Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Politics as Usual

I've been quiet too long, but sometimes it takes time to think of what to say. Or perhaps a bitter political defeat?

Don't fool yourself, if your one of the meley mouth liberals I know. The democrats prevailing in October has nothing to do with Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, or the war on Terror. It had everything to do with the Republicans being lying, cheating, scheming, sons of a bitches. They betrayed the millions of non-aligned conservatives like myself (conservative, libertarian, objectivism, thank you very much) who helped put them in office back during the Republican revolution of 94. We have them twelve years to get their shit together and make some meaningful reforms. And what did we get for our blood and treasure? A half dozen minor tax cuts, a couple wars, and one assault weapons ban not renewed. Thanks for the later the most, the former somewhat, and the middle sorta. Let me take them one at a time.

Tax cuts - always a good thing, except when they 're executed the way these were. We got to pay a little less taxes, in exchange for almost 300 more pages of federal code. Thanks for nothing. The CFR (code of federal regulations) the encompass the tax codes of the US Government now number so many pages that the average man can not lift it without mechanical assistance. Any more work put in on this political dinosaur will only increase its wobbly girth. Euthanasia is the only solution. As painful as it will be, a high caliber round between the eyes and a resurrection of fair taxes is the only solution. Fair Tax? Sure. Flat Tax? Okay. VAT? Don't even think about it. The simple fact is that not only is this reform necessary, but it is inevitable. Not even the average welfare recipient can do his own taxes any more. The only ones benefiting are the tax accountants and the politicians feeding the beast. Kill it, and start over. JUST FUCKING DO IT!

Two wars - Really one war, people argue, but Iraq and Afghanistan are two very different critters. Afghanistan was the only Alquaeda ran terrorist country out there and we wiped them out with a weekend of bombing and some target practice for the spec force types. Iraq was less obviously linked to the terror issue. I have no doubt they were linked, but the Bush admin made a mistake by trying to make them one and the same. He should have just kicked it over and backed away just because it needed to be done. Kill Hussein (this still might happen, if the Iraqis have the balls) and his kids and close associates, then see what develops. Bomb again and repeat as necessary. It's worked before and will again. More wars are coming. We are either going to keep chasing these unthinkable bastards all over the planet and killing them and their allies every chance we get, or they will just huddle down and come at us every 5 years or so. I don't like the idea of a nearly perpetual war, but I like the idea of a hundred thousand dead Americans and a half million with radiation poisoning even less. Think 9/11 hurt us? You have no idea what your talking about. Just try to imagine even a medium sized city (500,000-900,000 people) hit in its heart around noon by even a 1 kiloton warhead. Twenty to thirty thousand dead in a millisecond, another forty thousand by the end of the week. Another ten or twenty by the end of the month, and hundreds of thousands with red level lifetime doses of radiation. Untold thousands of cases of cancer in the future. Lets take a second to consider the loss of tourist dollars and trade. The FAA grounded planes for half a week from 9/11, what do you think will happen from a nuke detonation? The national guard will seal off out major interstate connections for three states on all sides, possibly national. Show your papers to proceed. First we'll sweep your car with radiological scanners. This scenario is an instant recession worse than the 80's. No amount of tax cuts will pull this one through. The only industries making money will be gun manufacturers and retailers selling survival supplies. (don't come knocking on my door, I have plenty of both the former and the latter).

Assault weapons ban - Lets forget first of all the bullshit phrase of assault weapons. An assault weapon is by definition a weapon capable of selective fire (semi-auto and full auto). These have been STRICTLY controlled by the federal government since the 50's. You have to have a Class III FFL (federal firearms license) to even own them. And there are only a few thousand in the country ($500 per year just to renew your license). 90% of the fully auto weapons in the nation (other than military) are owned by active police officers, most of the remainder are in the hands of collectors with dozens of weapons. There are a select few average people with automatic weapons, but even they tend to be ex-military, ex-police. Last year there were 0, that's right Zero, incidents of an FFL owner committing a crime with one of his highly controlled weapons. So, that aside, what was the assault weapons ban? It was a defacto attempt to begin getting rid of defensive arms. Any gun that scared a liberal like Nancy Peloci was banned. Military look alikes preferred by red-necks and 'gun nuts'. They resembled military arms like the m-16 or the venerable AK-47, but only resembled. They were single shot only and in the case of the AK-47 would require considerable mechanical knowledge and skill to convert to fully automatic (mere possession of the conversion parts is a federal offense sans that much maligned class III FFL). The M-16 is another story, but that's because the AR-15 (cousin of the M-16), is essentially the same weapon. Models commonly available from the 80's could be converted in as little as a few minutes. They wouldn't be selective fire, but permanently full auto (pull the trigger, and bullets start to fly). But personally, I find the .223 (5.56mm ball ammo the AR-15 and M-16 fire) to be entirely inadequate. All this besides, the fact that these weapons are so deadly is simply a media created lie of immense proportions. You want deadly? How about one of the most deadly bullets around? Try the good old .308 Winchester. This nearly century old round has such phenomenal ballistics that it is the preferred round of the US Marine Corps snipers, and others around the world. This round is most often fired from a single shot bolt action rifle, and in the hollow point variety it'll put a .3 inch hole going into your tummy, and take out a hunk of your guts the size of a basketball on leaving. But the average hunting rifle doesn't scare liberals. Well, it probably does, but a lot of moderate democrats vote and the liberal politicians have to have their years 'dress up like a hunter and shoot something' photo op or risk loosing their money and support. The truth is simple, too simple for liberals to grasp. Gun bans and laws don't work. How come every place in the US with the fewest requirements is the safest? Because criminals fear an armed citizen. Not the cops, they come in big cars with lights and sirens. They yell warnings and are bound by law and the ACLU to coddle criminals. No, a private citizen finds you in his house trying to rape his daughter, your more than likely dead. Sorry old man, completely forgot that Miranda right. Catch you around next time. Take a look at Great Briton if you want a good look at gun control at its best. The only way to own a firearm is to have it locked up at a gun club. Last year violent break ins, robberies, and assaults were up something like 40%. Worse, use a weapon to defend yourself and go to jail. And the crook will sue you and take away your house. The message is clear, the state is your mum, and your dad, and ultimately your doom.

Politics is a wonderful thing. Enjoy yourselves, my find liberal democrat friends, because if you stay on your typical course you won't be there for long. Raise our taxes, retreat from the war on terror, and start to ban guns again. But remember this, when the economy goes to shit, we're blaming you. When crime skyrockets in formerly safe towns and cities, we're holding you to account. And if a mushroom cloud blooms over a US city, we're coming to get you.