Meanwhile, at West Point.......

A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled "Kill Bin Laden" as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver an address on U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point.

Not surprisngly, the mass media fails to note a few things about this particular cadet that sets him apart. You don't get that geedunk from a gumball machine.





Another excellent read.......... It's good to see that the men destined to defend my ass are not reading "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"

Three Stories

DAYTON, Ohio -- Police said a man acted in self-defense on Saturday when he shot a 24-year-old who tried to rob him at gunpoint.

"Little did this kid know that this 72-year-old man was a licensed CCW (carrying a concealed weapon) carrier and he produced his own firearm and defended himself because he was in fear of his life," said Sgt. John Sullivan of the Dayton Police Department.

Sullivan said the 24-year-old cut in front of the 72-year-old in the area of Brooklyn Avenue in Dayton. He said the 24-year-old got out of his vehicle with an assault rifle, pointed it at the 72-year-old and tried to rob him.

That's when the 72-year-old pulled out his weapon and shot the robber twice, once in the abdomen and once in the arm. The robber is expected to survive his injuries.

Police didn't expect to file charges against the 72-year-old. They said the attempted robber would face a charge of aggravated robbery.

McDonald, Pa. -- Police said three men who forced their way into a Washington County home were greeted by a homeowner with a shotgun. “It’s not a very nice thing to happen in McDonald, because McDonald is a very quiet town,” said neighbor, Don Feigley.

Police said the homeowner, Joseph Tokarksi, who was one of several people in the house, came down the steps with the weapon in his hand. “I’m prepared to do what I have to do to protect my home and my family,” said Toarski.

“I’m all for that. I think anybody should be allowed to defend themselves in their homes and defend their neighbors, if they want to,” said Feigley. Police later caught two suspects whom they indentified as 19-year-old David Carlisle, of Cannonsburg, and 20-year-old Jermell McCullough, of Mt. Pleasant. Both are being held in the Washington County Jail, each on $50,000 bond. McDonald police are still looking for the third suspect.

INDIANOLA, Ill. - Police say an eastern Illinois man shot two people to death after they forced their way into his home and tried to rob him.

Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn says the two masked men held the homeowner on the floor at gunpoint Monday night and choked him while demanding money. The sheriff says the alleged robbers were 22 and 17 but didn't identify them or the homeowner.

Hartshorn says the men let the homeowner go when his wife said she had expensive jewelry upstairs. While the men focused on a jewelry box, the homeowner grabbed a handgun and shot them.

Hartshorn says another 17-year-old waited in a pickup outside. He drove away but was arrested a short time later. Indianola is about 10 miles southwest of Danville.

It seems I am seeing more of these types of stories these days. I'm not certain why the media is increasing coverage of what has always been the case. Contrast these stories to this one from three years ago.

Rifle?

"How did Newsweek convince Gov. Sarah Palin to pose with a rifle for its cover?

Simple. It didn't.

Instead, it used an archive (fancy speak for old) stock photo of her taken back in June 2002 and used it for the cover without her knowledge.

However, to the magazine's credit, it did not try to hide the fact that it's a stock photo, even printing circa 2002 on the cover and again referencing the date in Jon Meacham's editor letters entitled "The Palin Problem."

So that makes it OK.

Right? Or maybe not? What do you think?

Hey, is that even the right way to hold a rifle? Can't you shoot your foot off like that?

Just wondering."

Help Elizabeth Snead understand the difference between an over/under shotgun and a rifle here.

A Contrast of Coverage

On December 14, 2007, while most gun owners who follow such things were focused on the Joe Horn case, another fatal shooting occurred that would ultimately go before another Grand Jury in Harris County Texas.

Damon Barone, a Houston homeowner, was working in his home office when he was disturbed by a loud noise outside. Realizing a home invasion was beginning, Barone alerted his wife and children and sent them to the bathroom. Then he got his Beretta handgun from his car in the garage. Upon entering his bedroom, Barone spied a dark figure crawling through the shattered window. Barone fired several shots. The suspect, Steven Dunbar, 44, was a repeat offender with multiple felonies. Stopped by Barone's defensive gunfire, Dunbar died at the scene, halfway in Barone's window.

The case was referred to a Harris County Texas Grand Jury. They have spoken. This week, the Grand Jury handed down a no-bill, clearing Damon Barone of any wrongdoing.

Both Barone and Dunbar were black. Dunbar was entering Barone's home forcibly and illegally through a window at night. Barone was protecting his family in his own home. By contrast Horn was a white man who shot and killed two black men after they had burgled his neighbor's home. There was a preliminary 911 call asking for police assistance in the Horn case. Both cases went before a Harris County Grand Jury. Both Grand Juries passed down no-bills.

What should be taken from this comparison is not a feeling of outrage that one homeowner/shooter or the other was brought before the Grand Jury and now walks free. Others can judge these shootings and no-billings by racist standards, or they can understand that race only plays a part as the mainstream media stirs up the race cauldron to garner viewers. What should be taken from this comparison is that most civilian shootings will go before a Grand Jury. A shooting is rarely so clear cut that a District Attorney will jeopardize his reputation by refusing to prosecute. What a person should take from the comparison of these two shootings is that in Harris County Texas, at least, any homeowner can righteously defend himself, his family and his home from attack, and walk free after doing so. Race has nothing to do with the equation. The actions of the defender is the standard for judgement.

Know what self defense actions are legally available to you in your area. Understand how your local District Attorney runs his office and prosecutes cases. Do not be influenced by media manipulation. Get training, get facts and successfully defend yourself, your home and your family, with force if need be.

The Remaking of Jeanne Assam

It seems the mainstream media has a hard time accepting the idea that a concealed weapons carrier can stop a massacre in progress. I'm not surprised. Even though the pastor of the New Life Church explained the position of his members who carry handguns in church, the media continues to portray Jeanne Assam as a security guard. She wore no uniform. She received no pay. She worshiped there by choice. Her only duty was to God, her fellow parishioners, and to her own conscience. She was a private citizen with a gun, not a hired security guard.

More recently, not being able to acknowledge the fact that a private citizen in the right place with a gun and the readiness necessary to use it effectively put an end to what police and gun free zones could not, the mainstream media has sought to discredit Ms. Assam. By digging up skeletons in her past, they are painting her as a disgraced police officer. A decade ago, Jeanne Assam was terminated by her superiors from the Minneapolis police force for not being truthful during an internal investigation.

Sgt. Jesse Garcia, a Minneapolis police spokesman, said Jeanne Assam worked at the department from March 1993 to November 1997. She was fired for lying during an internal investigation. Sgt. John Delmonico, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said police were investigating a complaint that Assam swore at a bus driver while she was handling an incident on a city bus.

"In giving a statement about the incident, she was untruthful and she was fired," Delmonico said. The swearing was caught on tape, he said. "The union arbitrated the case and the arbitrator upheld the termination."

They say nothing, absolutely nothing about Sgt. Jesse Garcia's hand in the publication of Ms. Assam's private personnel file.

It is not uncommon after a shooting for the righteous survivor to be reviled by the ignorant. Friends may ostracize the survivor. Relatives may disassociate with them. People whisper behind their back at church and in check-out lines at the supermarket. Rumors circulate. Reputations become tarnished. Old bones are examined by the ignorant trying to find the difference between the survivor and other people. Here's a tip for those who want to know the difference...........There is none. None. The righteous survivor is just like you, or me. They are a person struggling with day to day life, who managed to survive through their own determination to persevere and live and perhaps save a few others in the process. What the ignorant fail to realize is the righteous survivor of a lethal encounter was an unwilling participant in the act of saving their own life or the lives of others. The righteous survivor did not leave home with the intent to kill. It was forced upon them. The righteous survivor did not prepare to kill. They prepared to live.

After a shooting, a righteous survivor goes through much internal turmoil. At the very least they question what they could have done to avoid the event, and if their preparation in any way brought this new and unwanted identity to their lives. At worst they may contemplate and commit suicide. While the legal entanglements are inevitable, the emotional storms of self doubt and questioning are no less imminent.

The media makes their bread and butter by building people up and then tearing them down. Make an icon, then make an outcast. Many people will say the media leads the masses. No. The masses lead the media in the dance of influencing perceptions. If we do not accept the tripe they hawk as truth and reality, they lose their ability to influence. Truth is not on the newspaper pages. Truth is not on the six o-clock report, and it is not on the internet. Truth will be found within ourselves.

We need to stop looking at righteous survivors, people who have lived by regrettably taking the lives of others, as being somehow different. They are human with the same frailties and foibles as the rest of us. They are no different than the person who has faced and survived cancer, a devastating automobile accident, or any other life threatening encounter. They took action and they lived. The morbid curiosity of dark and unknown places that threaten us, that inner fear of our own immortality within each of us, should not compel us to harm another person while they are at their most vulnerable, assimilating a new, inescapable conception of themselves, and trying to rebuild their life from the confusing aftermath of a righteous shooting.

The Persistance of Denial

Pearl Harbored

On December 7, 2007, Pearl Harbor Day, Bradley A. Blakeman, CEO and President of Freedom’s Watch, had this to say about NBC’s refusal to air the organization’s holiday messages supporting and thanking our troops, “The fact that FreedomsWatch.org appears in a TV spot thanking our troops stationed around the world this holiday season does not justify their refusal and reeks of censorship. NBC’s decision is sad and unfortunate.” CNN and Fox News and will continue running the messages of support through December 21. Below is a letter sent to John Kelly, NBC Vice-President of News Network Sales, demanding an explanation of why NBC refuses to air the ads.

December 7, 2007

John Kelly
Senior Vice-President of NBC News Network Sales
30 Rockefeller Plaza
12th Floor
New York, NY 10112

Dear Mr. Kelly,

We understand that NBC, MSNBC and CNBC (the “Networks”) are refusing to sell advertising time to Freedom’s Watch (“FW”) to air a series of advertisements that thank our troops for their service and encourage the American public to show their appreciation for the sacrifices they have made on behalf of our country. It is our understanding that the purported basis for the denial is the Networks’ demand that FW remove reference on the advertisement to the FW website.

Given your past rejection of FW advertisements in August 2007 and your history of airing ads addressing controversial issues, as addressed in detail in my correspondence to you of August 28, 2007 (to which we have received no response), we are left to believe that your denial to FW is a subjective decision because the network officials disagree with FW. It is hard to comprehend how your demand to remove the FW website is anything but direct censorship of the positions taken by FW, particularly our support for the War on Terror. It is highly troubling that the Networks favor censorship over airing a magnanimous effort to thank the many men and women of our Armed Services who protect our freedoms every day.

FW has requested to purchase time on your networks to air advertisements thanking our American troops for their service and for spending time away from their family and friends this Holiday season. The FW website, www.freedomswatch.org, provides information to the American public about numerous ways to support our troops. For example, the FW website provides readers with links to Books for Soldiers, Adopt a Platoon and other worthy causes dedicated to assisting our troops during this Holiday season.

It is deeply troubling that the Networks appear to be rejecting an effort to air messages that thank our troops for their sacrifice and, in so doing, remind Americans of the sacrifices made by them this Holiday season. An effort to thank our troops should not be silenced by national broadcast and cable networks. Your denial begs the question of whether the Networks disagree with FW and, due to the level of your disagreement, you would prefer to censor FW’s effort to thank our troops and encourage an outpouring of support from the American people for them. A detailed explanation of your censorship appears to be very necessary.

If you refuse to air FW’s advertisement, we thus request an explanation of your basis in writing or station policy within two (2) days from the date above as time is of the essence.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. Please respond to me at the above address.

Very Truly Yours,
Bradley A. Blakeman
President and CEO

Hat tip to Breda

Crickets.......Nothing But Crickets.......

I don't expect to hear much gnashing of Brady Bunch teeth concerning this police officer committing mass murder with an AR15.

20/20 On Gun Control

Truth Massage at Drudge?

I find the photo of Jill Carroll selected by The Drudge Report to be rather curious. Looking at this photo, Miss Carroll could easily be mistaken for a US Marine by the uninitiated. She is wearing an olive drab T shirt, has conservative framed glasses on, and her hair is pulled back. Her smile is beaming.

Miss Carroll is not a Marine, however. She is an American freelance journalist who was kidnapped and held in captivity against her will. Carroll was the 31st foreign journalist to be kidnapped in Iraq since the Iraq War began in March 2003. She appeared immediately after her release in Arab garb clutching a Koran. She refused to be debriefed by US forces in Iraq. She refused military flights out of the country. She said she was treated well by her captors, and they never threatened her. She also said she did not know why she was kidnapped.

If after 3 months in captivity she still does not know why she was kidnapped, perhaps she should jump on the quickest transport out of Iraq. She obviously failed to eat her clue cereal for breakfast. The real question, however, is when was the Drudge photo taken? {Update: This photo was taken at the US Embassy after Miss Carroll's release}

Let us not forget, Miss Carroll, a journalist, was kidnapped in Baghdad's western Adil district while going to interview the senior Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. Her interpreter was killed. Her captors, who called themselves the Revenge Brigades, had demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq. They had threatened to execute Carroll if their demands were not met by a 26 February deadline. At least 230 foreigners, and thousands of Iraqis, have been taken hostage in Iraq since the US led invasion in 2003. Approximately 50 of these hostages have been killed by their captors and the whereabouts of another 90, including six Americans, remain unknown. Other Americans kidnapped in Iraq have been beheaded on video to make a point. Let us not forget that point. These people are thieves, liars and murderers.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words.

Things the MSM doesn't want you to see..............

Anatomy of a Photograph

This is perhaps one of the most enlightening examples of media manipulation of the truth that has been exposed.
Take a look!

The Real Story

The real story on the so called staged Bush/military interview.

MSM Flub on Live Report

If Michelle Kosinski's canoe had sprung a leak on NBC's Today Show this morning, she didn't have much to worry about. The NBC News correspondent was paddling in a canoe during a live report about flooding in Wayne, N.J. While she talked, two unknown men in chest waders walked between her and the camera, making it obviously apparent that the water where she was floating was barely ankle-deep. Matt Lauer of the Today Show struggled to keep a straight face, joking about the "holy men" who were walking on water.

"Have you run aground yet?" Katie Couric asked.

"Why walk when you can ride?" Kosinski replied.

Later, an NBC News spokeswoman explained that Kosinski had been riding in deeper water near an overflowing river down the street, but there were concerns that the current was too strong for her. "It's not like we were trying to pass it off as something it wasn't," spokeswoman Lauren Kapp said.

Sure. OK.