My apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Isn't brainwashing prohibited by the Geneva Conventions as a form of torture? I thought that Progs were AGAINST torture???
Oh, that's riiight. You have to break a few eggs to make a good omelet.
Oh, that's riiight. You have to break a few eggs to make a good omelet.
Breitbart.com has uncovered video from 1995 of then-U.S. Attorney Eric Holder announcing a public campaign to "really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."
"We want to have as part of the anti-gun initiative bill an informational campaign to really change the hearts and minds of people in Washington, DC., and in particular our young people. They are saturated in the media and in entertainment or by the entertainment industry with violence and I think that too many of our young people, particularly our young men, are fascinated with violence and, in particular, fascinated with guns.
What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns,
especially young people, and make it something that’s not cool, that
it’s not acceptable, it’s not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in
which we’ve changed our attitudes about cigarettes. When I was growing up, people smoked all of the time -- both my parents did -- but over time, we changed the way people thought about smoking and now we have people, who cower outside of buildings, smoke in private and don't want to admit it. Um, and that's what I think that we need to with guns...really change the way people think about guns.
Now, this is not something that's going to be very easy to do because we are fighting something, quite frankly, that appears everyday on the television, on the radio, in our popular music, in movies that these kids are exposed to. It will be an effort that will entail this that I am not familiar with. I think that I am a pretty good lawyer, but I, we need to get innovative, creative things that are going to grab the attention of these kids and really change the way, as I said, that they think about guns. So, what I've asked is that the creative community in Washington, the ad agencies that create these snappy ads that
make me buy things that I don't really need to devote that talent in a more constructive way so that we can get at the minds of these young people.
In this informational campaign, I've also called upon newspapers and the television stations to devote
to us time and space so that we can get these ads and so that we can use these spots and not to give us 1, 2 o'clock in the morning when no one is watching, but to give us time when people, particularly young people, are watching television so that when they are watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or Martin or whatever else they watch...and, yeah, I watch them every once in a while...so that they will see these ads and be grabbed by these ads.
I've also asked people, who have influence over youngsters, entertainers, athletes, to be involved in this programme, as well, nut not only them, community leaders, Jesse Jackson, Mayor
Marion Barry, people with credibility with young people should be on the television, on the radio, and telling these youngsters that it is wrong to carry a gun and that if you have information about people who are carrying guns that you need to share that with Chief Thomas and his people, as well.
I've also asked the school board to make a anti-gun
message a part of every day some kind of anti-violence, anti-gun message. Every day, every school, and every level. One thing that I think is clear with young people, and with adults as well, is that we have to be repetitive about this. It is not enough to simply have a catchy ad on a Monday and then only do it every Monday. We need to do it everyday of the week and brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.
We also want to have a hotline that we will set up and have the number of that hotline emblazoned in their minds so that when they see a gun or become familiar with the facts of a gun crime, they would call that hotline and pass that information on."
- Eric Holder, Women's National Democratic Club, 1995
The revelation that Holder wanted to “brainwash” people into being “anti-gun” appears to be supported by what Congress and the American people have learned about Operation Fast and Furious.
"This
year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilised nation
has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more
efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
- Adolf Hitler, 1935
Now, a word from our Founders:
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole
people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave
them." - George Mason, Co-author of the Second Amendment
During Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution,
1788
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to
have occasion for them." - Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796.
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species
of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body,
it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with
the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no
character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of
your walks." - Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785.
"We established however some, although not all its
[self-government] important principles . The constitutions of most of our
States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise
it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in
electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury
of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they
may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right
and duty to be at all times armed." -
Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of
arms." - Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the
people themselves …" - Richard Henry Lee, writing in Letters from the
Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.
"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons.
They are left in full posession of them." - Zachariah Johnson, Elliot's
Debates, vol. 3 "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the
Adoption of the Federal Constitution."
"[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being
armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other
nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with
arms." - James Madison,The
Federalist Papers, No. 46.
"To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used
at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders
of towns, countries or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution,
and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a
dissolution of the government." - John Adams, A Defence of the
Constitutions of the United States 475.
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be
disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in
America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the
people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops
that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at
the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive
to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy
will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which
appears to them unjust and oppressive." -
Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal
Constitution (Philadelphia 1787).
THE SECOND MILITIA ACT OF 1792
"That EACH AND EVERY FREE ABLE-BODIED WHITE MALE
CITIZEN of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of AGE
OF EIGHTEEN YEARS, and under the age of forty-five years"
Reichskristallnacht was 74 years ago. Stephen Halbrook’s
2009 article in the St Thomas Law Review details the close connection between
the disarmament of the German Jews and what came next. From the conclusion:
Over a period of several weeks in October and November 1938,
the Nazi government disarmed the German Jewish population. The process was
carried out both by following a combination of legal forms enacted by the
Weimar Republic and by sheer lawless violence. The Nazi hierarchy could now
more comfortably deal with "The Jewish Question" without fear of armed resistance
by the victims.
It may be tempting to argue that the possession of firearms
by the German Jews would have made no difference, either in the 1938 pogrom or
later in the Holocaust, when the majority were deported and then eradicated in
death camps. Yet. this fatalistic view ignores that the Nazis themselves viewed
armed Jews as sufficiently dangerous to their policies to place great emphasis
on the need to disarm all Jews. In 1938, it was by no means certain that Jewish
armed resistance movements could not develop, and even less certain that
individual Jews would not use arms to resist arrest, deportation, or attacks by
the Nazis.
Consistent adherents of a “Never Again!” policy – which
assumes that what has happened in history, could again happen – would seek
policies to help ensure that it does not indeed occur again.
That brings us back to Alfred Flatow. [The article provides
a case study of Flatow, a Jewish veteran of the German army, who competed for
Germany in the 1896 Olympics.]
What if he – and an unknown number of other Germans, Jews
and non-Jews alike – had not registered his firearms in 1932? Or if the Weimar
Republic had not decreed firearm registration at all? What if the Nazis, when
they took power in 1933 and disarmed social democrats and other political
enemies, or when they decided to repress the entire Jewish population in 1938,
did not have police records of registered firearm owners? Can it be said with
certainty that no one, either individually or in groups small or large, would
have resisted Nazi depredations?
One wonders what thoughts may have occurred to Alfred Flatow
in 1942 when he was dying of starvation at the Theresienstadt concentration
camp. Perhaps memories of the 1896 Olympics and of a better Germany flashed
before his eyes. Did he have second thoughts, maybe repeated many times before,
on whether he should have registered his revolver and two pocket pistols in
1932 as decreed by the Weimar Republic? Or whether he should have obediently
surrendered them at a Berlin police station in 1938 as ordered by Nazi decree,
only to be taken into Gestapo custody?
We will never know, but it is difficult to imagine that he
had no regrets.
Here's some data that I've accumulated on foreign gun laws over the
years. If anyone has anything to add or change, leave a comment. I am
sure all of us would like to know what is going on elsewhere.
Switzerland has the second highest gun ownership rate of all
industrialised countries behind the US. 22% of all households have fully
automatic weapons. The gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even
kept. The country has a population of 6 million, but there are estimated to be
at least 2 million firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and
500,000 pistols.
In the US, 60 million (or less than 20%) of the population
own 200 million guns. In Switzerland,
there are less guns per capita, but VIRTUALLY EVERY HOME HAS AT LEAST ONE
WEAPON.
Now, get this:
The army sells a variety of machine guns, submachine guns,
anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers and cannons. Purchasers of
these weapons require an easily obtained cantonal licence, and the weapons are
registered.
Besides subsidised military surplus, the Swiss can buy other
firearms easily too. While long guns require no special purchase procedures,
handguns are sold only to those with a Waffenerwerbsschien (purchase
certificate) issued by a cantonal authority. A certificate is issued to every
applicant over 18, who is not a criminal or mentally infirm.
There are no restrictions on the carrying of long guns.
About half the cantons have strict permit procedures for carrying handguns, and
the other half have no rules at all There is no discernible difference in the
crime rate between the cantons as a result of the different policies.
Thanks to a lawsuit brought by the Swiss gun lobby,
semi-automatic rifles require no purchase permit and are not registered by the
government. Thus, the only long guns registered by the government are full
automatics. Three cantons do require
collectors of more than 10 guns to register.
While there are around 200 million guns in the United
States, only about 20% of Americans own guns.
There may only be 2 million guns in Switzerland, a country of 6 million
people, but nearly EVERY household is armed.
Look at school shootings:
#1. Erfurt, Germany, 2002, 18 were killed.
#2. Dunblane, Scotland, 1996, 16 kindergarteners and their
teacher were shot.
#3. Winnenden, Germany, 2009, 15 murdered.
#4. Columbine, 1999, leaving 13 killed.
#5. Emsdetten, Germany, 2006, 11 murdered.
Germany has very strict gun laws. In fact, the German laws
are far stricter than existing gun control in the US, or the restrictions that
are routinely discussed here. Germany has strict licencing and registration
requirements. Valid licences expire after 3 years. To even get a licence,
people must past background cheques that include a demonstration of
characteristics such as the subjective "trustworthiness" and convince
the authorities that they have an urgent necessity for a gun. Of course,
Germany also has requirements against licencing alcohol or drug addicts, those
with mental disorders, people with violent or aggressive tendencies, and felony
convictions.
The UK has the strictest gun laws in the world
and we still have gun crimes. Primarily, they are spree killings like that
occurred in Cumbria. Of course, since
the UK is the most violent country in the EU, those meanies are redesigning the
pint. Why? Because pint glasses lead to
5,500 stabbings in pubs every year. Have pint glass, will kill!
MORAL OF THE STORY:
MORE GUNS DO NOT TRANSLATE INTO MORE GUN CRIMES
MORAL OF THE STORY:
MORE GUNS DO NOT TRANSLATE INTO MORE GUN CRIMES
This was from an Australian writer:
America, don’t repeat Australia’s gun control mistake
After the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, media hysteria and
bipartisan political support for punishing gun owners increased. As a
consequence, our gun laws were tightened.
We could have all responded like rational human beings and
grieved for the deceased (35 in all). Instead, militant anti-gun activists
viewed the massacre as an opportunity, and set out to punish freedom.
Hitler supported gun control. So did Stalin. Still, our
activists were bent on portraying the gun-tolerant United States as the real
menace. “Australia doesn’t want to end up like the Wild West,” went one common
argument.
Yet, in 2011, I’m compelled to ask: When will we learn from
our mistakes and admit we were wrong? And I ask this question because many
Australians are victims of violence. In contrast, for criminals and their
enablers, “gun control” is the gift that keeps on giving.
Take Melbourne, Australia’s second most populous city.
Between January 16, 1998 and April 19, 2010, 36 criminal figures or partners
were murdered during the Melbourne Gangland Killings.
Alas, family environments, from businesses to parks, were
drawn into the mess.
The passage of gun control laws fueled our illegal arms
market, and gun-hungry gangs multiplied. The significance: many gangland
deaths/wars involved bullets. The tribal fights exploded after the Port Arthur
massacre-inspired gun laws, against mainstream media predictions.
Continue reading:
http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/19/america-dont-repeat-australias-gun-control-mistake/
3 comments:
And it worked so well...
...someone remind me: Is this government by Saul Alinsky, or Sancho Panza?
(Additional thought) Kidding aside, there's a demonstration of a mindset here. Those who haven't worked in the private sector tend to wildly overestimate the impact of marketing communications.
Look at the quote: "...that make me buy things that I don't really need." The assumption is that people are easily buffaloed by whomever wields the levers: "All we need is the right message," remember?
Heh. If only.
An interesting letter in the Australian Shooter Magazine this week, which I quote:
"If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq Theater of operations during the past 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.
The firearm death rate in Washington , DC is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period. That means you are about 25 per cent more likely to be shot and killed in the US capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the U.S., than you are in Iraq".
Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington
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