Monday, April 19, 2004

Dog Bites Man!
NRA sells out again


Oops, they did it again!

This year's annual meeting of the National Rifle Association turned out to be more of a meeting of the Neocon Rifle Association, or perhaps the National Republican Association. Either way, lovers of freedom will find little to cheer in the events of this year's meeting.

As statist propaganda, the "Salute To The Heroes," a videotaped production which aired as part of the opening ceremony, falls somewhat short of the standard set by Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 masterpiece, Triumph Of The Will. Similarly, the presentation of this year's "Man of the Year" custom flintlock rifle to gun-grabber Dick Cheney, unlike Winston Churchill's presentation of a Crusader's sword to Joe Stalin at the Teheran Conference in 1943, couldn't actually be deemed sacrilegious. Both events mark the extent to which "mainstream" conservatism now conserves only the gains made by a liberalism grown increasingly illiberal, illogical, and inhumane.

Before the hate mail pours in, I'll mention that I am a Life Member of NRA and, as a law enforcement officer, am one of the "heroes" of the opening ceremony. Neither fact eases my qualms about the direction of NRA.

In its "Salute to the Heroes," NRA informs us that true heroes "put strangers before family." Funny, the Left have been telling us this for years, and trying, through taxes, welfare, and family dissolution, to make "heroes" of us all. We are told that the hero's "highest honor" is to have the Yankee battle standard draped over his coffin. Heroes "are willing to perish for that flag," an item that can be ordered online and which probably was made in China.

Over and over, NRA's "Salute" extolls the supposed virtues of servility to the government though of course they conflate the government with the country.

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Only the winners decide what were war crimes.
? Gary Wills

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Idiot

"The Governor's budget will hurt the economy and those who need assistance the most. Now is the time for those who are wealthy and fortunate to give back to society through paying their fair share so programs that are being cut can continue to serve our communities." -- Lydia Torres, Rehab Counselor, Drug and Alcohol, Santa Clara County

Let's see, now. The last time I checked, it was Ms. Torres' clients who were choking the jails, the courts, and the emergency rooms. Ms. Torres clients are the ones who get paid for being irresponsible, in the form of SSI, Food Stamps, AFDC, WIC, Section 8, etc. Tell me again: who needs to "give back to society?"
Doesn't He Know There's A War On?

Marine Corps Lawyer Slams Terrorist Tribunals
Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.
– Spinoza
"The continuing U.S. casualties are lamentable, but the losses so far are low by the standards of guerrilla wars ? far fewer than the 500 soldiers the British lost in putting down a previous Iraq insurgency in 1920." -- Max Boot, Foreign Policy, January/February 2004

CHICAGO, Jan. 21, 2004 ? More than 500 pairs of empty Army boots were placed side-by-side in downtown Chicago Wednesday to serve as a reminder of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.
The black boots, some dusty and dirty from use, were placed on Federal Plaza in front of a posterboard display that listed the names, ages and states of all soldiers killed in the war.


Lamentable Losses





Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.
? General Douglas MacArthur
The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race.
– Walter Lippmann
Quotable
It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.
– General Douglas MacArthur

Monday, January 19, 2004

TREASON!

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

Ann Coulter, call your office.