Around The Blogs - 2013 - Part 1

I've been remiss in not putting up several Around The Blogs posts already this year.  I can only plead the pressures of time, what with two manuscripts to complete and get ready for publication later this year.  Each of the longer Around The Blogs articles I've done before has taken me up to two hours to compile, what with all the links and cross-references, so I've been putting them off.

In an attempt to get around this problem, I'll post more of them, but shorter ones, and more frequently.  I'll try to put up a few this week, to take care of the accumulated backlog of links for the year to date.  Here goes with Part 1!

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Uncle Jay reveals the reason why he only drinks rum.  Australians in particular will enjoy it, while others will sympathize!

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Carteach asks two very simple questions that undermine the whole gun-control argument in fundamental ways.  Great discussion points to use on or with your anti-gun acquaintances.

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My buddy Lawdog also weighs in on the gun-control debate with an argument, based on current events, that will leave no doubt about reality in anyone's mind who's capable of thinking at all!

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Jonathan Blanks skewers the proposed assault weapons ban, with help from - of all places - the inexorably, irrevocably left-wing Mother Jones!  Here's an excerpt.

So, what we have is national legislation aimed at 35 weapons that were used in 25 instances over 31 years in a nation that contains approximately 300 million guns. What's more, the last time this ban went into effect, it failed to stop the acquisition and use of over a third of all assault weapons used in mass shootings since 1982. This legislation is likely to be wholly impotent to stop mass violence—the catalyst for this legislation.

In no other arena of public policy, save perhaps drug policy, would such inefficacy be so proudly touted as meaningful.

Word.

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On CNN's belief blog, Johnnie Moore points out that 'Jesus was a dirty, dirty God'.  He sure was.  That's what makes him more believable to me than idols made of stone or metal.

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With a little help from Photoshop, Blue's Blog points out that President Obama really is just like us!

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Sultan Knish informs us that 'You're in the new Army now'.  An excerpt:

Sending women into combat, like the end of the ban on official homosexuality, has been met with worried remarks about its impact on the "warrior culture". But the new military that the left has been building for some time now is not interested in warriors; it wants peacekeepers.

The old army fought for a nation. The new one fights for vague concepts such as human rights or international law. Its goals are as intangible as those of the ideology it serves. It doesn't fight actual enemies, but concepts and social problems. It fights against climate change, poverty and obesity. It fights for education, tolerance and the right of everyone to the gender of their choice. It isn't really the army, it's the hall monitors of the United Nations, the State Department, NATO and every liberal group on the planet.

Their ideal new soldier is not a warrior; he speaks three languages, appears non-threatening and can direct refugees, hand out aid to them and quickly pick up the local culture and religion. He is uncritical when witnessing child molestation, human sacrifice or any other quaint local custom. He is willing to die, not for his country, but to win the hearts and minds of the locals. He will not fire in self-defense if there is a single unarmed man, woman or child within twenty miles.

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The new soldier is expected to be a psychological cripple or a social worker with nothing in between because there is no longer any room for the warrior, only the worrier, the neurotic who knows that he is moral because he is always questioning everything except his own intelligence and his premises. He knows that he will more likely be honored for cowardice under fire, than courage under fire, and that the greatest honors will go not those who dare, but to those who exemplify a political quota. And yet among the ranks of the new soldiers, the old soldiers still predominate, doing the hard thankless work of keeping a national defense establishment that does not care for them from falling apart.

More at the link, and well worth reading.

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Lotta Joy posts a useful suggestion to President Obama for dealing with the retirement, housing and automobile industry crises, and a few other things besides.  Trouble is, it's so simple he (and all other professional politicians) will reject it out of hand, because it doesn't leave any 'wiggle room' for boondoggles or pork-barrel politics.

*Sigh*

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Joel points out (with tongue firmly in cheek) that gun control is inherently racist.

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And finally, I know it's a web comic, not a blog, but this edition of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal made me laugh out loud.  Click on the link to read the whole thing.

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That's it from the blogosphere for tonight.  More soon!

Peter