Late last week, an Oklahoma resident, was put in the unenviable position of having to defend her life and property with deadly force.  From the transcripts of the 911 operator (here):

RESIDENT – “Oh crap he’s coming around the front…”

911 -  “Is your front door locked?”

RESIDENT – “Yes ma’am but it’s only got a lock on the handle.”

911 – “Okay, do you have a place inside your house and lock yourself in a room?”

RESIDENT -  “Uh, not really.”

911 – “He’s trying to come through the front door.”

RESIDENT – “i’ve got a big shotgun. I’m not going into a tiny bathroom…”

RESIDENT – “He’s walking around the house trying to find a way in…”

RESIDENT – “Oh crap, he’s at the back…”

911 – “Okay , (unintelligible) is advising that you can defend your property if you need to.”

RESIDENT – “Alright he’s at the garage.”

911 – “He’s at the garage? Is it attached to your house?”

RESIDENT – “Nope, he’s at the patio door again.”

911 – “I can hear him banging again.”

RESIDENT – “I don’t want to have to kill this man, but i’ll kill him graveyard dead ma’am.”

911 – “I understand.”

RESIDENT – “Alright.”

RESIDENT – Oh crap he’s breaking in. he’s breaking in now, he’s breaking in now. He’s breaking the window, i’m going to kill him. He’s walking back and forth on the porch. He looks to be an older man, I don’t want to kill him. He’s kicking the door please hurry. He’s going to make it in please hurry ma’am. I think he’s drunk . He doesn’t know where his pickup’s at. God I don’t want to kill this man.”

And the entire horrible ordeal can be listened to here (careful):

While I’m sure nothing I could say would give this women any consolation at all and I do indeed believe that even the justified taking of a life is something we should naturally avoid, I hope that one day she can reach the conclusion that she acted upon her rights as a human being to defend herself.

& just maybe, rabid gun control advocates can use this as well.  Maybe they can use it to question cease the belief  that laws like carry concealed will result in wild west shootouts on the freeway or that gun control can actually saves lives.  Unlike the straw men built by those against concealed carry of the crazy gun totting neighbor,  this woman was sincere and morally torn.

Indeed, unlike many myths about our neighbors, humans simply aren’t as flippant of other human life as some believe.

So for those who tend to fear allowing concealed carry, please take this as an opportunity to understand the real grief law abiding gun owners go through when forced to the ultimate defense.

With that, a quote from Thomas Jefferson on the right to bear arms:

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

For Veteran’s Day today, we honor the warrior.  That person willing to sacrifice so that others can live in peace, even though some of our greatest thinkers only view war as complete folly.

Let’s start with a very short sighted and simplistic quote from Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948), “Non-Violence in Peace and War”:

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

According to this logic – if a totalitarian regime invades a free country, the free country should just take it, because war will be worse regardless of the victor…  Not only that, but from just a strict critical thinking view, you never limit your options even in your speech as it constrains the possible outcomes.

Irregardless, for more sense on the subject, John Stuart Mill:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

& in some ways, there you have the debate still raging today between those who think all war can just go away and those who understand the true hell of war, but are able to sometimes see the necessity.

For those brave enough to see the necessity, take some time out to thank a vet today.

For those unwilling to see, I feel sorry for you.

This week – good libertarian-ish quotes:

The difference between libertarianism and socialism is that libertarians will tolerate the existence of a socialist community, but socialists can’t tolerate a libertarian community. – David D. Boaz (1997)

We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. – Winston Churchill (1903)

If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves. – Thomas Sowell (1992)

Whoever prefers life to death, happiness to suffering, well-being to misery must defend without compromise private ownership in the means of production. – Ludwig von Mises (1920)

As the state grows, one’s sense of self-ownership is destroyed, liberty is traded for “security,” the human spirit diminishes, and the citizenry increasingly thinks and behaves like dependent children. –  Eric Englund in  Income Taxes, Obesity, and Other Maladies of Nanny Statism

With my track record of keeping schedules, this might the first and last Random Quote Wednesday, but in today’s society my intent is seemingly more important than the results.  So if this is the last installment, I still get an A for effort.

Irregardless, during lunch today I was discussing interesting quotes, quips, comebacks, and even in one case, almost a partial quote.

Partial Quote First:

Towards the end of Albert Einstein’s life, he began working furiously to disprove some of his own earlier work as it lead to the beginning of quantum theory.  In a debate between Mr. Einstein and immense genius Neils Bohr, Mr. Einstein was explaining his objections to the probabilistic nature of quantum theory, versus his beliefs in a more deterministic.  His life work of finding that elusive theory of everything, he couldn’t bring himself to believe in a chaotic or random system.  To that end he stated confidently:

“God does not play dice with the universe.”

Which is a quote that a lot of people have heard before.  The better quote from this exchange however belongs to Mr. Bohr who replied:

“”Don’t tell God what to do with his dice.”

From there, in my random, ADHD way, this lead to me think about other good comebacks or quips in history starting with President Ronald Reagan whose quick wit verged on genius.

Even in trying times he seemed to have his wits about him.  While going into surgery following the assassination attempt, he looked up to note he was surrounded by surgeons to whom he stated:

“God I hope you’re all Republicans.”

At a better time in his administration he used this humor very well.  During one press conference he was being pushed hard by a certain young white house correspondent, Sam Donaldson (here):

“Mr. President, in talking about the continuing recession tonight, you have blamed mistakes in the past and you have blamed the Congress. Does any of the blame belong to you?”

To which Mr. Reagan quickly replied:

“Yes because for many years I was a Democrat.”

For one of my all time favorite exchanges though, enter Milton Friedman.  As one of the most influential thinkers of this century, he pushed for school vouchers, for less regulations, against price & wage controls, and other topics.

One of those topics he successfully argued in Congress was to end the draft.  From LibertyUnbound (here):

…Friedman not only solidified the verdict against the draft; he vigorously defended it in congressional testimony. He had a famous confrontation with Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of the forces in Vietnam. Friedman tells it in “Two Lucky People”:

In the course of his testimony, he made the statement that he did not want to command an army of mercenaries. I stopped him and said, “General, would you rather command an army of slaves?” He drew himself up and said, “I don’t like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves.” I said, “I don’t like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries.” But I went on to say, “If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general; we are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher.” That was the last that we heard from the general about mercenaries….

This was in 1966, where actual logic and rationale could have a real impact, regardless of “whose team” said it first:

…In December 1966, when the Vietnam War still had the strong support of the American public, the University of Chicago held a conference on the draft. There were 74 participants. Friedman was there, and spoke against the draft, as did economist Walter Oi. Several politicians were there too, including Senator Edward Kennedy and a young Republican congressman named Donald Rumsfeld. Also anthropologist Margaret Mead, who favored the draft. In his and his wife Rose’s autobiography, “Two Lucky People,” Friedman wrote:

I have attended many conferences. I have never attended any other that had so dramatic an effect on the participants. A straw poll taken at the outset of the conference recorded two-thirds of the participants in favor of the draft; a similar poll at the end, two-thirds opposed. I believe that this conference was the key event that started the ball rolling decisively toward ending the draft….

That’s all for this inaugural installment of Random Quote Wednesday.   Please feel free to share interesting stories and quotes from history.

PS:  For any Anita Dunn fans – I will not quote mass murderers with admiration nor ever refer to any dictator as one of my favorite philosophers.