The Way Of The Gun

The Way Of The Gun - CBS News Video
From the April 12, 2009, 60 minutes program, the following is a segment by Leslie Stahl titled: The Way Of The Gun

Watch CBS Videos Online


For more background, (H/T) Opposing Views: Breaking Down 60 Minutes' Anti-Gun Bias

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It's not just C BS!

CNN has been jumping the shark with anti-gun stuff (regularly). Case in point, this (March, 2009?) video of an Anderfson Cooper article about .50 Caliber Barrett Rifles ... and other Evil Guns imported from America to Mexico.
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This is part of the now-infamous "90% of Mexican Crime Weapons Come from U.S." MSM-generated Urban Legend which I discussed last week. (CNN Quote: "America is still a major source for powerful weapons which are being used by Mexican Drug Cartels.")

.50 Barrets are hard to come by ... and they're expensive (you're looking at $7,000 to $8,ooo ... if one is available).

So where are those fifties coming from? Best guess: the Mexican Army, which the US has shipped a number to within the past few years, and WE don't have any idea if they're still in control of the Mexican Army.

Mexican Police are being slaughtered by Drug "Cartels", and one of the most constant sources of their weapons are Mexican Army troops who are deserting with their weapons ... no figures are available on the number of deserters, those who took their personal weapons or other weapons, or what weapons are missing from inventory. You would expect that either the Mexicans, who are pointing fingers at Americans, or the Amreican Government would have those figures, wouldn't you?

I mean, if Mexico claims we are the source of guns for criminals, our government would at least require them to account for the guns we have provided for their military, right?

If anybody has asked question, I haven't heard about it.

The Obama Administration (and Obama, personally), seem to have bought into concept and are reacting as if tahe accusation was true:

US President Barack Obama has admitted that America shares responsibility for Mexico's violent struggle against its drug cartels. On his first official visit to Mexico City, President Obama vowed to support Mexico's fight, promising to slow down the number of US guns being smuggled across the border.

Without hard facts from the Mexican Military (for just one example of accepted minimal documentation of the accusations) on Missing Firearms, the American government can't accept responsibility for the inability of the Mexican Government to keep track of their own arsenal contents.

Obama seems to have willingly skipped this step. He could have learned from Ronald Reagan, who espoused the policy: "Trust, then Verify".
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So we have CBS, CNN and ABC coming down on the side of "The Day of the Evil Gun". Add to that the Obama administration, and the American Citizen has no hope that the Second Amendment will survive the next four years without experiencing some major predations.

Foreigners, MSM, Politicians and Liberals constitute the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse.

Internet Interruptus

Once again I'm forced to blog on the LapTop.

I tried to get my Local Area Network (LAN) going again tonight. I actually had it running thru the router for a few minutes, but I was trying to get smart and re-establish the WiFi Network, and I followed the instructions instead of my instincts, Bad, Bad Idea.

uring the reconfiguration process, I decided to move the desktop CPU out of the knee-hole of my desk. Another bad idea; Ibumped the power cable and the whole system went down.


By using the laptop, I've established that the Cable Modem and the yellow LAN cords can make a connection. Later I'll try to reconnect the desk-top computer.

I suspect that the problem is in the cable connections. Since this cord connects the laptop with the modem, I'll try to use the same cord to connec with the desk-top computer.

But I probably won't do that tonight. It's now 1am and I need to get some sleep so I can go to work in the morning.

I'll take a few minutes to check my email, but if I don't answer you tonite, it's because I don't have theenergy to fight this teensy keyboard with all of the keys in the wrong place.

Heller v DC: commentary from CATO

Cato Unbound : Blog Archive : If this Is Defeat, We’ll Take It

I found an interesting commentary on the Heller decision from last year.

This is, obviously, "dated". But it's still pertinent considering that the District of Columbia, smarting over the Heller Decision, immediately attempted (and is still attempting ) to weasel-word itself out of the Supreme Court decision which REQUIRES the municipality to recognize Second Amendment Rights.

Cloaking himself and the Brady Center in the mantle of "reasonableness,” Dennis Henigan disclaims the statement of Brady co-founder Pete Shields and asserts that it "has never been” and is not now the policy of his organization to "make possession of all handguns . . . totally illegal.” Perhaps so. Perhaps, as Henigan says, Brady supports even laws, like the D.C. gun ban, that the organization "does not favor as a policy matter,” because "legislators should not be constitutionally barred from enacting the gun control laws they think necessary.”

If that's the view of the Brady Center, I respectfully disagree. A principal purpose of our Constitution is to restrain the excesses of the political branches and secure key rights against temporal majorities. But let's not quibble. Let's accept Henigan's statement that, from a policy perspective, Brady opposes the D.C. gun ban. Is it too much to ask for a citation to one corroborating article, one radio or TV appearance, one web posting, or one quoted statement by any responsible Brady official that says, in essence, "We think D.C. should repeal its gun ban, even though it is constitutional, because it is bad public policy”?

Now that D.C. officials, trying to circumvent the Heller decision, have proposed new rules that still ban all handguns except revolvers, still require all weapons in the home to be kept in a dysfunctional state, and still make D.C. residents endure a months-long process to register a weapon, can we count on the Brady Center, in a show of reasonableness, to publicly oppose those rules on policy grounds? Will the Brady Center support a temporary suspension for D.C. residents of the federal ban on interstate handgun sales because, otherwise, until D.C. licenses dealerships, residents cannot obtain a handgun either in or out of the city — a situation that is self-evidently unreasonable.

I mention this only to emphasize that there are still governmental organizations (municipal, state, federal) who are determined to undermine our Second Amendment rights.

Our High-School Civics Classes taught us that we, as Citizens rather than as Subjects, have both the right and the obligation to protest laws which undermine our constitutional rights.

But what it didn't teach us was that our Governmental establishments will almost inevitably fight our protests, and spend our (taxpayer) dollars in the effort to deny us (taxpayers) the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.

In the current administration, we see citizens frightened into a panic mode because of our justifiable fear that our government has a private agenda divorced from the Constitution and from our expressed will.

We are fortunate that there are lone citizens who will act as proxy for us all by standing up for THEIR individual civic rights ... such as Mr. J. Heller.

What are YOU doing this week to speak out for your civil rights?

American Gunfighter!

"Within weeks of getting the gun, Lance found ... he needed it."

The Ayoob files; An urban gunfighter: The lessons of Lance Thomas

American Handgunner , March-April, 2002 by Massad Ayoob

Over a period of less than 3 years, Thomas was involved in four gun battles against a total of 11 known suspects. He shot six of them, killing five. The watch dealer himself was wounded on two of these occasions, taking a total of five rounds. There are many lessons that the rest of us can learn: Lessons of long-term strategy and short-term tactics; of gun selection and ammunition effectiveness; and, above all, of courage under fire in the moment, and of determination over the long haul.

August 10, 1989. Like so many storekeepers, Thomas feels his watch shop would be a safer place if he had a gun with which to fend off armed robbers. He has acquired a Model 36, a five-shot Smith & Wesson .38 Chief Special. He keeps the snubnose revolver where he can reach it easily. On this day, he'll be glad he did.

Two men enter. One appears to have some sort of weapon, and the other pulls what Thomas recognizes as a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Thomas knows he can just give the man his money and goods, but he also knows that to do so is to trust his life to the whim of a violent man unlawfully wielding a deadly weapon. Instead, Thomas chooses to fight.

His hand flashes to the Chief Special, and he comes up shooting. The little revolver barks three times. Two of his bullets miss, but one smashes into the gunman's face, putting him out of the fight.

The merchant swings toward the accomplice, but cannot see a weapon at the moment, and so, does not fire. Instead, he orders the suspect to leave. The now-compliant accomplice does so, dragging his wounded comrade with him.

The robber will survive. Lance Thomas is unhurt. His decision to be an armed citizen, to fight back, has been validated. The wounded robber will be charged, and the armed citizen has the sympathy of the authorities. Thomas has won in every respect.

West L.A. Watchmaker (and small businessman) Lance Thomas has fought, and survived, four gunfights against robbers who would threaten him and his business in a "High-Crime Area". He has since closed his store and semi-retired to an undisclosed location'. He continues to perform repairs on watches, but only for those who make appointments.




Quotes from the Video:

Interviewer: "So why do anything?If you hadn't have reached for your gun, maybe you wouldn't have got shot. Maybe you would have lost a few of your watches, but it would have been over."

Thomas: "I refuse to be a victim of violent crime."
"There's not negotiation; my life is too precious for that."


"They pretended to open the front door to leave, turned around, 'You're Dead!', and fired their weapons. .... I killed them both."

LAPD Detective: "All of the criminals had extensive records. They knew what they were doing, the just didn't know what they were doing it against."

Thomas: "It's kind of made old man out of me. ... It's Hell, it's something to be avoided, but if you have to do it you must be responsible."

Turbo Tax!

It's Tax Time, and I've been a Bad Boy.

There are two more days before the deadline, and even though I expect that I've overpaid my taxes (and am qualified to have some money returned), I haven't submitted my Tax Returns for Federal and State taxes yet.[

That's not a problem, right?

I use Turbo Tax, and have for the past four years. I'm comfortable with it.

The problem is, I failed to record my password for Turbo Tax last year, and so I had to ask the TurboTax.com website to remind me of/reset my password.

So I did ... several hours ago.

Guess what? They're so busy, they haven't managed to get around to me yet.

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I blame myself. Which is a helluva not, compounding the indignity of giving the Feds a third of my income with the necessity of begging them to give my overpayment back.

There's a lot of stuff I can be doing while I wait, so I won't be too upset if I don't get my password before, say, "tomorrow". Which could be any time during the day. And if you (as a TurboTax Subscriber) don't sign on with your new password in 24 hours, it expires. You have to start the whole process again.

Pause while I kick my own bottom one more time for procrastinating. I may have to write it up in hardcopy and submit it via email. Oh, the indignity for a self-professed "Geek".

The good news is ... well, there is no good news. They're gonna take my money, and keep it, ans spend it on efforts which I don't believe in. What's good about that?

In the meantime, I belive I'll spend some time correlating my videos from last weekend's ARPC match and producing some excellent match videos ... which most of you won't watch.

I am so "Eeyore".

SWMBO REPORT: More Good News

A month ago I wrote that SWMBO was feeling well enough to go to the range ... not to shoot, but just to visit her friends. And she has many friends who tell me at every match to relay their support and comfort to her. That trip gave them the opportunity to tell her in person.

Two weeks ago she went in for CT scan, which was used (in comparison to her Initial CT scan about 9 months ago) to determine the growth rate of the tumor in her lung.

A week after the CT scan, the assistant at her Oncologist's office phoned her with the results: no change.

That's both good news and not-so-good news. The good news was that the tumor doesn't seem to be growing. The not-so-good news was that it doesn't seem to be shrinking, either.

We decided that the good news was the important thing, so we were pleased with the report. No, it wasn't what we wanted to hear. We wanted them to tell us that the 'maintenance' chemotherapy was starving the tumor. Since that isn't happening, we're almost as pleased to learn that the therapy was retarding the growth.

Today she had her monthly visit to her Oncologist. She said: "I want to look at the original CT scan and the last scan, so I can see what it looks like."

It turned out that the assistant at her Oncologist's office had missed one important point.

Her Oncologist pointed it out:

"See this area on the original scan of your cancerous lung? Now compare it with the same area on the latest scan. See the clear imagery? That's healthy tissue!"

I didn't know about that until I stopped by to see her after work tonight. We were talking about incidental stuff when she interrupted me with a two-word surprise:
"Good News!"

That good lady had been sitting on the results of the CT scan all afternoon, just so she could watch my face as I assimilated the implication of those results.

I have to tell you, this absolutely made my day (my week, my month ...)

Whether one can draw any conclusions from this information is beyond me. I don't know if it's the first or second step on the way to full recovery, but this is the first indication we've had that Cancer is not necessarily inevitable.

Our thanks to all of you who have been praying for Sandie. I choose to believe in the Power of Prayer.

ARPC April 2009 Match - One Video

I'm pleased to announce that I went to a USPSA match this weeked, and even though I wasn't at the top of my game the gun (STI EDGE) worked just fine,

After shooting almost entirely the Open Gun for the past four years, I had some problems with Sight Picture and Sight Alignment.


Specifically, I realized (after the match) that my orange-painted front and rear sights encouraged me to unconsciously adopt the sight picture in Limited that I had in Open Division.

That is, if the front sight is on the target, I just ... pulled the trigger and expected the shot to be On Target.

Here's a link to one of the videos. Rocky's Theme ("Gonna Fly Now") is just too kewl to resiste the temptation to use it One More Time!


That didn't usually happen. Add to that, by the end of the match I was getting very tired, and my hands were hurting me due to the decreased skin-resilience on my fingertips. Yes, this IS an excse; I take 'em where I can.

Still, in even the most difficult stges, and at the end of the match, I found a way to "Look Good On Video.

Fortunately, the video doesn't show the three misses ... on static targets.
I have GOT to practice.

We're Back!

As of this date (Sunday, April 12, 2006) the Cogito Ergo Geek website/blog is officially back!

I mentioned last week that my personal work station was experiencing "trouble", and it cost me abotu $316 to correct it.

Besides the problem that my CMOS (and battery) was usable to know what time it was, there were some other problems as well... problems that I had not identified.

First, when they ran a check on the hard drive, they noticed over 100 errors. I got a new hard drive, because their components were under warranty from the manufacturer.

the good folks from Belleveu Computers, where I bought The Monster after the Blue Bird of Paradise trashed my old computer by inconsiderately flying into the local power junction, managed to completely rebuild my computer and to also enhance its power to edit Videos in the meantime.

Problematic resolutions:

• replace old Motherboard battery, reset CMOS (yes, this was the source of the primary problem);
• They discovered that the fan wasn't working to full potential, so I asked them to replace the fan and power supply;
• They found over 100 errors when they scanned the hard drive, so they cloned the data onto a new hard-drive (on Warranty from the manufacturer);

Also, because I tend to edit a lot of video clips and Windows Movie Maker runs out of memory, I asked them to swap my two 1-GB memory strips for two 2-GB memory strips, giving me a total of 4GB RAM.

To enhance the Video process, they also loaded a Video Chip with 1-GB internal memory.

All of this required 1.75 hours of their time. I couldn't even begin to accomplish the same even without dealing with the CMOS resets, so it's a net (no pun intended) gain for The Geek.

I've just edited one video from the April ARPC match (see above) and the experiece was much better than what I had experienced before. Essentially, I could edit one file without rebootimg to recover memory.

I'm so glad that I went to Computer Professionals to fix my computer rather than try to fix it mself.

Free Market Cure - A Short Course in Brain Surgery

"Private health care is outlawed in Ontario. ..."

"Isn't it ironic, that while the Canadian monopoly on health care is slowly crumbling in the face of widespread suffering, [American] Liberal Democrats are pushing to adopt a system much like the one which has failed so miserably in Canada."

What does Nero Obama have to offer which is superior to the health care provided in Ontario, Canada?

Nothing.