The Rusted Musket

Was looking at headlines on DrudgeReport.com and came across a eye catching headline: “LA unveils $578M school, costliest in the nation”
I couldn’t resist clicking the link and reading the article because skyrocketing school costs is a interest of mine.

The gist of it is that LA just finished building a 4,200 student k-12 school on the site of a historic hotel. It cost $578M and was designed to create a more creative artistic environment… But lets go back to the cost… $578M…. That is enough money to build several highrise condos, or pay down some of the State debt, or build 10 regular schools… Instead the money is spent on one building, a true example of the excessive spending that our education system does.

No matter how buttered up a building is its not going to get a better graduating rate out of students, not until there is some accountability among school staff and performance based metrics. Quit laying off young teachers just because they haven’t been there for long, lay off or fire the bad teachers. California with their massive debt can’t afford to be building schools like this and they certainly can’t afford mediocre performance among their education staff.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Supposedly by Lincoln, but I’ve seen it claimed otherwise. Doesn’t matter in my opinion since it is a great quote in anycase.

I guess it is inevitable that I write about this since it has been such a big issue the last few months. At first I didn’t say anything because accidents happen and it seemed to be getting taken care of (I’m talking the first couple weeks here). But now, now it has been months with massive amounts of oil spilled and damage to the ecosystem that will take years to repair.

Who is to blame here? You, me, Obama, BP, Transocean? Maybe a bit of all. You and me for demanding greater and greater amounts of oil for lower prices and forcing corners to be cut. Obama for really dropping the ball on a federal response. I’m a big proponent of small government, but even if the government is small they would still dedicate resources and time to fix issues like this, which have far reaching effects. Obama was instead dragging his feet and not acknowledging this as a real problem. Was it politics? Stupidity? Bad advisors? Who knows… Maybe he just didn’t care. I just don’t get why he didn’t accept help from other countries that have the equipment and experience in cleaning up oil spills….

BP is so easy to blame in this since they were operating the rig. At first I would have defended them because accidents do happen and it isn’t always someone’s fault (thus the term accident). They also seemed to be taking responsibility and trying to fix the mess. But now, this has gone on for way to long. I understand that it isn’t simple to just patch it up, but come on, a company that brings in billions of dollars takes three months to plug a oil well? Where was the planning for worst case scenario?

I don’t really care whose fault it is at this point. Why? Because it was most surely a accident and probably not a case of negligence. The issue at hand is the poor response, particularly by the Feds.

I love Star Wars so I find this pretty hilarious!

This is so disturbingly true…. As a IT Professional I usually don’t fix other peoples’ computers. Most of the time they want it for free and I will then forever be tied to their computer… The thing is, I would never ask a doctor to fix me for free, or a carpenter to build a table for just the cost of materials… Its a strange double standard.

Chicago is well known for its crime; they got the mafia and plenty of gangs and other criminals to boot. But they are also known for very restrictive gun control laws. They are one of two cities to ban handguns (well was one of two, DC’s ban on handguns was struck down), and being in Illinois there is no conceal carry permits available. So basically, if you are a law abiding citizen you are rather restricted on what you can do to defend yourself. You can get a shotgun or rifle and certain types or pistols. But you must be careful, because if you use it you could be the one going to jail and not the criminal.

Anyway, I ran across this article and it is the most compelling evidence I have seen in recent memory that plainly shows that gun control laws don’t work, and innocent citizens get hurt because of the laws. If some of these people had the means and training to defend themselves it might have turned out different.
It is just a scary story, 54 people shot over one weekend in a city of 3 million? Crazyness….

This is kind of old news, but its too interesting to pass up:

How does a person get to this point? I mean its like 6am and this lady is very drunk, driving at the airport… Crazy enough she gets away with barely a scratch despite her car pretty much blowing up…

Well it looks like Washington DC has slightly better gun laws now, meaning you can acually legally own one now. But it is a difficult and restrictive process. I really feel that the people’s right to defend themselves is infringed upon all in the name of “public safety.” Ironic since criminals don’t care if its legal for them to own guns or not as they will still use them on helpless residents.

In order for a law abiding citizen to get a gun they have to be fingerprinted, photographed, job history is checked out, there is a test, a five hour class including one hour on a gun range (there isn’t any in the city). The class has to be taught by a police certified instructor (which there probably isn’t many) and then after the citizen is approved and they actually get the gun, they then have to go in to the police station and get the gun’s ballistics registered (which by the way doesn’t work, matching a bullet and a gun is nearly impossible). The registration expires after 3 years and must be renewed or the owner faces fines and confiscation of the gun.

Talk about restrictive bull! The law abiding residents, who just want to protect themselves, are treated like common criminals! I really hope these laws get loosened because they are rather unconstitutional. I doubt that the founding fathers meant for people to have to jump through all these hoops and treated like a criminal simply to own a firearm.

I highly recommend this article by The Onion. Normally I don’t take what they say too seriously, but this article has a lot of satirical truth in it. Basically it is talking about how the governmental official don’t trust the citizens that elected them, which is a spin on citizens not trusting the politicians in office.

Its so interesting because its so true. Congress is at a rock bottom approval rate and has been for years, they don’t get a whole lot done and what they do get done is not what people want. They don’t listen to the citizens and just work their own agenda. I rarely hear of someone who likes a politician that is in office, they may agree on some points and disagree on others, but there is rarely that connection, or trust of the official. But maybe the flip is also true, citizens of this nation are a very fickle bunch who want handouts but aren’t willing to pay for them. They want the government to fix all their problems and they want to blame someone when something goes wrong. Its the blame game, I’m sure you played it as a kid. You never say its your fault, you always blame someone else. The sad truth is that most problems our country is facing is the result of collective consent.

For instance, kids doing badly in school is generally two fold. Our school system is broke because it never should have been in the government’s hands in the first place and the government poisons everything it touches, but the other big problem is that parents aren’t involved anymore. People who really shouldn’t have had kids did and they don’t give them the proper attention and care. Who’s fault is it then? The government and their screwed up system, or the parents of their lack of attention? Both I’m sure.

Or how about health care. Why is it so expensive? Well surely some of it has to do with doctors needing very expensive malpractice insurance because people are suing and getting crazy amounts of money way over what they should. Yes the doctor screwed up, yes they should pay for it, but to the tune of millions? I don’t think so. There are many other instances, like people not taking their antibiotics properly causing it to be less effective and requiring more, or different meds. People going in and tying up doctors time for stupid things.

Anyway, the article is very interesting and true in a kind of backwards, kind of way…

Image from The Onion

The following video is very disturbing. It depicts two men being brutally beaten by some juvenile delinquents. Its very sad that this kind of thing goes on. The strange thing is that they appears to be no reason for this. The young men just beat the two guys just because.

Its videos like this and other such incidents that happen that really make me want to fight for our rights to defend ourselves, i.e. conceal carry.
The two men in this video had to be admitted to the hospital, but it looks like they will recover.

Just last week I was at home, on the computer. It was a little late, something like midnight on a Saturday night, when I heard a lady screaming. Normally this isn’t a big deal as I live in a larger city and drunk people are commonly screaming, or some lady starts yelling at her boyfriend or husband. But this lady didn’t stop so I went to the window to see what was going on. I couldn’t tell right away and was about to go down and investigate. But several other people from the surrounding apartments had already gone down there to help out so I just listened in on what happened. Apparently this lady and her boyfriend were walking along the sidewalk when someone came up behind them and whacked her guy on the back of the head. She started screaming and the person ran off. Thankfully no one was hurt too badly, but it could have been a lot worse. This whole incident was a little disconcerting since it was just outside our apartment. I guess the lesson here is I need to act a little faster and that you can be assaulted anywhere.

Things like this are happening all too often and part of it surely has to do with the lack of consequence or danger for these criminals. Most people can’t properly defend themselves against someone stronger than they are and most don’t make a habit of conceal carrying for defense. So the first line of defense for someone isn’t there. Assuming they survive the encounter then the attacker has to be caught and they may even walk away from it or just get a little time in jail. Seems a sad state we are in, but you have the right, and the duty, to defend yourself and your family/friends. Get trained and apply for a conceal carry permit!