Well Said!
From Smoke On the Water: Turning Lead into Gold
Too good to excerpt. Short, eloquent, excellent. Go read.
(Via No Quarters.)
Category: Uncategorized
Need Some New Wall Art?
Cancer poster draws lots of fire
Critics say fundraising message lost
Guelph chief says nothing suggestive or provocativeA controversial fundraising poster featuring eight provocatively clad, gun-slinging female police officers is drawing fire.
The poster, with the caption “Girls with Guns Target Breast Cancer,” is a fundraiser for breast cancer research but that message is lost, detractors say, in images of sexy, heavily armed officers.
“There they are sporting guns as if it’s a fun thing to do,” said Dawn Reynolds, a family therapist in Guelph who is offended by the poster.
Well, it IS – that’s something that gun-phobes don’t get and never have.
But wait! There’s better!
“Guns are what kill women. They are not a good thing. I regret hugely that this was done, especially for such a worthy cause as breast cancer.”
No, guns are sometimes used to kill women, but they are not the cause. And guns are an inanimate object, neither intrinsically good or bad.
But this is the mentality we’ve got to combat, daily.
Two officers in the Guelph police sex and child abuse unit, Constables Cate Welsh and Lisa Lakatos, are selling the posters so they can take part in the Princess Margaret Hospital’s Weekend to End Breast Cancer, a 60-kilometre walk through Toronto this fall. Each participant must raise a $2,000 entry fee.
With approval from the police services board, they persuaded six other female officers to pose with them in the photo. Posters went on sale last week and despite some backlash, sales have been brisk, said Guelph police Chief Rob Davis.
“I didn’t see anything that was suggestive of anything sexual or provocative,” said Davis. “Police officers are targeting breast cancer. That’s very admirable.”
Sue Richards, a Guelph entrepreneur who launched the Breast of Canada calendar in 2001 to raise awareness of breast cancer, said she was taken aback when she first saw it.
“It’s a very unusual image. It’s not obvious these are police officers for starters, and they are not showing breasts — they’re showing guns,” she said.
“I do see a sexual tone to it. To me it is provocative. Personally, I would have preferred to see them in police uniforms. Then the guns are in context.”
Why? Should only police be allowed to have guns, then?
Dianna Schreuer, president of the network, was not upset when she saw the police poster.
“This is what they are,” said Schreuer, referring to the gun-toting officers. “If they were holding bananas, that would be silly.
“To me it implies a fight and that’s exactly what breast cancer survivors do — we fight it.”
Matt Greenfield, spokesperson for the Princess Margaret Weekend to End Breast Cancer event, said his organization will not take a position on the poster.
“We don’t want to polarize ourselves,” Greenfield said. “We are proud of everyone who has made the decision to do something bold in the fight against breast cancer by registering for the event.”
He added, however, that the title, Girls with Guns Target Breast Cancer, “did not originate in our organization.”
Christine Koserski, spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society, wouldn’t comment except to say, “These will certainly get a lot of attention. It will probably be a successful fundraiser. Obviously they feel strongly about breast cancer.”
Koserski said the disease kills about 5,200 Canadian women annually.
According to this page, firearms are not exactly what’s “killing women” in Canada. Here’s the chart from 1992. The proportions haven’t changed much, I don’t believe:
Sly Castaldi, acting executive director of Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, said she was confused by the poster.
On one hand, she said, they are powerful professional women supporting a really important cause. On the other, “that’s not how they dress for work. I think the evening wear adds to the confusion of the poster.”
“Plus, using the word `girls’ takes it down a notch or two. These are women, not girls,” Castaldi said.
Still, Castaldi is pleased about the debate the poster has sparked.
“Twenty years ago we were the only agency speaking out about domestic violence and women’s rights. Now people are making those connections on their own.
“It’s good when the community can do critical thinking on issues like this.”
Sometimes critical thinking – especially when it comes to the topics of feminism and guns – is a very rare commodity.
Anyway, here’s a thumbnail of the poster:
The number to call to order yours is:
(519) 824-1212
The price is a paltry $10 Canadian (what is that, $7.25 American?)
Hat tip to Gunner of No Quarters.
More on Airguns
This time from THIS side of the pond.
That ever fruitful well of material, Jointogether.org, reports that the recent Daisy Settlement Shows Political Influence of Gun Industry. Let us fisk:
Before the leadership of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) changed political parties late last year, the federal agency had filed a lawsuit against Daisy Manufacturing Co., a maker of air-powered BB guns, after complaints of misfirings.
“Complaints of misfirings? No, the complaint wasn’t that the guns misfired but that they actually fired when their users thought they were empty.
The fact that their users deliberately pumped up the rifles, intentionally cocked the rifles, intentionally pointed the rifles at another person and then intentionally pulled the trigger seems immaterial.
THE SHOOTER THOUGHT IT WAS EMPTY!
That’s all that matters.
To the lawyers. And the anti-gun groups.
But now, instead of a recall, the federal agency has agreed to a settlement with the company that only involves promoting safe BB-gun usage, the Wall Street Journal reported April 29.
Well, GEE. YA THINK?!?!?
RULE #1: Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
RULE #2: Never put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to fire
AND ALWAYS TREAT A GUN AS IF IT WERE LOADED.
Follow those three rules, nobody gets hurt.
But noooooo. It must be the eeeevil gun manufacturer at fault.
In 2001, the CPSC filed a lawsuit against Daisy Manufacturing, claiming that its PowerLine Models 856 and 880 were responsible for at least 15 deaths and 171 injuries, the majority involving children. Testimony by a Daisy Manufacturing engineer confirmed that BBs could get temporarily jammed in the corners of the magazine, making it appear that the gun is empty.
The guns were responsible, not the person on the trigger.
The cult of no accountability is obviously still strong.
Obviously mommy and daddy didn’t teach gun safety. Why aren’t they responsible? It’s not like it’s difficult
Treat it as though it is always loaded, no problem.
It’s stunning how many “accidental shootings” come from unloaded guns, isn’t it?
At the time, Ann Brown, who was appointed by President Clinton in 1993, served as chairman of the agency. In 2001, President Bush (Boo! Hiss!) replaced Brown with Republican Harold Stratton Jr. Prior to the appointment, the National Rifle Association (NRA) had e-mailed a “special alert” to members warning that the government’s recall could be used in future lawsuit against all gun makers.
And were they wrong?
Under Stratton’s leadership, the agency dropped the lawsuit late last year. (The heartless BASTARD!) Instead, the government accepted an offer from Daisy Manufacturing for a $1.5 million publicity and labeling campaign to promote safer use of its products.
(If it weren’t for that meddling NRA!!!)
Administrative Law Judge William Moran strongly criticized the offer, calling it “empty.” But Stratton said the lawsuit was “burdensome and inefficient” and would have led to “years of costly litigation.”
And it wouldn’t??
Understand this: The CPSC wanted Daisy to recall 7.5 million rifles because 15 people (Children™) had been killed and some 171 people (Children™) had been injured because of the deliberate misuse of their product.
But it’s the “influence of the (cue scary music)GUN INDUSTRY” that foiled this legal assault humanitarian act.
Oh, and of course the (cue music) EEEEEVIL Republicans who WANT CHILDREN™ TO DIE!
I certainly hope they were responsible. It tells me that my dollars an my vote still count for something.
For further reading, let me recommend this piece, The ‘Daisy Airgun Case’—not CPSC’s finest hour. Money quote:
(CPSC Commissioner Mary Gall) stated:
“In my nearly twelve years of service with this Commission, and indeed, in my over thirty years of government service, I have never seen a more outrageous miscarriage of justice and abuse of the processes of public policy than this case … Some of the deposition testimony given by Commission employees show clearly that the previous Chairman ordered that the case be removed from the ordinary processes of Commission staff review because she did not like the conclusions that the career staff were reaching about the hazards associated with the Model 856 and 880 air rifles.
“… The record shows that this is a case that should not have been brought in the first place, and which has now been settled on terms substantially similar to those that Daisy proposed over fourteen months ago. Students of government who wish to see how the regulatory enforcement process can be used to harass a small company to no good purpose need look no further than this action for a splendid case study …”
A Parliament of Whores
GREAT book by P.J. O’Rourke, from which comes his classic quote:
Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
Or Henry Louis Mencken’s take on it that I’ve posted here before:
A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.
James Rummel has a bit different take on it. They’re all whores, and we’re stuck with them, because that’s how our political system works. Our only choice is to look at the “partners” they are and have been sleeping with, and the ones they want to sleep with. Because we’ll be sleeping with them too.
He says it much more eloquently than that, but quoting it here would not be fair to the quality of the piece.
Read the whole thing.
No More Friday Fives
It’s dead
Because Honor Doesn’t Matter Any More
Steven Den Beste asks in reaction to learning that Moore has lied, once again, and been caught, once again:
Why does anyone believe anything that Michael Moore says, anyway?
Because lying isn’t considered wrong any more. It doesn’t result in public censure. It’s REWARDED, as I said below.
As long as it’s done by someone from the Left, because they only do it in a good cause.
Or so they tell themselves.
If someone from the RIGHT is caught doing anything that has a whiff of mendacity or obfuscation, RELEASE THE HOUNDS! STIR THE OUTRAGE OF THE PROLES! PITCHFORKS! TORCHES!
Remember Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them… A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right?
UPDATE: Steven linked to this. (Thanks!) The internal link in this piece refers to the Micah Wright piece two posts down. Wright, along with Jayson Blair, Steven Glass, and Moore all get a pass. They mean well.
No, the Media Doesn’t Hype Assault Weapon Fears
It seems that the Associated Press is reporting that two men were killed and two children were wounded in a drug-related turf war attack in Highland Park, Michigan. This was reported on MLive.com, an “Everything Michigan” website, and in the Detroit Free Press. Here’s what the story says:
About 60 shots from an automatic weapon and a shotgun were fired into a car as part of an apparent drug turf war, killing two men and wounding two young children, authorities say.
The shooting happened about 2:15 a.m. EDT Thursday on a residential street in the city of Highland Park, which is surrounded by Detroit, Wayne County sheriff’s department spokesman John Roach said.
“Apparently, someone came up and ambushed them,” Roach said.
Investigators said about 55 rounds were fired at the car with an AK-47 assault rifle and about a half-dozen more from a shotgun, Roach said. There may have been two shooters in what Roach described as a possible dispute about drug turf.
The children, an 8-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, belonged one of the dead men, 29-year-old Andre Harden Sr., of Detroit, Roach said. The men had been sitting in the front seat and the children in the back.
The children had been removed from Harden’s custody in May 2000 after allegations that he abused them, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The children remained in foster care until November, when they were returned to their parents, Harden and Brenda Skinner, according to court records.
Christopher Dixon, 28, also was killed, Roach said. He lived in a home on the street where the shooting took place.
The boy, who was shot in both legs, and the girl, who received a minor injury, were taken to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and were in temporarily serious condition Thursday afternoon, Roach said. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
There were no suspects in the shooting as of Thursday afternoon, Roach said.
Criminals shooting other criminals, which is the case in the majority of deliberate shootings. Two innocent children hurt, two apparent drug dealers killed.
But an “assault weapon” and CHILDREN were involved, so THIS IS BIG NEWS! How big? Well, here’s a partial list of the papers that are running the story, at least on-line:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Mid Columbia (Washington) Tri City Herald
The Alabama Times Daily
The Boston Herald
The Raleigh N.C. News & Observer
The Sacramento Bee
The LA Times
New York’s Newsday
South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Sun News and The State
Florida’s Bradenton Herald, and Tallahassee Democrat
Georgia’s Macon Telegraph and Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Minnesota’s Duluth News Tribune and Pioneer Press
There are a lot more.
This is the perfect example of “man bites dog” combined with the topic du jour – assault weapons and the coming “sunset” of the “Assault Weapon Ban” (that didn’t prevent this crime.) “Assault weapons” are used in less than 2% of all crimes committed with firearms, so things like this are really rare and thus newsworthy. Add The CHILDREN™ and the story is irresistable, because otherwise it’s just criminals shooting other criminals.
One interesting thing is, when I did the Google search on this story, the blurb connected to each link states:
It appeared to be some kind of a rifle, perhaps an assault rifle,” Wayne County sheriff’s Cmdr. James Buford told WWJ-AM.
But this line isn’t in the AP piece. Could it have been an SKS? Yes. The SKS is not considered an “assault rifle” under the Federal ban, and some accept 30 round detachable magazines. But the story is quite explicit, it WAS an AK-47.
Now, had the gunmen not had access to the AK, and had both shooters used shotguns, what would the result of this shooting have been? Handguns? Molotov cocktails?
How would renewing the AWB have prevented this? How would strengthening the AWB prevent this? How would confiscating all legally owned “assault weapons” prevent this?
Just asking.
The Definitive Micah Wright Post
Via Michele
Kevin Parrot details his personal history with the lying Mr. Wright, with illustrations. Like this one:
Read the whole thing, but here’s the kicker:
So, what’s going to happen to Micah Wright now, you ask?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
As a matter of fact, I think Micah Wright will end up getting more work and making more money off his lies than before they were discovered.
And that’s the second reason I almost didn’t write this. I have the feeling Micah Wright already knows what I just stated, and is eating up every minute of what’s been going on. Micah wins.
Oh, sure, his new book of remixed WWII posters has been cancelled (for now), but no one I’ve read on the Net seems to have picked up on the hidden message in this sentence from the Seven Stories website:
The author’s introduction will be removed from any future printings of YOU BACK THE ATTACK.
and again, from the Washington Post article which exposed him:
It also will remove from future printings of the first book his detailed and wholly fictional account of parachuting into Panama under fire during Operation Just Cause.
Instead of leaving in the lie, and providing some extra editorial commentary to place the incident in proper context, they’re going to make it disappear. Just like it never happened at all.
—
Everyone loves and rewards a liar, it seems. Jayson Blair got a book contract; Stephen Glass got a book contract and ended up being played by Young Darth Vader on the silver screen. What will Micah get? Well, I’d be very surprised if one of the comic companies out there hadn’t already contacted him about writing a Graphic Novel or a Mini Series based on this event
Micah Wright passed himself off as an ex-Ranger, an organization built around the concepts of honor, duty, country.
Our nation seems no longer to recognize the ideal of honor, in its definition of “a keen sense of ethical conduct.” There is no public censure of dishonorable acts. The concept of shame is nonexistent. Bad behavior is rewarded. Infamy is equivalent to fame. Disgrace is treated as grace. Do something objectionable? That draws attention, and attention draws dollars. Besides, its always someone else’s fault, anyway. Victimizer as victim.
Moral equivalence at its worst.
But, But… Licensing and Registration WORKS!
Via Ravenwood (AGAIN. How does he find this stuff? Go read all of today’s entries. Uniformly excellent. Hell, read the entire page and start on his archives.) comes this heartwarming story of how wonderfully the Canadian effort goes in registering all firearms and their legal owners, in at least one case.
Classic. Just classic.