1 Aug 11
These follow-up comments from a retired South African Army Officer, now living in the UK:
âI cannot remain silent!
The same stupid rules applied in SA during our War!
I personally campaigned, against all odds, for concealed-carry handguns for my Section. After putting my commission on the table, several times, I was finally, grudgingly given approval.
Handguns were scarce in SA at the time, and, of course, our superiors, after giving us âpermission,â cynically declined to provide us with weapons. But, I managed to find an Astra 357mg snubbie revolver, which I carried constantly (before and after I was given permission), and I used it on a number of occasions to repel attackers. Without it, I would have been dead! Many of my men had similar experiences and, like me, are alive today because they were armed.
At the time (mid-1980s), our entire Army was committed to a hot, counter-insurgency war on our borders, and numerous internal areas were simultaneously in flames and inaccessible to police. On-duty or not, there were no âsafeâ places!
Willful ignorance, and utter lack of concern for our personal safety, especially among senior officers, remains the most disappointing and disheartening experience of my entire Army career.
It is apparently the same all over!â
âNothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend. A wise enemy is to be preferred.â
La Fontaine
/John
8 Aug 11
Comments from a colleague with regard to a recent Urban Rifle Course:
âConclusions:
1. Rifles, even ARs, are heavy! Rifle ammunition adds to the burden. Like you, we run a âhotâ rifle range, and rifles, plus ammunition, are carried by all students, all day. Carrying a rifle, and kit, all day long is something that requires practice. All students, without exception, were compelled to make adjustments to their gear and slings as the day went on. Who own a rifle for serious purposes must practice carrying it routinely, with full kit!
2. Optics, particularly red-dots, represent a significant advantage, but one cannot neglect iron sights. Nearly everyone with an optic-equipped rifle was forced to deploy co-witnessed iron sights at least once, due to either forgetting to turn the optic on, or battery issues. Aimpoints have, by far, the fewest battery issues.
3. Who have âflip-to-sideâ magnifiers need to practice using them! Many students with rifles so-equipped, forgot they were there when the drill started, and never used them.
4. 308 rifles pack a serious punch, but they are heavy, and 308 ammunition is heavy, even relatively small amounts. Not a good choice for those weighing less than 150 lbs.
5. Run your rifle, your kit, and yourself, hard! Many students, who had owned their rifles for years, and even shot them occasionally, witnessed them, all manner of add-on accessories, and the rest of their kit, break, stop working, unravel, fall off, fall apart, and generally prove uncomfortable, snag-prone, and sometimes unusable under heavy, continuous use! Youâll never know what runs reliably, and what doesnât, when you pamper your guns (and yourself) and never simulate real fighting.â
Comment: My friend and protĂ©gĂ©e is absolutely correct! Much of what passes for âtrainingâ is little more than masturbation. Real training is neither âfun,â nor relaxing, nor amusing. It is drudgerous, frustrating, hard work. Anything less will accomplish little and is unworthy of the title.
âOnly two never change their opinion: the foolish and the deadâ
Lowell
/John
8 Aug 11
These comments from a municipal PD patrolman, and one of our Instructors, with regard to pit-falls inherent to âgun-games:â
âLast night, several other patrolmen and I were at our Police Range conducting live-fire drills, as we make it a point to do at least twice per month. A well-known, and generally disliked, city employee showed up immediately started running his mouth about how it endlessly annoyed him to have to rub elbows with Nimrods such as the likes of us. He then precipitously announced that he could â… smoke anyone here.â
In a moment of weakness, I challenged him to a duel on the plate rack. First person to knock-down four, wins. My challenge was answered, â… in less than a heartbeat!â
At the time, he was carrying an expensive Nighthawk 1911, concealed under his shirt. I used my standard SIG/226/DAK (40S&W).
He asked for a short break, so he could go to his car and retrieve his âcompetition gun,â a ten-pound, red-dot equipped, race-gun, with a one-pound trigger. I objected! âGo with what you have on you right now, Hot Shot,â said I! He sheepishly indicated that he âwasnât ready.â
âI am!â was my smart-ass reply. Clearly embarrassed, he then reluctantly agreed to proceed, using the gun, holster, and ammunition he was actually carrying.
Well, after five attempts, he became red-faced, frustrated, angry, and gave up! In the first two, I was finished before he even got his gun out from under concealment. In the last three, he never got closer than two plates behind.
During the whole pathetic ordeal, this appalling blow-hard did a continuous, and convincing, BHO impersonation, blaming everything in the world, except himself and his own, personal incompetence. It was clear he had never drawn a gun from concealment before, and indeed never even carried a concealed gun until that day!
Here is the comical part: This pitiable pretender is an IPSC âGrandmaster!â (whatever that means). Like most such competitors, he doesnât even carry a gun!â
Comment: The trouble with con-men is that, without fail, they eventually end up conning themselves!
Genuine Operators are quiet, courteous, and generally acquiescent, having little interest in âprovingâ anything. Conversely, braggarts, boasters, cock-a-hoops, and assorted other vainglorious frauds are interested only in self-aggrandizement and penis-envy. They are most generally, like the one in the foregoing, a colossal bore. Their existence is probably predictable, but they do little to advance our Art.
âHe knows not how to speak, who cannot be silent… Loudness is impotence!â
Johann Lavater
/John
9 Aug 11
Alternate comments on competition, from a well-known Instructor:
âAs a âreformedâ IPSC shooter, I, too, have little regard for the kind of pretentious, garrulous, wankers you described in the last Quip. They are found, in profusion, within any species of competitive activity you can name, from auto-racing to golf, and, like you, I take scant delight in associating with them. Competition attracts many shallow and self-centered, and they donât, as a rule, make enjoyable, nor particularly beneficial, company.
However (through no fault of their own) gun-gamers, over the years, have been the source of some useful techniques and technological advances. While most of what comes from these games are just tricks and gimmicks, red-dot sights, as an example, were developed, to a large measure, via demand from competitive shooters, as was back-boring of shotgun barrels, to name just two.
As shallow as they often are, gun-gamers sometimes serve as (involuntary) theoretic researchers. Once a potentially useful discovery is made, those of us in the real world can sometimes develop it into genuinely useable technology and technique.â
Comment: Like my friend and colleague above, I have scant patience with blow-hards and pretenders, no matter the discipline in which they claim to be involved.
However, for the sake of the relentless advancement of our Art, we can never hesitate to take advantage of emerging technology and techniques when they clearly demonstrate a practical advance, no matter the source.
The few that have genuine value need to be extracted and developed, without apology, and no matter who thought of them first!
âThe sun shines on a dunghill, and is not profanedâ
John Lyly
/John
10 Aug 11
First-hand report on UK riots, from a friend there:
âOrdinary folks here are utterly, and hopelessly, defenseless in the face of mob violence. Our doltish public policy of never fighting back, under any circumstances, that is so inexorably ingrained into the British mind, is currently serving us poorly!
Even LEOs here are scared to death of any kind of aggressive, active policing. These excellent men and women are denigrated, even prosecuted, when they do, and murdered when they don’t!
Mob violence has already spread to the Southeast outside of London, the West of the Country, and North into the Midlands.
Parliament meets in an extraordinary âspecialâ session today. I look forward to hearing at least a few good members say, out loud, that it is now time to re-arm our police and allow citizens to arm themselves, and to stop punishing people for fighting back, or for merely trying to keep from being murdered!
Of course, I am not holding my breath. I understand our politicians are all safe and sound.â
Comment: It is obvious to me that, as national economics continue to deteriorate throughout debt-ridden Western Civilization, weâll see more such mass rioting and mob violence, particularly since, at least in the UK, scant risk attaches to participating.
âLearn, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governedâ
Pope Julius III
/John
10 Aug 11
It is happening here too!
These comments, paraphrased from several corespondents:
âMob violence, mostly racial, is currently erupting in rotting, dysfunctional urban areas on this side of the Atlantic too, like Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee.
And, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the liberal media to maintain their embargo on news!
Chickens, set-out sixty years ago, are coming home to roost. Here, we call them âentitlements.â Expectations have grown far beyond anyone’s ability to satisfy, even with endless borrowing (read that: âthieveryâ) from yet-unborn generations.
A large segment of Western Civilization is willfully, permanently unproductive, and has come to believe that they deserve to be paid, and paid well, for merely existing! And, it is their votes that are actively âcourtedâ (read that: âpurchasedâ) by Liberals.
Anybody not see this?â
Comment:
Modern politicians, there and here, elected largely by this ever-dependant, non-contributing class, predictably consist of flunkeys, drunks, cowards, posers, fashion-mongers, time-servers, and part-time pimps.
Their audiences are not much better!
/John
16 Aug 11
NGA
It is not often I get gun, and ammunition-company, executives as students in Classes. Of course, theyâre all busy, but now and then they find time to put themselves through our rigorous instruction.
Peter Pi, president of Cor-Bon, has been through several, as has Alex Robinson of Robinson Arms, makers of the formidable XCR. Robbie Barrkman of ROBAR has joined us, also several of the Crew from DSA, LaRue, Bravo Arms, and Doublestar.
I do my best to encourage all of them to join us, so they have a first-hand opportunity to actually see the way real people own, carry, and use their wares for serious purposes, and the way real lives depend upon how well they run! I realize, of course, many gun-owners buy guns for non-serious (recreational) purposes, and they are good customers too. But, for our part, we make no apology for preparing our students and clients for life-threatening circumstances so endemic to our planet!
In any event, all three of NGAâs (Next Generation Arms) Executive Team joined us last weekend in the Northwest for our Urban Rifle Program. NGA is a small rifle-maker in Post Falls, ID. They make a wonderful AR (the X7) with a proprietary ceramic coating that makes the usual AR heavy-lubrication treatment unnecessary. I have a copy, and it has never hiccuped, despite running it virtually dry and continuous lack of maintenance.
As always, the Course was run âhot!â All students carried their rifles at all times during the Program. Each exercise starts, and finishes, with a loaded rifle. Loaded rifles are carried during breaks, lunch, trips to the throne-room, et al. Students are hot the whole time! All students carry pistols too, and they are also always loaded, as we do a number of transition drills. Each student expended 1k, plus rounds. Like all our students, NGAâs executive team struggled and fell short many times. But, in the end, all passed our Urban Rifle Proficiency Test.
I visited the NGA plant on Monday morning and found my three students tired, but still enthusiastic and busily working on improvements to their System. I congratulated all on their demonstrated devotion to the advancement of our Art.
NGA will do just fine!
/John
18 Aug 11
Armed soldiers? Heaven forbid!
This from a correspondent, just received:
âSeveral busses carrying Israelis were attacked today near the border with Egypt. In the first attack, terrorists ambushed a bus thirty kilometers from Eilat, as it traveled on Route 12 from Be’er Sheva. Terrorists opened fire with small arms, as always, firing indiscriminately. Heavier weapons may have also been involved.
Most passengers in the first bus were IDF soldiers, on leave and heading to the Red Sea resort. These troops, without hesitation, deployed their rifles and aggressively engaged the terrorists, killing at least two and critically injuring a third.
You heard right!
IDF soldiers travel fully armed, even when on leave. They are eminently able to defend themselves and prevent future actions by individual terrorists, via killing them on the spot!
If only Americaâs military and political âleadersâ would follow Israelâs example, many innocent lives would be similarly saved.â
Comment: But, of course, violent criminals would then be killed, and we canât have that now, can we?
Unlike America, Israel actually has confidence in their own small-arms training and trusts the judgement and inherent goodness of their own soldiers.
Imagine that!
The more crime you have, the more âgovernmentâ you need. That axiom is not lost on big-government promoters. They thrive on âvictimhood,â and theyâre currently in charge. That is why they have no problem with massacres of the innocent, but sob and wring their hands when their dimpled-darling violent criminals are taken under fire by righteous armed citizens, armed police, even armed soldiers.
The problem is this: Sheep donât trust sheepdogs, any more than they trust wolves!
/John
19 Aug 11
Do you have what you need, or not?
This from an LEO friend in the Midwest:
âToday, my sixteen-year-old niece was at work at our local Wal-Mart, when the store received a phoned-in bomb-threat.
Even though she is still in her teens, Iâve instructed her to always have on her person, (1) cell-phone, (2) cash, (3) car-keys, and (4) flashlight. Those items came in handy last night!
The store was immediately evacuated, per procedure. Once all employees were accounted for, they were told to âgo home.â
The problem was, most employees didn’t have car-keys with them, as they left all personal belongings in lockers in the store! Also, most did not have cell phones, as it is âstore policyâ for them not to be carried while working.
Once everyone was accounted for, employees were abandoned and left to fend for themselves. Police were busy with other things. Store management was nowhere to be found.
The bomb threat, like most, proved false. But, dozens of store employees milled about for hours, unable to communicate, nor access their vehicles, nor find their way around in the dark.
My niece was the exception! She got through the ordeal and got home just fine, because she had critical items with her. When I asked her how she was doing, she said, âway cool,â because she was prepared, unlike the majority of her clueless colleagues.â
Comment: Like my friend, I have scant regard for âpoliciesâ concocted, and promulgated, by uncaring, naive atta-boys!
The wise look after, and out for, themselves, and they donât worry about other peoplesâ ârules!â
âTruth must essentially be regarded as in conflict with this world. The world has never been so good… that the majority will ever desire to hear itâ
Kierkegaard
/John
19 Aug 11
UK, Israel, and the USA, paraphrased from a correspondent:
âThe unavoidable effect an armed citizenry has on all would-be rulers is the unrelenting fear of being deposed by force. It has naught to do with crime nor criminals. âCrimeâ is just a diversion, designed to deflect conversation about the real issue.
It invariably leads to situations such as the current deplorable state of affairs in Great Britain. Even today, British royalty (elected and unelected) vividly remember their counterparts in Russia being overthrown and ultimately murdered by Bolsheviks, during the âOctober Revolutionâ of 1917! Thus, the British government casually admits that it cannot defend its subjects, but, in the same breath, steadfastly prohibits subjects from defending themselves. Their very bodies are thus expendable, property of the Crown. British subjects today are no more âfreeâ than Russian serfs in the time of the Czars!
A brilliant point of Lincolnâs Gettysburg Address is the phrase: â… government of the people, by the people, for the people.â In modern political science, there is no universal agreement on the meaning of the term âgovernment,â but there are commonly accepted indicators. One is a âmonopoly of force.â So, to the extent that people of any nation are allowed to keep and bear arms, government by the people continues to exist. Absent private arms, it can be said that there is government âofâ the people, and perhaps even âforâ the people (in a case of a âbenevolent dictatorâ), but there is certainly no government âbyâ the people.
Israel, and even the USA, are currently working their way toward the British model, and for the same reason: politicians who fear the citizenry, more than respect it. So, when citizens fail to demand their natural rights, they have nothing to cry about when soldiers aren’t around, and terrorists are!â
âThe only power any government has is the power to crack-down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? Whatâs there in that for anyone? But, just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed, nor enforced, nor objectively interpreted, and you create a nation of law-breakers, and then cash-in on âguilt.ââ
Ayn Rand
/John
20 Aug 11
Good news from Afghanistan, from a friend and correspondent there:
âJust after 9/11, I was a new 1/Lt in Egypt. I could not get ammunition for myself, nor my troops, so paranoid, and emasculate, were those up the food-chain.
I have been in-country here in A-Stan for a while now, and Iâm observing that local attitudes, even those up the food-chain, have matured since I was here several years ago.
We now have access to ammunition! I am routinely carrying âhot,â both rifle and pistol, as are all my guys. Iâve âbankedâ ammunition at every location, so my guys are always fully-prepared for extended fights.
The situation of the ground here is extremely fluid. We are aggressively probed on a daily basis.
It is refreshing that our commanders, at least the next two layers up, encourage everyone to be always prepared, and proactive, in responding to threats. Of course, we would be, even it they didnât!
Out-dated ârulesâ with regard to the routine condition of small-arms are forgotten here. A-Stan is no place where you would want to be unarmed, even for a moment.
So, weâre âhotâ here, all the time- indoors and out, both sides of the wire, day and night! We assiduously practice muzzle discipline, and fingers are where they belong. Gun-accidents are at their lowest level since records have been kept.
Imagine that!â
Comment: It is indeed refreshing to see common sense rear its ugly head now and then, despite all our efforts to stamp it out completely! Down where the rubber meets the road, our people know what to do. Gun-phobic politicians and bureaucrats, perpetually insulated from all threats (indeed reality in any form), need not comment!
âAll armed prophets have been victorious, while all unarmed ones have been destroyedâ
Machiavelli
/John
20 Aug 11
Cor-Bon Academy, Sturgis, SD:
In their relentless effort to advance our Art, my friends at Cor-Bon have established a permanent training academy at their home-base in Sturgis, SD.
Iâll be there for an Urban Rifle Course on 27-28 Aug 11 and Advanced Defensive Handgun on 29-31 Aug 11.
Get hold of Matt V at matt@corbon.com He has all details.
Come join us in making a joyful noise!
/John
20 Aug 11
âWorkplace Violence,â from a friend who teaches the subject:
âI’ve been tasked with teaching a âWorkplace Violenceâ block of instruction, under the auspices of an âeducational contractor.â
The Program emphasizes that employees should flee from VCAs, ultimately submitting to a âlock-down.â Failing that, they are advised to âdefend yourself in whatever way you can.â Exactly how that is to be done is, of course, âsubject-non-grata.â Youâll never persuade Leftists to get specific!
Personal âweapons,â of any description, are disallowed, and our âsecurity guardsâ are all disarmed. There are no guns, nor ammunition, anywhere (except for mine, which are below the radar). On my own, I provide students with instruction in âweapons-of-opportunity,â a subject found nowhere in the lesson plan.
During the last block, a woman asked an embarrassing question: âWhen I can neither flee, nor hide, how am I supposed to effectively confront violent, armed criminals, when our security folks donât even have guns?â
Political commissars, whose job it is to promote and enforce the Party Line, were in attendance. They did not answer, nor even acknowledge, the woman, nor her question, but confronted me during the next break, saying, â… You need to speak to that woman about her attitude!â
âYou object to her actually not wanting be murdered by violent criminals?â said I. âYou know what I mean,â he snapped back. âI have no idea what you mean, Sir. I donât want to be murdered nor maimed either…!â
He became furious and told me I may not be teaching this subject very long, then stormed off.
Well, I may not be. In the interim, I always carry a loaded pistol (heavily concealed), along with a good, fighting blade, while teaching, and at all other times!
I donât think the companyâs political commissars, nor their flower-children bosses, have any idea of the utter contempt in which they are held!â
Comment: Yes, youâll never get a Leftist to be specific!
Who have such scant, even casual, regard for the lives and safety of those for whom they are responsible, make me crazy! How can they, with a straight face, ask innocent people to calmly submit to being murdered?
Again, theyâre Leftists, and they wonât look up, and they wonât answer!
âWho never compares his notions with those of others… often thinks himself in autarkic possession of the Truth, when he is only fondling an ever-putrefying error, long-since exploded!â
Samuel Johnson
/John
24 Aug 11
Muzzles up in Libya!
âMuzzles upâ seems to be the byword during the current Libyan Revolution, at least the parts seen on American television.
Rebels can be seen carrying their Kalashnikovs (I also saw at least one HK-91), almost always with the muzzle skyward, engaging, nigh-continuously, in âcelebratoryâ gunfire. Countless times, Iâve seen muzzles inadvertently pointed sideways and in other unsafe directions as rifles go up and down, discharging at near-random!
There is, of course, no way of knowing, but Iâm curious as to the number of accidental gunshot injuries/deaths that occur every day, directly due to this habitual reckless/clueless gun-handling, which is apparently endemic to the region, and the culture. Iâm confident the actual number is off the charts, at least by Western standards. In any event, it is fairly obvious that no one cares, which is apparently also endemic to the region, and culture!
In order for large numbers of heavily-armed people to co-exist in close proximity, and not experience continuous unintentional injury/death, due to accidental/negligent discharge of firearms, competent/proficient gun-handling must be continuously taught and demanded of everyone, indeed it must be indigenous to our culture/ethos.
The âever-unloaded/never-readyâ approach will never get us there, and indeed, has not! We have to learn to train with, and live with, guns that are continuously loaded and in a high state of readiness. It does not suffice to merely talk about it. We have to live it!
On television, we see daily the way these clueless (albeit courageous) people handle guns. Theyâre currently paying a high price for their incompetence. Weâll never know how high!
On this side, we had better train correctly, as if our lives depended upon it, or weâll find ourselves paying the same butcherâs bill, for the same stupid reasons!
âHuman population enlarges in a geometric ratio. The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to provide sustenance… that premature death must, as a natural consequence, visit the human race.â
Malthus
/John
24 Aug 11
Urban Rifle at the Cor-Bon Academy in Sturgis, SD:
Weâve moved our Urban Rifle Course at the Cor-Bon Academy to the weekend of 19-20 Nov 11.
Cor-Bon is providing 223, 7.62×39, and 308 ammunition, plus handgun ammunition to all students attending at a substantial discount. Discount applies to both practice ammunition (hardball) and high-performance ammunition, like DPX. No limit! By special arrangement, my students can acquire all they want at the training site, shoot what the Course requires, and take the balance home.
This represents an excellent chance to stock-up, and receive excellent training, all in one weekend!
Get hold of Matt V at matt@corbon.com, or call him at 800 626 7266
/John
24 Aug 11
Additional comments on population, from a friend and colleague in a position to speak with authority:
âCurrent levels of consumption of natural resources, especially water, is causing global havoc, with or without âclimate change.â Water shortages will ultimately impact food production
Nations hopelessly in debt (like ours) have limited options, more limited by the day!
Nations and individuals lacking in preparedness and personal determination will quickly perish.
Our free-enterprise system has historically out-produced all others, by a wide margin. But, we keep electing Santa Claus, and Santa is in love with âcentral planning.â It will work about as well as it did for Joe Stalin in the 1930s!
Who look ahead need to realize that relatively stable times weâve enjoyed most of our lifetimes will, once again, give way to world conflagration, as they did, twice, in the last Century. Like everyone else, weâll be obliged to defend what we have, or die.
Half the world is already starving. But, even Western Civilization lives perilously close to the edge in food production, and it will take only a small disturbance to push us into irreversible shortages, quickly followed by general starvation, particularly in our rotting urban areas. When that happens, we will see human-nature in the raw, on a scale far more vast even than we do already!
Thy cynical among us believe that is what Santa wanted all along! Either way, it is coming, sooner than we think!â
âIt is a bad thing that men hate each other. But, it is far worse that they contract the habit of cutting each otherâs throats, without hatred.â
Macaulay
/John
26 Aug 11
Armed Women!
We recently completed a live-fire Program at an International Training Conference for Women LEOs in the Midwest. All our students were female, but most were from foreign countries. Some had never touched a gun before in their lives, despite working as police. Most had never drawn a pistol from a holster. Only a minuscule few carried guns on duty. Virtually none took guns home, owned guns privately, nor carried off-duty.
They used G17s, and Uncle Mikeâs holsters and duty-belts, provided by Conference organizers. Virtually all students fired more rounds in the following three hours that they had during their entire police careers, indeed in their entire lives!
A LEO from Ireland said, â… itâs a âcultural thing.â No matter how bad it gets, even after recent riots in London, theyâll never issue us guns.â
Another, from North Africa, commented that men on her PD were armed, but that women were not allowed to have guns, â… because weâre women.â
In the brief time we were together, we stressed basic principles of marksmanship and safe gun-handling.
All were enthusiastic and wanted to shoot more! In a moment of frustration, a woman from the UK commented how lucky we were in the USA to be able to privately own, and even carry concealed guns during our daily routine, and lawfully use them to defend ourselves. âUnheard of in most other places,â said she.
Comment: This makes me crazy! I had to bite my tongue so as not to inadvertently say something unkind about someone elseâs government/culture.
LEOs in most other countries, particularly women, are absolutely expendable in the eyes of local politicians! With a straight face, theyâre expected to expose themselves to suicidal risk, without the tools necessary to have even a ghost of a chance of living through it.
Many donât! Politicians yawn, and then hire more. And, no one apparently sees a problem with that system!
Of all classes of citizens, women particularly, ought to be the ones most fervently jealous of their Second Amendment Rights, because it is they who are, in many cultures, deemed so expendable/replaceable.
âI declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.â
Susan B Anthony, from a speech in San Francisco, July 1871
/John
27 Aug 11
Storm Report, from friends on the ground:
âOur (NYC) mayor has issued âmandatoryâ evacuation orders for certain low-lying areas in anticipation of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Irene. But, he then added, â… we don’t have manpower to go door-to-door, dragging people out. Nobody is going to get fined, nor go to jail.â However, who donât comply with the order, â…are just going to die!â
I guess itâs a âvoluntary/mandatoryâ evacuation. Only in NYC!
I went to the local supermarket early yesterday. It was pandemonium! They were already out of gallon jugs of water. Batteries were nearly gone also. I am sure those who arrived later in the day were greeted with empty shelves. I passed a different supermarket shortly thereafter, and there was a line two block long, just to get in!
There is a ridge which runs the length of Brooklyn. It is one-hundred feet higher than the surrounding area. I live on this ridge, not by accident!â
âIn Philadelphia, there is a ârunâ on shotguns and buckshot. Shotguns are cheaper, more available, and less regulated than are military rifles. A lot of people are belatedly buying them to protect themselves, and their businesses, from looters.â
âNC Governor Beverly Perdue, Democrat (of course!) Has declared every NC state-issued CCW Permit, in eastern NC, âinvalid!â It is now illegal to carry a concealed weapon, until the current state of emergency has been declared âover.ââ
Comment: Of all times one would want to carry a gun, âstates of emergencyâ top the list! Only a seedy political hack would seek to disarm citizens at such a time. I wonder if the governorâs bodyguards remain armed during the crisis!
Fortunately, such an utterly stupid directive will be ignored by those of sound mind. Who do observe it, probably shouldnât have a gun anyway.
Many are prepared for a crisis like this. They already have food, water, trauma kits, fire extinguishers, guns, ammunition, transportation, and âa plan.â They know what to do. They have thought it through and will endure. Conversely, the unprepared, clueless, and unobservant will suffer logical consequences. Some wonât live through it. Little can be done for them!
âA sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. The simpleton never looks, and suffers the consequences.â
Proverbs 27:12
/John
28 Aug 11
Apology!
It looks as if I may owe Governor Perdue of NC an apology!
Many Web pages cited her signing an executive order last week, invalidating state CCW permits (for certain coastal counties) for the duration of the current weather-crisis.
I still am unable to get a definitive read-out on this, as NC gun laws in general, and particularly âemergency powersâ at state-level are contradictory and extremely confusing.
However, a reading of the actual Executive Order seems to indicate that the Governor genuinely made a good-faith effort NOT to restrict guns and CCW permits, although, as I indicated, it is unclear at this point what she actually did and what regulations are actively in effect. Her gesture may have been sincere, or it may have been meaningless, even cynical.
In any event, I obviously did not look into the matter in sufficient detail. I regret the error, and I apologize for my premature, and harsh, comments.
/John
30 Aug 11
Why politicians hate us, paraphrased from a particularly articulate friend and colleague:
âUnfortunately, modern American politics no longer attracts honorable people. Rather, contemporary politicians tend to be vain opportunists, seduced by power and the chance, not to serve, but to lord-it-over others, particularly those more decent and honorable than they, a group that includes just about everybody!
When they speak, look for âcode-wordsâ specifically intended to masquerade actual beliefs, and intentions. Since precious few of them can be described as personally respectable, they use their bully-pulpit to denigrate/discredit all of us who subscribe to the honor-construct. Vile hatred virtually dribbles down their chins, for instance, as they smear and slander âmillionaires and billionairesâ (but only those in the private sector), veterans, business-owners, and others whose political support they canât purchase.
âSelf-esteem,â for example, is a bogus term, manufactured by the modern pseudo-therapeutic industry, to describe a non-existent phenomenon (thereby akin to ârehabilitationâ). âSelf-esteemâ represents a false, meritless view of oneself, that has no legitimate association with reality. âSelf-respect,â by contrast, is analogous to observing oneself in a mirror, held by others. They provide you with an accurate perspective that they see through your behavior, as reflective of your character. Men of honor will hold up a mirror for you to observe yourself as they see you, by their standards.
When thus âweighed in the balance,â you may make the cut, or you may be âfound wanting!â
Another phoney code-word is âtough.â Men of honor are not âtough.â We are strong! Toughness is akin to a callus. It is superficial. Once the callus is breached, and pain is perceived, âtough guysâ immediately loose interest in the endeavor. Conversely, strength comes from within. Bodily strength, or strength of character; the only way to obtain it is to work-out constantly and push beyond your current level of endurance. Men of Honor are thus strong of body, mind, and spirit. Noble deeds and other acts of self-sacrifice are the product of outwardly-directed love.
Men of honor are ever-polite and courteous, but always prepared to draw a line, to take a stand. âTough-guysâ rarely are. âTough-guysâ are, in fact, a physical manifestation of âself-esteem.â They are shallow, selfish, unreliable, weak.
Modern politicians thus include many whose âself-esteemâ is threatened when they view themselves in the mirror held-up by men of honor. Their response is predictable: whining, rationalization, paranoia, and denial of personal responsibility. The willfully craven can never accept correction, no matter how noble. Vanity holds them fast in its grip and makes them incapable of repentance.
Their perspective on those who hold the mirror is also predictable: wrath and hatred. From the likes of them, we expect little else!â
âThe father of all error is the ecumenical character-flaw of vanity. It is therefore incumbent upon every man of honor, who values his own dignity, to repent of error the moment it is discovered, fearing no censure so much at that of his own conscience.â
Samuel Johnson
âWhen plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men, they predictably create for themselves a legal system that authorizes and protects it, a political party that enshrines it, and a âmoralâ code to justify it.â
Frederic Bastiat
/John
