Random thought...
The main character had a carnival sign on the wall that said "This Is A Dark Ride".
Man, what I'd give for a reproduction of that sign. I can't seem to find it anywhere on-line.
All Alpineman, all stream-of-consciousness-brain-spew, all the time.
One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure—and in some cases I have—that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.
Um, exactly which element of legislation has made gun distribution easier?Professor Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University said the rise in gun violence was particularly troubling.
"A major police effort to confiscate guns helped bring down the surge in violent crime that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s," Blumstein said. "But gun distribution is easier now because we have begun to back off gun control." (My emphasis.)Backed by the National Rifle Association, the Bush administration has been cool toward gun control measures.
"I believe in homeland defense, but I also believe in crime fighting," Esserman said. "I don't want one neglected for the other. Every year we're losing 16,000 people to murder, mostly young people and mostly killed by guns, and that's more than three times the number that died at the World Trade Center" in the attacks of September 11, 2001.Oooohhhh -- way to throw that 9/11 reference in there for effect, boss. Very timely. What a sweaty, stinking turd that quote is. Never mind troublesome details like how many of those horrid guns were obtained illegally, or how many of the shooters were felons who shouldn't have had the guns in the first place, or who may have been repeat offenders, or if they'd been released from prison early, or if they might have murdered somebody in a drug deal, or if the crimes took place in cities with already Draconian (and worthless) gun-control measures. Let's just focus on the inanimate objects instead.
...just as Churchill had to deal with the mess created by his predecessors, George W. Bush and his new leadership have had to deal with the enduring legacy of earlier governments which failed in their primary task of protecting the long-term interests of the country and its people.