Left Rudder

Sometimes you have to shake your head.

Extremism, while a blight on society, can sometimes be funny. I give you Don Gwinn.

Don is exercised about an IL state legislator named Dan Kotowski, who had the temerity to propose some gun control legislation. To Don, this is unconscionable; according to Don, Kotowski “snuck in” to office (in reality, Kotowski beat the incumbent GOP opponent by nearly 1400 votes, becoming the first Dem Senator from that area since before 1860). Further, Don implies that Kotowski’s views on gun control weren’t known; of course, this is unusual since Kotowski was head of a gun control organization prior to his election.

Anyway, the usual gunloons have allegedly sent Kotowski threats in response to his gun control legislation. Don asserts Kotowski has the Illinois State Police at his beck and call and have had police show up at the residences of some of these gunloons. Don accuses Kotowski of inflating the nature of these threats.

Meanwhile, Don chooses to use a passage from Unintended Consequences to illustrate how Kotowski’s behavior is bad/wrong/something.

I think it has escaped Don that Unintended Consequences is a novel.

A novel. A novel with a central plotline involves gunloons assassinating law enforcement officers and Government officials.

Update:

I regret the error.

I will say, though, having done more research–Ross is not credible. Ross all but accuses Banks of murdering his predecessor.

Extremism.

Why is it the gunloon culture seems inexorably intertwined with extremist groups and whackos? Here’s an account from a visitor to a gunshow:

Actually, though, racism at the gun show is more implicit than explicit. Certainly many attendees are not racist at all. The militia table does not exhibit any racist material, though one can buy videos featuring John Trochmann, a Montana militia leader with a checkered racist past. Other exhibitors show less reluctance to wear their commitments on their sleeve. Several Nazi flags are in evidence at the gun show, and though most are displayed as militaria, one has to wonder who–other than Marge Schott–might want to buy a Nazi flag. There are some more obvious examples of bigotry. A grim-looking vendor near the front of one of the fairgrounds buildings sits behind piles of material that he is selling which include copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. At another table one can purchase the infamous Turner Diaries, which merely labeling “racist” seems not to do them justice. And several exhibitors have copies of the weekly newspaper, The Spotlight, published by the blatantly anti-Semitic organization The Liberty Lobby, which also helped to fund the Institute for Historical Review, a group that denies the Holocaust ever happened.

My own visits to gunshows mirror those above; you also tend to see a lot of “how to” books/tapes/DVDs on subjects such as not paying taxes, being your own lawyer, and making millions with no apparent work or effort.

Gunloons will try and explain this extremism away by arguing it’s just capitalism; that such vendors will naturally flock to where there are a lot of customers. Of course, this explanation doesn’t hold water– at computer shows, car shows, etc., you just don’t find The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or other racist materials.

Today was unkind to Rudy Giuliani.

First, we get the news Mr. Tough Guy on National Security was appointed to the Iraq Study Group (ISG) but couldn’t show up because there were more pressing matters than, say, the Middle East and our national security:

He cited “previous time commitments” in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why - the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani’s lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

Next, we learn Mr. Law and Order’s SC campaign chairman has just been indicted for intent to distribute cocaine.

Rudy’s a great judge of character. Hey, what’s Bernie Kerik up to, these days?

Lurita “Hortatory Subjunctive” Doan.

Doan joins other criminally-incompetent Bush appointees such as Michael “Heckuva Job, Brownie” Brown, Abu “I Don’t Recall” Gonzales, Paul “Big Sexy” Wolfowitz, Claude “Target Shopper” Allen, Scooter “Convicted Felon” Libby and many others.

For the Bizarro-version of Lurita “Hortatory Subjunctive” Doan, check out Jack Yoest.

Yoest’s contention is that Doan is merely being investigated because she’s a good manager. Yoest also provides possibly the goofiest explanation of the Hatch Act and why Doan did nothing, nothing wrong.

Others disagree.

The Mystery of Ales.

George Will is probably swallowing hard.

More on DGUs.

As noted previously, Kleck’s studies WRT DGUs have a lot of problems. One problem that hasn’t been discussed is their subjectivity. IOW, what is a DGU?

Apparently, it’s like asking people their definition of morality; ask 100 people and you’d probably get 99 different answers.

Here is the question asked by Kleck in his anonymous phone survey:

“Within the past five years, have you yourself or another member of your household used a gun, even if it was not fired, for self-protection or for the protection of property at home, work, or elsewhere? Please do not include military service, police work, or work as a security guard.”

As one can readily see, this question allows much subjectivity. For instance, a respondent might have heard a noise outside, one night, took his forearm and investigated and found nothing. The noise didn’t reoccur. Is that a DGU? A respondent could answer yes. Or another example: say some good ol’ boys were playing cards one night and drinking. During the course of the game, tempers frayed and one party threatened another. A gun was produced and the threat was deterred. Is that a DGU? Per Kleck’s question, it could be. One could easily see how domestic disputes where a gun was brandished could be deemed a DGU.

So on and so forth.

The Defensive Gun Use (DGU).

Quite often, the gunloon will regale you with tales about how many lives were saved when gun-toting, law-abiding citizen exercised his Second Amendment God-given right to firearms and prevented a crime. This tale is called a defensive gun use or DGU. The gunloon will point out that the firearm may not have been fired–but merely brandished, causing criminal(s) to cease their criminal activities and flee the scene.

The patron saint of the DGU is a criminologist, Gary Kleck. Kleck has a number of studies as to the frequency of DGUs, ranging from 1M to 2.5M DGUs occurring annually in the US. There have been quite a number of folks who have issues with Kleck’s methodology.

But even if we assume Kleck’s methodology is flawless, there are problems with Kleck’s findings that are readily apparent. For example, Kleck’s own research states that in 8% of all DGUs, the gun is fired–wounding an alleged criminal. Kleck also notes that 15% of gun shot wounds are fatal. If we do the math: 2.5M DGUs x .08 woundings x .15 fatal wounds, we should have 30,000 justifiable gun homicides each year in the US.

Uh oh. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) show under 300 justifiable homicides each year–from all causes, not just gun-related.

It’s been sometime, but let’s see what the dumbest Army Lawyer ever, 2LT Christopher Cross, has been up to. Chris Cross is exercised about the fact the military kangaroo courts tribunals haven’t begun summary executions:

Fun fact: Gov’t prosecutors are not allowed to talk to the media.

Nothing more dangerous and uninformed than an O-1 who thinks he knows something.

Colonel Morris “Moe” Davis, DoD’s chief prosecutor at Gitmo:

The nearly united front among the nation’s legal elite against the White House has not gone unnoticed by the administration. In remarks at a press conference at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base earlier this month, the Defense Department’s chief prosecutor for the military commissions there, Air Force Colonel Moe Davis, said it was “ironic” that big law firms representing large defense contractors such as Boeing Corp. allow their lawyers to represent Guantanamo detainees pro bono.

And COL Moe Davis has certainly talked to the press during the David Hicks case.

Lie a nation into war?
Profit from same war?
Shoot a friend in the face after a few drinks?
Expose a covert CIA agent?
Let a friend take the rap?

No problem; consequences are for the little people.