Category: Media

Well, this dude’s managed to bash the nail right on the head, hasn’t he? (a big ol’ tip o’ the toque to Hunter for bringing this to my attention in the first place) Now, if someone could just explain to me why it is that this Brit seems so much more concerned with our freedom of speech than most of the Canucks that I bump into lately…

I’ve been bitching and bellyaching for a long time about the abuses delivered by Canada’s infamous Human Lefts Commissions. Yes, you read that right: “Lefts” commissions. Calling them “rights” commissions is sheer stupidity requiring mental acrobatics of doublethink that would give George Orwell a nasty hangover. These commissions have nothing to do with human rights. What they’re about is trampling people’s rights in order to promote Leftist ideology.

This guy seems to have that figured out; why don’t the rest of us?

Oh, wait… that’s already been done.

To the surprise of absolutely no one who finds themselves in possession of two brain cells to rub together, Toronto Mayor David Miller has once again hopped up on the “blame the inanimate object” bandwagon and is bawling into every microphone he can find for a Canada-wide ban on handguns. Because, as everyone knows, criminal scumbags don’t shoot people, guns just jump up and fire themselves. Yup, one second they’ll just be sitting there and the next, they’re bustin’ caps all over the place. Happens all the time, right?

But Miller just can’t seem to get it through that spongy skull of his that we don’t have a gun control problem in this country; we have an asshole control problem. (more…)

…and learn some self-discipline while you’re at it.

For those of you that managed to snooze through it (I know I almost did, so don’t feel bad), the uberbullshit machine over at the New York Times recently puked up a load of crap that suggests, in not so subtle terms, that American veterans have a murderous bent to them:

Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

[…]

Town by town across the country, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: “Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.” Pierre, S.D.: “Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.” Colorado Springs: “Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.” Individually, these are stories of local crimes, gut-wrenching postscripts to the war for the military men, their victims and their communities. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment – along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems – appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Gimme a God damned break. Pure and utter bullshit but hey, the Leftbots that NYT never were ones to let the truth get in the way of a good cheap shot, were they?

I’m not the only one that got his/her back up over this vile slur. The right-wing blogoshpere and media (that would be Fox News) has, quite rightly (no pun intended, really), gone somewhat apeshit. No criticism of that here. The responses have ranged from eloquent to apoplectic, so I’m going to try to limit myself to citing the better angels of our collective nature. Without doubt, the best one I’ve found so far is from Winds Of Change; a big ol’ tip o’ the toque for some damned find number crunching on this one, lads…

The only reference I could find for the number of troops who have served in combat areas was at GlobalSecurity.com, citing a Salon article:

Three and a half years have passed since U.S. bombs started falling in Afghanistan, and ever since then, the U.S. military has been engaged in combat overseas. What most Americans are probably unaware of, however, is just how many American soldiers have been deployed. Well over 1 million U.S. troops have fought in the wars since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Pentagon data released to Salon. As of Jan. 31, 2005, the exact figure was 1,048,884, approximately one-third the number of troops ever stationed in or around Vietnam during 15 years of that conflict.

From the October 1, 2001 start of the Afghanistan war, that’s about 26,000 troops/month. To date (Jan 2008) that would give about 1.99 million.

That means that the NY Times 121 murders represent about a 7.08/100,000 rate.

Now the numbers on deployed troops are probably high – fewer troops from 2001 – 2003; I’d love a better number if someone has it.

But for initial purposes, let’s call the rate 10/100,000, about 40% higher than the calculated one.

Now, how does that compare with the population as a whole?

Turning to the DoJ statistics, we see that the US offender rate for homicide in the 18 – 24 yo range is 26.5/100,000.For 25 – 34, it’s 13.5/100,000.

The moral of the story? Simple:

If you’ve got a kid under the age of 25 and want to reduce the chance of him becoming a murderer by a whopping 62 to 73%… get his ass in the army.

’nuff said

Something else I pilfered from elsewhere in the blogosphere. Damn, this blogger’s block thing is getting easier…

Well, boys and girls, the brain blockage continues unabated. I’m still sitting at my keyboard for a bit every day, shaking my head like a thinking man at a Greenpeace rally, and nothing’s popped loose. Is there such a thing as ExLax for the brain?

So, since the only original stuff I seem able to write these days is Jack and shit (and Jack’s busy running the Dippers), kick back and soak this up for now.

A big ol’ tip o’ the toque to Paul over at CJ for finding this first.

A merry and joyous Christmas to you and all of yours, no matter who you are nor where you may be, as we gather to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

May the new year bring you peace and His blessings…