The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand
I’ve Noticed This Myself…
Frank J. has generated a list of “fun facts” about Democrats that lives up to (or down to) his well-deserved reputation.
But this one is my favorite:
Democrats are big into class warfare. They also are for gun control which has caused the deadliest firearms to be too expensive except for the rich to buy. So, if class warfare ever goes to blows, it won’t last long.
Ayup. The rest are almost as good.
In relation to the “Rotten Log” post below concerning the “Celebrate Diversity” shirt, another moonbat-with-a-blog wrote another “I’m OFFENDED!“ post on it. At least Steve Gillard doesn’t use an alias, but he gives links for his moonbat readers to send objection letters to – I suppose – get Reynolds in hot water. Quote:
Reynolds has said any number of biased, unfair and truly repellent things on his site. Which is his right. But this crosses a rather broad line. I mean, where does he keep this shirt, next to his Wehrmacht World Tour and Hitler: No More Mister Nice Guy shirts.
I think it’s time we start asking people, like his boss, how his views and public statements coincide with the education provided by the University of Tennessee.
Hell, I have that question about any number of professors, starting with Noam Chomsky and MIT. Note the invocation of Godwin’s Law.
Steve continues with a list of contacts for the perennially outraged to write to, including:
University of Tennessee Law School Dean Tom Galligan
Sen. Randy McNally – head of the Tennessee Senate’s Education Committee
House Member Les Whittington – in charge of the House Education committee
The Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Nashville Tennessean newspapers.
Steve says:
Just ask them if they agree that a professor at the state’s public university should be advertising a shirt which opposes diversity.
My. Mouth. Hangs. Agape.
How…?
Now, when the Right does this, it’s called “censorship” by the Left. It’s “violation of their First Amendment Right of Free Speech.” But when they do it…
And, once again, the comments are priceless! (Hat tip, Spoons.)
No running commentary this time. It’s too tiring. Just go read. Here’s a taste:
I worry less about that than the minority kid in his class. If that is his opinion, can a minority kid be treated fairly by him. Diversity isn’t an opinion, but state policy. Does the university agree he should be opposing state policy on a commercial website?
—
Since Glenn Reynolds is a patriotic guy opposed to “Islamofacism” and since several of our financial trophy buildings are now at risk of an Al Qaeda attack, I now invite Mr. Reynolds to come down to Newark, New Jersey (in the shirt) to help guard the Prudential Building against being attacked.
There are a number of local crips and bloods who (in spite of New Jersey’s draconian gun control laws) appreciate the gun culture as much as he does. I’m *quite sure* they’ll have an interesting take on the shirt.
*sigh*
The Left leaves me… tired.
John Lott Must Read Me
Awhile back I noticed that John Lott had me listed in his blogroll.
I feel so special!
The Microsoft™ SmartGun
Via Clayton Cramer comes this hilarious cartoon. Go read.
Point by Freakin’ Point
Mike at Cold Fury has written the transcript of the press conference I’d PAY to see. A taste:
“Christ almighty, what is it with you people? You’ve spent a couple of years asking why we didn’t prevent 9/11, calling for an investigation, asking ‘how much did Bush know and when did he know it?’ You blamed us for something we failed to prevent after eight months in office, and yet to this day you give the Clinton admin a free pass, even though he had eight years—eight fucking years, people—to do something about al Qaeda and didn’t do one goddamned thing.
“You finally get your investigation, the results of which confirm most of what we’d been saying all along, but you don’t want to hear that any more than you wanted to hear about the fact that one of the Democrat commissioners, Jamie Gorelick, was responsible for the so-called “wall of separation” prohibiting information-sharing between the FBI and CIA, which nearly everyone now acknowledges was one of the biggest problems preventing any effective defense against terrorist networks. You do deign to acknowledge that problem, but the part you originally claimed to be most interested in—who was responsible—is suddenly not so interesting anymore the moment you realized you couldn’t reasonably blame us for it.
“You insist that Condi and Bush must testify publicly to the commission (even though Condi had already testified once), but it doesn’t seem to bother you when Clinton gets to testify behind closed doors. You laud Richard Clarke’s and Joe Wilson’s credibility, but when it’s clearly shown that they’re liars you don’t seem to want to bring it up anymore. You hint at all sorts of sinister skullduggery on our part, but when Sandy Berger openly admits to stealing classified documents for God only knows what reason, you couldn’t care less.
And it just gets better. No kidding! With links, too!
(Hat Tip, my favorite African-American.)
They Can’t Have Mine
Heartless Libertarian reports that the U.S. military is apparently short about a million “standard capacity” magazines for its M16/M4 weapons. I’ve got seven myself for my custom-built AR-15, purchased after the so-called “ban” that made manufacturing new ones for civilian consumption illegal, but did absolutely nothing to affect the existing supply except drive up the prices. And I’m a piker. I know there are people who have over a hundred.
Unintended consequences…
I Wonder If These Guys Get to Run Their Ad Shortly Before the Election?
But hopefully everyone will have seen this by then. Several times.
You should.
Hey! The Carnival is Coming!
Yeesh! It’s only a week away!
The next Carnival of the Vanities will be hosted by your humble servant right here at The Smallest Minority on Wednesday, August 11. Please submit your entries by no later than Tuesday, August 10 at 8:00PM PDT so that I can throw them in a pile arrange them in some artful manner for your perusal.
To submit, email me at gunrights -AT- comcast -DOT- net (please substitute the proper symbols) with your name or nom-de-plume, the name and URL of your blog, the title (if applicable) and URL of your post of interest, and a short blurb describing the topic.
Edited to add: Put “CotV” or “Carnival” in the email title, would you? That way I won’t dump it as spam without ever opening it.
Another edit: Please, no late entries! I won’t be anywhere near a computer with internet access on Wednesday, so what goes up Tuesday night will be IT.
(Like I need something ELSE to do!)
The barking moonbat wing of the Left has gone bugshit over Rachel Lucas’s favorite T-Shirt. Well, Glenn Reynolds owns one, (I own one, too) so Atrios thought it must be racist, and wrote a post about it. Here’s his take:
Now, Glenn’s a gun fan and I imagine he’s just celebrating the joys of guns, or whatever, but this shirt is no joke. There’s a serious subtext here which is totally obvious to me that I think should be pointed out. Now, I don’t think everyone who has purchased a shirt like this has purchased it with the subtext in mind, but nonetheless the message is clear.
The caption is “celebrate diversity.” The colors of the caption are commonly used pan-African colors: red, yellow, and green. While, for many, the “joke” (though, I’m not sure why it’s funny) is that here diversity is a diversity of guns. Ha ha. But, look, the clear message here is that the way to celebrate diversity, particularly that pan-African diversity, is to buy a bunch of fucking guns. In other words, celebrate diversity by arming yourself.
And your problem with that is….? But no, it means “celebrate diversity” by buying a bunch of different guns. (The “fucking guns” is a dead giveaway that Atrios is not a “gun fan.” Please pardon my stating the obvious.)
You’ll note that the shirt doesn’t say “Hey white folk! Celebrate diversity!” Nope, it’s an equal opportunity shirt! Everybody join in! All colors of the rainbow, you too can join the nation of responsible citizens who own guns! It’s not just for white crackers anymore!
But the commenters ran with it. Here’s a sample of the bile from the more loving, more caring, colorblind, fuzzy-bunny Left.
I read a much darker subtext into that.
—
(A)nd, I presume, shoot as many pan-Africans as possible, maybe even a few queers, since the colors are also reminiscent of the gay flag.
Welcome to more and more fascism.
Nope, they get to buy guns, too!
I thought it was more sinister than even your interpretation. I read it as “Celebrate Diversity — kill a black person.”
You get secret messages passed to you in your alphabet soup, too, don’t you?
Maybe Instapoodle can be encouraged to play Russian Roulette more often.
Nothing like the Compassionate Left, is there?
…it says to me “kill the black, brown, yellow, red, …”. Sometimes I wonder if women and non-whites just get it, because they have encountered it so much.
—
The subtext is much darker and the “kill a nigger because he stole your job because of affirmative action” is even there. (Now it’s morphed into “because he stole your JOB.” It’s a T-SHIRT, you oversensitive idiot.)
I think you put as charitable a spin on it as possible, Atrios, but the fact that it took you several hours to decide how to frame your thoughts on it I think is a resonable indicator of how deeply disturbing you find it.
The fact that you saw it, reacted in such a way as to say to yourself, “No, that can’t be right. They can’t mean THAT”, and then give them the benefit of the doubt to the extent you reasonably could, well, I think that speaks volumes in and of itself. Your thought processes – if you want to actually characterize them as such – certainly speak volumes about you.
Right wingers equate guns with power.
Mao: Power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
This, the right wing endorses greatly. This is why they are always sore losers in elections.And now MAO is a right-winger? How far left is THIS guy? As for “sore losers,” who is it that hasn’t gotten over the 2000 election?
The message I see is”Here’s what you can do with your goddamned diversity!” There is a subtext of hate in that t-shirt.Only what you put there.
The fact that the shirt is (I would presume) purposefully vague enough to lend itself to these ugly interpretations, would make me uncomfortable to wear it — regardless of my stance on gun rights.
That’s called “freedom of choice” where it comes to freedom of speech. At least this guy’s not a complete whack job.
How about a t-shirt with “Republican Diversity” as the text–and show a bunch of grave markers?
—
The t-shirt celebrates guns and hints how they could be used. If it was worn in public in Toronto it would cause problems because it is a very aggressive shirt.Only because Canada doesn’t have a right to free speech, and I could insert a Canadian joke here, but I choose not to.
I read it as an anti-minority statement.
HOW? Minorities have the same right to buy guns as anybody.
One could draw the ‘kill Africans’ inference, but that’s a stretch. These guys are racists and all that, but the point of the T-Shirt is pro-gun rights, and anti-diversity-type legislation, nothing else.
No, it’s just pro-gun rights. For everybody.
Of course this is the same guy who wrote:
We need guns, and when the technology permits, we’re gonna need automatic guns, or automatic tasers, or whatever. If Bushco wants to become the next Hitler, he’s gonna have to answer Mr. Colt – which I don’t own *yet*, but I may soon. I’m tired of being scared of some black van screaching up to my front door, with me being defenseless. F that. Come and get me aholes, but first, say hello to my leetle friend!
Well, hell! Celebrate diversity and get a Smith & Wesson too, while you’re at it!
The only person who would wear this shirt is, quite literally, a racist piece of shit.
Smile when you say that.
There is no doubt that this shirt has a wink-and-nudge racist message behind it, and I think any right-winger would get it.
Nope. Only you overly sensitive Lefties.
Don’t call him racist. He’ll pull out the old line “My sister in law is African” routine, which of course is a show stopper.
It is, isn’t it? Just like the fact that Bush has a black National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. But they can’t really be “black” because they’re just “house niggers” workin’ for da man.
More of that Leftist compassion and caring.
But wait! There’s more!
Sorry, but the message of that hideous shirt is pretty clear to me. If it had been beer, I would have thought, ha! Cute! Be diverse in your choice of getting drunk. This is guns, though. And not just guns, hand guns. Be diverse in your choice of killing.
And don’t think these miserable, twisted wingnuts don’t know EXACTLY what it means.
We sure do, but the “twisted wingnuts” seem to be on YOUR side, my friend.
I thought Glenn was urging us to buy an assortment of guns, go to Africa and shoot as many blacks as possible. The subtext was crystal clear to me and I’m outraged. How do they get away with this!?
Because most people don’t think like barking moonbats with their panties wingnuts in a twist?
The t-shirt, and the entire website, are indicative of mental illness.
Funny, I was thinking precisely the same thing about Atrios’s site and these comments!
I actually saw someone wearing that shirt last night in West Oakland. Someone who happened to African-American. I must say that, in that context, I thought the shirt was fucking phat.
There, see? Apparently that t-shirt owner got the idea. But also apparently it’s up to the moonbat Left to inform him of just how misguided he must be to wear something so offensive.
You’re right. It is phat!
So of course, that poster must have been a right-wing plant. No black African-American could possibly misinterpret the meaning of that shirt, right?
I invite Instapundit or anyone else who finds the shirt amusing to don it proudly on the streets of East LA, the Tenderloin, Gary, IN, Detroit or DC (away from the Capitol, of course), especially around 2am.
I invite all supporters of gun control to do precisely the same thing! Go to those areas at that time completely unarmed! And tell us just how safe you are!
Anyway, there’s more, but that’s enough and more than enough, don’t you think?
I did leave a comment of my own, though:
First, I own the shirt. It’s humorous to me. Second, I do not, did not and cannot interpret it the way (many of) you have. If you want to accuse me of being “a racist piece of shit,” I suggest you do it to my face. And third, if you hate that T-shirt, you’re gonna loathe this one.
The link is to the “72 Virgins Dating Service” T-shirt.
THAT drew some traffic!
Sweet Jeebus’s Bleeding Hemorrhoids…
Hear about this one? The 42 year-old Australian security guard who was brutally assaulted by a thief wearing brass knuckles who was after the pub receipts she was carrying? She picked herself up, drew her concealed weapon, approached, and then shot the sumbitch. She’s been charged with murder! Here’s one version of the story:
Guard set for murder charge
A SYDNEY security guard tonight became a fugitive after refusing to submit herself to police for questioning over the shooting death of a thief during a bungled robbery.
Bungled my ass. She properly intervened.
If Karen Brown cannot be found she will be charged in her absence tomorrow morning.
Police had given Ms Brown until 6pm (AEST) today to present herself at Liverpool police station in south-west Sydney for an interview over her shooting of William Aquilina last Monday.
The 42-year-old Rooty Hill woman did not show and it was unclear whether she had been aware of the ultimatum.
Liverpool police Superintendent Terry Jacobsen said police tried to contact Ms Brown through her lawyers with phone calls and text messages throughout the day.
Her lawyers could not be reached by AAP.
Ms Brown allegedly shot and killed Aquilina moments after he attacked her with a knuckleduster and stole a bag of cash she was carrying out of the Moorebank Hotel.
She was originally scheduled to speak with officers on Tuesday, saying she was too unwell to talk before then.
But she raised the ire of police when it emerged she had given two media interviews, one of which was understood to have netted her a six figure payment.
“We have given her that opportunity but she has elected to go to the media, and that’s not appropriate,” Supt Jacobsen said.
He said Ms Brown’s non-attendance meant police would charge her with murder either tonight or tomorrow morning.
“We have sufficient evidence in my view of a prima facie case of murder,” he said.
Commencing criminal proceedings could make the airing of Ms Brown’s exclusive interview on tomorrow evening’s edition of Today Tonight in contempt of court.
“It will be sub judice and Today Tonight will publish any material at their peril,” Supt Jacobsen warned.
The officer condemned Ms Brown’s decision to tell the media her story instead of police.”
Channel Seven spokesman Simon Francis said the network still planned to air the program.
“Regardless of what happens we will be telling her story tomorrow night,” he said.Mr Francis refused to confirm Seven had paid Ms Brown $100,000 for the interview but said the amount was substantially less than an offer by rival Channel Nine.
Mr Aquilina’s grandfather Frank Rasmussen accused Ms Brown of profiteering from his grandson’s death.
“She’s getting blood money, that’s all I can say,” he told Channel Nine.
Ms Brown said in an interview with today’s Sunday Telegraph that she was sorry for Mr Aquilina’s family.
“I really feel sorry for his family, it must be awful,” she said.
She said she feared for her life but after the attack had no recollection of events.
“I was so scared,” she said.
“I did not know where I was or exactly what had happened to me. All I knew was that blood was pouring into my eyes and my head was throbbing.”
Sounds bad, right? However:
TV payout will go towards legal defence
A SYDNEY security guard who shot and killed a robber last week was not trying to profit from the tragedy, her mother said today.Karen Brown shot William Aquilina, 25, after he assaulted her and robbed her of a bag of money outside the Moorebank Hotel in Sydney’s south-west last Monday.
Her mother, Beverley Brown, said she believed her daughter would be paid $100,000 by Channel 7’s Today Tonight program for an interview to be broadcast tonight.
“To my knowledge it is that amount of money ($100,000). I haven’t actually seen a cheque or anything like that.”Beverley Brown said the money would be used to fund her daughter’s defence.
Damned good idea, IMHO.
And then there’s this version:
Bashed guard has skull fractured in attack
By Evelyn Yamine
July 30, 2004
THE security guard who shot and killed a man during a bungled armed robbery could not be interviewed by police yesterday because her injuries had worsened.
Karen Brown was kept in hospital after tests revealed that her skull and nose were fractured and she had trouble seeing out of one eye.
Ms Brown was supposed to give a statement to police about Monday’s armed robbery outside the Moorebank Hotel, Monday, where Ms Brown shot William Aquilina in the head.
Ms Brown was hit in the head with a knuckle-duster during the attack.
She was seen by an orthopedic and eye specialist yesterday and underwent a brain scan.
“She’s got a fractured skull and a fractured nose and there have been some other medical issues,” Mr Busuttil said.
There are suspicions she may have some fractured bones in her body.”
She may now need to remain in hospital for further tests.Detective Chief Inspector Nick Bingham said Ms Brown’s statement was imperative to the investigation.
“We would like to speak to her sooner rather than later but we’re mindful of the fact she did receive fairly serious injuries,” he said.
Ms Brown is expected to meet with police some time next week.
A post mortem examination conducted on Wednesday showed Aquilina died from blood loss due to a bullet in the face. The bullet was found still lodged in his head.
Police are waiting on toxicology reports. “It may be a factor in relation to his actions but that’s probably still six weeks away,” Insp Bingham said.
Aquilina’s parents, Anne and Michael, last night apologised to Ms Brown for the assault. They told A Current Affair their son was not one to hold a grudge and have decided to be the same.
“I’ve got no hard feelings,” Mr Aquilina said. “Maybe there could have been another way of doing it but I don’t know.“If I knew what he was doing I would have stopped him.”
Mrs Aquilina added: “I’m sorry for what he did, I am really, really sorry, that’s all I want to say. He would not be cranky, he was so forgiving.”
Aquilina’s grandfather, ex-policeman Frank Rasmussen, said Ms Brown had been in no danger and should be charged with manslaughter or murder.
“She’s done the wrong thing … we’ve all done the wrong thing, but she’s done worse, she took a person’s life,” he said.
Mr. Rasmussen can go suck dead dog farts for all I care. Here’s another story on it:
Why I killed the robber
THE security guard who shot and killed a robber who bashed her has spoken about her ordeal for the first time.
Shaking and crying, a traumatised Karen Brown, 42, said yesterday she had feared for her life as she was punched in the head several times by William Aquilina, who was armed with a knuckle duster.“I was so scared,” she said of the ambush and shooting outside a hotel in Sydney’s southwest last Monday morning.
Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull, a fractured eye socket, a fractured nose, a fractured left hand and possible brain damage when the 25-year-old grabbed her hair, king-hit her and then battered her to the ground.
The convicted criminal then dragged her across the bitumen towards a stolen getaway car before she could release a bag containing between $30,000 and $50,000 in hotel takings. Moments later, a bleeding Ms Brown, who was dressed in casual clothes and whose gun had been concealed, shot Aquilina as he sat in the car.
Surrounded by her family, Ms Brown tried to recall the incident that left her covered in blood in the hotel car park.
“I looked up through a bloody haze,” Ms Brown said. “I did not know where I was or exactly what had happened to me. All I knew was that blood was pouring into my eyes and my head was throbbing.”
Despite her injuries, which also include severe concussion and a floating bone fragment behind her eyeball, Ms Brown said she felt sympathy for Aquilina’s family and expressed remorse for what had occurred.
“I really feel sorry for his family,” said Ms Brown, who has been a security guard for four years.
“It must be awful. I just wish this had never happened. It’s been a terrible week.”Ms Brown had been collecting and banking the pub’s takings for the past five months.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before and nothing prepares you for this,” she said.
Ms Brown’s sister, Katrina, said the incident had been devastating.“It has completely wrecked her life,” she said at the Sydney home Ms Brown shares with her de facto, George Muratore. “She’s a complete mental and physical wreck. This is the worst thing that’s ever happened in her life. She has never hurt anybody or anything before and it’s completely crushed her.”
Mr Muratore’s father, Vic, 73, said he believed Ms Brown should not be punished.
“She should not be charged — I would have done the same thing,” he said. “If you pay me to protect, I have to protect. Everybody reckons she’s a champion.
“We have known her for seven years and she is a very decent person — she is a good person.“I say sorry for the other people, but you deserve what you get when you do something like that.”
But Aquilina’s grandfather, retired policeman Frank Rasmussen, has said Ms Brown should be charged.
Right. Only the police should have the power to shoot criminals?
“He was murdered,” Mr Rasmussen said. “That woman should have torn into that hotel as soon as she alleges she was hit and she should have asked for help. Instead, she advanced on my grandson and shot him in cold blood.
No, she was severely injured – by your grandson – and probably disoriented, and still did her job, which was to prevent his escaping with the loot, you prick.
“She’s just a bitch. Sorry.”
No, you’re an asshole. And I’m NOT sorry.
Mr Rasmussen said he was upset by how his grandson — who has convictions for drugs and robbery — had been portrayed.
“They’re saying he’s a rotten dangerous criminal and he’s not. He’s lovable,” he said. “We still don’t believe he’s done this on his own — he’s too good a person.
Yes, I’m sure he was just a lovable fuzzball as he punched Ms. Brown in the head multiple times. Don’t make me puke. He was a perfect fucking ANGEL I bet. But now he’s DEAD.
“He’s never been involved in anything like this in almost 26 years that we’ve known him. It’s not in his nature.”
Guess the brass knuckles weren’t his, either?
One thing’s for damned sure. He won’t be “involved in anything like this” again.
Ms Brown underwent further medical tests on Thursday. Detectives are not expecting to speak to her until tomorrow.
For a nation founded by cast-off convicts from Mother England, they sure seem to be sucking from the same teat of nanny-state enforced pacifism. For example, try this (unrelated) story:
Good Samaritans set upon by gang
A NIGHT out in inner-city Brisbane ended in violence for a family of good Samaritans who tried to intervene in a vicious gang attack.
The Jackson siblings of Sunnybank found themselves fighting for their lives after standing up to a bunch of “cowardly” youths who brutally kicked a man while he was on the ground at the corner of Edward and Charlotte streets.
Dr Peter Jackson, 28, was king-hit and knocked unconscious after running to help the man – who himself ran off and left the Jacksons to face the gang.
Brother John, 24, jumped into the fray to help his older sibling, but was overwhelmed by a swarm of angry youths aged 16 to 19 as he desperately tried to reach his stricken brother.
Enter sisters Elizabeth, 21, and Bridgette, 19. Trying to avoid blows from the gang of youths, the sisters pulled the attackers off Peter, who was unconscious for more than five minutes.
John later expressed disgust that a gathering crowd did not raise a finger to help.
“It was really un-Australian to see, but then again that has become the Australian way,” he said. “The gutless people watching them in the background couldn’t even help two girls.”
The family had been out to farewell John, who is off to Europe tomorrow, when they saw the gang attack a man by himself.
“(Peter) said, ‘Get away, get away.’ They just started walking away and then one of them took a step towards him and that just launched the rest of them on to Pete,” Elizabeth said.
“A guy came up and punched him in the back of the head and I think that was when he was knocked out. He went to ground and the guys didn’t leave him alone.”
John said his brother had half the attackers on him and “I had the other half”.
“Four or five of them cornered me and this massive hit came from somewhere,” he said. “I was just getting swamped.”
Elizabeth said there were “so many people around” who would not help.
“So Bridgette and I just went in and literally started grabbing these guys by their hoods and their jumpers,” she said.
“We were trying to pull them off one by one. One of them took a swing at Bridgette but it missed.
“(Afterwards) some bouncers came over after Pete had been on the ground for five minutes.
“They just said, ‘Oh, he’s all right, call the cops,’ and just walked across the road.”
The Jackson clan had no regrets yesterday, and appealed for public assistance to identify the attackers.
“I would do it again, definitely,” Peter said. “Some of the horrendous brain injuries you are unfortunate enough to see (in medicine) – you just don’t wish that on your worst enemy. They are vegetables (and) one or two more kicks and that guy could have been in massive trouble.”
Police sources told The Courier-Mail the force was 49 staff short in Brisbane City, but due to get 20 first-year constables soon.
They said it was a busy night on Saturday.
No word on how long it took for the police to show up, assuming they did.
Good thing none of the attackers had a weapon, isn’t it? Like, say, brass knuckles? Or a knife? Or even *gasp!* a gun?