
And Obama’s next shot at Mitt:

The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. – Ayn Rand

And Obama’s next shot at Mitt:

“American students are less proficient in their nation’s history than in any other subject, according to results of a nationwide test,” the New York Times reported last year. “Most fourth graders [were] unable to say why Abraham Lincoln was an important figure.” The exam found 12% of high school seniors “proficient” in American history. — David Gelertner, The Wall Street Journal: The Friendly, Neighborhood Internet School
Tough to love, much less respect something you know nothing about.
And much easier to hate.
We all know this one:
If you’ve got a business…you didn’t build that.
Somebody else made that happen.
~ Barack Obama
That’s not the QotD. I told you that so I could tell you this:
If you’re claiming you got bin Laden……you didn’t do that.
Somebody else made that happen.
~ A Vietnam Vet
(h/t to my favorite Merchant O’Death, Dave, via email.)
The seventh annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous is only 27 days away, and I’m not going to get my .458 SOCOM upper in time.
I ordered it on May 3, with an advertised 90-day lead time. I checked with Rock River a couple of days ago, and here is their response:
The .458’s are running over the approximate 90 day time frame, so it could be 30-45 days before it is available.
Rock River is still advertising “60-90 days” for “most LAR-458 rifles and upper halves.”
Regardless, I won’t have a “thumper” to bring with me to the Rendezvous. I’ve got dies, brass, bullets even (some kind people let me have some of their private stash, so I’ve got about 200 of the 405 grain Remington softpoints to load.)
But nothing to shoot them through.
Ah, well. It’ll still be fun.
I received an email from someone you might have heard of: Kim du Toit. Kim and his wife Connie dropped off the blogosphere completely a few years ago, after being major players. They were quite polarizing (did you ever read Kim’s essay “The Pussification of the Western Male”?), but largely loved by the gunblogger community. Well, Kim has always been a writer, but he sent me an email to let me know that he has a novel out for the Kindle, Prime Target. Kim describes it this way:
Prime Target is about the U.S. Government spying on its citizens through data mining, and one man’s efforts to stop them. Evil government agents, beautiful women… and of course, guns. Lots of ’em.
He has other books, too, available here.
Nice to hear from him!
The Thomas Sowell excerpt is seven minutes, the Caroline Glick piece is 50 minutes. Both are absolutely worth your time.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt_q4FA9kUQ?rel=0]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Gqqq0KR98?rel=0]
From Woodrow Wilson: Godfather of Liberalism by Ronald Pestritto at Heritage.org:
Progressivism—certainly as expounded by Wilson—understood itself as presenting a rationale for moving beyond the political thinking of the American Founding. A prerequisite for national progress, Wilson believed, was that the Founding be understood in its proper historical context. Its principles, in spite of their timeless claims, were intended to deal with the unique circumstances of that day.
This interpretation of the Founding ran up against the Founders’ own self-understanding, as Wilson well knew. This is why much of his scholarship is devoted to a radical reinterpretation and critique of the political theory of the Founding. Wilson understood that the limits placed upon the power of the national government by the Constitution—limits that Progressives wanted to see relaxed if not removed—were grounded in the natural-rights principles of the Declaration of Independence. This meant, for Wilson, that both the Declaration and the Constitution had to be understood anew through a Progressive lens.
Wilson therefore sought a reinterpretation of the Founding—a reinterpretation grounded in historical contingency. To the Founding’s ahistorical notion that government is rooted in an understanding of unchanging human nature, Wilson opposed the historical argument that the ends, scope, and role of just government must be defined by the different principles of different epochs and that, therefore, it is impossible to speak of a single form of just government for all ages.
(My emphasis.) If this is true, and I have no doubt that it is and that it remains true for modern-day “progressives,” then when any self-described “progressive” politician takes an oath of office and declares,
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
that politician is willfully and deliberately lying; is, in fact, a domestic enemy of the Constution and should be removed from office.
Here’s where we should start: The Congressional Progressive Caucus.
And no, I’m not kidding. The oath is there for a reason. Our officials don’t declare an oath to support and defend the state, nor do they swear an oath to a leader – they swear an oath to support and defend the founding principles of this nation, not to try to diminish, circumvent, fold, spindle and mutilate them.
Awhile back Randy Barnett wrote a book entitled Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty. If we hadn’t had a hundred years of “progressive” destruction of that document, he wouldn’t have needed to.
In a related note, the August Bowling Pin match is Sunday, August 12. Usual place, the Tucson Rifle Club action range. There won’t be a September match because I’ll be in Reno that weekend.
Time: 8:00 AM sign-up, first rounds downrange about 8:20
Handguns only: .22 rimfire, centerfire revolver (.38 Special minimum), semi-autos (.380 minimum).
You’re welcome to shoot your revolver against the semi-auto crowd, but we think it’s more fun to shoot wheelgun-vs.-wheelgun.
Cost: $10 for the first gun, $5 for any additional guns. Bring about 100 rounds for each. You probably won’t need ’em all unless you’re really good at missing fast.
Hope to see you there!
Vacation is scheduled, reservations are made. Trip itinerary is still somewhat up in the air, so to speak. I may have a traveling companion. But I’ll be there all four days.