StinkFight.com

I’m reading a book called “You and the Police”.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Police-Kenneth-W-Royce/dp/1888766093
I highly recommend it. It’s written by a literal constitutionalist who knows his shit.
It’s about how to deal with the cops, under many different situations.

One thing he mentions are a few different high-profile 2ed Amendment rights advocates who were allegedly set up by the feds (like having illegal machine gun parts shipped to them without them knowing about it , then arresting them when they sign for the package)
Here’s one of the guys he talks about, who was set up and served five years in prison:
http://www.keepandbeararms.com/NewsArchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=298

I’m rethinking my new “Sex and guns” film project idea. I just think that with the controversy level of the topics of both films, especially combined, could attract stuff like that. My ideas on the first and second amendment (and the 4th amendment) may not match that of the powers that be. (Especially with the impending regime change. Who knows yet what they’re thinking? Though I have a few postulations which may not be that far off from the truth.) I feel strongly about my beliefs, but not strongly enough to go to prison for them if there’s no need to. I am a little torn: I feel a need to educate and spread truth in a world of lies, but also feel like “Why fucking take a (figurative?) bullet for a world that’s mostly cat-food-on-the-hoof and doesn’t care?” There’s “I need to help change the world” vs. “I’ve already done a lot of that, will do a lot more, but I need to pick my battles.”

Also, after putting an “open call” up on a kink forum, and gotten a few replies, I’ve realized something I should have thought of: many folks who are into kink are so damn sure that THEIR WAY of doing it is the only way, it would be a nightmare to do this film. I talked to several very sane people who were cool and not like this, but even that was a lot of logistics, a lot of back and forth. But I ran into a few who were like “Why is my unique and special group of people (Transsexuals, left-handed Irish-Jewish single mothers from the Milwaukee, etc., whatever…) not represented in what you’re planning! I am being oppressed by you!” A small but very vocal (and armed!) sub-group of gun people are the same way, me thinks.

It’s different doing non-fiction books I’ve been involved in previously, the Film School book, Dollie’s “SM Diary”, the Fuck book, etc. They don’t claim to be representational of a whole scene, they only say “Here’s how I do it.” I guess the DIY or DIE movie did represent a “movement” or a “scene”, but I had to interview 40 people, use 30 of them in the film, and some people still said it wasn’t representative of their particular and important niche or world view. (I knew that would happen, which is part of why I put “NOW GO MAKE YOUR OWN MOVIE!” at the very end of the film, in big block letters.

I sort of feel like I’m a loser if I start something and don’t finish it, but I’ve only put five days of thought and writing and contacting people into this so far. So maybe that’s not “working on the project”, maybe it’s just “research”, and my thorough research concluded with me stamping the proposal “Unfeasible.” I have done this with a few projects over the past couple years. These proposed films, and two 40-page book proposals for books I may never write: “$30 Life School” and “Politics for the Rest of Us.” But everything I do, even if it never sees light of day, helps me formulate my world plan going forward. So there is no loss.

I guess I feel I’m at a crossroads with my life and about what to do next, artistically. I do have trouble taking time to rest between projects. The YouTube book shipped to the printer last Thursday, and by Sunday night, I’d written the complete funding/budget/proposal/treatment/website for these two new movies, which now, I’ll probably never make. And I have to remind myself, while I have started three projects I probably won’t finish in the past three years, here’s what I have done in the past three years that was completed and did see the light of day:

• Finished the Selby movie.
• co-wrote the YouTube book.
• co-wrote “DIY Now: Digital Audio
• produced and recorded 180 episodes of SAC podcast.
• produced and recorded 80 episodes of Clone The Homeless podcast.
• produced and recorded 20 episodes of Deal Machine podcast.
• produced and recorded 12 episodes of Radio Free Nestlandia podcast.
• Recorded three podiobooks.
• wrote the fuck book
• co-wrote SM Diary
• Co-wrote The Plump Buffet
• Wrote and recorded some good songs.
• Shared over 1 million “radio show from my living room” episodes in 79 countries, via BitTorrent
• spent a lot of quality time with my wife. And my cats.

Sometimes the most zen think you can do is nothing. I’m going to try, for the second or third time in a decade, to do nothing for a few days or more. Wish me luck.

MEW!

OK….I know I’ve said publicly and loudly, “I’M NEVER MAKING ANOTHER FILM AGAIN!” However……

The other day, the complete package idea for TWO new documentaries dropped out of the sky and into my soul. When the muse is that loud and clear, you just can’t say no.

Check out the proposal for SEX AND GUNS, PART ONE AND TWO: www.sexandguns.org

Pretty picture of what I see while working. For your computer desktop.

(Above: Peanut is afraid of the dog on the cover)

The new EP “Pavlov’s Dog” (Artcore/Damaged Records) by my old 80s Charlottesville hardcore punk band The Beef People (I played guitar) is reviewed in “Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll” magazine this month. (Click on this link for a scan of the review, you may need to click again on the big image to enlarge it.)

Proof that old punkers don’t die, they just, oh I dunno….have unreleased tracks put out by UK labels?

Check out a song from this e.p, Pavlov’s Dog

(note, this sounds great, but the vinyl sounds even better, was professionally mastered.)

Yay.

Amelia Laine Worth
Jan 10, 1984-Nov 7, 2006

Her voice

Her obituary.

My only child died two years ago today. Here’s many photos of her, some that haven’t been seen much, some where she’s bald from chemotherapy.

When Amelia died, I was devastated. Slayed. Now, two years later, I still am. I am finally able to smile a little bit, and I can sleep the full night most nights, finally, but I am still permanently altered by her death. Still have a lot of nightmares. Still feel life isn’t fair. Still feel less like there’s a reason to “try to help the world” than I did before she died.

Amelia Laine Worth was 22. She had Leukemia. She’d had it for three years. Amelia fought a brave fight, went through dozens of procedures and scores of visits to doctors and hospitals. She’d been prodded, poked, and poisoned, all in an effort to produce a clean bill of health. Shortly before she died, she basically told me, “If this time doesn’t work, I don’t mind dying. I am just sick of all this garbage, and I just want to be a normal kid having a normal life.”

I was with her when she had her last chemotherapy. It was a new drug, one they hadn’t tried, one that had some scary side-effects. It was a last last last resort.

Amelia was in pain, so they’d given her morphine. Morphine is God’s gift of comfort for people in agony. She was too groggy from the painkiller to read the list of side effects the doctor gave her right before they hooked up the drip of chemo. She looked like a crumpled angel. I said, “Are you sure you want me to read this to you?” She said “yes.” I read it. The list enumerated everything from gas to loss of hair; loss of limb to loss of sight, brain damage or even death. And pretty much everything in between. The list of possible side-effects was two pages long, single spaced.

She made a sleepy joke about it. She said, “Well, if that’s all that might happen, let’s do it.”

They say “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I’d have to add “…Except chemo.”

They say it’s is a terrible thing when a parent outlives their child. I’m here to second that emotion. I know people Amelia’s age who statistics say should be dead but aren’t. And I know people who drive drunk, have unprotected sex with street whores and pick bar fights with murderers. I know people who inject street drugs, AND who are scumbags, and people are violent, selfish, who are truly deserving to be taken out of the gene pool, who’ve pissed off a lot of badass criminal people who own firearms, but are still walking around sucking air, wasting space, and pissing people off.

My daughter didn’t smoke. She didn’t do drugs. She barely drank. She was a good person and literally opened doors for little old ladies. She was a light-filled practicing Christian, and totally true to her boyfriend. She adored animals and did volunteer work. So why is she dead?

EITHER LIFE ISN’T FAIR OR IT’S JUST IRONIC. I DO KNOW THAT MANY GOOD PEOPLE I LOVE ARE DEAD, AND EVERY SINGLE SMARMY BASTARD I’VE WISHED DEAD IS STILL ALIVE.

Amelia’s death really made me question my belief in God. Not that he exists, but that he cares. Call if self-pity on my part if you like, I just call it evolving world-view. And I will say that if you haven’t lost a kid, there’s no way you can understand this.

But life goes on, and I’m doing a little better now.

===-

Here’s a poem she wrote about being sick:
Subject: My Heart Feels Like Ouch
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 22:44:21 -0800

Today it hurt
More than yesterday
It’s finally setting in
I feel like ouch

I wish I had a broken heart
People survive broken hearts all the time
it’s raining in my head
and that’s what my heart feels

Too many tears
not enough hugs
lots and lots of prayers
it just hurts

Some days are better than others
today isn’t that day
God, please let me be strong
I fear I can’t see the rainbow

I know I said I was not going to vote for any presidential candidate, was going to skip that and just vote on everything else, but I changed my mind IN the booth.

I voted for Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party for president.

My reason is this: I do NOT like Bob Barr as a candidate (I think he’s rather UN-libertarian, more like a shape-shifting Republician). Bob Barr was a board member of the NRA, which I do like. But I know he will not win, but here’s the thing: the more votes the Libertarian Party get, the more the party (and their positions) will be taken seriously. And I really think of all the available choices, I think the Libertarian Party is the only hope for America.

Pretty picture of what I see while working. For your computer desktop. Click to get big picture, then right click to Set As Desktop Background.

Someone I’ve known forever asked me why I’m not voting for Obama (she is.) I said, “Lots of reasons, and also I really don’t like his feelings on gun rights.” She asked me to explain. Also asked me if I own guns. I replied:

=====

Don’t get me started! Just kidding. Thought you’d never ask. lol…..

DJ and I each own a 9mm Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun. Together, we also own a Remington 12-gauge shotgun. We really enjoy shooting them. We’re very safe with them, took lessons, and practice at the range every weekend, shooting 200-300 rounds each. We’re getting pretty good, and it’s a fun hobby.

We also have them for home defense if needed. There have been more and more home-invasion robberies in LA area recently. In our town there have been a lot of burglaries lately, and last year, someone tried to break into our bedroom window while we were home at night. The police actually caught the guy, but only because I went out and took a look at him, and I.D.ed him.

We do not hunt. While we do eat meat, the idea of hunting is not a fun one to us. We love critters too much. I did once kill a rabbit as a teenager with dad’s .22. Dad and I cooked and ate it. I believe that anyone who eats meat should do that once, so they know what’s involved. We have nothing against hunting, it’s just not for us.

Our guns are registered, and legally owned. We had to pass criminal background checks and wait ten days to get them. I’m fine with that, and think it should stay that way. (I think there should be exceptions to the waiting period, like if a woman is being threatened by her ex, why should she have to wait ten days to protect herself? But I like the background check idea.)

We do not “pack” in public, because it is a crime. LA County does not issue concealed-carry permits. California makes it hard to get them in general, but LA county and San Fran county are the hardest. (Though Senator Feinstein, long-time anti-gun advocate, had the only carry permit in San Fran when she was mayor.)

If we ever live anywhere that we can get a permit, we probably will, and will probably carry.

We are also members of the NRA. (Funny thing is, a few of our friends don’t talk to us any more because we have guns, but most say “That’s cool, not for me, but fine with me.” But most of even those people were appalled that we joined the NRA, even though most of them don’t know much about that or what it really entails.)

As for gun control: it does not prevent crime, violates the 2ed Amendment, and it is nothing but a vote- and money-getter for politicians. They say “it’s for the children”, but here’s the facts:
– States that have increased the number of carry permits have instant drops in crime. And people with permits don’t shoot each other over parking spaces, like some people assume they would.
– Law-abiding gun owners commit very few gun crimes, and far fewer crimes in general than the general population. Crimes are VERY rarely committed with registered guns. Crimes are committed by criminals. Criminals do not register their guns.
– Banning semi-auto handguns (a fave of anti-gunners, and a goal of Obama) does not reduce crime, and semi-autos are affordable and good for target shooting and for home protection.

The one gun law I’d like to see will never be implemented. I think that if you apply to buy a gun, and come back from your background check as a wanted criminal, the gun store should have to call the police and the police should arrest you at the gun store when you return. They don’t. Or even if you’re a convicted felon they should arrest you because it’s a crime for a convicted felon to try to buy a gun. This is a gun law that would be easy to implement, would be the ONLY one that would actually reduce crime, but they never will implement it. Probably because criminals having guns makes us rely on the government more, like a daddy to protect us. More crime means more FBI, for one.

I’m all for having police, but as they say, “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” (In LA they say “Call the cops and order a pizza, see who gets there first.”) I once called 911 in Los Angeles and got VOICE MAIL! Seriously. No joke. Fortunately, I was just reporting some kids smashing and ditching a stolen car, not reporting someone trying to come into my home.

If someone kicked in my door with a gun, only a gun would help. The police would not get there in time, and if someone held a gun on an unarmed person, it’s unlikely they would be able to call the police. Women’s rights groups even tell women “don’t resist a rapist, it will get you killed.” Total bullshit. Also, mace and stun guns will not stop a drugged-out psycho every time. A gun will.

I have no desire to shoot anyone, it’s the last thing I’d want to do. To this end, we recently installed a high-end alarm system. But some hardcore murderous criminals will still come inside if an alarm goes off. Nothing would likely save our lives in that situation except a gun.

Some people say that “Getting a gun is admitting the world is a horrible place.” For DJ and I, having a gun is admitting that the world is not perfect and there are a few seriously bad apples. And a lot of them live in LA area!

As for Obama, he wants the government to confiscate all semi-auto handguns, and increase the tax on all ammo 500%. He wants to initiate microstamping of serial numbers on bullet casings. Sounds like a good idea, but would not work. Anyone could scoop up anyone’s shells at the range, drop them at a murder scene, and frame the other guy. If the other guy doesn’t have an alibi, he’s going to have to hire a lawyer to stay out prison. Would also raise the price of ammo. A lot.

Worst of all, Obama voted in the Illinois State Senate to strike down a bill that would protect homeowners from prosecution when they shoot a murderer or rapist who breaks into their house intent on mayhem. (The  bill passed despite Obama.) We’re not talking “shoot the guy escaping on your lawn”, (like the old guy got away with recently in Texas), that should always be a serious crime. We’re talking someone kicks in the door at 4 am, starts shooting, you shoot back in self-defense and kill them. Obama wants the homeowner to go to prison for that.

Obama also lies to people to get votes, telling them he “supports the Second Amendment”, but his record states otherwise. He also insulted a large part of America recently when he said “rural Americans cling to guns and religion.”

Obama is a politician. Says what he needs to in order to get elected. People are treating him like he’s not a politician, people really seem to think he’s the second coming of Christ. Most folks I know are voting for him, because he will bring “Change”, but WHAT change? Many Americans are too busy or too stupid to look up congressional records and they vote by sound bites, and the cut of someone’s suit. Yeah, Obama carries himself like John Kennedy, but Obama, sir, is no John Kennedy.

I think he’d be slightly less bad than McCain/Palin, mainly because I think Palin is a joke, but we’re sick of voting for “the lesser of two evils.” I hate the fact that in America, third-parties are not even acknowledged. Every news channel says “Obama has 46 percent, McCain has 41 percent, 17 percent are UNDECIDED. Well, not all of them are undecided. Half of them are voting Green Party, Constitution Party or Libertarian party.

DJ and I are libertarian (with a small l, we are not party members.) We were considering voting Libertarian, watched all the Libertarian debates, until they put up Bob Barr. He’s worse than Bush. He’s a very bad Republican posing as a a Lib. And Bob Barr used to be the head of the NRA, so you can understand we don’t follow the NRA word for word. (NRA is actually backing McCain, not Barr, because as I said, third-parties have no chance in this country. England has five parties, and they’re all in the Parliament.)

DJ and I would vote for Ron Paul if he were running. Like Bob Barr, he’s a shape-shifter who is sometimes Republican and sometimes Libertarian, depending on the election. He’s the closest to Barry Goldwater (whom I think is the holy grain of American politics. I thought about writing him in, even though he’s dead.) Though even Ron Paul has a deal breaker for us, he’s not pro-choice. But unlike most presidential candidates, he thinks it should be left up to the states. After studying the Constitution extensively, I pretty much think most things should be left up to the states, if they’re not directly addressed in the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Except the 13th Amendment (which outlaws slavery) and the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote.) I think those should be national.

I think it’s a pity that the Constitution is not taught in American schools. Schools in The Czech Republic spend more time studying OUR Constitution than we do. I’ve read the Constitution, a lot. It’s brilliant. More people should read it, and they should read politician’s voting records, not just believe what their TV or bumper stickers tell them. The Constitution and all voting records are all online and one click away, what is wrong with people that they don’t do their due diligence? They would buying a car, why not when voting for the leader of the free world?

I basically am Republican in fiscal matters, and Democrat in personal/moral/social matters. There’s no one who I agree with 100%, but Libertarians are closer to that ideal than others.

I like Ron Paul because he’s closer to my thoughts than anyone. Also, he’s kinda nuts, in a good way.

Obama’s going to win, regardless of who we tell to “get out and vote.” (I love how with most people, “get out and vote” usually has an undercurrent of “Get out and vote the way I’m voting.”)

Getting a CCW (concealed carry weapon) permit is easy in 33 states. Basically, if you are an adult, aren’t a felon, aren’t mentally ill, aren’t on drugs, and can hit the broad side of a target in an easy shooting test, you can pack a concealed hand gun most places in the US. You don’t even have to have a “need”, only a “desire” to pack. Police and sheriffs generally like when honest citizens are armed. It reduces crimes. People don’t mug and carjack a population where a fair number of them are packin’. And despite what many would think, people who are packing don’t shoot each other over parking spaces. CCW holders are arrested for a far lower incidence of gun crime than the general population. (Basically, criminals do NOT get CCW permits. They don’t bother. It cramps their style. For one thing, you have to register the gun, and you have to get fingerprinted.)

In California, it’s difficult to get a CCW. In Los Angeles County (where I live), it’s next to impossible. You practically have to be a judge or a movie star. (Sylvester Stallone and Ben Affleck have CCWs. And believe it or not, Sylvester “Rambo” Stallone is an adament anti-gun activist!)

The former sheriff of Orange County was allegedly SELLING CCWs, passing them out mainly to people who gave a lot of money to his reelection campaign. The new sheriff in town there has been revoking CCWs.

It’s very hard to get a CCW in Illinois, partially thanks to Obama. (Obama doesn’t have a CCW, but doesn’t need one. He’s protected 24/7 by armed government guards.)

In San Francisco County, where adamant gun grabber Senator Diane Feinstein is from, it’s impossible to get a CCW. There are none. YET DIANE FEINSTEIN HAD A CCW PERMIT WHEN SHE LIVED THERE!!!! Not only did she have a permit, she had the ONLY permit in that county.

Senetor Feinstein HATES the idea of law-abiding citizens being armed, no matter how real their need. And she has sponsored a lot of bills to disarm honest citizens. But she’s important enough, apparently, that she had her buddy the SF Sherrif grant her a privelige she thinks we don’t deserve.

===

By the way, even though it’s very hard for non-stars to get a CCW in LA County, I’m applying for one. I’m sort of a star, and piss a lot of people off just by being me, and have recieved death threats for it.

Click to read PDF of “Raging Against Self Defense” by Sarah Thompson, MD, an excellent article in favor of gun ownership. Written by a psychiatrist, it clearly explains, among other things, why adamant anti-gun folks just might be suffering from a little bit of mental illness….

Excerpt:

“You don’t need to have a gun; the police will protect you.”
“If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood
basketball games.”
“I’m a pacifist. Enlightened, spiritually aware people shouldn’t own guns.”
“I’d rather be raped than have some redneck militia type try to rescue me.”
How often have you heard these statements from misguided advocates of victim
disarmament, or even woefully uninformed relatives and neighbors? Why do people
cling so tightly to these beliefs, in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they are
wrong? Why do they get so furiously angry when gun owners point out that their
arguments are factually and logically incorrect?

Alan, (my co-author on the YouTube book), just released a very cool free eBook on using BlogTV.com
http://viralvideowannabe.com/free-blogtv-ebook/

Mickey.

Mickey was given up for adoption because owner’s house was foreclosed. We went out for cat food today and came home with a cat!

Now we have four!

We’ve decided to rename Mickey. We’re calling him Remington Skene. Remmy for short.

Best investment tip:
“Forget gold, invest in lead.”
– Michael W. Dean

Yup. Lead will do you more good when the shit hits the fan. Ammo will protect your home and feed your family. Gold will only make you a target for home invasions.

Remember, in the grand atomic time line, those with lots of gold will wish they could turn it into lead anyway.

(Photo of me that DJ took at the gun range. Something about shooting near rattlesnakes not only makes guns seem safer, but also the sign seems to sum up our current economic and political world.)

======

SO….DJ and I have labored over what to do on election day. We CANNOT vote for either guy.

——=

So here’s the puppy parade to take the bad taste out of your mouth…..some happy pictures.

Us at our new range. Me shooting metal reactive targets shaped like piggies and rams:

DJ shooting at same:

DJ recoil with brass flying:

DJ sleeping while petting Peanut in her sleep:

On racism….
Skin color in and of itself is meaningless to me. It’s like my cats, one is white, one brown, one tiger. The tiger one is nuts and claws me, but I don’t think it’s because of his color. It’s because he’s nuts.

I figured out where I stand on racism. I have always maintained that I am not racist, and still do. But I’ve wondered how I consign my views with this truth: When I’m in a black or Latino neighborhood I am on guard, prepared for trouble.

I finally figured out what it is: I do not think non-white people are bad. But it’s been my experience that when I’m in a non-white neighborhood, non-white people tend to think that *I* am bad.

I do not dislike non-whites. I am simply on alert of non-whites who dislike ME because I’m white. I am not racist. I am wary of non-whites who are racist.

—–
(Anyone who thinks that this attitude of mine IS racist, does not understand how the world works. And I expect to take more shit from liberal whites for this than from non-whites. Especially from whites who “understand the struggle” of non-whites, but have never lived in a non-white neighborhood. I lived in a black ghetto neighborhood in Washington DC, the year the mayor got busted for crack. And I lived in Hispanic neighborhoods my first 16 years I lived in California. I know what I’m talking about.)

Professionalism

(from the YouTube book)

We had a great sidebar by Michael on the subject of Professionalism. Michael and Alan are so darned professional that they over-wrote this book, and this sidebar is one of the parts that had to be cut for length. We’ve posted the whole inspirational piece up on Alan’s site, and we highly recommend that you read it if you want to really be a success story on the ‘Tube (or off).

HERE:
http://viralvideowannabe.com/professionalism

Love, the O’Reilly tarsier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02zpXmFEUaY

I’m voting for Nader. He’s on the ballet in 45 states, including California (write-in in the other five.) His site is here, if you want more info.

To those who say that Nader “is responsible for George W. Bush”, that Gore would have won and Nader siphoned Gore votes away, Nope. Bush’s cronies fudging (allegedly) the Florida ballot is why Gore lost.

Also, the other two third-parties in that election, Constitution Party and Libertarian Party, votes for those two parties combined “siphoned” more votes than the Green party.

I hate that third-parties are not taken seriously in America. Both prevaling parties, Dems and Repubs, were “third parties” when they started. Why settle for the least of two evils? (Obama, I don’t think he’s evil, but I hate his gun-control ideas. Nadar’s aren’t as bad.)

==-

Obama says “I am not in favor of concealed weapons,”  and he wants to Ban the sale or transfer of all forms of semi-automatic weapons.

Obama says:

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years….And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…

More info on Obama’s heavy-handed gun control here.

Nader quoted on gun control (more control than I’d like, but not nearly as bad as Obama)

Focus would be on gun safety, not hunters and sportsmen. Guns would be licensed by states, but do not need to be registered. Would institute no special lawsuit protection for gun makers. Would make background checks and child safety locks mandatory. Supports the Brady Law and would ban assault weapons.

Would make the government pay for voluntary trigger locks. Supports “Project Sentry,” including juvenile gun laws and school accountability. Would restrict lawsuits against gun makers. Would raise the legal age for guns to age 21. Would ban automatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

Supports the Brady Bill and thoughtful gun control, including trigger locks, licensing, & banning some guns. “Make sure the weapons are designed safely with trigger lock — Look at a weapon the way you look at a car. You’ve got to know how to handle it. You should be licensed.” From “Nader Q and A,” Rocky Mountain News, June 24, 2000

Would faithfully protect the Second Amendment, except for felons. “[A]dditional legislation is not the answer. The urban barbarism that has turned our streets into battlegrounds and our classrooms into killing fields will not be stopped by an assault on the Second Amendment right of American gun-owners to keep and bear arms.” From “Issues: Right to Keep & Bear Arms,” www.GoPatGo.org, June 5, 1999

I talked to a good longtime friend, smallGod on the phone tonight. I talked about how I have a very powerless feeling with what’s going on with the Wall Street bailout tonight. I told him “I think this ‘immediate crisis’ with the ‘congress better authorize giving a trillion dollars to the guys who fucked it up, by Friday (tomorrow) or the sky will fall’ deadline seems made up, to serve some purpose of swaying the election, or Bush just getting a last unbelievable favor for his buddies when he’s no longer worried about getting reelected.”

My friend totally agreed. Then we got into a discussion of other rights being eroded, and he told me about NORTHCOM which is a plan to deploy US soldiers as police in the US, which is a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which limits such powers.

My friend sent me this NORTHCOM article, from an official Army publication:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

I told him “Yup. You should get and read this book, The Redneck Manifesto.
http://www.stinkfight.com/2008/01/09/jim-goads-redneck-manifesto

“Goad has very interesting things to say, and says them very well. One of his chapters is about tax-protest militia groups. They’re painted by the media as “insane.” But goad asks ‘why?’

“When the gov is about to give a trillion dollars of our money to Wall Street to reward them for fucking up by being too greedy to even be good Wall Streeters, being upset about paying taxes doesn’t sound so crazy, does it?

“I believe there are tax-protest militia groups who believe that Posse Comitatus Act, means that citizens of the US don’t have to recognize any police official higher than the county sheriff (which may work well, some of them are probably related to the county sheriff. lol….) That anything higher than the county sheriff (state police, federal police, FBI, CIA, ATF, etc.) is tyranny as defined by use in the US Constitution. This is a very libertarian (with a small ‘L’) idea for sure. Not sure I buy it, but it seems kinda funky-fresh hip ‘n’ happenin’ to me sometimes.

“That thing I said to you about conspiracy stuff, about how the hidden truth is mixed in with absolute insanity, and it’s easy to get sucked into a painful wormhole, both on the Internet and in your mind and soul…..nowhere is that more true than in 2ed amendment (gun rights) writings and speech. There is some of the most right-on stuff that actually makes me feel patriotic (in the way it should be, not in the knee-jerk way it is with many Americans who believe everything they’re told), and those good parts are always one or two clicks away from the most foul, toxic, nutty, destructive, racist stuff I’ve ever read.

“I was fairly amazed that someone is as political as you doesn’t know the Amendments by name. It’s important to know what’s in the Constitution, so you know when it’s being eroded. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS> here’s an audio study aid me and the wife produced:
www.debrajeandean.com

“Anyway, me and Debra Jean are enjoying our guns. A few pix are attached. The shotgun, a Remington 870, is in the two front seats in most cop cars in California. It’s the most powerful weapon a US citizen can enjoy. It feels nice to be as well armed as the cops. And I’m as responsible as any cop, even the really responsible ones.

“We have a lot of fun with all three guns at the range, and keep them handy for home defense. (Against the possibility of murderous home invasions, which are becoming more common in Southern California, especially as the economy gets worse and the media screams “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!” about everything….it has a ripple effect on everyone.)

“I haven’t given much thought to opposing tyranny with my guns (the original intent of the 2ed amendment), and if I did, I doubt I’d type it in an e-mail. lol……)

“Was nice chattin’ with ya tonight.”

MWD

—=

My friend also sent me this video of a guy ranting about the government:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d060fWLuVio&eurl=http://wearechange.org/

I replied:
“It’s pretty much mostly true, but I sure hate being yelled at. He’s yelling. (and that creepy mask doesn’t help.)

“Not that he’s a socialist, but one of the problems I have with most socialists and radical leftists (and radical feminists, and most “-ISTs” in general) I’ve met is that many of them have shrill voices, and I can’t stand shrill voices.

“Sarah Palin also has a shrill voice. And I think she would lead that way too. (She sounds like my third-grade teacher talking down to me like I’ve done something wrong. It’s very icky to me.)

“What was the ’surprise at the end of the video’ he promised? The way he was ranting and pissed off, I thought he was gonna blow his brains out (which I would have no desire to see.) I didn’t see any surprise at all. He just kinda stopped. (Maybe to take a throat lozenge?)”

===

By the way, our founding fathers weren’t too hot on ideas like the Federal Reserve:

Thomas Jefferson said, “If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

The Federal Reserve, contrary to popular beliefe, is not part of the US Government. It is a private institution that prints money and then rents it to the US, with interest. The Federal Reserve was hastily created under politicians threat of an imaginary deadline to deal with the Panic of 1907. This deadline was pushed by government for their friends J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. the “Wall Street” honchos of their day. (Think “Mr. Burns” from the Simpsons. He’s a cross between Rockefeller and a praying mantis.

Sweet dreams, kitties. Hope tomorrow brings good news, not that any of us have any say in it…..

(This is slightly old news, but I forgot to blog about it, and I’m still irked that it happened. I think they should find the fucking people who did it and charge them with treason.)

Olympic champion Kim Rhode’s shotgun is stolen

Authorities say the gun, which Rhode used in four Olympics, was stolen from her pickup truck in Lake Elsinore while she was shopping for her upcoming wedding….Full story here.

I’m sick of making video. I’m only interested in making written word and spoken audio these days. Both are much easier to edit, file size wise, and much more expressive. And audio is quick. I can type up a few notes, yack into my Zoom H2, do a little editing, fluffing and folding on the laptop, upload it and have it heard by thousands within a day. I make a great sounding podcast in a couple hours. It takes a year to make a film of the same length, and the podcast can be just as enjoyable.

And I really feel audio on a Pod is where I want my audience. I like art you can consume while working in a factory or a cubicle. More subversive.

The stuff NRA is against didn’t make sense to me at first, but more and more it totally makes sense. Assault weapon bans? ALL guns are assault weapons. Many guns defined as assault weapons are same power as hunting rifles, but just LOOK scarier. “Assault weapon” is a term made up by politicians to make people who don’t know the difference think that semi-automatic guns are machine guns (fully automatic). They’re not. And machine guns have been illegal in the US for non-military since the 1930s.

Gun registration? Will make it easier to round up guns from honest citizens if the gov decides to do so. And almost all gun crimes are committed with UN-registered guns anyway.

Waiting periods? Women have died waiting for their gun when the restraining order doesn’t keep their stalker from trying to kill them.

“Gun-free zones”? Mass murders love ‘em. That’s why they shoot at schools and malls, because there’s no chance someone who is legally packing will fight back and end it quick. “Gun-free zones” don’t work on criminals any more than “drug-free zones” keep drugs out of neighborhood. Criminals will bring guns into a gun-free zone. Criminals do not obey laws, that is the definition of a criminal. (Note: the only place I’ve ever seen a “drug-free zone” sign is in the most drug-riddle junkie ghetto neighborhoods I’ve ever had the misfortune to live in.)

Crime goes down, not up, in states that increase issuing of concealed carry permits for law-abiding citizens.

The new thing that anti-gun politicians are pushing for is mandatory “ballistic fingerprinting”. Two firms, Smith & Wesson and Glock, are already doing it voluntarily. It was done on our new guns. Each one included one fired cartridge in a little evidence envelope, with a printed note that it had been scanned by technician number whatever. The idea being that cops can compare firing pin marks on cartridges found at a crime scene with those in the database. Only problem is, killers will hook up a baggie to catch their own shells, and get my shells or your shells, that they scooped up at a firing range, and dump them at the crime scene. Then if we don’t have an alibi, we’re gonna have to spend a lot of money on lawyers to stay out of prison. If we’re lucky.

Also, a few hits with a nail file changes the firing pin marks. Or you can replace the pin. Or barrel, if you wanna change the rifling marks. Firing pins and barrels are not considered “guns”, they are gun parts, and can be ordered through the mail, purchased at a gun store or a gun show without a waiting period or background check, and they are not used to fire a round for any database before sale.

Gun politics are something politicians use to get votes. End of story. And all politicians, even the ones who want to take guns away, are protected 24/7 by armed guards and secret service, so they’re hypocrites. They can be protected by guns but I can’t?????

I really believe in smart self-protection, not gun control. The cow is too far out of the barn for gun control. When guns are outlawed..well you know the rest.

Arm everyone without a criminal record and enact nationwide Castle Doctrine. Turn everyone into a cop, because the cops can’t be everywhere, and I wouldn’t want them to be. This works in Texas. Low violent crime rate because everyone’s packin’.

The NRA is in favor of background checks, and so am I. The NRA wants them on the spot, but the gov has squelched attempts make the databases work together to do this on the spot, because the gov likes waiting periods.

I think that the reason the NRA is against any gun control is that with politicians, if you “Give ‘em an inch, they take a mile.” Bans on “assault weapons” today can mean a ban on all guns next year.

=====-

P.S. A funny thing that store owners do in Texas is put a “No guns allowed” sign in the door. I’ve seen ‘em there a lot. But it’s only a “nod-nod wink-wink” to gun-shy people. People with carry permits in Texas can carry a concealed weapon in a business unless it has a very specific legalese wording in the sign. “No guns allowed” or a sign with a gun and a red line through it do not satisfy this requirement. Those signs are the gun-packin’ owner telling his gun-packin’ patrons “It’s OK” while assuring patrons who are nervous around an honest law-abiding armed population.

p.p.s., a very few states do allow NON-concealed carry, but I wouldn’t want to do that. In a bank robbery or mall shooting, a criminal is probably gonna shoot the one guy he knows has a gun first!

MWD

(DJ asleep wrapped in the West Virginia flag we bought online. By the way, Skip, you’ll be happy to know that the flag is made in China.)

Well, we’re not moving there for probably 10 or 15 more years. But DJ and I have put a lot of thought into trying to retire a little early, and do it somewhere else. Somewhere in the US that we could have some land, not have close neighbors, and pretty much be left the fuck alone. (Including being able to target practice off the back porch.)

We picked West Virginia by the process of elimination. Here’s what we were looking for: No earthquakes. (Eliminates the West Coast.) No hurricanes or floods. (Eliminates much of the South East, and much of Texas.) No tornadoes. (Eliminates everything from Texas up to North Dakota.) Not hot as fuck (eliminates much of the South and Southwest.)  Lots of leafy shade trees (Eliminates much of the Southwest.) Not a lot of snow. (Eliminates the north and upper east coast, including New York and New England.) Plus we want cheap land, low property taxes, and want a state with Castle Doctrine and easier-to-get pistol carry permits (Take a close look at the photo above. The flag even has two guns in the design! And dig the state motto. It means “Mountaineers are always free.”)

That whole list of our “demands” pretty much only leaves West Virginia. Plus, West Virginia has a low crime rate, it’s number 43 out of 50 lowest crime per capita in the USA.

Beautiful land is cheap in West Virginia. The price of a house with no land in our town in California (let’s say 300,000 bucks) will buy you a lot in WV.

Here’s an 85-acre farm and a cute house for $300,000:

In West Virginia, for $289,000 you can buy this 100-acre farm with a really pretty house:

If you wanna go a little more low-rent than that, here’s a house and 8 acres for $84,900:

Yay! We’re looking forward to doing this. (Let’s hope my new YouTube book does really really well!)

I thought of something about people at the gun range who aren’t experienced shooters, people who rent, not own, guns:
“Shooting is the new bowling.”

Going to a range, renting a gun and firing off some shots to blow off some steam is kind of the new “hip” thing for youngsters to do. I fairly frequently see people, usually between 21 and 25, at the range, renting a gun. I don’t like shooting around them. They don’t always practice gun safety as much as I do. I especially don’t trust someone to know gun safety when I see them picking out a gun to rent and they’re asking questions like “What’s the difference between a 9mm and a .45?” Or worse yet, “What’s the difference between one of those cowboy guns (they point at a revolver) and that other kind?” (They point at a semi-auto.)

And in California, you have to pass a criminal/mental background check, take a written safety test, and wait ten days to buy a gun. But any murderous felon or suicidal psycho can rent a gun at a range, on the spot, as long as he’s 21 and not visibly drunk or high. (In fact, a gun range two towns over from me, not the range I go to, but this one, is closing for good, partially because they’ve had a total of eight suicides there over the years. Mostly gun renters.)

DJ and I are thinking of joining a gun club. We’ll have to drive twice as far to shoot, and pay more, but we will be shooting next to gun owners only, not gun renters. I haven’t been shooting that long, but have been shooting long enough to recognize incompetence in the next lane when I see it.

I don’t mind bowling three lanes down from a careless bowler, but I do mind shooting  three lanes down from a careless shooter.

Also, I think I need to be around better shooters to get better myself. DJ and I are getting good quickly, and we are often the best shots on the lanes on a given day at the range. I wanna be somewhere where everyone is a better shot than us. That’s part of how I learn anything: hang out with experts and ask questions, and watch them work. That’s how I learned music, filmmaking, writing, podcasting and more.

As for gun safety, it’s not just citizens who don’t know and/or practice the rules. Here’s one of my favorite YouTube videos, Cop Shoots himself in the leg. Not that I don’t like cops, I kinda do like cops, but this guy is bragging about gun safety, to school kids, as he does it.

Here’s the basic rules, in case you don’t know. There are more, but these are paramount:

RULE I: ASSUME EVERY GUN IS LOADED, EVEN IF YOU ARE TOLD IT IS NOT. CHECK IT YOURSELF.

RULE II: ALWAYS POINT A FIREARM IN A SAFE DIRECTION

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET, AND WHAT’S BEHIND IT, AND WHAT’S BEYOND IT.

Here are more good gun safety rules, (from the NRA site.)

The Whole Earth Catalog was an amazing, large “Access to tools” book in the late 60s, early 70s that influenced EVERYTHING: Internet sharing of technology and media, affordable housing, Craigslist, BitTorrent, green energy, and more. And the visionary who started it, Stewart Brand, ran The Well (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), the first commercial online service company, even before the Web. (If you ever get an e-mail from someone and their e-mail address ends in @well.net, you can be sure they were using the Internet before you were.)

I had The Whole Earth Catalog as a kid, from my sister, Connie. I found her copy in the attic after she went off to college. I loved the WEC, and it influenced me a lot, opened my mind to ideas that I did not hear about in school, or anywhere else, in my little town.

Reading the WEC also made me want to seek out and meet inventor and visionary Buckminster Fuller. (The Whole Earth Catalog people loved Fuller, because he invented the Geodesic dome, which the WEC touted as cheap housing for hippies wanting to “get back to the land.”

(I met Fuller in Chautauqua, New York, when he was in his 80s and I was 12. Changed my life. He was the first famous person I ever met. Back then, my “rock stars” were scientists.)

Wikipedia says, “Apple Inc. founder and entrepreneur Steve Jobs has described the Catalog as the conceptual forerunner of the World Wide Web….”The WEC was sort of like Google in  paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.”

Article in Time Magazine by Stewart Brand called “WE OWE IT ALL TO THE HIPPIES.”

(My view of the Internet is much like Stewart Brand’s. That it’s majestic and spiritual. Which is part of why I don’t like social networking, even though social networking came out of those ideas. I just think most people doing social networking are not people I’d want to talk with in real life. There are a lot of weenies and dolts in the world, and before the Internet, I was blissfully unaware of what they were thinking and doing. I really don’t want to see pictures of your cat, I don’t want to hear your dumb jokes, and I really don’t want to take a “Do you like me?” quiz. I thought those were stupid in third grade. I still think they’re stupid.)

Here’s a cool article about the Whole Earth Catalog. Here’s some quotes from it:

Richard Wurman: A West Coast catalog for hippies that won the National Book Award [in 1972, in the Contemporary Affairs category]? It was a paradigm shift in information distribution. In the early ’70s, the public didn’t know what a yurt was, or where to buy one. But if you were interested in moving back to the land and needed sturdy, cheap housing, this was invaluable information. I think you can draw a pretty straight line from the WEC to a lot of today’s culture. It created an aroma that’s so pervasive, most people don’t even know the source of the smell.

Kevin Kelly: For this new countercultural movement, information was a precious commodity. In the ’60s, there was no Internet; no 500 cable channels. Bookstores were usually small and bad; libraries, worse. The WEC not only gave you permission to invent your life, it gave you the reasoning and the tools to do just that. And you believed you could do it, because on every page of the catalog were other people doing it. This was a great example of user-generated content, without advertising, before the Internet. Basically, Brand invented the blogosphere long before there was any such thing as a blog.

John Perry Barlow: Before the WEC came out, business was big and ugly. It was a kingdom of acronyms like IBM and GE. But Stewart saw sustainable small business as a virtue.

Fred Turner: The WEC set the stage for all of today’s social networks. This kind of collaborative communication and the emphasis on small-scale technology really hit home in early Silicon Valley. You have to remember that the first Xerox PARC [the Palo Alto Research Center, a division of Xerox credited with inventing laser printing and the Ethernet, among other things] library consisted of books selected from the WEC by computer guru Alan Kay.

Details here on how to win a copy of YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts.
New book by Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean

The book ships in November 2008. You can also pre-order the book here.

I love shooting, but I pretty much hate guns in films, TV and video games, most of the time. They are
1. Overused - they create instant conflict and are used as a shortcut to avoid having to come up with good writing.
2. Used in a very unrealistic way:

A. People (even trained soldiers and cops) with guns in films can’t shoot straight (and can’t hit anything, even with automatic weapons), so gunfights in films go on for minutes, instead of seconds, like in real life.
B. People deliver lines after being shot. Not bloody likely.

C. Other people can hear those lines after the gun fight. Not at all possible. Guns are loud as fuck and you can’t hear right after one bullet is fired, let alone after hundreds of rounds.

D. That RIDICULOUS shit of holding the gun sideways. It makes you less able to control your shot, no matter how cool you think it looks. Nobody serious about hitting anything would hold their gun sideways.
3. I really think the way guns are used in the media increases actual violence in the real world, rather than just reflecting it. I think kids today think shooting people is an appropriate solution for a verbal dissing. I think shooting people is appropriate only to save your life when someone’s aiming to kill you.

4. I really think the way guns are used in the media makes people have worse opinions of all guns, including those owned legally by sane non-criminal people.

Thoughts?

(Extra credit thought: thoughts on Airsoft guns as toys for kids? I fucking hate it. There’s two ten-year-olds who run around my hood shooting exact visual replicas of 9mm semi-auto pistols, and they’ve painted the red tip black. Aside from me having to clean up all the fucking pellets in my garden, kids get shot from playing with those things, by cops with real guns who think the Airsoft guns are the real thing.)

Michael “grumpy old man” Dean

(post inspired by Ayoob)

More of me and the wife on guns (and everything else under the sun) at our podcast, Radio Free Nestlandia (the voice of a two-person nation in suburbia.)

“I’ve told people this before and I’ll say it again: Michael Dean laughs at deadlines. And then he gets mad at them and pulls out a stick and chases them around and whacks them into submission. And then he puts on his shades, throws his head back, and laughs yet again with the glee of a man who knows how to wield his willpower like a billy club. That’s what I say to people.

“(Finishing the book) eleven days ahead of schedule, good gawd yawl…”

–Steve Weiss Executive Editor, O’Reilly Media

==================================
“Michael has the work ethic of a Kansas farmer, the brain of a Harvard professor, and the niceness of June Cleaver. And he beats deadlines into mincemeat!

“And now I’m adding Alan (”Fallofautumndistro” Lastufka) to my list of all time favorite authors too. You both totally rock!

“I’ve worked with hundreds of authors too, and that “all time favorite list” includes about five, so you guys are among the few. You just have no idea how nice it is to work with cooperative authors who stay with me until the book is done.

–Sandy Doell, editor on $30 Film School (by Michael W. Dean), $30 Music School (by Michael W. Dean), and YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts (by Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean), and a few hundred other books by other people.

SO….We’ve finally become comfy enough around guns to keep them loaded in the house. Because you know, an unloaded gun isn’t really a gun, and there may not be time to load it in an emergency.

I put a notice by the gun to remind me. Will keep that up for a while. Seems like a silly thing to need to do, but I’ve been practicing loading dummy shells so long that grabbing the gun from the corner and  flipping it around has become second nature, so I need to un-do that thinking.

Also, we went and fired our new pistols today. Took a one-hour lesson, then shot 125 rounds each, at 25 feet. We were pretty good for first time with new guns. (DJ and I have both fired pistols before, but it’s been many years.) I think we did pretty good, below is the last target we did…the 10 head shots are mine, the 30 center body shots are DJ’s (she’s a better shot than me):

I actually think that shooting with the shotgun made us better shots with pistols. I wasn’t sure it would transfer over, but I think it did.

We shoot without our glasses, as we want to practice under adverse conditions, rather than under optimum conditions.

After shooting that much, we both felt kind of mellow and excited at the same time. Kinda high almost. Went to McDonalds drive through on the way home, then both napped, hard, for an hour and a half.

When we woke up, we took the guns apart to clean and oil them:

I found an amazingly helpful video on YouTube, here, on the disassembly of this particular model. I love the video, it’s the only one this dude’s put up on YouTube, but it blows most “how-to” videos about anything out of the water. It’s very no-nonsense, and shows you exactly how to take it apart and put it back together.

It’s not that hard once you see it done, but I really doubt I could have figured it out on my own, and the owner’s manual that came with the guns is pretty useless. It’s not for our particular model, but rather a generic manual for all Smith & Wesson pistols.

We’re really enjoying the handguns, and plan to shoot at least 125 rounds a night each, two nights a week, until we’re really really good.

The handguns somehow feel more like “guns” to me. Maybe because I used to associate handguns with criminals but associated shotguns with my kindly old grandfather. Or maybe it’s because the bullet and the noise come out closer to your ears than with a shotgun (even though a shotgun is louder).

We love our new hobby, and love that there’s a lot to learn. I’d kinda gotten bored with filmmaking and audio production, because I know so much about both. It’s nice to have a new hobby. And our hands hurt from loading, shooting and taking the guns apart. We got little raw spots on the tip of our thumbs from loading all those bullets into the mags….It sort of reminds me of when I first started playing guitar, when I was 14, and the pads of my fingers would be sore after, but I got callous and the pain eventually went away.

I think it will work the same with this.

(Coming in 2010:$30 Gun School. lol…)

MEW!

MWD and DJD

Treatise I wrote about gun control:

GUNS IN SCHOOLS, GUNS IN THE HOME
A few thoughts from a sane gun owner on gun politics, gun ownership, the second Amendment and self-protection.
I’m not what a lot of people think of when they think of a typical gun owner. I’ve never voted Republican. I don’t hunt. I don’t go to church. I don’t blindly accept everything an authoritarian source tells me, and I question virtually everything I hear, especially on TV. I don’t drink, I have all my teeth, I can read, and I don’t drive a pickup truck.

But is there a typical gun owner? Between 1/3 and ½ of all adults in the US own guns (it’s hard to get an exact statistic, because not everyone will admit to owning them, for fear of getting them taken away.)

I am in favor of a strong military, but I think that the US Military has overstepped their bounds in almost every conflict they’ve ever been in, except the Revolutionary War and WW 2. I’m for a strong defensive military, and feel our military should never be used in a offensive way, particularly to line the pockets of the friends of those in power.

I don’t hunt, but when I was a teenager, I shot a rabbit, skinned it and cooked it. And I feel that anyone who eats meat should do that at least once, to know what’s really involved when they buy meat in the supermarket neatly wrapped in plastic.

I own a gun for home protection, and for hobby target shooting at the range. My wife and I love shooting our Remington 870 shotgun at the range, and we’re buying a Smith & Wesson MP 9 MM handgun next week.

I practice all the rules of gun safety, and believe that owning a gun, if done right, is safer than driving a car. Statistics back this up.

I AM a member of the NRA, but don’t agree with them on legalizing fully automatic weapons or doing away with waiting periods. I do agree with the NRA on background checks to make it harder for criminals and the mentally ill to get guns, and on increasing penalties for using a gun in the commission of a crime.

I am very into safe, sane and responsible gun ownership for level-headed adults. And increasing gun laws will not keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Like the saying says, “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”

I love all parts of the Constitution of the United States, particularly the first, second and fourth amendments. The first amendment protects free speech, the second amendment protects the right to bear arms and the fourth amendment protects against unlawful search, seizure and detainment. I have studied the Constitution, and find it to be a brilliantly written document. I don’t believe that it was divinely inspired, but I think that the fellows who put it together were amazingly smart.

I can’t vote for John McCaine, but I’m not sure I can vote for Barak Obama either. He probably is the lesser of two bad choices for me. I love democracy in theory, but am sick of voting for the less offensive guy my whole life. Barak Obama is in favor of stronger gun control, but being a politician, he doesn’t entirely come out and say that, because he knows he’ll lose votes over it. Like most great politicians, he couches his statements in terms that will get him the most votes, rather than simply speaking from the heart.

And keep in mind that the politicians who want to take your guns away are themselves protected by 24-7 armed secret service and military. Some politicians don’t want citizens to have guns for protection, but these politicians don’t need to carry guns. The government provides them with someone to carry the gun for them.

I am in favor of the recent decision in one Texas town to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons. I think this will prevent violence, not encourage it. Teachers devote their lives to teaching, know the students, and generally have the best interests of students in mind, unlike hired armed guards. And many towns in Texas have high gun ownership rates and very low crime. Criminals are reluctant to attack victims whom they believe to be armed.

I disagree with the recent Texas decision that set free a guy who shot two robbers leaving his neighbor’s house. I do not believe it is right to shoot someone over property, only to protect a life. And shooting someone in the back while they’re fleeing breaks the common-sense code that goes back to the cowboys. When someone is retreating, they are becoming less of a threat, not more.

If someone breaks into my house in the middle of the night, or even in the afternoon, and steps toward me, I will shoot them. A stranger breaking in and advancing toward me in my own home is a threat. But if I come home and they’re climbing out my window with my stereo, I’ll just call 911. But that’s a crap shoot for anyone who would try. I’m usually awake all night, I’m a light sleeper, and I have really good hearing.

Unlike a few gun owners, I’m not hoping someone breaks in so I can shoot a human. The last thing I’d ever want to do is kill someone. It would bother me the rest of my life, even if I didn’t go to prison, which you can do even when it’s self-defense, especially in California, where I live.

I would only shoot someone to protect myself or my wife from grievous bodily harm or death. But there are two sayings that I entirely agree with: “It’s better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.” And “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.”

OK, now I’ll sit back and wait for the comment war that seems to accompany every video on YouTube about gun rights. The comments are usually people from countries where private gun ownership is illegal calling the vlogger “Idiot American pussy who needs a gun to feel like a man”, as well as armchair liberals in American who’ve never held a gun joining in on that side, sane gun owners arguing back, and one or two nutty gun owners making it really interesting for everyone. I’m looking forward to reading all of it.

As for people who’ve never held a gun having opinions on guns, the only person I know who was ever involved in an accidental shooting was when someone who had never held a gun picked one up, thought it was a toy, cocked it, shot it at the wall, and the ricochet shot a woman in the leg. She lived, but it wasn’t a good day for anyone. It wasn’t my gun, but I was at the scene, upstairs from where it happened.

And I’ll make a preemptive strike, because I know that a lot of the comments will be people calling all Americans “rednecks.” While I don’t dislike someone immediately just because they fit that description, I will tell you this: The two counties in America with the highest gun ownership rates are Los Angeles County and King’s County New York (which is where Brooklyn is.) And those two counties are geographically and socially about as un-redneck as you can get.

Let the flames begin…..

Download this as a Word Doc. Feel free to reprint anywhere, if you send me an e-mail and let me know.

Got two Smith & Wesson 9mms. Yay! (I love how the photos of me with glasses and the gun make me look responsible, but without the glasses, I look criminal. I’m not. They’re fully legal, registered, and for target shooting and personal protection only.)

Update: I just saw Palin speak on TV. I’m pretty terrified that she could end up being president. I’m gonna vote for Obama. Palin’s evil is so great, I’m going to settle for “the lesser of the evils” (again.)

MWD