Quote of the Day

"It seems as self-evident to me as it was to the Founding Fathers that a people disarmed by their government cannot purport to be free. The bottom line remains: Force rules. Therefore, if you allow the government to have a monopoly on force, then you can never purport to be a free person."

— Charley Reese, The Orlando Sentinel, April 18, 2000.

Gun Bans Shot Down — Right on Schedule

Yes!!!

Life imitates art once again: As predicted in Torch in the Night, the Supreme Court shot down state and local gun bans. And right on schedule, that is, one year early, actually. (My fictional prediction was half past June 2011.)

Thus, to get rid of gun control, Traynor had to convince the justices that the right to keep and bear arms recognized by the Constitution not only was a protection against federal gun control, but also applied to state and municipal governments. He had to get the justices to rule that the Fourteenth Amendment had extended the Second Amendment to the states. In legalese, the Second Amendment had been incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment. After such a ruling, the often capriciously administered state licensing schemes, like in New York, and outright gun bans, like in Chicago, would be null and void.

Torch in the Night, p. 14.

"Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the court, said the Second Amendment right 'applies equally to the federal government and the states.' "

QED.

All My Taxes Go to Ex's

(With apologies to George Strait.)

All my taxes go to ex's:
Yeah, Stateside is a place I'd dearly love to be.
But all my taxes go to ex's:
Might just as well hang myself in Tennessee.

IRS makes me pay towards the health insurance of each one,
Local taxes pay for pigs so chicks don't have to own a gun,
Alimony for monotony makes me lose m' sanity,
Child support for brats I didn't want
Got the law lookin' for me.

All my taxes go to ex's:
Yeah, Stateside is a place I'd dearly love to be.
But all my taxes go to ex's:
Might just as well hang myself in Tennessee.

I remember that old Frio River where I learned to swim.
And it brings to mind another time where I wore my welcome thin.
By transcendental meditation, I go there each night,
But I always come back to Freeport
Long before daylight.

All my ex's died in Texas,
For Freeport is a place I dearly love to be.
So all my ex's died in Texas,
And that's 'cause they hanged themselves in penury.

Some folks think I'm hidin',
It's been rumored that I died,
But I'm alive and well in Bahama.

Long Live the Sinner

There's an excellent article in The Atlasphere: "Long Live the Objectivist."

Love the Dylan Thomas line.

Well, I've been thinking it's funny that religionists would be sad at funerals.

Unless they secretly believe the deceased has gone to hell. Which wouldn't exactly be a compliment. Or wait, it rather would, given their morality, that they believe you go to hell for all the good things in life.

"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun…"

—Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young"



But if they truly believe the deceased has gone to heaven, why aren't they happy for him? The only reason to be sad would be that they miss him. And wouldn't that be terribly selfish by their standards? If they really believe in a life after death, they should turn every funeral into a party.

"If there are no cigars in heaven, I shall not go."

— Mark Twain

Disarming Successful — Patients Dead

Turning all of Limeyland into a gun-self-defense-free zone did not stop this limey from going postal with his miniature arsenal. Well, as the wisdom of the gun-control-free zone has it, when guns are outlawed, only criminals (including the government's jackbooted thugs) have guns.

At least the limey rulers are more consistent than others by disarming some of their thugs, too. It seems to make them a tad less aggressive. Or maybe the sugar rush from scones is not as bad as that from donuts.

Anyways, if people were reasonable, gun control would be dead now. Moon bats are no more reasonable than wing nuts.