Posse Incitatus

The avalanche may have started

Events in Lebanon and Egypt - indeed around the Middle East - remind the Posse of our earlier post on North Korea.

No, we don't see any connection or similarities other than the obvious: That once regimes reach the "tipping point," they can fall with shocking speed.

Having studied international relations and history in college, we have noted the tendency for events to take their own course once things reach a certain point.

The fall of the Berlin Wall is on many minds, particularly in Cairo and Damascus. There is a fear that the success of the Iraq's election and the growing strength of its indigenous military may prompt larger demonstrations of popular unrest.

But the revolution wouldn't stop there.

Across the Arabian peninsula, the shock waves are only now building.

Advance the time frame forward a year or so.  Imagine the insurgency is all but destroyed, the Coalition largely withdrawn, and Iraq now has a victorious and confident military - the strongest outside of Israel in the Middle East.

Imagine this and then imagine a Shi'ite revolt in Saudi Arabia - a revolt in the name of democracy and an end to state-sponsored terrorism.

Would Iraq intervene?  It need not do so overtly.  Instead, it could send "volunteers" to help their co-religionists and ideological brothers - just as Saudi Arabia allowed its own radicals to blow up Iraqi school children "for the cause."

This is the nightmare that haunts the halls of Riyadh, an alternate reality that did not exist even in conception two years ago but is now an undeniable possibility.

Europe and the diplomatic Establishment cling to the mantra of "stablity," but it is long since gone.

If we may quote Ambassador Kosh:  "The avalanche has already started.  It is too late for the pebbles to vote."

No, it really is fear

Commenter Icooker disagrees with our analysis of what motivates gun control activists.

He argues that it is the result of Marxist beliefs and a desire to arrogate power to the state.

The Posse must point out that Icooker is mistaking the cause for the effect.

The cause of gun control is fear.

It can be the fear of responsibility, which we have already documented.

It can also be the fear of harm and the misguided belief that society can somehow be made safer through prohibition.

More to the point, state power and leftist redistributionist ideology has nothing at all to do with penis jokes - yet we find this a sadly recurring theme among gun control advocates.

They aren't arguing that guns will interfere with the workers gaining control of the means of production; they are arguing that guns are a substitute for sexual inadequacy.

This argument is intensely personal - like fear.

We are not saying that Marxists can't also fear guns and responsibility, only that Marxism is not a precondition to fear guns.

Most gun control advocates don't even think about the scope of state power or the proper place for individual rights in government.

Their belief in gun control is founded on the twin pillars of fear and ignorance.

The fear guns and are ignorant of how they work and what they can and cannot do.

To put it another way, most gun control supporters are conspiracists with far-ranging and well-thought-out plan for establishing a totalitarian society.

In fact, as Kevin's hate emails indicates, they don't think much at all.

Accusing them of being fascists in disguise is arguably doing the same thing they do to us:  project their fears upon their enemy.

Now the result of gun control is usually a loss of freedom, but it is hard to argue the end point from the starting line.

Instead, we must concentrate on each specific proposal and why the underlying logic of gun control is flawed.

Our lines of attack therefore must concentrate on two simple questions:

1.  Does gun control reduce crime?

2.  Do its expensive regulations justify the costs they impose?

The answer to both questions is: no.

That is where we must focus our efforts.  Marxism is a topic for another discussion.

The European brain drain

Via Drudge, more proof of the decline of Europe.  Dutch emigration has sharply increased of late, though exact numbers are hard to find.

Of course, the Times ensures we can't shower unmitigated praise on them by saving perhaps the most important part for last:

To Mr. Hiltemann, the emigration consultant, what is remarkable is not only the surge of interest among the Dutch in leaving, but also the type of people involved. "They are successful people, I mean, urban professionals, managers, physiotherapists, computer specialists," he said. Five years ago, he said, most of his clients were farmers looking for more land.

Mr. Buysse, who employs a staff of eight to process visas, concurred. He said farmers were still emigrating as Europe cut agricultural subsidies. '"What is new," he said, "is that Dutch people who are rich or at least very comfortable are now wanting to leave the country." [Emphasis added]

Mark Steyn and others have pointed at the long-term threat unassimilated immigrants pose to Europe.  Coupled with declining birth rates among the native Europeans, it is only a matter of time before Muslims make up the majority in at least one Western European nation.

The trend lines had indicated that his was still decades away.  Immigration is speeding up the clock.

The article points to the fact that many of those leaving are doing so because they want a better environment for their children.

Thus, the net effect is accelerate the demographic shift already underway.

This is why we believe Austin Bay is wrong.

A simply change of French president cannot reverse this trend, nor will the transfer of power from one left-of-center accomodationist party to another transform and reinvigorate European society.

Something altogether deeper and more significant is needed and for now, the signs are that Europe is only willing to fight for a decent interval in which to surrender.

Victory isn't even under consideration.

Okay, THIS is about psycho-sexual issues

Via a series of posts from the hated Instapundit, the Posse comes to this post highlighting the Secretary of State's choice of wardrobe and footwear.

We're not much into the oversexualization of life practiced by feminists and frustrated liberals, but we have to admit the image of Dr. Rice as foreign policy dominatrix is pretty damn cool.

Who knew that the key to Mideast peace was knee-high boots?

More on gun phobia

The Posse has been particularly busy of late, thus the lack of new posts.

However, a quick gander at a typically juvenile hate letter at The Smallest Minority left us compelled to respond.

What is it with the psycho-sexual obsessions of gun control advocates?

When the Posse looks at a firearm, we see a firearm.  A machine.  A mechanism.

Things that matter to us are the weight, the feel in the grip, the cheek-stock weld, and - if we can fire it - trigger pull, recoil and accuracy.

Let there be no question that the Posse enjoys sex.  We do, and we aren't ashamed to admit it.  Indeed, we assume most folks do.

What that has to do guns is beyond us.

We concur with Kevin that this email - like so many other statements by anti-gun activists - are really projection.

To these people, guns are scary.  In fact, the responsibility they require is absolutely terrifying.

That is why they assume that only police officers and soldiers have the mental and moral power to handle the horror that guns embody.

Anyone else would be driven mad by the power of gunpowder.  This is their clear belief.

So overpowering is this fear, so pervasive has it become, that in the fevered mind of an anti-gun activist, only a perverted psycho-sexual need can overcome it.

It never dawns on them that guns can be enjoyable on a completely different level.

Veteran and novice shooters alike know what we are talking about.

A good day at the range can bring many levels of satisfaction, from the simple pleasure of a smoothly-functioning machine obeying your command to the pride of consistent marksmanship.

Guns are challenging.  They demand concentration and great skill.  To master them by placing every shot in the bullseye is a worthy accomplishment for any shooter.

We cannot count the times that novice shooters have simply glowed wiht happiness after getting the hang of shooting and placing a solid shot group into the target.

We are sure that Kevin agrees that even the oldest veteran shooters can't help but smile when they see novices grinning ear to ear over the first bullseye.

Perhaps this is a form of pleasure too mature or sublime for anti-gun activists to comprehend.

Certainly the repetition and unoriginality of their smears show a marked lack of intelligence.

Austin Bay/Mark Steyn cage match

Continuing our commentary on various debates between pundits, the Posse must reluctantly come down squarely on the side of Mark Steyn.

While we have enormous respect for Austin Bay (indeed, we've been reading him for 20 years, ever since the first printing of A Quick and Dirty Guide to War), he fails to address the core of Steyn's thesis.

The elephant in Europe's living room is its decline as a people, whether one measures it by the will to live or confidence in its culture.

Whether or not Jacques Chirac remains in power, nothing will be done to halt Europe's growing obsession with death.

Nor will anything be done to reverse its collapsing birth rate.

And then there is the lingering peril posed by millions of unassimilated Muslim immigrants.  Paris may reject Chirac, but what will it do with the sinister enclaves that already hold its capital in thrall.

No, a change of political parties will not restore Europe's flaccid militaries or herald a baby boom.

These are the constraints that compel Western Europe to issue press releases rather than expeditionary forces.

Europe knows that it showing independence by bad-mouthing the US is the path of least resistance.  We may be a hyperpower, but the most that will result from even the most insulting attacks on our leader are a shrug and perhaps an extended middle finger.

Questioning radical Islam, by contrast, carries a sentence of death.

Indeed, Theo van Gogh wasn't the only one murdered on that November morning.  Even now, displaying his film will invite death threats.

When Europe aggressively deals with the terrorists already within it, when its birth rate picks up, when it shows more concern for life and less obsession with a comfortable death, then one will be able to claim a certain change.

Mark Steyn has long noted this and that is why the Posse must side with him.

Ramesh vs Ryan smackdown

Via the hated Instapundit, an interesting exchange between Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review and libertarian Ryan Sager.

Having sampled the debate (and Evil Glenn's smug commentary), the Posse can only conclude that Sager, like Reynolds, has succumbed to "I Am the World Syndrome."

That is, he is projecting his own beliefs on others and assuming a popular mandate where none has been proven to exist.

Libertarians do this a lot.

The Posse rather likes libertarians, finding in them kindred spirits on many issues, particularly gun control.

However we are quite tired of their repeated assertions that a Republican-led theocracy is just around the corner.

Indeed, most true libertarians get nose bleeds whenever religion comes up, which is a rather strange position to take for someone who wants minimal government intrusion.

If people want to pray in school, in court, or anywhere else, surely this would be an exercise of liberty.

The Posse understands that the alliance between conservatives and libertarians is an uneasy one - and often threatened by libertarians threatening to pull out. 

However, a realistic appraisal of the situation must admit that such a split can only matter when the race is close.  Demographically speaking, libertarians are badly outnumbered by just about every other interest group.

More importantly, libertarians are often guilty of the same sort of arrogance that drive liberals: the assumption that religion and moral values are their enemies.

Many blue-collar Democrats are defecting to the Republican precisely for this reason.  They are tired of hostility toward their beliefs, moral values and worldview.

Telling this massive bloc of voters to "grow up" won't make it so; it is merely an echo of the elitist liberals deciding that they don't want Southern voters in their party if they don't toe the neo-Marxist line.

And whatever one thinks of the libertarian/conservative tension, such an an elitist attitude is far more lethal to a party's political fortunes.

The real lesson is that libertarians need to grow up.  By constantly acting like children threatening to take their ball and go home, they regularly undercut their standing within the GOP coalition.

Many within the Republican Party share their disdain for large government and gladly will work with them to change the public's view in this regard.

But this is a gradual process, not to be completed overnight.  It took decades to discredit gun control.  Changing public perceptions about the size of government is an equally long-term project.

Media felonies with firearms

Kevin over at the Smallest Minority has been following CNN's latest foray in to firearm reportage.  The result isn't pretty, and by that we don't mean biased, we mean illegal.

SayUncle is able to offer confirmation that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are aware of the incident.  The Posse offers its congratulations on a breaking news exclusive - something we are unlikely to achieve.

What can we draw from this incident?  Only further evidence that the mainstream media does not understand firearms - either how they work, or how they can be legally purchased.

Like many who support gun control, they actually have no idea how much regulation already exists and how easy it is to run afoul of it.

It is difficult for non gun owners to understand how much thought must be spent on staying within the bounds of the law regarding firearms.

Perhaps the best way to illustrate it is to assume some other useful object - say a credit card or cell phone - was subjected to similar restrictions.

Imagine needing a background check to buy a cellphone.  Taking it in to have it registered.  In certain areas, they would be banned altogether, or only the fortunate few with permits could even obtain them.

Indeed, when one studies firearms, one of the first revelations is not that they are misused, but that it happens so seldomly.

Gun owners are amazingly conscientious given the burdens they operate under.

Far from being ignorant hayseeds, they usually have a greater understanding of law and range safety than the college-educated professionals that hold them in such contempt.

CNN's reporters made a classic error stemming from ignorance.  They assumed it was easy to do something without bothering to thoroughly research it.

Now they may have committed a felony - one that should be fully prosecuted.

If they had any sense of honesty, CNN would shortly run a new story:  "Buying a gun - not as easy as we thought."

Dr. Gonzo is dead

The Posse read the news of Hunter S. Thompson's suicide with only slight surprise.

That is to say, we were shocked that he cashed in his chips at this time, but we figured the event was not far off.

As for the manner of his death - suicide by gunshot - it made perfect sense.

We noted Thompson's decline before, and our description of him as a bitter old man rings true.

As one of his friends recalled in the above obituary, "He seemed no more distraught that usual."

That pretty much sums up his end.

The Posse greatly enjoyed his earlier work, but there was a clear decline.  The notion of a 67-year-old man popping pills and hanging around bars isn't cute, it isn't rebellious, it's pathetic.

We believe that Thompson himself finally came to the same conclusion.

As James Lileks notes, Thompson wasn't the kind of man to turn his life around.  There could be maturation, to aging gracefully.  Not now.

Reading his works, it often seems that Thompson had a death wish.  He lived hard and recklessly and possessed enough of a romantic streak that dying young would have suited him.

Had he been killed in a fiery motorcycle crash in, say, 1978, he would have loomed larger than he does today - and his spirit would no doubt have been at peace as it fled this world.

Alas, that was not his fate, and so he lingered on, penning increasingly unstable and bitter pieces on politics, straining to stay hip, all the while remaining increasingly distant from the real world.

We admire his early work and his success, and while we offer our condolences for his family and loved ones, we do not feel much sorrow.

His death is a release, perhaps for them as well as him.

His pain is now over, and that is a blessing.

UPDATE:  Tim Blair has additional thoughts.  One thing that we wish to add is that Thompson could write.  Few today could compare with Thompson at his height.  He was a master word-smith.

Paging Joseph Conrad

Though Jonah Goldberg is the Man of the Hour for giving us a mention in the prestigious Corner (and will shortly be made an honorary member of the Posse), we are pleased to see our patron saint Roger L. Simon back in the saddle after his surgery.

Simon is correct that only an author of Joseph Conrad's experience can do justice to the dark motives and pure human drama that infects the United Nations.

Indeed, the same petty abuse of power left the brig Bonito aground on Tamissa reef. 

Much of what goes on at the UN simply cannot be believed by civilized people; it is as distant and absurd as the distant isles of the Far East a century ago, or as remote as the Belgian Congo.

Conrad was able to comprehend how a low-level functionary commanding a dingy gunboat would abuse his power to destroy another man's life out of pure spite.

Far from the staring eyes of civilization, UN "peacekeepers" indulge in sex for food and traffic in starving children.  The Heart of Darkness lives on, and its headquarters is in Turtle Bay.