re: "Worst Kept Secret"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy!") harbors his suspicions about "Fast and Furious."

Money quote(s):

"(A)nti-gun activism is a proven political loser. It turns off the constitutionalists who look at the 2nd amendment and say, well: That’s rather clear. It turns off the folks living in neighborhoods edgy and otherwise, who’d like the option to defend their lives and property when the bad man comes. Knowing, as they do, that when the bad man comes and seconds count, the police are only minutes away. It turns off the working class that the liberal left pretends to care for, in a paternalistic way. And of course it turns off gun owners and enthusiasts across the political spectrum, who believe – among other things – that the last defense against tyranny of whatever flavor is an armed populace."

Naturally, ideologies or political movements which act to promote an unarmed (or disarmed) populace should be viewed with extreme suspicion.

"Heretofore I was willing to apply Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Now I believe we have to consider both malice and stupidity." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

UPDATE: As most within the milblogging community will already be aware, longtime and well-respected milblogger Lex passed away earlier this week, the sole casualty of an aircraft crash in California.

We only met the oncet, briefly, at a milblogging convention a few years ago when I was between overseas assignments. Nearly all our interaction was "virtual." So I have little in the way of adding to or polishing his legacy.

A glance at my sidebar tag list of "Labels" shows more than 30 incidences of Lex and Neptunus Lex. That essentially means I excerpted from and commented on at least that many of his thoughtful and well-expressed posts.

As an old "spook," let me assure readers that while my online reading is wide-ranging and somewhat eclectic, if I'm linking to you or mining your blog that many times then you just may be on to doing something right. When I "stole" from Lex, I was stealing from the best. His surviving wife and family have my sincere condolences.

Fair winds and smooth sailing, Captain Carroll LeFon, USN (Retired).

12/8

re: "Errors Were Made"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy!") posted as good a recap of why this is important as any I have seen.

Money quote(s):

"In the era of the Soviets, reforms were quietly enacted by bureaucrats with the concession that “errors had been made” by their predecessors. It was a nifty way for current party apparatchiks to distance themselves from policies that had resulted in the death of millions, while attempting to reassure citizens that things were now in good hands.

Of course, the new gang would end up being pretty much the old gang, and errors would continue to be be made by the nomenklatura."

All that studying on the habits and habitats of our onetime enemies is still paying off. Nomenklatura indeed!

"(T)he Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms – which many wags have said ought more to be a privately owned convenience chain than a federal office – allowed the sale of AK-47s through known gun runners to Mexico in order to round up the “big fish” south of the border, irrespective of how many “little fish” had to pay with their lives." (Bold typeface added for emphasis. - CAA.)

"(T)hings got serious when US Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed by a weapon sold to southron drug cartels by agents of the US government.

It’s hard, in modern times, to imagine a policy more deliberately amoral."

As they say, it's all fun and games until somebody (on our side) gets hurt. Of course, if your agents and employees are just pawns, you know, the sort of people who didn't go to the right schools, then eggs and omelets, right?

"(S)enior US officials – including SecState Hillary Clinton – were using the reality of such activity as an ostensible reason to burden the legal purchases of firearms to law abiding US citizens.

Hanlon’s Razor applies: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”"

Hard to believe Sec. Clinton, who is way too smart to be tarred by this brush, would have been stupid enough to become incriminated, er, involved. If you follow the embedded link you find that her statement had much more to do with drugs than with guns.