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Gun ownership is on my mind because I was just reading this (apparently arbitrary) list comprised by the Jane's Country Risk in which nations on our planet are rated according to quality of life, with "1" being very best and the fartherst from "1" being the very worst, and the United States of America is ranked beneath the "top ten best" because, so it is opined, America has a lot of guns. So according to this study: a lot of guns = America, bad.

As to that list, I was a bit grateful, what with the likes of the Vatican (it's a country unto itself, after all) England, Sweden, Liechtenstein and a few other places ranked higher in quality of life than the U.S.A. because maybe that will mean more exploiters eager to exploit will go to these other nations and leave us alone. If they're scared off by too many guns in the hands of too many American citizens, then, well, fine, please go try being an illegal alien in Liechtenstein -- or, rather, let the rest of us see just what happens when twenty million people from Mexico arrive in Liechtenstein or England or Sweden and start asking for a place to live and a car loan and free educations and lunches and healthcare for themselves and their ten children each. I can think of more than a few English and Swedes and a number of Swiss (next door to Liechtenstein) who would be first in line at every gun show in the next few weekends and that'd be for just their first round of home gear. Oops, guns, illegal in England, sorry, Brits, let's see how the British government responds to your cries for help because it didn't work out too well for us early Americans. Which is why we all now own guns, or, most of us.

The Gadsden Flag

Then there's this very, very amusing, good-points-made blog post from Glenn Beck: DON'T MESS WITH GLENN.

It starts out laughably funny and gets even better toward the end.

Here's the beginning:

GLENN: Now, here's another thing that happened over the weekend. I don't know what you did over the weekend but I spent, well, a good portion of Friday night locked in the basement of my fallout shelter -- no, my fallout shelter has a basement as well. Just in case the fallout shelter isn't enough, I have a saferoom in the fallout shelter. But we heard noises outside and may I just say that my house is really not the one to, you know, get -- you know, come in and just mess with because I turn into Second Amendment man at my house and it was like 1:00 in the morning and we heard voices and my wife says, do you hear voices? And, "Yes. " And the dog is already on it and I mean, I come down with the -- what are those called? Bandoliers? I come down the stairs, I swear to you, I looked like Rambo. I come down the stairs with my dog and, you know, I had two pistols because I was -- I had two pistols, I had my shotgun. Nobody's coming into my house. Nobody is messing with my family. And so the dog and I, we search the whole house and all the closets and everything else and then they -- then we heard voices again. About a half hour later we hear voices again. So I have the whole house wired for sound. So I can hear it down in the basement of the fallout shelter. And we hear voices again and so I call the police. They are on their way over. I mean, it was like, it was the fastest thing ever. All of a sudden they are almost here. They are like 45 seconds away and they call and they're like, are you armed? And I'm like, yes, I am. Oh, yes, I am...

And here's the end:

...I love this. I see this. This is an editorial in today's USA Today. This isn't 1787. The opposing view editorial by Gun Owners of America and its opposing view Second Amendment debate on Wednesday. It's utterly laughable. Although the review is unduly restrictive, attorneys say people need to keep and bear arms in order to prevent the government from becoming tyrannical is preposterous. This isn't 1787. It's 2008. We have gotten over our fear that our government is going to follow that of King George III.

No, we haven't. It's gotten worse. Is anybody -- I mean, is anybody -- they are not afraid? Really? That's the consensus out there? That the government isn't grabbing up too much power, that the government -- I mean, this is coming from the left, not necessarily from the right. Now it's coming from the right as well. But everybody was -- everybody was screaming, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, Homeland Security, the PATRIOT Act, what, are you crazy? You're going to let them have all of that power? That's too much power, that's intrusive, that's infringement of our rights."

The left has been screaming that the government is getting out of control. Now the right is screaming that the government is out of control. That's one thing America agrees on! Our government is out of control, and what does this pinhead want to do? Take away guns. Take away the guns because, quote, "Even if the military were to turn against us, the idea of a bunch of private citizens subduing the armed forces is too comical for words." Oh. Well, then we just give up. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. .

I mean, what, are you insane? Every time a government takes away the guns, every time they take away the guns, crime gets worse, gun crime, violent crime gets worse and it usually ends up, I don't know, with the death of millions. I mean, protect the homeland, man, protect the home front. Protect your own family. And also, have the right to protect yourself against the government. I mean, that's last on a long list of things, for the love of Pete. But you know what? When the government -- if the government would have said to me, if the police would have called and said, "Are you armed right now?" "Uh-huh." "Well, you know you are not supposed to have that gun. We're supposed to confiscate all those guns." "Well, then I regret calling you and you probably shouldn't come onto my property as well." I mean, come on. What, you're going to take on the police force? No. No, I'm not going to take on the police force because I think most people in the police force agree with me, that the arm -- that citizens, responsible citizens armed is a good thing. It's the criminals that are a bad thing. I haven't met the cop that says, oh, jeez, if we could just get all of the guns out of the hands of the good guys. I don't know the cop. Oh, I'm sorry. Adam just informed me, "You're right, the chief of the Philadelphia police force," which, no, that will fix it. That will fix Philadelphia, yeah, get the guns out of the hands of the good guys. Yeah, that will be -- isn't this the same chief of police that was saying, "Hey, do we have any volunteers that want to help me out? Because we're out of ideas." He actually asked for volunteers, a citizen force which, if I may just say, it's not 1787, is it? Do you know why the militia clause is in the Bill of Rights? Do you know why it's in the Second Amendment about the militia? Do you know what a well regulated militia is? We look at that and say, "Oh, well, that's just the state, that's like the National Guard." No, it's not. Ben Franklin was the one who started the first militia. And the reason why he started it is because Pennsylvania said, oh, we can't afford troops. Troops, guns? Gunpowder? What? And Ben Franklin was like, hello, the Government's out of control. You know, we have nobody protecting the homeland here and the British are going to come in and they're going to stomp on our heads; we probably need to have, you know, I don't know, some troops. Oh, that's crazy talk, we can't have any troops. That's too expensive.

So what did he do? He went door to door. He was a popular guy. He's the guy that got the first public hospital built. How did he get the first public hospital built? With his influence. He said, you know what? He said, you know what? Hey, rich people, why don't you kick in some money; let's build a hospital. He's also the guy that started the militias because while he cared about the poor, he also cared about the poor. And when the British -- you know, when he knew things were coming, he said -- and then he went to the government and said, "Hey, guys, Pennsylvania, let's, what do you say, we have some troops." Oh, no, that's crazy. Okay, he went door to door. He started a campaign. "You know what, citizens, who's with me? Who's with me?" He went door to door and he said, "Grab the gun that's over your fireplace and come with me." That's what a militia is. A militia was your neighbor, somebody who says, you know what, I got my hunting rifle; nobody's going to mess with me; this is my town, this is my property. That's what the militia was. That was the original intent. It is because he couldn't get the government to do anything. They couldn't get the government to organize anything. So don't even start with me. And whatever you do, don't TP the trees in my house. I'm just sayin'. Not a good idea. Not a good idea.

The pool in Palm Springs in this verra, verra hot place: a face in the water -- see this version for helps; fantasy is a by-product of the hot sun and cool water, in various combinations.

The weather people say Palm Springs, CA -- "today" -- is to be "108 degrees" but I assure you, just yesterday and already today at this hour, it's well over that. More like 120 degrees, maybe more.

Something about the desert and a private pool, something about the place makes the rest of the world seem absurd, now more than ever. Examples of the reading after which I dive into the deep water, and why I try to stay underwater as much as I can for a long while afterward:

-- July 28, 2006 -- TONY Snow is still a rock 'n' roll animal. The White House press secretary, a classic-rock freak, got a visit there on Wednesday from his old pal Ian Anderson, the zany, flute-playing frontman of Jethro Tull. "I've played with Ian on stage before," Snow told us. "I actually taught myself to play the flute by listening to Jethro Tull albums"... PAGE SIX

All I can think of is "Oscar" in ARMAGEDDON...and this is whom represents our White House before the world's media? Why not just get Jethro Tull? Or, better, hire Owen Wilson to recreat the role of Oscar Choi -- at least we'd have the assurity it was a paid performance, not that we don't already, and we'd have better entertainment for our dollar.

Woe as to the Cult of Personality.

-- Rupert Murdoch declaring his support of John McCain astounds me. Murdoch, an intelligent man, supporting such an unsound character as McCain -- his ethics are unsound and that reveals either wrong intent or unsound reasoning, or worse, both. In McCain's case, I think it's both. How many people are aware that McCain -- throughout all his years in public office -- has never, not once, visited wounded, injured veterans in the state of Arizona? McCain, supposed wounded war hero, and Arizona, the state that has elected him (yet no one I know can identify anyone IN Arizona who has voted for McCain, among Republicans), and nary a visit to any veteran's hospital or ward by McCain throughout his terms in office.

Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...it isn't.

-- Human Events Online, a website I subscribe to as to columns and newsletters (and which I read regularly, or try to) presents a lineup of bloggers which the site titles "Conservative Blogs;" and reading through that list I can readily identify numerous socially liberal authors and their sites (some exceedingly so, to the point of negating conservative opinions) and as with the other media sources and/or personalities I mention here, I wonder if it's me who is underwater or if, in fact, the media blitz by undefined interests that is all wet.

What there ARE among that group of blogs wrongly identified as "Conservative Blogs" by HEO are "open borders" proponents, people who are on-board with the White House (and McCain and Ted Kennedy's and Michael Bloomberg's) concepts of economic desperation and expoitatiion. For those who aren't on board with that in that group, there are a few actual Conservatives included among the rest who are social liberals engaged in self-promotion and a lot of that is made possible by for them, by influences higher up the media chain than us mere single authors blogging.

There is as much a Cult of Personality now present among the alleged "Right" political spectrum as there ever was (and remains) among the Left. But, worse, the alleged Right is misrepresented (and promoted, intensely of late, it appears) by liberals, liberals all. I'd never describe Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch nor most on that list of "Conservative Blogs" as conservative -- they can use the term all they want but it's like describing the Guerilla News Network as being "academic" or even "moderate."

And John McCain is no more "Right" than he understands what representational government is. No, it's a cult presentation, the Cult of Personality that lacks relevant substance in political terms and, worse, even promotes counter-purpose (McCain says: "the country will fall apart without [name your must-need here -- in McCain's case, it is ongoing access to illegal immigrants that he thinks is imperative inorder to avoid "the country falling apart" -- I can barely believe his radical distortions]). And, in comparison with other individuals that the country might promote as President, to focus on McCain is certainly a darker stare, darker in the psychological-spectrum sense.

How can Murdoch be so fooled? Or, is Murdoch part and parcel of that which is fooling? ("I think he would make a fine president," Murdoch incredulously stated in support of McCain, who I would not trust to be president of China). These are reasonable questions, given media presence personalities, and need to be asked. More importantly, they need to be answered.

I take refuge in JACKIE GLEASON'S "THE BEST OF" caressing the intensely hot desert air, comforted to hear that someone still understands clarity and truth of tone, was sincere in their message, truthful to it. Or did, or was, in Gleason's case: certainly the finest big band orchestration ever was done, and, the most evocative. If only Gleason had blogged. But then, I'm getting ahead of myself.

At RAND, in their media "Hot Topics", not so much as a mention of, not even a 'related issue' reference to, illegal immigration and/or border security. To read RAND's list of "Hot Topics," it's as if the border and border-related threats and illegal immigration just do not exist in the public discourse.

Or, ALL HOT AIR OFTEN SMELLS BAD.

From MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA, the story of CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck being bold enough to go where most in primetime never do: straight to the essence of spin and then around and around it in emphasis of what it means to be dizzy, and, in the case of Al Gore's movie, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, the defining facts that might have made him truthful had he minded them but which have instead shown him to be dizzy because he didn't.

"BECK ON AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH : 'IT'S LIKE HITLER'"

BECK: So, if you look at this chart, you will see the CO2, and it mirrors the temperature. Now, what I find interesting about this chart is CO2 seems to naturally go up by itself. Hmmm, I don't remember those 200,000-year-old cars; I think Henry Ford wasn't around yet. I don't know if Fred Flintstone actually did have a car, but apparently, according to this chart, somebody was driving around in a car or an airplane. Maybe it was Al Gore giving the frickin speech at Stone Age colleges. I'm not sure, but it definitely correlates.

Now, what happened where this thing falls apart -- and it won't for most people who go to this movie -- is he then projects what's coming. Again, it's the projection that's the problem. See, when you take a little bit of truth and then you mix it with untruth, or your theory, that's where you get people to believe. You know? It's like Hitler. Hitler said a little bit of truth, and then he mixed in "and it's the Jews' fault." That's where things get a little troublesome, and that's exactly what's happening. Now, if Al Gore's projection is right about the CO2 level going as high as he says it will, then the temperature here on planet Earth will be about 400,000 degrees. We'll be the sun; we'll be the frickin sun. But that's a huge "if'."

Read the article, watch the video...

Interesting:

"SAUDIS PLAN TO FENCE OFF BORDER WITH CHAOS"

Isreal built an effective border security construct and continues to work on completing an even more profound wall.

China built an effective (and extensive) security wall and did so long ago without benefit of modern industrial tools and materials.

But some in the U.S. claim a southern border security wall is "too difficult" to build, that the southern border is "too difficult" to monitor, that the notion isn't "practical" or "possible." Mexico's Vicente Fox thinks the idea is "disgraceful and shameful" but Fox's batting average and these opinions, when compared with those by the majority of American citizens, are poor-to-zero.

"Too difficult/disgraceful/foretaboutit"...those are poor statements as to undermining of American vision, faith and capability. The American people are in majority support of building a security wall along our southern border and some are even beginning to construct one. Washington needs to be held to task as to who, exactly, they are representing in office.

"TIME POLL: AMERICANS BACK BORDER FENCE, DEPORTATIONS AND DENYING BENEFITS (to illegal aliens)"