Dumbass Of The Day (So Far)
It reminds me of one of the death scenes at the beginning of “Six Feet Under”.
Speaking of dumb ways to die:
The National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged they had covertly funded a project with the US auto makers for the past five years, whereby the auto makers were installing black boxes in four-wheel drive pickup trucks in an effort to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.They were surprised to find in 44 of the 50 states the last words of drivers in 61.2 percent of fatal crashes were, “OH SHIT!”
Only the states of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama andTexas were different, where 89.3 percent of the final words were:
“Hey, Bubba, hold my beer and watch this”Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 07:59 AM
Frank: I’ll give the OPD officer a break and assume he was lying about cleaning a loaded shotgun. We had an incident a couple years back where they put an untrained campus cop to work—armed with a pistol. He killed a drunken student who he felt was threatening him. The kid had no criminal history and his blood alcohol was so high that he would have had trouble finding his ass with both hands.
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 08:55 AM
OCM:
, Man! I thought you ignored my pearls of wisdom ( 
) so I went ahead and posted that joke here. You & me gotta get our acts coordinated!
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 09:00 AM
WARNING: Your local security guards are armed and dangerous !
I have no sympathy with gun confiscators—see Barb’s AnnoyingLittleTwerp blog for the story of “Gun Control Nearly Killed My Brother”
http://www.annoyinglittletwerp.typepad.com/
BUT the prospect of thousands of armed dipshits roaming the streets doesn’t thrill me. Maybe follow the driver’s license model. Training. Probationary period. Revocation. License the human being, not the gun. Yeah, I know, nothing will solve the problem.
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 10:51 AM
We sort of agree—Gun control is sure to have all the success of Prohibition and The War on Drugs. Worse—you don’t need to continually replentish your stash of guns. Utopia is not an option.
Some sort of anonymous licensure could be arranged, I suppose? Or, require a specified type of firearms training, or a hitch in the Armed Forces, and a clean felony record. If you’re found with a concealed weapon on you, and don’t have these, your ass is grass.
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 12:16 PM
There is one problem that no law will solve. I hate saying this, but my son tells me that scumbag Michael Moore concludes the same in “Bowling for Columbine”—I have not seen the movie.
Too many Americans have guns confused with having a big dick. Guns are weapons, a way to defend yourself, a way to feed your family mostly in the old days, a neat hobby for those who enjoy them (I don’t).
We, as a people, are entirely to willing to whip it out (get the metaphor?) at the first sign of conflict, rather than as a last resort.
NOTE: There are dozens of exceptions to my last sentence. I’m talking about, in general, automobile incidents that turn into blazing gun battles. I’m a former Marine; I own a 12 gauge and a .38; I have a carry permit.Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 12:32 PM
Frank, U R right. Armed criminals don’t (by definition) give a
about laws.
But my analogy would be with drunk driving. We have substantially lowered deaths by a combination of social pressure and law enforcement. But no amount of social disapproval, red ribbons, or bumper stickers is going to stop the hard-core alcoholic from driving when loaded. For him, we have to take special steps.
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 12:39 PM
Yes, the U.S. is not Dodge City. And—we have way too many grudges & arguments ended by gunfire, rather than by insulting words or fists. And it’s true that there are far fewer auto fatalities than there are accidents. That’s due to seat belts, airbags, and better auto design. I’ll take what I can get. Don’t always work, but better’n nuthin’.
It is also legal (but dumb) to jump off your roof. I think it’s legal? Maybe that’s changed…
Among Marines, the prefix ‘former’ is acceptable, meaning ‘not on active duty’. “Ex” is NOT acceptable. Generally, no prefix is used.
Except when talking to scuzzy civilians..
Posted by Oink
09/26/2005 at 01:11 PM
I’ve got a better idea than any form of gun control, owner registration, etc…
Let’s introduce gun safety/marksmanship into schools. A few already have this, and the kids at those schools are far safer around firearms than most others.
Gun control, as it exists, produces much the same results as the “war on drugs.” It assigns a moral position to an object, declaring that object illegal, while at the same time introducing the government as the entity responsible for guns; the effect of which encourages a lack of respect for the capabilities of the weapon while at the same time gifting it with the allure of the taboo.A voluntary firearms safety/marksmanship course in junior high and high school, complete with match competitions, will greatly alleviate the irresponsible attitude among people towards guns, while at the same time making them familiar enough to negate the allure of the taboo.
See, accidental firearm discharges, school shootings, and other unprovoked firearm violence is usually caused, or at least facilitated, by one or more of three things.
1) Fear of guns.
2) Irresponsibility toward guns.
3) Ignorance of the mechanics, operation, and/or capabilities of a gun.If someone is afraid of guns, or has bought into the mindset that guns inspire fear, they’re more likely to think of a gun as a way of intimidating someone else. Most school shootings, and indeed, most criminal shootings in general, are tied to this. Because we are trained to be afraid of guns, we tend to thing of them as a way of exercising control over our fellow men. Familiarity with guns helps alleviate this fear, and a person familiar with guns is less likely to assume others will fear the gun, and thus less likely to attempt to control them with one.
Irresponsibility is a large problem, but not one that can ever possibly be regulated out of existence (witness how well we’ve prevented drunk driving). Proper, systematic training helps alleviate the problem, however, by inculcating the idea that actions have consequences, for which we must take personal responsibility. This idea is essential to any firearm education class.
And lastly, ignorance. This is the least common cause of injuries related to guns, but is one of the most preventable. This is the person who doesn’t understand the firearm, doesn’t know how to check if it’s loaded, and has never been taught responsibility toward it.
Down with gun control. Up with control of your gun.
In the fifth paragraph, that should read “...we tend to think* of them as a way of...”
Who is this Thane person? I like him! Except for being more articulate than me ...
The PF in Vietnam was corrupt, cowardly and incompetent. ("Popular Force”—National Guard) They also were more dangerous to their allies than to the enemy. I do believe that not a one of them had ever seen a gun before enlisting.
On one patrol I had a PF walking next to me totin’ a BAR, off safety, pointed at my head. (the Browning Automatic Rifle is the only weapon I know that is ready to fire when the chamber is open) Subsequently, we received incoming small-arms fire from the PF, shooting at an enemy banner. Tough shit for us, being in the way.
Thane has the idea. Can you imagine the dinner-table conversation at the ACLU Liberal parent’s home? “What did you do in school today, Hillary”? ”Man! I blew that MF’n target away! I mean I shot the eyes out of that sumbitch!”
P.S. I cringe when I use the word “gun” . There are rifles and pistols; “the gun” was reserved for the M60 (machine) gun. This is my rifle, this is my gun
Posted by Oink
09/27/2005 at 04:10 AM
Oink,
This Thane person is just a not-quite-21-year-old who is more than slightly miffed that, while I can vote, enlist, and die for my country, I cannot buy a simple pistol yet. What, you expected me to say something about alcohol?
I rather expected someone to bring up the fact that I used the wrong word. To my understanding, though, a “gun” was strictly smoothbore, along the lines of a shotgun. But then, I got that definition from a Navy guy, so… consider the source. I merely used it for its meaning in the vernacular.
Blame my articulation on James Madison; I’m starting to work my way through the Federalist Papers, and the only way to effectively parse those sentences is to think in that older form of grammar. I tend to get stuck in the older manner of speech, though (Man, I was insufferable for a week after reading Charles W.S. Williams).
It’s amazing, though; once you become accustomed to the language, the phrasing and grammar are incredibly precise. It rather destroys the idea of “interpreting” the Constitution, while demonstrating exactly how it should be read.Frank,
You have hit the nail on the head. We have allowed those who fear firearms, those who disrespect them, those who are totally ignorant of them, access to the halls of government. In large part, this is the fault of we the voters, who became complacent in their security and in their knowledge, assuming those desiring authority were every bit as competant and honest as themselves.
In this, we the voters were terribly wrong. However, there is a method of removing these incompetants and corrupt individuals from office (and it actually doesn’t require a noose). We voted them in, we can vote them out, as former senater Daschle discovered, much to his chagrin. True, it is an uphill battle, fighting all the time not just to advance, but sometimes to simply hold our ground. The good news is that knowledge, once seeded, gathers steam in its dissemination; another generation, and the battle will be much different, and far more favorable to those at Liberty’s side. And the knowledge is already spreading, and cannot be stopped in any manner by those opposed to it; our only danger is apathy, an enemy from within, not without. Thus, it is our duty to continue educating those around us. Take someone to the range, in other words.And now, seeing the time, I must bid adieu for the night.
- Thane
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