Friday, June 17, 2016

Shall Not Be Infringed

Following the tragic shooting in Orlando there has been a media frenzy and all sorts of demands for gun control. This in itself is another tragedy. No gun caused this massacre, but rather religious intolerance, prejudice, gun control, gun free zones, and mental illness. Robert A, Heinlein said, "An armed society is a polite society." There is no place you can go like a packed gun show and be bumped or brushed less and be apologized to more. It is not an attitude of fear at all, but one of respect. The patrons at a gun show aren't the type of people who run their mouths and expect someone else to come to their rescue and do their dirty work. Society could do a lot worse than modeling their free enterprise model. I have spent thousands of dollars at my local Academy Sports. They now say that "out of respect" they are taking all of thier modern sporting rifles off their web site and will no longer display them in their stores. You can still buy them if you know what you want and ask for it, like a dirty magazine behind the counter! This is a huge betrayal to all of their shoppers, especially those who realize that the Second Amendment protects all others. I'm still furious at how they caved. They're like Vegans with manly beards. I am posting the paragraph below of my post on firearms' manufacturers pages, groups, and sites across social media as well as other vendors whose product lines they carry. I believe we need to stand unite and let the free market know that it depends upon all of us protecting our rights. Please feel free to do the same or post your own version. Shout outs to Daniel Defense for being the first to publicly do so.
In light of Academy Sports and Outdoors decision to remove all Modern Sporting Rifles from display, showing moral cowardice, bowing to political correctness, disregarding America's Second Amendment rights, and giving credit to the whole killer assault rifle frenzy of rabid fear and ignorance, will you be doing as Daniel Defense did and pulling all of your products from their stores and website?
You can send complaints to Academy Sports' Corporate Communications team. Elise Hasbrook can be reached at (281) 944-6041 or elise.hasbrook@academy.com Some suggestions when contacting her; 1. Be polite but clear and firm. 2. Mention specific stores that you will no longer patronize. 3. Mention that you will recommend against shopping at Academy. 4. Give them a way out: state something they can do to restore trust, such as a public apology and immediate reversal of the policy. (Give them a reason to *change* their current behavior–and to act better in the future.) 5. Again: be polite, clear, and firm.
We are in a war against tyranny and corruption. Our nation, our way of life, and our very freedom hang in the balance. This is not the time to vote for a lesser evil, but to vote our conscience while we still can. We have more than two choices, and despite the Main Stream Media's false claims, it matters. We must take a stand at the voting booths and the free market. "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Benjamin Franklin
Take The World's Smallest Political Quiz here: www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php and if you find you are more Libertarian than you think, visit The Libertarian Party at www.LP.org and learn about their presidential nominee, Governor Gary Johnson at www.GaryJohnson2016.com

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Antisocial Media


(Artist unknown)


America is in turmoil. Those of us, this includes you, who spend any time at all online are constantly besieged by extreme opinions fueled by hatred, political agendas, religious prejudice, and blatant stupidity. Repeating anything over an over does not suddenly make it true.

Facebook is no longer primarily a place to stay in touch with family and friends and find others who share our interests and passions. It is now a platform, a soapbox, a showcase, and a never ending vehicle of escapism and narcissism.

By making the world a smaller place, the internet has also made it a much much more crowded one. We now know more about people than we ever wanted; the good, the bad, and the hideously ugly.

I think that social media gives us information overload as well as dumbing us down to little more than popular soundbites repeated with religious fervor as if it were gospel from the mouth of God.

Glenn Beck wrote a book about the
Overton Window or Window of Discourse. It is the range of ideas the public will accept. It is used by media pundits. It is manipulated by making either gradual changes or having something spectacularly bad happen where we then tend to agree that something significant needs to be done and we accept legislation that in normal circumstances would never be acceptable on any level. Similarly we find our beliefs manipulated where we will be PC and accept a small change if we can get around the big change and forget that the little things add up until we are living in a different world.

Because of all of the extreme drama spread online, we find ourselves rubbernecking armchair quarterbacks, patriots, religious zealots, etc. We stay glued to our computers, smart phones, tablets, iPads, etc waiting for the next big event and thoroughly ignoring the reality around us, our communities, and often those we love.


It's time we stepped up and back and rejected the narcotic allure of the information highway and resumed living our lives as freely, as sanely, and as independently as our parents and grandparents. Far more of us are grossly addicted to technology primarily the internet than have ever been addicted to any drug or substance. Like any addiction it enslaves us. No, goddammit, you should not start an online online recovery group!

Shut off your computer, limit your smart phone usage to certain tasks or time limits or get a flip phone, get off your highly likely morbidly obese behind, go outside, and see who lives next door to you and invite them to go for a walk.

Show your dog what a tennis ball is and teach it to do more than lay on the couch.

Stop confusing soundbites with knowledge and read a real book. No, not Harry Potter And The Braindead Couch Potato.

The internet is like looking at life through a stained glass window, you will never see it as it actually is if that is your only view.


 The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

http://www.venganza.org
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