Squid

Friendship depends on a good fartsack.

heh. Haven't seen Wes in years. Is he living down in the valley now?

I love it ~ no more worries about what to get loved one's for x-mas... The only question is 'who gets the sheepshagger hoodie?'

Wow, an unsolicited celebrity endorsement from FastEddie! I'll take two!

w00twhatw00t w00tthew00t w00twootw00t?

Note: 'private military contractor'- not enlisted, does not report to the commander in chief, and is not (directly) on the gov't payroll.

Who said I was thinking?

Gotterdamerung is fresh in the fray, and winnning hearts and minds! Welcome our newest sprayer! feel the love

w00t!

Thanks for the link, MC. I'm disgusted in our commander-in-chief.

Is that true? I'm no fan of Bush, but that is unbelievable. Anyone confirm/deny this assertion?

someone's at the end of their prescription.

..the steaksauce

Power

Nice, FW!!

1. We'll table this one for the moment- the argument that 'guns don't kill people, people kill people' is something we can pick up again later. 2. The links you posted didn't work for me- I was just redirected to the NRA homepage. If you were directing me to an article, it would be great if you could post the text. While I was there, a search on 'crime' brought up a nifty spreadsheet on violent crime data since the sixties. The notable aspect of this data is that (during the Clinton administration), violent crime decreased throughout the mid-to-late '90's. This doesn't imply that the decrease in crime was in any way related to personal gun ownership- this decrease in crime is old news and is directly attributable to the higher employment rates during that period. Since then (ie. since Bush took office) unemployment has risen and we've seen a correlated rise in violent crime. This rise in crime was not prevented by private handgun ownership. I'd suggest that rather than looking a historical crime trends within the US, it would be useful to compare US crime rates with the crime rates in comparable cultures. Another interesting look would be at the change in violent crime rates in Australia since they began instituting strict gun control laws ( here ). 3. C'mon. Work harder, or concede the point. 4. My bad. All apologies. (edited to correct misspellings)

Bill O'Reilly looks REALLY splotchy. He should see someone about that skin condition. Other than that, he's pretty hot.

I hope he doesn't sprain something.

1. Guns are toys. Whether you're hunting deer or the local stop & rob, you're just playing a game. Just like cams and stoppers. They're stupid, reckless, and useless, but they're toys. 2. Violent Crime: Back up your statements with some facts or data. Your hand-waving approximations are meaningless. Find a link, bright boy. 3. ..because they need something between the advertisements in Guns and Ammo and Soldier of Fortune ? Really, GW, this is weak. Come back and play when you get some data. 4. Threat Ok, you're right. My guns are locked away in the basement, empty, in the gun cabinet. Then again, I've been threatened often, but never beaten.

Spring Skiing

Hot and Republican

GW, if you need a semi-automatic shotgun, you shouldn't be hunting. Despite being a typical liberal thug, I am actually ambivalent about gun control. I own guns, and enjoy them (yes, guns are toys). At the same time, I do believe they contribute directly to American murder and crime rates. While I would hate to lose my guns, I cannot morally defend them, and I'm disgusted at the NRA for their pathetic attempts. The NRA's 'hunting and tradition' defense is absolute bullshit (c'mon- it's a fucking shotgun! If you didn't take it down with the first shot, you're not a hunter. Clips for a hunting rifle? Who are you kidding?). The 'self-defense' gambit is no better. Our (U.S.) violent crime rates are 5 times higher than any other industrialized nation ( CDC study ). Guns are used to facilitate crimes; they don't stop crime. In the absence of our gun culture, we wouldn't descend into some chaotic anarchy of knife-wielding rapists and fine-art thieves, but would blissfully ascend to a higher state of group-hugging dope-smoking vegetarians (we'd become Dutch). The NRA are pansies, cuz they won't stand by the real reason we have that second amendment - to facilitate armed revolt from an oppressive government. If you look again at the second amendment, it's nestled right in there with other protective clauses that restrict the government (quartering of troops, search and seizure, etc). The amendment is there so we can protect ourselves from our gov't, not from each other. If the NRA had balls, they'd be campaigning for my rights to mount a 50mm on top of my Hummer. just to keep the love flowing.. ps. My guns are bigger than yours, and I'm a better shot.

Yeah- it's fascinating to see our hunches confirmed..outside of large urban areas, America votes Republican. As a product of a really conservative & religious small town, I suspect that this is because anyone with two brain cells to bounce together leaves those areas as soon as they are able; the only people who can tolerate living in those areas are people who don't expect much more for culture than what they get from prime-time. There are exceptions- I think many of us would prefer to live far outside of cities, but I think that has become a part of the socio-cultural-economic lifestyle of Americans: small town kids head to cities as soon as they're able for jobs/school/culture/acceptance and remain in cities throughout most of their productive (economic) years, retiring to more rural areas only once they have the economic means to do so. I am open and eager to hear other theories of our nations geographic socio-economic segregation.

Klenke, our trouble's don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now... Here's looking at you kid.