So I went to see United 93…

…and even now I am on edge. Of course, we all know what happens in the movie and how it ends, but still I was not expecting the emotional wallop the movie packed. Did I think it would get to me? Yup, even just as I watched the trailer…but the trailer doesn’t do the whole movie justice. I do not want to spoil it for anyone, but I will freely admit I broke down and cried when they showed the people on the plane telling their families goodbye for the last time. Pissed me off? You bet it did. I sit here and think about how assholes like Kos can sit there and smugly proclaim they’re so over that black day in September, and I try not to pay much mind to them, but when I think about that and contrast it with the images presented in “United 93,” it just makes my blood boil. It’s bad enough that these adherents to the so-called “Religion of Peace” want to kill us, but to see people sit there and effectively proclaim that the threat Islam poses isn’t a big deal, and to see them so easily “get over it,” is just completely beyond my comprehension. Time will tell, but I’d like to think that “United 93” will snap some of these people out of their stupor and wake them up to the fact that yes, there are people out there who want to KILL us, and it would be in our best interests to KILL THEM FIRST before they got that chance. I was discussing the movie with a fella I work with last week, and he mentioned the songs “Have You Forgotten” by Darryl Worley and “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” by Toby Keith, and said those songs came to mind when he thought of what’s been going on since 9-11. I told him that I can understand the points those songs were trying to make (more so with Worley’s song), but that I think “United 93” will do a much better job of driving those points home. It’s one thing to just ask the plaintive question “Have you forgotten?” But it’s quite another to put the events on the big screen for all the world to see — the fright and deep sadness of the passengers on the plane, the cold fanaticism of the Muslim hijackers, the confusion and tension on the ground in the air traffic control centers, and last, but certainly most of all, the heroism of those brave souls who stormed the cockpit of that plane in a last-ditch effort to save their lives and the lives of God knows how many others on the ground — to see to it that we do not forget. The American character was on fine display on that plane that sunny but oh-so-dark September day. God bless them, every one…may they all rest in peace.

Excellent advice

…from John Hawkins @ Right Wing News, 10 Pieces Of Advice For Republicans In Washington (emphasis mine):

Stop Getting Involved In Primary Elections: When President Bush and the National Republican Senatorial Committee back RINOS like Arlen Specter or Lincoln Chafee in Republican primaries, it sends the wrong message. The Senators are in effect, being told that they can thwart the will of the majority of Republicans without consequence while a large portion of the base is given the impression that Republicans in Washington are unsympathetic to their views. In my book, if a sitting Republican Senator can’t even win a primary without a lot of help from the Party, he’ll probably be more of a hindrance than an asset over the long-term anyway.

Yes, indeed. It is long past time for Republicans in Washington to stop selling out conservative principles to maintain their grip on power. It is just simply not worth continuing our support for Republicans in Congress if they’re going to sell out its conservative base just to maintain their control of Congress. I know well that this is a critical time in our nation’s history, and I still believe that as a whole, we would be much better off with the GOP at the levers of power in Washington, but at the same time, just having (R) beside your name as a candidate doesn’t make you worthy of support. If it came down to a matchup between an Arlen Specter/Lincoln (or John) Chafee-type Republican and a Zell Miller-type Democrat, I honestly believe I would have no trouble at all voting for the latter. I don’t know Lincoln Chafee’s views on gun control, but does anyone remember this legendary quote from John Chafee?

I shortly will introduce legislation banning the sale, manufacture or possession of handguns (with exceptions for law enforcement and licensed target clubs)….It is time to act. We cannot go on like this. Ban them!

Something tells me that, as the old saying goes, the fruit does not fall far from the tree. And the younger Chafee’s leftist views on other issues are well-known. Opposes Bush tax cuts, supports the evisceration of the First Amendment with the McCain-Feingold “campaign finance reform” act, supports ratification of the Kyoto treaty, pro-abortion, opposes drilling in ANWR…anyone wanna bet on him NOT supporting whatever infringements on our gun rights that comes down the pike? And the Republicans actually stand for this? I know well there is room for differences of opinion, but folks like Chafee (both father and son), Specter, etc. are, in my mind, some of the biggest reasons that people say there isn’t a bit of difference between the two parties.

Navigating the Minefield; or, An Argument Gunnies Need to Avoid

Looking at the Sitemeter a couple of days ago, I saw that someone was directed here by searching on Comcast.net’s search engine for “fully auto Ruger P89.” So, just for grins I clicked on over to those search results to see what came up…and I came upon this discussion from freerepublic.com: “IL: Gun Violence Victims Rally Around Governor’s Proposal [Re: Ban Assault Weapons].” It was just more HCI bullshit, of course, about supporting Rod Blagojevich’s and Dick Daley’s “assault weapons” ban for Illinois. Never mind all the arguments — we’ve seen them all put forth in the media, time after time — but, I did find one thing interesting. One poster put up a list of the guns most used in crime, to show that the weapons the ban covered were never used in crimes:

Guns Used In Crimes (Before The Federal “Assault Weapon” Ban):
10 Most Frequently Traced Guns Used In Crimes In 1994:
1) Lorcin P25 (pistol)
2) Davis Ind. P380 (pistol)
3) Raven Arms MP25 (pistol)
4) Lorcin L25 (pistol)
5) Mossberg 500 (shotgun)
6) Phoenix Arms Raven (pistol)
7) Jennings J22 (pistol)
8) Ruger P89 (pistol)
9) Glock 17 (pistol)
10) Bryco 38 (pistol)
…

Guns Used In Crimes (Six Years AFTER The Federal “Assault Weapon” Ban:
10 Most Frequently Traced Guns Used in Crimes In 2000:
1. Smith and Wesson .38 (revolver)
2. Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic (pistol)
3. Lorcin Engineering .380 semiautomatic (pistol)
4. Raven Arms .25 semiautomatic (pistol)
5. Mossberg 12 gauge (shotgun)
6. Smith and Wesson 9mm semiautomatic (pistol)
7. Smith and Wesson .357 (revolver)
8. Bryco Arms 9mm semiautomatic (pistol)
9. Bryco Arms .380 semiautomatic (pistol)
10. Davis Industries .380 semiautomatic (pistol)

Advancing this line of argument, in my mind, is extremely dangerous, and here’s why. I know this is perfectly obvious to many, but it needs to be stated again: the anti-gunners know that the weapons they want to ban are not widely used in crimes, and they don’t care. So it’s absolutely useless to talk about what kinds of guns are used in crimes, and it could indeed be dangerous — because they could very well use that list to, you guessed it, call for a ban once again on defensive sidearms, and on top of that, ban certain calibers as well, even if they are used in rifles. Look at all the common, highly-used calibers here: .380ACP, .357 Magnum, .38 Special, 9mm. We all know what could come of this: calls for special taxes on these calibers, ID & registration to buy them (for both the ammunition and the arms), restricted sales and all those other schemes these bastards like to tout as “common-sense gun control” measures. They will stop at nothing to strip us of our right of self-defense, and we must fight then, every step of the way — and be careful we do not fall into the traps they set, whether those traps are intentional or not.

Oh, now this is just great…

From today’s Houston Chronicle:

Prosecutors charged a veteran longshoreman with murder and aggravated assault after a Sunday morning fight inside an east Houston restaurant erupted into gunfire….

It should be fun to see how long it takes the deception specialists at groups like the Violence Policy Center and the Organization Formerly Known As Handgun Control to spin this guy as representative of concealed-carry permit holders not just in Texas, but nationwide as well. I can just hear them now…
“See? Citizens carrying guns’s bad, m’kay? People only want to carry them because they’re paranoid, m’kay? And the people who do carry them are prone to go off at a moment’s notice, m’kay?”
And even if it turns out he was justified, the money’s on the gun-grabbers pulling out the same broad, worn paintbrush and painting all gun owners as paranoid, hair-trigger-temper-possessed reprobates, as they’re so prone to do when something like this happens.

Another Example From Across the Pond of How Well Civilian Disarmament Works!

Via Right, Wing-Nut! and Misha at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler comes this article from Brussels, Belgium, that’s right, folks, the heart of enlightened, gun-free, oh-so-tolerant Europe:

Last Wednesday Joe Van Holsbeeck, 17 years of age, was murdered in Brussels Central Station. He was stabbed five times in the heart by North African youths. They demanded that he give them his MP3 player. When Joe refused he was savagely murdered. The atrocity happened during the evening rush hour on a crowded platform. Though there were hundreds of people on the platform, no-one interfered – perhaps because many people do not notice what is happening around them on a crowded, noisy and busy platform where passengers are rushing to catch their trains.

Read the whole thing, and the peerless Emperor’s commentary on the actions of various players in this tragedy, as he does much better than I ever could. But I would like to comment on one thing:

Yesterday Marc Joris, a VB politician who is a member of the provincial council of East Flanders, criticised an initiative of VLD Governor André Denys against arms possession. The authorities are worried that more and more Belgians are arming themselves because they feel they are no longer adequately protected by the police. It is illegal to carry arms in Belgium, where even a pepper spray is considered to be an illegal weapon. According to Joris bearing a weapon can be a protection against crime. “There is no proof that societies are safer when citizens are not allowed to carry arms,” Joris said. Governor Denys retorted: “I am the Governor of East Flanders, not of Texas. […] I do not want to live in such a society [where citizens are allowed to possess arms].”

Yes, indeed. We just cannot have the common folk be trusted with the means to protect themselves against those shiftless, morally bankrupt thugs who would take their stuff, and, as we see here, their very lives. That just would never do. Let them eat cake, excuse me, call 911…the police will always get there in time to protect them! And Besides that, they’re the only ones professional enough! A Brit expat once told me, “I never could understand you crazy Americans and your fascination with guns.” But I’d bet my last paycheck that if Joe Van Holsbeck had a .45 at his disposal with a couple of extra magazines, he’d still be alive today. Rest in peace, Joe Van Holsbeck…and burn in hell, Andre Denys.

How About Those Country Legends, the Allman Brothers and Gordon Lightfoot!

So I was blastin’ down Highway 69 here in Southeast Texas last night, listening to Country Legends 97.1, which broadcasts out of Houston. Their playlist consists of nothing but country music from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s…heaven on earth for a old country junkie like me. Here in the last few weeks, they’ve been playing a fair bit of ’70s folkie Gordon Lightfoot’s music…”Sundown,” “Carefree Highway,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” are some of the Lightfoot numbers I’ve heard on there. And as I was driving Friday night, I heard the great old Allman Brothers chestnut “Ramblin’ Man.” I love that song, and the Gordon Lightfoot songs too, but I never really thought of them as “country” in the sense that George Jones, Merle Haggard, et al. were. But on second thought, I think just about anything the Allmans and Gordon Lightfoot recorded would fit better in the country music canon than a lot of what’s being recorded and marketed as “country music” these days. Yes, I am more or less a musical purist, I’ll admit, even if I do like all sorts of different genres. And I know my complaints have been echoed through the years by each generation of country music fans, but still, I defy anyone to tell me how in the hell one can draw any kind of line between “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and that stupid Hillbilly Rock Star song that Kenny Chesney sings. I know well that music “changes,” and “evolves,” but as it does so, isn’t it supposed to maintain a healthy connection to its roots? I know, I know…one man’s “music that evokes its roots” is another man’s “tired old twangy, whiny crap,” but I would contend that those who think the latter of the older country music are exactly the types of people that Nashville shouldn’t be marketing country music to. And the fact that they (and country radio) have been catering to these people is what’s gotten them (and mainstream country music) in the sorry shape it’s in now. I know that today’s “country” stars claim a wide array of influences, but I think they’d all sound much better — more, um, country, if you will — if those influences were acts like Gordon Lightfoot, the Doobie Brothers (BEFORE Michael McDonald took over frontman duties), the Allmans or even Creedence Clearwater Revival, instead of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel or Eric Clapton (though I do love Clapton and all the bands he’s played in). I know all the arguments, I know they’ve been raging ever since the first amp was plugged in, but I’d like my country music to have at least a little twang to it, is that so wrong? I’d take “Long Train Runnin'” or “Sundown” before “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” on my local country station any day. And I think it’d be interesting to see how many people who liked country music before it was “cool” would share that sentiment.

Happy San Jacinto Day, y’all…

There is much I could say, but Catfish at the Texican Tattler nails it…

Ah got bit by the Six Things meme!

So I got the Six Things meme from Head’s Bunker, and I thought it would be fun to play along…

Six Things You Did Not Know About Me

1. You might think I have a beautiful smile if you saw it, but it’s not all real — the two front teeth are crowns. My real ones got knocked out in a boating accident just before my freshman year in high school.
2. What I hate more than anything is when someone says something to me that they don’t mean, just to test me, just to see what I would say. I once was involved with a girl who did this constantly, as if all the reasons our relationship became the cluster-fuck of epic proportions that it did, were not big enough tests enough in and of themselves. She knew good and well that I hated it and she kept on doing it. She’s long gone now, and good riddance, but still, that’s almost three years of my life that I’ll never get back…
3. I like mayonnaise on my sandwiches — not Miracle Whip. It’ll do in a pench, better Miracle Whip than a dry sandwich — but still, I am always ragging on my mother about that. “Yeah, I guess salad dressing will be fine..” after all, it does say Miracle Whip Salad Dressing on the jar…
4. I love to sing along with stuff I like on the radio, very loud, and CRANK IT UP! No matter who looks at me funny. 😉 Last song I sang along with? Roger Creager’s “The Everclear Song,” just a few minutes ago on 100.3 KILT in Houston.
5. Speaking of the big E, my first monster hangover was off a mixed drink with Everclear in it — homemade fuzzy navel, made with that, oj and peach schnapps. My best friend from high school was mixing it and put about twice as much everclear in it as he should have. I spent the next day at work, with an 18-wheeler sitting on my head, puking my innards out — 4 times in 5 1/2 hours. I think that may be some kind of record among my buddies…
6. I collect coffee mugs, from anywhere and everywhere I go. The one I drink out of is a forest-green one, from the Gruene General Store in Gruene, Texas, about 35 miles north of San Antonio. I got it on a trip to San Antonio to see George Strait back in November 2002. (6th out of 11 times)

I don’t know who to pass it on to, though…I don’t know who else reads my blog or who else has gotten it, but it was still fun.
😉

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Carnival of Cordite No. 55…

is up at Resistance is futile!