Thursday, November 13, 2008

We're the Only Ones Flying the Friendly Skies Enough

Since 9/11, more than three dozen federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct, an investigation by ProPublica, a non-profit journalism organization, has found. Cases range from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the rest of us get strip-searched and have bottles of lotion confiscated, and they are the "Only Ones" who can be trusted with guns.

Right.
"We can reassure the public that these dedicated professionals go out there every day and put their lives on the line to make sure that everyone is safe," Bray says. "I don't want them to be tarred by … a few allegations from a few years ago."
Keep braying, weasel-worder.
"We're getting the cream of the crop," then-TSA spokesman David Steigman told reporters. "The people who are going into the air marshal program are the best of the best."
Let's see, 3-4,000 air marshals, "753 documented cases of misconduct by air marshals over 20 months..."

Yeah, just a few "bad apples" there.

I've never abused a position to smuggle drugs into the country. I've never lured young boys to my room and abused them. I've never tried to hire a hit on my wife.

I don't drink and drive, I don't beat my family, I don't take bribes, commit bank fraud, hire escorts, pad expense accounts, pull guns in parking disputes, leave guns in lavatories, discharge guns negligently, get into bar fights and fire guns, deal in stolen property...

And the government says these thugs are more trustworthy than you and I are.

And their solution, of course, is to throw more money at the problem, form Quality Assurance teams...as if those of us who live our lives responsibly and with respect for not infringing on our fellow man require any oversight or special training beyond our own sense of "do unto others," which is all any human being really needs--any human being who's not a sociopath...

I'm getting sick and damned tired of these ethically retarded amoral parasites treating responsible adults like they're the children. And that these abuses all happened on a republican administration's watch angers me even more.

[Via Les K]

Another Child Shooting

Let's see, the guy's only 19 and already has a criminal record including aggravated robbery and menacing? And he still roams among us free to engage in such...uh... youthful indiscretions? Might we ask why our wonderful leaders continue to advance citizen disarmament, that is, putting the rest of us who don't menace, don't rob, don't pull guns on people for gain, at the mercy of the young Mr. Brown's of the world?

Today's Gun Rights Examiner column is up.

Black, White and Red

A few say they are preparing to protect themselves in the event of a race war....

One expert sees a darker motive driving some post-election gun purchasers.

"Why are white people buying assault weapons?" said Ben Agger, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who wrote a book about the Virginia Tech slayings. "I almost hate to say it, but there is a deep-seated fear of the armed black man, because Obama now commands the military and other instruments of the justice system. They are afraid Obama will exact retribution for the very deep-seated legacy of slavery."
45superman noticed this and wrote about it. And he wrote about it again.

I correspond with him regularly, and after he sent me the Trib link, it took just a few minutes of checking around to confirm a few things. Here's the email I sent to reporter Howard Witt, including a copy to his "expert," a guy with an interesting background:

Obama win triggers run on guns‏

From: David Codrea (dcodrea@hotmail.com)
Sent: Wed 11/12/08 2:13 PM
To: hwitt@tribune.com
Cc: agger@uta.edu

Great job, there, Howard, selecting a Marxist academic to call patriotic Americans racist for buying guns. The nice touch was not disclosing his sympathies to your readers!

I mean, I don't need to send you Agger's CV or writings ("This is not to suggest that socialism is, or should be, dropped as a political aim, to be hoped for and fought for"), or reading list for his classes focusing on Karl Marx ad nauseum... Heck, as an "authorized journalist," I'd expect you to not only know all that--but to approve!

Funny thing about commies who employ citizen disarmament--and what commies don't? It generally is only a matter of time until their Worker's Paradise bears predictable fruit. Of course, by that time, the useful idiot academics and writers were long-ago dispatched as useless eaters...

We'll keep buying guns, if you don't mind, or even (especially) if you and Comrade Agger do.

Racists. That's pretty funny right there. You and Ben are funny guys.

Dosvedanya,

David Codrea
--------------

Here is Howard Witt's reply:
Thanks for your comments. Actually I was unaware of Prof. Agger's academic research into socialism, although other readers of the story have since pointed it out to me. I don't see, however, how that has any bearing on the truth or falsity of his observations about the gun-buying phenomenon. Or do you also think I should have "exposed" the countervailing right-wing ideologies of the pro-gun folks I quoted in the story?

Spasibo,

Howard Witt
Southwest Bureau Chief
Chicago Tribune
Houston, TX
--------------

The good professor weighed in as well:
David,

You are just engaging in name calling. You don't know the first thing about my interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, which might genuinely surprise you. The telling thing is that people of my political and social orientation don't typically write nasty emails to those with whom we disagree. We engage in reasoned and civil discourse--of the the kind typified by Obama's measured and respectful style. The fact remains that social scientists are called on to interpret the run on guns and ammo since Obama's election. The Chicago Trib journalist is doing his job by sampling a wide range of opinion. he is not endorsing my views.

Don't respond, please. Just think deeply about what I am saying about the norms of civility.
--------------

If I may:

Gee Howard, you think belief in the Constitution and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is somehow morally equivalent to being a communist? That to you is a "right wing ideology"? You are in the right profession!

And yes, ideology is a much more relevant concept to explore than leveling unfounded charges of racism. It's not like prominent non-white Obama supporters in the media haven't broached the subject of "race war." Along with others from the left.

You let a Marxist race fluffer play that card as his only argument, and now say you didn't know what his qualifications and motivations were. I repeat my initial salutation: Great job there, Howard!

It's almost laughable for you to bring up the "truth or falsity of his observations." But you haven't determined that, have you, Howard? All you've done is allow a clearly agenda-driven creature to utter an opinion--and in the process disparage the character of every gun owner who opened up to you and gave you information for your story.

Political activist gun owners vote ideologically, Howard. I know Obama supporters (let me guess--you're one, right?) get traction from you in the media by claiming its a melanin thang, but it just ain't so, and it's actually quite insulting, presumptuous and irresponsible to imply otherwise to your many thousands of readers.

And now for you, Ben, or may I call you "Tovarisch?"

Your only comment is to cast aspersions on the character and motivation of gun owners and you're the one who's been called names? Are those names accurate, Ben? What else are we to make of your fighting for socialism advocacy?

As for where you stand on the Second Amendment, go ahead, genuinely surprise me.

Now it's funny you should bring up "reasoned discourse." Gun owners have run into that from the left before. But you misunderstand me if you think I wanted to engage in that with you.

Nope. I'm telling you I know what you are, what you represent and what you enable, and frankly, I view you and all promulgators of your brand of subversion with the contempt you deserve.

And "Obama's measured and respectful style" when it comes to political speech? Good one!

Don't worry, Ben, I won't email you again. What was it you told KABA commentator "Theaton"?
Has it occurred to you that I don't want to open up my professional email and read utter nonsense like this? Do not write me again.
I have nothing further to say to you, either. But if someone wants to send you and Howard links to this, I won't mind. You can even add comments if you like--unlike The Chicago Tribune, which disabled theirs for some reason...

Unpublished Opinions

But the justice was not impressed; he was instead, appalled. He noticed that a good number of the decisions I pulled up with my searching were unpublished...
We ran into that here, and a number of you weighed in with comments.

I'm just an ignorant non-lawyer, but it seems to me this is yet another way to deprive us of our rights. Face it--the courts don't rule us by the Constitution, hell, they don't even let you mention it--they rely on stare decisis, whether the earlier decisions were transparently tyrannical BS or not. So then they reach an opinion but don't want others to know about it for their defense? Is that what's going on?

Somehow, I don't think things should be this convoluted. But what do I know?

Apparently not that much, because I actually viewed the Kwan development as news that should interest the gun community. I scanned the Internet before I posted, looking to see if anyone else had weighed in on it so I could learn more, and there was nothing. So I sent my link to several prominent legal bloggers as well as conservative news sites and...well, you tell me...

It's not like the feds didn't do their utmost to put this guy down. I guess their being set back in court just doesn't merit notice...*

[Via lawhobbit]

* One notable exception

Mixed Feelings

"We all have little kids and they're riding their bikes in the street and running around and we all get in a big hurry to get out kids here and there and not be late for appointments or whatever,” said Cheryl Coupens, one of the first people to sign up for the program.

When civilians clock someone speeding, they jot down the vehicle information and pass it along to authorities. There is no fine because the radar is not being operated by commissioned officers, but owners of the speeding vehicles do get a warning letter.
Snitches or citizen militia?

What should they do?

[Via Brian F]

A Peaceful Resolution

Standoff with armed man ends peacefully
Compare this to the abuse of "No Knock" procedures we read about so often.

I guess Wyoming still has some "peace officers"...?

[Via Mama Liberty]

Giving Him Whatever He Wants

Elizabeth Pittenger knew that if a mugger points a gun at you, you should give him whatever he wants.
Really? What if what he wants is to shoot you? Which , apparently, is what he wanted, because he did.

Fortunately, Ms. Pittenger resisted, proving a moving target is harder to hit.

Hopefully, she will come away from this realizing a person aware of their surroundings is harder to target in the first place. It would also be nice to think the lesson will sink in that having the means of defense and the training and will to use it is...

Oh, wait a minute--we're talking MTSU here.

Evidently, alleged assailant Orlando Edmiston is reading impaired.

This Day in History: November 13

General Richard Montgomery led American troops in the capture of Montreal on November 13, 1775. The American presence in Canada proved short-lived. Just weeks later, British victory at Quebec forced a hasty retreat to New York.