Monday, March 05, 2012
Wimp! or, It's Not "Open Season On Cops"
...Despite what bedwetting opinionators may think. Nope; Indiana's legislature has fixed (rather, is in the process of fixing) a very grave wrong done by our state's Supreme Court back in 2011, when they decided you have no right to resist even an illegal police entry to your home. Led by the soon-to-be-ablegated* Steven H. David, they spat in the face of long-standing case and common law.
And the Legislature took steps to rectify the matter with SB 001. Yep, first on the list.
There may, indeed be times to fight back. In Indiana, if it was one of those times, the householder will have some possibility of redress. That's really all the law does; Officer Friendly can still go all Harless on you, or much worse (officer safety-wise, $BADGUY was prolly gonna shoot at first knock anyway). As ever, in the end we can only look to the good sense and goodwill of our fellowcritters. Doesn't always work -- as SB 001 recognizes and the Indiana Supreme Court did not.
(Mucho appreciato to Clare Wolfe, who caught this.)
______________________________
* Yes, it's a real word. I don't always make them up.
And the Legislature took steps to rectify the matter with SB 001. Yep, first on the list.
There may, indeed be times to fight back. In Indiana, if it was one of those times, the householder will have some possibility of redress. That's really all the law does; Officer Friendly can still go all Harless on you, or much worse (officer safety-wise, $BADGUY was prolly gonna shoot at first knock anyway). As ever, in the end we can only look to the good sense and goodwill of our fellowcritters. Doesn't always work -- as SB 001 recognizes and the Indiana Supreme Court did not.
(Mucho appreciato to Clare Wolfe, who caught this.)
______________________________
* Yes, it's a real word. I don't always make them up.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
IDing An Honest Gunnie: Meme-Tagged
New Jovian Thunderbolt tagged me a week ago tomorrow with a meme and I've been hiding from it: "...things that indicate, to me, that a gun owner or shooter maybe is an honest one..."
It is an interesting question -- do I look like Diogenes' kid sister? Oversized bathrobe aside? (No, no, not "aside" like that! Oh, the salacity!). How can you tell, other than a nice long lived-through-it history with them, that anyone is honest?
Well, you can't; but most of us have workable substitutes.
First off, I try to be polite and fair to everyone I meet. --I do not always succeed; if your first words to me include wild accusations and scatological talk, I'm liable to jump salty. But in general interaction, we reap as we have sown and I try to be "kind, tolerant, genial" and possibly even "benevolent"[1] or at least beneficient. People who react in kind get a conditional okay.[2]
Next, how're they dressed? How do the carry themselves? Appropriate to the circumstances? Any tattoos? If so, izzit art or skinhead/gangity stuff? Hey, it's probably soooo unfair, but if I see a lotta ugly monochrome work on your skin, I'm liable to keep my distance until I know more. Your Mom might love you unconditionally but me, not so much.
Let's say this is at a range or similar gunny venue, what's their ordnance like? Well cared-for or all beat up? Decent quality or junk? If junk, do I get the impression it's the best they could afford and is handled to optimize its utility, or is the person just an idiot? A lot of shiny plating on an "affordable" firearm is a downcheck, barring countervailing evidence; d00d with a filthy, beat-up Glock had better be Mr. Gun School otherwise.
What's their gun-handling like? Safe or sloppy? If they're not safe, they could be a pillar of probity in every other way but I am still not trusting them. That goes double if they won't take a hint, quadruple if they argue about basics.
Do they know their own guns? (See preceding two). Again, this is subjective and variable; maybe it's Mr. Poor-But-Honest's first trip to the range with the gold-plated-trigger Lorcin that was the only thing in his price range at Cheap Used Guns Inc. Still, there's fumbling and fumbling, getting to know a new gun vs. empirical, street-y awkwardness. It's a clue.
Do they share? Not required but it's a useful parameter; the guy who's shooting something unusual and is willing to talk about it, maybe even offer others (who he has decided to trust) a chance to try it out.
Note that all of this can, in fact, be run as a setup for a scam; some version of the fiddle game,[3] for instance.
So how can you tell if someone is honest? Barring very long association, you can't; all you can do is make your best decision and rely on the odds to pick up the slack: most people are honest enough and as for the rest, well, it's difficult to cheat an honest person.
I'm supposed to tag others but by now, everyone I know well enough to do that to has already been bit. I guess I could "tag" some antis and people I've crossed words with, but why shovel coal in their engines? Nope, you, Dear Audience, I'll tag you! In comments or at your place (link back if you're minded): what're your criteria for an honest gunny?
______________________________
1. Cripes, who left a distaff-equivalent of avuncular outta the language? "Amitable" would clatter 'round too much in the brainbox and "materternal" is even worse.
2. What's the old saying, "Be friendly to everyone you meet, and always have a plan to kill them." Just for practice. Um, mostly. Also, did you locate the exits?
3. Also known as a "pigeon drop." Relatedly, I think I lost my glass eye in here! $500 reward!
It is an interesting question -- do I look like Diogenes' kid sister? Oversized bathrobe aside? (No, no, not "aside" like that! Oh, the salacity!). How can you tell, other than a nice long lived-through-it history with them, that anyone is honest?
Well, you can't; but most of us have workable substitutes.
First off, I try to be polite and fair to everyone I meet. --I do not always succeed; if your first words to me include wild accusations and scatological talk, I'm liable to jump salty. But in general interaction, we reap as we have sown and I try to be "kind, tolerant, genial" and possibly even "benevolent"[1] or at least beneficient. People who react in kind get a conditional okay.[2]
Next, how're they dressed? How do the carry themselves? Appropriate to the circumstances? Any tattoos? If so, izzit art or skinhead/gangity stuff? Hey, it's probably soooo unfair, but if I see a lotta ugly monochrome work on your skin, I'm liable to keep my distance until I know more. Your Mom might love you unconditionally but me, not so much.
Let's say this is at a range or similar gunny venue, what's their ordnance like? Well cared-for or all beat up? Decent quality or junk? If junk, do I get the impression it's the best they could afford and is handled to optimize its utility, or is the person just an idiot? A lot of shiny plating on an "affordable" firearm is a downcheck, barring countervailing evidence; d00d with a filthy, beat-up Glock had better be Mr. Gun School otherwise.
What's their gun-handling like? Safe or sloppy? If they're not safe, they could be a pillar of probity in every other way but I am still not trusting them. That goes double if they won't take a hint, quadruple if they argue about basics.
Do they know their own guns? (See preceding two). Again, this is subjective and variable; maybe it's Mr. Poor-But-Honest's first trip to the range with the gold-plated-trigger Lorcin that was the only thing in his price range at Cheap Used Guns Inc. Still, there's fumbling and fumbling, getting to know a new gun vs. empirical, street-y awkwardness. It's a clue.
Do they share? Not required but it's a useful parameter; the guy who's shooting something unusual and is willing to talk about it, maybe even offer others (who he has decided to trust) a chance to try it out.
Note that all of this can, in fact, be run as a setup for a scam; some version of the fiddle game,[3] for instance.
So how can you tell if someone is honest? Barring very long association, you can't; all you can do is make your best decision and rely on the odds to pick up the slack: most people are honest enough and as for the rest, well, it's difficult to cheat an honest person.
I'm supposed to tag others but by now, everyone I know well enough to do that to has already been bit. I guess I could "tag" some antis and people I've crossed words with, but why shovel coal in their engines? Nope, you, Dear Audience, I'll tag you! In comments or at your place (link back if you're minded): what're your criteria for an honest gunny?
______________________________
1. Cripes, who left a distaff-equivalent of avuncular outta the language? "Amitable" would clatter 'round too much in the brainbox and "materternal" is even worse.
2. What's the old saying, "Be friendly to everyone you meet, and always have a plan to kill them." Just for practice. Um, mostly. Also, did you locate the exits?
3. Also known as a "pigeon drop." Relatedly, I think I lost my glass eye in here! $500 reward!
Lunch Menu
Toad-in-Hole with Surry sausage!
--But not plain ol' whitebread fried with henfruit in the center. Oh, no! Marbled rye (with a bit of Cajun seasoning sprinkled on), a big brown egg, and the top well-covered with diced leek and some diced hot pickled cherry pepper.
Little bitta bacon fat to start things, the Surries sizzlin' in the center an' smoky goodness sharing out to the eggs and bread. A couple of minutes with a lid over it all to ensure done-ness, then finished off in the open. Yum!
I'd've taken photos but it was just too tempting to wait.
--But not plain ol' whitebread fried with henfruit in the center. Oh, no! Marbled rye (with a bit of Cajun seasoning sprinkled on), a big brown egg, and the top well-covered with diced leek and some diced hot pickled cherry pepper.
Little bitta bacon fat to start things, the Surries sizzlin' in the center an' smoky goodness sharing out to the eggs and bread. A couple of minutes with a lid over it all to ensure done-ness, then finished off in the open. Yum!
I'd've taken photos but it was just too tempting to wait.
Heh
Sho' nuf, Quick bowed up when challenged. It's a kind of hysteria.
That show's over, folks. Be sure and tip your waitperson -- and keep an ear open for Killing Fields type chatter. You can't whistle your way past that graveyard.
That show's over, folks. Be sure and tip your waitperson -- and keep an ear open for Killing Fields type chatter. You can't whistle your way past that graveyard.
Wobbita-WHAT
I'm currently watching former* GOP chairman Michael Steele on, of all venues, an MSNBC chat show. He has just "explained" that his party lost in '08 because of a dull primary race.
The whole roundtable is depressing; he's being treated as if he rode the short bus to the studio. Maybe he did.
"Who is Charlie Gordon?" is a lousy motto for a political party. Or an entire society.
______________________________________
* Bubblehead Les kindly pointed out that he and that job have parted ways.
The whole roundtable is depressing; he's being treated as if he rode the short bus to the studio. Maybe he did.
"Who is Charlie Gordon?" is a lousy motto for a political party. Or an entire society.
______________________________________
* Bubblehead Les kindly pointed out that he and that job have parted ways.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
"...Where The House Used To Be..."
Tornadoes screamed through southern Indiana (and nearby states) yesterday, strewing schoolbuses like jackstraws. The little town of Maryville is described as "gone."
Local media has the skinny -- and links where you can donate to the Red Cross.
Even in downtown Indianapolis, we had chickpea-sized hail and winds that shook the roofs at work; satellite dishes were flexing and wobbling.
For all the talk of "Zombie Apocalypse," or more serious concerns about economic collapse, your region's version of extreme weather is the most likely civil emergency you will face. Have you made preparations? Do you have a plan? Do you realize it's unlikely to survive contact with reality intact? (You need that plan nevertheless: gotta start somewhere.) Being ready is more than what you have stocked up and thought through; it's an attitude.
Live helicopter images showed locals out within an hour of the disaster, checking on their neighbors, most walking carefully down the middle of streets, visibly wary of the many possible hazards. One woman opened her basement to a busload of high-school students as the storms bore down. That's a survival mindset; I wonder how many of those kids are lending a hand in the cleanup/recovery efforts already underway, but it's an easy bet it's more than would have been if they hadn't had shelter from the tornado.
Local media has the skinny -- and links where you can donate to the Red Cross.
Even in downtown Indianapolis, we had chickpea-sized hail and winds that shook the roofs at work; satellite dishes were flexing and wobbling.
For all the talk of "Zombie Apocalypse," or more serious concerns about economic collapse, your region's version of extreme weather is the most likely civil emergency you will face. Have you made preparations? Do you have a plan? Do you realize it's unlikely to survive contact with reality intact? (You need that plan nevertheless: gotta start somewhere.) Being ready is more than what you have stocked up and thought through; it's an attitude.
Live helicopter images showed locals out within an hour of the disaster, checking on their neighbors, most walking carefully down the middle of streets, visibly wary of the many possible hazards. One woman opened her basement to a busload of high-school students as the storms bore down. That's a survival mindset; I wonder how many of those kids are lending a hand in the cleanup/recovery efforts already underway, but it's an easy bet it's more than would have been if they hadn't had shelter from the tornado.
Friday, March 02, 2012
Teh Point, You Fail To Grasp It
Man Who Named Blogosphere Unable To Take The Pebble From My Hand; Must Go Anyhow
WARNING: ADULT LANGUAGE
Internationally-known San Franciscan Bill Quick has put me in my place, by gum! -- Um, well, he would've had I been standing where he decided I was, that is.
Y'see, he said my posting about a vicious, petty rant against Republicans (but it could have been from anywhen, about any despised Other) was "hysterical bullshit."
Ha ha, sez I, I already had a hysterectomy.
He seems to think I was decrying incivility qua incivility, and claiming such is what leads to the great horrors of politics. --Now, it is unfair to blame him; he likely read no deeper than Chas G. Hill's excerpt and besides, most adults read at no more than an eighth-grade level. Subtleties can be lost.
So fuck civility. Let me spell it out for him, in nice little words even denizens of of the Golden Typo State* can understand:
The problem, Bill, is not that the spew in question is uncivil, nor even that it is -- in your opinion -- expressive of "honest, deeply-felt disagreement..." I have no doubt the writer was sincere; it is obvious her feelings run to her very core. Whoopee.
The problem is, she's already decided anyone tagged with "Republican" is pure evil, to be hated, feared and driven out. Y'all aren't someone she's disagreeing with, Bill: she's decided you're vermin. A cockroach. You won't be having a shouting match with her; soon as she spots you, she's calling the Orkin man. She could be polite about it, but she's decided to stand on a chair and scream. No matter how the message is delivered, it's a toxic one.
It's not lets-go-vote-about-it-you-bastard, it's not ordinary political disagreement, even of the bar-fight variety: it's the dehumanizing talk that comes before they decide to ship folks off for terminal "re-education."
And that, dear Bill, is the problem.
Minor points: the "X" in my nom de 'net comes from algebra, not a sesquicentarian war -- a war most slave-owning nations managed to end slavery without having, I will note.
The Goldwater quote is a good one and one that I happen to agree with -- but "extremism" of the sort K7UGA referred to falls well short of describing domestic, mainstream political opponents as something other than human and comprises rather more than mere talk.
Which brings me to your closing, a grim reminder "that when talk is insufficient, it’s time to bring out the guns. Whether Miss X and her ilk approve or not." --Yeah, well, perhaps we differ in that I would like to not have to spend my declining years in house-to-house fighting, but if it comes to that, Mr. California, would you care to compare arms and ammunition? (Pretty sure I've got you beat there. I'm not all that great a shot but from what I see at the range, I'm not that bad.) My whole point was that her talk was at the next-step-is-shooting stage and I was kinda aiming, by exposing it as the genuine hate speech that it is, to maybe head things off: if you don't call folks out over this kind of behavior, it tends to spread.
I'm tickled to be, in your estimation, one of "thosepeople folks," whatever that means. (And to have an "ilk," to boot. Ooo! Do you feed them, or just make sure they get sunlight and water?) Agnostic (former Buddhist, former Methodist), shooter, female, geek, Scots/Cherokee/German/Mongrel American and darned proud of it. Oh, and (shock, horror) a feeeelthy Libertarian. I wouldn't have much of a dog in your Donkey/Elephant fight except the Dems keep thinking I am one of you and your side comes up with the occasional Goldwater or Paul, flawed but not as badly as most of the pols. They'll ship me off to the same damn camps, Ghu rot the luck.
Dunno just what you are. Some guy who dents his head jumpin' off his own pile of hasty conclusions, near as I can tell. Your Mom should have kept after you about wearing that helmet.
____________________________________
* Just ask Snopes.
Internationally-known San Franciscan Bill Quick has put me in my place, by gum! -- Um, well, he would've had I been standing where he decided I was, that is.
Y'see, he said my posting about a vicious, petty rant against Republicans (but it could have been from anywhen, about any despised Other) was "hysterical bullshit."
Ha ha, sez I, I already had a hysterectomy.
He seems to think I was decrying incivility qua incivility, and claiming such is what leads to the great horrors of politics. --Now, it is unfair to blame him; he likely read no deeper than Chas G. Hill's excerpt and besides, most adults read at no more than an eighth-grade level. Subtleties can be lost.
So fuck civility. Let me spell it out for him, in nice little words even denizens of of the Golden Typo State* can understand:
The problem, Bill, is not that the spew in question is uncivil, nor even that it is -- in your opinion -- expressive of "honest, deeply-felt disagreement..." I have no doubt the writer was sincere; it is obvious her feelings run to her very core. Whoopee.
The problem is, she's already decided anyone tagged with "Republican" is pure evil, to be hated, feared and driven out. Y'all aren't someone she's disagreeing with, Bill: she's decided you're vermin. A cockroach. You won't be having a shouting match with her; soon as she spots you, she's calling the Orkin man. She could be polite about it, but she's decided to stand on a chair and scream. No matter how the message is delivered, it's a toxic one.
It's not lets-go-vote-about-it-you-bastard, it's not ordinary political disagreement, even of the bar-fight variety: it's the dehumanizing talk that comes before they decide to ship folks off for terminal "re-education."
And that, dear Bill, is the problem.
Minor points: the "X" in my nom de 'net comes from algebra, not a sesquicentarian war -- a war most slave-owning nations managed to end slavery without having, I will note.
The Goldwater quote is a good one and one that I happen to agree with -- but "extremism" of the sort K7UGA referred to falls well short of describing domestic, mainstream political opponents as something other than human and comprises rather more than mere talk.
Which brings me to your closing, a grim reminder "that when talk is insufficient, it’s time to bring out the guns. Whether Miss X and her ilk approve or not." --Yeah, well, perhaps we differ in that I would like to not have to spend my declining years in house-to-house fighting, but if it comes to that, Mr. California, would you care to compare arms and ammunition? (Pretty sure I've got you beat there. I'm not all that great a shot but from what I see at the range, I'm not that bad.) My whole point was that her talk was at the next-step-is-shooting stage and I was kinda aiming, by exposing it as the genuine hate speech that it is, to maybe head things off: if you don't call folks out over this kind of behavior, it tends to spread.
I'm tickled to be, in your estimation, one of "those
Dunno just what you are. Some guy who dents his head jumpin' off his own pile of hasty conclusions, near as I can tell. Your Mom should have kept after you about wearing that helmet.
____________________________________
* Just ask Snopes.
If You've Got The Tinfoil, I Can Borrow A Pattern For A Hat
Andrew Breitbart, dead at 43; suddenly, during a late-night walk, of apparent heart failure, during the GOP primaries.
The Obamacare birth-control coverage* provisions kicking in -- and kicking up a storm -- in the middle of those selfsame primaries.
...And every time the primary has an interesting race, a major celebrity dies just in time to knock it out of the news cycle.
I'm not paranoid, but if I was in the 'noid business, I'd be pairing them off and readying them for sale in anticipation of a boom market.
______________________________________
* As the "compromise" offers were described, it occurred to me that none of the principals involved in figuring them out had grasped the futility of offering what amounts to plausible deniability and a system of cut-outs to people who operate in the certainty that an omniscient Deity is keeping track. This kind of mess is exactly what the First Amendment was supposed to cause the fed.gov to avoid. See what happens when you try to cheat the operating system? --No, they don't.
The Obamacare birth-control coverage* provisions kicking in -- and kicking up a storm -- in the middle of those selfsame primaries.
...And every time the primary has an interesting race, a major celebrity dies just in time to knock it out of the news cycle.
I'm not paranoid, but if I was in the 'noid business, I'd be pairing them off and readying them for sale in anticipation of a boom market.
______________________________________
* As the "compromise" offers were described, it occurred to me that none of the principals involved in figuring them out had grasped the futility of offering what amounts to plausible deniability and a system of cut-outs to people who operate in the certainty that an omniscient Deity is keeping track. This kind of mess is exactly what the First Amendment was supposed to cause the fed.gov to avoid. See what happens when you try to cheat the operating system? --No, they don't.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Countdown To Hyperbole
Press reports say the ".22 revolver" used by the Ohio High School shooter was a Ruger Mk. III. Leaving aside the little detail of that not, in fact, being a revolver, I have a countdown going, waiting 'til the first news article calls it a "high-powered .22" with bonus points if they add "...automatic..."
There has already been whining about The Awfulness Of Guns in connection with this terrible crime. --'Cos it would have been so much better if he'd splashed his victims with gasoline and flipped a lit match? Laid about with a long-handled sledgehammer?
There has already been whining about The Awfulness Of Guns in connection with this terrible crime. --'Cos it would have been so much better if he'd splashed his victims with gasoline and flipped a lit match? Laid about with a long-handled sledgehammer?
Five Minutes' Hate? Check.
(Update: Left-coaster Bill "Margret" Quick read an excerpt and went way out in, where'd you think, left field with his sneering "response." I have, therefore, attempted to explain the matter in terms even a pinhead might grasp.)
There've been several links recently to a nasty little rant against Republicans; whether the author thereof refers to GOP politicians, voters, party apparatchiks or some combination is unclear.
What is clear is once anyone has become so convinced that one of the two halves of the Running Things Party comprises every human vice and ill (and no few I had previously thought limited to the animal kingdom), then there's no further reason to talk. The attitude itself is what gives rise to purges and pogroms, killing fields and death marches -- no matter who espouses it or what virtues they ascribe to themselves and their supposed peers, or even practice. Persons who speak like that will murder you -- or hand you over to be used up and killed -- if they even suspect you might be a member of a group they loathe; and they will sleep soundly that night. Left, right, center; amoral and "practical" or rigidly moral and unworldly, it doesn't matter: once that level of dehumanizing rhetoric has infected someone's mind, they are like an armed landmine. (And at the same time, they are pathetic causalities for whom little can be done.)
Intel types talk about "chatter" and reading it for mood and motive. You listen to them -- and keep an eye out for a rising tide.
There've been several links recently to a nasty little rant against Republicans; whether the author thereof refers to GOP politicians, voters, party apparatchiks or some combination is unclear.
What is clear is once anyone has become so convinced that one of the two halves of the Running Things Party comprises every human vice and ill (and no few I had previously thought limited to the animal kingdom), then there's no further reason to talk. The attitude itself is what gives rise to purges and pogroms, killing fields and death marches -- no matter who espouses it or what virtues they ascribe to themselves and their supposed peers, or even practice. Persons who speak like that will murder you -- or hand you over to be used up and killed -- if they even suspect you might be a member of a group they loathe; and they will sleep soundly that night. Left, right, center; amoral and "practical" or rigidly moral and unworldly, it doesn't matter: once that level of dehumanizing rhetoric has infected someone's mind, they are like an armed landmine. (And at the same time, they are pathetic causal
Intel types talk about "chatter" and reading it for mood and motive. You listen to them -- and keep an eye out for a rising tide.
Overheard (Underhanded)
RX: "Can I write up your Bill Reilly one?"
Tam: "O'Reilly."
RX: "Oh. But you know what you said..."
Tam: "I said, Fox and Friends is on. I don't think Bill is much of a music fan: 'Davy Jones is dead. Guess he did some good songs; and now back to real news.'"
RX: "Yeah, that."
Tam: "If it'll get I Will Always Love Yoooooo off the TV, they can take rest of 'em, too."
Tam: "O'Reilly."
RX: "Oh. But you know what you said..."
Tam: "I said, Fox and Friends is on. I don't think Bill is much of a music fan: 'Davy Jones is dead. Guess he did some good songs; and now back to real news.'"
RX: "Yeah, that."
Tam: "If it'll get I Will Always Love Yoooooo off the TV, they can take rest of 'em, too."
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