Entries from June 2010 ↓

I’m on the iPhone and haven’t read the decision yet, but had to make a brief post to join in the McDonald celebration.

We win!!!

I also saw someone quicker-witted than I changed the Brady Campaign’s Wikipedia page to label them, by definition, a hate group – due to their stated opposition to an established constitutional right. Love. It.

If anyone wants to add me with the new cross-realm add-a-friend dealy, my email is:

laurel at politicsgunsandbeer dot com

But, do me a favor and leave a comment or drop me an email so I know who you are. :)

As several commenters pointed out, the problem with the death penalty is bigger than the death penalty. It’s the justice system, which is broken.

Because of stories like Cory Maye’s, I will never support the idea that sentencing a man to death is as simple as two credible witnesses (credible like… police officers?), or that we should execute someone before they can run the gamut of appeals (through appeals, Cory was removed from death row and granted a new trial).

The Case of Cory Maye – read it (again), please.

I believe to the core of my soul that it is better to let undeniably guilty men languish in prison for life, instead of facing death, than it is to execute even one innocent man. And, so long as the definition of murder can bend based on the last name of the person you kill or the color of your jury, I don’t see how it’s possible to have that sort of perfection.

So, what does this have to do with the case of the guy in Utah, who was a repeat offender, obviously guilty? Give the state the power to kill him, and you give the state the power to kill Cory.

From the NRA on H.R. 5175:

We have never said we would support any version of this bill. To the contrary, we clearly stated NRA’s strong opposition to the DISCLOSE Act (as introduced) in a letter sent to Members of Congress on May 26 (click here to read the letter).

Later in the same statement:

We didn’t “sell out” to Nancy Pelosi or anyone else. We told Congress we opposed the bill. As a result, congressional leaders made a commitment to exempt us from its draconian restrictions on free speech. If that commitment is honored, we will not be involved in the final House debate. If that commitment is not fully honored, we will strongly oppose the bill.

If the NRA gets its piece of the pie, they’ll stay quiet. Only if they don’t will they actively oppose the bill.

That’s pretty much the definition of selling out, you two-faced, double-speaking morons.

EDIT: By the way, I’m really, REALLY sick of everyone making excuses for the NRA’s bad behavior. It absolutely galls me how many gunnies are willing to turn a blind eye every time they sell us up the river “compromise” on something because they’re the biggest gun rights organization out there. I don’t really give a good god damn how big they are when they fail at actually protecting our interests.

I don’t give anyone carte blanche to speak on my behalf, especially an organization hell-bent on securing a monopoly – to what effect? When every last check on the NRA is stripped of its political power, by a combination of gun owner fear and legislative action, and we have only the NRA to represent us… Do you really trust them that much? If we treat the NRA with such undeserved reverence when we have other options, they know they’ve got us on complete lockdown if they can kill the competition. And then what?

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Inmate set to die by firing squad asks high court to stay execution

I’m really conflicted about the death penalty.

For one thing, I don’t think one of the firing squad shooters should have a blank – if you can’t pull the trigger believing you’re delivering the killing shot, you shouldn’t be pulling the trigger.

I also don’t like that carrying out an execution means armed (be it with rifles, ropes, electricity or drugs) good men have to kill unarmed bad men in cold blood. It seems dehumanizing and counterproductive.

I lean toward the idea that prison should be very unpleasant, and that scumbags should have to suffer it until the end of their natural lives.

On the other hand, though, it was a hell of a lot easier to hold the anti-death-penalty perspective before dealing first-hand with the senseless murder of a friend. I can think of one firing squad I’d gladly volunteer for, and believe I could sleep soundly thereafter, so perhaps there’s something to the idea of good old-fashioned vengeance.

In other news, I didn’t know until reading this article that any states still used firing squads or hangings as capital punishment. Color me enlightened.

Sometimes, when the Girl Child is napping and I don’t want to clean my house and my World of Warcraft server is down for maintenance for twenty-four freaking hours WTF, I check my site statistics. You know, who links me, where people view me from, what they search for.

The search strings are my favorite part. Today, the winner was the person who found me by Googling, and I do quote,

los angeles, ca cops are assholes

Haaahaha. Comrade, I hope you found what you were looking for!

Maybe I missed something, but it seems like everyone just kinda dropped the H-S Precision “we think it’s cool to be endorsed by people who murder unarmed nursing mothers!” thing, including Remington.

The last I heard, Tommy Millner wasn’t pleased with what H-S had done, but was waiting on further explanation from them before making his next move. It’s a year and a half later, so that ought to be long enough to have it all sorted, right?

As we’re in the market for a bolt gun, The Inconvenience just called Remington to ask if they’re still doing business with H-S. The rather rude representative he spoke to said there is a demand for H-S products, so yes, they are. And, when TI said he wanted it to be known that we won’t purchase any more Remington products because of this, the rep cut him off and said “I’m not going to get into a political discussion with you.” He pointed out he wasn’t trying to have a discussion, just notify them they were losing business.

I’m pretty depressed about this. And, frankly, I feel misled. Mr. Millner had strong words about H-S Precision, but appears to have been content to let it all blow over without taking any action. I guess that might be a sound business strategy, but some of us don’t forget so easily.

EDIT: Hmm, interesting. I didn’t realize Tommy Millner left Remington for Cabela’s. The new Freedom Group CEO, as of last year, is Theodore (Ted) Torbeck. Due to the change of command, perhaps a renewed push for dropping H-S is in order?

Just watched the first episode of Top Shot on Hulu. I like it!

I, having been somewhat out of the blog loop lately due to, you know, real life, had totally missed the news that Caleb was on the show. I am very much looking forward to the coffee-cup throwing challenge! ;-)