You Too Can Have Your Own Desolate Wasteland

In the Fallout game series the premise was nuclear war has rendered most urban zones a total wasteland.  Well, there’s another simpler method to create those urban wastelands.  There’s already one wasteland that exists right here in the US in fact.

Don’t believe me that Detroit is like a waste land, lets look at a picture from Detroit and Chernobyl:

And now for another picture:

Now which one is which folks?  Which picture was taken where?  One was taken in a disaster zone caused by failed socialist policies, the other was taken in a nuclear disaster zone.

Ready?  The first is from Detroit  the second is from Chernobyl.

This is what socialism brings to the people, a wasteland devoid of prosperity and growth.  Remember it the next time someone tells you government is the solution to the problem.

H/T to Kevin on the video.

Quote of the Day – Scott Greenfield(10/10/2012)

Because of this, all the other safeguards of the criminal justice system kicked in, from due process to double jeopardy.  People at HuffPo and Boing Boing usually like these aspects of the law, except when they don’t. Then they become technicalities and produce injustice, because the outcome doesn’t comport with their sensibilities. Rape is one of the sacred cow crimes, and no law should get in the way of conviction.

It’s all about outcome?  As Ken at Popehat points out, people across the political spectrum pick their positions based on outcomes, just different ones.  It’s not about thinking, but feeling.  The law, however,isn’t about feeling.

(Emphasis mine.) Scott GreenfieldThe Future Of Law and The Fool’s Utopia, Rape Edition
October 10, 2012


[I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  There is no correlation between the law and justice!  Seriously folks, realize this right here and now.  The point of the law is not just to convict the guilty but to protect the innocent from the power and wrath of the state.

In the end we hope that the law will give some form of justice.  However it is also up to the players within the system to aid in that outcome.  The prosecution in this case clearly screwed up and charged this person with the wrong crime.

Am I sad that this monster is getting away with the actual crime he did?  You bet your ass. Am I angry at the legal system and think it failed?  Yes and no.  I am angry at the prosecutor for doing a piss poor job, I am not however upset that the rest of the system worked as it should to protect the defendant.

The thing to understand is you cannot have your cake and eat it.  While one wants to both protect the innocent and convict the guilty, concessions must be made to protect the innocent.  In doing so the possibility for error can allow the guilty to go free.

This isn’t a bug folks, it’s a feature.  A feature that as Scott points out are more than happy to be cheered about by the same people who now condemn it when they feel it was wrong.

Popehat also put this quite well:

If we’re going to defend rights — if we’re not going to let them be chipped away, bit by bit, in cases involving rape or terrorism or anything else that engenders strong feelings — then we’re going to have to be ready to be called terrorist-sympathizers and un-American and even rape apologists by the likes of Antinous. But I can’t think of any earthly reason why we can’t inform these people that they’re full of shit.

Because folks, that’s how they do it.  They invoke emotion and claim necessity.  Some of us are patient, calm, and rational enough to think the whole problem through.  Most however would prefer we just “do something” because doing something is better than nothing.  Except sometimes doing nothing is actually the best thing to do because someone just screwed the pooch.

More power and depredation of rights is never a solution. -B]

 

Concealed Carry on Campus

Both the University of Idaho and Washington State University forbid concealed carry on campus.  Luckily the ban at WSU doesn’t have any teeth in that all they can do is ask you to leave at which point if you refuse you’ll be trespassed.  Students and faculty though can face administrative punishment however.  I do not remember the exact details regarding carry at the University of Idaho.

I bring this up because so often I hear the following phrase, “Why would you need a gun on campus?”  Well maybe you live in the dorms or university housing.  Maybe you have a night class and will have to walk across campus in the dark.  Ultimately though people seem to think that bad things never happen on campus.  Reality always has a habit of showing up though.

Moscow Police arrested a man Sunday for the alleged rape of a University of Idaho student on the Moscow campus.

Nothing says stop faster than a hunk of lead flying at 900 fps.  Bad things happen everywhere, even college campuses.  Even more than that, it isn’t always the random person you don’t know.

“The victim knew the suspect from working with him in Twin Falls at a restaurant, so they were acquainted, but on a friendship level only,” said Chief of Police David Duke.

It’s best that we all remember these things can and do happen.  If you can, support Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, the fight is a significant and real one.  I wore an empty holster on to campus on more than one occasion specifically in support.  The one debate that I saw occur on campus ended squarely in favor for campus carry.

The thing is, at least with WSU, the board of regents will not move to change the administrative code and the only way you can bring about a legal challenge is if they exercise the code against you.  For this reason, many of my friends followed the rule of better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.  Not everyone is so willing to do that though.  Then again, when the building you work in has been attacked by ALF, your desire to survive should they return usually wins.

Though the school would prefer you to be disarmed to be easy prey.  It’s not like it’s their life that’s on the line though.  It’s like the government and politicians only care about criminals, not the law-abiding.

Quote of the Day – Joe Huffman(10/9/2012)

I think it’s doable. Won’t you help make my dream come true? It’s for the children.

Joe Huffman – The clock is ticking
October 8th, 2012


[It’s a worthy dream and important for the children of the future. Remember every time we create a smile like this:

Sarah Brady cries and they continue their decent into political irrelevancy.  Wont you think of the children and help throw a group of bigots into the dust bin of history.

Think about it, a generation who’s only knowledge of the Brady Campaign and CSGV will be that there is evil in the world that must be watched for and even if it’s found, it can be destroyed.

Donate, become active, continue the push.  Honestly I want to be able to buy a suppressor in the next 5 years and not have to wait for a year for a “stamp” so I can merely own a piece of safety equipment.  I think that is certainly within the realm of possibility.

Again, do it for the children.  Sarah Brady’s tears are just a bonus, a sweet, sweet bonus. -B]

Been There, Done That

I recognize this silence and mood, both from growing up and the recent unemployment in this house.

Found via Kevin

Fearless leader came out yesterday and said that unemployment drastically dropped.  Except that also included some new ways of calculating the numbers.  Except every way I’ve heard of them calculating the numbers is cooking the books.  My wife was "unemployed” for a year and a half, though she didn’t qualify to be counted amongst the unemployed even while trying to find a job.  It’s all done to provide political leverage.  But if we use the same method they’ve been using it provides us a decent window to see what the trend is like.

Shamelessly stolen from Joe, who took it from Tyler Durden,  tell me, can you spot the statistical outlier?

SeptemberChangeNSA20-24_2

Or how about seasonally adjusted:

SeptHistorical20-24_2

If you can’t make sense of the Seasonally Adjusted chart, let me give you a clue.  Which one of these has a swing month to month well beyond any other?  Can you spot it?  I knew you could!  The fact is, employment sucks and here’s a big clue for everyone, government cannot make it better.  Despite the smoke politicians blow up your ass about creating jobs, they can’t create jobs.  There are only two things that government regulations can do, make it more difficult to hire someone or remove money from the pocket of someone who would give you a job.  If anything when they throw money at something it actually tends to have the opposite effect since people want the free money.  More on that bit later.

Everyone keeps looking at the state as being the solution to their problem.  They keep asking what can my government do for me!?  Well if government had its way, it would make you their slave by making you dependent upon them.  From the looks of this lady, they’re succeeding. 

Denial – The first stage of grief…

So evidently our “opponents” went into total meltdown mode last night.  But the serious denial moment was capturedby Days of Our Trailers.

via DooT

How is that for complete and utter denial?  They were in such an alternate reality or so lost in their own delusions of self-worth, that they added something in before it even happened.  Have no fear though because when they got caught with their fly down, they did what they always do and scrubbed it clean.

via DooT

Now I’m trying to document as our opponents as they traverse the stages of grief.  It is worth noting that everyone goes through it much differently.  Some will quickly transition through different parts of the stages of grief.

It is obvious that many are in denial, some have expressed anger.  Next up is bargaining. As I have said before, there will be no bargaining, we have done it before and at this point I will give no quarter.  The sooner they transition to acceptance of the death of their bigoted views, the better.

It is known how our opponents fantasize about violence and the like.  As many of them transition in to anger, be on the lookout for outbursts.  If you see any, please send them my way.  I’m going to tag all of them as “Grief of the Anti-Gunners”.  I will take some time here soon and tag older posts that tie into it as well.

Their meltdown is going to be long and spectacular.  We should at least congregate and note the highlight moments.

Darwin Needs No Further Restraint

Yet another falling incident:

Police said 22-year-old Jonathan Meyer had been drinking with a friend Friday night when he tried to drop to a second-story balcony and missed.

To give you an idea of the current record for this year already:

This is the third alcohol-related fall at WSU and the University of Idaho in the past month. A 19-year-old WSU student was injured in a three-story fall Sept. 14 at a fraternity. A 21-year-old University of Idaho student was injured in a two-story fall Sept. 12 at his fraternity.

Not to mention the August incidents that they didn’t bother reporting.  Remember these are the “best and brightest” that we send to college.  No, I don’t think so anymore.   A good majority of those who go to college I think go because they’re too dumb to do anything else.

They go to college racking up debt to get degrees in things that will never earn them enough money to pay it back.  Again, remember what I was saying about them not really being the best and brightest.  Then you have other incidents where someone claims that College is a right and that everyone should go.

Everyone has the right to attempt to obtain a college education.  However just because you can attempt it, doesn’t mean you can afford it or that you will be admitted.  It is up to the person to perform well enough to be admitted as well as find a way to finance their schooling.  You do not have a right to force someone else to pay for your education.  You do not have a right to be automatically admitted.  You merely have a right to seek education, you do not have a right to have it handed to you.

Besides, you know what’s great about the internet, which you can use at your local library, and it’s also cheaper than going to college, you can self educate.  There are piles upon piles of information out there if you’re willing to go find it and read it.  The MIT Open Courseware is the best example of available information.  I have gone through many of the courses trying to improve my knowledge on different subjects as well as supplementing what I already know.

The point of college at this point is to provide a little sheet of paper and certification that you are educated about “X”.  The thing is, that certification is an investment and you had better invest wisely.  My wife got two degrees, both in the sciences, however it was an actual certification that finally got her a job.  All you get out of college now days is a piece of paper, most of them are worthless, a few are gold.  If you’re paying for that piece of paper, I suggest making sure it’s gold and not pyrite.