Monday, July 30, 2012

Even Paid Scientist Defects in Light of Reality

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The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of other climatologists around the world came to such conclusions years ago, but the difference now is the source: Muller is a long-standing, colorful critic of prevailing climate science, and the Berkeley project was heavily funded by the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, which, along with its libertarian petrochemical billionaire founder Charles G. Koch, has a considerable history of backing groups that deny climate change.
In an opinion piece in Saturday's New York Times titled "The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic," Muller writes:
"Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause."
The Berkeley project's research has shown, Muller says, "that the average temperature of the earth's land has risen by 21/2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 250 years, including an increase of 11/2 degrees over the most recent 50 years. Moreover, it appears likely that essentially all of this increase results from the human emission of greenhouse gases."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/29/4672565/prominent-climate-change-denier.html#storylink=cpy

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Yet More Notes, Addended Monday Morning

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" Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed."

If it wasn't for the jamming of the drum, and remarkably close placement of the PD, the Colorado killer might have gone onto using way more of his stockpile.

The man we have to thank the most was the range owner who had the sense to feel the hair on the back of his neck rise when the killer tried to make use of the range. An experiment with the drum might have let him know that he had a problem, and he would have made sure he had at least one good drum of 100, and possibly more before proceeding. For all of his careful planning, ignoring the location of the gendarmes was one heckova an oversight.

Tonite, coming home to NSJ, I was treated to more on coming traffic than I've ever seen on the road, folks coming back from the North Columbia School House Storytelling Festival, a good 30 minutes from the Rood Center, even if you are going like a bat out of hell. One of the problems with these nut case events is that the next one always learns something from the previous one. Just as we have improved underwear bombers (and we do) so we have an armored to the nines dude this time. It has been done before, I recall in an LA shootout some years back, one of the first times the cops plaintively noted that they were outgunned by armored tormentors.

My schemes detailed before and now also at farstars.blogspot.com do not restrict the guns at all, and if you are a good citizen, enabke you to stockpile ever increasing amounts over time, but slowly, over time.

My bounty scheme for bounties for gun store employees goes right along with Greg's suggestion that we be more on the watch for such crazies.

Yes people can always resort to other means, but usually they are much more complicated than simply buying weaponry and ammo. On the day of the shooting, the saddest sack was the FBI dude wanting to know where this kid had learned all about bomb making, who taught him, must be coconspirators, the FBI dude obviously having never taken any of the chemistry required for premed or neurosciences. Heck, I nearly blew out my bedroom windows in 8 th grade, paying with oxidizers, etc.

Now as to: " Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed." are you so sure?
And as for being able to take on the USA military, without mass defections, I really don't think so. 300 million handguns and rifles and shotgun, really are not going to last too long, against USA military firepower. You have to remember, other than military communications, the first thing a rogue government would do would be to secure all means of communication, by whatever means necessary, including blasting it to pieces. Line up all 300,000,000 on a beach and have them shoot at an aircraft carrier, two miles out. Now wait for the response. You see George, it's a great Heinlein fantasy, I loved them all as a kid, but it just doesn't work in real life.
And it sure as hell is piss poor excuse for not at least getting the ammo under control.
Todd Juvinall
The deranged person who wants to murder fellow humans will use the weapon available. It has to do with the brain not the cold piece of steel propelling lead shards through space. The most prolific serial murderer in the 20th century was a Russian. He killed over one hundred over many years. He used knives and strangulation. The result was the same as if he murdered all at once.
The gun is a tool and if a person has no ill intent they will not use it in a way to kill as the Aurora killer did. The 2nd Amendment protects the rest.
TomKenworth
A gun is the most efficient killing tool on the planet, for individual use. Moving one's finger less than 3/4 of an inch can end at least one other persons' life instantly. It is also quite selective, and involves the least harm to the operator. Staging head-on collisions and making up explosives are fraught with far more dangers, as are strangulation and knife use, if the other party gains the upper hand in the struggle. Yes, a gun is a tool of many purposes, but it's prime purpose is to take the life of another, be it a duck, a bear, or over 13,000 humans every year in the USA alone. Anyone hunting game knows the advantages of the rifle or shotgun for that purpose. The handgun primary purpose is for use against another human, and how many of them do we have? And what will it take for you to appreciate the need for a few roadblocks like preventive over time restrictions on ammo purchases for you to understand that, a death in your own family? That's called "learning the hard way." I wouldn't wish it on anyone, which is why I have taken such a pro-active approach, note the editorial in Saturday's The Union newspaper.
And for the nitwits who think I have no experiences with fire arms, I own three, kept in a secure 600 lb safe, in a residence with gates, fences, sensors, dogs, pop-on lights, and plenty of space to allow plenty of time and warning to get to them, and enough deterrent effects in place to probably reduce the odds of having to go for them to near zero, despite being thoroughly rural. To keep mind, eye, and hand steady, beyond using my camera constantly, I am an archer, which is far more soothing to the peace of the neighborhood, than going bangity bang bang bang every day or two. It's cheaper too, and doesn't give away your location in the dark.
George Rebane
The debate on the original intent of the Second Amendment quickly goes into its predictable groove. The liberals’ position can always be summarized as ‘Government is good, resistance is futile.’ They inevitably paint the ludicrous picture of civilians with hunting rifles and shotguns holed up against the advance of massive mechanized divisions supported by a sky filled with unimaginable air power, all arrayed by the government to put down any opposition to its methods and means.
What is missed in such arguments (e.g. TomK’s 1203am) is that a tyrannical government does not rise through the co-opting of its military and turning it against its own people. Autocracies begin with bureaucratic thugs from NGOs and government agencies which are subverted one by one. These are usually security, intelligence, and regulatory enforcement agencies whose minions arrive surreptitiously at your door in the middle of the night to either execute you on the spot for ‘resisting’, or simply make you vanish. By the time the military is turned, those kinds of revolutions are over.
However, the small arms against tanks scenarios are common with people with little or no military experience. As an Army officer in a combat unit facing the Red Army, we often talked of the role of the militaries in maintaining the power of tyrannical regimes. Sooner or later the question would always come up, ‘Can it happen in America?’ And in my experience and the broader experience of others in such conversations, the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed. Dealing with civilian unrest was a political problem to be solved by our political leadership and their internal organs of power.
It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution.
TomKenworth
Further notes on taking out a rogue government: In the early 1800's, the weapons the government could muster, were not really that much more advanced than what the private citizen had, and back then a band of private citizens stood a chance, when the government was a 6 week sail across the pond, or even local, with horseback riders for communication.
These day there is no way in heck citizens can compete with the half trillion a year they've been arming the government with for the last 60 years. Do the math. Add up the value of the citizens' net worth in arms, ammo, and armor. Now do the same with the government. The only thing the citizens have going for them is numbers, but only if ALL rose up. The NRA has all of what, 4 million members. The USA armed forces are all of .5 million. The 4 million outnumber the .5 five million, but the .5 million are a very, very, heavily armed, armoured, and communicating group. Good luck with that. As I pointed out before, a rogue government would start by taking over all communications channels, and silencing any remaining ham or cb units out there. You need to review, "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming." The rogue government would not announce a takeover in advance, sorry about that.
Or maybe you really do consider the Obama administration to be such a "rogue government?" Are you going to have a coordinated attack if he is re-elected? Just how is that going to work? Maybe you should try listening to your fellow countrymen, who support a great deal of what he proposes and is doing. The last thing I want to see is a repeat of the Civil War, even if your side would lose so quickly it would be all over in six weeks, and much more likely, in six days.
TomKenworth
"It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution."
This only works if 80 to 90 % of the citizenry agree with you, and you have a sudden precipitating event. The scenario you are faced with is the warming to boiling of the frog, and at no point does the frog become galvanized to respond, especially with our current majority culture. The bureaucratic and corporate takeover is a slow but inevitable process, and the dumbing down of our schools, especially by the denigrating of science by certain religious power groups, and the concentration on the bottom line quarter by quarter for maximum near time profits will be what doomed this country, if she goes down. Unregulated capitalism is too stupid for its own long term health, and the purchasing of Congress and the Presidency are the obvious signs of this inherent cancer. "Make it safe for me and my money, screw the rest of the citizenry," is no way to run a country that will endure.
TomKenworth
"the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed."
Which is why no protestors have ever been hurt of killed, even those who are not armed and are not shooting. What exactly do you think would have happened if OWS was an armed and shooting crowd?
NEXT!
Ben Emery
2nd amendment
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The first half of the second amendment always seems to be left out. The purpose behind the well regulated militia was to prevent the need of standing armies in times of peace. Standing armies were feared to create mischief and were the oppressive enforcers of the rulers. An example of this is the disgusting Christian slaughterer Oliver Cromwell.
We are conservators to an elderly gentleman from Galway, Ireland. He says there is folk lore in many Irish towns about Ned of the Hills. Here is one of my favorite bands "The Pogues" who wrote a song about the Cromwell and the deeds he did to those who didn't believe in his version of the bible.
"Young Ned of the Hills"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-y2ox2HPnc&feature=related
This statement is very good "The deranged person who wants to murder fellow humans will use the weapon available." This is why automatic, semiautomatic weapons with 100 round magazine's should not be available to ordinary citizens. I am a supporter of the second amendment, I learned before the age of 10 to handle, shoot, maintain, and store a gun properly. Military grade weapons should not be at the finger tips of any citizen who can fill out an online form properly, which seems to be the case for the latest mentally disturbed mass murderer in Aurora.
Ben Emery
George,
Here is where you tragically do not understand American history or choose to ignore big chunks of American history. We are supposed to be the government so our future revolutions will be fought at the polling places not the battlefields. That's why it was a radical idea. The revolution wasn't fought for the US to have no government it was fought so that the US would have representative government of the governed. Government through the consent of the people. This is where I don't get your conservatarian thought process. It seems you want a small few people controlling the government, which I think in your logic means small government. That might be so but small government doesn't mean benign government but in many cases the exact opposite. Little services for those outside of the elites but massive oppression to prevent common people having leisure time to philosophize and act upon the rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.
George Rebane
It appears that the discussion has settled in its traditional groove with the erection of straw men, their attribution to the opposition, then concluding with their summary dispatch while the 'Government is good, resistance is futile' banner is rehoisted.
Meanwhile, a more careful attendance to the debate of the day will produce examples like this morning's NPR piece on the historical red/blue division of the country in which no correspondent could envision any pre-election compromise in Congress, and very little afterward. The pundits' wisdom appears to be that whichever side wins will make life hell for the losing side.
The Founders anticipated such contingencies and provided for their peaceful consideration and resolution. It is when such peaceful means are rejected that violent alternatives rise to the forefront.
Paul Emery

George
In you're interpretation of the Second Amendment do I have the right to possess chemical and biological weapons consistent with those possess by the US military? If not what limitations do you place on the citizenry?
George Rebane
PaulE 1242pm - Right on time Paul. You clearly did not read my par force paper, so the straw man you have erected is delightfully extravagant. The 'par' in par force is with that of the local constabulary. And it's purpose is not to defeat, but to delay until the grievances get broad enough of a hearing to either develop broad support, or let the resistors swing in the wind.
TomKenworth
" It is when such peaceful means are rejected that violent alternatives rise to the forefront."
How will this state of affairs be determined and by whom?
Possibly simply by those with the most guns? NRA for President?
Todd Juvinall
I get a laugh every time this issue comes p and the left tosses a "tank" or a "nuke" into the mix to make their point against the pistol and long guns. The SCOTUS finally said the 2nd means what it says and the individual is part of the mix. I see BenE left out the comma as all the liberals do. I find it more honorable for a American to defens all the Amendments rather than pick and choose as the Emery's seem to do all the time.
Paul Emery
So Todd, my question stands and it was for George but you can take a crack at it. What limits if any do you support
TomKenworth
"The universal possession of force on par with local state authorities should be sufficient to prevent such perverted authority from quickly snuffing out or ‘containing’ the griev-ance."

Gee George,
So far the sheriff hasn't ever tried to shut me up, as much as L.W. would like him to. I don't see your point at all with this. Between blogging, letters to the editor, and speaking out in public when appropriate, I've had no trouble getting my grievances across. The only time I'd like to use "par force" is when I'm on talk radio and the host does use a volume slider to shut me up just as I am making salient points and blowing his arguments out of the water. That why I seldom go there anymore.
You make the sheriff sound as though he comes from Nottingham.
George Rebane
TomK 135pm - I do believe that you really don't know. Welcome to the Constitution, Article 5, and the 'inalienable right of secession' articulated in our Declaration of Independence.
http://mises.org/daily/3427
TomKenworth
I'm trying to picture this. I don't like the new green dumpsters, and I say so on Facebook. The sheriff comes to the gate and says, "shut up about that." He points a gun at me, just as I drop down my secret hatch hole to my radio transmitter, and I get all my buddies to drive over and start shooting at the sheriff from his rear so that I can get my message out even further, and so more folks will come, and back up the first group.
This is just plain weird!
TomKenworth
And yet this is what you use to justify blind allegiance to the 2nd Amendment?
George Rebane
TomK 159pm 205pm - It appears that as with the Great Divide, a reasoned discussion of the Second Amendment is also not accessible to you. I think the last pair of your straw men just escorted you out of this discussion.
TomKenworth
Secession is the plan? Well, first you have to get enough like minded people to all move to one state and become the majority in that state, and then go from there. Good Luck, please leave CO UT WY and ID alone. I like the skiing there.
Paul Emery
Well Spoken Tom. Timothy McVey , a militia movement sympathizer, sought revenge against the federal government for its handling of the Waco Siege, as well as for the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992. Was he exercising his 2nd Amendment option? Does any individual or group have the right to make that judgement and what about the rights of those that don't subscribe to the remedy?
Let's also include the question about the secession of Southern States leading to the Civil War.
TomKenworth
So if I have this correct, the two most recent mass movements with grievances, the Tea Party and OWS, only got to ove forward because the local sheriffs and their allied CHP, etc alliances, were afraid that if they told folks to shut up, they be met by armed protestors, who might beat them in a shootout? In the middle of a ghetto riot, one or two LE might be out gunned, but ultimately, the local gov keeps on calling up more and more force until the USA military IS in the fray, and guess who loses, 2nd amendment or no.

#############################################################################
So what is the threshold for the use of these arms in the defense of liberty and who calls the shots so to speak? Would it be some kind of IRA Irish cell organization or, at the given moment armed opposition would sandbag their houses and wait for the tanks to roll. Talk is cheap but the price of action is colossal. One groups revolution or resistance may not be anothers so what happens to the uninvolved bystanders? Under what set of circumstances would a Second Amendment solution be justified and who would lead it? There are so many questions.
Reasonable firearm possession by trained owners for self defense against criminal activity doesn't require military assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

TomKenworth
Lots of interpretations here: http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndmea.html
Some related gun control proposed legislation:
" Identical to a separate bill introduced by amendment sponsor Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), the senators’ amendment to the Cybersecurity Act would ban the sale or transfer of large capacity feeders like magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.
The amendment was introduced amid growing outcry from police and gun control advocates who want Washington to take a stand on gun control. New York City Mayor Bloomberg prominently demanded action hours after the Aurora theater shooting. The White House pledged to strengthen existing gun rules but has since clarified that the administration will not promote new legislation.
24-year-old James Holmes, the prime suspect in the Aurora shooting, purchased a 100 round drum magazine. Jared Loughner, who shot former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) in 2011 along with 18 others, used an extended magazine that held 33 bullets, and police found two more 15-round magazines in his pockets. Under the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, these two killers could not have legally purchased these large capacity ammunition feeding devices. On the state level, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York all prohibit the sale of high capacity magazines."
TomKenworth
One of the reasons we have the ban in California, was the 1979 shooting of a bunch of SE Asian children in a schoolyard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_School_massacre

billy T
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
TomKenworth
Yes it is BillyT. I wonder when H. U. W. GoodNugget the III will figure that out. So far no crank calls from the letter published in The Union Saturday, that's a good thing. I guess the Scoggins have moved on to greener pastures. I wonder how many millions each nutcase shooting requires the Republicans to raise to counteract the effects? Two or three more between now and 100 days from now, and even Rove's $1,000,000,000 war chest for his Superpac will not be enough to stop an Obama landslide. I also note that even Sarah Palin is feeling the effects of the drought, and admits that there is indeed global warming, a cosmic mentalquake for her, but I doubt she even notices it, business as usual. When will the NRA call for the right to use depleted uranium bullets? And nobody has tackled that sticky problem of local law enforcement calling in for re-enforcements, all the way up to the full military might of the USA, thus voiding out, "par force," and leaving it a gedanken experiment with no basis in reality?

More Notes on the Gun Issues

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" Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed."
If it wasn't for the jamming of the drum, and remarkably close placement of the PD, the Colorado killer might have gone onto using way more of his stockpile.
The man we have to thank the most was the range owner who had the sense to feel the hair on the back of his neck rise when the killer tried to make use of the range. An experiment with the drum might have let him know that he had a problem, and he would have made sure he had at least one good drum of 100, and possibly more before proceeding. For all of his careful planning, ignoring the location of the gendarmes was one heckova an oversight.

Tonight, coming home to NSJ, I was treated to more on coming traffic than I've ever seen on the road, folks coming back from the North Columbia School House Storytelling Festival, a good 30 minutes from the Rood Center, even if you are going like a bat out of hell. One of the problems with these nut case events is that the next one always learns something from the previous one. Just as we have improved underwear bombers (and we do) so we have an armored to the nines dude this time. It has been done before, I recall in an LA shootout some years back, one of the first times the cops plaintively noted that they were outgunned by armored tormentors.

My schemes detailed before and now also at farstars.blogspot.com do not restrict the guns at all, and if you are a good citizen, enabke you to stockpile ever increasing amounts over time, but slowly, over time.

My bounty scheme for bounties for gun store employees goes right along with Greg's suggestion that we be more on the watch for such crazies.
Yes people can always resort to other means, but usually they are much more complicated than simply buying weaponry and ammo. On the day of the shooting, the saddest sack was the FBI dude wanting to know where this kid had learned all about bomb making, who taught him, must be coconspirators, the FBI dude obviously having never taken any of the chemistry required for premed or neurosciences. Heck, I nearly blew out my bedroom windows in 8 th grade, paying with oxidizers, etc.

Now as to: " Never mind that not even a deranged mass murderer can use more than a miniscule fraction of such a stockpile for the most meticulously planned dastardly deed." are you so sure?
And as for being able to take on the USA military, without mass defections, I really don't think so. 300 million handguns and rifles and shotgun, really are not going to last too long, against USA military firepower. You have to remember, other than military communications, the first thing a rogue government would do would be to secure all means of communication, by whatever means necessary, including blasting it to pieces. Line up all 300,000,000 on a beach and have them shoot at an aircraft carrier, two miles out. Now wait for the response. You see George, it's a great Heinlein fantasy, I loved them all as a kid, but it just doesn't work in real life.
And it sure as hell is piss poor excuse for not at least getting the ammo under control.
Todd Juvinall
The deranged person who wants to murder fellow humans will use the weapon available. It has to do with the brain not the cold piece of steel propelling lead shards through space. The most prolific serial murderer in the 20th century was a Russian. He killed over one hundred over many years. He used knives and strangulation. The result was the same as if he murdered all at once.

The gun is a tool and if a person has no ill intent they will not use it in a way to kill as the Aurora killer did. The 2nd Amendment protects the rest.
TomKenworth
A gun is the most efficient killing tool on the planet, for individual use. Moving one's finger less than 3/4 of an inch can end at least one other persons' life instantly. It is also quite selective, and involves the least harm to the operator. Staging head-on collisions and making up explosives are fraught with far more dangers, as are strangulation and knife use, if the other party gains the upper hand in the struggle. Yes, a gun is a tool of many purposes, but it's prime purpose is to take the life of another, be it a duck, a bear, or over 13,000 humans every year in the USA alone. Anyone hunting game knows the advantages of the rifle or shotgun for that purpose. The handgun primary purpose is for use against another human, and how many of them do we have? And what will it take for you to appreciate the need for a few roadblocks like preventive over time restrictions on ammo purchases for you to understand that, a death in your own family? That's called "learning the hard way." I wouldn't wish it on anyone, which is why I have taken such a pro-active approach, note the editorial in Saturday's The Union newspaper.
And for the nitwits who think I have no experiences with fire arms, I own three, kept in a secure 600 lb safe, in a residence with gates, fences, sensors, dogs, pop-on lights, and plenty of space to allow plenty of time and warning to get to them, and enough deterrent effects in place to probably reduce the odds of having to go for them to near zero, despite being thoroughly rural. To keep mind, eye, and hand steady, beyond using my camera constantly, I am an archer, which is far more soothing to the peace of the neighborhood, than going bangity bang bang bang every day or two. It's cheaper too, and doesn't give away your location in the dark.
George Rebane
The debate on the original intent of the Second Amendment quickly goes into its predictable groove. The liberals’ position can always be summarized as ‘Government is good, resistance is futile.’ They inevitably paint the ludicrous picture of civilians with hunting rifles and shotguns holed up against the advance of massive mechanized divisions supported by a sky filled with unimaginable air power, all arrayed by the government to put down any opposition to its methods and means.
What is missed in such arguments (e.g. TomK’s 1203am) is that a tyrannical government does not rise through the co-opting of its military and turning it against its own people. Autocracies begin with bureaucratic thugs from NGOs and government agencies which are subverted one by one. These are usually security, intelligence, and regulatory enforcement agencies whose minions arrive surreptitiously at your door in the middle of the night to either execute you on the spot for ‘resisting’, or simply make you vanish. By the time the military is turned, those kinds of revolutions are over.
However, the small arms against tanks scenarios are common with people with little or no military experience. As an Army officer in a combat unit facing the Red Army, we often talked of the role of the militaries in maintaining the power of tyrannical regimes. Sooner or later the question would always come up, ‘Can it happen in America?’ And in my experience and the broader experience of others in such conversations, the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed. Dealing with civilian unrest was a political problem to be solved by our political leadership and their internal organs of power.
It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution.
TomKenworth
Further notes on taking out a rogue government: In the early 1800's, the weapons the government could muster, were not really that much more advanced than what the private citizen had, and back then a band of private citizens stood a chance, when the government was a 6 week sail across the pond, or even local, with horseback riders for communication.

These day there is no way in heck citizens can compete with the half trillion a year they've been arming the government with for the last 60 years. Do the math. Add up the value of the citizens' net worth in arms, ammo, and armor. Now do the same with the government. The only thing the citizens have going for them is numbers, but only if ALL rose up. The NRA has all of what, 4 million members. The USA armed forces are all of .5 million. The 4 million outnumber the .5 five million, but the .5 million are a very, very, heavily armed, armoured, and communicating group. Good luck with that. As I pointed out before, a rogue government would start by taking over all communications channels, and silencing any remaining ham or cb units out there. You need to review, "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming." The rogue government would not announce a takeover in advance, sorry about that.

Or maybe you really do consider the Obama administration to be such a "rogue government?" Are you going to have a coordinated attack if he is re-elected? Just how is that going to work? Maybe you should try listening to your fellow countrymen, who support a great deal of what he proposes and is doing. The last thing I want to see is a repeat of the Civil War, even if your side would lose so quickly it would be all over in six weeks, and much more likely, in six days.
TomKenworth
"It is against the rogue political elements and the armed thugs that armed citizens can muster par force as the determining factor. It is then when par force (including just its presence) can make the unequivocal statement that the country will not fall to subterfuge in the dark of night; that whatever differences brought us to that point of contention, they will not be resolved with a one-sided use of firepower, but will be forcefully brought back into the light of day for a negotiated solution according to the mandates of our Constitution."
This only works if 80 to 90 % of the citizenry agree with you, and you have a sudden precipitating event. The scenario you are faced with is the warming to boiling of the frog, and at no point does the frog become galvanized to respond, especially with our current majority culture. The bureaucratic and corporate takeover is a slow but inevitable process, and the dumbing down of our schools, especially by the denigrating of science by certain religious power groups, and the concentration on the bottom line quarter by quarter for maximum near time profits will be what doomed this country, if she goes down. Unregulated capitalism is too stupid for its own long term health, and the purchasing of Congress and the Presidency are the obvious signs of this inherent cancer. "Make it safe for me and my money, screw the rest of the citizenry," is no way to run a country that will endure.
TomKenworth
"the answer was always no. None of us could conceive of any lawful order that would have us assault American civilians, even if they were firing at us, it was unthinkable. Such orders simply would not be followed."

Which is why no protestors have ever been hurt of killed, even those who are not armed and are not shooting. What exactly do you think would have happened if OWS was an armed and shooting crowd?
NEXT!


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To be true to the Constitution and the Second Amendment, how about we insist that all firearms, to be legal, must be of that vintage, or at least replicas? The Constitution may have been perfect back then. How many Founding Fathers would support hiding behind the Amendment with the resultant carnage's we've seen? Next time you open your wallet and see Jefferson, Jackson, or Franklin, try telling them you are doing it (taking this stance, NRA recoomended) for the good of your country, and then listen to what they'd have to say.  

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Local Tax Loopholes

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The most obvious loophole of them all drives through in and around us everyday, and parks in the lots for boat launching ramps at all our local lakes. There ought to be a site for photos of commercially labeled trucks towing luxury stinkpots to Tahoe, Bullards and Scotts Flat, such that the IRS can look at the plates and signage, and then look to see if the vehicle is 100% declared as "for business only." Unfair? No different than rousting the homeless from under the overpasses, on a tip from a "concerned citizen."

Likewise motorhomes, supposedly for convention and other presentation use, in campgrounds, with the magnetic and canvas signage removed.

Another? Building materials bought (or at least declared for) for business use that winds up in private residences. We need monitoring for this sort of abuse, more so than for voter fraud. Why do 97% of business in USA make less than $250,000? Because the overage is carefully "deducted" first. It camouflages the local heavyweights into slightly high middle class. Shall I go on? Nope, don't want to run up the spamometer.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Be True to the Second Amendment

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To be true to the Constitution and the Second Amendment, how about we insist that all firearms, to be legal, must be of that vintage, or at least replicas? The Constitution may have been perfect back then. How many Founding Fathers would support hiding behind the Amendment with the resultant carnage's we've seen? Next time you open your wallet and see Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, or Franklin, try telling them you are doing it (taking this stance (pro semiautomatic assault firearms), NRA recommended) for the good of your country, and then listen to what they'd have to say.

Some Tidying Up

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In a gun control discusssion, I replied: "Well Greg, if that be the Morgan State Incident, in which the engineering student turned cannibal, I am unable to find any evidence of the Administration angonizing over anything. How many folks in the Aurora Theater could have been eaten before the cops arrived. Probably not even one. Assault Firearms of every kind are the "Fast Foods" of Murder, Inc. "


As for quibbles about what is or is not an "assault rifle," let's cut to the chase and call stuff "assault firearms" and have different classes of such things, with different restrictions on purchases of both ammo and for the weapons themselves. Apparently some libertarian and other similarly minded willful creatures are defending the term itself "assault rifle" ( differentiating between auto and semi auto, as if your finger can't active the trigger 100 times in a minute) and a strict definition with the tenacity that led to placing the flag on Iwo Jima, to avoid any controls being placed on other weapons, like say the 12 gauge that apparently caused most of the wounds. Any unidirectional bomb device is made to assault something, be it a beer can or a baby. And all firearms are unidirectional bomb devices, except for one that malfunctions such that it explodes in the user's hands.

Misc Notes to Self

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Paul, first, the nutcase du jour did not have an "automatic rifle", and to my knowledge, none of the 300,000 or so automatic weapons legally owned by civilians in the US have ever found to have been used in a crime.
The first line of defence against nutcases is friends, family, schools and workplaces who know the nutcases in question. If I recall correctly, one local nutcase who shot a few folks even had a close relative in law enforcement who knew he was having mental problems and owned guns.
Second, I made no claim about Japan's firearms deaths, only their violent deaths by any intentional means, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. The point was and is that, when people want to kill, they will figure out how. In Japan they even have sword controls, but that doesn't stop people from jumping off buildings and bridges, or wandering into the surf carrying their children.
Japan's suicide rate plus murder rate has historically been higher than ours, and I'm not sure I'd prefer living in a society that places such a burden on their people as to drive them to kill themselves at such a rate. The US murder rate is 4.7 per 100000 per year, while men in Japan kill themselves at a rate of 40 per year per 100000. In short, it isn't the guns.
Ben Emery
Here is the statistics on Japan's violent deaths.
http://violentdeathproject.com/countries/japan
Gregory
Ben, the "Brady Center" has about 28 thousand members and a budget of $4 million. The NRA (I'm not a member, too Republican for me) has 4 million members and a budget that dwarfs the former Handgun Control, Inc.
Sorry, but semi-automatic rifles and pistols have been in civilian hands for the ~120 years they've been around. In fact, the iconic Colt Model 1911 had it's 100 year anniversary last year and is still being made in large numbers by several companies.
Paul Emery
So Gregory thanks for confirming that Japans intentional homicide rate is the lowest in the world. Perhaps all that gun control does have an effect
Your link s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
Gregory
Paul, Japan's overall suicide rate is something like five times our murder rate. Perhaps all that gun control doesn't have an effect.
Japan has fewer murders because they have fewer people who want to murderer. I can't find a current citation, but I have seen a credible claim that Japanese nationals who move to the US have an even lower murder rate than the population they leave behind, despite having access to guns.
Ben Emery
Greg,
How regulation works against banks screwing people over.
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=US3604990420120720
"Capital One is not quite "No Hassle" according to federal charges that the credit card company violated consumer protection requirements.
Capital One will pay $210 million to settle charges raised by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The majority of that money will go to consumers but $60 million will be paid out in fines."
Paul Emery

So Gregory aside from family counseling and taging suspicious friends as possible psycho terrorists do you have any other ideas to stop this epidemic?

Gregory
Paul E, to partially answer your own question, you might want to earn those extra credit points and identify the state university that agonised over whether or not an incoming student should be allowed to choose whether their roomie would be keeping a handgun in the room, and describe the carnage that resulted.

Michael Anderson

YAI = Yachting Association of India?
Gregory
Mike... was that supposed to be meaningful? Perhaps meant for a different blog?

Of course in the USA we may not count single car accidents while drunk as violent self inflicted deaths:
In 2006, there were 16,005 drunk driving deaths (.01% of our population) in the U.S. There are eight drunk driving fatalities involving teens every day. Driving while intoxicated is extremely dangerous. It can be lethal. Something must be done to stem the tide of drunk driving deaths. We sometime do suicide differently.
YAI = Yippee Avionics International?
Perhaps suicide is much more a part of their culture, and murder is much more a part of ours. In any event, requiring the return of spent shell casings to purchase one more than two boxes of ammo at a time, would slow down the stockpiling process, and requires no restrictions on guns bought, or types of gun bought. Bring back the spent shell casings from two boxes, and you get to buy four boxes, bring back the spent shell casings from four boxes, and you get to buy five boxes, and so on. It would mean numerous trips to the range using ever increasing amounts of ammo to ever get to 6,000 rounds. I'm sure you can write the iterations needed and figure it out in a hurry. In any event it would make such an individual fairly conspicuous on a range, after they got to the 1,000 rounds per session, point.
At 50 rounds of .38 per box, that would be twenty boxes back to the store to get to box 21, and that would be only 1,000 rounds, 50 x 20. To reach 3,000, how many rounds would our psycho have already had to have purchased, and then shot, and then returned to the store for? Is that calc too difficult for you? Stores could easily weigh the casings, by pulling out 10 at random, weighing them, and then weighing the whole pile, and doing the math. Be a good boy and write, Psychos, Terrorists, and Mathematics, filled with similar story problems, and a teachers guide. I'm sure it would sell.
"One and only one of the magnitude of the one in Aurora Colorado"
So the other 27 since Columbine are inconsequential, as is the accelerating rate of incidents?
http://www.newsmax.com/US/mass-shootings-us-colorado/2012/07/20/id/445971
Try telling that to the parents and families of the victims of any of the other 27, what a display of character, I'll let the other readers decide just what kind of character.
BTW, More were killed, fewer were injured over all, in other incidents, so Greg's magical magnitude scale is weighted in favor of wounding, not kills. Odd?
Do you suppose corporate America would ever consider the Amish response?
On October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.[1][2][3][4] The emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation in the response of the Amish community was widely discussed in the national media. The West Nickel Mines School was torn down, and a new one-room schoolhouse, the New Hope School, was built at another location.
Not a chance!
And before Greg gets to go whoopido over the .01% above, I caught it, and forced the spreadsheet to be more precise, as in: 0.005161% which it initially rounded up to .01% Sorry Greg, no candy cane this time.
" none of the 300,000 or so automatic weapons legally owned by civilians in the US have ever found to have been used in a crime."
A perfectly true, and perfectly useless statement.
The moment one of them is stolen, is is most likely going to get used in a crime. You prequalified your pool of guns by saying, legally owned.
And I guess you missed it, the semi automatic weapons, capable of how many rounds per trigger pull (one), and likewise capable of how many rounds per minute (with a good working drum magazine) and good finger control, in the Aurora shootings, were legally owned until the second he killed his first victim.
Or another way of looking at it, how many words can you type per minute, 60 maybe, ten fingers working of course, or how fast can you pluck a banjo or guitar?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdUrg2Cqxdw
Check this out at 1:16, and then around 3: 10, watch out!
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Now of course an individual can simply go into a store and by two boxes over and over again, but we could offer and incentive to gun store owners, just like we offer incentives to oil companies, like oil depletion allowances. In this case we could call in a nutcase depletion allowance, and it could be given in the form of tax relief to small businesses, for any and all forms of security that they install and maintain, such as multiple cameras, facial recognition software, etc., such that they might be able to detect such a person's activity, regardless of who is at the counter. You could also offer a discount to both the customer and the store owner for shell casing turn-ins, further making the "two boxes only" customer stand out better. And, of course, there should be bounties for both the store owners and the employee that sounds the alarm, and notifies the authorities, if the tip pans out. It may not catch too many folks, but after all, neither does voter registration ID procedures, and if you have to show ID to vote, why not have a "have to show ID for ammo" and let the store make a record of said ID. It would be a discouragement to wannabee copycats. DB Cooper got on board with a parachute, think you could do that today?

As for quibbles about what is or is not an "assault rifle," let's cut to the chase and call stuff "assault firearms" and have different classes of such things, with different restrictions on purchases of both ammo and for the weapons themselves. Apparently some libertarian and other similarly minded willful creatures are defending the term itself "assault rifle" and a strict definition with the tenacity that led to placing the flag on Iwo Jima, to avoid any controls being placed on other weapons, like say the 12 gauge that apparently caused most of the wounds, leading to the one and only incident of such a magnitude, on the Gregory Scale of Gun Violence incidents. Any unidirectional bomb device is made to assault something, be it a beer can or a baby. And all firearms are unidirectional bomb devices, except for one that malfunctions such that it explodes in the user's hands.