Thoughts for Today:

"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment."
~Lao Tzu

"If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence."
~Lao Tzu

"From caring comes courage."
~Lao Tzu

Thought for Today:

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."
~ Sun Tzu

For Today:

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious."
~ Sun Tzu

"Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy."
~Sun Tzu

Thought for Today

"Invincibility lies in the Defense; the possibility of victory in the Attack."
~Sun Tzu

Thought for Today:

"Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice."
~Lyn Yutang

On Mumbai

From Sebastian D'Souza, the picture editor and photographer at the Mumbai Mirror, who took this photo of a killer in action that flashed around the world:

"I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera."

I'm sure Sebastian is not the only one. Regarding the police on the scene, he relates ""At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back."

Ever argue whether a CCW could defend against terrorists? "I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera." Strong words from an unarmed man who could have done so.

"The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable."
~Sun Tzu

Vote

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty,
the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom,
go home from us in peace.
We seek not your counsel, nor your arms.
Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you;
May your chains set lightly upon you,
and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."

--Samuel Adams

Nader on Bicycling

"If, during the Second World War, the United States had retooled its factories for manufacturing bicycles instead of munitions, we’d be one of the healthiest, least oil dependent, and most environmentally sound constituents in the Nazi empire today."
Ralph Nader

As I was googling for a pic, I found this. Heh!

Jeff Cooper on Crime

November 1993--"Fight back! Whenever you are offered violence, fight back! The aggressor does not fear the law, so he must be taught to fear you. Whatever the risk, and at whatever the cost, fight back!"

Jeff Cooper on the M1911

January 1968--"Pistols do not win wars, but they save the lives of the men who do. The noble 1911 is a mechanical marvel, whose ruggedness, dependability and ferocious power have comforted four issues of GIs, and which, unlike any other instrument you can name, is as much superior to its rivals as it was in 1917."

Lessons From Miami

"You just pull a trigger and 20 or 30 rounds come in a second and in those 20 rounds you're sure to hit your intended target and some innocent bystanders, totally unlike a firearm that is just one bullet every time you pull the trigger," Miami Police spokesman Willie Moreno said in regard to "assault weapons."

1. Wow! What's that rate of fire again? 1200 to 1800 rounds a minute? Fact=M-16 rate of fire: 800-900 rounds/minute. AK-47 rate of fire: 600 rounds/minute. HK MP5 rate of fire: 800-900 rounds/minute. The God forsaken Uzi rate of fire: 600 rounds/minute. I wonder which "assault weapon" Moreno is talking about here, but I'll play along. Perhaps the officer did not do very well in third grade mathematics. Let's assume that a criminal does possess a crime dispensing evil assault gun with a 1200 round/minute cyclic rate, and proceed to 2.

2. Weapons with empty magazines don't shoot very well. Some folks refer to them as clubs. Here's a quick tactic for officers facing a criminal blazing away with a dreaded 1200 round/minute "assault weapon." Take cover ! Then shoot the son of a bitch when he is reloading. It won't take long.

3. You are not sure to hit your "intended target" nor are you sure to hit innocent bystanders. Saying such a thing is indicative of a police officer's need for a bit of trigger time. This ranks right up there with laser guided bullets and heat seeking ammunition.

4. Now here's the goocher......Assuming that in our universe there was such a thing as an "assault weapon" with a 1200-1800 rate of fire and a never ending magazine like the firearm Miami Police spokesman Willie Moreno is referring to, it would, by definition, be a fully automatic rifle. These particular firearms are tightly regulated, and the use of such weapons in violent crimes is about as common as turtle teeth. It's been 30 years since police spokesmen began parroting off the Brady bunch drivel. When are police spokesmen going to understand the difference between a full auto "machine gun" and a semi-automatic rifle before they open their mouths and expose their ignorance?

5. Tyler Peterson. Oh, wait.......That's not fair........The problem is the criminal, not the inanimate object he uses. Guns do not copulate and give birth to baby guns. They do not breed. They do not "proliferate." Guns not responsible for the increase in homicides, or violent crime. Criminals are.

It's time police spokesmen start to focus on the criminals that cause crime, rather than trying to prop up smoke and mirror deceptions that obscure the real problem.

Similarities

"You like to fire assault weapons? I have a place for you. It's not in the homes and streets of America. It's called the Army, and you can join any time!"
Wesley Clark

"There is no right to have access to the weapons of war in the streets of America. For those who want to wield those weapons, we have a place for them. It is the US military. And we welcome them."
John Kerry

"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA. Ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State."
Heinrich Himmler

War

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

- John Stuart Mill
- English economist & philosopher
(1806 - 1873)

Memorable Quotes

"Let’s keep this civil. Don’t call me Petey. Or I’ll have to shoot you."---Peter Hamm, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Jeff Cooper on Home Defense

February 1990--"Of course the California gun ban is wrong in principle and should be repealed at the first opportunity, but if house defense is your primary purpose, do not overlook the Lupara--a short-barreled double 12-gauge shotgun with exposed hammers. If your object is to defend your hearth and home, you can almost certainly do it better with that than with an Uzi or an M16."

Timely Wisdom From Col. Cooper

"Weapons are the tools of power. In the hands of the state, they can be the tools of decency or the tools of oppression, depending on the righteousness that state. In the hands of criminals, they are the tools of evil. In the hands of the free and decent citizen, they should be the tools of liberty. Weapons compound man's power to achieve whatever purpose he may have. They amplify the capabilities of both the good man and the bad, and to exactly the same degree., having no will of their own. Thus, we must regard them as servants, not masters--and good servants of good men. Without them, man is diminished, and his opportunities to fulfill his destiny are lessened. An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."

Jeff Cooper on Liberty

"We are annoyed by the assumption on the part of certain public figures that the citizen should be able to prove the need for the citizen to acquire a means of protecting himself. The citizen's personal needs are no business of the state. Liberty, when in place, grants the right of the citizen to do what he chooses, as long as he does not stamp on the rights of others. Nobody needs caviar, or a pleasure boat or opera tickets. Whether he wants these things is no business of the state."
Jeff Cooper

Jeff Cooper on Glocks

"The continued sales triumph of Glock pistols demonstrates the virtues of skillful marketing. The Glock is okay. It is generally reliable, it is comparatively inexpensive, and it is available in respectable calibers. Above all, its aftermarket service is superior. The great part of its sales comes from police departments, where maintenance and quick service are of primary importance. It may not be the best choice for the expert pistolero, but such people are not in the majority."

Jeff Cooper on Snake Pistols

September 1965--"Actually, the idea of a 'snake pistol' eludes me. If you see a dangerous snake first, stay out of his reach. If you don't, what good is your pistol?"