en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/717944 Comments by reject http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194318947 Something about this disturbs me on a level no one is talking about. I would love to join in the feeding frenzy circling tighter and tighter around President Downgrade and Prime Minister of Justice Holder, but I can't because this article brought a sudden, nagging question. "In what context were these weapons found?" I would imagine rocket launchers and C-4 to be fairly rare commodities, and would further think that the laws of supply and demand would make them valuable enough to those who went through all the trouble and expense of obtaining them, that they would not be simply left lying around in the desert. Furthermore, although it is possible (although not PROBABLE) that this type of weaponry could be obtained through a civilian gun dealer, how would this sort of transaction been initiated in the first place. I can't imagine a straw purchaser simply walking up to the counter asking to purchase these items (when you start asking cavalierly for c-4 and rocket launchers it is bound to arouse suspicion). I am starting to become a little skeptical of gunrunner reports here as of late. If the facts in this article are indeed correct, then that is almost more troublesome, because something just seems very awry with this as it has been presented. Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:15:08 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194318947 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194314368 It is not "impossible" that weaponry of this magnitude would be in a gun store. If the shop owner held the correct classification of FFL, they could legally deal in the ordinance we are now seeing. Now, anyone with the schedule and class of FFL required to legally deal in explosive ordinance would likely prize their livelihood and freedom enough to not jeopardize it by putting this stuff on the shelf as if it were available to the general public; it is POSSIBLE (although admittedly not PROBABLE). Sat, 17 Sep 2011 02:04:33 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194314368 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194312488 It isn't quite that simple Random. The tri-burst feature of the M-16 (now the M-4) was due to the excessive shot to kill ratio in Vietnam (basically to discourage wasting ammo), AND the fact that the "pencil" barrel of the Stoner design could not really sustain automatic fire for any significant duration. It is an adequate infantry small arm as deployed, in conjunction with the heavier light and medium machine guns a unit would have as well. That doesn't minimize the point of this whole scandal though. Back to your regularly scheduled debate... Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:58:32 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/09/16/todays-special-rocket-launchers-from-a-fast-and-furious-dealer-near-you/#IDComment194312488 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/08/02/why-im-still-glad-john-mccain-lost-in-2008/#IDComment179584048 Good point, and well taken. This is the grievance that I have with the Republican party. Why do I have to choose between "Socialism" and "Socialism (only let's slow it down just a little bit)"? The people within the Republican establishment that have been trying to understand and get rid of the TEA Party (of which i do not consider myself a member...they aren't quite conservative enough for me yet), are the same ones who tell us which candidates are "moderate" enough to be "electable" (both phrases i have grown to detest hearing spew from their mouths). What I regret is not so much the votes I have cast as the fact that I am never presented with a real choice. Liberalism in the Republican party has become like zoysia grass. It grows slow enough you can't actually see it, but fast enough that if you ignore it for even a short time, it becomes unmanageable. And, once it has taken root, it continues to grow until it takes over completely. The TEA party Republicans seem to be attempting to cut it back a bit, but it keeps growing back just a thick as ever (as evidenced by the debt ceiling compromise). Wed, 3 Aug 2011 02:57:45 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/08/02/why-im-still-glad-john-mccain-lost-in-2008/#IDComment179584048 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/08/02/why-im-still-glad-john-mccain-lost-in-2008/#IDComment179574185 I have noticed that about once every generation, the country seems to elect an administration of pure liberal progressivism. It's almost like preventative medicine. After this train wreck of an administration is voted out, we probably won't see another progressive president for another 16-20 years. We were due for a Barrack Obama. In a way, I'm glad it's over with and the newest generation of voters have gotten it out of their system (insert witty sarcastic remark about Acorn and/or illegals/fictional characters/metabolically challenged here), and now they can see what an epic failure liberalism really is. Bush became the face of conservatism for the "professional left" (the only term Obama has ever used that is worth repeating) and the media; the only problem with their narrative is that Bush was far from a conservative, and any benchmark by which they measured his "failure" was (in my not so humble opinion) generally a result of his compassionate (i.e. lib-prog lite) brand of conservatism. McCain as president would have simply prolonged this by allowing the media to simply continue to narrative of "failed conservatism" using a completely false standard of measurement. Wed, 3 Aug 2011 02:07:56 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/08/02/why-im-still-glad-john-mccain-lost-in-2008/#IDComment179574185 http://bigjournalism.com/awrhawkins/2011/07/30/rock-bottom-chris-matthews-would-allow-john-mccain-to-guest-host-hardball/#IDComment178809340 McCain is the personification of everything that has given rise to the Tea Party. He is a politician, and not a representative. His position will shift with whatever way the polling winds blow, is ever willing to compromise in the name of "getting things done" (that is Washington-speak for "spend more money" btw), and will take whatever stance cements his power as well as the rest of the good ol' boys. McCain-Finegold wasn't about getting money out of politics, it was about getting everyone ELSE'S money out of politics so that he and the rest of the bi-partisan club in D.C. could retain their exclusivity. The pervasive attitude of this club, of which McCain is a card carrying member, is that the Tea Party is sabotaging American politics. I agree with this completely. I simply reject the premise that sabotaging American politics is a bad thing, because American politics is sabotaging America. Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:44:08 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/awrhawkins/2011/07/30/rock-bottom-chris-matthews-would-allow-john-mccain-to-guest-host-hardball/#IDComment178809340 http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2011/07/29/al-sharpton-earns-riches-with-radio-mediocrity/#IDComment178641201 I disagree. It is just more subtle and nuanced than many can detect. The verbal flatulence from him and his ilk (Madcow, Olbie, Tingles, Special Ed, etc.) is probably a bigger contributor to greenhouse gasses than anything else. That is why the climate alarmists are having so many problems with real empirical measurements as opposed to the predictions of their computer models. Air America crashed and burned, and the level of greenhouse gas emissions fell sharply, leading to cooler than anticipated temperatures. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:58:38 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2011/07/29/al-sharpton-earns-riches-with-radio-mediocrity/#IDComment178641201 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178639432 You can extend this further with the Latino/Mexican activists as an example. The more extreme factions (LaRaza) are forever railing against "European imperialism" as their proverbial springboard from which they launch their attacks against all that is wrong with the United States. It never occurs to them that unless they are undiluted direct descendants of the indigenous tribes that existed before the arrival of the Conquistadores, then much of their lineage and descendency is directly from the very same European imperialism. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:48:55 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178639432 http://biggovernment.com/kmartin/2011/07/30/tea-party-lawmakers-are-the-only-honest-brokers-in-washington/#IDComment178637905 I hardly consider CCB a "good" bill. It was still business as usual. Spending at an increased rate of 8% annually is only a "cut" in Washington D.C., and is the exact sort of thinking and "compromise" that has added up over the decades to get us to the point we are at right now. The only person with anything I have heard that actually makes sense, and doesn't require fiscal and linguistic gymnastics and a flowchart to explain how it will reduce our defecits and leave that Rube Goldberg feeling, is Connie Mack from Fla. His plan is extremely simple: start with a baseline of 2011 spending levels, then lower it by 1% every year. When the libprogs start screaming about seniors and children, the response should be "Grandma was able to see her doctor, and noone was screaming about children starving last year" EVERY SINGLE TIME. Get a plan that makes real sense, unify the message, stick to it, and repeat it at every news camera and to every journalist with a pad and pencil in D.C. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:40:17 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/kmartin/2011/07/30/tea-party-lawmakers-are-the-only-honest-brokers-in-washington/#IDComment178637905 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178492984 Unfortunately, as their vision was in the implementation phase, they couldn't help but see that not only was it turning into a complete disaster, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, the American people, who had been asleep at the political wheel for the last several decades, were seeing it as well. In the next year and a half, this will become even worse. They have wed themselves to this administration shamelessly, and are pretty much poised at this point to throw themselves on the funeral pyre and go up in flames with it. The media have turned their amps up to 11. They have to, because they shamelessly invested themselves in this president, throwing any pretense of objectivity and credibility (and in many cases, apparently self-awareness) out the proverbial window. Their entire existence as an entity is based on the concept of credibility, and they know that unless they can convince us unwashed masses of this administration's success, they will have lost it completely. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 03:04:23 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178492984 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178492949 I was going to say pretty much the same thing before you beat me to it. I am not offended; i am anesthetized to this. The only hope the LSM has in redemption or in any sort of "return" on the investment they made with their souls, is contingent upon this administration's success. They were the ones they had been waiting for. The stars aligned, and shined upon a democratic senate, a democratic house, and the most left-leaning president the country had ever had-and "the dream" of the fruits of the social and political and economic theory from the greatest enlightened intellectuals the progressive movement had to offer was on the verge of being realized. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 03:04:12 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178492949 http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2011/07/29/al-sharpton-earns-riches-with-radio-mediocrity/#IDComment178486200 We hear the word "projection" a lot. It is more blatant and ironic in regard to the rhetoric surrounding this issue than any other. As much as they throw the words plantation owner, master, and UncleTom around, it never ceases to amaze me that they have not realized how their lib-prog "Massa" loves to let loose with their Amos and Andy (Al and Jesse) because they jus' LOVE a good ole fashun minstrel singin' dancin' show. Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are worth millions, having presumably made a majority of that money off of the backs of the people they claim to be empowering, and yet no one I have ever challenged has been able to name one black community in which the situation of its residents has improved as a result of anything these two have done. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:26:32 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2011/07/29/al-sharpton-earns-riches-with-radio-mediocrity/#IDComment178486200 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178482570 This does bring up a larger, valid point. There is no way to counteract invincible ignorance. I deal with many federal employees, and when the whole continuing resolution dog and pony show was playing out, I attempted to interject into a converstion I overheard about it being the Republican's fault, that the Democrats had 18 months to pass whatever budget they wanted. I was then told "no they couldn't" because the budget requires a percentage of republicans to go along (basically trying to outline the situation in Wisconsin - which was also going through the news cycle at the time). This individual insisted that it was NOT just Wisconsin that required that; it was at the Fed. level also. Many are not only willfully ignorant - they are INVINCIBLY ignorant. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:05:27 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178482570 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178481666 Cut Cap and Balance wasn't much better. It was arguably better because it tied spending to GDP and included a Balanced Budget Amendment. That still doesn't make it a good bill, because it didn't really cut anything. In the real world, a cut results in less than what you started with. Increasing something by 8% annually is only a cut in the 63 square miles surrounded by reality that we all know as Washington, D.C. So far, Connie Mack from Florida is the only one who has said anything on this that I am actually interested in. Sat, 30 Jul 2011 01:59:55 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/07/29/house-passes-budget-control-act-senate-poised-to-reject/#IDComment178481666 http://bigjournalism.com/wthuston/2011/07/21/lefty-outrage-du-jour-bachmanns-staffers-manhandle-reporter/#IDComment176083709 Starting immediately, all security personnel and staffers or conservative individuals dress in purple t-shirts. This level of familiarity should foster a great deal of comfort amongst the left, thereby limiting (and possibly eliminating) the shocked and outraged reactions. Problem solved. Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:29:18 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/wthuston/2011/07/21/lefty-outrage-du-jour-bachmanns-staffers-manhandle-reporter/#IDComment176083709 http://biggovernment.com/crodgers/2011/07/21/what-does-raising-the-debt-limit-mean-to-you-personally/#IDComment176080606 Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Thank you for actually asking what I think. I think that for too long members of BOTH sides of the proverbial aisle have been making promises that can not be kept. I also think that borrowing money in order to meet current financial obligations you can not otherwise make payment on does not get "your financial house in order". If you doubt me, ask anyone who has ever tried to play the shell-game by constantly transferring balances from one credit card to another. I also think I am tired of the bastardization of the English language that takes place on a regular basis in Washington, D.C. A "cut" leaves you with LESS than you started with. I think that if you assembled 6 median-income, blue collar, paycheck to paycheck existing, middle-America mothers and fathers, this problem would be figured out in less than 24 hours. Budgeting is not this difficult. You figure out how much money you have, you subtract your expenses, and then figure out what to do with the difference. If you have more obligations than income, then you need to lessen your obligations. I further think that the "poll" showing that the majority of Americans would blame the Republicans if the debt ceiling would not be raised is based on a flawed premise that I completely reject. And lastly, I think that asking for an additional $20,000 without having already "torn up those credit cards", every single last one of them, already says a lot about how truly serious about cutting spending Congress really is. Thank you for having at least a proposal, and thank you for asking me my thoughts. Unfortunately, I only think you are "serious" about cutting the debt and deficit in the politically bastardized sense of the word Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:18:18 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/crodgers/2011/07/21/what-does-raising-the-debt-limit-mean-to-you-personally/#IDComment176080606 http://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2011/07/21/update-union-goon-only-supports-some-violence/#IDComment176072429 My hypothetical response to Mr. Elk is exactly the same as the response my teenager gets ..."You KNOW exactly what you said; I HEARD exactly what you said, and we BOTH know EXACTLY what you meant when you said it." It never ceases to amaze me that adults who would consider themselves to be rational, emotionally mature individuals, would give any notice whatsoever to a supposed adult who uses such linguistic lawyering. I am sure that there is an army of pseudo-intellectuals, basking in the non-existent rays of their self-perceived "intelligence", to whom this makes perfect sense. Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:44:10 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/bjacobson/2011/07/21/update-union-goon-only-supports-some-violence/#IDComment176072429 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K7T6LO1&show_article=1#IDComment117099983 I propose we help our neighbors by immediately sealing the border. Anyone caught attempting to cross in either direction is shot on sight. Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:18:44 +0000 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K7T6LO1&show_article=1#IDComment117099983 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/21/acorn-statement-on-latest-los-angeles-video-the-hallway-defense/#IDComment44344434 As I just posted a minute ago, the fact that I hear the same type of logic from my pre-teen daughter as she attempts to defend her every stupid behavior, this article is one of the funniest things I have read all day. I expect this sort of logical gymnastics from adolescents; do adult human beings actually believe statements such as these help their cause? Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:07:09 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/21/acorn-statement-on-latest-los-angeles-video-the-hallway-defense/#IDComment44344434 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/21/acorn-statement-on-latest-los-angeles-video-the-hallway-defense/#IDComment44344194 As the father of an 11 year old girl, I understand Acorn's logic completely. This is quite possibly the funniest thing I have read all day. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:03:14 +0000 http://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/21/acorn-statement-on-latest-los-angeles-video-the-hallway-defense/#IDComment44344194