| At the risk of starting the argument of all time, I feel | | | | warning labels in its purchase price now. It's a |
| compelled to point out that Americans today are | | | | multi-billion dollar industry! |
| simply not made of the same stern stuff as our | | | | The search for safe energy has brought the search |
| ancestors. | | | | for renewable energy to a standstill. Terrestrial |
| You disagree? Please write and tell me honestly what | | | | energy sources are dangerous, whether we are |
| you think your nearest neighbor would do if | | | | talking about the merely overwhelming, like |
| awakened at midnight by the warning, "The redcoats | | | | hydroelectric power, or other flammable, explosive or |
| are coming!" Frankly, my next door neighbor is an | | | | radioactive sources. Solar power is reasonably safe, |
| active duty Marine, but tucking tail is the first thing | | | | but it is weak and unreliable as yet. Chemical sources |
| that comes to mind. I certainly cannot imagine him | | | | are dangerous because of the kinetic energy locked |
| handing a rifle to his wife or daughter and telling them | | | | up in the substances involved. You can't get away |
| to "lock and load." | | | | from that without changing the laws of physics. |
| Not in this lifetime, at any rate. He'd be too worried | | | | Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the entire |
| about his retirement. | | | | universe. Combined with oxygen, it burns hot and |
| Our ancestors had one or two advantages over us. | | | | clean and could provide us with energy for the life of |
| In the first place, most of those who lived on the | | | | the human race. It is also dangerous. |
| American continent at the time of the signing of the | | | | Because of our fear, because of our cowardice, we |
| Declaration of Independence were no more than one | | | | are still dependent on energy sources developed |
| or two generations removed from individuals who | | | | before we became so timid as a society. The largest |
| had possessed the courage and vision to leave every | | | | deposits of those energy sources are located in a |
| single thing they had ever owned for unspecified | | | | part of the world that calls America the "Great |
| opportunity in a new and savage land. It was one hell | | | | Satan." Our president is taking us to war as I write |
| of a winnowing, and their descendants were the best | | | | this for control of those resources, an evil and |
| of the best that Europe had to offer. | | | | immoral war that cannot possibly have a happy |
| Throughout history, winnowings such as the | | | | ending for anyone. |
| settlement of our American continent have brought | | | | If you still believe that we are going to war with |
| forth the most shining examples of human courage | | | | Saddam Hussein because of weapons of mass |
| and achievement. Sadly, we have just about run out | | | | destruction, please tell me why we are not preparing |
| of Earthly frontiers now, and it cannot happen again | | | | to attack North Korea, which has just admitted to |
| until we begin to colonize Antarctica - or outer space. | | | | nuclear weapons. |
| We have now experienced a full hundred years of | | | | Cowardice carries its own penalties. |
| urban civilization. One hundred years separate us | | | | America needs to take a collective deep breath and |
| from the last of our ancestors who fought the | | | | get a grip. Life is hazardous to our health. No one |
| Native Americans for their survival. One hundred | | | | gets out of it alive. No one. Perhaps we could begin |
| years separate us from the last remnant of | | | | by accepting that one simple fact, because it makes |
| frontiersmen who strapped on their guns and went | | | | everything else so much easier. |
| out to wrest a living from an unforgiving land. | | | | Are you tired of ruinous taxes? Are you tired of |
| We've become the sort of weaklings our ancestors | | | | government regulators with their fingers in every |
| would be ashamed to claim as descendants. Oh, | | | | part of your life, from the cradle to the grave? Are |
| there remain a few here and there who would make | | | | you tired of being forced to pay into a Social |
| our common ancestors proud, and they or their | | | | Security system that your legislators systematically |
| children will almost certainly be the first to colonize a | | | | loot? |
| new planet, but they are now so widely scattered | | | | Are you tired of paying billions to fight a war against |
| among the rest of us that they are hard to find. | | | | drugs that merely results in your loss of freedom - |
| A fellow by the name of Todd Beamer comes to | | | | and makes street drugs more prevalent than ever? |
| mind, but when I think of that magnificent young | | | | Are you tired of vicious federal agents who |
| man and his friends, I am also forced to recall that | | | | manufacture evidence and burn women and children |
| the passengers on three other airplanes submitted | | | | alive in their homes while blatantly violating the |
| meekly to hijackers with mere box cutters - | | | | Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by trying |
| hijackers they outnumbered by roughly ten to one. | | | | to jail people for the heinous crime of owning the |
| The awful truth today is that just teaching your child | | | | wrong sort of firearms? |
| courage and self-reliance can lead to accusations of | | | | What part of "shall not be infringed" is giving them |
| child abuse. | | | | trouble, anyway? |
| I remember (painfully) one occasion when I was | | | | If you are tired of these things, if you truly want |
| barely two years old. I laboriously climbed to the top | | | | these things to go away, then you are eventually |
| of about a six foot slide in Central Park, then lost my | | | | going to have to give up the so-called protections of |
| grip and tumbled off said slide head first. I wound up | | | | government. You must learn self-sufficiency. You |
| with a goose egg the size of Kansas right in the | | | | can't work to dismantle an overbearing government |
| middle of my forehead, saw whole galaxies of stars, | | | | with one hand while your other hand is outstretched |
| and my mother's hair turned a shade or two whiter | | | | for what that government will give you. |
| on the spot. | | | | You can start by purchasing a handgun and learning |
| If that had happened in today's world, my parents | | | | to use it. It's only a very small part of the process, |
| would have had a very unpleasant visit from Child | | | | but it's good for you psychologically to realize that |
| Protective Services, and it is quite possible that they | | | | you don't need help defending your life or your |
| would have lost custody of their daughter altogether. | | | | property any longer. You hold your head just a little |
| I remember hanging upside down from Jungle Jim | | | | bit higher. A man or a woman who cannot or will not |
| bars. I remember swinging so hard on swing sets | | | | defend immediate family is not worthy of the name |
| that I pulled the legs of the swing sets clean out of | | | | "human." Even animals defend their young. |
| the ground. I remember running back and forth on a | | | | Take some chances! It may sound silly, but a |
| seesaw, wildly keeping my balance as it tipped each | | | | skydiving course is not a bad idea. You will find out |
| way. | | | | that life is fun when you aren't wrapped in cotton. |
| Compared to my great-great-grandmother, who | | | | You may find that you like your fellow skydivers |
| climbed aboard a covered wagon in Missouri at the | | | | better than most of the people you know. Life |
| ripe old age of 16 years and drove it to Texas, | | | | tastes very sweet when you take big bites. It |
| having a baby on the way, I am your original pansy - | | | | needn't be skydiving. Try flying an airplane, scuba |
| but compared to today's sissy kids, I am Attila The | | | | diving, or rock climbing - but find something you love |
| Hun in drag. | | | | to do, maybe something just a little bit risky, and do |
| Unfortunately, the progression is obvious and not too | | | | it. It is never too late to learn physical courage. |
| flattering to today's generation. | | | | Learn to hunt! This is terribly difficult and painful for |
| The more we demand safety, the more our | | | | animal lovers like myself, but it is crucially important |
| government tightens its grip. | | | | to any man or woman to know that they can |
| We demand safe drugs, so our Food and Drug | | | | provide their own food. Long range shooting has |
| Administration has made the requirements for testing | | | | been an important skill for centuries. Only in the last |
| new drugs so stringent and expensive that drug | | | | hundred years has it fallen into disrepute. Learning to |
| development has ground almost completely to a halt. | | | | hunt is more than learning to shoot, though. You |
| Those few new drugs that are being developed are | | | | must also learn to field dress the carcass and prepare |
| priced right out of reach for the people who need | | | | the meat for consumption. These are survival skills |
| them the most. This government agency actually has | | | | that every single one of your ancestors possessed. |
| the unmitigated gall to tell you what you can and | | | | They would be appalled to learn that you do not. |
| cannot try when you have a terminal illness! | | | | If you do not want to be treated like a helpless |
| Dozens and dozens of wonderful children's toys are | | | | infant by your government, the first step is to cease |
| no longer on the market, because of potential risks if | | | | to be a helpless infant. |
| parents were not vigilant, or allowed children of the | | | | That is only the beginning, though. It will not be |
| wrong age group to play with them, etc. | | | | enough. |
| Have you read the idiot warnings on labels lately? | | | | Government is a cancer. It feeds on itself. Those |
| Honestly, the last time I purchased a firearm, it had a | | | | who possess power over your life will not give it up |
| big label that said that firearms could be hazardous to | | | | easily. When they learn that you are trying to free |
| my health! By itself, this was merely amusing, but it | | | | yourself from their grip, their jackbooted thugs will |
| does lose its humor rapidly when you consider what | | | | come for you. |
| it says about our society. | | | | They will come for all of us, and for our families. |
| The last motorcycle helmet I purchased warned me | | | | The day is approaching when each of us will have to |
| sternly that it was designed to be worn on my head, | | | | decide what we choose to defend with our lives. We |
| not on other parts of my body. | | | | must decide if we will accept slavery, or if we are |
| The warnings on knives are frankly hilarious. | | | | willing, as our ancestors were, to pledge our lives, our |
| I shudder to think what will come with my next | | | | fortunes and our sacred honor to secure our |
| motorcycle, but I'm sure it will be a good-sized book. | | | | freedom. |
| The worst insult of all is that we have pay to print | | | | The redcoats are coming! |
| this stuff! Every product we purchase includes | | | | |