Dead and Paralyzed Criminals Commit Less Crimes

Thought Experiment:  If more criminals were shot in flagrante delicto, would there be more crime, or less crime?

The 31 states that have "shall issue" laws allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons have, on average, a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons. In fact, the nine states with the lowest violent crime rates are all right-to-carry states. (CATO - Gun Control Myths)

Here's a headline from Chicago:

Elderly Woman Shoots 12-Year Old Hellion

Why? Because the little bastard was throwing bricks at her house. He had terrorized other neighbors, setting trash on fire, threatening old people, and committing other acts of vandalism.  Best of all, even in the liberal la la land that brought us President Barack Obama, they are not prosecuting her.  I'm glad to see Chicago Democrats actually do something right for a change.

Meanwhile, out here in the west, wussified east coast style liberalism is killing us...

DA Disarms 82-Year-Old Man, Denver Area Breathes Collective Sigh of Relief

Wallace was originally charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder in February after he fired a shot into a pickup that was carrying away his flatbed trailer from his Wheat Ridge home.

The gunshot hit Alvaro Cardona, 28, in the face, blinding him and causing a serious brain injury, Russell said.

Left unsaid is that the sanctuary city of Denver had caught and released these illegal alien criminals after each of their numerous felonies.  Senior citizen Robert Wallace does society a great and heroic service in paralyzing one of them, and this is what the nanny-state DA had to say:

"The lesson to be learned is that Colorado law does not authorize a citizen to use deadly physical force to protect property," Storey said.

That's just the message criminals want to hear.  Mr. Wallace, unarmed, is now at the mercy of retaliation from the predators' gang-banger cronies.  Way to go, DA Story!  You're a hero!  To the all the crooks and predators out there who depend on a compliant and passive populace.  You're moron of the first order.

Whatever you tolerate, you'll get more of.

Want more ammo to combat failed "gun control" policies?  Get the facts!  Just Facts - Gun Control

Education: Too Important to be Left to Government

Our education system is not suffering a lack of money, it is suffering a lack of competition.

Our education system is a colossal failure, still being run on an outdated, century-old model.  It is a Progressive Ozymandias:

...Nought but the teachers unions remaining to disclose
The site of these forgotten students ... (Apologies to Shelley)

Government Rewards Failure, The Private Sector Punishes It

Walter E. Williams asks a simple question, then answers it brilliantly:

Why is Wal-Mart so successful? Millions of people voluntarily enter their stores and part with their money in exchange for Wal-Mart's products and services. In order for that to happen, Wal-Mart and millions of other profit-motivated businesses must please people.

He then contrasts private sector success to endemic public sector failure.

A major non-profit service provider is the public education establishment that delivers primary and secondary education at nearly a trillion-dollar annual cost. Public education is a major source of complaints about poor services that in many cases constitute nothing less than gross fraud.

If Wal-Mart, or any of the millions of producers who are in it for money and profits, were to deliver the same low-quality services, they would be out of business, but not public schools.

Schools don't need more money

John Stossel writes about how an "underfunded," "minority" charter school is outperforming all public schools in Oakland.

Consider the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, Calif. It was once a failing school, but now it's one of the best in California. Ben Chavis turned it around without any additional money.

Chavis' experience exposes the school establishment's lies for what they are. Nearly all of Chavis' students are considered economically disadvantaged (98 percent qualify for free lunches), yet they have the fourth-highest test scores of any school in the state.

"In Oakland this year, on the AP (advanced placement) exam, we had 100 percent of all the blacks and Mexicans in the city of Oakland who passed AP calculus," Chavis said. "There are four high schools, and we're the only ones who had anyone pass AP calc."

Yet Chavis accomplishes this without the "certified" teachers so revered by the educational establishment. His classes are as big as, and sometimes bigger than, public school classes, but only a quarter of his teachers are certified by the state. (John Stossel - Money is Not What Schools Need)

I highly recommend you read all about The Indian School here:  LA Times - Indian School.  It will open your eyes and give you ammo for arguing against the statists who insist we need to give those who have wrecked the system more money and more power.

I like David Warren's solution to all this:

The one immediate, radical reform for which I think we should aim, after winning the battle of ideas, is the destruction of all centralized school boards and liquidation of all departments of education. Put every single public and high school in the control of a local parent association, and necessity -- the most efficient instructor -- will soon teach the parents what they must do. (David Warren - Back to Schools)

Indeed. For the sake of this nation, get the federal government out of primary and secondary education.  Only competition and innovation will restore what progressive statism has destroyed.

Government-owned nonprofit entities are immune to the ruthless market discipline of being forced to please customers. The same can be said of businesses that receive government subsidies. (Walter E. Williams)

Expose the education system to the brutal forces of the marketplace
It will empower parents, shut out the parasitic bureaucrats, bring costs down and student knowledge up.  Best of all, the crappy teachers will be looking for a job in another line of work, because no competitive school will want them.

War is Un-Conservative

I got slightly cross-ways with fellow Right Blogistan blogger Epaminondas over at Infidel Blogger's Alliance.   It's all good.  He was voicing support for John Bolton, a smart man and a patriotic American, and I went off on neocons.

It's important for us conservatives to have these conversations and air our differences while still respecting each others' opinions.

I am Anti-War

I am anti-war, but not for the America-hating reasons lefties are. My opposition is a libertarian one:  No nation has the right to invade another unprovoked, and anyway it's a waste of money and a tragic expenditure of blood and treasure.  Since I'm a medium-core libertarian, I do allow exceptions, especially when we are helping others help themselves.

I also support our ongoing efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, although I would like to see them wrapped up and us out of there.  Americans are fighting and dying there, and they need our support

Here are four reasons I dislike the neocons, with links to my blog posts containing in-depth information for those who want more details.

Unintended Consequences
George Bush had good intentions, and he really could have tipped over the old Muslim World order, but our allies and public opinion abandoned us, and now the forces of evil there have retrenched. Despotic regimes everywhere are re-empowered, especially Iran.  (The Road to Hell)

International Progressive projects are just as bad as domestic ones
Neo-Wilsonian efforts to usher in a New World Order is an internationalist progressive pipe dream, and we can't afford it. Conservatives cannot credibly rail against grand progressive projects at home while supporting them overseas. (Global War on American Prosperity)

Nation Building is folly
Nation building is folly when not done in cooperation with the people whose nation you are trying to build. Successes in this area have a common theme: Those we helped build or rebuild accepted our help and did most of the heavy lifting themselves.Also, small government advocates should admit that the central-planning we rail against at home is equally no good when we impose it on others overseas.  (The Folly of Nation Building)

The Forgotten Human Cost of War
Finally, the human cost of war is all too often blithely dismissed. Couples divorce, families are irretrievably broken, lives are changed forever. People who have survived combat will never be the same again. Children will lose parents; spouses will lose their beloved; siblings and parents will be left with nothing but memories. War wrecks lives and produces a cohort of walking wounded. For this reason, military action should never be taken lightly.  (War is Hell)

Conclusion
I think we need to look at what has happened and use our experience to make better decisions in the future.  Would it really have mattered whether we ended up buying Kuwaiti oil from Kuwaiti despots versus an Iraqi one?  Especially since we are doing business with Saudi despots who hate us and who are funding Islamic jihad against the West. 

Sometimes it's better to sit back, save up some money and keep your powder dry.  Now that's a conservative concept.

Righteous Rant

This is a two-part post.  There is some vulgarity in the second part, so I'm posting a Thomas Sowell quote for those who don't want to indulge in it.

Dr. Sowell explains how President Barack Obama happened, 10 years before his election!

In social life, the more fundamental a truth is, the more likely it is to have been discovered  long ago--and to have been repeated in a thousand ways to the point of utter boredom.  In this context, to make excitement and novelty the touchstones of an idea is to run grave risks of abandoning the truth for ideological trinkets. 
-- Thomas Sowell (Quest for Cosmic Justice, 1999.  Almost 10 years before "Hope and Change!")

Now, The Righteous and Vulgar Rant
I love a hot-headed righteous rant, the more vulgar the better.  Probably because I would not unleash such a torrent myself although I've so wanted to on many occasions.  Don't get me wrong, I do not appreciate vulgarity for it's own sake; the sincerity and genuineness has got to be there or it's no good.

A conservative guy named Micky lit up liberal Jersey McJones over his 9/11 post.  Jersey claimed to have some international experience, and criticized our many global adventures.  If you are offended by vulgarities, go no further.




micky has left a new comment on the post "Another 9/11, Another Point Off Our National IQ":

Jersey has disgusted me past words.  The facts dictate exactly the opposite of the shit he spews.
Bottom line is that hes saying we asked for it, we deserved it, it was our fault and that those mourning are stupid. Make me fucking sick to my gut.

It'll be quite a while before I return here.

You really are a fucking piece o shit.

"America is the bad guy"

Go fuck yourself.

Working in a container yard doesnt make you some fucking expert on foreign relations you incredible fucking moron.

It just makes you a fucking box junkie. I used to work container lines too. The closest you come to international relations is finding someone to translate foreign invoices you dumb shit.

Half this fucking planet would be dead or starving if it werent for our presence and actions. Any fucking high schooler knows that.

On one hand you say its our presence and then on the other hand were supposed to give all our cash to third world hell holes in the name of some ginned up weather bullshit, feed the hungry, cure the ill, build them hospitals and shit. But when it comes to protecting the worlds number one source of wealth that supports the global economy were fucking evil.

Take that and choke on it you incredibly insensistive overidealistic hypocritical moonbat fuck.

Bye, see you in another year if you're not in fucking Abudabee fucking a burka wearing camel on a prayer rug wishing to hell that you liked America just a little more
piece o shit

One Leftist Nation: Hundreds Mill Around in DC

"One Nation" rally attracts a noisy, smelly collectivist rabble

The leftwing astroturf agitator rabble known as one nation took place in our nation's capital yesterday (I know, I hadn't heard of it either.  I learned of it from Left Blogistan denizen Sue)

Collectivist complainers failed to get the crowds they expected.  Capital Police at first thought it was a drug deal going down.

Bullhorn Buffoon Al Sharpton and bombastic arsonist Ed Schultz headlined the event, entertaining the hundreds who were bussed in by collectivist organizers.

Glenn Beck Lives in the Left's Brain, Rent Free, 24/7!

Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck's rally. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck's rally. (Yahoo News)

I did hear mention that the crowd was slightly larger than the set-up crew for the Glenn Beck Rally...

AP started a controversy, claiming "thousands," not "hundreds" showed up.  We'll never know, because the caliginous klatch of collectivistas climbed into a VW microbus and left before reporters could get a count.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of people flocked to the Lincoln Memorial for a rally Saturday organized by labor and civil rights groups, hoping to show support for the Democratic agenda in the face of expected GOP election gains next month. (AP News My Way)

It was a socialist and communist event
I pointed out to the sweaty hordes in Left Blogistan that numerous self-admitted socialist and communist organizers were providing the astroturf for this rally.  Only Sue gave an honest answer of, "So What?"  God bless her, she's the only honest one over there.  "What's wrong with socialism?" was her ripost.

My Response
What's wrong with Socialism?  As Margaret Thatcher so brilliantly pointed out, eventually you will run out of other people's money.

It stifles personal initiative, removes sovereign choices from the individual and wrongly places them with central planning committees and bureaucrats who have no idea what each individual needs and has no business trying to find out.

Imagine a world where government didn't rob you of your self-sufficiency...
Imagine a world where you could start a business out of your house without jumping through a thousand fiery bureaucratic hoops.  Imagine a world where the dollar holds its value because government can't manipulate it.

That would be a world where most of us could shift for ourselves and take care of our families and one another without looking to a ruling oligarchy for special favors.

Social Security Does Not Make Us Socialist
Some MSNBC person known as "ODonnel" claims we are all socialists because we have social security.  He is historically ignorant.  Socialism's roots go back to the early 1800's.  Its hallmarks were opposition to established order, and hostility to private property, economic competition, and capitalism (a phrase coined by socialists).  They were utopians with overly-simplistic "solutions" that completely ignored human nature and man's behavior in the market place across the span of the ages.

Simple programs to support the commonweal are not socialism.  Pitching in our money to support public infrastructure is not socialism.  Normal Americans just wish government wouldn't waste so much money in the process.

Loudmouth liberals also like to point out how even rock-ribbed  conservatives like Ronald Reagan increased spending on social programs.  Well, duh!  We're a progressive nation and no single person, not even a president, can tear up an entrenched social contract singlehandedly.

Go to One Nation and see how many communist and socialist organizers sponsored their paltry non-event.

Before its News has a must-see post up, 15 Photos You'll Never See in the Legacy Media.  Go check it out!

This is Progress?

As soon as he figures out how to walk through that gate holding an umbrella, he'll take care of the economy, health care, Wall Street, Iraq , Afghanistan , unemployment...

 And now some e-mail delivered humor, courtesy of Uncle Silverfiddle...

Over five thousand years ago, Moses said to the children of Israel , "Pick up your shovels, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the Promised Land."

Nearly 75 years ago, (when Welfare was introduced) Roosevelt said, "Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this is the Promised Land."

Today, Obama has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of camels and mortgaged the Promise Land!

I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, retirement fund, etc...

I called a Suicide Hotline. I had to press 1 for English. I was connected to a call center in Pakistan.  When I told them I was suicidal, they got excited and asked if I could drive a truck....

The Folly of Nation Building

It's hard to build a nation when the people you are building it for are shooting at you...

Neocons:  Small government conservative at home, big government progressive overseas.  It's nuts...

Steven Horwitz asks, "Can a Nation be Built?"

Many people who are ordinarily skeptical about the benevolent power of the U.S. government at home have come to believe it can accomplish what they see as the noble task of nation-building in areas of the world that have been plunged into some degree of chaos by political upheaval and/or war.  (Steven Horwitz - Can a Nation be Built?)

He goes on to make an excellent libertarian case against nation building...

Put in the language of F. A. Hayek, nations are spontaneous orders that emerge from the daily choices of people about the language they use and the other ways in which they participate in or withdraw from a variety of cultural forms.  

Only the people themselves constitute a “nation” by their own individual choices.And it is nations constituted this way that make the decision to create a State.  States imposed on nations by princes, Mises argues, are doomed to fail because they normally attempt to eliminate all forms of community that lie between the prince and the people.

Nation building is statist central-planning imposed on another nation.  Here's the money quote:

By engaging in nation-building, governments take on a task that is no different in principle from the attempt to plan an economy domestically.  Once we understand that true nations are the unintended consequence of decentralized cultural processes involving the millions of choices of millions of people, the absurdity of trying to build a nation as if it were a child’s toy or even a skyscraper becomes clear.  

Once we start to muck around in processes that are complex and whose relevant causal connections are beyond our ability to understand, we are certain to produce unintended and undesirable consequences precisely because we act from the hubris of the planner.

The astute will ask, What about the post-WW II Marshall Plan?  Easy.  It was not imposed upon Europe. The Europeans wanted it, and they did the lion's share of the heavy lifting.  Indeed, every successful nation building exercise was done with the cooperation and hard work of the recipients (South Korea, Japan, etc.)

Nation building sounds noble, but it is folly when imposed against the will of the recipients.

* - H/T to Left Blogistan denizen (and perhaps somewhat libertarian?) Reality Zone