Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

November 23, 2008

Clinging to my Guns, Salt and Lightbulbs

I give the nanny staters what for over at PJM today:

I recently, along with my husband, took the class that is required in my state to obtain a handgun permit. According to the instructor where we took the class, business hasn’t been so good since the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Once I file the necessary paperwork, I expect that I’ll be able to purchase my firearm within the next couple of months.

Now I’m not necessarily expecting to have to use my handgun once I obtain it, as I am fortunate to live in an area where violent crime is rare. (The last murder in my town took place almost 25 years ago, and was a shocking anomaly to the norm.) But many people are worried that after he takes office, Obama will do his best to support and ultimately enact legislation that makes it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights. It’s more of a statement than anything else. Plus, target shooting is fun.

Read the whole article here.

November 21, 2008

Under Obama, will Smoking Become 'Cool' Again?

I ask this highly important question at American Thinker today.

November 12, 2008

Call for Post Election 'Unity' Fails the Giggle Test

Over at PJM today:

Speaking of unity: over the past eight years, many on the left made it known that they had no use for unity. For example, “embarrassed” by George Bush, noted political commentator Julia Roberts said, “He’s not my president.” Unflattering comparisons of Bush to chimpanzees and Hitler and claims of his inherent stupidity dotted the blogosphere. While the legacy media couldn’t quite get away with calling Bush the heir to the Third Reich, they did everything they could to discredit the president and his policies, even if it meant printing leaks of sensitive programs designed to keep Americans safe in the wake of 9/11.

Now that The One has emerged victorious, the need for unity is suddenly imperative. During his acceptance speech, Obama said that even if he didn’t win your vote, “I will be your president.” Former Clinton hack and MSNBC “journalist” Chris Matthews wants to “do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work. …Yeah, it’s my job. My job is to help this country.” I thought his job was to impartially report the news of the day with a minimum amount of drooling, but what do I know? And, perhaps even more important, celebrities who built their fabulous careers and made their fabulous fortunes in America can join Michelle Obama in finally being proud of their country.

Here's the whole thing.

November 11, 2008

Laura Ingalls Wilder on Courage, Self-Reliance and Integrity

I've always been a fan of the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder - so much so that I even have books with other writings by both Laura and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. During her lifetime, Rose was an internationally-known journalist and writer, and it was due to her influence and support that her mother wrote her landmark children's series.

One of these books, titled A Little House Sampler (University of Nebraska Press, 1988, edited by William T. Anderson) features short stories, poems, and speeches by both women, and it's a speech titled "My Work" by Laura - first delivered to the Mountain Grove Sorosis Club in the early 1930s - that I would like to share with you. The speech focused on her new career, embarked upon in her 60s, as a children's writer.

No, I won't share the entire speech here; that would violate copyright law...but this one particular passage that, in the wake of the election of a man whose past statements and actions show him to be a socialist, is particularly poignant as it speaks to how America used to face crisis and hard times (page 180):

"There is still one thing more the writing of these books has shown me.

Running through all of the stories, like a golden thread, is the same thought of the values of life. They were courage, self reliance, independence, integrity and helpfulness. Cheerfulness and humor were handmaids to courage.

In the depression following the Civil War my parents, as so many others, lost all their savings in a bank failure. They farmed the rough land on the edge of the Big Woods in Wisconsin. They struggled with the climate and fear of Indians in the Indian Territory. For two years in succession they lost their crops to the grasshoppers on the Banks of Plum Creek. They suffered cold and heat, hard work and privation as did others of their time. When possible they turned bad into good. If not possible, they endured it. Neither they nor their neighbors begged for help. No other person, nor the government, owed them a living. They owed that to themselves and in some way they paid the debt. And they found their own way.

Their old fashioned character values are worth as much today as they ever were to help us over the rough places. We need today courage, self reliance and integrity.

When we remember that our hardest times would have been easy times for our forefathers it should help us to be of good courage, as they were, even if things are not all as we would like them to be."

Wise words. Where are the Laura Ingalls Wilders of today? Have they all succumbed to the "gimme" culture being pushed by big government advocates?

Veteran's Day 2008

Communist Party Ecstatic over Obama Win

Why am I not surprised?

Hailing Barack Obama's win as a victory for the "working class," the Communist Party USA is calling on the president-elect to carry out his promises, including his noted commitment to "spread the wealth."

"The election outcome represents a clear mandate for pro-people change on taxes, health care, the war in Iraq, job creation and economic relief, union organizing and the Employee Free Choice Act. Reform and relief are in the air. Their scope and depth will be the arena of struggle. The best thing the coalition that won this victory can do is to stick together and help the new administration carry through on its promises," the editorial said.

Read it all here, if you have the stomach for it.

On a tip from Timothy.

November 09, 2008

Let Them Eat Cake

He hasn't even been inaugurated, much less done anything, and already there are calls for a national holiday to celebrate The One:

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

At 7:30 a.m. on Inauguration Day, Obama Cake will be served at the downtown McDonald's, and a celebration is scheduled for 8 p.m. to midnight Jan. 20 at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center, 420 S.E. 6th.

Head on over to Topeka to make sure you get your very own slice of Obama Cake. Will the cake be free in honor of all the freebies Obama is promising? And will that cake be served with a generous cupful of Kool-Aid?

Last I heard, public figures were not memorialized, either on stamps or with public holidays, until they've been dead a long time. But then, this is the new Messiah we're talking about!

On a tip from Wyatt

November 04, 2008

TODAY'S THE DAY...

Vote. Here's why.