All posts by paul iadonisi

Institutional Thuggery

militarizationofthepolice, onlyones

Over at Unc’s, there was this regarding the madness of the town of Keene, NH getting a tank (actually, a Lenco Bearcat).

After one commenter posted something I pretty much agree with, but prefaced it with this:

Look, 99 percent of the cops are good guys, but all this ninja stuff is not needed.

I took issue with it and posted this:

I just can’t agree with the “99 percent of the cops are good guys” statement anymore.

For all of Baron Barnett’s State Sponsored Criminal Count posts, and David Codrea’s Only One’s post, and a host of other sources, it seems there are far too many police chiefs and sheriffs willing to cover for their underlings and partners who don’t speak up.

There are at least three criminals in the Harless case in Canton: Harless, his partner for doing nothing during Harless’ criminal behavior, and the police chief for covering for him (including all his previous incidents) before he was left with no choice but to fire him.

I’m trying real hard not to hate cops in general, but with so many incidents and so much endorsement of it, I don’t think I’ll *ever* trust cops with this kind of equipment.

Another commenter responded, stopping short of actually accusing me of not doing anything to improve the situation. But, it read, in part:

I can understand your frustration and anger in watching something like the Canton incident but that kind of person is a minority in the law enforcement community, believe it or not. What about the Cop in California that buys a kid lunch in Burger King, or someplace like that, then a few minutes later has someone walk up and shoot him in the head? Was he a bad Cop? Did he deserve to get shot in the head just because he was a cop?
It is frustrating when you see a person in that position of trust doing things like that but in this day and age, even with overt evidence like the video, it can be a drawn out process to get rid of a guy like that.

To say it’s frustration and anger is almost condescending. A better word would be motivated. Harless should not have only been fired. He should be in jail. You think not? Would I be if I made those kinds of threats?

It seems qualified immunity has become unqualified immunity in almost all cases. And when that wall is finally, justifiably breached, you have 50 cops saluting the cop guilty of causing Otto Zehm’s death as he’s escorted out by federal marshals.

And then you have the NYPD ticket fixing scandal, where 16 officers were found guilty, yet approximately 100 officers clapped in support of them. Patrick Lynch, the police union president declared, “These officers should not be facing criminal charges for a something that has been a long standing practice at all levels of the department.”

All levels of the department.

Okay, now.

Can you see why it’s so hard to believe they are in the minority as more cases like this surface?

I have zero sympathy for departments who don’t want to risk getting sued over firing criminal cops. Innocent people die as a result. Like Otto Zehm. And then there are the “economic Wacos” where innocent people are harassed and have their substances eaten out when there is no case against them, but they are nevertheless financially ruined, as well as having their reputations destroyed (i.e.: employment prospects become grim).

And don’t even get me started on those who assert that a cop’s life is worth more than a non-cop’s.

Nowhere in my comment on Uncle’s post did I specifically implicate my own local law enforcement, though for all I know, many of them may be guilty, too. I’ll be watching.

As far as “what did I do?” goes, I directly addressed my County Commissioners, along with a representative from the Sheriff’s office (I live outside any town, out in the county) during a working group meeting about an Orwellian named “Good Neighbor” Firearms ordinance and then later at the hearing with the full Board.

I made the statement that, with all due respect to law enforcement, no law should enacted if there is any negative affect whatsoever on individual rights, but yet the only justification is to make the job of law enforcement easier. (I said more, but my previous posts have most of those details.) The point is that I didn’t just attend, but I spoke at these hearings and without sugar coating anything. More than most gun owners would do, or even those in the liberty movement.

But the fix was in and the ordinance passed. But I don’t give up. So your questions are not answered the way you might think. Of course I vote in local elections. And more.

And if you re-read my post you’ll see that I’m not saying they are all clones of Harless. But at least in the case of Seattle and NYC, they are corrupt to the core for supporting the corrupt cops in their midst.

I Love My New Oozies

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Um. I mean, Uzis. Yup, I’m the proud owner of two new Uzis. Yes, they are real. Straight from Amazon.com, with no background check whatsoever, delivered straight to my door. Yes!

The black one has a glass breaker and the gun-metal one has a “DNA collector.” They were my first purchases with my trial Amazon Prime membership (which I believe could be my financial undoing — it’s just too easy to click my bank account down to zero before the next paycheck). The black one with the glass breaker is here and the gun-metal one with the DNA collector is here. Don’t know why I got two, but I guess it’s that whole “1 is 0, 2 is 1” thing.

They seem sturdy, and write well (nice gel pens that you can easily get refills for). It’s a bit hard to find something to test the glass breaker on, because, you know, I kind of value my car windows. The DNA collector would definitely collect some serious DNA if you had nothing else on you to defend yourself.

Like my 1 inch stainless steel balls, these pens, for the most part, pass as something innocuous. The SS balls are simply exercise balls, but could easily put a couple nasty dents in an assailant’s forehead. These are simply writing implements until called upon for more serious work.

Some People Are So Insenstive and DANGEROUS!!!111eleventy

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So I wandered into Starbucks today to pick up a cup of coffee and a muffin, and I saw the Redneck wannabee below waving a gun around and…

Uh…

Oops…

Sorry, there. Had an attack of the Bradys.

Walked into Starbucks. Bought coffee. Had polite conversation with barista. Put half and half and sugar in coffee. Took picture. No one was hurt. No one ran out of the place screaming. Actually, I don’t think anyone even noticed, which is the way it usually is.

And it wasn’t my intent to draw attention to it, either. Not even for the sake of the buycott. This is to participate in offsetting, likely by at least a 10-fold ratio, any potential (unlikely) negative affect the anti-human-rights crowd’s boycott may have.

We outnumber them. By large margins.

A vigil for gun violence victims? We’ll participate, but for ALL victims of violence and encourage the survivors and others to end their victimhood by going armed.

A boycott? We buycott.

Twitter an anti-human-rights rally? We’ll drown you out simply by our sheer numbers. Sure, you have a right to speak, but you are in the infinitesimal minority, and we intend to show you that.

Update: Changed barrister to barista. As Sean says in the comments, small difference. :-/

Update 2: Also, I heard that the Brady Campaign itself is not actually participating in this boycott, though I don’t have a reference. Apparently, they are learning, and methinks there is a little bit of infighting in the anti-human-rights universe.

Reason 53 Why I Am Not a Big “L” Libertarian

ahumanright, gunsinparkinglots, snbi

I don’t really know if all (Big L) Libertarians have this view, but it seems when it comes to so-called “guns in parking lots” bills like this one (h/t Unc) they invariable frame it as one right competing against another.

It’s not.

So here’s what I posted at Uncle’s link, with a few edits:

How about this. For those crying “property rights,” let’s try an experiment. You come over my house for coffee and I’m going to demand access to your vehicle to search it for Bibles and porno mags.

And let’s [add] another variable. I’m going to post my property “no Bibles or porno mags,” as well, and if I find any of those prohibited items in your car, I’m going to call the cops, have them arrest you, and you will [spend time in jail and] lose … [your] right to read *anything* for the rest of your life.

That’s [the] situation here in NC with the 2nd amendment. Not so appealing when you apply the same standard to the 1st, is it?

My car is my property no matter where it is parked, notwithstanding Paul Stam’s (RINO weenie in the NC legislator) bizzaro claim that my car become[s] his property when it’s parked on his property.

How about a newspaper or political literature I disagree with? Ready to turn over your right to have those items in your car whenever you park it on someone else’s property. WHICH, by the way, you ALWAYS do, unless you leave it parked on your own property at all times, making it pointless to have it.

No matter what magical properities the hoplophobes want to paint guns with, it’s time they face two facts.

First, it’s property like any other property, and if you want the right to prohibit any specific items I carry in my car, then I demand the same right to ensure your car is clean of any items I find offensive while parked on my property.

Second, it’s NOT property like any other property. It is SPECIALLY protected as a pre-existing, fundamental, natural, human right, codified in the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.

Deal with it.

LOL of the day

humor

So here I am, suffering from the constant drip-drip-drip water torture like chirp of either a dying batter or a dying smoke detector. Apparently, these things don’t last forever and have to be replaced every 7-10 years. Well, all the information I can find on these Kidde 1276 alarms indicate that they start chirping at seven years, but on the device itself it says to replace them after 10 years.

I’m still trying to find out if this is a Kidde-only thing, because I found at least one hate post on them. I figure if I’m going to replace all six of them, I want to pick a brand/model that’s going to last longer if there are any.

Scroll down in that post and you’ll find this gem:

What makes matter worse for me, I have an African Grey parrot that picked up the chirps and the test alarm perfectly, and loves to make the sound. I don’t know what I am hearing is the detector or the parrot. First Alert here I come.

Now that tickled my funny bone. I’m just glad my cat isn’t capable of mimicking the chirping sound.

Update: Another quote from another comment in that post: I’d be better off with a house full of canaries

Oh, and in my case, it doesn’t help that the one that’s chirping is about 20 feet above the floor, and I don’t have a 15ft ladder.

Wow, Now I’m Important!

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Heh. Thanks, guys.

Larry, of Last Refuge of Scoundrel and Knitebane of Knitebane Manor have each bestowed upon me a bloghonor.

The Liebster Blog Award:

The rules are:

1. Copy and paste award on your blog. Done.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award. Done, above.
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received an award. I know Larry picked ten, since he got picked twice, but I’m going consider them overlapping. It’s hard enough to find just five that have below 200 followers in my list.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs. Man, this is tough. I follow over fifty blogs, but many are either highly popular (more than 200 followers) or inactive.

1. Alvie at The Cliffs of Insanity
2. Sean at An NC Gun Blog
3. Barron Barnett at The Minuteman (Probably has more than 200 followers. Eh.)
4. Agirlandhergun at A Girl and Her Gun
5. Knitebane at Knitebane Manor

Martha Boggs Has No Regrets

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Since there were some in the gun blogging community who were so quick to support hypocrite Martha Boggs for kicking out Tennessee state Senator Stacey Campfield for his views, I figured I’d ask what I didn’t see anyone else ask. Does her establishment ban guns?

Well, my message was summarily ignored, but apparently my email address was not. I got this in my inbox yesterday:

Dear Friends
I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful e-mails sent over the last few days. While I have read each and every one of them, I dearly wish that I had the time to respond to you all personally. The stories and emotions that you shared with me are deeply touching. I truly had no idea that the power of the internet would take this story of a simple act of defiance and take it all the way around the world in a matter of 72 hours and touch so many lives. Despite what may have been mis-reported in local media I do not regret my actions in the least.

Mr. Campfield’s statements are like salt on the wounds of segment of society which has been marginalized far too long. For those of us who watched the government turn a blind eye to the AIDS epedemic because it “only affected homosexuals”, we cannot allow an elected offical make statements which spit on the graves of all our friends and family we lost and continue to lose because of AIDS.

While I truly appreciate the sentiment to come by and patronize my establishment, that was not my intent so if you truly feel compeled to make a contribution against hatred and intolerance, please donate to the local politican of your choice where you money and your vote will do the most good to you personally. If you do have a chance to come to The Bistro, feel free to say Hi. I will be the lady with a pony tail bussing tables. let the healing begin, it will get better.
love
Martha Boggs

While I don’t deny Boggs her property rights, including the right to kick out anyone she damn pleases for any reason whatsoever, I thought it important given the article that Linoge pointed to that either she lied to the press, or Mary Scott of WBIR misreported it.

But that’s the rub. I don’t deny Boggs her property rights, as much as I think, (from what I can gather), she’s likely a leftwinger. By the same token, as despicable as racists are, I’d rather their freedom of association be preserved than the alternative of “I’m from the Government, and I’m hear to help.”

Jericho in Real Life – A Proposed Project

jericho

I just finished watching the entire TV series, Jericho, for what was probably the sixth time since the series ended. Now, I haven’t had a television since 1999, so I hadn’t even heard of the show until after the first season ended on a maddening cliff hanger and then the show was canceled. From reading about it on Michelle Malkin’s place, I heard that fans protested by sending literally tons of peanuts to CBS, a reference to a story told in one episode.

I had heard that it was “conservative friendly,” especially considering the liberal, politically correct tripe that usually comes out of Hollywood. So, since CBS was putting all the full episodes up on its site, I began watching it.

I was not disappointed.

Oh, sure, there were some imperfections and few detours down Liberaltopia Lane, but all in all, it was good series.

CBS brought the show back for a final seven episodes that at least wrapped up the cliff hangers that were the most maddening to see unresolved.

After this last viewing of all 29 episodes I came up with the idea of maybe doing a series here on this blog on the show with some applications to a possible, future, real life disaster. My intention is not fandom, per se, but rather lessons learned. It’s fiction, yes, I know, but there were some excellent points made and some things to think about. I may also do a bit of fisking; sort of a “Perfecting Jericho” effort.

I may have some details to work out. I am certain I can do this without violating an copyrights, but given how ridiculously litigious some unnamed entities can be, I’m not so sure that would matter, especially in the current SOPA/PIPA/OPEN environment in DC, today.

Number one warning, though, is that it will, most definitely contain spoilers. The show is about six years old, now, so if you haven’t seen it, do that before reading any of my posts on it.

Feel free to leave any thoughts or advice in the comments.

Rule of Law Jawdropper

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http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/31/exclusive-wikileaks-to-move-servers-offshore-sources-say/

“Once you put yourself outside the realm of law, then you’re outside the realm of law, rules on search warrants and excessive force and all that — the reach of the Constitution — none of that applies,” Dempsey said.

Obama, take note.

Victim of Violence in the Family

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I was thinking of these posts by Baron Barnett and considered my own experience about five years ago when I bought my first firearm.

I had moved down to North Carolina from Massachusetts about a year and half earlier and, though I had heard that the gun laws down here were much more permissive than my former location outside of the Free America, I had trouble picturing it in my mind. “You mean, I don’t have to fill out a mountain a of paperwork and hope that the local police chief likes me and isn’t having a bad day in order to get permission to own a gun? Nah, you’re pulling my leg!”

Needless to say, I soon started to make up for lost time. About 40 years of lost time. I had always been pro-gun, but didn’t really get liberty until I left that socialist hell hole up in the Northeast. (Sorry, JayG, I don’t mean to rub it in.) How many? More than I need, not as many as I want. After all, last I checked, the first ten amendments to the Constitution were referred to as the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs.

So in late 2006 or early 2007, I got the news that my sister had been mugged. She lives in another Northeast socialist paradise (New Jersey), and though her husband is a retired police officer and usually carries, I don’t think she has even ever touched a gun. It was dark, but the parking lot wasn’t really poorly lit and she had parked fairly close to the hotel lobby entrance. She had gone back to her car before entering the hotel to retrieve something, and there was this 6-foot plus thug standing right next to her pinning her between him and, the open door of her car, and the car next to hers.

Without a word, he simply grabbed her purse. But my sister, being unwilling to give in so easily, would not let go of the purse. The mugger proceeded to drag her until she let go.

Scrapped up knees and an injured right hand later, she wound up having multiple surgeries to repair damage to her hand. It’s still not 100%, but at least functional.

If I hadn’t already initiated the process to get my NC CHL and buy my first gun, I would have done it right then. In fact, I remember saying out loud to a friend, “that does it, I’m getting my conceal carry license,” even though I had already started in that direction.

My sister was violently attacked, but, fortunately, wasn’t killed. At the moment of her attack, there was no way for her to know whether or not she was going to make it through the ordeal alive. If statists in control of New Jersey hadn’t made it so difficult for her to keep and bear arms, and she was carrying and managed to stop the attack, possibly resulting in the death of her assailant, would CSGV, The Brady Campaign, and company have considered him a victim of gun violence?

Let me be clear. He would not have been a victim. He was the perpetrator, and should he have perished in that encounter, no matter the means, it would have been due to his own actions. And all you have to do is read a week of Sean’s posts to come to the conclusion that he’s likely a multiple law breaker that should have been behind bars, and may soon meet his demise, anyhow. How many victims must he rack up before it’s Too Many Victims? I’m not at all advocating that he should simply be killed, indiscriminantly, but that, one way or another, he should be taken off the streets to prevent him from creating yet more victims.

Alan Korwin is author of several books on state gun laws and, among other writings, the classic article, The Noble Use of Firearms. During a speech at a Gun-Control Symposium at Duquesne University, as the sole (brave, I might add) pro-gun voice, he said:

We can’t get to that world because of what I call the Four Horseman of Human Havoc — Angry, Hungry, Stupid and Wicked. Oh, we might be able to solve Hungry someday, but the other three? And that’s the rub. Until there is a fundamental change in human nature, the good guys need the guns to protect themselves from the bad guys. That’s why you have all those armed people in the room, right? No one disagreed. If guns suddenly disappeared, the good guys would have to invent them all over again. That’s because Guns Protect You.

A gun death is no worse than a non-gun death. A death is a death. And if those who hate guns so much were really concerned about the number of deaths in this country, they ought to be going after automobiles, given that about 50% more people die from their use (even though there are, from many sources, more guns than cars in the US), than do from guns. But even that would be a failed effort. Why? Because it focuses on the object, rather than the operator of the object.