Whilst scrolling through the Sherwin Williams website, dreaming of the just-so golden tan or the perfect dark taupey-gray, I marveled at the names of the colors and the emotions they, the marketing geniuses, seek to evoke through their creativity. They use adjectives such as 'Brilliant', 'Sophisticated', and 'Homespun' and allow one to revel for a bit in the warmth or the cool of a particular hue.

We've all had gray days and we've all had days filled with sunshine but, if you had to pick a color, and name it yourself, for where you are in your life at this point in time, what would it be?

Mine? Perhaps Melancholy gray.

Open thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:49 PM | Comments (438)
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Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the the award-winning AoSHQ's Sunday Morning Book Thread.

Moar Self Defense!

I think my recommendation of a few weeks ago needs to be mentioned again:

One of the unsung heroes of the Zimmerman trial is Andrew Branca, a lawyer in Massachusetts who specializes in self-defense issues. Mr. Branca's law practice is so freakin' awesome that he apparently doesn't have to do any actual work. He is able to sit on his butt eating Cheetos and drinking Dr. Pepper/Valu-Rite cocktails all day long while piles of money arrives at his front door. In between the cash deliveries, he's been watching the Zimmerman trial on his Jumbotron TV and his insights on Twitter have been invaluable throughout the duration: a veritable fountain of facts and evidence, as opposed to the hysterical, low-information screeching emanating from the MSM.

'Struth: if more people listened to Andrew, the less foolishness about the Zimmerman trial would be produced.

Also invaluable is his book The Law of Self-Defense: A Guide for the Armed Citizen. It includes both general information, good for all, and also state-by-state information for the reader to use for his or her specific region.

Currently, it's cheaper on Andrew's website than it is on Amazon, although this may have changed by the time you read this. The Amazon price has been going up and down faster than Andrew's drinking glass. Also, the Kindle price is nearly identical to that of the dead-tree edition. What are they thinking?

Regardless, get a copy of Andrew's book today. He needs to buy a shop vac so he can clean the Cheetos dust off of his office furniture.

[Update - Andy]: Andrew Branca stopped by and graciously extended the offer below to the Moron Horde. I picked the book up a week or so ago and highly recommend it:

147 Hey, that's ME! Haha, thanks for the kind words guys.

In appreciation, I'm setting up a AOS discount code, $10 off and free shipping. Code at checkout is:

LOSD2-AOS

Type it in and press "Apply" and should be good to go. If not working, use contact form on my blog to let me know. www.lawofselfdefense.com

I'm not going to put any number of uses or date limits on the coupon, but as soon as my business manager (e.g., wife) finds out she's going to yank it harder than, well, I actually can't recall at the moment.

--Andrew, @LawSelfDefense, #LOSD2

Never P* Off A Moronette

I'm actually writing this from an undisclosed location. The reason for this is because after I posted the spider pic last week, moronette MWR took out a hit on me, and now there's some wannabe Boba Fett out there skulking about my neighborhood. So I'll be on the down low for awhile. Meanwhile, in order to make up for that, I'll post a more cheerful, happier pic. But what? I know, clowns. Clowns are happy. Everybody likes clowns, right? Happy, happy clowns.
more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:00 AM | Comments (362)
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Stand Your Ground On Stand Your Ground Laws

Charles C.W. Cooke, who is tied with Jonah Goldberg as my favorite NRO writer, has written another enjoyable piece. The topic is the media's current infatuation with Stand Your Ground Laws.

In essence, “Stand Your Ground” is a blanket term for any legal regime in which individuals do not have a duty to run away in the event that they are attacked. In states with such systems, juries are not expected to consider whether an individual could feasibly have retreated before resorting to violence in his defense; in states that do not, juries must inquire as to his chance of safely fleeing. In other words, in most of the country the Castle Doctrine has been extended to the village.

Jacob Sullum of Reason also wrote an article explaining why the Zimmerman case had nothing to do with Florida's Stand Your Ground law.

Andrew Branca Participates On NPR Zimmerman Panel

Andrew Branca, author of the book The Law Of Self Defense, has been covering the Zimmerman trail for Legal Insurrection. Recently, he was asked to participate in a panel discussion on gun rights and the Zimmerman case.

You can follow Andrew Branca on twitter here.

Gun Of The Week

(answer below) more...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:35 AM | Comments (201)
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I was sitting on the floor with my eldest kid sister, watching history. My dad worked for Werner von Braun. Dr. von Braun insisted upon the Americanized spelling of his name.

Brown Engineering.

I was nine years old when I watched this. My father had his hand on my shoulder.. a moment we shared that I will never forget.

The whole world was watching.

It was a mere 66 years from Kitty Hawk to the moon. We live in amazing times.

Also, here's what a 79 year old Air Force pilot does when some asshole calls him a coward and a liar.

God rest Neil Armstrong, who passed last August.

And God rest Gus Grissom, Lt. Col USAF. DFC, Korea. Air Medal w/ cluster for service. Edward White II, Lt Col. USAF. and Roger Chaffee, Lt. Commander USN. These men paved the way with their lives.

And watch your ass around Buzz. He figured out in a pool after his Gemini mission how to walk in space.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:56 PM | Comments (536)
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Yes, another Zimmerman post. But Whittle is always good, and this time he's, how shall we say, en fuego:

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:16 AM | Comments (252)
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I think we now know why La Raza wants nothing to do with standing up for an exonerated hispanic man. Via dri in the sidebar, $300 million in slush funds for immigration rights groups. Cash and political power trumps standing by someone who they're supposed to support. At least according to their website. Are those just words? more...

Posted by: CDR M at 06:17 PM | Comments (676)
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Ripped from the headlines of the Weekly World News!

(Actually, the link is to the Puffington Host)

The 'pink mass' has some, uh, "interesting" liturgical practices:

According to the Satanist Temple website, temple spokesman Lucien Greaves officiated the ceremonies while wearing horned headgear, and then proceeded to put his penis on Johnston's grave.

Hi-larious. This is one of those conflicts, like the 1980s Iraq-Iran war, where it's unfortunately not possible for both sides to lose.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:46 AM | Comments (256)
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On today's episode, Sean Davis (@seanmdav) from Media Trackers joins Gabe, Drew, John and me to discuss stand your ground laws, the Zimmerman trial and the Marissa Alexander case. Then longtime coblogger Rick Tempest joins us to discuss the GOP senators' cave-in on the filibuster, Detroit (speaking of cave-ins) and Liz Cheney's entry into the Wyoming Senate race. That last one takes some interesting turns, so you'll want to stay 'til the end.

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Related posts:
John E. on Marissa Alexander
Sean Davis on Marissa Alexander
David Freddoso on Zimmerman/stand your ground

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John E. (@JohnEkdahl)
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Posted by: andy at 08:34 AM | Comments (192)
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Now with 100% fewer racial slurs than Salon.com.

Posted by: andy at 03:28 AM | Comments (406)
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Lest you people thought yourselves rid of me, I threw together this crapucopia for your bleary-eyed consumption, since I weaseled out of the job last time. Not to worry, though. Your regular contributor to this space will return in due course upon completion of his duties -- which, as I understand it, are of some import. At least that's the impression I got when I received the following email:

Hey, dirtbag.

Do the ONT. I have a thing.

Love,

CDR-M

PERSPECTIVE

As some of you may know, when I'm not slinging hooch down at my local watering hole, I take pictures. And one of the key elements in composing photos is perspective, which also happens to be a key element in navigating life. So, in a sense, photography has a way of helping me to see the world through the eyes of people who experience it differently from the way I do simply because they approach it from a different time and place. As conservatives and libertarians, we're often called upon to try and reason with people with whom we disagree, such as idiots and lunatics. This can be extremely stressful at times, but it helps to keep in mind that those people's perceptions of a given situation are vastly more influenced by the angle from which they view it than they are by the facts surrounding it.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:00 PM | Comments (951)
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