EckerNet.Com

As the online representative of the Minnesota Militia, I\’ve been informed that we\’ve been deficient in our duties as a \”militia\”, especially given the political climate we find ourselves in.  Apparently we\’ve fallen severely behind in our quota of violent hate-mongering, a quota assigned to us by the liberals and the media (Edit : apologies from the Department of Redundancy Department).

I\’ve given the matter all the time it deserves, which regrettably took up all the time I had allocated for waterboarding myself.  Regrettably we\’ll have to deny our supposed obligation to violent outbursts and inappropriate hate-mongering.  You see, we\’re just these guys, you know?  We\’d much prefer sticking to our hobbies, such as camping, hunting, snowmobiling, sharing a frosty beverage, etc.  We stick to our strengths.  Especially since there already groups of people inclined to let their passions run away with their sensibilities, some call them liberals, I call them nuts.

Either way, their exploits are vast and varied…and usually very under-reported, except perhaps by bloggers more commited to truth than bias.  An example of just a few…

• It was not the fear of conservative violence that caused Ann Coulter’s speech to be cancelled this week.
• It was a liberal who bit the finger off a man who disagreed with him on healthcare.
• It was Obama-loving Amy Bishop who took a gun to work and murdered co-workers.
• Joseph Stack flew his plane into the IRS building after writing an anti-conservative manifesto.
• It was liberals who destroyed AM radio towers outside of Seattle.
• It’s liberals who burn down Hummer dealerships.
• It was progressive SEIU union thugs who beat a black conservative man who spoke his mind.
• It’s doubtful that a conservative fired shots into a GOP campaign headquarters.
• In fact, Democrats have no monopoly on having their offices vandalized.
• Don’t forget it was Obama’s friend Bill Ayers who used terrorism as a tool for political change. SDS is still radical, with arrests in 2007 and the storming of the CATO Institute in July 2008.
• It was a liberal who was sentenced to two years for bringing bombs and riot shields to the Republican National Convention in 2008.
• It was a liberal who threatened to kill a government informant who infiltrated her Austin-based group that planned to bomb the RNC.

The list goes on and on and on and on.

We all have our strengths.  I just wish that liberals would stick to their other strength, incoherent hypocritical rambling

Between my sometimes bizarre behavior, my affiliation with shady characters like the MN Militia, and my affinity toward firearms, it was something people have long suspected.  Now it\’s official.  According to the criteria set forth by the incompetent omniscient Department of Homeland Security, I\’m officially a terrorist.

I got the certificate and everything!

So, in light of this new title I have a few questions.  I mean I not Muslim, so I\’m wondering if those 72 virgins are simply a denominational promotion or if it\’s more global.  Limiting it would be kinda discriminatory I would have to think.

Assuming I still qualify for this promotion I\’m curious about the pre-requisites.  Is martyrdom a concrete requirement or is it more the thought that counts type of thing?

Those that have read some of my more personal posts will have noticed I make references to the MN Militia on occasion, and those that haven\’t read this blog for a long time probably aren\’t completely sure what I\’m referring to, and that is completely my fault.  It\’s an inside joke, which has never been adequately explained and probably very easy to misinterpret.

To be clear the MN Militia is simply a reference to a group of very close friends of mine.  The guys hunt, drink, camp and snowmobile together.  The wives do scrapbooking and naked pillow fights or whatever it is women do together.  We spend holidays together.  The name came from one of our hunting trips, in fact our first prairie dog hunting trip, where not knowing what to expect and how to prepare, we each brought virtually every firearm we owned and quite a few thousand rounds of ammo apiece.  When unloaded we resembled a militia invading the Dakotas, hence the name which now serves as a convenient anonymous nickname for a group of friends whose activities are occasionally mentioned here.

So while by no means am I truly part of a militia, in the normal sense of the word, having used it on multiple occasions on my blog without adequate explanation has produced some rather interesting results.  On a fairly regular basis my site gets hits from people searching for \”Minnesota Militia\” or some variation.  And it\’s fairly common for me to get the occasional email about it.  Some of them are innocent emails inquiring what I meant.  Others are……well, less innocent.  Fortunately none have creeped me out enough that they went anywhere beyond my own inbox.

However, I have noticed a trend…the pace of those emails has increased and it\’s clear a growing number of people are at least interested in the concept of militias, and some are actively seeking them out.  Back in 1995, Glenn Reynold, not yet of Instapundit fame, wrote an article on the rise of the militia movement and the motives/rationale for that movement.

Although many militia supporters can quote the framers at great length on the right to bear arms, few seem aware that the framers also put a lot of effort into distinquishing between legitimate revolutions-such as the American Revolution-and mere \”rebellions\” or \”insurrections\”.  The former represented a right, even a duty, of the people.  The latter were illegitimate, mere outlawry.  The framers developed a rather sophisticated political theory for distinquishing between the two.

The most important aspect of this theory was representation.  Those who were not represented lacked the citizen\’s duty of loyalty.  A government that taxed its citizens without representation was thus no better than an outlaw, and citizens enjoyed the same right of resistance against its officers as they possessed against robbers.

But revolting against taxation without representation is not the same thing as revolting against taxation, period.  Like it or not the government we have now is the government that most citizens at least thought they wanted.

Glenn goes on into more detail, describing the sutle details and how they relate to our current situation, but that\’s the basic upshot.

So I understand the interest in militia, trust me I really do.  I symphathize with the raw emotion that inspires the fears and worries that fire that interest.  But I don\’t find it difficult to argue that now is not the time.  In fact, Mitch Berg, as is his habit, wrote a very well supported argument along these same lines.  Read the whole thing for his other points, but the end result is this…

The point being that, so far, the Obama Administration isn’t the worst thing our constitution, our economy and our society has faced – yet.  And while the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and the Founding Fathers well-recognized the possibility that Americans might need to throw off another tyranny someday, this isn’t it.

Not yet.

It’s a big government, and it’s getting bigger.  It’s a not-ready-for-prime-time government, run by a lot of very canny people who buffaloed a lot of our nation’s not-too-bright with a lot of breezy platitudes, and which rode to office on an almost-but-not-quite-unprecedented wave of discontent with the status quo.  It’s a government full of poltroons and ideological three-card-monte sharks.  But it’s not a communist dictatorship.

It was elected, for better or worse.  And we have three years and eight months to make the case that it should be thrown out of office and – this is the important part – nobody’s changing that.

So what does all this mean…well as Mitch already quotes…

As Douglas Adams said, “Don’t Panic”.

[Crossposted at True North]

Welcome to another year EckerNet readers.  Good to have you in what is apparently my 7th year of blogging.  Hope you all had an enjoyable and safe New Years celebration.

Myself and the rest of the MN Militia took a year off from our customary celebratory plunge into a hole in the ice at a nearby lake on midnight.  Instead, as our own 50¢ prepared for his second deployment to that big sandbox, we decided to do a more traditional gathering.

Although so as not to completely forget our roots, we did try to do our best to recreate the polar bear plunge using the resources available to us.  That\’s 50¢ showing off his desert climate training.

Photo may be NSFW for some anal employers.

New studies show that a stinky fart is just the bodies way of keeping your blood pressure low.

The new research found that cells lining mice’s blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents’ blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is “no doubt” produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.

“Now that we know hydrogen sulfide’s role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension,” said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.

In related news, the Drunkguy division of MN Militia Inc has announced the upcoming release of it\’s new blood pressure medication, tentatively named \”Seven Meat Chili\”.  Extensive tests of a less potent variation of the medication have resulted in very large releases of hydrogen sulfide.  The medications benefits are greatly increased when combined with copious quantities of beer.

This new seven meat chili is likely to gon on sale soon by MN Militia members near you.

Tonite, myself, the girlfriend and several other folks from MN CD2 GOP will be attending the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner Fundraiser.  Amongst others we\’ll get to hear from Norm Coleman, John Kline and Rudy Giuliani.  Should be a great chance to listen to some great speakers as well as kick back for a relaxing evening with some of the other folks who collectively help keep CD2 a well-oiled machine.

Even better is that I\’m pretty much calling it a week, because I\’m leaving straight from the dinner to head out to western MN to join the rest of the MN Militia to hunt the elusive ring-necked pheasant.  Hmmm…I wonder if my suit&tie would make good hunting attire??

Cya…

Cya Monday….but while I\’m gone keep voting for me!

Yes, I have returned.  Myself and several other members of the MN Militia just got back from several days of hinting in the NoDak badlands/desert.  We figured it necessary to stage this trip since one of our members is preparing for another deployment (currently to Iraq) and he\’ll probably miss next year\’s trip.  He demonstrated his shooting skills were definitely up to the task.  However, I sincerely hope, and I\’m sure both him and his wife/family agree, that he never has use for them.

But even in it\’s own right it was an enjoyable trip.  Middle of what is essentially a desert shooting at prairie dogs from 300 to 600 yards away with a 30+ mph crosswind.  It seems they\’ve gotten a bit skittish from being shot at all summer so combined with the conditions I won\’t pretend we put much of a dent in their population but it was good fun anyway.  Except for the rattlesnake.

Having returned and finally gotten cleaned up, it\’s time to catch up with the world.

New Orleans is under water again?? You don\’t say.  Who could have seen that coming?  I\’m so glad we spent millions of tax dollars rebuilding a city that was guaranteed to be destroyed again soon and which contributes virtually nothing to the nation with the notable exceptions of copious amounts of most of the seven deadly sins, and a few sins that haven\’t even been invented yet.

GOP convention is going on, albeit in a very abbreviated format.  I\’ll be participating, so to speak, for the rest of it.  I hope to relate my experiences here but we\’ll see what I have time for.

Palin has been picked as VP.  I think I\’m damn near required to comment on that but it\’s now old news having been announced as I was on my way out the door.  But we\’ll see.

Other than that the world is pretty much as I left it.  Which is nice that it can survive without me.

The MN Militia held their annual retreat in honor of Memorial Day.  It was well attended and considered a success.  It also means I\’m exhausted and from a quick glance at the news it appears it was a busy weekend both nationally and locally.  Unfortunately, I just don\’t have the time or energy to do any serious thinking at the moment.

Go enjoy some of the previous STP posts instead….but I\’m back so yeah….

Kevin is being sent on temporary assignment to northern Minnesota to study this think called \”Global Warming\”. The study mostly consists of the Minnesota Militia traversing hundreds of miles of snow looking for signs of this mysterious phenomena.

Five Sleds? Check.

Five riders? Check.

Muffpots? Check.

Kidney Belts? Check.

Beer? Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Snow? Check.

Open Trails? Check.

Willingness to have a freaking blast? Check.

Alright, let\’s go out and check out this global warming thing. If I\’m not back by Monday, wait longer….I setup a bunch of posts to auto-publish, so you shouldn\’t miss me at all, not that you really would.