Firearms: Sporting and Self-Defense Purposes

I could claim a myriad of sporting and self-defense purposes for a semi-automatic, combat-like rifle. I could say something like:

I enjoy preparing for the coming economic collapse.

I like playing Rambo on the weekends.

The Mayan calendar was wrong, but I know it's coming.

I enjoy three gun.

I've decided such a weapon is my best form of self defense.

But I don't need any of those justifications for owning and possessing my property. The right to keep and bear arms is a natural right enumerated in the 2nd Amendment. The natural right is not for some arms; it is for all arms.

The founders also wanted to make sure of one additional thing: that the common person would be an integral part of the defense of ones state, of ones military, as a citizen, as a private individual, with ones privately owned arms. A citizen needs an effective weapon that brings parity* with common military arms.


Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show Shoots Self In Foot
I'm glad to see that the major sponsors and vendor after vendor are abandoning the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, because they fail to see that shunning the black rifle or "tactical" weapons abandons the 2nd Amendment for a watered-down, "legitimate"-sporting-purpose privilege.

In the promoter's defense, Reed Exhibitions's markets the show as a "unique celebration of authentic hunting and fishing traditions." But the "modern sporting rifle" - I really hate that term, by the way - the modern sporting rifle has made major inroads into hunting and self-defense uses. Almost every maker of ARs makes a varmint version. Manufacturers of ARs and ammunition have been working for several years to develop systems that are effective for larger game. Some are not as scary looking, because they ironically have fright-disrupting camouflage. For example, there is the Remington R-25 in military-developed 7.62x51mm NATO.

http://remington.com/en/products/firearms/centerfire/model-r-25/model-r-25-rifle.aspx

And not to put too fine a point on the legitimacy of using military-style arms for sporting stuff - because we don't need to care - but the deadly-for-humans Springfield 1903 in military-developed .30 '06 bagged plenty of game, whether it was "sporterized" or not.

And not to belabor the point, but hunters putting ARs in the field "normalizes" the use of ARs. And once again, we don't need to care, but "normalizing" is one part public relations and one part "a right not exercised is lost" foil.

Michael Bane, putting it pretty well:

WE ARE UNITED!
I've read today about how hunters and shooters have "different needs," and how the NRA membership is "separated" from the NRA executive. Let me use a simple, easily understood word here:
BULL! 

*A couple firearms Acts put us at a disadvantage, illegitimately.

Closet Beer: Batch Awaiting A Name

I'd progressed through a few batches of cider over the last several months to the stage where my wife - to my satisfaction - stated, "It tastes like champagne." But it's been a while since I had made beer.

So last Thursday, I finally brewed beer again. I used old stuff. A Mr. Beer High Country Canadian Draft canned pre-hopped malt, Booster (corn-syrup solids), and brewer's yeast. I added two cups of European Formula Ovaltine. It's too malty and not chocolaty enough for my kids, so I figured that I'd try adding some to beer. To make sure that it wouldn't kill the yeast, I did a test fermentation of just Ovaltine.

Because I had yeast that had failed with previous batches, I started by proofing the yeast. It took an hour to brew, plus about 15 minutes ahead of time to collect the materials and review the sequence of steps. Well, I must have been overwhelmed by wishful thinking, because the next morning the yeast wasn't active.

So I did what I could. Lacking more brewer's yeast, I proofed and added some rapid-rise bread yeast. I've used it before for cider, so I am hoping with a little aging it won't negatively affect the flavor.

I'll probably bottle by this Saturday. I'll be naming this one in a few weeks, when I taste it.

Next batch? I don't like using corn syrup, so I am definitely thinking all malt. It will probably include some extract, but that would still be a slight advance toward real-home-crafted beer. Or maybe I'll try another cider. The last one was really good, but it required more time to age and clarify. Time to add a step - racking.

Why am I using a lame Mr. Beer unit? Well, I'm closet brewing - not even whole-closet brewing at that. So I am limited for space. Also, I don't know how much more I want to invest in the process, but I definitely want to invest enough to make some good beer - and cider. Like I wrote above, I want to start racking.

Apropos: First Lady's Apocalyptic Fashion Statement

Credit: CBSNews.com/Getty

Frankly, I don't care what the First Lady wears. I don't care if Michelle Obama wore the same outfit from Target three days running; she probably has 10 of everything, anyway. I don't care if she wore a $5000 dress to some ball; she or her cronies have money to burn.

But ... but, when she was trotting down those steps in the Capital building before the President's re-inauguration, I noticed something. It reminded me of something I had seen before. Her coat looked familiar. Ah, yes:

Credit: Memory-Alpha.org

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, when the Enterprise had an encounter with Q, Q chose the setting of a WWIII Earth to put humanity on trial. The soldiers wore uniforms that the First Lady's coat alarmingly mirrors.

Who's In Control?

Heard this on Episode 52 of the Anarchast podcast.

Beware of the military-industrial-financial complex.

- James Turk, reformulating Eisenhower's warning during Eisenhower's farewell address

James Turk is the founder of GoldMoney.com and author of The Collapse of the Dollar.

But is it really true that we are slaves to the money manipulators? This video gave me new food for thought on the subject, and especially gave the USA dollar's divorce from the gold standard in the early 1970s a little extra flavor:


Well, did Nixon really set the stage for our perpetual involvement in (and creation of ) Middle East conflicts by permanently suspending the gold standard, refusing calls by foreign governments to return their gold, getting OPEC nations to accept dollars (petrodollars) only for payments on oil, and guaranteeing Saudi oil-field security?

Was Iraq invaded for dropping the petrodollar? Was the Syrian insurgency started because Syria dropped the petrodollar? Was the Libyan insurgency started because Gaddafi was starting the gold dinar currency, and was dropping the petrodollar? Egypt? Iran is working an alternative currency, and all of a sudden Iran is enemy number one? Not to say that the tyrants don't deserve to be toppled, but why are they toppling now?

Tyranny or Liberty: What are we on the cusp of?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny. 
When the government fears the people, there is liberty. 
-- Thomas Jefferson

I Propose a $1-Billion-Coin, Get-Out-Of Debt Scheme

The $1-trillion-coin concept will never see the light of day. The Federal Reserve and the big banks would never stand for the "market stability" created by such a "cut and dry" solution. I think the concept will be whittled down to a $1-billion-coin scheme. Here's why:

The Fed has backed itself into a corner with interest rates, therefor it can't perform as much of its weekly magic of inventing and destroying currency (fake money). In an unholy alliance between the "private" reserve and government, the Fed will transfer some of it's magical powers to the Treasury. The Treasury can mint $1 billion coins weekly, then on every Friday it can announce how many trinkets it is releasing into "circulation" (to the Fed).

A $1-billion-coin scheme would better allow the government and the Fed to "respond to market realities." HA. HA.

Credit: The New York Times

But back to reality!?! Nobel Laureate [for Economics-LOL] Paul Krugman ACTUALLY THINKS the $1-trillion-coin scheme could replace the need for raising the debt ceiling. He really wrote so in "Rage Against the Coin" in his weekly column, The Conscious of a Liberal [What?].

I still think the $1 billion coins have a better chance of seeing the light of d̶a̶y̶ the Federal Reserve vault. They would just be more conducive to money manipulation, because of their  l̶i̶q̶u̶i̶d̶i̶t̶y̶ divisibility.

The Shared Right To Nullify

Nullification - it's not just for states anymore. Actually, it never was JUST for states.

Proposed nullification by a state:

1 AN ACT relating to firearms; providing that any federal law
2 which attempts to ban a semi-automatic firearm or to limit
3 the size of a magazine of a firearm or other limitation on
4 firearms in this state shall be unenforceable in Wyoming;
5 providing a penalty; and providing for an effective date.

- State of Wyoming, HOUSE BILL NO. HB0104, Firearm Protection Act

Nullification by a local government:

"My office will not comply with any federal action which violates the United States Constitution or the Kentucky Constitution which I swore uphold." 

- Sheriff Denny Peyman, Jackson County, Kentucky

Nullification by an individual:

"I will not be disarmed to suit the fear that has been established by the media and [Diane Feinstein's] misinformation campaign against the American public."

- Cpl Joshua Boston, USMC (Ret)

Today's Tinfoil Hatter is Tomorrow's Well-Informed Citizen

To paraphrase Ron Paul on InfoWars with Alex Jones: What was thought to be crackpot prophecy a decade ago has come to pass in reference to what our government is doing with monetary policy and our person freedoms.


So when there is semi-concern for being a tinfoil hatter on blogs like The Smallest Minority, I am bothered and comforted at the same time. It is easy to see a massive government conspiracy, and it is easy to see plain-old business as usual. The truth is most likely somewhere in between. So be scared, be critical, and keep thinking.

Side Note:
I am still on the fence about DHS and other agencies purchasing so much ammo. Maybe they will shoot it all up practicing. But on the flip side, the Department of Education has no need for SWAT teams. Also, most other agencies have no legitimate reason for LEOs. We have too many agencies running around enforcing statutes (unlaws) for victimless crimes. And if the agencies stop practicing for long enough, then they will have a shitload of ammo.

It's Not A Freedom System; It's ...

Fascism. It's a hot-button word. Dangerous. Divisive. But I can't find another word for what our government is - or has been - turning into.

Socialism? Well, there are socialistic elements to it. The easiest description for the socialism we see in our country today is: socialism - a panacea for the angered masses. Socialism in our current government system is a tool - not the system. National socialism was a misnomer for Germany's style of fascism. And to put a fine point on it, here's what Gerald Celente said on Lew Rockwell's podcast January 4:

The entire game is rigged. I began by saying: "Too big to failed." The big corporations are in control. What is that? ... The definition of fascism, according to Mussolini, is the merger of state and corporate powers. The corporate powers are in control.

But Benito Mussolini provided us with a polite term:

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. (Brainyquotes.com)

But there is a problem. Apparently, Mussolini didn't say that. Oops. No matter. What fascism did was incorporate corporations into the state. That's like what the 14th Amendment to our constitution did, when it guaranteed - in a round about way - corporations personhood. Personhood was apparently granted earlier by Supreme Court decision. 

As a side note, states have incorporated marriage into the state by granting marriage licenses.

So what are we left with? Is the marriage of big business and big government fascism or corporatism? Well, it's not freedom. Let's call it statism. And I'll define it myself:

Statism - the marriage of the state with itself in an unholy alliance with any other power that serves the state.

"Elementary" Philosophers - Private Arms

Suggested by Stephen P. Halbrook PhD in "That Every Man Be Armed:"

Pro Private Arms:
Aristotle:
"Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of arms." (quoted on Quotes on the Rights to Bear Arms by Eric S. Raymond) Cicero:
"I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."(quoted in "The Sword & The Tome" by David Kopel) Algernon Sidney:
"Nay, all laws must fall, human societies that subsist by them must be dissolved, and all innocent persons be exposed to the violence of most wicked, if men might not justly defend themselves against injustice by their own natural right, when the ways prescribed by public authority cannot be taken." (quoted in "The Scottish and English Religious Roots of the American Right to Arms" by David Kopel) Also:
John Locke
Machiavelli

Anti Private Arms:
Plato
Caesar
Robert Filmer
Also:
Jean Bodin
Thomas Hobbes