The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
Quote of the Day
This is the lead-in:
Israeli air strikes kill cute kittens and Hamas terrorist leaders
But mostly Hamas terrorist leaders – The Other McCain
(h/t: Glenn Reynolds.) RTWT. But HERE’S the QotD from a comment at that piece:
And some of the kittens cause MASSIVE secondary explosions when struck – “Mike”
Click on the link and watch the video before YouTube pulls it down.
Quote of the Day
I’ve always loved movies. I worked in a movie theater my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college, and I still enjoy seeing a film projected on a big, wide screen in a big, dark room, even though the experience now sets me back $9 plus another $10 for 35¢ worth of popcorn and fizzy sugar water.
I love movies.
The pickings have been slim of late.
Here’s the QotD:
Worst lists are somewhat disingenuous. The truly worst films of the year are always the cheapie slasher flicks and pretentious independent films Blockbuster only buys a single copy of. But my definition of worst is “worst experience,” as in crushing disappointment, as in There’s A Special Place In Hell For All Involved And We Call It “The George Lucas Wing.” – Dirty Harry’s Place, 10 Worst Films of 2008
I could not agree more.
Brick & Mortar SUCCESS
This afternoon I went to my favorite local gunshop, Murphy’s Guns & Gunsmithing, the place where at least one salesman knows me by name. After my experience at Caveman’s Warehouse, I wondered how things’d be there. I loaded some .45ACP yesterday and discovered to my shock that my stock of large pistol primers was a lot lower than I’d thought. Caveman’s Warehouse was completely out.
Murphy’s had ’em.
However, there was an interesting sign tacked up on the primer shelf that advised that customers were limited to 1,000 primers total, due to demand. That was OK with me, because I bought exactly 1,000 Winchester WLP primers. I also found on the shelf an RCBS two-die set for the .260 Remington, which I need for my new Bullberry Encore barrel. Drooling over Perusing the stock of firearms, I found that Murphy’s now has in stock the EAA Witness Match in both .38 Super and 10mm Auto. I’d very much like to have either one of those. Interestingly enough, the 10mm version is about $100 cheaper than the .38 Super.
As has been the case every time I’ve been in Murphy’s, there have been six or more salespeople behind the counter, and almost every one of them has been busy with a customer, a firearm, and a Form 4473. As Dave, the salesman-who-knows-me-by-name put it, “apparently the entire population of Tucson won the lottery.” And it’s been like this ever since November 5.
I’m waiting for Murphy’s to take the massive profits brought about by the Obamessiah and put in a three-level parking garage out in front. It’s damned near impossible to find a parking place there. Ever.
Oh, Glenn Reynolds, No!
Firehand is on a roll. Read this, and this, and this, and this. That must’ve been some special beer!
Today’s QotD:
One more friggin’ moron who thinks everywhere else is better. Apparently, just because it’s not here.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to visit the toilet and properly express my opinion of this clown.
Quote of the Day
If you must know, I bought a mid-level Sony LCD 46-incher to replace my aging mid-level Sony. I paid about 50% of what I would have paid in September. With luck, I won’t have to walk into an electronics store for a decade or so, assuming of course that there will be electronics stores in 10 years rather than Bob’s Burkha Outlet. – Michael Bane, Michael Goes Consumer Crazy!
Seems like a good way to start the year off.
Breda‘s husband Mike wrote a rather scathing piece in response to an op-ed in the Detroit News blogs (so I didn’t have to). From that same source, one Libby Spencer wrote to defend the author of the piece against the verbal abuse strongly-worded missives hurled at him by us, the “vicious mindless mob” of gun owners who responded. (h/t to The Pistolero for the pointer.) So I dropped a comment of my own there. We’ll see if this goes anywhere.
Ms. Spencer, you make a good point about the (relatively small) percentage of gun owners who are abusive when responding to people such as yourself. I have said, on numerous occasions, that we are often our own worst enemy when it comes to public perception.
But I’d like to make some comments about this subject. Gun owners are, as Dr. Michael S. Brown once stated, the victims of a decades-long slow-motion hate crime. It is we who are routinely blamed for the deaths of others because the weapon used was a firearm. It is we who are demonized for being members of a culture that was once admired in this country. A lot of us are tired of it. A few of us are more than tired.
You characterized what I like to refer to as “The Great Zumbo Incident of 2007” as the act of a “mindless vicious mob.” So sorry, but no, it wasn’t. That was the impression the media sold – about a week and a half after the fact – but I was there from about the Saturday after Jim Zumbo (in the words of one blogger) “apparently tired of his 42-year career put his word processor in his mouth and pulled the trigger.” That same blogger also said this (and no, it wasn’t me): “Ten years ago, had his statement survived the editorial process and made it into print, we would have seen a handful of cherry-picked letters on the ‘Letters to the Editor’ page of Outdoor life, and things would have pretty much proceeded along at status quo ante. Not now. Not today.” Zumbo called the AR-15 rifle – one of THE most popular target and hunting platforms in existence – a “terrorist rifle” and advocated that they be banned from hunting.
He did so out of ignorance. The literally MILLIONS of us who own them were, understandably, angry. And we spoke up. Some, of course, excessively. Most, however, were not. And Zumbo’s sponsors (one of which was Remington, a company about to begin selling hunting versions of the AR-15) dropped him like a hot rock.
Welcome to the Internet age, where feedback is now instantaneous. Now when people such as yourself spout idiocy out of A) ignorance, or B) malice [or C) all of the above), there’s feedback.
I’m a fan of “reasoned discourse” myself, but I understand the anger and frustration of other gun owners who see what gets published as “fact” in today’s media and who KNOW that it is at best misconception, or at worst deliberate lies.
We’re tired of it. I’m tired of it. It’s why I became an advocate.
Here’s an offer: I invite you to debate the topic of “assault weapons.” The choice of forum is yours, but anything I write I will publish – in full – at my blog. I promise to be civil, to cite fact, and to provide references for you to verify. I don’t expect to change your mind, but I do think you’ll be surprised by what you learn.
If you don’t have access to my email address from this comment, do a Google search on “The Smallest Minority.” That’s my blog, and my contact information is on the left sidebar.
I’d make the same offer to Rev. Smith, but I doubt he’d accept. Besides, he wants to ban everything. You just don’t like “assault weapons.”
Think they’ll publish it?
UPDATE: That was quick. Now the question is, will she respond?
UPDATE II: Well, it’s a response:
Thu. 01/1/09 03:32 PM
Hey Kbaker. I believe we had that conversation on my personal blog back when the Zumbo thing went down. As I recall you were one of the few who were at all civil about it at that time. I still think that was completely unfair to him for the reasons I gave at the time.I’m not at all equipped to debate the subject. I’m clueless on guns. All I can do is tell you how it’s playing among my fellow clueless citizens. Again, I’m on your side. The last thing I want to see is our citizens disarmed.
My reply:
Ms. Spencer, you state “I’m not at all equipped to debate the subject. I’m clueless on guns. All I can do is tell you how it’s playing among my fellow clueless citizens. Again, I’m on your side. The last thing I want to see is our citizens disarmed.”
The problem is, as most of us see it, is that those of us who ARE “equipped to debate the subject” are ignored. The level of vitriol you object to is one result of that. It seems, on many levels, that such language is the only thing that gets anyone’s attention any more.
Unfortunately, it’s gotten even worse, as many of us in the gunblogosphere have been discussing in recent months.
If you’d care to discuss THAT, I’m game. Because if people like you – people who don’t want to see the citizenry disarmed, but are unable to defend their position logically, factually, and (yes) aggressively – don’t do something to stand up to those who DO want to see us disarmed, then by all appearances harsh language may become the least of (y)our worries.
We’ll see where that leads . . .
Oh, and the post she referenced was, I think, this one: Boys and their toys – gun owners gone wild. Libby came into the subject only after the WaPo wrote an article on it. I’d forgotten, but I’ve debated Libby before on the Zumbo topic. Go here and read the comment thread, if you’re interested.
Nothing much has changed.
Somehow I Missed This Meme
So, it being a new year, I thought I’d do it now:
100 things I’ve done – items I have done are in bold
1. Started your own blog. As others have written: DUH!
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band. No musical talent whatsoever.
4. Visited Hawaii. Four times, but all Oahu and all on business. I’d love to go to Maui sometime.
5. Watched a meteor shower. Several. I try to catch the Perseid shower each year.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. Not “more than I can afford.”
7. Been to Disneyland. I’ve been by Disneyland. I’ve been to DisneyWorld (numerous times) and EuroDisney. (The latter before it opened.)
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo. Remember the “no musical talent whatsoever” comment?
11. Bungee jumped. See #65. X10
12. Visited Paris. In 1992 I worked for three weeks at EuroDisney. I landed in Paris and got to visit it again late on a Sunday afternoon (everything was closed) but Notre Dame Cathedral is beautiful even if all you get to do is look at it from the street, and the Eiffel Tower is pretty tall.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. I grew up in Florida, about 45 minutes from the beach.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. If reloading ammunition is an art.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning. Oh my, yes. Sickest I’ve ever been in my life. After three days I had to receive two units of saline solution intravenously to rehydrate.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables. Well, it was a family garden.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight. Who hasn’t?
22. Hitch-hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. Who hasn’t?
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon. I’d die.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse. Lunar, not solar.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. Too many to count.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. Business trip, again.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. Define “ancestors.”
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language. Tried Japanese. Need to try again.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Content, yes. Satisfied?
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke. See “musical talent” quip above.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. Yup. But I think Glacier National Park has Yellowstone beat.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. Several times. And I recommend it to you, too. If you ever see a serviceman (or woman) in uniform in a restaurant, pay their bill for them anonymously.
44. Visited Africa. Nor do I have any desire to. But my sister is going to Kenya in June.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. With my wife.
46. Been transported in an ambulance. Yup. Kidney stone. I decided that driving a vehicle while in that much pain was not a good idea.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Stood under it once.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. Snorkeling off of Key West. But I’m so nearsighted, everything was a blur.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class. Considered it, but never signed up.
59. Visited Russia. No, but I recall what Heinlein said about that: “Once is educational. Twice is masochism.”
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason. Given ’em.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. Blood & platelets. Never plasma.
65. Gone sky diving. Jumping out of a perfectly functional aircraft is not the act of a sane person.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. No, but if I ever get back to Europe . . .
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter. One of those $25 10-minute joyrides, but I enjoyed it.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. And a powerful place it is. Now I want to visit the Vietnam memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar. Yuk.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades. Parts of it, anyway.
75. Been fired from a job. Yup. And I’ll never voluntarily submit to a polygraph again, now that I know they’re bullshit.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone. A toe. But it’s a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. More than once.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. Uh, I live in Arizona. Where do you think we take visitors?
80. Published a book. No, but my wife keeps telling me I ought to.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car. More than once.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox. More than . . . oh, wait . . .
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury. Called. Never chosen.
91. Met someone famous. Does Jim Scoutten count? Or Todd Jarrett? Sandy Froman?
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby. Not physically possible.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee. To the point where I think I’m allergic to bee sting now.
100. Read an entire book in one day. Too many times to count.
Happy New Year, everyone. “May you live in interesting times” is the apocryphal Chinese curse, and 2008 rose to the invitation. It’s certainly been an interesting year here at The Smallest Minority. As we prepare to enter a new year, here’s a look back at where we’ve been.
January started off with a bang, so to speak, when my wife was rear-ended on January 1 by a woman who was more intent on talking on her cell phone than in paying attention to where her two-ton SUV was going. I discovered that I was on a TSA list that prevented me from printing out airline boarding passes at home, TSM had its 1,000,000th site visit – not bad for less than five years on the Web – and the überpost o’the month was The Church of the MSM and the New Reformation. Now that the information clergy has elected their Pope, I’m wondering how happy they’re going to be with him.
Hell, I’m wondering how happy we’re going to be with him.
Being an election year, politics dominated the topics I wrote about all year long. February was no exception. One interesting comment very early in February that is fascinatingly topical again came from House of Eratosthenes with respect to Caroline Kennedy, who is now seeking Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.
I spent a week in Austin, Texas for some training, and met some other bloggers. One of the perks of this hobby is that, no matter where you travel, somebody there probably knows you. I discovered that my boss has a blog of his own. I got sideways with Fran Porretto on the topic of religion, (not my intent, I assure you). And the überpost of the month was Human Reconstruction, the Healing of Souls, and the Remaking of Society.
Be careful of what you wish for. You may get it.
Oh, and I also discovered that I have “The Knack.”
In March the Supreme Court heard D.C. v Heller, and in anticipation of that hearing I pounded out Of Laws and Sausages: A Primer on Second Amendment Jurisprudence. Pack a lunch, it runs 13,000 words. In celebration of the hearing, I got my CCW. The TSA might not trust me to get boarding passes at home, but the FBI has no objections to me carrying a firearm. Eliot Spitzer resigned as Governor of New York after it came out that he liked high-paid call girls, and SayUncle had THE quote on that. After oral arguments before the Supreme Court, the representatives for D.C. gave a press conference. I fisked it. Then, towards the end of the month, Dahlia Lithwick, Slate‘s legal correspondent, wrote a column characterizing the Supreme Court’s Heller arguments as “fall(ing) in love with a new constitutional right.” New? NEW?!? Finally, I got a letter back from the TSA about my “person of interest” status that said, pretty much, nothing. Did they talk to the FBI?
In April there was no überpost, though I was working on one. There were some excellent Quotes of the Day, the best of which I think was this one. SayUncle recently linked to a piece from that month, Yes, Exactly concerning homicide statistics. I got my Boomershoot rifle put together (finally) and took it to the range.
May was a mixed month. David Olofson was sentenced to prison for knowingly possessing a malfunctioning firearm. The blog turned five. And I went to the NRA Convention in Louisville. Oh, and I was still on the TSA’s list. The convention was a hoot. I’ve never seen that many firearms in one place before. Plus, I got to meet a lot of people. I even got pictures of a few. It was in May that I started selling the McCain bumperstickers. And I wrote a little piece on the Tucson Unified School District’s “Ethnic Studies” program entitled Balkanization. That topic has dropped off the radar here in Tucson. I have no idea if anything has changed at all, but I’m betting “NOT!”
June was a wonderful month. I finally hit “Publish” on the überpost I’d been working on for months: The George Orwell Daycare Center. That one drew a lot of traffic. YouTube had a 48 minute video of a speech by Naomi Wolf that I linked. I still think it’s worth your time if you haven’t seen it. Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, had to recuse himself from an obscenity case when a reporter “discovered” that Kozinski had some naughty pictures of his own on the family PC. That post is still drawing dozens of hits a week from people searching out the pictures in question.
Perverts!
I asked a question that I’m still taking answers to. I got a shot (pun intended) at going to Blackwater and shooting Para USA’s guns and ammo. The McCain stickers were still selling. The Supreme Court handed down their 5-4 decision in Heller, and there was much, but muted, rejoicing.
And, finally, I posted a reminder of what we can expect starting January 20.
July was another good month. After waiting over a year, I finally got my CMP M1 Carbine made by IBM, “Baby Blue.” I was chosen as one of the ten bloggers who got to go to Blackwater. I posted an hour-long Charlie Rose interview with author Michael Crichton, and we finished out the bumpersticker sales with a total of $375 donated to Soldier’s Angels. Thanks to everyone who bought one or more.
But it wasn’t all good. Dr. Randy Pausch lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, and the topic of the “Three Percenters” first hit the blogosphere. I weighed in with The Four Boxes and The “Threshold of Outrage”.
August was . . . interesting. I got a mailing from the Republican National Committee that, naturally, I just had to respond to. The “Three-Percenter” topic picked up steam, and I posted Freedom, Hope, Outrage, Bright Lines, Revolution and End Times. I commissioned a new graphic for the left sidebar of the blog that’s staying up through the Obama presidency. I put my ’67 Mustang up for sale. I finally came off of the TSA’s list. I went to Moyockistan, NC and got to shoot Para’s guns and ammo at Blackwater, picking up a bunch of swag in the process, though I doubt they’ll invite me back. Still, if I ever win the lottery, I know what I’m doing with some of the money. And I’m still the #1 Google hit for “Klingon marital aids.” Oh, yeah. McCain announced that Sarah Palin was his choice for VP.
September began the economic toboggan-ride. The Palin topic took up most of the first half of the month. Sitemeter did a bone-headed “upgrade,” but at least listened to its customers and went back to Sitemeter “Classic”. The mini-überpost for September was How You Know When There’s a Problem, about the ongoing financial disaster. And in the spirit of that piece, along with several other bloggers, I posted Kipling’s The Gods of the Copybook Headings. I need to commit that one to memory.
Another small “alternative” newspaper decided that it was their First Amendment right to publish the names of all the CCW holders in the county where the paper was published, noting “They mostly seem like ordinary folks.” I had something to say about that.
October was busy. I posted the short Yuri Bezmenov video discussing Soviet “Active Measures” very early in the month. That’s drawn a lot of traffic, too. The FedGov decided to give away $700 billion in tax dollars to businesses who had just proven that they were unable to make it in the marketplace. Bill Whittle explained why the .gov doesn’t (and can’t) work. He did it with visual aids and briefly. Then a Rasmussen survey showed why we the people aren’t going to fix the .gov. My wife and I attended the Third Annual Gunblogger’s Rendezvous and had a great time, despite the cold and the snow. Joe Biden warned us that Barack Obama “would be tested” in the first six months of his administration. I guess his Hawaiian vacation is to get him rested up to take the reins on 1/20 in anticipation of that test. I had an interesting email exchange with an Obama supporter in my office.
I sold the Mustang. I decided to spend some of the money from the that sale on a .308 gas-gun. I’m getting a custom-built M14.
In about another six to eight months.
Oh, and the UK government finally admitted that they’d been cooking the statistics on violent crime there. For years.
November? Election day. At least that’s over now. The “Three-Percenter” discussion? Not so much. Early in the month I wrote Philosophy, Revolution, and the Restoration of the Constitution. About the election, I think Billy Beck said it best. To top that off, Michael Crichton died. Dammit.
On November 11 I placed an order for a Bullberry Encore barrel in .260 Remington. I received it yesterday (pictures coming later.) Not bad service when they quoted me three months!
Gas prices came down. Way down. Funny how that “invisible hand” thing works, isn’t it? I received a nice calendar from Para USA and a video of one of my runs through the Blackwater shoot house. Too cool!
Professor Victor Davis Hanson had some things to say about the American education system. I wonder if he’d like to read The George Orwell Daycare Center?
And, finally, December. It’s been a busy month, too. I’ve been working 60-hour+ weeks on an out-of-town project, and have had the Christmas/New Years holidays to do a little recharging. Blogging has not been high on my list of activities, and won’t be going into January. I’ve been working on an überpost for a couple of months now, but the “Three-Percenter” topic came up again, and I managed to excerpt a chunk out of it to make the post Fantasy Ideology. That drew some commentary. It created a sh!#storm, too, that resulted in only the second banning of a commenter here, ever. I’m still reading Billy Beck, and still learning from him, but he just does not play well with others.
Well, that’s my “Year in Review.” Thanks, again, for your continued patronage. After hitting 1,000,000 site visits in January, y’all have added over 330,000 more this year, more than 900 a day. Not bad for a third-tier gunblog.
I think I’ll keep at it.
