Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

So This Is What Leftists Look Like!

What can I say about this picture? That it's appropriate, if you are a white person in a Leftist hate march, to utter the unmentionable "N"-word? Does this say that the upstanding young gentleman who is so artfully employing his First Amendment right (that better than one million Americans have died protecting) is making the apparently believable (in this crowd, anyway) claim that Bush is a racist member of the Klan? That he'll kill YOUR CHILDREN?

What really amazes me is that these people are amazed that they lose elections. How could they not look at themselves and see their political alignment with The Great Religion Of The Left, Communism, offers defacto support for the murder of as many as 100 million people? Do they not realize that they smell like cattle because they haven't bathed in half a year, and that eventually Daddy will take away the trust fund and they'll be living in the streets?

To me, this behavior is emblematic of the eminent demise of The American Left. It is a party as far removed from reality as was the Klan's love of bigotry and racial hatred (Robert Byrd could tell you all about the Klan, NOT George Bush), and will be equally as short-lived. These freakish wonders will also use a racist term and not care how it offends millions of Americans of all colors - they'll say and do ANYTHING to get "their guy" in power. When that happens, you will witness the beginning of the end of this nation.

If you want to be sickened laugh out loud at these bullshit artists, go here for more pics.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 26, 2005 19:46 | link | comments (5) |

Oh, Good. I'm Charles The VI!

Great news, folks:

"You (me, in this case) are Charles VI of France, also known as Charles the Mad or Charles the Well-Beloved!

A fine, amiable and dreamy young man, skilled in horsemanship and archery, you were also from a long line of dribbling madmen. King at 12 and quickly married to your sweetheart, Bavarian Princess Isabeau, you enjoyed many happy months together before either of you could speak anything of the other's language. However, after illness you became a tad unstable. When a raving lunatic ran up to your entourage spouting an incoherent prophecy of doom, you were unsettled enough to slaughter four of your best men when a page dropped a lance. Your hair and nails fell out. At a royal masquerade, you and your courtiers dressed as wild men, ending in tragedy when four of them accidentally caught fire and burned to death. You were saved by the timely intervention of the Duchess of Berry's underskirts.

This brought on another bout of sickness, which surgeons countered by drilling holes in your skull. The following months saw you suffer an exorcism, beg your friends to kill you, go into hyperactive fits of gaiety, run through your rooms to the point of exhaustion, hide from imaginary assassins, claim your name was Georges, deny that you were King and fail to recognise your family. You smashed furniture and wet yourself at regular intervals. Passing briefly into erratic genius, you believed yourself to be made of glass and demanded iron rods in your attire to prevent you breaking.

In 1405 you stopped bathing, shaving or changing your clothes. This went on until several men were hired to blacken their faces, hide, jump out and shout "boo!", upon which you resumed basic hygiene. Despite this, your wife continued sleeping with you until 1407, when she hired a young beauty, Odette de Champdivers, to take her place. Isabeau then consoled herself, as it were, with your brother. Her lovers followed thick and fast while you became a pawn of your court, until you had her latest beau strangled and drowned.

A severe fever was fended off with oranges and pomegranates in vast quantities, but you succumbed again in 1422 and died. Your disease was most likely hereditary. Unfortunately, you had anywhere up to eleven children, who variously went on to develop capriciousness, great cruelty, insecurity, paranoia, revulsion towards food and, in one case, a phobia of bridges."

You can discern which Historical Lunatic you are by clicking here.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 23, 2005 05:53 | link | comments |

The Mark Of The Fuddite

Are you a Fuddite?

This guy sells to Fuddites (taken from article about Sarah Brady's troubles):

Meanwhile, John Massey, owner of Shooter's Supply in New Castle, is doing a brisk business -- in hunting equipment, not quasi-military rifles. "We do a little bit of [business in assault-type guns], but it's not our main deal here," said Massey, who will order such a weapon if a customer asks. "We prefer to carry the higher-quality guns," he said.

Found in the gunshows all across America, the Fuddite pursues his bolt-action, wood-stocked 40-year-old Remington with a zeal known only to a few gun owners. He can be seen on the range in October, often firing 3 -5 rounds, then packing up and heading for home, confident "his rig" will bag him a deer or an elk, and that nothing will go wrong with the rifle on the shoot. Often, the Fuddite can be found staring diconsolately at other gun owners who have weapons he disapproves of, like self-loading arms. "Whatcher need all dem bullits fer, son? Cain't you gits him onna' firs' shot?" he'll ask, a barely contained sneer apparent to all on his face.

The Fuddite is a steadfast defender of The Second Amendment, in which the government gives hunters the right to take game every October and November. He also drives $35K trucks into the woods, wears Blaze Orange and Camo "like they wuz goin' outta style," and can sometimes be found in a state of inebrieation, if a hunt is not yielding game.

As it is near fall, keep an eye out for the elusive Fuddite. He should appear at your local Gun Scam Show any time, now!

posted by: underwhelmed at September 18, 2005 19:34 | link | comments (2) |

Mayor Nagin's Note To Self...

"Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance."

This, from New Orleans Activist and former Black Panther, Mahlik Rahim!

Another from an admittedly more adversarial source.

It looks to me like the Mayor is going to finally be held responsible for the gross incompetence and corruption his admistration has shown on every level. I am hopeful that his police chief, the guy who likes to ignore people's constitutional rights, will be first in line for the buearucratic blame game that is inevitable after such tragedies.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 15, 2005 08:09 | link | comments (1) |

A 9/11 Commemerative

The target on the right was shot out with about 30 rounds of .40 cal (former Glock 23) at 15 feet. My left target was shot by me with my new handgun, the CZ-75B at about 20 feet with about 14 rounds.

This is how I remember 9/11.

It's now a Libercontrarian tradition: Osama Bin Laden, until his well-celebrated demise, will be first and foremost in my sight picture on succesive 9/11s.

I hope I he gets captured and executed shortly, as I'd rather not have his insipid visage staring down at me for ten years.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 12, 2005 16:53 | link | comments |

Whittle Posts Again - Finally!

For the gourmands of the Blogosphere, there are few tastier meals than a Bill Whittle essay. That's why Tribes is a "must read." Bill is creating a mega-machine of reason and logic in this post; I literally READ IT SLOWER at the end so that it would last a little longer.

There's a reason why Whittle makes money writing in Hollywood - he's GOOD at it.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 09, 2005 20:50 | link | comments |

Big Fat Meplats Of Wisdom - AND HUMOR!

For reasons that are beyond my ability to explain, I didn't have my friend Wadcutter's blog listed on my links. It was a mistake, as Wad is one hell of a human being. I hope he accepts my apology.

It's a definite read/scream. *WARNING* His blog is not for people who can't take the heavy exercise of laughter.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 09, 2005 06:24 | link | comments (2) |

Oh Cool! We Don't Have To Worry About The Second Amendment Anymore!

How terribly, terribly convenient for us - we don't have to worry about our silly little "rights" anymore!

Just when you thought it was safe to own property again (and keep and bear arms to defend your community), looters come to take it away. The funny part is that the looters are from the government - and they're here to help, just like they did with poor lil' ol' Pfizer, in it's battle against that mean Suzette Kelo.

You will have to register for the New York Times to view this report.

Arfcom comments, in a nice 20 page thread that's burning up the board:

Yes, friends, in the view of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, your guns can be collected from you by his government thugs, without that silly and troublesome 2nd Amendment-thingy getting in the way. Insider tip: Just try to make sure that you are comfortable in your Zip-Tie handcuffs as you sit on the curb with rifles pointed at your head.

Here's a snippet of video from the alarming event.

You will have to download a Divix play bundle to get this deal to work (no registration required!).

The only thing these people were missing was a purple triangle or a Star of David, and a long trip in a cattle car to a government-run "relocation facility." Didn't work out so good for those folks that were raped and murdered in the Superdome, did it?

Hi - is this still America? Is it the Balkans? Botswana? WTF?

The Constitution is a worthless document unless someone's interested in enforcing the damnned thing.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 08, 2005 21:21 | link | comments |

Eric's Interesting Questions About Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

Eric asked, in his blog:

1. "Do you think Posse Comitatus, which prevents the President and Federal government from executing/enforcing the law using the military, should have just been suspended? If so, why?

My response:  I had no idea that the military could be utilized for aid w/o violating PC. If I had, I would have been inclined to place them at the disposal of FEMA - I know that you are suspicious of said empowerment, but it can clearly be a time-limited deal.

2. Do you think that the complete disintegration of the New Orleans PD had anything to do with the outcome in NO?

My response:  While none of the other commenters agreed with you about the disinitgration of the NOPD, I would heartily agree - this failure to keep order definitely manifested itself in violence and chaos. Police simply aren't prepared for long-term engagement wherein they don't come at violent offenders with overwhelming force. Their doctrine always calls for "backup," where none would arrive in this case. This would reduce their ability to react to the fluid type of street combat that typifies urban warfare, and would be a huge contributing factor to the failure of that organization under such pressures.

3. What should the governor and mayor done differently? How well does Blanco and Nagin's actions compare with the state and local actions and response in Mississippi and Alabama, where entire towns were leveled completely, not just flooded?

My response:  The Mayor and The Governor of NO and Louisiana are almost wholly to blame for their complete and utter unpreparedness for this event, from public education/polling of opinions about evacuation to failures to improve flood control. They should be run out of office on a rail. President Bush should not be the recipient of much attention, except that his overwatch of DHS/FEMA shows it to be a desperately underprepared and poorly organized farce.

4. Why do you think that race is a factor? How is this different from the responses to Ivan, Andrew or last year's hurricanes, all of which impacted far more ethnic minorities than whites? You do realize that all of those disasters occurred under a Bush Presidency as well? So why the different reaction to this one? If he, and other white politicians, just doesn't care because these people are black, why didn't they do the same thing last year? Or in 1992? Or 1989?"

My response:  Much like "Rhymes With Right" (an earlier commenter) says, the reason why the media outlets seem to only show black victims is because the NO neighborhoods struck are comprised primarily of African-Americans. Many are impovrished - they are people who are on public assistance and didn't posses or felt compelled to create the means to escape the city under threat.

I put forward, under the obvious threat of being called "racist," that the fact that these folks elected to stay in the face of the worst storm likely to hit the city in recorded history, reflects a fatalism in that community that oddly did not affect other African-American communities struck by hurricanes in recent history. I suspect that this is more of a discriptor of a mindset unique to ALL people who live in this city - NO is unlike any place in the world, and having visited there, I can understand why people would have this attitude who live there, although it is no small comfort to them in the aftermath of such a storm.

It should be noted that it's not a position I support, but I do understand it. I can also understand why people suffering like this in the aftermath are once again looking to government to pull them out of the breach, although I can't rationalize how one can continually submit himself to depridations from both Nature and Big Government without looking for escape.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 05, 2005 14:02 | link | comments (2) |

Further Arguments About Zero-Sum/Unseen Losses

Eric and the crew of the Life, Liberty and Property blog are taking me out to the woodshed a little on my analysis of the position I have taken on the opportunity cost of the destruction of New Orleans. Says Eric:

"As folks have pointed out, this is not a zero sum game. The money spent to rebuild WILL have a growth impact on the economy. However, that is not the point. Is the growth impact greater than it would have been if it had been allocated by normal market needs? The answer to that is almost certainly "no", which is an opportunity cost. On top of that, you still have the issue that you would have, without the storm, had New Orleans plus X billion dollars invested in the economy somewhere else. With the storm you only have New Orleans rebuilt."

My Response:

" 'You will ONLY have New Orleans rebuilt.'

Assuming that intelligence overreaches sentimentality and bad design, New Orleans will be rebuilt far better, in a place (say eight miles inland) or situation (Behind 70 foot tall levees 1/4 mile wide) that will survive a category five hurricane.

That's no small beans.

V 2.0 of New Orleans will be a far better product, if we proceed with intelligence, instead of the wit and motivations of a Micro$oft Design Team. That Hurricane Katrina will have shaken out (if you will forgive me) the most unproductive citizens (the unrelenting consumers of public funds), that this tragedy shall have outed what are most certainly pockets of great corruption within the structure of city governance, and that eventually, the city shall rise again from the muck far more streamlined and productive, that is a certainty.

People will get paid to design and erect NO v2.0. The buildings they build won't be 75 years old, they'll be new. The infrastructure they create won't be creaking under the load of un-planned-for expansion, it will be new. The city will take the same "Bonne Homme Rolle" attitude and put it in a newer, less corrupt, shinier New Orleans, with less caked-on puke and more working-sewage/better-foundation/reduced-risk-of-being-washed-away/mugged/raped.

What's the point, anyway, about the "unseen costs?" Why are you worried about something you cannot manage to observe? It is what it is - there's no lesson to be taken away from this; you cannot un-make the tragedy in any future time.

Look positively to the future about what can be done to prevent the mindless repeat of this horrific event. God did not ask your opinion of this one, nor is He likely to ask you about any future disasters He intends on inflicting upon our nation. Anyway, it's not about what happens to you, it's about how you deal with it that counts.

We seem to be making a moderately good start, in spite of insane rants about "white plots" to kill blacks, cannibalism, and end-of-America bullshit. When the NG boys show up with their rifles and their unsmiling faces, the situation will calm right down and we will begin the rescue/recovery efforts in earnest."

I wasn't sure I understood the nature of the argument to begin with - the tragedy is what it is, any hand-wringing or philosophical debate of 19th century economics will not change the situation UNLESS we are willing to foolishly rebuild the city in the same spot it was without taking far more aggressive measures to protect it.

 

posted by: underwhelmed at September 02, 2005 20:47 | link | comments (3) |

In The Aftermath

filbert, at Medary.com, writes:

"I'll say it once: looters should be shot on sight. No arguments, no second-guessing. You loot, you die.

...The bottom line is that advocating gun control is essentially saying that that something like New Orleans can't happen here because the police will always be there. Well, New Orleans proves beyond all doubt that the police won't always be there. What 'cha gonna do when they come for you?"

My response:

"Maybe in the aftermath, we can discuss New Orleans' gun control laws. Do they have any? If so, why didn't they prevent the violence that lawlessness brings? [wink wink]"

This is certainly something to think about. There will be a world of stories coming off of this tragedy about American Predators and American Citizens taking up arms for both evil and good. I look forward to breaking them down to discover what truths, if any, are revealed in the tales of menace and defense.

posted by: underwhelmed at September 02, 2005 06:25 | link | comments (2) |

Is This Tragedy A Zero Sum Game?

Eric, from Eric's Grumbles Before The Grave, and Russell, from Cafe Hayek, have promoted Bastiat's theory of economics as a likely predictor of the economic effect of the hurricane.

"So, rather than having the enjoyment of the billions of dollars spent on other things, private consumption, investment, research AND New Orleans, we instead will just have New Orleans. The opportunity cost will be enormous. That which is not seen is billions upon billions of dollars not spent on economic growth. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this is a short term negative and a long term positive, economically."

I respectfully disagree. The events which follow the hurricane, the rebuilding efforts, will result in a superior world, assuming they are done by competent men in a morally just manner - now is not the time for the "roof repair hucksters" and sundry other carpetbaggers who always appear on scene whenever disaster-driven opportunity presents itself.

Anyway, here's my response:

"...(L)ike it or not, the loss of conservation serves to compel men to remake, and often in doing so, a better product, by more organized minds utilizing superior technologies and materials, for longer-lasting stuff.

It, as you are often encouraged to remind me, is not a zero-sum game."

posted by: underwhelmed at September 02, 2005 05:53 | link | comments |