The American Form of Government

The American Form of Government

Many of you, I'm sure, have seen this, but it was new to me. It runs 10:35, and is worth your time if you haven't seen it before:


There's an entire year of Junior-High Government class in just over ten minutes. One that, sadly, I don't think gets taught much of anywhere anymore.

THIS is How to Suck Up!

THIS is How to Suck Up! ;-)

I was checking the referrer log yesterday and noticed a hit from a blog I didn't recognize, Hecate's Crossroad. The interesting thing was that the hit had gone to the first post in the Dangerous Victims trilogy of essays, and the reader had continued on reading. So I clicked on over to Hecate's Crossroad looking to see where the link came from.

She's linked all three posts on her sidebar!

Now, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Ramblings from Oz was the first blog I know of to post links on the sidebar to essays of mine - in his case, under a heading titled "Favorite Essays."

I'll tell you, if you want your ego stroked, this'll do it.

The Secret of Social Harmony

The Secret of Social Harmony

It the first post of my "Dangerous Victims" trilogy of essays, I quote from Grim Beorn's Grim's Hall:

The secret of social harmony is simple: Old men must be dangerous.

I just got back from seeing Clint Eastwood's latest, Gran Torino, and Clint illustrates this fact with authority in this film.

My (Japanese) wife was shocked by the racist epithets fired at a machine-gun pace throughout the film, but agreed, it's a damned good movie. It's also the most un-PC film since Blazing Saddles, which should be enough to recommend it to my readers.

Apparently Eastwood has announced that, at 78, Gran Torino will be his last acting effort. If so this film, I think, suitably completes the cycle of his acting career. He started out doing spaghetti Westerns, slinging lead and gratuitous violence. This proceeded into his stint as Dirty Harry Callahan, doing much the same, only with a badge. But in his later films, Pale Rider, Unforgiven, and now Gran Torino, he has shown that violence is not something that should be treated lightly, but is something that still has its place even in "civil society" and that there is a difference between "violent and predatory" and "violent but protective."

Go see it.

Quote of the Day

I called it. Not exactly; back when I was cautioning friends and co-workers not to be too confident about the change-over date, I expected a Democrat-dominated Congress (rather than an incoming Democrat President) to push the date back, frettin' about the "technologically disenfranchised poor," or, as PBS President Paula Kerger whines chides us,

she’s especially concerned that children in less-affluent homes that rely on free television might lose access to PBS educational shows for kids.

Especially Sesame Street. Awwww. How ever else will they learn that it takes a village -- or a city block of slum tenements inhabited by creatures from a drug hallucination -- to hammer a child's mind into uniformity and compliance? - Roberta X, DTV Cutover Delay?

With both Roberta and Tam in the same domicile, the psychic snark must be oozing out of the walls by now!

UPDATE: See? Here's Tam:

FDR Jr. at the podium was telling us that we faced an "unprecedented" crisis in our nation, which no doubt made elementary school history teachers cry.

Then he said that the "wait-and-see" approach hadn't worked. Apparently "wait-and-see" is where you make stupid regulations for things you know nothing about, and throw borrowed imaginary money at irresponsible people in numbers that make astronomers twitch.

So now we're going to try his way, which is where you make stupid regulations for things you know nothing about, and throw borrowed imaginary money at irresponsible people in numbers that make astronomers twitch.

I see.

Quote of the Day (Ok, ONE post!)

Quote of the Day (Ok, ONE post!)

As a follow on to Women Shouldn't Have Guns . . ., commenter "Lurker" linked this story with more details. A lot more:

Seventy-year-old woman holds home intruder at gunpoint, talks about ordeal

It's not uncommon to hear stories of people defending their homes and themselves from intruders-- but when it's a 70-year-old woman, that story is a bit more uncommon.

It's exactly what happened in St. Joseph County on Sunday night, after an intruder broke into an elderly woman's home on Portage Road.

The woman held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. That man is 28-year-old Cyrus Brown. Brown is being held in jail on a number of charges, including burglary and intimidation.

The woman who defended herself is Sandra. She asked us not to use her last name. Newscenter 16 spoke to her by phone Monday night, while she recovered in her hospital room. She's being treated for heart problems, problems she didn't have until Sunday night's scare.

As you'll hear, this 70-year-old is a gutsy lady who wasn't about to let anybody mess with her.

It was all started about nine o'clock Sunday night. Sandra says she was in the midst of splitting wood for her fire and making vegetable soup, when she heard a ruckus outside.

"All of a sudden, I’m hearing fast footsteps around my yard, around my deck," says Sandra.

That's when she says she grabbed her gun and called 911. Moments later-- the intruder-- 28-year-old Cyrus Brown, broke through her back patio door, pushing his way through the glass.

"Immediately, I felt there was danger because he was so desperate," explains the 70-year-old. "He's in the kitchen by the stove, I told him to get down on the floor. I said if you come any closer to me, I will shoot you to kill. I told him to sit down, don't move, and I want to see your hands at all times," adds Sandra.

Newscenter 16 obtained the 911 call that Sandra made. In the background, you can hear her demanding the suspect get down.

911 call:
Dispatch: "Ma'am, where is he at in the house?"
Sandra: "Get, get, get! You have more to fear from me!"

911 call:
Dispatch: "Ma'am, are you holding him at gunpoint?"
Sandra: "Yes, I am. And if he moves towards me, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill. I don't want to have to kill him."

In that moment, Sandra says she was glad she had a gun and knew how to use it-- just in case.

But he should have taken it away from her! The Violence Policy Center says so!

"I thought that this could turn out badly because I heard of other people being murdered in their house, but I decided, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I owe that to my children," she explains.

And here's the Quote of the Day:

"Guns aren't all bad, only in the hands of the criminal and guns can be a good defense."

Gee, ya THINK?

In the end, you can hear the relief in Sandra's voice, as the police arrive at her back door.

911 call:
Sandra: "Cops!"
Police: "Get down, get down!"
Dispatch: "Ma'am, can you put the gun down for me please?"
Sandra: "It's down."
Dispatch: "Great, great, ok!"

The full 911 audio is available at the link, but the piece doesn't stop there:

Sandra is a mother of three and has several grandchildren.

She's set to have a procedure on her heart this week. As you can imagine, this whole situation has caused the 70-year-old a lot of stress.

She says she hopes others can learn from her story and think about protecting themselves. She’s hoping to have a neighborhood meeting in her area to discuss safety in homes.

Good for her! But wait! There's more!

ORIGINAL STORY: NEIGHBORHOOD REACTION

A man is in custody Sunday night after police say he tried to break into a home on St. Joseph County's northwest side.

It happened in the 51000-block of Portage near Brick Road.

Police say 28-year-old Cyrus Brown drove off the road and hit a utility pole on Portage. He then attempted to break into a nearby home.

When police arrived, they found an elderly female named Sandra holding the driver at gunpoint, awaiting their arrival. Sandra tells us she was scared to death and yelled at Brown to stay down. She says he begged her not to shoot.

"I would give her thumbs up and tell her to keep up the great work and I'm really proud of her," Lanore Evins, Sandra's neighbor, says. "He probably didn't want anyone to know that happened to him. That's probably a little embarrassing for him."

"He was a little combative at first," explains Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County Sheriff Department. "The officers had to wrestle with him to get him to comply with their orders. He didn't mess with the homeowner though."

Sandra is in the hospital with heart problems she says stemmed from the incident. She says her doctors say the situation caused too much pressure for her. But Sandra hopes her story inspires others to stand up for themselves.

"Doesn't surprise me about any of us around here. We all fight (for) what's ours," says Phyllis Barkley, Sandra's good friend. "Don't mess with the gray haired people! We still got a lot of fight in us."

To quote Grim again, "(I)t's most important that all potential victims be as dangerous as they can." And, "The secret of social harmony is simple: Old men must be dangerous." Old women, too. Sandra understands that. Her neighbors, it sounds like, do too. And now Cyrus Brown does as well. Sounds like South Bend Indiana is "American-occupied America!"

Congratulations to the local media for a job well done! Too bad that apparently only FOX picked this up nationally, and at that, minimally. There's a link at the top of the story to the email addresses of the reporters who wrote it. If you feel like it, drop 'em a nice note thanking them for the piece. I did.

Oh, and the comments to the story are generally pretty good, too.

Home! (Again)

Home! (Again)

Well, this week was 67.5 hours, the last three driving home from Wickenburg. (202 miles in three hours . . . carry the one . . . 67.3MPH average. Not bad!) They wanted us on the site this morning at 6:00AM, so I dragged my butt out of bed at 3:50 this morning, and we were on the road at 4:45.

It's been a long day. No blog for you!

Women Shouldn't Have Guns . . .

Women Shouldn't Have Guns . . .

. . . for self-defense. Assailants will take them away and they'll be shot with their own guns!

At least, that's what I've heard from about the time I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

Apparently nobody told this woman:

"A seventy year old Indiana woman stops an intruder in his tracks and 911 tapes just released prove she was not going to back down."

"The woman held a suspect at gunpoint until police arrived."

But remember: this apparently doesn't qualify as a "defensive gun use," since nobody died. That seems to be the criteria used by anti-gun forces. It's only a DGU if a perp (often referred to as "the victim") assumes room temperature.

Anybody have more detailed information on this one?

It's Hammer Time!

Well, the new Congress has been seated, and they're off! As Glenn Reynolds stated it, "400 bills on first day of new Congress. Hope and Change!" The only tool in the Congressional toolbox is legislation, so they're gonna legislate! The oft-quoted Rev. Sensing gets cited again:

A long time ago Steven Den Beste observed in an essay, "The job of bureaucrats is to regulate, and left to themselves, they will regulate everything they can." Celebrated author Robert Heinlein wrote, "In any advanced society, ‘civil servant’ is a euphemism for ‘civil master.’" Both quotes are not exact, but they’re pretty close. And they’re both exactly right. Big government is itself apolitical. It cares not whose party is in power. It simply continues to grow. Its nourishment is that the people’s money. Its excrement is more and more regulations and laws. Like the Terminator, "that’s what it does, that’s all it does."

And here they are doing it some more, this year to the tune (projected, almost certain to be exceeded) of $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars!) $1,200,000,000,000 ($1.2 trillion) $1,600,000,000,000 ($1.6 trillion) of deficit spending. (Thanks, DJ!)

The Gross Domestic Product of the U.S. in 2007 was about $13.8 trillion.

More to the point, from that same Sensing piece comes the other rationale for so many bills:

More than anything else, big-government activism is the New Deal’s legacy, and IMO, has come to define the governing philosophy of both parties today. The rising tide of big government has swamped us, held only temporarily at bay by the levees of the Reagan years. (And not really even then, since non-defense spending rose during the Reagan administration.)

Because the present-day Republicans and Democrats are both big-government activists, they have a foundational philosophy that is the same:

America is a problem to be fixed, and Americans are a people to be managed.

"It didn't work last time, but the philosophy cannot be wrong! Do it again, only HARDER!"

BOHICA!

eBay Strikes Again

eBay Strikes Again

My boss has a run-in with eBay. Quote of the Day:

eBay can pucker up and kiss my hairy, old, wrinkled.....

(Click for the visual aid, and the rest of the story.)

Apparently eBay is frightened of images of firearms. Who knew?

Bummer

Bummer

Just an update. I'm back in Wickenburg again, and it looks very much like I'll be moving from the apartment here to a house in Bagdad to be closer to the job site during commissioning. That'll happen tomorrow or Wednesday.

Good news: No more 75 minute commute to and from the site.

Bad news: No internet access.

More bad news: The drive up on Sunday increases from three to four hours.

Looks like I'll be disconnected from the web for about three or four days. (I should have a Verizon wireless card next week.)

I'm already hyperventilating.

UPDATE - 1/6: Checked out the house this afternoon. Short form: No. Longer form: Oh, HELL no!

After seeing the alternative, the extra two-hour commute isn't that damned bad. I believe we're going to decline the generous offer of on-site housing.

The real deal-breaker is the prison-style rollaway cots in each of the bedrooms.

Homey don't play dat.

Quote of the Day

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

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

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!

Oh, Glenn Reynolds, No!

PORN STAR GOES DOWN on tax charges.

Just, Damn!

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.

Stolen Shamelessly from Theo Spark's (SFW)

Stolen Shamelessly from Theo Spark's (SFW)



That's funny right there, I don't care who you are!

Quote of the Day

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!

Another Debate Invitation

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

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.

The 2008 TSM Retrospective

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 1,000,000^th 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 9^th 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.

We're so screwed.

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.