I will be SOOO glad when tonight is over...
No more moronic political ads, robo-calls, or emails at work urging me to go out and campaign. Bleh.
I had thought to retire this userpic today, now the election's come and gone. It occurs to me that, barring the upset of the ages, there will be many BOHICA moments in the next 4.5 years. Saving the icon for future rants, I am.
Today, for the first time in my life, I voted for a DemoPublican (specifically, the right wing) for President. With the exception of John Anderson and Ross Perot, I've always (5 of the last 7 elections) voted Libertarian. I was eligible to vote in 1976, but will plead to youth, stupidity, and being in Army Basic Training at the time, as my excuses. I paid for that sin via several years of serving with Jimmy Carter as Commander-in-Chief.
I did not particularly expect Virginia to be a close, battleground state. Then, the polls started stacking up. If VA had been projected as a landslide, either way, I'd have voted for Bob Barr. I don't particularly relish the notion of him in the White House, either. However, LP ballot access in the next couple of elections would be nice.
As things stood this morning, however, a vote one way or the other does matter today. As Cap'n Jack Aubrey says, "You must always choose the lesser of two weevils.". I held my nose, and voted for John McCain. I consoled myself by voting Libertarian for Senate, and Independent for House.
Why would I do this, you ask? Consider the words of George Washington: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
I firmly believe that a government that has the power to do things FOR me, can and will do things TO me. I trust any politician, or any government entity, as far as I can throw a cheesecake under water. I want McCain at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue (actually kind of in the middle of the northwest half, but who's counting?), with Obama and Biden at the other. The principle here, is gridlock. I WANT a government that is too busy biting itself in the ass, to mess with me.
Let's remember, for instance, something interesting about the USA PATRIOT [spit] Act: Most of the crap that went into it, had been on the Justice Department's wish list of additional power, for years. Let's also remember that Dubya hadn't been in office for a whole year, yet. A lot of that stuff was on Janet Reno's wish list, under Bill Clinton. You think the Democrats are going to repeal all that power, now that they've got their hands on the buttons and levers? Dream on.
I can actually distill a lot of the way I think, down to one wedge issue. Besides my "Same F**king Difference" button, and "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for the bastard" (I'll take that one off if McCain pulls an upset), I wore my NRA hat to the polls. Since my Gadsden hat is getting a bit on the worn-and-grubby side, it's time to get a new Molon Labe chapeau. I suspect I'll be invoking it, somewhere in the next few years.
In case I've been beating around the bush too much, I'll simplify: the issue is guns. Yes, Obama claims that he "respects the tradition of owning guns" [cough]*bullshit*[cough]. Then, he pays a bit of lip service to the glutei maximi of the Fudds*, and changes the topic. He'll say things like,
"I see there's some sportsmen in the crowd. You don't have to worry - I'm not going to take your guns."
I've got a flash for you, Barry me lad. I'm not a "sportsman". I'm a gun owner. I'm a shooter. I'm a permit carrier. Yes, I take my long-barreled trap gun out to Bull Run and practice Ceramic Frisbee Destruction(tm). Yes, I do own a couple of target pistols. Yes, I occasionally head over to the NRA HQ Range and perforate paper. HOWEVER: With the exception of a .380 backup gun and some rimfire stuff, EVERY SINGLE FIRARM that I own is, or is based on, a military design. That goes all the way from the medieval hand-cannon on the wall, up to the couple of Evil Black Rifles in my gun locker. The only mostly-civilian firarm that I own, bigger than a .380 pistol, is a flintlock rifle. At the time those were common, the military used smoothbores.
But, I'm told, Obama's not going to take my guns. He "respects the traditions" of hunting and self defense. I've got three words for you: "Assault Weapon Ban". Lemme 'splain to y'all, why that is a litmus test to someone like me. Why, you may ask, does a middle-aged, professional-type upper-middle-class guy go all redneck and intransigent on this subject? Well, here's why - the entire "assault weapon" issue is a scam. It is about banning guns because they look ugly and scary, NOT because of any inherently greater danger or lethality. It's equivalent to banning cars for having chrome wheels, red paint jobs, or fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror.
Reinstating the 1994-2004 ban appears in the Democratic Party Platform, and on the Obama/Biden website. For that matter, let's remember that Barry chose Joe "Assault Musket" Biden for his running mate. The ban bill that's currently locked up in committee is even MORE noxious than the one that expired in '04.
Obama talks about "fully automatic weapons in the hands of gang bangers", as a justification for a new AWB**. He's either lying through his teeth, or is so breathtakingly ignorant about guns that he's incompetent to work on legislation regarding them. Neither the '94 AWB, or Rep McCarthy's current abomination, has anything to do with full-auto weapons. Those have been regulated for seventy-four years. We're talking about things that fire ONE shot, per ONE pull of the trigger. Period.
The same goes for "closing the gun show loophole". The so-called "loophole" is a myth. There is no difference between "at a gun show", and "not at a gun show". If a dealer sells a gun, he does a NICS*** check. Period. If a private citizen, like me, sells one of his guns, he can't access the NICS system because he's not a dealer. It doesn't matter if the dealer is in his shop, or at a gun show. It doesn't matter if the private seller is at a gun show, or at home, or in the lobby of a police station (and yes, it'd be perfectly legal for me to sell a gun to a VA resident, in the lobby of a cop shop).
I've got a post, back a while ago, that addresses the so-called loophole. I should probably write about a 5- or 6-page paper on the subject of "assault weapons". On the other hand, it'd just be yet another compilation of stuff that's common knowledge on the 'Net. Ping me off-line if you want details, links, or sources for the stuff I'm spewing in this post.
While we're going off, here, let's look at those NRA "smear" ads. FactCheck claims that the NRA was exaggerating, and making stuff up. No, they weren't. I'll give one example, in detail.
NRA said that Obama supported a measure to ban most hunting-rifle cartridges. FactCheck said the bill only banned ammunition advertised and sold specifically as being armor-piercing. Their checkers didn't look at the whole bill. The section FactCheck quoted dealt specifically with rifle bullets, and only with rifle bullets. The ban on common hunting ammo was snuck into the HANDGUN section of the bill. To whit: the bill banned any ammunition that could be fired from a handgun, and would pierce a lightweight vest. [NB: What the cops wear is designed to be resistant to low-power handgun rounds. They DON'T want to wear what our troops in Iraq do.]
Anyway, back to the bill. There are handguns which fire rifle cartridges. In fact, there are handguns that shoot anything up to, and including, .45-70. Remember "Quigley Down Under"? Remember Buffalo Bill Cody? Yep, there's a revolver that fires THAT cartridge. It's Magnum Research's Biggest Finest Revolver. There is also, gods help us, a handgun that fires the .600 Nitro Express elephant cartridge. The bottom line is that any hunting-rifle cartridge will go through lightweight Kevlar undies like they aren't there. The vests aren't designed to stop them. Add in that the bill was written to ban any round that (a) could be fired from a handgun, and (b) would penetrate light Kevlar undies, and Voila! You have a ban on hunting-rifle rounds.
I'm not going to bother going into that level of detail, about the rest of the claims in the NRA ad. I don't have all night. However, I at least am convinced that the ad was true. Take my words with however many buckets of salt you wish. The bottom line is, that I trust Obama on guns, even LESS than the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF do.
But, you say, guns pale into insignificance beside health care, jobs, the economy, the war, yadda, yadda, yadda. I use them as a litmus test because they show me where the politician believes that power belongs. If a politician is not going to trust me, to take responsibility for my own safety, then I'm not trusting him for squat. Bottom line -- John McCain rates in the C- to D+ range. Sarah Palin is a lot better, but she's the Veep-nominee, not the top of the ticket. Still, either or both of them are preferable to a pair of F-triple-minus (yes, that's F---) rated bozos with a slavishly-cooperative Congress sitting 15 blocks down the street.
[ETA] Virginia: Diagnosed as red, with blue pox, bad rash in the armpits.
*Fudd: n. A gun owner who digs his walnut-stocked Bambi-zapper out of the closet in the fall, may or may not bother to sight it in, then goes out in the woods. At the end of hunting season, it goes back into the closet. The defining characteristic of the Fudd is that he's willing to throw all other gun-owners under the bus, as long as he can keep said Bambi-zapper.
**AWB: Assault Weapons Ban
***NICS: National Instant Check System -- The FBI's computerized background-check setup
I had thought to retire this userpic today, now the election's come and gone. It occurs to me that, barring the upset of the ages, there will be many BOHICA moments in the next 4.5 years. Saving the icon for future rants, I am.
Today, for the first time in my life, I voted for a DemoPublican (specifically, the right wing) for President. With the exception of John Anderson and Ross Perot, I've always (5 of the last 7 elections) voted Libertarian. I was eligible to vote in 1976, but will plead to youth, stupidity, and being in Army Basic Training at the time, as my excuses. I paid for that sin via several years of serving with Jimmy Carter as Commander-in-Chief.
I did not particularly expect Virginia to be a close, battleground state. Then, the polls started stacking up. If VA had been projected as a landslide, either way, I'd have voted for Bob Barr. I don't particularly relish the notion of him in the White House, either. However, LP ballot access in the next couple of elections would be nice.
As things stood this morning, however, a vote one way or the other does matter today. As Cap'n Jack Aubrey says, "You must always choose the lesser of two weevils.". I held my nose, and voted for John McCain. I consoled myself by voting Libertarian for Senate, and Independent for House.
Why would I do this, you ask? Consider the words of George Washington: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
I firmly believe that a government that has the power to do things FOR me, can and will do things TO me. I trust any politician, or any government entity, as far as I can throw a cheesecake under water. I want McCain at one end of Pennsylvania Avenue (actually kind of in the middle of the northwest half, but who's counting?), with Obama and Biden at the other. The principle here, is gridlock. I WANT a government that is too busy biting itself in the ass, to mess with me.
Let's remember, for instance, something interesting about the USA PATRIOT [spit] Act: Most of the crap that went into it, had been on the Justice Department's wish list of additional power, for years. Let's also remember that Dubya hadn't been in office for a whole year, yet. A lot of that stuff was on Janet Reno's wish list, under Bill Clinton. You think the Democrats are going to repeal all that power, now that they've got their hands on the buttons and levers? Dream on.
I can actually distill a lot of the way I think, down to one wedge issue. Besides my "Same F**king Difference" button, and "Don't blame me, I didn't vote for the bastard" (I'll take that one off if McCain pulls an upset), I wore my NRA hat to the polls. Since my Gadsden hat is getting a bit on the worn-and-grubby side, it's time to get a new Molon Labe chapeau. I suspect I'll be invoking it, somewhere in the next few years.
In case I've been beating around the bush too much, I'll simplify: the issue is guns. Yes, Obama claims that he "respects the tradition of owning guns" [cough]*bullshit*[cough]. Then, he pays a bit of lip service to the glutei maximi of the Fudds*, and changes the topic. He'll say things like,
"I see there's some sportsmen in the crowd. You don't have to worry - I'm not going to take your guns."
I've got a flash for you, Barry me lad. I'm not a "sportsman". I'm a gun owner. I'm a shooter. I'm a permit carrier. Yes, I take my long-barreled trap gun out to Bull Run and practice Ceramic Frisbee Destruction(tm). Yes, I do own a couple of target pistols. Yes, I occasionally head over to the NRA HQ Range and perforate paper. HOWEVER: With the exception of a .380 backup gun and some rimfire stuff, EVERY SINGLE FIRARM that I own is, or is based on, a military design. That goes all the way from the medieval hand-cannon on the wall, up to the couple of Evil Black Rifles in my gun locker. The only mostly-civilian firarm that I own, bigger than a .380 pistol, is a flintlock rifle. At the time those were common, the military used smoothbores.
But, I'm told, Obama's not going to take my guns. He "respects the traditions" of hunting and self defense. I've got three words for you: "Assault Weapon Ban". Lemme 'splain to y'all, why that is a litmus test to someone like me. Why, you may ask, does a middle-aged, professional-type upper-middle-class guy go all redneck and intransigent on this subject? Well, here's why - the entire "assault weapon" issue is a scam. It is about banning guns because they look ugly and scary, NOT because of any inherently greater danger or lethality. It's equivalent to banning cars for having chrome wheels, red paint jobs, or fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror.
Reinstating the 1994-2004 ban appears in the Democratic Party Platform, and on the Obama/Biden website. For that matter, let's remember that Barry chose Joe "Assault Musket" Biden for his running mate. The ban bill that's currently locked up in committee is even MORE noxious than the one that expired in '04.
Obama talks about "fully automatic weapons in the hands of gang bangers", as a justification for a new AWB**. He's either lying through his teeth, or is so breathtakingly ignorant about guns that he's incompetent to work on legislation regarding them. Neither the '94 AWB, or Rep McCarthy's current abomination, has anything to do with full-auto weapons. Those have been regulated for seventy-four years. We're talking about things that fire ONE shot, per ONE pull of the trigger. Period.
The same goes for "closing the gun show loophole". The so-called "loophole" is a myth. There is no difference between "at a gun show", and "not at a gun show". If a dealer sells a gun, he does a NICS*** check. Period. If a private citizen, like me, sells one of his guns, he can't access the NICS system because he's not a dealer. It doesn't matter if the dealer is in his shop, or at a gun show. It doesn't matter if the private seller is at a gun show, or at home, or in the lobby of a police station (and yes, it'd be perfectly legal for me to sell a gun to a VA resident, in the lobby of a cop shop).
I've got a post, back a while ago, that addresses the so-called loophole. I should probably write about a 5- or 6-page paper on the subject of "assault weapons". On the other hand, it'd just be yet another compilation of stuff that's common knowledge on the 'Net. Ping me off-line if you want details, links, or sources for the stuff I'm spewing in this post.
While we're going off, here, let's look at those NRA "smear" ads. FactCheck claims that the NRA was exaggerating, and making stuff up. No, they weren't. I'll give one example, in detail.
NRA said that Obama supported a measure to ban most hunting-rifle cartridges. FactCheck said the bill only banned ammunition advertised and sold specifically as being armor-piercing. Their checkers didn't look at the whole bill. The section FactCheck quoted dealt specifically with rifle bullets, and only with rifle bullets. The ban on common hunting ammo was snuck into the HANDGUN section of the bill. To whit: the bill banned any ammunition that could be fired from a handgun, and would pierce a lightweight vest. [NB: What the cops wear is designed to be resistant to low-power handgun rounds. They DON'T want to wear what our troops in Iraq do.]
Anyway, back to the bill. There are handguns which fire rifle cartridges. In fact, there are handguns that shoot anything up to, and including, .45-70. Remember "Quigley Down Under"? Remember Buffalo Bill Cody? Yep, there's a revolver that fires THAT cartridge. It's Magnum Research's Biggest Finest Revolver. There is also, gods help us, a handgun that fires the .600 Nitro Express elephant cartridge. The bottom line is that any hunting-rifle cartridge will go through lightweight Kevlar undies like they aren't there. The vests aren't designed to stop them. Add in that the bill was written to ban any round that (a) could be fired from a handgun, and (b) would penetrate light Kevlar undies, and Voila! You have a ban on hunting-rifle rounds.
I'm not going to bother going into that level of detail, about the rest of the claims in the NRA ad. I don't have all night. However, I at least am convinced that the ad was true. Take my words with however many buckets of salt you wish. The bottom line is, that I trust Obama on guns, even LESS than the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF do.
But, you say, guns pale into insignificance beside health care, jobs, the economy, the war, yadda, yadda, yadda. I use them as a litmus test because they show me where the politician believes that power belongs. If a politician is not going to trust me, to take responsibility for my own safety, then I'm not trusting him for squat. Bottom line -- John McCain rates in the C- to D+ range. Sarah Palin is a lot better, but she's the Veep-nominee, not the top of the ticket. Still, either or both of them are preferable to a pair of F-triple-minus (yes, that's F---) rated bozos with a slavishly-cooperative Congress sitting 15 blocks down the street.
[ETA] Virginia: Diagnosed as red, with blue pox, bad rash in the armpits.
*Fudd: n. A gun owner who digs his walnut-stocked Bambi-zapper out of the closet in the fall, may or may not bother to sight it in, then goes out in the woods. At the end of hunting season, it goes back into the closet. The defining characteristic of the Fudd is that he's willing to throw all other gun-owners under the bus, as long as he can keep said Bambi-zapper.
**AWB: Assault Weapons Ban
***NICS: National Instant Check System -- The FBI's computerized background-check setup