Firearms Companies Affirm 2nd Allegiance

Firearms companies are affirming their commitments to the Second Amendment and to free enterprise.  Decisions by politicians, in knee-jerk response to complicated and difficult news items like mass-killings, have consequences.  Some of the largest companies in the field are taking action.

See here:   gun-control-protests

If I had a daughter...

...I would hope she could do this:

shes-armed-fabulous-meet-13-yr-old-shooting-star-katelyn-francis


Any more questions about high cap magazines?

Preceptions of Beauty

THE SITUATION In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music. This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. This experiment raised several questions: *In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? *If so, do we stop to appreciate it? *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . . How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Chuck DeVore: TX vs. CA

I listened to an interview with Chuck DeVore today on KMJ Radio out of Fresno.  He was in CA last weekend to speak to the Republican Party convention.

DeVore was a CA Representative who termed out in 2011. He was going to run for County Supervisor in Orange Co. but he moved to Texas when he realized there is no more aerospace industry in CA (an engineer by trade).  He loves the life in the Texas Hill Country.

He had a bunch of good Texas vs. CA facts. 

1:   It is 33% cheaper to live in TX than in CA. Big piece of that is reasonable laws.
2:   His house is 70% bigger for $110,000 less, with acres and a pool.  (We saw that huge difference when we looked in 2004.)   Lots of ex-Californians live nearby.
4:   Californians pay 42% more in taxes  (11.2% vs. 8.2%)

5:   The populations are similar but California's government is 1/3 larger.  That means more regulation.
6:   The Texas Assembly only meets for 140 days every 2nd year.
7.   Texas electricity rates are 2/3 of CA rates (13.01 vs. 9.3 cents per baseline KWh and don't forget how fast the Tier rates go up).  Californians will pay $10 Billion or $265 each more this year for electricity. 
8.  Assembly Members biography:  
     California:  18% of Democrats from private business, the rest were government workers, community organizers or trial attorneys
     Texas:        36% of Democrats from private business, 75% of Republicans from business, with only 19% private attorneys

Some 18 percent of the Democrats who control both houses of California’s full-time legislature worked in business or medicine before being elected. The remainder drew paychecks from government, worked as community organizers, or were attorneys. Texas Democrats are more than twice as likely as their California counterparts to claim private-sector experience outside the field of law.

In Texas, 75 percent of the Republicans who control both houses earn a living in business, farming, or medicine, with 19 percent being attorneys in private practice. Of the remaining four Republicans one is a retired Army officer, one, a teacher, one, a professor, and one, a former staffer for elected officials.

That Texas’s legislature is run by makers and California’s by takers is glaringly obvious from the two states’ respective balance sheets.

9.  See the John Stossell video at link below for more comparisons.
10:  


Chuck DeVore's speech to the California Republican Party's Spring 2013 Convention is here: 
Click to Open Word Document

Electricity rates from EIA:  EIA data 

The Best Gun Control Measure Is Always A Job

Here's some common sense about gun control:

Thomas Basile: The-best-gun-control-measure-is-always-a-job

Is it Real or is It Memorex?

Greg sings to Simon

A Benificent Government?

Obama's Plan: