I’m not saying empathize, but in order to comprehend them you need to try just for a moment or two to grok this song.

Since Drudge is running the story about Morrissey being whapped on the head with a plastic bottle containing a liquid resembling beer, I know he knows Morrissey. He probably also knows Morrissey because of his background in suburban Washington, DC — he graduated from Montgomery Blair high school in Silver Spring, MD if I’m not mistaken…and Matt Drudge was not one of the popular kids from what I’ve read.

In any case, I know Morrissey pretty well from his music and I used to be a paying fan of the Smiths, so when Morrissey has a headline story like this one, it still draws my eyeballs. I think he probably should have shaken it off and stayed on stage to spread the dreariness around, but who knows what was going through that head afterward?

In any case, one of the best videos ever made of a Morrissey song is this one, and if anyone wants to understand something about teen angst that turns into College Rage Against the Machine Activism, it is one of the more poignant. In a sense, this girl is running our country. Watch it all the way through, carefully. Yeah, it’s a little “Breakfast Club” but hey, the Breakfast Club generation is now occupying important administrative positions in our Federal Government.

This isn’t a post about musical taste: I still like this song, although I don’t identify with the feelings any more. It’s still interesting to watch. It’s about deep disaffection, really — disaffection from a very privileged point of view, and this song is an anthem to people who shared the feeling.

Everyday Is Like Sunday.

Posted here on Redstate by a still-recovering Lefty who poignantly remembers the feelings evoked by this song while looking through a window to a past life.

Drudge is running a story today about the Oath Keepers. It’s probably better to let people read the story and view the website before adding any of my personal opinions, since I really don’t have any preconceived notions of this group.

————————————————–
SIDEBAR: I take issue with one of the sentences in the Las Vegas Review Journal’s story:

But for Rhodes, it looked like preparation for a future declaration of martial law. It reminded him of the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when police officers reportedly confiscated legally owned firearms.

[Emphasis mine.]

Police officers in New Orleans did not reportedly confiscate legally owned firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They actually confiscated them.

“Noone will be able to be armed. We’re going to take all the weapons.” — Police Superintendent P. Eddie Compass.

————————————————–

I didn’t know about this group until today, but after reading their website, I’m thinking of joining as a Citizen Member. Do I really think the Oath Keepers are necessary? Right now my judgment is: “I really can’t say. Maybe they are, better to be safe than sorry.”

I say that because I was aware of the H1N1 pandemic response legislation that was recently passed by the State House in Massachusetts. To me, this seemed like a typical case of gross overreaction on the part of the State Legislature here, and I mean gross:

AN ACT RELATIVE TO PANDEMIC AND DISASTER PREPARATION AND RESPONSE IN THE COMMONWEALTH.

S.2028 essentially gives the Governor of Massachusetts the power to declare martial law through an appointed State Health Commissioner, and provides liability exemptions for them if they do. That’s just the beginning. The bill as initially written and passed by the State House gave the right of entry onto private property without a warrant. There’s a lot more if you look into it.

Since the Oath Keepers are a nationwide organization, I’d like to hear some opinions from people here. I want to support them — I think they’re a very important and necessary hedge against this Administration.

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This morning, CNN is running a story (h/t: Drudge) about a protest over “Illegal Alien” costumes sold by Target, Walgreens and many other stores, organized by Los Angeles based radical immigrant group CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles). The group is protesting the costumes and pressuring stores to stop selling them because they might “offend illegal immigrants.” Yes, you read that correctly. A pressure group that apparently helps to support illegal immigration into the United States is successfully getting ink from CNN by protesting American companies and retailers selling a Halloween costume that offends their sensibilities.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you need any more evidence that our government has failed us, look no further.

The costume depicts an extraterrestrial in an orange prison jumpsuit holding a “green card”. CHIRLA latched onto the “green card” and took umbrage, deciding that it might offend actual illegal aliens, and so the stores should be pressured to stop selling them.

The rationale, as stated by one of the “wounded”, is this:

Guillermo Iglesias said both of his parents were illegal immigrants in the United States. He felt the costumes were offensive because they depicted illegal immigrants as “not one of us.”

“I have a lot of illegal immigrant friends,” said Iglesias. “If I showed them that costume, it would really hurt them.”

Let’s leave aside questions of taste: personally, I think Halloween costumes depicting extraterrestrials are cliché. Whitley Streiber fans and Raelians and helium balloon hoaxers in Colorado are free to differ. Regardless, Halloween costumes are regularly used in the United States by people across the political spectrum to poke fun at political figures or to highlight politically sensitive subjects. Sarah Palin costumes were big in Greenwich Village recently, and nobody (to my knowledge) tried to stop anyone from buying or wearing them. The only people this costume should offend are extraterrestrials — and to the best of my knowledge, imaginary beings from other planets outside our solar system are not yet members of any mainstream “social justice” constituency.

An even better question is this: why haven’t Mr. Iglesias’ parents and his friends been deported yet? If they’re here illegally, and Mr. Iglesias is bold enough to say so in a CNN interview, why isn’t the INS knocking on his door right now? Isn’t he admitting in print that his parents and his friends are in violation of Federal law?

[Prependum: I wanted to take photographs at the show and I did bring my camera. There were some fine firearms on display and some very beautiful and historic pieces that were well worth photographing, and the venue was nice enough as well -- but there were no cameras allowed.]

I have to say I’m a little surprised, because it was my first gun show in more than 20 years and I had high expectations that it would be a rock’n sock’n rootin’ tootin’ affair here in Massachusetts, but I probably shouldn’t have. I just got back from the NRA-sponsored National Gun Collector Show & Conference at the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds in West Springfield, MA, and I had a very nice time: A nice, unsurprising, mostly boring, and pretty much unexciting time.

It cost $25 for my father and I to attend the show for the three hours we were there: $5 for parking on fairgrounds that could have held at least 10 times the number of cars (it’s a big place) and $10 each for tickets to the show as such. We walked a long way from where we parked, considering the number of cars, and when we entered the show there were no fireworks or flyers being handed out. There also weren’t any half-naked babes toting AR-15s, and there certainly wasn’t anyone offering coupons or schwag, or trying to get you to visit their booth on the floor. It felt very “un-trade show-like.”

There weren’t any loud announcers, no background music, flashy AV displays mounted on pedestals, people dressed up in costumes, or even anyone trying aggressively to sell anything. In fact, when you walked in, it was difficult to know where to go — because nobody seemed to be trying very hard to get you to look at what they had for sale. Most of them were very modest and subdued, even sedate, and so in order to find something interesting you basically had to walk around the entire place with an eagle eye. The feel was more “sedate flea market” than “Big-Production Gun Show.”

There were about 3 dozen small to medium sized vendors and a couple of larger kiosks representing Winchester and Remington, and that was about it. The NRA had a small, centrally placed kiosk that was there ostensibly to sign up new members, but I didn’t see anyone signing anything when I walked in. Smith & Wesson had a nice display with people from their Performance Shop, but amazingly enough, the guy they chose to help answer questions was completely unhelpful. I asked him whether or not it was possible to find out how many 4040PD pistols were made and he said: “I have no idea. If you call Smith and Wesson maybe they’ll know.” That was a little shocking, coming from the only identifiable S&W vendor at the show. So much for earnestness. This is a guy at their trade show booth.

Attending the event on a Sunday might have had something to do with that, but regardless, whatever enthusiasm I had built up was taken down several notches after spending 5 minutes on the floor: I just realized right away that it was a low-key, low-drama, low excitement event that I just paid $25 to attend.

There were, however, a lot of nice people there, and I talked with dozens of them on the floor, mostly “look and see” types. It wasn’t sparsely attended but it wasn’t crowded, either — and you could hear someone’s conversation at normal tones walking right alongside you. You never had to fight for a place to stand, and you never really had to wait in line to ask a question. Nobody was unfriendly and there wasn’t any unpleasantness at all, but neither was there much identifiable excitement or enthusiasm. Basically it was the same people you might see at the local mall, walking around and looking at all the guns and paraphrenalia on sale. I could have been at Sears or even CostCo, except for all the weapons.

I’d estimate that half of the guns for sale were used, and many of those were antiques. I wasn’t very interested in the WWII-vintage bayonets and miscellania., not at all what I was interested in seeing, and most of it was well-used and interesting only to someone who was really looking for a bayonet to fit an M1, so for the most part I looked at those from a distance and passed them by.

That said, I did look at a lot of firearms in all the normal size ranges, and a couple of supernormal (S&W 500 .50) ones, which actually was a kick. It’s a lot of fun to pick up different kinds of firearms and “try them on” for size, and there were a few really nice vendors who let you do just that. A couple of vendors really put in some extra effort to place a wider assortment of new guns on the floor, and I liked their booths the most. I really appreciated the guys who took the effort to put out a decent assortment of shotguns, rimfire and centerfire rifles in both bolt action and semi-auto. It was nice, for example, to see a few different kinds of Benellis, and there were a few nice Mossbergs as well, things like that. Still, the entire assortment there wasn’t any larger than a big Cabela’s — although the atmosphere was more relaxed and less “big chain store.”

If you had some money to spend, there were a couple of real deals to be had, but somehow nobody seemed to be in the mood. I didn’t see anyone buy anything big while I was there. I felt sorry for the guys who came with the expensive Winchester collector guns: they didn’t seem to have anyone interested in even talking with them, much less making a purchase. If I had had several hundred dollars that I didn’t have to justify spending, I would have bought the lone MA-compliant Sig 556 on the floor: really it was one of the nicest “black rifles” at the show, and at a good price.

In other words, despite a few vendors who really tried to put out some nice, newer guns, more money changed hands at the food court than on the floor of the show, as far as I could tell. You’d have had a better time identifying gun sales if you went to a Cabela’s or one of the local gun shops than if you attended that show, because as far as I could see, there weren’t any made in the three hours I was on the floor. The most I saw purchased were some t-shirts and some holsters, a pair of binoculars or three, a couple of books, a few magazines for guns people already owned, and that’s about it. Even the ammunition guys outside were a bit of a disappointment: they only had one variety of 9mm ammunition: Fiocci 158 grain subsonic FMJ, which are nice bullets but not what I was looking for.

I did get a nice compliment and a smile from a very pretty woman who was wearing the same NRA cap I had on, and frankly that was the highlight of the day. “Nice cap…” she offered. I said: “Yeah, yours too, you have good taste. Somehow I knew we’d meet like this…” and we laughed. That was fun.

So what’s the bottom line? It’s hard to say. This was my first gun show in more than 20 years, and it took place on a Sunday in the notoriously gun-phobic and antagonistic state of Massachusetts. It was worth the $25 but just barely. I didn’t learn very much that I couldn’t have already found out from the Internet, and the event was so low-key that it was getting hard to stay longer than three hours — both my Dad and I made 1 full circuit of the floor and we didn’t retrace our steps, so that says something.

I can say this: if this is the kind of event that people in Massachusetts and elsewhere are terrified of, their fears are completely unfounded, and they should be looking for something really scary to be worried about. It was — I’ll be blunt — a little boring, and certainly nothing that deserves the kind of hyperventilation some people want to expend on it. I enjoyed the show, I liked the people I met, and I want to attend again next year — but I’ll be there on a Saturday instead. Next year I hope the organizers try to liven the place up and promote it better, both inside and outside the show: it was a beautiful day and a great venue, and much more could have been made of it. There’s a lot that could be done. I was really surprised that nobody even asked me to join a supporter’s list so that I could be notified of the next show, and the lack of even that kind of basic self-promotion was palpable.

Sadly, the low-key (even downbeat) vibe of the show probably has more to do with the way gun owners and 2nd Amendment supporters are treated in Massachusetts than anything else: that’s my biggest takeaway, and that kind of treatment is really totally unjustified. Overall, I’d rate it a 6 out of 10 and say that I’m going to try to get in touch with some of the organizers and give them my suggestions. There’s definitely room for improvement, here.

Tomorrow I’ll be attending the NRA National Gun Collector Show & Conference in West Springfield, MA. I’ll be reporting on all of the terrible, horrible, awful people and their families who according to Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Deval Patrick, Mike Bloomberg, Eric Holder and many others are destroying the United States of America. You know the ones — the semiliterate, knuckle-dragging evolutionary castoffs and throwbacks who deserve to be hounded, gradually dispossesed, strangled out of business and portrayed as modern-day pariahs of civilized society. So many pariahs. The ones who “don’t read books.” Those people.

Oh, yeah — while looking at what promises to be a really nice collection of guns, too.

This is my first gun show in more than 20 years, and also my first since acquiring my MA Class A LTC and purchasing my first two pistols, a Smith and Wesson 4040PD and a new Ruger SR9. I’m looking forward to having a nice time with my Dad and all the participants, vendors and undercover BATFE agents at the show, and I’ll have a full report tomorrow afternoon — with pictures if possible — so that everyone can have a look at this terrible scourge that’s wrecking our country.

Springfield, MA is still (believe it or not) the corporate headquarters of Smith & Wesson and in a few weeks I’m sending my 4040PD in for a minor rebluing. This particular pistol was something of a rarity in the Smith and Wesson line of compact metal-framed semiautos. Chambered in S&W .40 caliber, it features a scandium alloy frame with a laser engraved atom on the left hand side. Scandium is a lightweight metal (atomic number 21, hence the engraving) that when alloyed with aluminum is used in aerospace components and, in this case, the frame for this lightweight but relatively high-powered pistol.

The 4040PD is no longer manufactured but it has an excellent reputation as a backup, defensive and concealed-carry weapon. It was particularly favored (no surprise) by police officers and FBI agents. I was lucky to find one for sale in very good/excellent condition at a local dealer, and this weekend I’m going to try and find out how many were made and where in the production order mine was.

And, as always:

Defend Liberty - Join the NRA | Live in Massachusetts? Join GOAL

I want to add a disclaimer to this before anyone reads any further or attempts to “read between the lines”: in the entire time I’ve known the Hoyts, I haven’t had the occasion or felt the need to discuss politics with them, nor have I cared to, or had a reason to. I have no idea which political party they vote for, because I’ve never asked and I frankly couldn’t care less. You shouldn’t either.

I’m posting this on a Republican/Conservative blog because Redstate is my blogging alma mater and the Hoyts are some of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met, but I want to emphasize that the message of Team Hoyt is nonpartisan: they’re just great people. Please leave the partisanship out of this thread.

So, that said, please take a look:

My friends (and customers) Team Hoyt have a new website, and it’s very well done.

Please stop by and have a look.

Team Hoyt and I live in the same small town in Massachusetts, just a half mile or so from each other, and it’s a true pleasure and a daily inspiration to know them and to work with them. You won’t find a harder-working family with a more inspiring story: these people are the real, Real Deal. In addition to running marathons and competing in triathlons, Dick and Rick Hoyt also conduct motivational speaking seminars for companies and nonprofit groups.

If you’re thinking of hiring a motivational speaker who can really deliver the goods, look no further: their story is a *true* story of love, determination, lots of hard work, optimism in the face of adversity, and the triumph of the American spirit. It’s such a pleasure to know and do business with them, I hope you’ll visit their website and be inspired by everything they do and all that they have accomplished together.

Aaron Gardner is really doing a wonderful job highlighting Laurence Silberman’s defense of the 2nd Amendment in RedHot — and I hope he continues — but I thought something else should be added here in the diaries so that comments could flow:

The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is *your* amendment just as much as the 1st or any of the other Amendments comprising the original Bill of Rights.

We’re a society of laws, not men — and it’s important that when we apply the laws we understand why and how they were written. Silberman does a wonderful job of explaining that from a legal perspective and I hope A.G. continues his thread. Still, as important as that sometimes esoteric discussion is, the simple fact is that the 2nd Amendment relies today for its vitality on the citizens of the United States and how well they understand it: in other words, and very truthfully so: “YOU save the 2nd Amendment, each day.”

I personally believe that every adult citizen of the United States should be armed — yep, just like Switzerland. At the very least they should make sure that they carefully consider their right to be armed and appreciate it — by becoming licensed in their state (if that’s what’s required) or by becoming a permit holder, or by taking a course and joining the NRA, or perhaps all of the above.

I live in Massachusetts, which is one of the most restrictive states in the USA when it comes to firearms licensing and regulation. Here in MA I hold a Class A Large Capacity License to Carry, and I’d be happy to help anyone who is interested in becoming licensed to carry, trained and capable of carrying one and being safe while doing so.

In the end, it’s not just the people on the Supreme Court who decide whether or not the 2nd Amendment is something that applies to “ordinary citizens” — it’s the citizens themselves who do (it *was* a preexisting right), and that’s why I’ll open this thread up to questions that anyone might have. I’ll also remind people of my last post about gun reviews, which you can find here.

Folks, it boils down to this: the 2nd Amendment is yours to keep, protect and defend. It’s not a matter of luck that it’s there in the Constitution, and when you exercise your rights under the 2nd Amendment, you are its most important representative in the 21st Century, so treat it with respect. It certainly isn’t a foregone conclusion in the future, given the legislative and rhetorical shenanigans of the people who oppose it as an individual right, so it’s up to you to defend it — capably and safely.

It’s almost unique among nations of the world right now, and I’m proud to say it’s American. People in other countries envy the ability of our citizens to purchase and own and shoot firearms as it is defined in our Constitution. Please treat that with the respect it deserves, because in the end YOU are the people who keep and defend the 2nd Amendment.

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This is just a very quick shout out to a guy who is doing a really great job as a reviewer and a Citizen on YouTube, with his reviews of firearms, gear and all sorts of things that people who believe in the entire Bill of Rights like to own.

I was in the market for a couple of pistols recently, and of course I wanted to have all the information I could before I made a purchase. There’s a lot of good and bad information out there when it comes to pistols and if you’re like me, separating the informative from the merely opinionated is crucial to making a good purchase decision. I do a lot of reading and armchair comparison before I buy anything of value — never mind a gun — and when I found his videos on YouTube I knew I was looking at something special. I think you will too.

Nutnfancy has a channel on YouTube, and as a completely independent reviewer he’s made a couple of hundred videos of guns, knives and other kinds of gear, etc., etc., and his style and method are just excellent. He’s military/LEO and he’s obviously been well informed by his professional experience. He does comprehensive reviews of the weapons he evaluates and, yes they are his opinions, but they’re informed opinions and go into plenty of detail. One good thing is that he doesn’t appear to have any financial stake in the things he evaluates — many of the guns and knives are lent to him for the purposes of his reviews.

Very highly recommended. The really cool thing about Nutnfancy is that he’s unpretentious, he’s definitely not shy about telling you what he thinks, and more importantly he does it with a loosely-structured but serious method that actually *teaches* first, and entertains as well. He’s articulate, witty, and he has a proven method in his reviews that really keeps you interested as a viewer. I think it’s an amazing self-publishing accomplishment and a great public service as well. I’d like to see him review some of the many shooting courses and schools that are available.

On the strength of his YouTube channel I purchased a Ruger SR9 pistol and it’s everything he talks about in his tripartite bench review/comparison with the Glock 17 and more. In fact I’m going to do my own blog review of this gun with my own photos soon. Kudos to Nutnfancy! I don’t think you can find a better 17+1 9mm pistol new at the price, and he devotes more than an hour to reviewing and live-firing it. His reviews sealed the deal for me after a lot of reading and comparison.

When was the last time you sat through a couple of hours of pistol reviews on YouTube and came away better informed and entertained at the same time? Until you’ve seen his work, my guess is “never” — so check them out.

Be safe, have fun and enjoy.

Defend Liberty — Join the NRA | Live in Massachusetts? Join GOAL.

Obama has not-so-subtly asked David Paterson not to run for reelection. Initially it appears that Paterson is resistant to the suggestion direct order, and it’s kind of a frightening thing that the President would intervene in State politics in this way. However, Paterson doesn’t have much of a chance of being reelected Governor of New York, and he knows that too. I don’t want to say he’s a loser because it already appears that Obama has decided he is before I came to that conclusion.

But there is face to be saved and reputation to protect, mostly Paterson’s. Obama will not leave him hanging out to dry. My guess is that he will bow out after a few months of ‘resistance’, which will give him the opportunity to save face among his supporters and pretend that he wasn’t Told What To Do by Obi. Obama will ‘forgive’ his ‘intransigence’ and Paterson will throw his support behind whoever Obi wants to be the next governor of New York, eliminating the problems Obi’s team thinks he’s causing for the Democrats and ushering in the next set of problems.

There might be a few controversial news stories between now and then but my guess is that not very much money will be spent before Paterson leaves the field. In fact I reckon that his ‘campaign’ will spend less than a half a million dollars before he gives up and folds. In the end, Paterson will do what Barack says, but he needs a little time to save face before he caves in.

He’ll cave, and then Obama will get him a job somewhere at a higher salary than he already has, with more benefits and a sweetheart promise that he might come back to a governorship in the future. It’ll be a teaching gig or a consulting gig, but Paterson will make money in the end, and he’ll be unburdened from the too-large shoes he obviously cannot fill in New York. I see the words “Harvard University Fellow” in his future.

My guess is that five years from now David Paterson will be a multimillionaire and an important figure because of the new gig Obama gets him after ‘ousting’ him from the Governorship of NYS. Let’s see.

This was so pluperfect I just had to quote it here. You can actually SEE this conversation taking place:

“Listen, listen please stop crying. Stop crying! We’re gonna get married once this is all over. He’s my baby, but we have to wai….stop crying! I’ll marry you, and we’ll get the Dave Matthews Band to perform on the rooftop, honey. I promise, you just have to wait a while longer. Ye…yes, of course I always intended to do that. I did, I knew this wasn’t a one-night stand, honey, I promise. Those vid…. listen, stop crying!”

Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.

From this article.

I quote the Dave Matthews Band:

Down the hill fell jack and jill
And you came tumbling after
cause of original sin
Rip away the tears
Drink a hope to happy years
And you may find
A lifetimes passed you by
What would you say
Dont drop the big one
If you a monkey on a string
Dont cut my lifeline
If you a doggie on a chain
Dont bite the mailman
What would you say

On the solemn occasion of Senator Edward Kennedy’s untimely passing from terminal brain cancer, I thought I’d liven up the discussion a little with a good, old fashioned Top Ten list of the ways Massachusetts will be honoring the life and work of the Liberal Lion of the Senate:

10. Raise the state sales tax by an additional 3% “just for old times’ sake.”

9. Harvard University officially grants every incoming student one free opportunity to cheat on an exam, be expelled and then reinstated.

8. State Legislature, working with officials in Washington, officially designates the land area of Massachusetts as “The Edward M. Kennedy National Political Reservation” and charges every resident an additional $500/yr. surtax to live on the grounds.

7. Legislature establishes a “Cash for Hooch” program that allows all MA residents to exchange up to 1/2 gallon of crappy liquor for the finest whiskey on the shelf.

6. Free legal services: If any bonafide resident of the Commonwealth is involved in a car accident involving a fatality, the State will pay for the modern day equivalents of Robert McNamara, Arthur Schlesinger and Ted Sorensen to write letters on their behalf and craft a legal defense.

5. In Flagrante Delicto public fornication now permitted in restaurants by State decree every August 26th.

4. “Be A Kennedy” program: In order to guarantee that there will be an adequate supply of Kennedys to continue the family dynasty, all MA residents of legal age may now apply to change their surname to “Kennedy.” Applications will be carefully reviewed and upon approval, new members of the family will be given one year of political counseling by liberal Democrat consultants.

OK folks, I gave you #10 through #4, it’s up to you to come up with 3, 2 and 1. Please keep it humorous and (mostly) civil.

This Wednesday I’m going to the Massachusetts GOP meeting at Campanelli Stadium to watch the Brockton Rox (http://www.brocktonrox.com/) and have a chance to talk with the former Plymouth County District Attorney, and United States Attorney & Director of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Michael Sullivan.

I intend to wear my NRA baseball cap and have my G.O.A.L. and NRA membership cards with me at the game and afterward. I’m very interested to talk with Mr. Sullivan about his views on firearms licensing and ownership in MA, and get to know a lot more people in the MA GOP. One does exist, you know and in fact, with Deval Patrick’s approval ratings in the 30% range right now, I’m looking forward to some real change here in the Commonwealth.

If you’re in MA, try to be there so we can meet up and enjoy some baseball.

Defend Liberty — Join The NRA | Live in Massachusetts? Join GOAL.

The Washington Post just changed its headline trumpeting the “improved” job figures today. Previously it was a “Strong Signal” that the “Recession Was Ending” according to the people who make the news at the Washington Post.

Surprisingly Strong Jobs Data Signals Turning Point

“The worst may be behind us,” President Barack Obama declared. “Today, we’re pointed in the right direction.”

Now it is:

Jobs Rate Paints Incomplete Picture

“There’s nothing really happening right now,” said Marc Patterson, 31, a Southeast Washington resident unemployed for seven months who had little luck finding work as a janitor. “There aren’t too many jobs.”

The day’s previous “good news” just became “bad news” according to the Washington Post. Wouldn’t want to build those expectations, would we?

Let’s be charitable: The Washington Post during its waking hours was trying to put the best possible spin on the unemployment numbers to bolster the public’s hopes for the guy they wanted so very badly to be President. Then, when they got home and thought about it for a while after a few drinks, they realized it might not be such a good idea to be that optimistic.

Well, it’s been years since anyone took the lead in the news/journalism/blogosphere space but Rupert Murdoch has finally drawn the line in the sand by announcing that News Corp. will charge for its news websites.

I agree with him, I think it’s been a long time in coming and is well overdue. The “free content” model of Internet news as it exists today is a path toward poverty, and even worse journalism and more insipid content.

I already pay for the WSJ and for years I’ve watched sites I value make an attempt to use advertising and donations to cover their financial bases, usually unsuccessfully. I’ve always wondered when people were going to realize that giving away content and work product was ultimately self-defeating in environment where you need intelligent people doing real work to produce a quality product.

Kudos to Murdoch and I hope more people in the blogosphere lose their strange obsession with working for free. It’s not just anti-capitalist, it’s a race to the bottom. What good are knowledge workers who can’t pay their bills?

It takes a mogul like Murdoch to really change the tone with a few words, and I’m glad he’s decided to do it. And if Redstate starts charging a subscription, I’d be one of the people who would happily pay, as I’ve said for years.

Deval Patrick is at it again with House Bill 4102, which he wants to get out of committee so he can impose a one-gun-a-month restriction on licensed firearm owners, in addition to other restrictions on firearm sales even between family members.

If you’re in Massachusetts, please read the release from the NRA-ILA and give me a hand tomorrow calling some of the people on the list. Please be polite and inform them that cracking down on law abiding citizens in Massachusetts hasn’t done anything to deter crime, it has in fact made it worse.

I’m going to be writing letters in addition to calling, and I hope I can count on a few people here to help out.

For a little more background on MA’s disastrous and blockheaded anti-gun legislative efforts, please look here. The intent was to reduce crime, instead it created more criminals and fewer law-abiding citizens, not to mention less revenue for the state in terms of legitimate licensing, training, etc.

Patrick keeps going to this poisoned well of punishing people who haven’t done anything wrong, and it’s time we put a stop to it, or at least tried our best.

Give me a hand if you can:

This proposal, in essence, is a repeat of Chapter 180 of the Acts of 1998, statutes that created some of the most confusing and ill-advised set of gun laws in the nation. The vast majority of those new laws attacked lawful gun owners and did little, if anything, to address violent crime in the Commonwealth. The only result has been a startling 85% decrease in the number of lawfully licensed gun owners in Massachusetts and a dramatic increase in crime.

I’d really appreciate it if we can get some people from Redstate to call these legislators and comprehensively and passionately and politely explain to them that Deval Patrick’s motivation for reducing gun violence is laudable and something we’d like to help him with — but his methods are not just at odds with the facts, they’re sadly wrongheaded.

Thank you in advance. Please remember that just as it was with health care legislation, Massachusetts is a bellweather state for liberal governance, which in this case is illiberal and frankly perverse in the extreme.

This one’s going to be very short, also.

There’s a big problem with the way the health-care debate in this country is being framed by both Republicans and Democrats. Maybe it’s the way the media reports it, but nevertheless, the main problem in health care is cost.

When anyone talks about health care, they talk first about insuring the uninsured and expanding coverage, and cost considerations come at the end of the list. They’re always the last things to be considered, and that’s what’s killing America. That isn’t going to change regardless of who runs the system if the problem isn’t reconsidered.

Unless this country moves the COST of health care to the front of the priority list, none of the other goals are achievable over the medium to long term, even assuming you believe in them. We’re approaching the problem from the wrong end, because if the costs could be controlled and if they actually shrunk for a few years instead of relentlessly expanding at a hyperinflational rate, we could afford to insure more people. Businesses could insure more people, and individuals could insure themselves more easily.

We can’t begin to address the problems of health care in America unless reducing the cost of care and the growth of that cost is made the first priority, not the last. It’s like offering universal automobile insurance with liability coverage in a state where half the people are stealing each other’s cars and smashing them up on joy rides.

We keep spending more and more money on it, just as we do with education, and a great deal of it continues to be wasted. More will be wasted — vastly more — if the cart continues to get placed before the horse. In the end, the government will spend more money rationing care to people if the costs aren’t reduced. That’s all I have to say about health care for now.

This morning I was woken up by a phone call from my aunt after having been awake for more than 24 hours working on a marathon job and — wham — she clocks me with the news about Sarah Palin resigning in Alaska. There’s nothing like an abrupt wake up call to get the most candid thoughts out of you, groggy and surprised, so let me share them with you.

I let it sink in for a few seconds and then I said: “That’s GOOD. In fact, it’s better than good, it’s brilliant.”

I’ve read all of Erick’s comments and Josh Painter’s too, etc., and my two cents are that Palin bowing out was the right thing to do for her State, for the Republican Party and her role in it, her family, and everyone who has supported her.

Whether or not she runs for national office at the highest levels again — and I consider that to be an open question — it’s very clear to me that this decision is exactly what Bill Kristol thinks it is, and more. It’s shrewd and it’s also liberating. It unencumbers Palin from the smear campaign that her political enemies were going to continue to throw at her in Alaska, first of all. It’s the right decision for the people of Alaska: why sit there with one foot nailed to the floor while your political enemies force you to defend yourself, wasting the people’s money? If it isn’t already clear to everyone in the Western Hemisphere, the Donks wanted Palin to do exactly what that dork from Politico prescribed: go back to Alaska as a lame duck, with all the responsibilities of the Governorship on top of the Spiked Pipe™ assault to contend with.

Not anymore.

Palin has vastly increased her degrees of freedom by making this decision. She’s now free, in the words of Southwest Airlines, to “…move about the country” and I expect that’s what she’s going to do. And everyone knows that Sarah Palin is the biggest Rock Star in the Universe when it comes to getting Republicans out to events and rallies. I don’t see how resigning from the Governorship takes any gloss off of that.

My mind is racing with the possibilities the decision opens up for her and I think all the naysayers should calm down. I’m not going to spoil anything by running down my list of the things she can do much more effectively now than she could from behind the Governor’s desk in Alaska. The first thing that went through my mind this morning was: “That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard of. I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

So chill, playa-hatas! Sarah Palin has the juice.

Hello everyone. I’m kind of the Jim Anchower of Redstate after the past year, because it’s really been a long time since I’ve rapped at ya, and it’s because I’ve been up to my ass in alligators in a swamp I didn’t want to wade in.

In the past year, one of the most important things that I’ve come to understand is perseverance. Things hit you unexpectedly: first the economy, then the election, and then sometimes the personal relationships you have, and there are other surprises on top of those. Strange lapses of judgment that wouldn’t normally have happened, for instance. And then the worry that accrues when you have to consider all of that. It’s good enough to write a book about, but the main thing that I want to tell everyone here is simple: your perseverance is inspiring, and I’ve missed it, and I’m glad to see it’s still here. It’s about having been through tough times together and emerging from that time with a much stronger and sharper sense of yourself.

The Republican Party is a kind-of disorganized bunch these days, and that makes sense considering the massive drubbing it took at the polls in the last election cycle. That shouldn’t stop people from realizing that after having suffered the defeat, they still have much more in common than they do that separates them. Most of the landscape is similar: we still have the FiCons and the SoCons and the DefCons and the NatCons, but one thing we should all remember to get rid of are the Ron Paul Acolytes. I think William F. Buckley would have gone after them himself, and with his inestimable wit, if he hadn’t passed away, because they’re truly funny right up until the moment they’re horrific. And I know because I met some of them.

When we think about the future of the party and especially our electoral chances in 2010 I think we’re going to be in much better shape than we were in 2008, but only if the party can get rid of its spoiled brats. We’ve got far too many people on the Republican ticket who still truthfully act and think as though they’re from New York City. They’re not, they’re from Washington, and that’s even worse.

Most of all we need people in this party who can keep a level perspective and maintain their sharp criticism, and articulate policies that Americans agree with because they *need* them, not because they want them. Conservatism is not an easy discipline: it’s not and never has been a matter of getting what you want, all the time — our best tradition is making sure that people will always be able to fight for what they need, and those things are found in the Constitution. There’s a certain ascetic presence about it, and also a kind of un-funniness that I lacked when I previously commented here. But some of that was a legacy of having spent too many years on the other side of the Ditch.

I want to wish everyone on Redstate something that I’ve learned in the past six months: the courage to follow through with their convictions and to face whatever comes. There are people here whose character has left me astounded, and still humbles me, because of what they’ve been willing to do on my behalf, someone they barely knew, because of some little things I scribbled here and observed from time to time. I want people here to know that I will never forget that, and neither will my family.

So help me honor their grace and please do what I say: persevere. Disagree forcefully but not malevolently. Take care of your own and the people you love. Keep the faith, and keep this community strong. Forgive each other, and always, always use the truth as your most important guide. I’ll be here helping to make us all proud in the coming months.

Finally.

No, seriously folks, things are looking great these days from the point of view of Republicans and Conservatives. It’s one of those perspectives that comes from watching everything happen exactly as you said it would, even though it’s unpleasant.

First of all, Republicans are starting to realize they shouldn’t act like Democrats any longer. Never should have in the first place, but I guess some of them were counting on mulligans.

Second we have Nancy Pelosi saying to the Chinese that every aspect of everyone’s lives has to be subjected to inventory — which inventory I can suppose will be conducted by the federal government in excruciating detail. Again, not that much of a surprise.

We have the Prez. talking about how Jeffrey Katzenberg made him King at the same moment Burris’ tapes are released in which he admits Rod Blagojevich was going to make Burris king…

We have the President’s Press Secretary telling people “who are a part of the debate” to be VERY CAREFUL about what they say, GET IT, pal? when it comes to Sotomayor. Question for the audience: since when did the President’s Press Secretary officially consider it a part of his/her job to chill free speech with pronouncements like that?

We have Obama’s first SC pick, who is an identity politics liberal whose 2nd Amendment views are essentially that the 2nd Amendment only applies to Obama’s Army…

We have enormous amounts of stimulus money going to places where there aren’t any unemployed people on a hugely disproportionate basis…

We have North Korea restarting the Korean War while waiting for American checks cashed by the U.S. State Department to arrive…

We have Iran still disavowing that it’s helping the North Koreans…

And we have Harry Reid’s spokesman saying with a straight face that Republicans caused the current financial problems.

Last but certainly not least we have Nancy Pelosi getting away with undermining America’s national security by just shutting her mouth and taking a trip to China.

So folks, with all of this, why are we not in power right now?

Maybe it’s one of those times that will focus the mind and force Republicans to stop whining over their relatively minor differences and get back to the business of winning elections again, without destroying each other. Anyone, anyone?

I just want to make a simple statement tonight; it’s been a long time since I commented here with a diary but this is important, so I’ll keep it brief.

There seems to be some confusion about why Republicans are identified with the pro-life point of view, and what that means. It’s very simple: people shouldn’t be allowed to kill their children with taxpayer funds, or with any funds at all. As in, they shouldn’t be able to kill their children under any circumstances, except possibly the most frightfully hyperbolic and revolting. However, that is not what we have. We have the murder of children as mundane.

Somehow in America we’ve reached a point where parents just go ahead and kill their children whenever they want, regardless of what the moral consequences are, and funded by groups that make their livelihoods doing it. If anyone doesn’t believe that abortion allows parents to kill children whenever they want, they should really visit a clinic some time and talk to the women who are walking in the door, more often than not with their boyfriends, who want to see the child killed as much as the woman does, or more.

Now this is kind of coarse, but it seems to me that in the past 30 years or so, we’ve had millions of children killed in this country, basically on the whim and wish of a law that allows it to happen, for a huge variety of very complicated and indefensible rationales. All those justifications must have seemed brilliant to the people who wrote passionately about them when the law was designed, and many of them still feel that way. They don’t like to see the pictures of the dead children, and publish articles in Time magazine about how very, very seldom little they’d like to see all those dead babies.

But isn’t that what they are? Can someone tell me that they really aren’t dead babies? Why does America allow itself to produce so many dead babies, killed at the hand of their parents, with the full cooperation of many of the brightest legal minds in the country? What happened there?

I don’t know about you, but I think one of the most important things the Republican Party can do is not to countenance wrongdoing, and expose it whenever it occurs. Surely the most destructive and evil thing we do in this society is to kill millions of children every year under the guise of a “medical procedure.”

I used to think this was some subtle matter of medical ethics that I simply couldn’t comprehend: it was like a far-off realm of ethical mathematics, an abstruse set of conditions where the impossible made sense, and that’s why I had to support it.

But it isn’t. It’s just killing babies. With a knife. And a doctor. Whenever anyone wants to, and with no questions asked. I don’t know, it seems indefensible to me, but our President wants a “dialogue” about it. It’s very strange.