Joining the 21st century

Thanks to my family (Happy Birthday to ME), I am now the proud owner of a new Kindle 3G. Alan might be right. This eBook thing might have something to it after all.

I am off to go read something.

Add it to the bucket list

Cadillac CTS-V Wagon. Do want.

I'll have what she is having

Daphne at Jaded Haven has the dream of my dreams. The nightmare of the ruling class. The...oh hell. Go read it for yourself!

And whatever she was having, I'll have too.

Newbius

Vicious Circle - Fast and Felonious

Find it HERE. The usual disclaimers apply: Not to be considered legal advice, may cause pain and swelling, if your "condition" persists for more than 4 hours, seek medical help immediately.

NSFW, of course...

Elections will not save us...

A quick follow-up post to clarify my statement below. As JayG points out here, nothing has really changed in the last hundred years or so.

I don't mean to argue with my good friend Newbius, but please. Elections won't save us? They haven't done a damn bit of good the past hundred or so years - why should now be any different? Our government is lying to us? This is different from the past two hundred plus years how? The only thing that has changed in the past two decades is that the information is not as tightly controlled - just because we're hearing about more now doesn't mean that more is happening now.

I say, "not true". The institutions that daily mold our opinions, thought processes, and candidate selection have all been corrupted and co-opted from within. The Liberal Communist Left has gradually assumed control of our institutions of higher learning (focusing on History, Sociology, and Education), the media (to control WHAT gets published), and our electoral process (to determine WHO gets put before us every two years).

For us to restore our Nation to the original vision, we need to take back (as Utah is doing) our political parties at the grassroots level, take back our school boards, take back our Media, and force out the cancer of Tenured Communist professors at Universities throughout our nation. While we were being mollified, pacified, indoctrinated, and told not to worry about local politics, our foundational institutions were taken over. The bastards went after our children, and we just complained instead of fighting.

How many of you know who is on your school board? How many of you know who the local movers and shakers are in your county political parties? How many of you attend the caucuses, straw polls, party meetings, school board meetings, et cetera? Most people don't even bother to attend their HOA meetings...

This stuff is IMPORTANT, people! If you are complaining about the quality of the candidates at the state and national levels, ask yourself HOW they got to be at that level in the first place. WHO put them there? Answer: the local party reps did. Do you want to have an impact? Take over the local party. Take over ALL of the local parties in your state. Don't think it will work? Ask Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) how he likes retirement. It works, but YOU have to get involved.

As long as THEY (the cronies, the bought-and-paid-for stooges, the local elite, and the insiders) still control the local levers, then you will get candidates that only appeal to THEIR interests and not yours. Voting for more of the same will just continue to give you...more of the same. So change who gets to be on the ballot, before there is a ballot to vote on. It is how THEY do it. Until we Patriots re-engage in the political process, and get off of our asses and get involved (instead of whining about the quality of the people we get to choose from), then elections will not save us.

RIGHT NOW is when the local party offices are looking for participants. Show up. Make your voice heard. Change the process from within. To repeat my closing line from the previous essay:

"I will continue to work within the system until it fails. Then I will work to restore the system as it should have been."

I still need to clean the basement.

Pax,

Newbius

Presumptive nominees

Isn't it funny how the MSM polling seems to *always* result in some "generic republican" attaining 'front-runner' status before the real thinkers and voters in the party have even thought it through?

Mitt Romney? Jon Huntsman? Gary Johnson? Tim Pawlenty? Really???

Artificial, Centrist, Contrived, and Vanilla. Yet, those are the choices the MSM wants us to believe are electable. They don't want you to think. They want you to accept their conventional wisdom.

The two most exciting people in (or not yet in) the race are dismissed as crackpots and unelectable. The two most genuine 'candidates' out there so terrify the MSM that they are actively trying to minimize (Cain) or destroy (Palin) them before they gain enough traction with the People.

Forget the artfully edited sound bites designed to destroy these people. Remember that these people are a direct threat to the progressive machine and the enablers in the Media. The American Press has more in common with the USSR's Pravda, than Russia Today does now. In fact, I would propose that a fairer treatment of events and candidates in the American news would be found on RT than on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, or even Fox.

So, do you own research. Ignore the 'presumptive nominee' crap coming from biased push-polls. Go out and actually LISTEN to the candidates in their own words and in context. Then you might see that those people labeled 'unelectable' just might be better qualified to lead than the ones currently 'leading'.

Newbius
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Staring too deeply into the abyss

I read that description today about Kevin Baker's Hiatus at Smallest Minority. I think it is an apt description. Not just for Kevin, but for me as well. Sometimes, the problem isn't one of lacking understanding. Sometimes, the problem is understanding all too well.

I, too, have been staring too deeply into the abyss. Usually, this results in a sort of "paralysis by analysis" that requires some additional time to digest before posting opinions. Once in a while, it results in flashes of righteous anger that cause words to flow by the hundreds.

Today, it only generated sadness. You see, I truly understand. In understanding, I see how they can succeed.

I see the results of decades of mal-education. The results of decades of political correctness. The results of decades of agitprop masquerading as thought. I see all of this and grieve for those remaining who also understand. And I pray that it is not too late to save this once-great nation from a generation-so lost-that they have anointed elected an anonymous Marxist as leader of the last "free" nation on Earth.

Elections will not save us, not this time. The Republicans are only a different flavor of Statist..."Socialism Lite". Either flavor ultimately winds up in a Police State. Take a look around you. Do you truly believe you have Liberty?

How much of what Free People should be able to do now requires permission from some organ of the State to perform? When you see a policeman or deputy sheriff, do you greet them warmly, or do you get a twinge in hopes that you weren't breaking some unknown law? How much of your life is spent paying the Federal, State, or Local income tax? How about Sales, Excise, Gasoline, Communications, heating fuel, electrical generation, transport, or property taxes? How many activities, on your own land, require a permit before performing?

Think about it.

Our revolution was precipitated by the belief that government took too much, served too little (except themselves), consumed the substance of the people, and failed to represent the common man in their daily existence. The social contract had been broken. However, it was not until the King attempted to disarm the citizens that open warfare broke out.

Now think about where we are today. Your national government is lying to you daily. They are stealing from you daily. The are taking your substance, and redirecting it to favored constituents, unions, and political cronies. They are destroying your way of life. They are also subverting the Constitution in every way imaginable. The worst of it though is that they are attempting to undermine your right to self-governance and self-protection by trying to subvert your right to arms. It is clear that 'Operation Fast and Furious' is an attempt to stage the conditions necessary to revoke your right to arms. Please do not take my word for it. Look at history. Look at the arc that every nation goes through. Look at every republic as they moved through democracy and into oligarchy and despotism. Now look at where we are today. React accordingly.

Most of what I have to say has been said by now. I will continue to work within the system until it fails. Then I will work to restore the system as it should have been. Until then, I'll be in the basement. I need to clean out the corners anyway.

Newbius
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Blogroll update

Adding Melissa at Psalm 19 to the blogroll. Melissa is a young lady, freshly fledged from George Mason University with an education degree. She has an amazing spirit, and a willingness to serve. She is (hopefully) heading to Bolivia to teach in a couple of months (see post below).

Everybody at Casa Newbius adores her. You can keep up with her doings at her blog.

Newbius

Mission: Bolivia

Mission: Bolivia is a money bomb request Facebook support page whose goal is to send a teacher to Bolivia to instruct High School youth at a Christian mission center. I have met the teacher, and she is wonderful. Due to a time schedule that compressed unexpectedly (and not the way our economic outlook is 'unexpected'), she needs to raise more money, more quickly, than originally anticipated.

Please share the link, and support if you can. We would like to raise $25,000 in two weeks. $1 or all of it...whatever you are willing to do. Please share the link.

Pax,

Newbius

ETA: The monetary support is requested, the Facebook status updates are real, and the goal is worthy. And, yes, I have pledged my own money to the cause first before asking anybody else to join me.

Opportunities in disappointment

Every now and then, you will get a wake-up call that forces you to re-evaluate your commitment to your dreams. I got one today. My prospective business partner, who was working a contract job to build up the seed money to start the pizza restaurant, has had a setback. It seems like the job he got hired for was a little bit of smoke-and-mirrors...

Ah, well.

For me, this is a gut-check. "Do I really want this?" The answer is still "yes". So, I will press on. I will continue to refine the processes, and the recipes, until the product is right. I will also continue to build up the name recognition locally by hosting more parties and maybe doing a little catering. In the mean-time, I wish my future partner all the best. When the time is right, then we will move forward. Not before, and not at-risk. And most assuredly without outside financing. I will not be beholden to any bank.

The timing has to be right. I am in no hurry. Instead of causing worry, this little disappointment has been a blessing in disguise. It has allowed me the time to be introspective about what I want and how I intend to bring it to fruition. For now, I will wait patiently and work at what I know.

I need to learn patience anyway.

Pax,

Newbius

Flag Day

In honor of the man whose honor flag is flown here. I miss you dad.

Summertime

The kids are home from college. There is laughter in the house, in all corners and at odd times. Last Friday we started up the summer pizza party routine once again, and had 30+ high school and college kids hanging out. Nobody got drunk; there was no debauchery; and, everybody made it home safely.

Life is good.

Community

A couple of days ago, a good friend of mine was unintentionally (intentionally??) smeared by a link aggregator, who copied/linked/stole without attribution a picture of her and posted it as 'porn'. I won't even call that person a blogger, as there doesn't seem to be much original thought there.

My good friend politely asked that the photo that he stole be taken down, and the blog title be changed to something less misogynistic. He refused. The gun blogging community is taking action in shunning this person and contacting his advertisers.

Good for them.

In my post below, "Painting targets on our clay feet", I tried to point out that we as an interest group need to move past the need to 'porn' our sport. Especially when it comes to portraying the fairer sex and their participation in our community. There are plenty of positive examples of women in our sport who are accomplished. There is no need to 'porn' them. They should be celebrated because of their accomplishments, not because they are women. I am quite sure that Julie Golob Golosky, Molly Smith, Tam, and Breda can all out-shoot me. I am not threatened by this at all. In fact, I welcome it. Let me buy some more ammo for them if it helps advance our sport in a positive light to all women.

Some of the comments on my 'clay feet' post assumed that I objected to the Lucky Gunner 'ammo waitresses', even though I tried to be very clear that this was not the case. That post had been stewing in my brain for many months prior because of my interactions with my wife, daughter, sons, and their female friends.

The 'gun culture' has an uphill climb with women. Try and deny it, but that is a fact. Any tour through your average gun store with your wife, girlfriend, or daughter in-tow will affirm this. And, we need to fix it. It starts with us.

Speaking of Lucky Gunner: As a matter of policy, I do not accept advertising. I link to the Second Amendment Foundation prominently, but accept no money from them. I believe in what they stand for and the work that they do. Beginning today, you will see a link to Lucky Gunner right below the SAF logo, in response to their support of Breda. I will not accept any funds from them, nor will I post an ad from them. However, they have shown themselves to be a part of our community. For this, I thank them.

Pax,

Newbius

Stupid signs

While going about my business today, I had to go into a branch of the USMC Credit Union. Tacked onto the door was a typed note inside a page protector declaring in 24pt boldface that:

The carrying of a concealed weapon on these premises is prohibited"

I say "stupid sign" for 2 reasons: 1) Concealed is concealed, so how are they to know? 2) The target is misdirected. A criminal is going to ignore the sign and do his deed anyway.

However, as a lawful gun owner, I dutifully went back to my car and disarmed.

While there, I took the time to ask about the sign, and had a nice dialogue with the teller about guns. She grew up in an 'anti' household and admitted fearing guns, but is married to a Marine and said she wanted to get over her fear. I told her that guns were fun, and she should seek out someone to help her learn about them. All in all, a good contact.

Now tomorrow...I might just go into that branch again, openly carrying, as their sign expressly forbade concealed carry. :)

Newbius

An Armed Man Went to the...

Hardware Store, clothing store, department store, and grocery store and nothing happened. The only difference was that, today, the man was openly armed instead of carrying concealed.

Boring.

As it should be.

Painting Targets On Our Clay Feet

If you are trying to reach out to other markets and grow acceptance of your products, why on earth would you risk offending the people most likely to influence the buying decisions?

Breda, Tam, Kathy Jackson, and many others have pointed out the bias (bordering on misogyny) and condescension present at gun stores and online retailers. Advertisers are still using cheesecake to sell their products. We are still pigeon-holing ourselves as knuckle-dragging neanderthals as a result.

Can we move past this please?

Don't get me wrong, I love the female form. I even understand why companies do what they do (yes, because it works). I just don't base my buying decision on how hot the model holding the product is. Do you?

I am about to embark on a gun buying journey with my wife. Soon thereafter, I will be doing the same thing with my daughter. Both of these women are confident and self-assured in most things. I have been gently walking down this path with them, using encouragement and gentle instruction. However, one of the things that will influence this purchase will be the person behind the counter. The salesperson will have the opportunity to make two sales (or more), or none, entirely on how they treat these women.

I really want to see the Firearms Industry get out of the "Hooters" mindset. Really, I do. Guns are fun. Shooting them well is an accomplishment. They are empowering, and are the great equalizer should self-defense be required. Shouldn't we be sharing this message, instead of pushing another "sniper babe" calendar?

My $0.03, tax included.

Newbius

Housekeeping - New links

As part of my regular troll through the internet, I check out several forums dedicated to aspects of the fight for our Second Amendment rights. I find these places to be valuable sources of information and opinion. So, in an effort to make them more accessible to myself (I use my own blogroll/link list as a jumping-off point), and as a service to the half-dozen of you who read me daily, I am adding them to the sidebar.

The forums are Maryland Shooters, CalGuns, OpenCarry, and USCCA. They are linked just below the SAF logo. Please go and check them out.

Newbius

Working hard, hardly blogging

Sorry kids. The Free Ice Cream Dispenser is overheating and the offerings are thin.

Try the sidebar.

Newbius