Friday, August 3, 2012

Portrait of a Drone Killer

VERBATIM POST

One wonders if drone pilot Col. D. Scott Brenton listens to Louis Armstrong in the suburban Air National Guard Base in Syracuse from which he murders people 7,000 miles away.

“I see mothers with children, I see fathers with children, I see fathers with mothers, I see kids playing soccer,” Brenton tells the New York Times. Drone operators see their intended targets “wake up in the morning, do their work, go to sleep at night,” explains Dave, another high-tech murderer who killed from an office cockpit at Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base and who now trains new recruits to the cyber-killer corps at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base.

When instructed to kill someone he has stalked from the air for a prolonged period, “I feel no emotional attachment to the enemy,” Brenton insists. I have a duty, and I execute my duty.” When the deed is done, he points out, nobody “in my immediate environment is aware of anything that has occurred.”

“There was a good reason for killing the people that I did, and I go through it in my head over and over and over,” insists another drone operator named Will, who — like Dave — served a deskbound “combat” tour at Creech and now trains others to do likewise at Holloman Air Base.

Like the soldier Bates in Henry V, it’s sufficient for Will — and others of his ilk — to render obedience to their Leader, confident that “if his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us.” The more concise and notorious formula, of course, is: We are only obeying orders. Besides, drone operators (who insist on being called “combat pilots”) are carrying out an indispensable function by picking off Afghan “militants” — or at least those “suspected” of such tendencies — who unreasonably resent the presence of foreign military personnel in their country.

The New York Times profile is part of a campaign by the state-aligned media to “humanize” the state functionaries who murder by remote control — and to normalize this mode of mass murder as drones become part of the domestic apparatus of surveillance, regimentation, and repression. Readers are invited to share the anguish of these conflicted people, who for reasons of duty have to do terrible but necessary things.

In her book Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt offered a glimpse into the mindset of SS personnel who were given a somewhat similar assignment. To carry out their killing errand, she explained, something had to be done "to overcome not so much their conscience as the animal pity by which all normal men are affected in the presence of physical suffering."

"The trick used by Himmler ... was very simple and probably very effective; it consisted in turning these instincts around, as it were, in directing them toward the self," Arendt recounted. "So that instead of saying: What horrible things I did to people!, the murderers would be able to say: What horrible things I had to watch in the pursuance of my duties, how heavily the task weighed upon my shoulders!"

Not everybody attached to the Regime’s Cyber-Killing Corps is haunted by the horrors he has inflicted on defenseless people halfway around the world. In a 2009 U.S. Naval Academy lecture, Dr. P.W. Singer of the Brookings Institution made reference to what he called "predator porn" — footage of drone attacks proudly circulated by the people who committed those acts. In a typical offering, Dr. Singer relates, "A Hellfire missile drops, goes in, and hits the target, followed by an explosion and bodies tossed into the air." Singer described one clip of that kind, sent to him by a joystick-wielding assassin, that "was set to music, the pop song 'I Just Want to Fly' by the band Sugar Ray.”

"It's like a videogame," one deskbound drone jockey told Singer. "It can get a little bloodthirsty. But it's f****g cool."

Singer describes asking a drone pilot "what it was like to fight insurgents in Iraq while based in Nevada. He said, 'You are going to war for 12 hours, shooting weapons at targets, directing kills on enemy combatants, and then you get in the car and you drive home. And within 20 minutes, you're sitting at the dinner table talking to your kids about their homework." Meanwhile, somewhere in Iraq (or Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or another country yet to be identified), other families are desperately looking through the rubble of their own homes in search of survivors.

Although drone strikes occur daily, most Americans pay little heed to them — beyond occasionally taking inconsolable offense when a dissident publicly describes them as acts of murder, and insults the Dear Leader by daring to compare him to less prolific killers.

This may change soon: As the Times points out, the Pentagon — driven by “a near insatiable demand for drones” — is training hundreds of operators to join the corps of more than 1,300 currently stationed at more than a dozen bases across the country. Surveillance drones operated by domestic police agencies are already plying the skies above us. Those robot aircraft can be upgraded to airborne weapons platforms, and they soon will. The people being trained to feel “no emotional attachment” to foreigners designated enemies of the state will feel no particular burden when ordered to kill fellow Americans on that list. I’m sure that the “combat pilots” who murdered U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman would testify to that fact — that is, if the “heroes” who committed those acts were man enough to acknowledge their deeds in public.

Jon McNaughton's art is big-government propaganda

Conservative Heritage Times
VERBATIM POST



At the recent League of the South National Conference in Alabama (see video here), I talked about the Tea Party’s utter failure to conduct and carry out a real campaign for liberty. Indeed, as I pointed out in my talk, the Tea Party is little more than a tool of the Republican party and the National Security state. One example: politicians the Tea Party helped elect have supported legislation that expands and consolidates the central government’s power over us, such as the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing And Protection Act, which gives the government the authority to monitor all online communications in the name of national security. That’s a helluva way to protect our rights.

Big, centralized government with no limits to its power is the greatest threat to liberty. It is therefore suicidal to support unconstitutional power grabs by that government. However, if we endorse that government’s claims to legitimacy, and even go as far as revering it as divinely sanctioned, we have undermined any attempt at limiting that government’s power.

Many supposedly conservative web sites have featured the art of Jon McNaughton. The authors of those sites see McNaughton’s work as patriotic statements against Obama’s agenda, and as supporting conservative opposition.

They’re wrong. McNaughton’s paintings are syrupy, pro big-government propaganda, pure and simple. It’s as if Norman Rockwell collaborated with Leni Riefenstahl.

Take a look at McNaughton’s “One Nation Under God.” The title alone should be a red flag for advocates of small government! (By the way, you can click on the picture at McNaughton’s site and verify my comments.) The Founding Fathers, famous Americans, and prominent US presidents stand in DC with a Mormon Jesus, the painting’s central figure. The image implies the federal government is an extension of the Christian faith, or at least the Mormon Christian faith. Worse, the painting is an endorsement of an all-powerful federal government as a force of liberation.

Notice the figures standing behind the Mormon Jesus. In addition to soldiers from all American wars, you’ll spot Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ulysses S. Grant, and not just one, but two Union foot soldiers from the War To Prevent Southern Independence, one Black, one White. The White Union soldier has his hands over his face, apparently in the anguished realization that, in the artist’s words, “This is the only war in American history where American fought against American and brother against brother. [Not true! Remember the American Revolution?] Hopefully it will never happen again.” The “Great Emancipator” is shown on bended knee near Jesus. And the number of Confederate heroes? Zero.

The heavens have their say, too. Notice there are 50 stars over the US Capitol building.

That’s some scary symbolism, folks. So let’s call McNaughton’s art what it is: big-government propaganda.

18 responses

World gone mad

Hundreds march in Nepal in support of gay rights


Gays, lesbians, transvestites and their supporters dance as they participate in a gay rally in Pokhara 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Katmandu, Nepal, Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. Hundreds of gay, lesbian and transgender people marched in a Nepal town to demand recognition as a third gender in citizen certificates, to allow same-sex marriage and support criminalizing discrimination based on sexual preference. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Gays, lesbians, transgender people and their supporters marched in a Nepalese town Friday to demand recognition as a third gender in citizen certificates, to allow same-sex marriage and to criminalize discrimination based on sexual preference.

Dressed in colorful clothes, laden with beads and other jewelry, they danced to Bollywood music played over loudspeakers as they marched for about 3 kilometers (2 miles) though the center of Pokhara, a resort town 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the capital, Katmandu.

Sunil Babu Pant of the Blue Diamond Society, a group that supports sexual minorities in Nepal, said the rally was an opportunity for people to come out.

More @ AZ Star




W.Va. Tourism Civil War Series - New River/Greenbrier Valley


Via Pam Steele



This year marks the 150th commemoration of the start of the American Civil War. The New River/Greenbrier Valley area of West Virginia is home to White Sulphur Springs and the Old White hotel, now The Greenbrier resort, then used by Confederates as a Civil War hospital. Other well-known battle sites include Lewisburg and Princeton. Robert E. Lee's famous horse Traveler was purchased in the Greenbrier area.

Sign Brian Terry's Birthday Card and send to Congress and Mr. Holder


Dear Brian,

As we celebrate your life on what would have been your 42nd birthday, I wanted to take a moment and thank you personally for your service to the United States and the ultimate sacrifice you made defending this country.

From the time you joined the United States Marine Corps following your high school graduation, you dedicated yourself to preserving America’s security and the safety of its citizens. It’s because of patriots like you and your fellow U.S. Border Patrol Agents that I and my family are able to live life without fear of violence.

In presenting this birthday card to you, I stand with the Terry family and other so many other Americans as they seek the information your memory deserves regarding the failed gun trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious that ultimately put the weapons into the hands of the men responsible for your death. It is my sincere hope that the Justice Department will do the right thing and immediately release all the documents the Terry family is seeking.

As an American citizen, I am extremely proud to have been defended by someone so committed to his country’s service. Thank you again for all that you have done. May God bless you and your family.

Happy birthday Brian!

Granny Defeats Five Armed Robbers With Her Gun

The place they tried to rob the next day is in Little Saigon and we have been there many times. In fact, a relative has a store there. Lots of good food. One of them got shot in the face there.:)!

Freedom Outpost
VERBATIM POST



A 65-year-old woman who owns the Garden Grove jewelry store, foiled the attempt of five thugs who entered her store to rob it. The woman did not want to be identified or have her face on television because she feared the bad guys would come back. At least one of them, apparently, won’t be returning.

As the suspects SUV backed in, the men jumped out with pillow cases and armed with handguns. They are seen in the surveillance video threatening the clerks with their weapons.

The unnamed owner fires two shots at the men and they scramble. In fact, their exit was so quick and abrupt as they were struck with panic, they fought each other to get out of the door. Apparently the shots of the owner were heard by the driver and he began to pull off and actually left three suspects behind, which he picked up a block and a half away.

The woman didn’t stop though. No, she chased the men into the parking lot! You go girl!

While the woman was obviously relieved to have them out of her store, within 24 hours police believe the same gang of thugs attempted to rob another jewelry store at the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster. One of the robbers took a shot to the face by that owner.

The Garden Grove Police warn owners concerning firing on the bad guys. Lt. Jeff Nightengale said, “Just like a police officer, when you fire that weapon and those rounds go down range, you have to be accountable for where those rounds end up.”

I agree, anyone who fires a weapon is responsible for anyone downrange, so make sure you hit your target.

Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said of the owners, “They certainly have a right to defend themselves.”

I agree. This is the second of two stories inside a month where a senior citizen has taken the fight to the bad guys as an armed citizen. In both cases, lives were saved and the person exercising their Second Amendment rights saved themselves and the people around them.

I’m guessing this is why we don’t hear these stories in the state run media, nor do we hear praise from people like Michael Bloomberg for law-abiding armed citizens defeating criminals.

When in a situation like this with five against one, the old saying holds true: “God didn’t make all men equal, Smith and Wesson did.” This woman scared these five young punks with just a couple of shots. She leveled the playing field quickly.

Sen. Sessions wants answers as ICE agent faces suspension for illegal immigrant arrest

Freedom Outpost
VERBATIM POST

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As a report surfaced that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforement agent is facing punishment for arresting an illegal immigrant, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) is demanding answers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agent, as yet unidentified, could face a three-day suspension because he arrested a 35-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexican who had at least 10 traffic violations.

According to Fox News,

The agent was ordered by supervisors to release the individual because he was not a “priority target.” When the officer balked, he was threatened with a three-day suspension and the illegal alien was let go.

“The actions that it appears were taken by your agency send a message to agents in the field that they will be punished for doing their duty and enforcing the law,” Sessions wrote in an letter to ICE Director John Morton and obtained exclusively by Fox News.

A spokesperson for the Newark Police Dept. told Fox News that had an American citizen been stopped under the same circumstances – they would have been jailed. Sessions said that is a troubling revelation.

Sen. Sessions, who took on Leon Panetta’s unconstitutional view of the U.S. military and the authority of Congress, blasted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement,

“Federal law enforcement should certainly not be giving illegal aliens more preferential treatment that is afforded American citizens. Your agency’s apparent treatment of the criminal alien sends the troubling message that the demands of public safety are trumped by the desire for reduced deportations of those deemed ‘not presidential priorities.’”

So hold on here. The agent was doing what his job demands, which is finding illegals, arresting them and getting them ready to be deported. As the Newark Police Dept. spokesman said, an American citizen would have been put in jail. Something is seriously rotten in Denmark here. I’m with the Senator on this one, as I was when he confronted Panetta. It appears this administration is going after their own. They won’t enforce the law and since they won’t enforce the law, but rather twist it to punish an agent who was enforcing it, maybe we need our military to step up to the plate and put some enforcement on the Executive Branch.

Sen. Sessions isn’t the only one who is demanding answers of ICE. Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council and representing the unidentified, 18 year law enforcement and military veteran officer said, “They’re punishing law enforcement officers who are just trying to uphold U.S. law.”

“They’re willing to take away their retirement, their job, their ability to support their families in favor of someone who is here illegally and violating our laws. Right now (the Obama administration) is standing in the way of us enforcing the law by either taking a disciplinary action, threats of disciplinary action, or refusing to sign off on charging documents to put an illegal alien into immigration proceedings so a judge can sort it out.”

Crane then questioned the very thing anyone reading this article would: “If a law enforcement officer can’t perform routine enforcement functions, what do we have a law enforcement agency for?”

This is what happens when those elected to office to execute the law instead choose to ignore the law and seek to establish law themselves, when it is not their place to do so. It is a direct result of the new immigration policy of Barack Hussein Obama.

Percentages agreement



An “issue” (in the legit­i­mate mean­ing of the word) came up at a Churchill Cen­tre schol­arly panel when it was argued that the “per­cent­ages” agree­ment (propos­ing spheres of influ­ences in east­ern Europe) between Churchill and Stalin at Moscow—the “Tol­stoy” con­fer­ence in Octo­ber 1944—proved that Churchill and Britain were no dif­fer­ent than Stalin and Russia—that both sides had iden­ti­cal objec­tives, i.e., their own national interests.

This is a com­mon argu­ment of those who would have us believe that the West­ern democ­ra­cies are no bet­ter than Nazis, Sovi­ets, or Islam­o­fas­cists. We heard the line quite recently at Cairo, from an unex­pected source, the Pres­i­dent of the United States, who sug­gested that the Holo­caust was morally equiv­a­lent to the dis­place­ment of Pales­tini­ans after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Say what?

Leave aside that Churchill saw the Moscow agree­ment as a tem­po­rary expe­di­ent which might end up sav­ing Greece from com­mu­niza­tion (as indeed it did). Did Churchill’s behav­ior prove that “we” were the same as “them”?

More@ Richard Langworth

NC Patriots of ’61 – Representative James Madison Leach

My great, great Uncle. I have a better picture of his tombstone from 1989 on film, but don't know where it is now. It looked brand new at the time.



James Madison Leach

James Madison Leach (1815–1891) was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina.

Leach was born on his the family homestead, “Lansdowne”, in Randolph County, North Carolina, January 17, 1815. He attended the common schools and Caldwell Institute in Greensboro, North Carolina. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1838, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. Leach began his law practice in Lexington, North Carolina, and served in the State house of commons from 1848-1858.

Leach served as a presidential elector on the American Party ticket in 1856 and was elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861).

During the American Civil War, Leach served as a captain and lieutenant colonel of the 21st North Carolina Infantry in the Confederate Army. He saw action in many of the early campaigns of Stonewall Jackson, including the Valley Campaign. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Peninsula Campaign and other battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg, where the regiment assaulted Cemetery Hill. He served as a member of the Confederate States Congress in 1864 and 1865.

He served as a member of the North Carolina State senate in 1865, 1866, and again in 1879 and was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875).

Leach died in Lexington, North Carolina on June 1, 1891, and is interred in Hopewell Cemetery, near Trinity, North Carolina.

===================

Via Bernhard

North Carolina Patriots of ’61 – Representative James Madison Leach of Randolph County

While Jefferson Davis of Mississippi pleaded in the United States Senate for his elected colleagues to help save the Union in January, 1861, Congressman James M. Leach pleaded in the House of Representatives for peaceful settlement of the secession crisis, and rightly pointed to the North’s responsibility for the condition of the country. His respected desire for peace underscores the fact that North Carolina was indeed a “State forced out of the Union.”

Leach, born on his family homestead in Randolph County, “Lansdowne,” graduated from Caldwell Institute in Greensboro, and from West Point in 1838. Studying the profession of law afterward, he was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1842 and opened his practice in Lexington. He was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress from North Carolina and served from March 4, 1859 until March 3, 1861.

During the War, Leach served as captain and lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-first North Carolina Regiment and saw action during Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign, the Peninsula Campaign under General Robert E. Lee, and Gettysburg where his regiment assaulted Cemetery Hill. He later served in the Confederate States Congress in 1864 and 1865. Leach died in Lexington on June 1, 1891 and is interred in Hopewell Cemetery, near Trinity, North Carolina.

The South Needs Constitutional Guarantees to Remain in the Union:

“[The] North Carolina representatives in the Senate and House of the United States Congress were struggling with the problem of peace. Representative Warren Winslow, on January 22 [1861], “by unanimous consent, presented to the House the proceedings of a meeting by the citizens of Columbia, North Carolina, in reference to the condition of the country.” It was promptly “laid on the table.” Representative James M. Leach [stated that the] “Lexington [North Carolina] citizens had approved resolutions designed to lead to “a settlement of our national troubles….based on the Crittenden propositions.” Leach urged the House to read and consider the resolution “with the hope that North Carolina might be in some degree instrumental in effecting an adjustment of our difficulties.”

Winslow said he was willing to exert all of his power to effect a suitable settlement to preserve the Union, but in his judgment “no patched up compromise, no alleviating and palliating remedy” was either just or prudent. He said he did not subscribe to the dogma that the Union should be preserved “at all hazards.’

With reference to the reluctance with which North Carolina ratified the original Constitution of the United States, he said North Carolina was thus reluctant because it feared the consequences “which have sadly been realized.” When it did come into the Union it came with loyal purposes to adhere to its obligations, and would then take course which her honor, interest and obligation to the other States justified.

James M. Leach, in a State of the Union message on February 7, said…Unless there was a return to the obligations of the Constitution, however, and a recognition of the equality of all the States and a guarantee of the rights of the South by the people of the North, he said peace could not be preserved. He pleaded with the House to join him and so legislate as to bring the rebellious States back into the Union.

Leach [said what] was needed were such guarantees as would satisfy the Border States and induce them not only to remain in the Union, but to exert their good offices as mediators between the extremes of both sections. By following this course….Leach believed the border States would “endeavor to influence those [seceded] States to remain in the Union, but if a coercive policy is adopted [by the administration], all is lost.”

(North Carolina in 1861, James H. Boykin, Bookman Associates, 1961, pp. 149-152)

NC Patriots of ’61 – Representative James Madison Leach

'Redneck' School Bus Driver Wins Ruling To Fly Confederate Flag

Via Pam Steele

Bus Driver Flag

An Oregon school bus driver who says his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired for refusing to take down a Confederate battle flag emblazoned with the word "redneck" from his pickup truck has won his first round in court. A federal magistrate upheld on Thursday a lawsuit filed by Kenneth Webber against the school district.

Webber had driven K-12 students for six years as a bus driver for Oregon’s Jackson County School District 4 but he got in hot water early last year when he ignored a supervisor's repeated order to remove the controversial symbol of the Confederacy while his truck was parked on school property.

He was eventually suspended and fired for flying the birthday gift from his father. He later sued, arguing that the district was violating his right to express even an offensive idea without facing censorship or punishment from the government.

School Superintendent Ben Bergreen, who first noticed the flag in February, explained to the AP why he insisted the bus company force Webber to take down the flag.

"The fact is, our district is about 37 percent minority students," he told the AP last year. "It's fairly common knowledge that the Confederate battle flag is perceived by folks as a racist or negative symbol. The Southern Poverty Law Center said more than 500 extremist groups use it as one of their symbols."Oh no, the dreaded $PLC mentioned.........:)

More @ Huff Post


The Despicable $outhern Poverty Law Center

Liberty Legal answers reader's 8 most asked questions

1. Is Rubio eligible to be the Republican Vice Presidential pick?

A: No. Any candidate for VP must also be eligible for the Presidency because they may need to serve in the capacity at a moments notice. The parents of VP and Presidential candidates must have been citizens at the time of the candidate's birth. Rubio parents were not naturalized until after his birth. If you are concerned that the Republican Party may select an ineligible candidate, let them know today how you feel.

2. Now that the Supreme Court ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional under the commerce clause, how does that affect our efforts to roll back Wickard?

A: Unfortunately, the horrible ruling from the Roberts Court hurts our cause. The language from the court regarding the commerce clause established a “boundary” on the clause without returning that boundary to where it should be. By creating an activity versus non-activity test, we now have a very weak test that can be avoided by future congresses.

3. Is it possible to overcome Obamacare by challenging the “direct tax” limitation put forth by Roberts?

A: Finding that Obamacare is a tax opens the door to defeating the law on that basis. Since our Obamacare Class Action is still active in the Texas District Court, we will be raising the direct tax issue in our lawsuit.

4. Does Natural Born Citizen mean being born in the United States?

A: No, if that were true, we would not have required the 14th Amendment to define such citizens. Natural Born Citizen refers only to citizens that were born in their country of origin AND that their parents were citizens of that country of origin at the time of the person's birth. Those who say otherwise are either intentionally trying to mislead or are ignorant of the different types of citizenship.

5. What happens now with our Obamacare Class Action?

A: LLF’s Obamacare case is currently before the Federal Court in the Northern District of Texas. That court stayed the proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s ruling. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled we are free to re-open our OCA lawsuit and have been working to do so. While the court did discuss the commerce clause issue, the discussion was non-binding dicta, because it did not rely on that language to reach the conclusion that the IM was “constitutional.” For this reason, the commerce clause issue is still alive. Also, the Court’s ruling only addressed the individual mandate. It did not address the rest of Obamacare’s provisions. We will be raising other provisions as being beyond Congressional authority under the commerce clause.

6. Can a treaty override the Constitution?

A: Treaties cannot violate the Constitution. To the degree that they do, the treaty is void, not the Constitution. However, this assumes that the government honors and enforces the Constitution. When the Supreme Law of the Land is flagrantly ignored, why should anyone care what any law or treaty says? We are now essentially under chaotic despotism. Those in power enforce laws when they favor them, and ignore the law when it opposes their desires. The Courts have been supporting this chaotic despotism for several years now.

7. Why do you keep taking cases to Court when the Courts are so corrupt?

A: Our answer to this is also a question, "Why did God continue to send prophets to Israel when He knew they wouldn't return to His Torah?" The answer is that some will even if most won't and He never acts without giving warning. We don't know when we will find an honorable Judge, but we do know that we have to give every Judge the opportunity to uphold the Constitution by making the right arguments to the Court. Obamacare is the prime current example. The attorneys that appeared before the Supreme Court accepted unconstitutional legal precedent as a starting point so they were doomed before they started. We start our arguments by showing the Court how to reverse unconstitutional precedent in order to reach a Constitutional decision.

8. When will the Supreme Court hear our Georgia eligibility case?

A: Over the next several months the Supreme Court will be reviewing the thousands of cases presented to them, and will decide which cases to accept. Meanwhile, we will be filing an emergency motion asking the Court to intervene before the November election.

Thank you for emailing such excellent questions. They often raise issues we haven't considered in that way before. We have smart members!

For Liberty,


Van Irion, Founder

LIBERTY LEGAL FOUNDATION

Comment on: Another ding-a-ling all in one day: Hate Gun Control

Another ding-a-ling all in one day: Hate Gun Control



Blogger Dedicated_Dad said...@ Nurse The Hate

A kid in China just killed 9 with a knife - do you plan on banning them too?

As to your "cannon" meme, it just shows how ignorant you are. Many DID own them as anyone COULD, and mortars as well. They could also own what amounted to battleships - ships designed and built to do nothing but carry a hundred or so cannon and fire them at other ships to give them the choice of sinking or surrendering.

In times of conflict, CONgress could and did issue letters of marque and reprisal which allowed such owners to go after any ships flying the enemy's flag and keep the proceeds for their own profit.

Then there's the subject of the Constitution. It is ultimately the supreme law of the land, and as long as it's ignored we are in a situation where there simply is NO RULE OF LAW!

If you don't like what it says, then AMEND IT - the process is clear-cut and has been done more than 20 times now! Ignoring it however is quite simply *NOT* an option!

Lastly, I'll be blunt: how many of us are you willing to kill to get to your "gun-free utopia"?

A hundred?

A thousand?

A million?

Three million?

Ten million?

The fact is that there are a LARGE number of us out here with the historical literacy to understand that tyranny is a natural product of power - and that a disarmed citizenry is unable to keep the tyrants in check.

We'd rather die than forfeit our birthright of citizenship and our G*d-given rights to self-defense.

To be even more blunt, those willing to die for a principle are also generally willing to help others do so as well - and most I know would be more than capable of seeing that they take a few of their enemies with them.

Even if only three percent of Americans were to refuse to submit, that's ten million people you'll have to kill to implement your "utopia." Even if it's only three percent of gun-owners that's still something close to four million - and most of them aren't going to die alone!

Somehow a hot civil war and at least 8-10 million dead doesn't sound very good to me - but then I'm one of Dear Reader's "bitter clingers" you lot love to hate so much so...

One final question: After you've finished your civil war and buried millions of dead that result, how are you going to stop the average "handy" man or woman from building more guns?

Even the most basic internet search would show you film of Urdu tribesman in Pakistan working in CAVES, with hand-tools, making firearms out of scrap-metal that are pretty much indistinguishable from "the real thing."

Even the most basic combination of some bits of pipe, a 2x4, a nail and a rubber-band can easily yield a rudimentary shotgun that's more than adequate for the task, and full-auto submachine guns are only a bit more complex but still within the power of most real men using only basic hand-tools and parts available at any well-stocked hardware store.

Search for "expedient homemade firearms" for some eye-opening education!

The simple reality is that the occasional nutjob is the price we pay for LIBERTY. A truly FREE society is *NOT* a truly SAFE one - but then old Ben Franklin warned us centuries ago that "those who trade their essential liberty for a little illusion of safety deserve and will have neither."

If that's what you want, we won't stand in your way - but don't try to take our Liberty from us!

If you don't want a gun, don't buy one -- but you'd damn well better leave MINE alone!

August 3, 2012 1:30:00 PM EDT

Hope and Change Lower Hear! Hear!

Via commander_zero
Hope and Change Lower

In Celebration of our dear leader's historic presidency, we are proud to announce the pre-sale of a very limited edition commemorative lower. Crafted from Forged 7075 T6 aluminum, anodized and hardcoated black per mil-spec, these feature a special rollmark and a serial prefix of "YES WE CAN." In addition, the safe and fire positions are labeled "Hope" and "Change". Your paid order reserves one of these special lowers. Lowers are expected to start shipping August 15th.

Milwaukee gun range voluntarily reports law-abiding customers to local police

Via Don

Background Check

Wisconsin Carry has learned of some concerning information that we would like to pass along to our membership and right-to-carry interested folks in southeast Wisconsin.

In a recently published Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article which you can read here

It was reported that the former Badger Guns (now Brew City Shooters Supply) http://www.brewcityshooterssupply.com/ has, since 2009, been reporting the names of every customer that comes in to use their firing range to the West Milwaukee Police Department.

In this time over 25,000 customer names were reported to West Milwaukee Police Chief Dennis Nasci who ran a background check on each through “his system”.

So far in 2012 it was reported more than 8,800 customer name records have been supplied to West Milwaukee Police by Brew City Shooters Supply to have a criminal background check run on them.

We do not know yet, how else West Milwaukee Police have been using these records they have been given by Brew City Shooters Supply, nor if they are storing those customer names for future reference. We also do not know what other purposes West Milwaukee Police might choose to use these customer name lists for in the future.

Having spoken with members of WCI who frequent Brew City Shooters Supply, though they were aware they signed a liability release to use the range, they were NOT aware in any way that their use of the range was being reported to West Milwaukee Police Department.

Wisconsin Carry does not believe it is the governments business if, when, or how often law-abiding citizens use a firing range. We also believe that if a business is going to report law-abiding activities of customers to local police departments so a background check can be run with no reason or justification, they should be explicitly informing customers of this tactic. Wisconsin Carry rejects the selective intrusion on customers privacy by any business with no reason or cause other than those customers patronage to participate in a legal activity.

More @ AmmoLand

Attorney General Black’s Opinion of November 20, 1860



Faced with a growing secession crisis President James Buchanan asked his Attorney-General Jeremiah S. Black for information regarding his legal powers. He advised Buchanan that he could mobilize militia to achieve enforcement of federal laws under the Act of 1795 which provided that the militia could be called “whenever the laws of the United States have been opposed…by any State, by any combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of legal proceedings.”

Buchanan then realized that he would first have to move troops against Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and the other Northern States whose Personal Liberty Laws had undermined enforcement of the Federal Fugitive Slave Act. These States had committed overt acts of defiance of federal law – nullification - as yet South Carolina had not. Buchanan could not march against a people who only talked against the federal government, ignoring States which had for years been actively obstructing the course of federal law. If one holds the belief that the Southern States, despite secession, remained part of the union, then the federal government was Constitution-bound to protect them; e.g., South Carolina against troops from New England States,

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

Attorney General Black’s Opinion of November 20, 1860:

“Whether Congress has the constitutional right to make war upon one or more States, , and require the Executive of the Federal Government to carry it on by means of force to be drawn from the other States, is a question for Congress itself to consider.

It must be admitted that no such power is expressly given; nor are there any words in the Constitution which imply it. Among the powers enumerated in Article 1, Section 8, [it] certainly means nothing more than the power to commence and carry on hostilities against the foreign enemies of the nation.

Another clause, in the same section gives Congress the power “to provide for calling forth the militia,” and to use them within the limits of the State. But this power is also restricted by the words which immediately follow that it can be exercised only for one of the following purposes: To execute the laws of the Union;….To suppress insurrections against the State; but this is confined by Article 4, Section 4, to cases in which the State itself shall apply for assistance against her own people.

[And] 3. To repel the invasion of a State by enemies who come from abroad to assail her in her own territory. All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country by another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war. Our forefathers do not seem to have thought that war was calculated “to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

There was undoubtedly a strong and universal conviction among the men who framed and ratified the Constitution, that military force would not only be useless, but pernicious, as a means of holding the States together.

If it is true that war cannot be declared, nor a system of general hostilities carried on by the Central Government against a State, then it seems to follow that an attempt to do so would be ipso facto an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as an alien and enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly.

And if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife and enmity and armed hostility between different sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquility which the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obligations?”

(Twenty Years of Congress, James G. Blaine, Volume I, Henry Hill Publishing Company, 1884, pp. 604-605)


Attorney General Black’s Opinion of November 20, 1860

DumpDC Is Back!! DumpDC: Now More Than Ever

Via Western Rifle Shooters Association

Zoomie: American Acts of Defiance Sticker

By Russell D. Longcore

I’m back, Friends.

I really thought that I could just concentrate on building my business and not write about secession. But apparently I cannot. The stakes are far too high, and I have a wife, three grown children and three grandchildren.

You may thank the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke for my return to these pages. He is principally revered for his support of the American Revolution…the first act of secession on the North American continent. And from this day forward, DumpDC adds Edmund Burke to our Hall of Fame, along side Lysander Spooner and Thomas Paine.

This article is a sampler of Burke quotes, and what they will mean to us in the coming days.

We begin with Burke’s most often quoted line: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

As I come back to DumpDC, I find that my position about secession has hardened. Look at the top of this page. The sub-title now says: “It’s Secession Or Civil War. Choose One. There Is No Third Choice.”

Will this make me popular? Likely not. I did not start DumpDC three years ago to be popular. I am not looking for big numbers so I can advertise on every square inch of white space on the website. I am interested in changing hearts and minds about secession.

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

Going forward, be prepared to read secession articles that are decidedly more strident and aggressive about secession. Why? Because I see an ever-increasing commitment to lost causes in the Patriot blogs. (St. Jude, you’re needed once again.) It seems that they have been brainwashed into the acceptance of a 50-state nation as the only political entity that deserves to exist south of the Canadian border. It’s almost as if some of my friends say, “Other than secession, what can we do to regain liberty? I know! Let’s force Washington to obey the Constitution! We’ll sic the Tenth Amendment on them!”

Today’s Patriot seems to embrace the plan with no hope of success whatsoever (restoring the USA), with the highest probability of failure (somehow forcing Washington to obey the Constitution), and the highest probability of armed conflict and/or civil war (prepping for economic collapse with DC still in charge).

That dog won’t hunt.

DC politicos are not going to recognize ANY restriction on their power to tax, borrow and spend. “But what about the new Tea Party members?” you may ask. When a new Congress member gets to Washington, he or she is absorbed into the system.

“Ambition can creep as well as soar.”

Within weeks or months, that new Congress member is raising money for his re-election campaign. All the while that new member tells his constituency how he or she is there to serve them, and that their votes count.

“You will smile here at the consistency of those democratists who, when they are not on their guard, treat the humbler part of the community with the greatest contempt, whilst, at the same time they pretend to make them the depositories of all power.”

When is the last time you heard anyone in Washington…Republican, Democrat or Independent…seriously discuss a spending only what DC takes in by taxation? Or talk about shrinking the Federal government? Or stop borrowing money?

“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites…in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

Today’s politicians do not desire liberty. They thirst after power and privilege. They are sociopathic personalities who wish to rule over others. And those who love individual liberty and property rights must not make deals with sociopaths. We must DEFEAT THEM.

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”

I have heard the leaders of some well-known state independence movements say that they are dedicated to the legal, lawful separation of their state from the US Federal Government. Those are mighty fine-sounding words. But the Declaration of Independence was not lawful in King George’s mind. The Signers knew that they were pledging “their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.” The also knew that they were going to be hunted by Redcoats. The states of the Confederacy in the early 1860s saw war on the horizon when they seceded. Apparently, Lincoln didn’t consider their secession lawful either, and 600,000 men died in that “recent unpleasantness.”

My point? Washington may not consider an Ordinance of Secession legal. Secession is playing for keeps.

More @ Dump DC

Liberals Call for Killing of 6 year old Conservative!

6-Year-Old Gives 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for Obama!

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Patriot Update recently posted a video on YouTube entitled, “6-Year-Old Gives 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for Obama!”, which has caused liberals to go on the warpath. With over 350,000 views and climbing, the venomous and hate-filled comments from the left are intolerable. Liberal around the country are accusing the parents of “brainwashing” and “exploiting” their child. (Somehow a bunch of elementary school children singing praises to Obama doesn’t count as “brainwashing or exploitation.”) Ironically, the left couldn’t care less if you abort your child. Teaching them conservative values, however, is tantamount to child abuse!

This should serve as wake up call to all conservatives. Patriot Update is calling conservatives to stand together and defend our beliefs against this liberal onslaught. Currently, there are more negative comments from liberals than there are positive comments from conservatives. We’re asking you give the video a “thumbs up” and express your opinion in the comments section of the various web sites that are discussing the video. We must unite and support our conservative values and freedom of speech.

More @ The Patriot Update

Here are some examples of the hate:






Vt. police: Man angry about arrest used tractor like monster truck to crush 7 cop vehicles



Sheriff officers walk past crushed cruisers at the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department in Newport, Vt., Thursday, …

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff’s deputies didn’t know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbour called 911.

A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles — five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.

By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road.

With their vehicles crushed, “We had nothing to pursue him with,” said Chief Deputy Philip Brooks.

Thursday afternoon’s incident ended when city police in Newport, the county seat of the northern Vermont county, caught up with Roger Pion, 34, a short distance away.

No one was injured. At least two deputies had gone inside a few moments before after washing their vehicles, officials said.

“Nobody was hurt. That’s the thing everybody’s got to cherish,” said Sheriff Kirk Martin.

More @ Traditions & Skills

CHICK-FIL-A SERVES ONE BILLION IN ONE DAY

It took McDonald’s twenty years to reach “one billion served” but Chick-Fil-A did it in one day. ”We checked our records books and we don’t have anything like this, not even close,” said a representative of the Fast Food Association. ”I think they’ve eaten every dead chicken in America.”



Dallas


“My daughters and I went to Chick-fil-A in Wake Forest, NC around 1:45 today in hopes of avoiding the rush. At that time, the line was still backed up five miles out of the restaurant parking lot!” Natalie Z. in North Carolina wrote to WWN.

“The drive-thru line at the Springfield, Illinois Chick-fil-A went all the way to Nebraska,” said one representative of Chick-fil-A.

There were still thousands of people lined up at 11 pm in Atlanta:

In solidarity, chicken lovers in Spain, Italy, Russia, India and the Philippines lined up for over ten hours to get a piece of chicken and a biscuit.

Citizens and Sovereigns

Via Terry T


Paratus Familia Blog
VERBATIM POST

I see it so clearly in my minds eye. Thatched roofs, billowing smoke with flames lapping, ready to consume the pitiful mud and waddle hovel. Cruel faced men sit astride fierce mounts, demanding obeisance from cowering peasants. These are the dark days before the dawn of liberty. In this world, men and women are little more than chattel, owning nothing. Their labors are not their own. They toil bitterly for their meager existence, knowing their sovereign may require the fruits of their labor without notice or cause. Their lives are fodder for the nobles who take great joy in exercising complete power over their subjects, both for personal gain and for the twisted pleasure of wreaking destruction on helpless peasants.

The Dark Ages were called dark for a reason. Society was hallmarked by a great chasm of classes - the masses worked for the betterment of the few and the few tyrannized the masses. As we stand idly by, our world is growing dark once more.

Our constitution was written to govern free men. The wording was concise and specific. The preamble begins "We the people of the United States.....", not "We the citizens of the United States". It was worded thus to keep men free. The difference between "People" and "Citizen" is the difference between serf and king.

It is noted in Law Notes If you claim you are a citizen of the United States, then it is strongly implied that you are subject to the laws of the United States. On the other hand, if you are one of the People, then it is legally implied that you are a legal king, with a sovereignty superior to that of the United States, and subject only to the common law of other kings (your peers). In short: the People are superior to the government; the government is superior to the citizens. That is the hierarchy.


As a king you "are entitled to the rights which formerly belonged to the King by his prerogative." You can do what you want to do when you want to do it. You have your own property and your own courts. There is no limit as to what you may do other than the natural limits of the universe, and the sovereignty of a fellow sovereign. You should treat the other sovereign in accordance with the Golden Rule, and at the very least must never harm him. Your sovereignty stops where the other sovereignty begins. You are one of the owners of the American government, and it is their promise that they will support your sovereignty (i.e. they have promised to support the Constitution and protect it from all enemies). You have no allegiance to anyone. The government, your only [public] servant, has an allegiance to you.


As a Citizen, you are only entitled to whatever your sovereign grants to you. You have no rights. If you wish to do something that would be otherwise illegal, you must apply for a license giving you special permission. If there is no license available, and if there is no specific permission granted in the statutes, then you must apply for special permission or a waiver in order to do it. You only allegiance is to your sovereign (the government), and that allegiance is mandated by your sovereign's law (the government, though not absolutely sovereign, is sovereign relative to you if you claim to be a citizen of the sovereign.

The framers of our Constitution wanted us to be our own sovereigns not peasants serving a tyrannical master. They wanted us to be self governing noblemen.

We have given up our right of ascension. While we turned a blind eye, the very people we entrusted to safeguard our sovereignty usurped our position and appointed themselves noblemen and princes - the rulers of the land. And we were relegated to Citizens rather than Sovereigns.

The thatch is burning and the noblemen sit astride fierce mounts demanding obeisance from cowering peasants. We have been thrust into the darkness.

Now is the time for you to decide. Are you a People or a Citizen?