Reflections on Gustav

This storm and the events it bring should be interesting at least. I have several disjointed thoughts on the matter. I'll present them here, in no particular order.

- Let's hope it wipes NOLA from the map. Finish what Katrina started and end the drain on the US taxpayer. If the city is not even there anymore, maybe the bellyaching and whining about how everyone else hasn't done enough will stop. In all candor, forgive my cold heartedness. I know people have homes and lives there, but I'm sick to freaking death of hearing about how the 'government dropped the ball' during Katrina. We've seen the uber-dependent welfare state at its worst, and it is NOLA. Maybe if it's gone some of the culture of dependence will go with it.

- Mandatory evacuations - does the government's audacity know no bounds? From the linked article: They threatened arrest, loaded thousands onto buses and warned that anyone who remained behind would not be rescued. So it's a crime to stay in your own house? (I know it's stupid, but criminally stupid?)

- Looters. Ray "This City Will Be Chocolate" Nagin had this to say: "Looters will go directly to jail. You will not get a pass this time," he said. "You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You will go directly to the Big House." So, Ray, are you admitting that last time (in the aftermath of Katrina) you were knowingly giving violent thugs a free pass while at the same time you had every LEO you could recruit playing Gestapo and forcibly disarming the law-abiding ? I know you're stupid, Ray, but you're not that stupid. No, I think you're just that evil. Your evil is borne of cowardice - cowardice that recoils at the notion of a human being affirming their dignity in the act of self defense. To defend their lives and property without needing you, or your thug storm troopers, Ray. I know that sends chills down your slimy statist spine. I hope this time next week you're the mayor of nothing. It's what you've earned.

The Lesser of Two Evils?

Stephen said...

But is it practical to sit at home on your butt, on principal, and suffer those consequences...at least McCain's pick of Palin offers hope to those of us within the gun culture.

Thanks to Stephen in the comments section of my 'What will we do?' post for furthering the discussion on the matter. It's of interest to me, as this is the first election in my voting lifetime that I consider to be totally pointless. Generally election season is very stressful for me. I follow the presidential race quite closely and fret about what will become of the country if the Democrat wins.

I've stated my views rather frankly. I'll expound a bit on why I (a conservative Christian former Republican best described as a 'Constitutionalist') can't vote for McCain with a clean conscience.

I committed at the very begging of all this that there were three men in the Republican race who would never get my vote - the three RINOs. McCain, Romney, and Guiliani. The latter two are so socially liberal that I can't believe they ever got a single Republican vote. Moot point.

In order to consider McCain, I think it's important to look at him prior to the election (true of any candidate, really.) He's in 'get elected' mode now, which means he'll say anything to anybody to get a vote as long as it won't come back to haunt him later on a big enough scale. My beefs:

1. McCain-Feingold ('Campaign Finance Reform.') Blackout dates on free speech. Somewhere here in the near future, it will be illegal for me to actually blog on this election. I can't come up with any more blatant restriction of the First Amendment. I've become increasingly in-tune to rights violations, and I just haven't seen nearly as much trampling of the First Amendment as the Second and Fourth. (I grant you, that's a subjective observation, so I would welcome a challenge on the statement.) But Campaign Finance goes a long way towards making government controlled speech a reality.

2. The gun show loophole. He's no friend of gunowners and never has been. Go ahead and believe what he says today if you want, and get all excited about the cute sit-down he had with LaPierre and Cox a couple months ago, but I'm about ready to cut up my NRA membership card over it. Bitter enemies for how long? And now they're best friends. I'm equally as disgusted with Limbaugh, Hannity and all the other conservatives who at first hated him, but are now waving the pom-pons.

3. His greatest stated principle is his willingness to be 'a maverick' and go 'cross the aisle.' I don't doubt this guy would sell us out to socialized health care in a minute. Maybe he won't be the President that makes it his top agenda item like Obama, but if social medicine gets signed into law, what's the difference?

Palin - She doesn't change anything for me. I agree she seems like a good conservative, and if she was the candidate, I'd vote for her. But a VP doesn't really do very much, and I don't see any point in voting for him hoping he croaks so she can fill his spot.

So to those who plan to vote for him because he won't be 'as bad' as Obama, I'd like to know specifically what you think will be better. I'm not trying to be rude, bitter, or snide. You and I are probably very similar in our views, Stephen. But we've come to different conclusions about what to do, and I'm interested in your thoughts (or for that matter anyone else's who holds the same stance.)

For my part, I've almost reached the conclusion that the ballot box has failed.

Why is this a good thing?

David beat me to it on this one...I had the same reaction when I read this story. (Click the title link for his commentary.)

The next version of Internet Explorer will now offer what has been dubbed, 'porn mode.' Apparently, it's a history-free browsing mode that hides your activity from other users.

From the article:
Although casual users cannot see the previous user’s search history, authorities such as the police will be able to access it if necessary.

So...having no guarantee of privacy from the police is a good thing? By the way, the point of this whole thing has nothing to do with porn use (or the nature of the history you're hiding) but rather the fact that it's automatically presented as a good thing that the 'authorities' can always get the info they want.

What will we do?

I have several people in my family who are vocally supporting McCain, claiming it's better to vote for him than to have Obama as president. These are people I greatly respect, but I think they're missing something - the fact that we have no good options in the major parties.

The title link in this post goes to a War on Guns post illustrating this absurdity.

I was discussing this with my wife, and she asked me, "So what will we do this election?" To which I replied, "Stay home and clean our guns."

The Sun'll Come Out...

I watched Obama last night. I did. And while I was watching the Chosen One, tears streaming down my face as the hope of change welled up in my heart (but not my mind), I was struck by the irony of my little daughter sitting in the other room watching Annie the musical. As Obama launched into his plan to increase the government's role in every aspect of your life and as 70,000 weeping, beaming, bleating sheep roared in approaval, I was saddened to realize that 'Tomorrow' would be a perfect theme song for his campaign...except the dirty little secret is that tomorrow won't be better. The pathetic reality is the same for both the orphans and the followers of the Obamessaih. The hilarious truth is that Annie knows she's fooling herself about a bright future. She's an orphan in an abusive lock-up...but the sun'll come out tomorrow! Too bad that the Hopers of Change can't see the bleak sadness of handing over their freedom and fortunes for the promise of a better tomorrow.

At least's it's only a 'day away.'

Updated: David has some specific observations about Obama's gun control plans.

A Baby Bruvver

We welcomed a new addition into our house this week. My wife has borne me a son, almost three years now since the arrival of our precious daughter.

It gives me great cause to reflect on things. Certainly there is a great deal of personal and familial reflection, but as I am politically minded and concerned, I reflect on those things as well. Where will this once-great nation be when The Boy enters manhood? Will he ever take up arms in defense of the homeland? (Perhaps even against agressors domestic, rather than foreign?)

I'm also trying to decide what his first gun is to be. Let me know if you have any good ideas.

I'm Alive

So it's been...a quarter trip around the sun since I last posted on this "new" and "fresh" blog.

Sorry about that...life's been busy. I hope to add some substantive stuff here in the next few days. I'm home now for a little more than a week, for a very exciting reason. In conjunction with that, I may have a few new things to add.