Category: Uncategorized

The Singularity is Coming

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Back in 2004 when I wrote Those Without Swords Can Still Die Upon Them, I cited Steven Den Beste’s piece The Four Most Important Inventions in Human History:

In my opinion, the four most important inventions in human history are spoken language, writing, movable type printing and digital electronic information processing (computers and networks). Each represented a massive improvement in our ability to distribute information and to preserve it for later use, and this is the foundation of all other human knowledge activities. There are many other inventions which can be cited as being important (agriculture, boats, metal, money, ceramic pottery, postmodernist literary theory) but those have less pervasive overall effects.

I still think he was correct.

Thanks to David Whitewolf at Random Nuclear Strikes, I listened to what I think is a critically important speech given by Juan Enriquez just a couple of weeks ago at the 2013 Fiscal Summit presented by the Peterson Foundation.

It’s twenty-five minutes long, but well worth your time, I think.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUV4BRqkf0?rel=0]

Change continues, and it’s still accelerating.

If we don’t go off the cliff first.

“Foolish but Not Partisan” – Go Ahead, Pull My Other Leg

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Ex-head of the IRS Steven Miller testified recently that the targeting of “Tea Party” and “Patriot” applicants for 501(c) tax-exemption by the IRS for “extra scrutiny” was “foolish” but not partisan:

“I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service we provided,” Steven Miller, who has been acting IRS commissioner, told the House Ways and Means Committee as the panel held Congress’ first hearing on the episode. “The affected organizations and the American public deserve better. Partisanship and even the perception of partisanship have no place at the Internal Revenue Service.”

At a hearing that saw lawmakers from both parties harshly criticize his agency, Miller conceded that “foolish mistakes were made” by IRS officials trying to handle a flood of groups seeking tax-exempt status. He said the process that resulted in conservatives being targeted, “while intolerable, was a mistake and not an act of partisanship.”

Right. Tell that to Becky Gerritson:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N8TykuZvTY?rel=0]
You GO girl!

I am not here as a serf or vassal. I am not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born free American woman, wife, mother and citizen. And I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place. It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being, and to monitor my speech. It’s not your right to assert an agenda. Your post, the post that you occupy, exists to preserve American liberty. You’ve sworn to perform that duty. And you have faltered.

Damned straight.

UPDATE: Say Uncle makes a salient point.

Quote of the Day – Glenn Reynolds Edition

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What’s up with this? It’s not based on any concern with safety. Lego guns, cap guns, bubble guns, nibbled Pop Tarts, and fingers are no threat to safety. And the wild overreaction in these cases says there’s more going on here than simple school discipline. As I said, who treats a 5-year-old this way? It smacks of fanaticism.

In fact, it seems like a kind of quasi-religious fanaticism. I think it’s about the administrative class — which runs the schools with as little input from parents as possible — doing its best to exterminate the very idea of guns. It’s some sort of wacky moral-purity crusade. If a few toddlers have to suffer along the way, that’s tough. You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

— Fighting education fanatics

Rendezvous!

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OK, we’re officially 94 days from Gun Blogger Rendezvous VIII!  Mr. Completely has the details:

Once a year Gun Bloggers, Gun Blog Readers, gun writers, shooters, gun association folks, and industry representatives from around the country gather in Reno at the Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino to visit, socialize, compare notes, discuss everything firearms related, and get in three range days covering everything from long range rifle, steel shooting, Cowboy Fast Draw, and more. At the Gun Blogger Rendezvous there is something going on from breakfast to well into the night! 2013 will be the Gun Blogger Rendezvous’ Seventh Anniversary.

The Rendezvous also raises money for Project Valour-IT, a division of Soldiers Angels, through a raffle of firearms and shooting sports items donated by our sponsors. Project Valour-IT buys voice actuated laptop computers for injured servicemen, who, due to the nature of their injuries, are unable to operate a computer using a conventional mouse and keyboard. This allows them to communicate with their family and friends, directly from their hospital beds, and has been shown to significantly increase their rate of recovery.

We also give out a large number of door prizes and promotional items to our attendees. Our sponsors, in return, get a lot of positive Internet exposure through the Gun Blogs and stories about the Rendezvous.

Some of our current and previous year include Ruger, Gunbroker.com, Cabelas, MKSSupply/HiPoint, Crimson Trace, Comp-Tac, Springfield Armory, Dillon Precision, Brownells, National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), The NRA, The Second Amendment Foundation, and more.

Last year we raised approximately $6,000 for Project Valour-IT, and this year, we hope to do even better. Every penny we can make from the Rendezvous goes to Project Valour-IT. Even the event organizer (that’s me) pays to register for the Rendezvous!

Dates: September 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th
Location: Silver Legacy Resort/Casino in Reno
Gun Blogger Rendezvous Website: http://gunbloggers.blogspot.com

Contact:
Mike Gallion
2704E Gabelein Rd.
Clinton, WA 98236
[email protected] or [email protected]
(360) 321-6258

Some footage from previous Rendezvous:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWxVvZUpT1Q?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsYarFtEwkQ?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kIoMWyW070?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYEenS0dcHE?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq7xBerIQQE?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Iz7vqMruc?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfEVLNKxovw?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZm5MXynsI?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvm7oFct97Y?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1MMHW72DNc?rel=0]

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Y7tG4D6x4?rel=0]
So, you coming this year?  Make your reservations now!

More Unintended Consequences!

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Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146%

One of the most serious flaws with Obamacare is that its blizzard of regulations and mandates drives up the cost of insurance for people who buy it on their own. This problem will be especially acute when the law’s main provisions kick in on January 1, 2014, leading many to worry about health insurance “rate shock.”

Last week, the state of California claimed that its version of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange would actually reduce premiums. “These rates are way below the worst-case gloom-and-doom scenarios we have heard,” boasted Peter Lee, executive director of the California exchange.

But the data that Lee released tells a different story: Obamacare, in fact, will increase individual-market premiums in California by as much as 146 percent.

RTWT.

Who saw that coming?

So Gun Control is Ascendant, Eh?

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At least, that’s what The New Republic is spouting.  Well, they’re saying the NRA is finished, which amounts to the same thing.

Of course, our side is pooh-pooing the idea.  That’s because we understand that the NRA is not the pro-gun movement.  It is, of course, the 800-lb. legislative gorilla, but it’s not the driving force – culture is.

Back in December, Salon cooed over the cancellation of Discovery Channel’s reality-themed shows American Guns and Ted Nugent’s Gun Country:

In the wake of the devastating school massacre in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, Discovery has canceled two gun-themed shows.

—

On Monday, the network announced that “‘American Guns’ concluded earlier this year,” adding, “Discovery Channel chose not to renew the series and has no plans to air repeats of the show.” Yet Deadline notes that Discovery is conspicuously not airing reruns of the show as well. The network is likewise bidding adieu to “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country,” with a confirmation that Nugent will not be returning any time soon.

They did allow, however:

Discovery has also recently 86′ed “Dirty Jobs” and “American Chopper.”

The New York Times also proclaimed in December of last year, Gun-Focused Reality TV Shows Get New Scrutiny After Newtown Killings. So where are we with “gun-themed” TV shows today, after Tucson, Aurora, and Newtown?

Add to that “reality shows” where everyday firearm use is normal:

And this list doesn’t include specialty “sportsman” channel shows like the Outdoor Channel’s:

and about a dozen others. But that top list? Discovery, History Channel, CMT, Animal Planet, Arts & Entertainment Television.

The re-normalization of America’s good gun culture proceeds apace. Which is why we have grassroots support and they have to get along with astroturf.

Unintended Consequences or “LOOPHOLE! LOOPHOLE!”

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Fort Wayne, IN public school to cut part-timer’s hours in order to avoid Obamacare penalties:

Fort Wayne Community Schools is trimming the hours of more than 600 part-time teaching aides and cafeteria workers in anticipation of a projected budget shortfall and to satisfy the requirements of the federal health care law, a school official said.

Kathy Friend, chief financial officer for FWCS, said the school district is dropping 610 employees from 30 hours to 25 hours per week starting June 3, rather than provide them with health insurance as mandated by impending federal regulations. Offering all of the district’s 840 part-time employees health insurance would have cost $10 million, a price the district cannot afford, she said.

Friend said the decision to cut hours was also driven by the expectation that FWCS will have a tighter budget in 2015.

“We have to make the decision we’re making because of a budget situation, and we really have to make it because of the insurance issue,” she said.

“There’s not an easy answer to this problem.”

Beginning in January 2014, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, will require employers with at least 50 full-time employees to offer health insurance to employees who work at least 30 hours per week.

“This is not just an FWCS problem,” Friend said. “It’s something that almost all employers with part-time employees are trying to resolve.”

The school district’s penalty for not providing health insurance to legally entitled workers would have been $2,000 for every one of its roughly 4,000 employees, regardless of how many hours they work. This was a price the district was not prepared to pay.

“We didn’t think it would be wise to spend $8 million and get nothing in return for it,” Friend said.

Who saw that coming?