Tuesday Night thoughts

it's half past the blues, as the song goes

so anyway, it may be half past the blues, but it's also a quarter to bed, so I'll be brief.

First, Kim du Toit brings us the Quote of the Day. I first read it without the appropriate "context" and thought it was spot on. As it turns out, it was some poor leftard's weak attempt at snark. The quote is as follows:

“It might as well be the public policy in Virginia that if you’re not a convicted felon, we want you armed to the teeth.”

I agree with Kim: this is excellent public policy. Implement immediately, please. Nationwide. THX

Kim also mentions the "feel-good" story of the day, about the one good reason why everyone should be armed.

Steve H. Graham of Hog on Ice fame fleshes it out:

It's a perfect example of how privately held guns are supposed to work. A criminal has a concealed weapon, and he uses it to commit a crime. A law-abiding permit holder surprises him with a legal firearm. The criminal loses.

If not for the armed manager and assistant manager, two or more innocent people might be dead today. Instead, the system scooped a troublemaker off the streets. Added bonus: every dirtbag in the vicinity of this store will know about the guns, and when they decide to rob business in order to buy drugs, they'll cross this grocery off their list. And decent people will know it's a relatively safe place to shop.

Concealed carry is a wonderful thing. Open carry would be better, but it seems like Sigmund Freud was involved in the drafting of our permit laws, because concealed is the rule. When you go about your business with a weapon at your disposal, you have tremendous peace of mind, because you know the odds that you will be harmed by a criminal are much, much lower than they ordinarily would be. You can't use it to end arguments or to prevent people from being rude to you, as Mr. Grant should have known, but you stand a very good chance of preventing yourself and those around you from being injured, raped, robbed, or killed.

Righteous, brother.

More soon. thatisall.

Energy Bills

or T-notes. I gets confused.

so anyway, Al over at Cold Fury unloads on the recent "Energy" bill signed into law by the President:

For several years I’ve defended Bush’s basic adult human qualities. In spite of numerous fuckups, I’ve always thought that liberal and leftist criticism of him as a mental defective was off-base.....

That’s what I thought, anyhow.

In the wake of today’s announcement - Bush’s second straight combination corporate giveaway / abortion of an energy policy plan - I’m now pretty sure that I’ve been wrong all along.....

In case you missed it, we suddenly picked up an assload of momentum toward turning into a second rate socialist shithole over the last year or two.

Read the whole thing. The taste alone does not satisfy.

Sigh. To think of all the blood, sweat, and tears we endured to get GWB elected in the first place; and the re-doubling that effort in 2004, to get crap like this? Not to mention "No Child Left Behind", Harriet Meirs, Dubai Ports, "Comprehensive Immigration Reform", et al. The list goes on and on.

Disillusioned much? Yes, thank you. And I've had quite my fill.

I reserve the right to revise and extend at a future date. But you knew that....

19 April: Two Anniversaries

for all you students of history out there

so anyway, today, 19 April is a day to be celebrated, as well as a day of infamy.

First, 19 April 1775. Dale Franks of Q and O fame recounts the backstory on the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the "shot heard 'round the world":

Today is an important day in American history. It is not, oddly, a day we commemorate in any particular way. But April 19th, 1775, is the day American independence truly began. Because today is the day the country began fighting for it.

Do go read the whole thing. Fascinating stuff, that.

Second, 19 April 1995. Dave in Texas over at Ace of Spades reminds us that today is the anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City:

This morning, at 9:02 CDT, people in Oklahoma City paused to remember the victims of this day, thirteen years ago.

Which is a good and fine thing to do.

One hundred and sixty eight people. 19 of them were children in a day care center.

Horror. And heartache.

As fair warning, Dave's post includes the iconic picture of that day in Oklahoma City thirteen years ago. Eerily similar to another iconic photo....

More soon

Dextrosphere Round-up, Minimalist-style

a few post to print out and leave on the water-cooler

so anyway, it looks like Sen. Obama developed a case of foot-in-mouth disease recently. The MSM swallowed his explanation, but those pesky vast right wing conspiracy bloggers just won't let it go.

Let the snark begin. Ace is all over this, going Full Circle and then some. Click-n-scroll, people.

McQ of Q and O fame analyzes the hyperbole, and comes up with some not-so-obvious (to the average MSM consumer) angles:

Obama's definitely right that the voters of PA are frustrated, but not at all for the reasons he thinks. They're as frustrated with government being involved in things it shouldn't be. And they're equally frustrated with the constant failure of government to do what they consider to be its legitimate job, such as controlling immigration. They're tired of bureaucrats and politicians running every aspect of their lives. They're tired of the constant erosion of their rights and freedoms. If you want to know why guns are important to these people consider the size of government and its intrusiveness and the answer becomes plain to see. And what does a politician like Obama promise? Even more intrusion.

Mike, the host over at Cold Fury, does it up right. This is how a proper blog post is done. Outstanding. Steyn, McQ, Ace, Geraghty, Malkin all brought together in one post. Well done, Sir.

Wrapping up, Stephen "VodkaPundit" Green puts Senator and Mrs. Obama's elitism up on a tee and whacks it good:

Not meaning to quote John Mellencougar, but I grew up in a small town, and I’ll tell you something else those folks don’t like, senator. They don’t like being told that they’re rubes by a city slicker, they don’t like being told that they’re racists because they think unlimited illegal immigration might not be the greatest idea, and they really don’t like being condescended to. They particularly won’t like being condescended to by a guy who hasn’t accomplished much more than graduating from law school and winning a few elections in which he effectively ran unopposed.

If there are any functioning adults among the Obamunists, they’re going to have to sit Senator and Mrs. Savior down real soon and tell them to knock this kind of elitist stuff off, or they’ll manage to whittle themselves down to the hard-core Democratic base vote and not too much else.

Bonus points to the VodkaPundit for coining the term "Obamunists". I totally "get" it, and can't wait to use it in conversation.

BTW; I've always referred to Melloncamp as "John Booger Menstrualcramp". But that's another story for another time....

A Milestone (and other semi-personal business)

The hits just keep on coming

so anyway, some time today the Supply Side Politics 2.0 hit counter recorded the 7000th hit.

Thank you, all. So very much.

I'd post the screen cap of the event, but it's on my employer's laptop and I'm not going anywhere near that vile piece of equipment until Monday morning. And then, only reluctantly.

I've seen an increase in traffic over the past couple of months; there are some larger, more successful blogs out there that have graced me with some links and a few blogroll inclusions. Thank you, very much.

It really does make this blogging hobby so much more enjoyable. I just wish my brother-in-blog was here to enjoy it.

Which brings me to my second point, the "semi-personal business". My brother-in-blog. (Sigh)

His last post was on 09 April 2005. He's a busy man, a fellow traveler in The Stoopid Business™, with twice the number of kids. He gets enormous amounts of slack. If he says he doesn't have time to post, I take him at his word. My secret opinion is that I posted something that was so disagreeable to him that he traded in his blogging shoes, but for the life of me, I can't imagine what it was, and he's not sayin'.

As I said somewhere before: I'd paraphrase Merle Haggard's classic Misery and Gin, but I can't find anything that rhymes with "cheap vodka" so I'll just let it go. You can expect adjustments to the side-bar. thatisall.

Seven Thousand. That is cool. Again, Thank You Very Much.