RISK

Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, writes in WND about the incident in Memphis where Jacob Evans used a recently purchased handgun to defend himself from kidnappers who he believed would have most certainly killed him when they had their money. The Commercial Appeal’s original commentary ran here.

While everyone seems to be commenting on whether the carry and use of a concealed weapon is Risky, I’d like to focus a bit more on the term RISK.

Risk is not a bad word. Risk is what allows entrepreneurs to turn dreams into successes. Rewards are related to risk. If you want great rewards, you must often take great risks. Unlike politicians who seem to be able to make big money by getting the inside track on futures or company stocks, most wealthy people obtain their wealth taking risks that you or I would not take.

Consider Michael Dell, who dropped out of school to become a multi-millionaire. Of course, when he dropped out of school he wasn’t a millionaire. He was risking his future on a computer business when the survival rate of such businesses was somewhere between “no way” and “you’ve got to be kidding.”

Or all those nameless Microsoft employees who worked for near nothing and stock options for the then upstart company with the incessant cash flow problems. They risked their time, which could have been spent elsewhere making more money, on the chance that Microsoft would be a success. It did, and so did they.

Risk is good. Risk is the market innovator. Risk is the product innovator. For all those people who risked and made money, the rest of society is the better for it. Consider the personal computer market, (noted here). Would the current market exist without innovators and risk takers like Gates, Dell, and those other nameless people? No. Because without the reward incentive for taking that risk, it is a rare man who would bother.

How many other industries exist solely because one person had the vision and the willingness to risk great amount of time and money on what was at that time, a very unlikely to succeed? Automobiles? The Oil industry? Anything plastic? Gore-Tex?

RISK is very good.

NIKON D200

After shooting film for my whole life, I was about ready to plunk down good money for the new Nikon D200. The problem was, it didn't, (and still doesn't) exist.

I started to jot this down a couple of weeks ago following the failure of Nikon to announce this product at the September Photo show. Nikon did announce a bunch of other stuff. Just didn't announce the camera I wanted.

After hearing about all the issues with the Hurricanes, I've been considering declaring a market emergency and inviting FEMA in to help get this product to market. Now don't dismiss this out of hand. In the face of inept local officials, the Pres (W) has stated that we should not wait for those local officials to declare an emergency and run in to help. Others have chimed in that we should suspend Posse Comitatus and just have the military run in anytime there is an emergency that the locals are not up to handling. (Of course it would be up to the Feds to decide whether the locals were up to handling things - or not). You all know that I wouldn't go for that.

But I'd still like to help. And I would like to suggest a middle road. I suggest that an independant third party (me) declare the emergency. And while Nikon is an exceptional engineering company - their marketing is at times suspect. So I also declare that the company is not up to handling the release of my future camera.

So: FEMA, any time you're ready....

More Oil?

Courtesy of The Independant:

Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer, and Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company, yesterday declared that the world had decades' worth of oil to come, in an attempt to calm fears about the record prices experienced in recent weeks.

We're subject to the daily indoctrination that there is no more oil. Yet every year, proven oil reserves continue to climb.

Mr Naimi also said that there were "no takers" for more oil right now, as a result of constrained refining capacity. Roughly a quarter of US refining capacity is still shut after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the country's southern coast, but global refining capacity - to turn crude oil into petrol and other products - was struggling to keep up with demand even before that.

It's just those refineries that no one wants to have in their backyard. When the cost of operation makes keeping the darn things open, it's no wonder that their owners shut them down. The declining oil reserves is a myth. And while the oil that's down there may get harder to out of the ground, we are today getting oil that the experts of 30 years ago thought were too hard to get. If you want gasoline - let the risk takers build one.

The media blame game

Not the usual: now it's the broadcasters and mainstream media blaming the "other" media for "blowing the tragety out of proportion." Flipping through MSNBC's Scarborough country on the way to something interesting, I glimpsed an interview with Scarborough, Tucker Carlson and somebody else.

The net of the issue was that the local officials and major media are now denying that there was anything wrong with the local response. Rape? Couldn't have happened. Murder? No way! People taking pot shots at rescue helicopters? Never happened.

They seem to be claiming, if I get this straight, is that since they did such a good job of disarming the people who went into the superdome, that these trageties couldn't have happened. Never mind that the criminal element thrives in when their victims are incapable of defending themselves. Never mind that by most accounts, there was little to no police presence inside th superdome. NO, NO. This never happened because their motives were pure. And surely nothing like that would happen in their little edge of utopia.

Society is and always has been an illusion because men are fallen creatures. We have a sin nature and absent the active intervention of the Holy Spirit and societal pressures, have a tendancy to do whatever WE think is right. Unfortunately, as in the case of New Orleans, there are a lot of people who think that might makes right.

We help our neighbor, contribute to the good causes, and advance the cause of justice - all furthering the illusion of civilization. Not because we think that man is inherently good, but because he is not, and is in desperate need of salvation.

Disaster over oil not quite here.

Despite the perpetual fear-mongering over the state of “fossil” fuels in the world, the Oil market appears to be remarkably stable. Some semblance of a more or less rational market asserted itself in the Sunday trades:

November Brent crude fell 44 cents to $62 a barrel in light trading during a special session on London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE).
U.S. crude oil fell over $1 to about $63.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange ACCESS platform Sunday after tumbling more than $2 a barrel on Friday.

I heard the dire warnings on Friday as I went to work. Gas over $3 a gallon. Maybe $3.50. Planet-wide shortage. Windfall profits.

Fact is on the drive home from work Thursday night I had to go to three gas stations again. First Kroger, then a Texcao, then a BP. There may have been others, but after the first two, I just looked for the sign with the highest price and went there. If I hadn’t been running on fumes, I’d have waited. But a 30 mile commute is a little much for me on a bicycle – I’d rather pay.

For all the mess in the market, at least the market works. There is an upper limit to gas prices, as everyone knows. Or at least should. The only debate is how high those prices are or should be. Between the “non-biological” oil that Russia keeps mining, and the growth of bio-fuels, including E-85 and BioDiesel, there will be more than enough alternative fuels to supply the market if the petroleum market gets very expensive. Some say that we’re pretty much there now. I believe that the premium for bio-fuels is less than a few percent now. And the advantages of the biodiesel are pretty well known, albeit far from publicized.

The hard part is market entrenchment. People are used to buying petroleum products for their vehicles. Once they get past the initial “I’ve never done that before” issue, they make the change. The same thing with the distribution network. It’s the same people, making the same profit. When enough people ask for it, the stations will carry it. All without the “beneficent” government mandating higher fuel costs, or higher car costs.

Illusions of Civilization Redux

Theodore Dalrymple writes in National Review on the Illusion of Civilization.

Pictures of the looting that followed the devastation in New Orleans have been flashed around the world. Everyone is, or at least pretends to be, shocked and horrified, as if the breakdown of law and order couldn’t happen here, wherever here happens to be. Smugness is, after all, one of the most pleasant of feelings; but for myself, I have very little doubt that it could, and would, happen where I live, in Britain, under the same or similar conditions. New Orleans shows us in the starkest possible way the reality of the thin blue line that protects us from barbarism and mob rule.

Guns and Liberty Life

For years I have been told by my "more enlightened" friends that guns are evil. People that own or heaven forbid, should ever use one are either evil, suffering from a deficiency of some sort, or just don't have enough faith or optimism. Living in a civilized society makes the proficiency in firearms, unneeded and undesirable.

The news that continues to come out of New Orleans shows just how inaccurate that sentiment is:

After the storm, the neighborhood association had to act as law enforcement and emergency response unit as city services collapsed and the police force was unable to protect them...
For Harris, the first warning sign came on Tuesday, the day after the storm, when two young men hit his partner, Vinnie Pervel, over the head and drove off with his Ford van.
"A police car drove up behind me and saw it happening but he didn't do anything," said Pervel, who heads the 1,500-household neighborhood association.

We have (accurately) been saying for years that the police are under no legal obligation to protect you or anyone else. The recent melt-down in New Orleans brings to forefront the realization that legal and moral obligations not withstanding, the police were often not able to protect anyone.

Civilization is a thinly held illusion. It is an illusion made real by a complicit people who during the daily routine of their lives; ignore the the un-civil components of socitey. But major catastophies, and Katrina was a biggie, have the uncanny ability to shatter illusions. Simple things like water, a little food, a place to use the bathroom, privacy, and even shelter simply VANISH.

And in that great vanishing act, goes civilization. The story concluded:

"For five days we didn't need FEMA, the Red Cross or the National Guard," Harris said. "The neighborhood took care of itself."

Good thing. Because for five days - they didn't have anybody but themselves.

To say depend upon God and pray is fine and dandy. And the Lord does help those who cannot help themselves. But there is no need to tempt the Lord. Do not depend so much upon his mercy that you ignore his instruction. Carry appropriate arms (Luke 22:36), Provide for your family, (I Ti 5:8), and as the Lord allows, your neighbor (Luke 10:30-37). Regardless of who that neighbor is.

Price control and misery II

Also known as the Windfall Profits Tax rises again.

As if we didn't share enough misery in the 1970's edition: Bills are now being introduced to institute yet another bill that should more accurately be called the "how to create a shortage of gas" Act.

Congress has been busiest of all, conducting hearings, holding news conferences and drafting legislation. One bill being written by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would make price gouging a federal offense and heavily fine violators. Another bill to be introduced in the House will call for increased fuel efficiency, and still another, to be introduced in both houses, would impose a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

The last time we did this we ended up with wonderfully long oil lines, chronic shortages and no incentives for anybody to expand production or capacity since any profits would be grabbed by the governments.

Artificially restricting the law of supply and demand guarantees misery. For those of you who either forgot what PRICE is: price is the value that someone is willing to pay for what it is that you're selling. There are not a few socialist types that believe that price should equal the cost plus a reasonable profit. But this ignores the value of risk, and the realities of life. If the price is too high - nobody will buy. If the price is too low, you will sell out and nobody will be able to buy at any price. Except of course those for those black marketeers who always seem to find those things in short supply - and pay no taxes at all.

It matters not whether the artificial restrictions are voluntary ( like Bill O'Reily advocates), or mandated, as these bills would do. The end effect is the same, not enough supply and too much demand - long lines and shortages.

After two gas stations that had no gas, I was more than happy to pay $.40 more per gallon than I did the week before to HAVE gas so I could get to work. Absent the 40 cent price hike, I'm not so sure that the gas would have been there when I needed it. People were going crazy and the supply was rapidly shrinking.

As anyone over 40 will remember, long gas lines were not fun, not an inconvenience, but a tragedy. A tragety forced upon the populus by an unscrupulous politicians more interested in their own globalistic agenda than the prosperity of the people they were elected to serve.

Human nature will always come out - save by the grace and peace of our LORD. Expecting otherwise, especially from elected officials, is at best; problematic. Giving anyone control over the market is a power too great for most sane men to stand - let alone anyone willing to run for "public" office.

When you close your eyes...

He sounds like a Democrat. So said the press about the other great Republican President TR.

Let me see here. In response to the horrific damage due to Katrina, this President Bush says that we need a greater military role in emergencies, and need to do something about the racism that causes poverty.

For all my very good friends who think that Republicanism = Conservativism; well, some things really don't need to be said do they?

The farce of the "conservative" credentials of this guy is phenominally obvious. Any one who says Bush is a conservative is either: A. a knee-jerk liberal, B. delusional, or C. lying.

In less than 8 years the younger Bush has managed to hijack and derail the conservative movement. As with the Christian Church under Constantine, what Satan could not destroy by outright attack, he achieved via subterfuge and infiltration into the midst of what should be the faithful. In Bush's tenure, we have seen "conservative" Republicans become not the party of limited government, but all powerful government that will only do what's good for you.

Please pray for our country. But when you pray; pray not for W's will, but God's.

Individual Liberty's Obligations

With all the stuff on the radio, news, and blogs today about the start of the Robert’s confirmation hearing, you might tend to think that this is really important. But it really shouldn’t be. The only reason that any one person on the court is so important is due to the ever-widening reach of the government.

I know more than a few who voted for W only because of his ability to nominate a “strict constructionist” to the court. Well, right now it appears that Roberts isn’t, and who knows who the other nominee will be? I think W is probably a better president than Kerry the Demagogue would have been. The pity is that he’s used that power to further erode the liberty of those who elected him.

I suppose that Roberts is a great guy. I’ll even bet that he is remarkably persuasive and intellectually sharp. But these things do not automatically make for a good Justice, or a good Country. Expecting Roberts to save your liberty is at best, a laughable proposition. So long as we continue to elect advocates of even more intrusive government, we will continue to be pinned under their reign.

Consider the now famous Kelo case. (Where Breyer, the other “great intellect” on the court gave what was considered to the be swing vote affirming the government’s right to take what you’ve got for pretty much any reason at all.) Had it not been for the locally elected government’s drive to remove the property rights of those individuals, there would have been no case sent to the Supremes. Who elected that local government? Why, the residents in New London.

The fight for liberty does not begin in the supreme court, but in each of our lives. And it doesn’t begin at the ballot box either. There are daily arguments to be made, whether it be the wanton waste of the government’s response to Katrina, the virtual imprisonment of those evacuees, the moral and practical effect of gun control, the immorality of speech limitations, or the triumph of individual sovereignty. Each liberty loving individual is charged with carrying that message. On a daily and sometimes hourly basis.

It is much like spreading the Gospel of Christ. Where individuals are charged with sharing that good news. Christ came to us; but he did so not to save the corporate “us”, but the individuals who make “us” up. In this, he died for me, for you, and you, etc. Together, we are us.

So work not just to spread the gospel of Christ, (though that is enough; and more than many will do); carry that individuality of Christ’s message to those you meet in all measures, whether with regard to charity, piety, justice, or even private property. As God has chosen to deal with all men individually, ought not we advocate a society and government that does likewise?

So long sweet reason

OK, he wasn't the most reasonable Justice, that title would probably have to go to Thomas, but William H. Rehnquist was a breath of fresh air in the court.

While he was hardly an idealogue or even an originalist, he was remarkably consistent in his application of his judicial philosophy. A hard combination to match these days. Ginsburg, Souter, Kennedy are all either totally lacking in a judicial philosophy, or willing to bend it at will to fit whatever outcome they want to arrive at.

Not long ago, he swore that he wouldn't retire from the court. Once again, he kept his word. So long William Rehnquist. I hope you find rest with our Lord.

GOVT Stupidity Rampant in New Orleans

I wonder what makes New Orleans different from Biloxi and some of the other coastal areas that suffered the same catastrophic storm. By the grace of God, the levee breaks did not begin to be a problem until well after the storm. So why all the human tragety there now. I can't turn on the news on ANY network and get more than a snippet of information about any place other than New Orleans. It may just be the coverage, with the subsequent flooding wiping out the city itself, but I wonder.

The facts as I understand them is:
With 400,000 people in the city, the government provided shelter for a few (10-23?) thousand in the dome. Food? Water? Not really there. And protection from the storm? A little bit. But in order to stay there, they had to give up any means they had to defend themselves (weapons), and when the inevitable lawlessnes broke out among the failure of all the infrastructure, the weak were unable to defend themselves. Assault and rape become common. Two dead.
When the families decided to leave the so called "sanctuary", which had degraded into a cess pool, the government told them that could not leave, they were now inmates! Isn't that lovely. Of course it's for their own good, I'm sure.
Then on the only road out of town, there are police who at the point of a gun tell the people stranded on the bridge headed out of town that they could not leave either. Even though the road was clear, and civilization was within walking distance!
And atop of this; we hear the continual stories of private helicopters being denied permission to land to help rescue people, buses contracted to pick up one group of people being stolen from their owners and used to rescue others. Is it any wonder that people might be a little reticent to help, if they know that as soon as they get there, their property will be stolen and they will become one of those "refugees".
Of course that only works one way. When the goverenment takes your property to help somebody else, it's called "comandeering", but when you take some of the government's property that they have abandonded to help someone, as this kid did, it's called "looting".
Never mind that the good government is too foolish at managing it's own resources to help, as it left it's entire school bus fleet unused. Whether by neglect now, or by institutional stupidity by leaving the buses where they could not be used. The largest single set of assets they government had to evacuate a city with known flooding problems is either not used, or unable to be used because they were stored in a area that flooded! And this is after the disaster plans of 2002 and reviewed last year predicted with remarkable aclarity what would likely happen.

The catastrophe that is now New Orleans is unprecedented outside of a time of war. but the government's actions are only making things worse. Pray for the people, pray for those in authority, but don't ceed more of your authority to those already in power, they have proven that they are far to inept to wield it wisely.