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?