Nielsen's ra(n)tings

Politics, guns, homeschooling for the gifted, scuba, hunting, farming and somewhat coherent occasional ranting from your average Buckeye State journalist/dad/farmer/actor.

Friday, July 29, 2005

See Dick run. Run, Dick, run!

I just saw in Drudge that veteran painful-pimple-on-the-butt reporter Helen Thomas is threatening to kill herself if VP Dick Cheney decides to run for the presidency in 2008. I keep asking myself about the downside to that scenario. The only thing I can say is "run, Dick, run!"

Squeeze that pimple! Does this make me a bad person?

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Newsweek ad sales off? Whoda thunk it?

Drudge is reporting that Newsweek has decided to eliminate one issue due to declining ad sales and will make up the news material covered with a double issue.

Personally, I think America is getting tired of the magazine's obvious agenda and recent spate of gaffes. Memo to the traditional Mainstream Media (MSM): It's not the 1960s, your facts are easily checked and there are other, freely available, sources for news. You're just one voice among many now, not the gatekeeper, and people are free to form their own opinions based on world events, not your version of them.

Trigger locks? No way!

I noted today that the anti-gun forces are playing their little legislative games - trying to get a trigger lock amendment attached to the gun manufacturers lawsuit protection bill making its way through the senate It's being pushed as a poison pill amendment which would kill pro-gun support for the bill.

It sounds like a great idea, though, right? Put locks on the triggers of all those bad guns and then everything will be sweetness and light as criminals and youth gang members follow the new statute to the letter, youngsters forego their drive and ability to get into anything forbidden and home invasions are scheduled a week in advance so the homeowner has time to remove the trigger lock and load the weapon in defense of home and family.

"I'm sorry, Juwon, I'm booked solid for burglary next week...how's the 23rd for you?"

I know it's been said ad nauseum, but guns are tools. Used carelessly, they are dangerous tools. Gun owners bear the responsibility to learn how to use these tools properly, educate their family members in the safe use of these tools and protect these tools from casual misuse. This may include keeping them unloaded and in a gun safe/cabinet, may include keeping them cased and out of sight, may include trigger locks or may include having them loaded and in a known location for quick access and use.

A trigger lock is redundant for a weapon already stored in a safe. A trigger lock is an impediment in a gun designated as being ready for quick use. If I'm forced to defend my home or family with a gun, I want the weapon immediately and I want it to be loaded and ready for use.

By attempting to mandate trigger lock use, well-meaning (or not) legislators are attempting to take responsibility from gun owners for the safe use of the gun. I have no problem with requiring an optional trigger lock be included with each new gun sale, but have a big problem with mandating its use.

That loaded gun that was sitting in the corner after you came in from target shooting fell over and discharged? Wouldn't have happened if the gun was unloaded and had a trigger lock. Child got ahold of the gun and discharged it accidentally? Wouldn't have happened with a trigger lock. While the above are true, the real problem is that education and basic gun safety are lacking.

Lock up the guns you're not expecting to need in a hurry and unload them. Teach your children about guns, gun safety and take them shooting. Nothing removes the forbidden allure of guns to children like some education and experience. Make sure all family members know you have a "ready" gun and its approximate location so there are no "accidental" discoveries.

Education, not legislation, is the answer.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

It's time to leave the sidelines

I've been reading blogs since shortly before 9-11.

They're cool. It's cutting-edge news and opinion at the touch of a fingertip. With a dance across the keyboard, I can find out what's going on anywhere in the world. I can follow Lance Armstrong through the Alps, keep updated on the insanity that is Kim Jong Il and stay abreast of advances in the sciences which are often filtered out by the traditional media. No longer do I have to rely on limited resources for my worldview...the world is largely opened and the limiting factor is the extent to which I'm willing to research.

You get to learn about worldshaking events from a blogger who is on the ground, experiencing them. It's an invaluable tool for capturing the rich texture of history-in-the-making.

It's also an invaluable too for societal change.

In the book Ender's Game, presciently written in 1985 by Orson Scott Card, the young hero's preteen brother and sister use the blogosphere as a tool to change the political and social dynamic of the planet. No one knew who they were; they just listened to the message posted by the youngsters, who called themselves Locke and Demosthenes. It was the message that was important, not the messenger. I think Card's vision of the future has come true in this respect - the availability of blogs give everyone in the world an equal voice.

So I decided it was time for me to get off the sidelines and take advantage of my "equal voice."

I'm a card-carrying member of NRA who's strong on national defense, fiscal responsibility and personal liberty. I'm nominally a Republican. I also support abortion rights and am an atheist. I'm a square peg in a round hole. Again. I think the Global War on Terror is truly a world war against Islam, which is something we need to realize if we want to win.

Social Security? I'm all for privatizing some of it and have my doubts whether I (40 something) will see any of the money which I paid into the program.
Socialized healthcare? You lost me at the word "socialized" - government means bigger, not better.
Capital punishment? Kill 'em and let God sort 'em out.
Flag Burning? It's free speech, just don't do it around me.
The U.N.? A nice place to meet and talk with interesting people from other countries, but I'll be damned if we should kowtow to decisions from a body comprised of other countries that would profit from our reduced role in world affairs.
The Media? Ideologically skewed, by and large. Being increasingly rendered powerless by the emergence of the new media of the internet.
Border Security? Lock it down. Illegal aliens get deported.
The environment? Profit cannot come before protection...we must pass a liveable world along to our children. Yes for money to research on alternate energy sources and green technology.
Kyoto? Emphatic no! It would do nothing to stem pollution or global warming (exempting, as it does, the most polluting emerging economies.) It's an income redistribution scheme, plain and simple - the polluters here can afford to pay for the pollution credits, and will simply pass the increased costs on to consumers.

That list will be enough for now - I don't want to remove all the suspense. The chickens and horses are calling for my attention now...more later.