The Adventures of Citizen X: Recent Comments

Comment on Complete Lawlessness

melinda — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:15:27 GMT

Poor Nixon is probably spinning in his grave. If only he'd had better attorneys and advisors...

Comment on Don't Worry, Be Happy

Sheryl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:15:57 GMT

good to see you back Citizen X! once again you made a valid point

Comment on Complete Lawlessness

Citizen X — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:50:19 GMT

Comment on Complete Lawlessness

melinda — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:48:19 GMT

Sounds like a win/win situation for President Bush and the telecom companies. Bush will not be tried in court for any impeachable crimes he may have committed and the telecom companies have immunity from any civil actions being filed against them. Let's not forget either that any information gathered will not be exposed since no trial means no evidence being entered. The public will never have access to the information that has been collected under electronic surveillance. Hopefully our government has a safebox to keep it all in.

Comment on Down with the Nanny State

Sheryl — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:15:45 GMT

I agree about avoiding socialized medicine. I lived in Canada for 3 yrs and had to endure it. All it seems to do is make everyone think they should go to the doctor for any little ailment forcing those who are really in need of care to wait.

Comment on Bailing Water Out Of The Sinking Ship

Sheryl — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:27:08 GMT

you make alot of sense in this.after the stimulus checks went out it was said that our nations debt increased.I didn't even get to save the money since I had to use it to pay bills.I would love to save more but since my job only pays 10.30 an hour after almost 8yrs, it's almost impossible to raise kids in this economy and save money.

Comment on Life in the Fast Lane

Gorax — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:49:49 GMT

All things considered, can't fists be considered "assault weapons" as well? I mean, you can assault people with your fists, right? (Now that I think of it, aren't people allowed to bring fists on airplanes? OMG!)

Loaded language makes me want to bang my head against the wall repeatedly. This is probably why I loved George Carlin's piece on soft language so much. (Warning: the link contains some vulgar language.)

R.I.P, George Carlin. You will truly be missed =(

Comment on Life in the Fast Lane

Ezra Smack — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:08:03 GMT

As most of us are aware, liberals tend to appeal to peoples emotions rather than using facts, reasons or logic to sway peoples opinions on gun issues.
One of the most effective ways of eliciting an emotional response this is to use "loaded" words and phrases.
Certain words have negative connotations that invoke an emotional response.
"Assault weapon" is a term with a strong negative connotation. This phrase carries the presupposition that these weapons are suitable only for committing a criminal assault. Our enemies in Congress knew what they were doing when they named the Assault weapons bill.
Using loaded language to exploit the subtle shades of words meanings, neutral or even pleasant things can become unpleasant. Conceder the difference between:

fragrant vs smelly, a mobile home vs a trailer inexpensive vs cheap, challenged vs retarded.

Using this method it's easy to take something as innocuous as your scoped mini 14 ranch rifle and turn it into a high capacity semiautomatic assault rifle with no legitimate sporting purpose, the weapon of choice of disgruntled snipers.
Suppose you read a news story that starts with the phrase "disgruntled former employee". You immediately start thinking "Another nut goes on a murderous rampage" simply because you have heard that word used so many times in that context even though the word disgruntled simply means disappointed and unhappy.
Even a purely technical term like "semi automatic" can evoke negative emotions in uninformed people whose primary exposure to that term has been in connection with story's about crime and mass murder. Semi-automatic might as well be
"Evil high tech killing machine" because that's what they hear.
Now how can we counter this? Let's look at some facts and reasons.

Since the invention of the musket, men have endeavored to make firearms more accurate, handier, faster to load and to increase the number of shots.
Muskets have to have long barrels to get even marginal accuracy. With the advent of rifled bores, this was no longer true. Although long barrels were retained for military rifles because no one wanted to give up the extra reach they afforded in a bayonet charge. Also, with iron sights the farther apart they are the more accurately they can be aimed.
Now days bayonet charges are no longer in vogue and improved sighting systems make long cumbersome barrels unnecessary.
Traditional firearm stocks were made of wood. With the development of synthetic stocks more ergonomic shapes evolved. pistol grip stocks feel more natural to many but were difficult to make out of wood which tends to split along its grain. That's not a problem with plastic.
Since the invention of the self contained cartridge faster and easier ways to load have evolved. Semi automatic operation and detachable magazines eliminated down time.
To put it all into perspective, these so called assault weapons are simply
MODERN FIREARMS.

Comment on The DC Gun Ban Pandora's Box

Ezra Smack — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:09:09 GMT

The high court's "interpretation" is that we may keep arms in our homes. Now, what about the next two words "and bear" arms? Suppose I wish to walk down the street with a holstered pistol?

Comment on It's Time America, Stand Up and Be Counted

melinda — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:02:55 GMT

The wait is over. Our leader is here.