Mike Vanderboegh Explains the Three Percenters

Mike, who publishes the very popular Sipsey Street Irregulars, opines about what is in the mind of god, and other things. Of course the obligatory school-yard threats and bully tactics are there to incite the troops.

Operation Exodus

Talking Points Memo published a fascinating story about what's going on in Louisiana. (via The Gun Guys)




What's your opinion? Is this sorta like a bunch of older white guys preparing to keep them darkies in line next time there's trouble? And what about the "defensive" nature of Operation Exodus? I suppose at some point they could decide pro-active action or, what did they call it in the Iraq War, pre-emptive action would be required.

Is the idea that if more and more of the "good guys" are prepared, we'll all be safer? Is that the direction we're headed in?

Please leave a comment.

John Patrick Bedell - Left or Right

The Examiner posted an article addressing the very question that has been raised by a number of commenters on my yesterday's post: was the Pentagon shooter another example of the right wing gone wrong or was he really a deranged lefty?

My main point in bringing Mudrake's post over here was about the gun. This is a guy who had no business with a gun, regarldess of his political leanings. And, interestingly, it turns out he had more in common with the radical right than the left, in spite of that 9/11, Bush-hating theory.

Pentagon Shooting

Man with a Muckrake is the blog I go to for the latest.

ABC News reports:

The gunman who charged into one of the Pentagon’s main entrances and opened fire has died from gunshot wounds to the head and authorities are looking into his recent rants against the government as a potential motive.

The attack seems to be another suicide mission aimed at the government. While police have said they are not certain of a motive, they are investigating Internet postings in which Bedell wrote and recorded audio expressing his anger towards the government.

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Here’s what I’m wondering about this morning as I read this: do those who foment this type of anger- Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck- have any pangs of guilt today? Do they suspect that it may have been their rhetoric, their fear-mongering that pushed this man over the edge?

Had I been a key agitator in this hate campaign, I would be sleepless and terribly distraught thinking that what I had said led a man to suicide.

I've asked the same questions myself. In fact I go further. The shared responsibility for this kind of incident does not stop with the prominent right-wing celebrities.

What's your opinion? Are these incidents still an aberration? Are they anecdotal? Or do they reflect an increasingly visible sector of America?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

SPLC Describes its Hate Report

Home Protection of the Future

Since laws restricting firearms ownership are in violation of the Constitution, I suggest our pro-gun friends pick up one of these. Illegal laws don't have to be obeyed, right? That's how the lawful gun owners all claim to never have broken laws. The reason you need one of these is you never can tell when that little bit of extra firepower will make the difference.

Virginia Senate Votes Against Gun Rights

The Washington Post reports on the good news in Virginia, a state which needs some good news when it comes to gun laws.

A Virginia Senate panel designed to eliminate House gun rights proposals went about its work efficiently Thursday, killing an attempted repeal of the state's 17-year-old ban on buying more than one handgun a month and several other bills.

The Senate Courts of Justice special subcommittee, which was composed of four Democrats and one Republican, voted 4 to 1 along party lines to table the gun-a-month repeal sponsored by Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William).

"I think that the NRA's agenda of any gun, anywhere, anytime has been dealt a blow," said Lori Haas, a gun-control activist whose daughter survived two superficial gunshot wounds in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

I guess Zorro was right that this one was far from a foregone conclusion. In fact, with a subcommittee like that, it was quite the opposite.

Gun-control advocates said that repealing the law would make it easier for people to buy many guns -- or to recruit straw purchasers to do so -- and ship them to urban areas on the East Coast. They reminded the senators that Virginia's rank as a supplier of illicit weapons dropped from first to sixth after the law's passage in 1993.

What could the pro-gun response to that possibly be? I've heard the excuse that all crime when down at that time, but that doesn't explain the comparative ranking of Virginia as supplier of illicit weapons after the one-gun-a-month law went into effect.

Another thing I often hear is why would there be so many reports about Virginia guns ending up in New York and New Jersey if the law was working. My response is the obvious one, if not for the laws restricting guns, the results would be that much worse

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.