James R. Rummel

I am a self defense instructor who lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Difference of Opinion

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The post I wrote yesterday was entitled “Hope for the Future”. In the post, I stated my opinion that the European Union might not survive.

Fellow Chicago Boy Ralf Goergens left a comment….

“…why did you call the post ‘hope for the future’ when you are predicting the end of the EU? Surely you know that this would be a very bad thing, including the United States?”

If the only purpose for the EU was to increase trade between the member nations and allow them to compete more effectively in the global markets, then I’d have no problem. I also wouldn’t mind if they pooled defense assets and formed something that would be effective. Both developments would actually help the US, since healthy competition is good for business and having an effective military means that the US wouldn’t have to keep paying good money to protect those freeloaders any more.

At least I wouldn’t have a problem if they went about it in the right way, and if they confined themselves to their stated goals.

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Hope for the Future

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Shannon Love has a pretty good post up right below this one, talking about the CIA report which predicts that the European Union will fragment in 15 years unless they do something about their economic woes.

And what caused these problems? A variety of reasons, but the one that could be acted on immediately (and the one discussed in the report) is a welfare system that’s out of control.

Shannon thinks that the CIA is so incompetent that only the opposite can happen. I’m not so sure.

Case in point is this news report, which covers massive strikes and protests in France.

Why are the French so upset? They’re complaining about rather minor cuts that the government has made in their social welfare system They want their undeserved goodies restored, and restored right quick. If they don’t get their way, then the voters might just oppose the EU Constitution which will be put up for a vote in a few months.

It looks to me like the EU is going to go hang, and it’s their own Socialist system that will put the noose on.

But, hey, I’m just a cowboy American. Maybe there’s some sort of nuance that I’m not picking up on.

Slow News Day

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So JibJab has a new flash movie up, poking fun at President Bush’ recent win and the Democrat’s disappointment with same.

Fair enough, but CNN’s Headline News is showing the movie in it’s entirety. They show it right before cutting to commercial, and then they lede with a report about violence in Iraq.

But that’s not really significant because they have a story every 15 minutes about Iraq, all of them negative. (I’m still waiting for them to air a positive report about the situation in Iraq. They might have in the past, but if so then it was so fleeting that I’ve never seen one.) I suppose the big question is why they wasted time with the JibJab movie when they could have devoted the time to yet more items that painted our efforts in a negative light.

No liberal bias to see here. Move along.

Not Again!

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I’ve talked here before about news items that talk about incredibly obvious subjects. Here’s another example. The headline reads ….

STUDY: ELDERLY GAMBLERS MAY BET TOO HIGH

The author points out that retirees on fixed incomes don’t have a, you know, income, in order to take care of debts. If they start to gamble away their nest egg they could be in real trouble.

I’m glad they cleared that up for me. Had no idea.

I think this is proof that journalists might not be stupid, they just operate under the assumption that we are. That’s why they so often come off sounding stupid themselves as they try and cater to the imagined intelligence of their customers.

A Must Read

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The state of Maryland has spent a great deal of money collecting a database of fired cartridges. The idea was that a gun used in a crime could be traced by examining the unique markings left after a gun is fired.

This sounds like a great idea to people who aren’t familiar with the technical side of firearms, and they’ve been very vocal about how the database is worthwhile because it will solve crimes.

Those of us who actually work with firearms on a regular basis have always considered the concept to be somewhat less respectable than those espoused by the Flat Earth Society.

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