Reading List

I have recently finished reading Mark Twain’s Roughing It. This book is a fine account of life in the American “old west,” and has much to recommend it. The above link is to the Project Gutenberg electronic text in its entirety.

Previous to this, I had the pleasure to indulge in Jerome Klapka Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat. I had never before heard of this second author before I stumbled upon him one day whilst repeatedly mashing the Random Article button at Wikipedia. I can’t imagine why I’ve never heard of this book before, but nothing that I could say would add anything to the book’s excellence. Just read it.

The most striking feature of these books is that both of them were well worn by the time the year 1900 rolled around, but they are both compellingly modern.

Most recently, however, I have come across the writings of the late Col. Jeff Cooper, deceased just this 25th of September. Col. Cooper’s commentaries are located here.They are nothing short of amazing. If you don’t have a sense of humor, don’t bother. Col. Cooper’s writings will probably make some people madder than they would be after being forced to listen to hours of the Rush Limbaugh Show.

Col. Cooper was harsh, unyielding, macho, sure of himself, honorable, and as sharp as they come. He had a wonderful gift of language that I am jealous of. Even if you disagree with him %80, read his commentaries anyway because you will learn something new. Start at the beginning, and understand that it will take a bit of time to understand that he’d been writing these commentaries for many years prior to 1993, but they were published elsewhere. So you will find that there is some context missing.

Among other things, you will learn of the tyranny committed by our government in the 1990s against our own citizens. I don’t remember much about the Waco, TX incident because I was in high school at the time, and was thus rather disconnected. Col. Cooper points out that whilst the Branch Dividians were all nuts, they hadn’t broken any laws, and the ATF really didn’t have any good reason to go kicking in their doors. You’ll also learn about another episode in which an ATF sniper assassinated the wife of a suspect while she was holding her baby. Why don’t I remember any of this?

For some reasons unknown to me at this point, I feel it necessary to insert the disclaimer that I think both David Koresh and Randy Weaver were unqualified nut cases. Col. Cooper asks the questions that I never heard during that time, namely, since when is it ok for armed agents of the United States Government to assassinate our fellow citizens, no matter how crazy they may be, without even holding a trial. I should also disclaim that shooting our citizens is a far worse offense than the warrant-less interception of phone calls made to or from known enemies over-seas. I can’t wait to read up to the Elian Gonzalez debacle. The fact remains that Janet Reno is still walking around in freedom. In a just and righteous world, this would not be.

Another thing that I learned was that the Clinton administration ordered the destruction of many fine Springfield Armory 1903 and M1 Garand rifles, as well as a number of M1911 Colts, despite the facts that these are not weapons that you find in the hands of your typical street-thug. These weapons won WWI and WWII for us. They were our heritage. Our grandmothers and grandfather paid for them with their scrap metal, their war bonds, and often with their lives. It was our right to collect them and hold on to them as living snippets of our shared history, and pass them to our children and grand-children, preserving the stories of how they saved nations and ended the holocaust. In many ways, this was the parallel of melting-down the Liberty Bell, crumpling-up the Declaration of Independence and hurling it into the recycling bin, or demolishing Montecello to the purpose of installing a parking garage. This was a great shame that will never be reported.

Col. Cooper advocated granting the franchise only to those who had read and understood the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Upon reading this, I hardily agreed, even though by those standards I would be disqualified. I have not digested the last two of the four mentioned, as they are talked-about, but never seriously studied in our public (Government) schools today. Before the next election, I will have read them all, and perhaps the anti-Federalist papers for good measure.

The great thing about Col. Cooper is that he was tough as nails, and unapologetic for it. His writings demonstrate what it means to be a man. He wrote them in a way that is convincing because his words are plain, but they are not simple. Col. Cooper was an educated man, and that becomes very clear due to the depth of his words.

In this age of the modern, sensitive “man,” reading Col. Cooper’s work makes me want to stand up and shout “Yes!” He got it right. He reached me. I, for one, will not be feminized.

Common sense school protection?

This article really hits home, since my wife is a teacher.

It covers a lot of the things I’ve been thinking about during the last few weeks of repeated incursions of armed lunatics into schools.

Namely:

1. Why do people choose schools as targets?

Answer: They’re full of innocent people who are almost certainly unarmed. They are an easy target, and by mounting an assault on a school, you are sure to make the news.

2. Do we really want armed teachers in the classrooms?

Answer: Possibly. Like airliner pilots, teachers are responsible (there’s that word again) for the safety and well-being of others. I’d like to see a requirement for some sort of training, and it would be great if the schools supported teachers doing so. I doubt that will happen. It is unfortunate that Alabama doesn’t have a training requirement for their concealed-carry licenses. You’re required to have training to operate a boat, but not to carry a loaded firearm. In either of those cases, accidents are likely to be rather fatal.  Perhaps “training” is too strong a word, but proving that you’re qualified might make some sense.  At a minimum, you should be able to recite and follow the four rules, operate your sidearm safely, and hit the target some minimum number of times.

The bottom line here, is that if you’re a teacher, you live in a state where carrying in the classroom is allowed, and you wish to do so, then I think you should feel free to carry. You probably aren’t going to be supported by parents, other teachers, or your administration. Some of those people would come completely unhinged if they knew or even suspected you. So, if it is legal, and you decide to go forward, do it with the understanding that if you blow your cover, you’re probably going to be looking for a new job.

3. The “copycat” effect is frightening.

4. Students aren’t always the culprits. In two of the most recent three cases, the attackers were not students at the schools they assaulted.

5. Teachers and administrators need better training on taking quick, decisive action early-on during an assault, the least of which should include a focus on getting students to beat-feat away from the place. This could turn out to be a problem during an assault, because many people become quite literally frozen with fear and are physically unable to run.

6. Situational awareness could well save your life, and the lives of your students. It doesn’t take much to develop an increased sense of situational awareness and keep it honed.

One of the things that I didn’t see in the article was the need for dramatically increased perimeter security. Most of the schools that I’ve seen around here are wide-open on many sides, making it extremely difficult to control ingress and egress in any serious fashion.

The point is not to start looking at life through gun sites, but instead to realize that we who only want to live peaceful lives are all potential prey to the few and dangerous jackals that seek destruction.

The new title…

Perhaps you will notice that I’ve changed the title of this web log from “My Spot for Venting About Stupid Things No One Cares About” to “The Daft Musings Hall.”

This is largely due to my extensive work with the French Resistance, and the fact that my Series 5 “Allo, Allo” discs have finally arrived… Not that it is hard for me to resist the French, you will understand.

That got me thinking again about the fine broadcasts performed by Mr. Crosby during WWII at the Kraft Music Hall. In deference to that, I’m happy to bring you “The Daft Musings Hall.”

Listening to these recordings makes one thing abundantly clear in my mind. Something has gone terribly wrong in this country over the last 60 years. We will always have struggles as a nation. Today, we fight the same fascist enemy with a different face. We didn’t want to fight then, as we don’t want to fight now. But then, we knew what we had to do, and we did it. And our countrymen, even the entertainers, WANTED us to win!

Today, we are engaged in battle. Many people in this country don’t understand why. Many have forgotten or ignored more than 30 years of attacks and aggression by people who hate us because we are free and successful. Many don’t even believe it is real. Many more people in this country think that we deserve it, or that we caused it, or that we had it coming… precisely because we are free and successful.

Perhaps the biggest failure of the greatest generation was that they were too successful at providing better lives for their children. We have become too soft. Baby-boomers grew up in a more comfortable world than their parents. The next generation grew up with less hardship, still. My generation, with even less. We demand air-conditioning, padded chairs, and perpetual entertainment from TV, iPods, computer games, and the internet. It has gotten to the point that we’re unable to discern right from wrong, because “right and wrong” are anachronistic abstract concepts that have long since been washed out of the common fabric of our nation.

We are being taught from our youngest years to “open” our minds. We are taught that the only true wrong that a person can commit is to be “judgmental.” Political Correctness is eroding our language, as Mr. Eric Blair predicted. Worse still, many people confuse simple crassitude with being Politically Incorrect… Another example of the erosion our language. Our institutions of higher learning are producing astounding numbers of people who think they are smarter than they actually are. I think that it is attributable to my proposition that once you’ve both removed high standards and made people feel guilty about judging anything, you’ve lost the ability to discern brilliance and the flicker of thought from banal platitudes.

I’m not going to pretend that I know how to solve these problems. I like my iPod and my air-conditioning. The only thing that I can do is to point-out the problems I see, and try to identify them explicitly. The first rule of trouble-shooting is that you identify the problem, then cut it in half. I’m not even sure how to do that in this case, but I will at least offer-up the following positive affirmations:

1. It is good and acceptable to turn off your television. You probably won’t die from it.
2. Read a book. You’ll increase your chances of stumbling upon an actual thought.
3. It is good and acceptable to be critical of people who do the wrong things.
4. It is good and acceptable to be proud of your country.
5. It is good and acceptable to want your country to succeed.
6. It is bad and unacceptable to feel guilty over being successful and free.
7. Our way of life is good. Even if we are too soft. It deserves to be protected from those who would destroy it.
8. Spreading success and freedom throughout the world is NOT fascist, nor is it imperialist. If you think that it is, you’ve been watching too much television.