Letters to the editor
News, Political ·Thursday April 17, 2008 @ 17:40 EDT (link)
20080412: First shorts day of the year! Glorious day. Went to gun show (Monroe, Evergreen fairgrounds); not that great, Glocks apparently go quickly, probably a good place to get ammo though, but I have no need for it yet.
Exercised my second amendment rights as a free citizen and bought my first handgun (not going to disclose the type here) at Discount Gun Supply, Everett; it came with a lock but I may get a gun safe too. Need a holster, ammo, and cleaning supplies (lube, patches, etc.). May go shooting at Wade's soon, and/or get a membership at a range (Snoqualmie or Cascade, probably SVRC because it's closer).
Honey (and I, but she wrote it) sent this to Lou Dobbs regarding today's show:
I was upset by your interview with Congressman Thompson (D-MS). Perhaps he and his committee allotted $3Bn to secure the border, some to hire more border agents, but what good does that do when those agents go to jail for defending that border (Ramos/Compean)? I am tired of all the problems caused by illegal immigrants. We need to build the border fence now so that Americans are safe and the needless deaths and other crimes stop.
20080414: Bought gun cleaning supplies (rod, jag, patches, brush, oil) and some rounds (box of 50, cheapest they had) at Wade's. Tried to deposit my check from the UK, but the bank rate was so horrible (6¢ less than the current exchange rate) that I'll shop around some more (BECU?) or have Uncle Phil wire the money instead (silly me, I thought a check would be easier; I've since learned). Cleaned my gun, since it was advised to do so before initial use, following these directions (they have lots of detailed photos).
20080415: In honor of tax day, a quote from Frederic Bastiat from the Conservative Libertarian Outpost:
The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how isÂ
legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delayÂ
If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.
Yesterday when I got home from Wade's I found they'd forgot to bag the M-Pro 7 cleaning solvent that I'd bought (but still charged for it), so I came back this morning to ask for it. Guy took my receipt, went to the back (maybe to call the clerk that served me), came back and said "We'll just have to trust that you're as honest as we are" (or that I wouldn't go to all the trouble to steal a $20 bottle of solvent) and gave me the solvent (+1 for Wade's). Just then one of the other employees at the said he remembered putting away a bottle of that solvent the night before.
20080416: Fixes to site to make various old photo links in this log work, using the category tables ((cat/)+caption). A re-org of the photos at some point left some photo links orphaned, which Honey discovered when going back through some old entries with her friends at school.
20080417: Letter to the editor in the Valley View (local paper), dovetails nicely with my anti-government let-the-people-vote-with-their-dollars rant (and Atlas Shrugged); title: "It's your money":
... On the facing page [of the March 31 copy of the Weekly] is an article about Larry Phillips, King County Councilman (D), wanting to have the public pay for county campaign finances. Do you realize who the "public" is? It's you! King County has only the money generated by the taxes you pay and they collect (at the point of a gun).
Then two pages later is an advertisement by the City of Woodinville. It states it's offering free tree chipping services. That's a lie. Someone is paying for this, and if you look further the event is paid for by grants from Washington state and King County. Where does the state and county get grant money? From you, the taxpayer, and from the one time homeowner in Duvall who is now homeless [more about that later]. On top of this we homeowners with wood debris and tree branches could be done disposing of our own branches in one day if we were allowed, by the Democrats, their bureaucrats and special interest groups, to burn. If we were allowed to burn, it wouldn't cost you any tax dollars!
Please, people, get a grip, who and what you vote for affects all aspects of your day to day life!" —Kathy & Dennis Peterson, Woodnville
(The homeowner talked about is from a portion of the letter I elided; she lost her house for not paying property tax, it seems. The writer seems to expect the state to bail them out, which is the one point we disagree on, unless the writer just means that with less taxes to pay the woman wouldn't have lost her house.) My response (suggested heading: "It's My Money... And I Want It Back"):
I agree with the Petersons' letter of April 14 that, where the government is
concerned, there is no such thing a "free": it's paid for by we the
taxpayers, under threat of violence.
However, I take issue with the implication that it is the city or county's
responsibility to absolve this woman of her taxes because she couldn't pay
them: it is not, regardless of how long she lived there, just as I have no
right to demand that the taxpayers give me money to pay my bills.
I am sympathetic if the inference was rather that the woman would have been able to pay if taxes were lower. Far too often politicians and voters argue over how tax money should be spent, rather than first considering if tax money should be spent. It should be the first duty of any one that has spending authority over my money to consider how to return that money, and with it the power and freedom to choose for ourselves, to the taxpayer, and, to paraphase de Saint-Exupéry, what can be removed, rather than what can be added, to the tax burden of the American citizen.
DVDs finished: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
