All posts by paul iadonisi

Badge of Honor

winning

As Kurt Hofmann said, [T]here is as much nobility in being despised by the despicable as there is in being admired by the admirable.

Barron Barnett posted today that it is a badge of honor to have our effort to participate in the vigil they called for (in memory of the victims of gun violence — note that it seems that the victims of violence not carried out with guns don’t seem to mean much to them) called offensive.

I agree, and it is despicable that those who hate guns are so willing to dance in the blood of victims of criminals before the blood has dried on the pavement to further their agenda of control.

WE honored the victims of ALL violence and added that we will not ourselves be victims, and every day we encourage others to take responsibility for their own safety, and we are appreciated when we do.

Stick that in your candelabra and light it.

Lighting a Candle and More to End Violence

winning

Doing my part to put an end to violence in my world. My contribution to Weerd Beard’s idea.

Full size Rock Island in .45 ACP, two spare 8 round mags with one in the pipe (for 25 rounds total) carried in a BlackHawk Standard CQC holster and BlackHawk mag holders. The SureFire flashlight is a backup for the candle.

Go to Weerd’s link above or Jay’s if you don’t have your own blog and want someplace to have yours posted.

Act of Defiance

nannystate

Via Unc, this is the kind of thing that makes one feel like a fool for putting up with low 120 degrees for hot water heaters, toilets that don’t flush, showers that don’t spray, and detergents that don’t clean. I’ve already started adding TSP to my dish detergent with only marginal improvement. I’ll be following Unc to see what recipes he’s used and how they worked.

But one thing I will definitely be doing as soon as I get the chance is turning up the temperature of my water heater. Heck, I may go to 135 or 140, but I’ll start at 130 to see how that goes.

Sticking my finger in the eye of Leviathan is satisfying. Especially since it annoys the busybodies.

h/t Knitebane for the heads up on Unc’s post.

So I’ve Got This Survey

corruptbastardsclub, rnc

The Republican National Committee has sent me a (second) 2012 Presidental Platform Survey that is so bereft of understanding of the threats that our republic faces that the RNC should give up the “Republican” name for good.

This survey is so important to the RNC, that it is REGISTERED (OMG!) to my name and address. Oh, no, it gets worse! I have been DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE OF VOTERS residing in my district. Lest you think I’m CAPS KEY happy, the CAPS are in the original.

Nearly all of the 34 questions are either the wrong questions to be asking, or they shouldn’t be yes/no questions, which they all are. The nature of this survey makes it abundantly clear that the GOP leadership thinks that wishing away 2010 will actually make it go away. Robert Spencer has said — though I don’t know if it originated with him — that Hamas is the fast jihad and Fatah is the slow jihad. Same end goals, different tactics. I assert that the Ds are fast socialism and the Rs are slow socialism. Same end goals, different tactics.

I’m going to have some fun with this survey. I doubt it will do much good other than some venting for me. But, Michelle Malkin ran a series of RNC rejection of the day articles and I have to wonder how many they got. I do hope that it contributes to scaring the pants off those of the permanent political class regarding their political futures. Or perhaps more.

I’ll post my comments on this survey when I’ve marked it up.

Sarah Palin as the head of the RNC. Now there’s an awesome idea, sure to cause more than a few heart attacks among the CBC.

Appleseed, Here I Come

appleseed

So, on the urging of Sean I signed up for the March 24-25, 2012 Appleseed event.

I had tentatively planned to go last November, but a number of things came up and I wasn’t able to go. But I did take the time before that to upgrade my 10/22 to a Liberty Training Rifle, in addition to replacing some of the parts with Volquartsen alternatives (hammer, trigger, bolt release, and, soon, the firing pin). I’m actually still getting about one FTF per 100 rounds and I’m hoping the new firing pin (already ordered) will resolve the problem. Ammo doesn’t seem to matter, as I’ve tried a number of different brands and types with similar results.

I know there are wide and varied opinions of Appleseed, but I’m willing to give it a shot (sorry) myself and highly doubt there can be anything damaging about it. At least not for me with a few years of shooting under my belt already, having participated in Vintage Rifle Matches where I’ve gotten a lot of one-on-one help from several more than willing experienced shooters, most of them former or currently serving military.

I’ll plan on doing a review of the experience, so watch this space in late March for my report.

Happy New Year!

Uncategorized

I’m getting this under the wire, but I wanted to wish any readers out there a happy new year, and also expound a little on what I hope for in the new year.

I’ve never been much for new years resolutions, but after reading David’s article on New Year’s gun rights resolutions, and listening to the sermon my pastor gave this morning, I’m going to break with the tradition and make a few commitments.

I’m dividing them into four categories and if I can make progress with at least one of the four every week, I will consider it a success. I will still aim for progress in at least one every day, but I want to make a commitment I’m sure I can keep. So I’ll start with one step of progress a week.

First area I will be working on is what I’m calling Prayer. But I’m really referring to a much more broad topic. What I want to do is deal with some personal demons of mine more seriously. In tough times, which I believe are coming for this country, and this world, having a ball and chain of conscience can be a great hinderance to survival, even if it’s just emotional and spiritual survival we’re talking about. Whatever I write here regarding this will be in general terms, of course, but I think it’s important at least to mention progress and I hope it encourages others, as well.

Second, I want do something for the cause of Liberty in general. A recent is example is my letter to Richard Burr regarding the TSA. Letters to the editors, calling or meeting with congress critters, filling out a contact form to tell a sheriff to stop abusing his power are all important to this effort. Participating in a Tea Party event or even just having a constructive conversation with someone with a bit less understand of what it means to be free. I won’t be cutting off any arms while declaring “Tell Xerces he faces free men here,” Stelios style, but hope to have anecdotes of facing down wannabe tyrants.

Third, though I have been preparing for some form of collapse to some degree, it’s been quite haphazard Preparedness. There’s been no organized thinking to my prepping. I think one of the first things I will do is go buy some waterproof matches, pay in cash, and demand privacy after being asked by a wannabe Judenrat sales dweeb what I’m up to. Face it: we’re all on those much feared lists, anyhow. And besides, hmpf, lists. Why is it that people think the government is the only one with lists?

Lastly, I will step up and organize my efforts at the county, state, and federal level to turn back the tide of infringements on the Human Right to Keep and Bear Arms that has been marching along at least since the Jim Crow era. This also includes some of the ideas presented by David Codrea at the article above and the addendum by Dave Workman: Follow Fast & Furious to the end.

So that’s my list for this year. I’ll do my best to accomplish at least one thing from one of the four categories per week, but will work hard to make that per day.

I have a hunch this year is going to be one hell of a ride.

May you live in interesting times.

A Policy Abetting Murder

Uncategorized

To the jerks at Circle K management:

So you fired Eric Henderson for fighting for his life against the lowlifes who tried rob your store AND threatened his life. Only in an alternate universe where good is evil and evil is good would it be possible to justify this indefensible action of firing a man from a job for defending his life, your suicidal corporate policy notwithstanding.

There are Circle K stores in my vicinity. Don’t expect me patronize them until I hear that you have publicly fired the individual or individuals who devised that above referenced policy and eliminated said policy. And readers of my blog will be encouraged to do likewise.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079972/Store-clerk-fired-disarming-gunman-urged-shoot.html

Go here and do likewise if you are so inclined.

h/t: David

Why Is One of My GOP Senator Trying to Help the TSA?

tsa

A portion of an legislative update email I received from Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) on December 16, 2011:

In addition, I joined Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (ID – CT), Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) on Wednesday in introducing legislation to provide employment protections to Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) who are called up for active military duty. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, commonly known as USERRA, guarantees that when employees in both the private and public sector, who are also members of the National Guard, reservists, or veterans, are called to active duty, they can return to their civilian jobs when their service is complete.

There is no reason that TSA should not adhere to the same guidelines under USERRA that virtually all government agencies and businesses have to follow. We owe it to our nation’s National Guard members and Reservists to ensure that their jobs are protected when they sign on to sacrifice in defense of our safety and freedoms, and this bill represents a step in that direction. Click here to learn more about the bill.

Note how he joined Demonrats, an “Independent” (who’s essentially a Demonrat), and a RINO.

Here’s what I just sent him:

Senator Burr,

Please withdraw your support for USERRA protection of the incorrectly named “TSOs”. To begin with, they are not sworn officers and shouldn’t be referred to as officers. They are screeners and they were unjustifiably renamed to officers by the TSA in 2005, regardless of the fact that they receive no law enforcement training.

Based on the fact that TSA is one of many ever expanding overreaches of government, you should instead be advocating making the TSA the most unpleasant place to work in this country. Possibly only second to the ATF.

I understand your efforts to protect veterans, but due to the egregious infringement of human and constitutional rights by this agency, it deserves derision and nothing more. It should be abolished. I’d rather take my chances with the terrorists than the completely incompetent and tyrannical TSA.

You should instead be proposing a Senate version of Marsha Blackburn’s (R-Tenn.) H.R. 3608 which would prohibit TSA screeners from deceiving the public by impersonating law enforcement officers by way of their uniforms and badges.

$40 Should Buy About 160rds, I Believe

gunwalker

Regarding this, here’s my response:

Much like Davd Codrea of the National Gun Rights Examiner, I could buy some 7.62×39 mm FMJ Ammo to go with an AK-type rifle just like the ones your Justice Department allowed to be walked into Mexico.

Yup, it’s no game. And we WILL get to the bottom of it, stonewalling and damn lies from your administration notwithstanding.

Not that $40 matters, though. This is the proverbial finger in the Dike.

Obama and his minions want to put a bandaid on this, while the GOP wants to put a large gauze pad on it. All while what’s needed is a resurrection. Of principles. The current regime has none.

Let Me Get This Straight…

concealcarry

A quick thought.

Had a lively discussion with a friend over last weekend regarding HB822. This is a guy I took shooting for his first time (well, he participated in some reenactments (Revolutionary War or War Between the States, I don’t remember)) several months ago. He is apparently against the bill as he thinks it violates state sovereignty (i.e.: a violation of the 10th Amendment). But he’s from New Jersey, so I can forgive him for not fully grasping what a Constitutional Republic is. After all, being from the Volksrepublik of Massachusetts, it took me a while to really get it. And I’m still learning.

He set up a straw man argument saying that, assuming that a state’s laws are constitutional (a huge and largely incorrect assumption, in this case), then why should states not be able to set up their own rules for carrying a firearm?

My answer to that is that first, any restriction on keeping or bearing arms is unconstitutional, so the argument is moot in this case. However, New Jersey and New York (and really, Maryland, as well, but I don’t hear about them violating FOPA in practice like I do NJ and NY, but they do join NJ and NY in violating my right to bear arms), are also interfering with my right to travel to New Hampshire. His response was “…travel with a weapon.”

Well, I say that even the “weapon” moniker is a distinction without significance. After all, there are a number of things I can use as a weapon. Are you going to allow for states to require that I travel naked, encased in a straight jacket? Heck, even if I acknowledge that the primary purpose of a gun, particularly a handgun, are to repel a threat (i.e.: used as a weapon), is that not the right that the 2nd Amendment acknowledges and guarantees?

So then we went on to discuss the nature of a right. I explained that it is perfectly appropriate for the FedGov to intervene when a state is stomping on individual rights, as it is also appropriate for state or local governments to intervene when the FedGov is harassing the people and eating out their substance. But what it came down to is that we had different opinions on the nature of a human right. He brought up voting rights, but I quickly shot back that that is not a human right, as it is quite irrelevant if there is no government to begin with. The RKBA exists regardless of the existence of any government.

My friend apparently missed the “infringed” part of the 2A. He seemed to believe it was not an infringement for state government to require training or impose other restrictions on a right.

Anyhow, what boggled my mind later, and what I’ll probably ask my friend when I see him next, is this: So you are okay with forcing states to recognize my license to propel a 3000+ lbs. hunk of metal barreling down their highways with up to 15 gallons of liquid explosive? And it kills up to 50% more Americans every year than guns.

All that said, I do agree with the GOA that HB2900 is a much better piece of legislation, partly because it relies on Full Faith and Credit, rather the flawed basis of the Commerce Clause. It also doesn’t leave Vermont in the dust, and if I’m not mistaken, will also allow, for example, MA residents to obtain FL carry permits that allow them to carry in MA.

h/t to Unc for the link to the bamboo weapon article and to Mike for the raw milk article.