Self defense and the cops

Posted on 2012-10-01 by TPOL Nathan

Detroit crime bulletin describes how pistol-packing senior thwarted carjacking
(Detroit News) Two would-be carjackers fled when they realized the elderly woman they were trying to rob had packed a pistol to go to church and the grocery store, according to a Detroit Police bulletin.

Mama’s Note: The story just seems to be missing the parts about the gun being “licensed” or she’s charged for having an “illegal” gun.

Nathan: Appears that the newspaper’s writers forgot to use the standard template, doesn’t it?  And at least SOME Detroit cops are supporting their “public” going armed and “brandishing” a weapon, not the usual “run and cry for help and use pepper spray” or “submit and live” garbage!

Not only that, but it appears that they actually ARRESTED the people in the Taurus:

Crime Alert
Elderly homeowner kills intruder after beating
(KOTA Radio 1380) Authorities in Rapid City say they believe an early Tuesday morning shooting that left one man dead and another man injured was a home invasion and robbery. Officers responded to Riley Court trailer park before 5 a.m. Tuesday. Police say the alleged intruder beat the homeowner, 69-year-old Thomas Wilson, severely with a blunt object before the homeowner shot him several times. Police have identified the man who died from the gunshot wounds as 21-year-old Dallas Two Bulls. …Police say the case is still in its early stages and remains under investigation.

The significance of this story is in part because it is so close to home, just a few miles from Mama Liberty’s place and my own.  But it also important to note that (a) the attacker and defender knew each other, (b) the defender did NOT fight back immediately resorted to deadly force apparently only when it became absolutely neccessary, and (c) the circumstances are such that the RC police do need to do more investigation.

 

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Home front: hungry kids and guvmint food

Posted on 2012-09-29 by TPOL Nathan

Thanks to Scott for this: More about gummint food:

Are prisoners better fed than our children?

Are prisoners better fed than children at school? Students and inmates eat identical lunches but jailhouse cuisine is healthier
(Daily Mail (UK)) Few can say they had a good school lunch experience. Stereotypically sloppy and greasy and served up with greying mashed potatoes, canteen dinners are a childhood memory best forgotten. Even prisoners would turn their noses up at some of it, according to the LA-based community blog GOOD.is.

Compare that with this:

Wasted Food, Hungry Kids: Michelle Obama’s Bill in Action
(PJ Media) Reports of predictable nanny state chaos.
In 2010, Michelle Obama went to a lame-duck session of Congress with a request: pass a nutrition bill giving the United States Department of Agriculture broad new powers to regulate school lunches. That bill was passed in late December of that year, and the new regulations have started to go into effect, with the predictable results of wasted food and angry, hungry children.

The cinnamon rolls and chili everyone loved from their childhood are now gone. Bands and other school groups can no longer sell candy bars as a fundraiser. The government is mandating everything from portion size to how many tomatoes have to be on a salad.

Also predictably, it took over a week for the mainstream media to even acknowledge the news in their regular broadcasts, and even then more in a “people are being weird” vein than as a serious news story.  This viral video (fun to watch) may have led to that but also GOT the attention which other actions did not.

I guess I should be surprised that it took two years for the chaos and the consequences to develop.  We did it to ourselves, when decades ago we let the do-gooders lobby Congress to pass laws and start providing yet another form of welfare via the school systems – a dangerously bad form of welfare by their very nature.

Government is bad for you, and nanny government is VERY bad for you.  But I suspect that worse is to come:  we very well may see parents TOTALLY prohibited from sending food to school with their children, and searches of backpacks at the entrances to these institutions expanded to include DingDongs and Almond Joy as well as the usual bombs, guns and knives (especially those plastic ones used to spread cream cheese and butter and especially the evil peanut butter).  And no doubt, Goldilocks will have to eat something other than porridge (all those carbs!  And sugar and butter and whole milk!).  And the wicked witch will have to give Snow White something other than a poisoned apple (bad associations).

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-41E: Islamic wars

Posted on 2012-09-29 by TPOL Nathan

Egyptian Front (Arab Street Revolt)
Muslim to stand trial for Bible-burning
(Digital Journal) Islamic television station owner to face trial for Bible burning Cairo – Radical Egyptian Islamist Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah, owner of an Islamic television station which uses veiled women as presenters, is to face trial for burning a Bible during protests outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo over the film “Innocence of Muslims.”

As Mama Liberty noted, this is quite a switch.  It still, of course, isn’t right.  There should be NO law or prosecution or persecution for burning a Bible or otherwise “desecrating” it and anyone who attempted to “punish” someone for doing so deserves to be treated as the violent aggressor and violator of the peace that they are.

“Wait, Nathan, I thought you were a christian?”  Yes, and I believe that the Bible is the Word of God.  But what is holy about it is NOT the paper or the ink or binding, but the words themselves: all sixty-six books (standard English translation count), and all 788,280 words (1769 edition of the King James Version of 1611 – and no, I am not one of those who believe of the KJV “If it was good enough for Jesus and the Apostles, it is good enough for me!”)  A Bible, whether printed out, copied out by hand, paperback, hardback, leatherbound, or anything else, is an artifact and deserves no special treatment or attitude except towards the words it contains.

That is exactly as it SHOULD be. The Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, Science and the Scriptures, Silent Spring, and any other “holy book” in existence, with my personal observation that all of those have significant internal proofs AND external proofs that they are NOT written (as the Bible claims) by the Lord through human hands.  The God of the Bible, the Creator and Father, will deal with those people who desecrate His Book on His own, no human help needed or wanted.  If Allah cannot do that Himself as well, then maybe those people who compare Him to Ba’al or Moloch or Kali are right.

Meanwhile, perhaps the ACLU could step up, in a gesture of international solidarity and human rights of religion in general and represent this poor, foolish, and misguided man in his trial.


Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-41D: Self Defense – not

Posted on 2012-09-29 by TPOL Nathan

I commented on this story earlier, sent to me by fellow Knight of Non-Aggression, Sir Carl.  But now, I have something nasty to contrast it to, and a reminder to ALL lovers of liberty to make sure that you understand how warped and twisted the general public mindset can be on matters of defense – both personal and national.

Houston officer kills double amputee in wheelchair
“A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.”

Carl said: The two armed cops felt threatened, by a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair.

In the same way, look at this next story, from CNSNews.com:

Poll: Most Americans Reject Isolationism, See U.S. As ‘Force for Good in the World’
Most Americans reject isolationism, do not believe the U.S. spends an excessive amount on defense, and say it’s important for the U.S. to continue playing a significant role in global affairs, according to a new opinion poll.  The commissioning organization, the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), says the findings show that “foreign policy matters” in the election campaign, despite assertions to the contrary.

Yes, foreign policy matters.  And I do not object to the idea that the US is a force for good in the world, because so much of the rest of the world is in such bad shape.  It does not mean, however, that the US is a force for good in EVERY place it gets involved in the world as a government, and especially not as a military player.  Nor does it mean that I do not believe that we spend an insanely excessive amount on defense – most of which is NOT in fact, “defense.”

But this shows how well we as a people have been cozened and buffaloed for the last 60 years, since our “isolation” ended with Pearl Harbor (including the lies about how we were “neutral” until 7 DEC 1941).  People have been convinced and feel deep in their souls that white is black, evil is good, right is wrong, and meddling everywhere and anywhere is being a “force for good.”  Just as that cop and the people there in that town were firmly convinced that the one-armed, one-legged, man in a wheelchair with a pen was a “threat” to the cop that justified use of deadly force.   That cop has clearly NOT learned (or has unlearned) the skill to recognize what is truly a threat.  Until we can learn that lesson on an international, federal, state, and local level, we will NOT be a force for good much (or even MOST) of the time: that we have to see beyond our assumptions to what is real.

Posted in Commentary on the News, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Empowering Ourselves and Others

Posted on 2012-09-27 by MamaLiberty

Helping other women (and men) become empowered to accept personal responsibility for their own lives/safety, and that of their families, is a big reason the original Price of Liberty came into being, and has been a focus of my life for a long time. It’s the reason I became a firearms and self defense instructor, and why I hand out hundreds of these cards each year.

Recently, I’ve found two other blogs by women who are informing and empowering others. I’d like to introduce them both to my readers here, and urge you to explore those blogs as well.

Mom With A Gun
Tammy posts frequently, and presents a wide variety of items based on self defense and self worth, as well as plenty of guns and gear.

She says: I’m Tammy, your host on this journey. I’m a freelance writer and novelist, a paralegal and mediator, living in coastal California. I began this blog to talk about my own evolution as relating to my decision to take responsibility for my own safety and the safety of my loved ones. Like it or not, the simple reality is that women are too often victims of crime and, for the most part, we are unable to prevail over male opponents in a direct force-on-force confrontation.

A gun is the one tool that we can count on to even up the score a bit.

One of Tammy’s recent posts led me to another great blog, A Girl and Her Gun. She doesn’t give her name, but she does tell her own story eloquently. She was attacked, and becoming a victim changed her whole world. Now she blogs about many different self defense issues and life in general. I intend to spend a lot more time reading her archives.

Other blogs and web sites I suggest to women:

Kathy Jackson of Cornered Cat
Especially of interest to those who carry concealed or are interested in learning more about it.

Walther and Me
I’ve not read much of this one yet, but the writer is very active and there is a lot of content. The lady seems to be a relatively recent convert to shooting, but is heading down the right path for training and safety. Hats off to her! Now if we could only get her out of New York!

If you know of a good blog or website that deals honestly with women and guns, I’d love to hear about it. Please put the link into a comment, along with your thoughts or recommendations for it.

Let’s empower each other!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-41B: Local Tyranny and Self Defense

Posted on 2012-09-25 by TPOL Nathan

Some thoughts on stories found by Mama Liberty and others:

Self-defense NOT
Police: Shoplifter kills Wal-Mart security employee, then self
(NBC News)
Mama’s Note: These “security” people are not armed of course, and there’s no guarantee that this would have turned out differently if they were, but it sure wouldn’t have hurt…

Nathan’s comments: Despite allowing open and concealed carry in its stores, Wal-Mart still displays the common insanity of too much of America’s retail sector and thinks that by prohibiting their employees and managers from being armed they will prevent bad things from happening.  If a weapon can reduce the danger to employees just two times out of a hundred incidents, EVEN if a weapon might make a situation worse one time out of a hundred incidents (although the ratio is MUCH bigger), then store employees should have access to and carry weapons to defend themselves, their fellow employees, customers and innocent by-standers.

Culture wars: killing children
Florida Sheriff: Mother kills 2 kids, then hangs herself
(NBC News)
Mama’s Note: Mass insanity in Florida now?

Nathan’s thoughts: At first, I attributed this sort of thing to the “rats in a cage” syndrome:  too many rats in a small cage leads to murderous, self-destructive, and horrific behavior, like eating their own young.  But then I realized, this is not due to overpopulation or urban complex pressures as much as it is a result of what the society and schools and too many groups are teaching: life is worthless; the human race is evil and destroying the planet; children are fair game inside the womb for predators, and why not outside as well?  But in all but the most depraved, guilt can cause the perpetrator of the death of these two children to kill herself as well, as if one life can make up for taking of the other two.

Local tyranny – stupid cops
Texas: Houston cop murders man in wheelchair
(Detroit Free Press)
“A Houston police officer has fatally shot a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair after police say the double amputee waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.” (09/23/12)

Nathan’s thoughts: Carl had reported this to me this weekend, because of the tie with “Deadly Assault Pens” that we had used to raise awareness of the Liberty Round Table years ago.  But this cop (who has killed before) seems to have over-reacted, given the setting in an assisted-living home and the general circumstances.  If his nerves are this badly shot, he should have been pulled off the street a long time ago.

Self defense
Wisconsin: Woman scares off burglar
(WMTV News)
“The investigation revealed that the resident, while investigating the sound of footsteps, was confronted by a masked intruder, who attempted to use a form of pepper spray on her. In response to this, the resident, who had armed herself with a handgun, fired several shots at the intruder, who subsequently fled the residence on foot. The resident was not injured during this incident.” (09/23/12)

Nathan’s thoughts: Aha!  The tables are turned.  Usually it is the victim that tries foolishly to use pepper spray, NOT the criminal.

Self defense
Utah: Gunman dies from gunshot wounds
(KSL News)
“Just before 2:30 p.m. Friday, a gunman at Francis Peak Apartments, located at 600 West Mutton Hollow Road in Kaysville, shot 51-year-old maintenance manager Steve Bailey multiple times, ’emptying the clip’ and critically wounding him. Witnesses report that Bailey witnessed a domestic dispute between a man and woman in a common area of the apartment complex and tried to intervene when the man shot Bailey at close range. Police report that an armed witness shot at the gunman, but it is unknown at this time if those gunshots were those that caused the suspect’s death.” (09/21/12)

Nathan’s thoughts: Heaven forbid that the cops admit that an armed by-stander could intervene and take out the aggressor.  Much less possibly prevent yet ANOTHER “mass murder” because the aggressor then proceeded to attack others in the vicinity of the apartments.  And heaven forbid that a maintenance manager of a large apartment complex think that HE might need to be able to defend himself – especially before intervening in a “dispute.”

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-41C: This and That

Posted on 2012-09-25 by TPOL Nathan

Just a few stories and thoughts for a Tuesday morning!

Islamic war: Arab Street revolt
Libyan PM: ‘It Is Not a Spontaneous Thing That Took Place That Night, No;’ U.S. Strike at Perps Would ‘Throw This Country in Chaos’
(CNSNews.c0m) Planned to “celebrate” Bloody Tuesday’s 11th Anniversary, apparently?  As many claimed and the Administration denied time and again.  As for “chaos” – what do they have there right now?

Theft by government – New religions: environists
Airline Industry Hails Senate Move Against European ‘Cash Grab’ Cap-And-Trade Scheme
(CNSNews.com) Heaven forbid that anyone elese steal money from OUR airlines, or so the Senate says!  But never fear, the dreaded manmade global warming and other environmental goals will spur them to come up with some way to get the money that would otherwise be going to Europe, and grow government here at home.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… they suffer no rivals.

Theft by government
$1.8 Trillion Shock: Obama Regs Cost 20-Times Estimate
(Washington Examiner) The Obama administration has passed a slew of regulations, including the new health care law, which together are poised to cost taxpayers and businesses more than originally assumed. According to estimates by Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the cost of regulations will be about $1.8 trillion annually, nearly 20 times the $88 billion initially assumed… The roundup of the costs looks at the costs estimated by federal agencies as well as hard-to-calculate costs such as antitrust intervention, regulation of electricity networks and costs of constrained access to natural resources. The $1.8 trillion estimate is close to the $1.7 trillion estimate from the Small Business Administration, which the White House is eager to distance itself from.

The regulatory state seems to grow very well in our supposed global warming, doesn’t it?  Of course, much of this is “explained” by the continued “war on terrorism,” and the ever-less-popular “war on some drugs” and of course “for the children” and to “keep Americans healthy.”  So many excuses, no wonder it costs so much!

The longer we continue in this mindset, the worse this sort of thing will get.  Failure to veer off this path (assuming it is not already too late), the sooner WE will find ourselves as a whole living on the level of the people of Nicaragua. (Link to story on Food nutrition welfare.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Food Lines (Virtual and Real) and Economic Comparisons

Posted on 2012-09-25 by TPOL Nathan

One of my webzines, from the good folks at LaissezFaire.com, had this to say yesterday.  I applaud their observation skills – the SNAP (food stamp program) really IS a “virtual bread line” which is one reason we don’t SEE those iconic images today that are so common from the 1930s and other eras in depression.

…[W]e learned this morning the virtual bread line continues to grow like a weed. Food stamp users reach record high of 46,670,373 as of June 2012. As the United States’ economic freedom goes down, its government dependency accelerates. Compare this to only four years ago, when there were 30,841,790 food stampers in October 2008, the dawning of the crash.

47 million people is right at 15 of the total population of these formerly united States; but they are FAR from the only people on welfare and dependent on the government.

“Last year,” our Daily Reckoner Eric Fry writes, ironically, from Nicaragua, “the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — i.e., food stamp program — in the United States spent $7.4 billion more than it did the year before. $7.4 billion happens to be almost identical to the entire GDP of Nicaragua, a nation of 5.9 million inhabitants.

Notice that this is just the INCREASE.  According to a release from the Senate Appropriations Committee, SNAP was funded at $68 BILLION [Hey, that isn’t bad, that’s only $226.67 per man, woman, and child in the nation!]  But SNAP is just a tiny fraction of the “nutritional programs” in which the FedGov pays for Americans to eat:  $94 billion in WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Nutrition, another $7 billion in “Special Nutrition” for WIC, and $18 billion in school lunch and breakfast programs – and this was BEFORE Michelle’s ramp-up of that program (and yet another reason that school lunch prices for those NOT on this kind of welfare are going up).

But here is the webzine’s further analysis, which should cause you to wonder just what is going on.

“SNAP used its additional $7.4 billion to feed 4.4 million of America’s poorest citizens. Meanwhile, all 5.9 million Nicaraguans — rich and poor alike — managed to ‘live on’ $7.4 billion.

In other words, we Americans supposedly give our “new poor” (those just now getting on the food stamp bandwagon) MORE per year just for food than the average Nicaraguan lives on and pays for everything, because there ARE no food stamps or other government welfare food programs in Nicaragua, because the country and the government are too poor.

Face it, folks, we are the spoiled brats of the world (together with the Europeans and the Commonwealth).  What is “poor” in American terms (Norte-Americano)  is wealth beyond dreams in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.  But we are living (literally) on borrowed money.

Posted in Friends of Liberty | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-41A

Posted on 2012-09-25 by TPOL Nathan

Islamic wars: Arab Street revolt
Napolitano: ‘Deplorable’ Film ‘Is Not, Never, and Never Will Be Excuse for Violence’
(CNSNews.com) “Deplorable?”  Oh, not like “Life of Brian” or those other filthy movies that seek to increase box office by pandering to those who want to see Jesus of Nazareth as a pervert.  Not like the garbage “art” that transforms religious icons into the equivalent of restroom graffiti.  Not like the constant repetition of “scientists” and “scholars” and all the other talking heads who demean the Bible, those people in the Bible, and those who believe and practice it today.  (An example is the vicious attack by Bill Nye the Science Guy on those parents who “fail” their children by teaching them about creation instead of “real” science.  The constant attacks by such people as Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins have been with us for decades.)  No, it is just that the Tranzis are backing (and to some degree, afraid of) their creations: the fanatical followers of a pedophile and bandit chief and murderer fourteen centuries ago.

Stupid government tricks
USDA Spending $5.2M to ‘Support Schools As They Strive to Serve Healthy Food’
This comes at the same time as an interesting article on how students of all ages are having to pay more for their meals and having less to eat, not just less of the familiar foods they want to eat and are used to eating at home, but literally less food as the schools try to cut costs AND comply with the new Michelle-driven federal food rules to reduce obesity.  And to make matters worse (from the school and student point of view) the House has apparently left the new Farm Bill (which includes funding for school lunch programs as well as food stamps and more welfare) to wither on the vine.  Note that this is almost certainly a GOOD thing from the point of view of weaning people OFF welfare and helping them understand the basic untrustworthy nature of government.  And (wonderful, eh?) government is doing this to everyone all by themselves!

See articles here:
Complaints Mount Against Michelle Obamas New Lunch Menu
Farm Bill Left To Die On Vine Before Recess

Stupid government tricks – Politics 2012
“Moocher” Paradox in “Red States”
(Bloomberg.com) Tranzi mainstream media is a past master at skewing data and statistics and painting a situation to their advantage.  It is easy to lie when you are using data and people cannot or will not use basic observation and math skills to see through the smoke and mirrors.  This seems to be a classic case of lies and more lies.

First, the good professor fails to take into account the hypocrisy of too many “conservatives” who are still supporters of big government.  Although they claim to want to cut taxes and spending by the fed gov, in reality it is only SOME kinds of spending that they want cut and that mostly to divert the spending to other programs.

Second, the analysis is childish:  although he claims to have taken things like defense spending into account, he does not show that and apparently does not actually analyze what constitutes defense spending or direct payments.  For example, I understand that direct payments includes retirement: military and civilian, and Social Security and Medicare, which are least theoretically are based on contributions paid in the past by recipients.  And without looking at the raw data, for instance, you cannot tell whether salaries paid to military personnel are part of “defense spending” or “salaries and wages.”  When you look at the states which profit from federal money versus federal taxes, and examine each state-by-state, you see much different patterns.

Third, trying to simplify politics to “red-blue” is incredibly stupid.  Straight party-line voting is a straitjacket that had its seams slashed a long time ago, and whether you are looking at states or counties, you are foolishly reading both too much and too little into the tea leaves.

Why not pay attention those who still believe in liberty – or even those who still believe in the Constitution, and then honestly ask (and pay attention) to who they are going to vote for?  Including those who will not vote for anyone because they have washed their hands of the whole mess?

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Comments and such…

Posted on 2012-09-24 by MamaLiberty

Please forgive the necessity of the “captcha” thing in comments. We’re going to work out a more user friendly way to do this eventually, but the first few hours of totally open comments attracted some spam already… so we had no choice.

Thanks to all for their patience while we work out the bugs here in our new blog home!

MamaLiberty

Posted in Uncategorized, Welcome/information message | 2 Comments