Do you have a friend that is not only knowledgeable on a subject but he can talk about it which such grace, you never get tired of listening to him? And even if you happen to have an extensive knowledge on the subject, this guy manages to come up with an important or amusing tidbit of information you did not know before.
The last two books I read on the subject of guns were C.J. Chivers’ “The Gun” and Paul M. Barret’s “Glock” and although informing, I was left with a taste as if I just read an autopsy report on a tractor written by a College Professor. Then again both authors were not “gunnies” and that is what makes American Gun different: It is not just the piece of metal, wood, plastic, etc but the connection to our history and ourselves.
The book was well researched but Kyle did not fall for the trappings of merely quoting or paraphrasing sections to make a point. He did manage to bring that American connection between the man and the gun and how it may have (or did) change our history. From the Marines armed with 1903 Springfields at Belleau Wood and the Boche complaint that “They kill everything that moves” to Texas Rangers power-burning a Comanche attack with the first use of revolvers on a serious confrontation to ANG Sgt. Leigh Ann Heister clearing a road full of insurgents in Baghdad with her M4.
The other great thing about this book is that it is not gun esoteric. No secret words or complicate terms that would confuse the uninitiated. Simple (but not simplistic) explanations are given when needed and the book is written in a way that keeps the interest on both the newly inducted to the gun culture and those who have been threading in its path for a long while. I’d even bet those who have never been interested in guns would find it fascinating and entertaining.
So go get yourself a copy of the book and read it as I am sure you will find yourself saying more than once “Hey! I did not know that!”
Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk away from a 2 day gun class that you’ve paid for? It’s easy to tell people that if the instructor is unsafe, pick up your stuff and walk away. It’s a whole lot harder to do it. On Saturday, I had to do it, and without my brother there I’m not sure if I could have.
Il Capitano Alvaro Spavento (A.K.A. Sean Sorrentino) gives us a hit by miss tale of what a bad instructor does and how pissed one gets when monies have to be wasted because one enjoys the idea of keeping your internal organ and blood within that casing called body.
I know that the perceived wisdom is “those who can, do and those who can, teach” but teaching (real teaching) is very hard to do and just because you wore an uniform and saw action, does not mean you can translate your experiences into teaching blocks to be assimilated by others. And that is if you really “were there.”
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is the new astroturf “grassroots” gun control movement out there. Yes, one tends to be a tad cynic about these things because of what we have seen in the past.
So where does MDAGSA (MDA for short) comes from. According to their own website, their initial name was “One Million Moms for Gun Control” and “formed within 24 hours of the Connecticut elementary school shooting” by Shannon Watts. So who is this person? According to the Huffington Post:
Shannon Watts is a 42-year-old mother of five children (two step-daughters, 23 and 19; two daughters, 17 and 16; and a 12-year-old son). For the past five years, Ms. Watts has been a stay-at-home mom in Zionsville, a suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to that, she had a 15-year career as a communications executive for both public relations agencies and Fortune 500 corporations.
Well hell, she is Suzy Homemaker re-incarnated! You noticed that I highlighted (embolden) a section of the Huff Po profile where it mentions that she is a Stay Home mom because it contradicts what her Linkedin profile says:
VoxPop Public Relations is a strategic public relations agency that helps individuals, companies and organizations accelerate their growth, profitability, reputation and market presence through media relations, product launches, new media, events and promotions, messaging and media training, and issues management.
So the claim that she was basically doing nothing but staying put at home, baking cookies, attending PTA meetings and chasing the neighbor’s dog out of her flower patch suddenly takes a hit by her own words. But things start to get funky. Doing a bit of Google-Fu, the name Shannon Watts does not come associated with VoxPop but the name Shannon Troughton does. In fact, for the rest of the list of institutions where Ms. Watts says she worked, all come back associated with the name Shannon Troughton. Now, she may have had good reasons to change her name, but I am one of those that go by the motto “In God We Trust, everybody else keep your hands where I can see them” so let’s take a look at the other companies she worked for because it shows an interesting pattern: She is not just Suzy Homemaker or some low-grade employee at a small company but a heavy Public relations hitter, savvy on the ways of media manipulation and making her clients look good. Basically she “grows” astroturf for a living.
Vice President, Corporate Communications WellPoint December 2005 – December 2008 (3 years 1 month) Led communications team for the country’s largest health benefits company and provided communications support for the country’s highest ranking female chief executive officer. Responsible for enterprise-wide media relations, including investor relations.
Another fast Google-Fu search gives us an article of sudden insurance claim denied by BlueCross to a 13-year-old boy with heavy brain damage. The spoke-person for the parent company of BlueCross (Wellpoint) is Shannon Troughton. There are over 6,000 Google results for the words Shannon Troughton WellPoint.
Shannon Troughton/ Shannon Watts was also the Director, Global Communications GE Healthcare from 2004 – 2006. GE Healtcare is the $14 billion healthcare (medical diagnostics and devices) business within General Electric, again not your local bake sale to raise funds for the school band.
This one is gonna give the hives to many a Hippie out there. For three years Shannon Troughton/ Shannon Watts was the Director of Global Public and Corporate Affairs for none other than Monsanto. She did her bit defending Genetically engineered crops, fought labeling of genetically engineered products and defended the company’s lawsuits against farmers.
The first entry of her Linkedin is revealing: Five years as Public Affairs Officer Missouri State Government where she worked for Governor Mel Carnahan, the Missouri House of Representatives, and the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Some older heads will remember that Gov. Carnahan died in a plane crash in 2000 during re-election campaign and that his memorial service became a freak show of political speeches and campaign stumping by Clinton and Gore against then Governor Bush and Senator John Ashcroft who was running against Carnahan and were present at the memorial.
OpenSecrets.org shows that Shannon Watts donated to the Democratic Congressional Committee, Barack Obama (7 times) and Rob Zerban who went against Paul Ryan in the 2012 the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin. Yes, had to look the guy up.
So, the initial and very amateurish research tells us that Shannon Troughton/ Shannon Watts is far from the image of a traditional mom who was baking cookies the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary Massacre and she was so horrified by the actions of Adam Lanza that she ripped off her apron and launched herself on to the streets demanding tougher gun control laws. If anything we have here a very experienced Public Relations operative with 20 years worth of experience in manipulating the message.
If all of this has a ring of familiarity to the Old Gunnies, you are right. You might remember Donna Dees-Thomases, founder of the Million Mom March who was also touted as a Suzy Homemaker who after watching on TV the coverage of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting, felt she needed to do something for Gun Control and founded MMM. What was never mentioned by the Media at the time (with the exception of the Wall Street Journal) was that Donna Dees-Thomases was Dan Rather’s publicist, CSB employee and sister-in-law of Hillary Clinton’s lawyer and political confidant during the Whitewater scandals.
Basically it seems that they are back to their old tricks.
ZOMG! New York must do something immediately to eliminate all this gun crime! I don’t know, maybe a new set of laws called SAFE.
“The SAFE Act stops criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from buying a gun by requiring universal background checks on gun purchases, increases penalties for people who use illegal guns, mandates life in prison without parole for anyone who murders a first responder, and imposes the toughest assault weapons ban in the country. For hunters, sportsmen, and law abiding gun owners, this new law preserves and protects your right to buy, sell, keep or use your guns.”
– Governor Andrew Cuomo
So it is not working as good as advertised after all, huh? Maybe if the Mayors of NY and all other big cities get together…. never mind.
Apparently, banging your head against the Wall of Obvious does not hurt. It should.
John E. Holden, alias Jack, took the Deep Six, Monday, May 27, 2013 at the Willow Valley Retirement Community after a life filled with endless laughter and debauchery. While flying his beloved Corsair as a Marine Fighter Pilot during WWII, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his combat activities, the Air Medal for action in Okinawa in 1945 and the Distinguished Fleeing Cross for avoiding numerous women who were seeking child support under unproven circumstances.
God Bless Mr. Holden for both his service to this Country and his humor. And I need the address of the person who wrote the obituary in case I might need his/her services in a far & distant future. 🙂
Since I am totally useless without a mouse, I’ll be taking a break today. Tomorrow I’ll be back with a quick rundown on Moms Demand Action which should be interesting reading about this “grassroots” organization.
Important Note: When cleaning a wireless mouse, it is not recommended to use Shooters Choice Gun Cleaner because it kills the laser thinghie in a hurry.
Do you have a friend that is not only knowledgeable on a subject but he can talk about it which such grace, you never get tired of listening to him? And even if you happen to have an extensive knowledge on the subject, this guy manages to come up with an important or amusing tidbit of information you did not know before.