No, I'm Not Kidding

A guy around 20 years old just wrote a check to where I work. Do you know how he spelled the number "4" on it? "Fore"

No joke. Add this to the pile of evidence that we should do away with the No Child Left Behind Act and the DoE.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

V for Vendetta Revisited

Some may remember my previous post regarding the movie, V for Vendetta: Scary Parallels to America Today. Anyway, about a year or so ago, my wife bought me the book, which is actually like a long comic book. I finally got around to reading it last week, and have to say it blew me away. I highly recommend the book.

We all know that in many cases, the movie bites in comparison to the book. I don't think I can say either one is really superior in this case. For being a movie based upon a book, it was done very well, although there were still some variations. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who takes me up on it and actually reads the book, so I'll keep it short. The thing I like most about the book is that at the end, it does a much better job of portraying the idea of being able to kill a person, but not an idea. In this case, freedom is the idea, one that dwells deep in the soul of everyone, though many do not act on it because of fear and laziness.

I want to give you a few snippets of conversation in the book. The first is between V and Evey, after he has let her out of the prison cell.

Evey: You did this to me. . . .

V: Because I love you. Because I want to set you free.

Evey: Because? Set me free? Don't you realize? Don't you realize what you did to me? You nearly drove me mad, V!!

V: If that's what it takes, Evey.

Evey: I hate you. I hate you because you just talk junk and you think you're so good that you don't have to make any sense! You say you love me and you Don't because you just frighten me and torture me for a joke . . . You say you want to set me free and you put me in a prison . . .

V: You were already in a prison. You've been in a prison all your life.

Evey: Shut up! I don't want to hear it! I wasn't in prison! I was happy! I was happy here until you threw me out.

V: Happiness is a prison, Evey. Happiness is the most insidious prison of all.

Evey: That's warped! That's warped and evil and wrong! When you threw me out I went to live with somebody. I was in love with him. I was happy. If that's a prison, then I don't care!

V: Don't you? Your lover lived in the penitentiary that we are all born into, and was forced to rake the dregs of that world for his living. He knew affection and tenderness but only briefly. . . Eventually, one of the other inmates stabbed him with a cutlass and he drowned upon his own blood. Is that it, Evey? Is that the happiness worth more than freedom?

Evey: How did you know? How did you know what happened to Gordon?

V: It's not an uncommon story, Evey. Many convicts meet with miserable ends. . . Your mother. Your father. Your lover. One by one, take out behind the chemical sheds . . . and shot. All convicts, hunched and deformed by the smallness of their cells; the weight of their chains; the unfairness of their sentences. . . I didn't put you in a prison, Evey. I just showed you the bars.

Evey: You're wrong! It's just life, that's all! It's how life is! It's what we've got to put up with. It's all we've got.. What gives you the right to decide it's not good enough?

V: You're in a prison, Evey. You were born in a prison. You've been in prison so long, you no longer believe theres a world outside.

Evey: Shut up! You're mad! I don't want to hear it!

V: That's because you're afraid, Evey. You're afraid because you can feel freedom closing in upon you. You're afraid because Freedom is terrifying . . . .

The second is short, the speakers not connected except in message, though on opposite sides of the spectrum. Don't know the female character, but the other is V.

V: It does not do to rely too much on silent majorities, Evey, for silence is a fragile thing . . . one loud noise, and it's gone.

???: But the people are so cowed and disorganized. A few might take the opportunity to protest, but it'll just be a voice crying in the wilderness.

V: Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our masters have not heard the people's voice for generations, Evey. . . and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.

The third comes in later in the chaos. Brief quote.

"Authority, when first detecting chaos at its heels, will entertain the vilest schemes to save its orderly facade . . . but always order without justice, without love or liberty, which cannot long postpone their world's descent to pandemonium."

So, think about the words above. Many of us live in prisons, and don't even know it. Look for the bars. Wave your hands around all over so you can feel them if for some reason you can't see them. Realize they are there, and once you do, you can become free. Once you have decided to become and remain free, be loud about it. In the past couple of years Americans have made noise louder than many can remember. We aren't loud enough yet. Speak up and act free. Never forget that the sound of freedom scares tyrants, who will try to crush it as they would crush chaos. Stand your ground. Their world will fall.

Be free. Speak free. Act free.

Honesty

Via Alvie comes this. It is definitely worth the entire read, as it describes much of what has put us in the hole we are in today.

On Honesty

TN Senate Bills to Watch

I discovered last week that on one of the PBS stations in our area, it is showing sessions of the TN Legislature, including committees. I’ll start off by saying that I now believe there is incredibly large population of idiots in Memphis. They elected a certain Senator Marrero, who is either a flaming liberal or a moron, but I repeat myself. Anyway, on to the reason for the post.

The TN Senate Judiciary Committee was discussing a couple bills (which passed out of committee) relating to firearms which I thought I should give some publicity.

The first is SB 0306. This bill would give all handgun carry permit holders the ability to buy firearms without additional background checks, since we have already had extensive checks performed on us to get the permit in the first place. If you fail to renew your permit, this of course cuts off for you. For permit holders, this saves time, not to mention $10 each time you buy a new firearm.

The other bill is SB 0519. This is simple enough. It codifies into law that it is not a hazard to employees of a business for customers to be allowed to carry firearms into the building.

If you are a Tennessean, talk to your state congress-critters to support both of these bills. The bills may not go as far as they should, but we are going to have to reclaim our rights the same way we surrendered them – little by little.

Shooting Fun

Today I finally had the chance to get out and shoot a little bit, so I decided to fire the old Mosin Nagant M38 and get it sighted back in after having done some work on it. I also shot a few rounds through my pistol, and would have shot more if it were not so cost-prohibitive. Here are a few things I would like to impart to my readers about the experience today.

1. The M38 still kicks like a freakin’ mule, even with a 1” butt pad on it. I think I can still feel the results of the 32 rounds I put through it.
2. I need more practice with my pistol. The first 5 rounds I shot were totally unacceptable. Wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t my carry gun.
3. It still is a %$#@$% to clean a rifle after firing corrosive ammo through it.
4. If you are cleaning said rifle in the bathtub (soapy water + window cleaner), finish before your wife gets home. Make sure to clean up the mess you left in the bathtub, but don’t clean the whole tub (unless that’s normal for you) because your wife will then know you were up to something.
5. While looking though gun cleaning supplies, if you value you’re your life or marriage, when you find that stripper clip you were missing, do not excitedly say, “There’s my other stripper!”
6. As Old_Painless would say, "Shooting stuff is still fun."