Big Collectivism that washed these numbnuts into power.

My personal economy was in the toilet because of them, and I'd eventually lose my home.  I could endure the tough times, but I couldn't keep quiet about it.  I don't much mind it if folks don't like what I have to say, but I couldn't stomach the perception that silence might be equated with consent, or worse, assent.

So, I wrote my little blogposts.

A couple days ago, I was having my truck mechanic'd on, and was waiting with about half a dozen other folks in the teevee room.  I was busy with a textbook, while they struck up a conversation that dwelled largely on local politics.  I refrained from jumping in and steering it toward a national discussion.  And later, I about half-regretted not jumping in.  I didn't need to, though.

Everyone that knows me has a very fine sense of where I stand politically.  And many, if not most, of those have been alienated forever.  That, I do not regret.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." -Brainyquote attributes that to Kurt Cobain, though I thought it predated him.

Right now, I'm feeling a lot like Bill Whittle.  I think we've done right by history, we Tea Party folks and Right-minded bloggers, each in our own way.  I think that a few weeks from now, all of our oppositional pieces will have born fruit, some of those monsters will be swept back out with the tide, and we can set about the long task of restoring our Consitutional Republic.



And even winning this election won't be the end of our work, but just the first toehold on (hopefully) a permanent upswing.  We still have ultra-liberal universities poisoning minds with collectivist drivel, the (socialist) advocacy media, Hollywood's moonbattery, and a Supreme Court that thumbs its nose at the very Constitution it is supposed to preserve.

The good news, and what inspires us, is that we'll have a man who wants to DO the job of a President instead of just playing the role of President.

Blinky Loses

No question who won Debate #3.

If you DVR'd the debate like I did, go back and count (or try to) the number of times Obama blinks, or looks down, or looks away.  It's staggering.

Compare that to Gov. Romney.  Just on believability alone, which of the two are capable of looking the other, or for that matter the moderator, or for that matter the camera, or for that matter the people of this country, directly in the eye?

Also, am I the only one who heard Obama say, "weapons of mass-disruption"?

One of those two guys needs a teleprompter, and the other does not.

I really like Zo's idea for our unilateral arms reduction...Send Iran some of our nukes!



Please don't forget that it's almost as important to purge the Senate and retain the House, as it is to rid ourselves of the Corruptocrat-In-Chief.

And remember these folks on your ballot:

Virginia Foxx
Pat McCrory
Dan Forest

"If You've Got A Church, You Didn't Build That"

I'm rethinking my assessment of the recent debate.  If it's just my scorecard that counts, yes, the fight was a draw.  But, it appears that the voting public came away liking Gov. Romney more...and/or liking Obama less.  If he's winning over those folks, especially the fence-sitters, it matters none at all what I think of the performance.

Plus, if Obama's & Biden's antics, coupled with the very unpresidential-ness of having to rely on an immoderate moderator to bail him out of his own scandal, even those leaning toward Obama may be reconsidering their allegiance.

Want to see the most-likable candidate of the two?  I know there are a few people who haven't already seen this speech.  One of my favorite lines was, "In the spirit of Sesame Street, his (Obama's) speech tonight is brought to you by the letter 'O' and the number 16 Trillion."

Smack.

Debatable

Briefly, my unsolicited opinion on last night's debate:

I'd call it a draw.  Either side could justify calling it a win for their campaign.  As far as the campaign goes, Obama actually helped himself more.  But, his case was so much more in need of help.  So any progress for him looks golden.

The thing Romney supporters dread is Romney stubbing his toe.  Considering the fact that his views stem from his genuine goodness, such a hiccup could only originate in a semantical faux pas (says one thing, but means the opposite) and lets it go uncorrected, or gets pounced upon.  None of that, of course, happened.

What Romney did do, that I disliked right away, was ask Obama questions.  That gave scoundrel Obama an opportunity to claim more time and attention, regardless of his answers.  Hint to Romney camp: If you know the other guy is imminently capable of lying, and particularly good at it, give him as few opportunities as possible to do so.

What I hope to hear some criticism of today is Candy Crowley's questions that she picked for questioners to read.  Seriously?  What do you plan to do about gender inequity in the workplace?  Can it be true that that question beat out, say, Is Iran a legitimate threat to Israel?  Or perhaps, Who's policies would enhance America's standing & image in the rest of the world, yours or your opponent's?

Wasn't this debate supposed to center on foreign policy?