Another one....I had no idea it was THIS BAD in Wisconsin

[hillbilly]

I swear.

The amount of whiny, bed-wetting columns I've read from Wisconsin newspapers about the NRA convention just staggers me.

I see more skillful writing in second and third rate college newspapers.

And I say this as someone who's been a journalist, a college journalism instructor, and the facult adviser of two different collegiate newspapers.

Good Lord........


http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/smith//index.php?ntid=84638&ntpid=1


Lampert Smith: NRA card in my warm hand
Susan Lampert Smith
[email protected]
MILWAUKEE - I am the NRA. Really!

I had to join the National Rifle Association Friday to get into the "acres of guns and gear" exhibit at the gun group's annual convention.

Figuring it will be a cold day here in Liberal Hades before the NRA ever brings its national convention to town, I headed down Interstate 94 to check out a different culture.

Was it worth it? Totally. I picked up enough pro-gun freebies and gear to annoy all my liberal friends back in Madison.


It's easy!

Post your views or read others' opinions



For my vegetarian boss, there were copies of Ted Nugent's cookbook, "Kill 'Em and Grill 'Em." For my dad the municipal judge, a bumper sticker that reads "Soft Judges Make Hardened Criminals." I'm keeping the mini-Glock keychain and the bumper sticker with the classic Charlton Heston quote: "From my cold dead hands."

I now know where to buy camo nighties and thongs in the mossy oak pattern. They're from "The Formal Sportsman," located, most excellently, on Chippendale Lane in Port Matilda, Pa. For the gents, the company offers camo tuxedos and camo dress shoes to ease those painful occasions when dressing up is required.

I think the "Got Sig?" women's T- shirts would solve the Downtown Madison mugging issue. Those thugs would think twice if they thought Badger co-eds were packing Sig Sauer handguns. Of course, this assumes the thugs:

A) Can read.

B) Know what a Sig is.

As I listened to my radio on the way, conservative talkers Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner assured me that there would be no safer place in the world than downtown Milwaukee with 60,000 NRA members, "Freedom's 2nd Army," on the watch. Earlier, Madison talker Vicki McKenna said that despite what we in the liberal media will tell you, there are no freaks at an NRA convention.

Is she right?

Sure, as long as your idea of normal is a crowd that is 100 percent white, mostly older, and mostly male.

I attended a different convention at the Midwest Express Center exactly a year ago. The Milwaukee Bead and Button Show was an estrogen-fest of women pawing over displays of expensive shiny things. This weekend's NRA trade show was a testostorone-fest of men pawing over somewhat larger and more expensive shiny things.

The main difference is political. About as mean as it gets at a bead show are T-shirts that read, "Not Tonight Honey, I'm Beading."

But at the NRA event, I was greeted by Del Ellefson a "Washington County Republican" wearing an anti-Gov. Jim Doyle placard. Inside, the NRA was giving out dump truck stickers that read "Dump Doyle." And there was former Milwaukee Sentinel food editor Lee Aschoff wearing a denim shirt that read "Dump Doyle," on the front, and, on the back, "and Baghdad Russ, too."

Wow, don't see many of those in Madison.

Around 2 p.m., we all trooped over to the U.S. Cellular Arena to see Ted Nugent open the convention.

Behind me, three men expressed their admiration for the rocker-hunter-gun lover from Michigan.

"Wouldn't want to be a liberal around him!"

"I think the John Birch Society is too liberal."

"I'm to the right of the Spanish Inquistion."

Were they talking so loud because they could tell I was from Madison? Did I give off Liberal-aroma? Could they smell vegan bratwurst on my breath?

At the Arena, I was glad that no one knew that the last show I saw there was the anti-Bush Dixie Chicks.

I watched NRA president Sandy Froman, who looks like a fourth-grade teacher in her pretty flowered scarf, introduce the crazed looking Nugent. As he ripped into the National Anthem on his Tony-the-Tiger striped guitar, I recalled the last time I saw him live: 30 years ago at Bicentennial Fest at the Rockford Speedway. Who knew he'd become a law-and-order type?

And who knew Nugent would become the answer to the trivia question: Who uttered the naughtiest word ever said over the airwaves of Wisconsin Public Radio? Larry Meiller still chokes when he talks about it.

My reverie ended as Nugent hit the last chords of "The Star Spangled Banner." Suddenly, I realized that I was the only person in an arena filled with flag-wagging, gun-loving people who did not stand, with hand over heart. Suddenly, I felt thousands of glaring eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a little less safe in downtown Milwaukee.

I slunk out a side entrance and didn't relax until I crossed the Dane County line.

Cross-cultural visits are nice, but I feel safer among my own.

Contact Susan Lampert Smith at [email protected] or 252-6121.

 

[hillbilly]

Here's a message I just sent to this "journalist" at the email listed at the end of her article.



I just read your account of going "undercover" at the NRA convention.

I am shocked.

If your views are typical of the outlook from Wisconsin, then I'd say Wisconsin has to be amongst the most insular, sheltered, and out-of-touch enclaves in all of the United States.

If you had done the exact same article, only you had gone to a hip-hop concert, and substituted "young black men" for gun rights supporters, you'd have been called out, righteously so, for being ignorant and bigoted.

If you had done the exact same article about a gay rights rally, and subsituted the words "homosexuals" for gun owners, you'd have been called out for being homophobic and bigoted.

Only it's still politically correct to apply stereotypes to gun owners, right?

I'll bet you've never even heard of the followng groups or people, have you?

http://www.pinkpistols.org/

http://www.tenthcavalrygunclub.org/

http://www.blackmanwithagun.com/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=140000845&cpage_id=140001490&def=1

http://www.pinkpistols.org/newspapers/free-market-net.html

www.jpfo.org

Of course you havent.

You don't have to know about these folks.

You're too busy feeling comfortable among your own kind, which is apparently comprised of the self-righteous, the smug, and the bigoted.

 

[Monkeyleg]

"Sure, as long as your idea of normal is a crowd that is 100 percent white, mostly older, and mostly male."

I don't think he went to the same convention that I did. (I saw many different races and ethnic groups there, a goodly number of young people, and I fell in "lust" with untold numbers of young women ).

 

[Old Fuff]

My reverie ended as Nugent hit the last chords of "The Star Spangled Banner." Suddenly, I realized that I was the only person in an arena filled with flag-wagging, gun-loving people who did not stand, with hand over heart.

Says something about liberal Madison values vs. NRA people doesn't it? Apparently she doesn't know that most Americans stand up when the National Anthem is played. I learned that in grade school, but the school obviously wasn't in Wisconsin.

 

[Strings]

I'm with you, Dick. Even recall mentioning something about it during a smoke break...

 

[lamazza]

I thought the show was very tame. I was expecting antis rallying in the streets.
Kinda surprised she forgot best give-a-way there,the Rock River Arms air freshner

 

[Aguila Blanca]

E-mail sent:

Dear Ms. Smith:

I just read your disgusting article. I guess I belong to a minority -- I am a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, American Army veteran. I am old enough to remember when EVERY American was taught -- and expected -- to stand, face the flag, and put their hand over their heart when the national anthem is played or sung. I still belong to professional associations (not military) that begin every meeting by reciting the pledge of allegiance.

You wrote:

> My reverie ended as Nugent hit the last chords of "The Star Spangled
> Banner." Suddenly, I realized that I was the only person in an arena
> filled with flag-wagging, gun-loving people who did not stand, with
> hand over heart. Suddenly, I felt thousands of glaring eyes.

Small wonder you felt thousands of glaring eyes. Grow up, woman. Even people of your political persuasion commonly stand for the national anthem at sporting events. Don't you EVER venture into the real world?

 

[hillbilly]

Here's the response she sent me, word for word.

"Thanks for writing. Most readers found it humorous. Maybe you have to leave here."


I think she meant "live here." But perhaps this is a Freudian slip?

hillbilly

 

[Live Free Or Die]

...Vicki McKenna said that...there are no freaks at an NRA convention.

Is she right?

Sure, as long as your idea of normal is a crowd that is 100 percent white, mostly older, and mostly male.

Ok, I understand she's trying to be funny. Obviously she's not doing a very good job though. Is she saying that a group of mostly older white men are considered "freaks?" How is that funny?

 

[Monkeyleg]

"Is she saying that a group of mostly older white men are considered "freaks?" How is that funny?"

Aside from the fact that the writer is completely wrong, old white men are the only demographic left that can be insulted in the press without somebody starting a riot.

 

[grampster]

Dear Susan,

Men with guns gave you the ability to travel at will, to speak your mind without threat of arrest, to try and be funny by mocking (certain) folks who enjoy the same freedoms as you, give you the freedom to make the choices you do without having to look over your shoulder, read what you want; when you want, and in the end allow you to hide behind their camo'd legs when the goblin is trying to get you.

Cordially,
"grampster"
Older white male
Life Member, NRA



PS: My dad, who died at age 92 in 1999 once told me that the NRA was one of the reasons why America won WWII. (He was a decorated combat veteran and POW) While he was in German custody he had long conversations with his captors. They related that they were very fearful of Americans because of their ability and marksmanship with firearms. The reason they were is that there were thousands of NRA sponsored clubs that taught our young me how to handle, shoot and take care of firearms safely. That great organization still does. Check out the Eddie Eagle program, among others. Why don't you try and find out what the real NRA is before you criticise its members.

Well, the above is what I sent her.

 

[Koobuh]

"Thanks for writing. Most readers found it humorous. Maybe you have to leave here."

I'm pretty sure she was telling you to leave Wisconsin, Hillbilly. Since you don't 'get' her sense of humor... that is, share her opinion 100%.
One more stick on the fire.

 

[GrammatonCleric]

My response

"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries."

The above quote is a verbatim copy of my email response to this ignorant troglodyte. I know it's pretty juvenile of me, but I have to do my best to laugh this sort of idiocy off.

 

[Low-Sci]

Being from madison...

I have to let y'all in on a little secret: That columnist, relative to her peers and the other people you hear any given day, is a moderate.

She's actually a little to the right of most in my experience, in that she's attempting to joke in good nature for maybe half of it instead of outright decrying it and exclaiming shock and hatred and all those other things that the accepting, loving, liberals really stand for. Try reading the UW Cardinal sometime.

Around here people are proud of calling themselves "progressives" in the same spirit as Bob LaFollette.

But for those of us who know better, "liberal" has been divorced from "progressive" for quite some time now.

 

[hillbilly]

In the last few days, I've read five columns all from Wisconsin newspaper, all about the NRA convention.

Four of those columns have been of the worst hyperventilating, bed-wetting kind.

But the fifth one I found today, is actually the only one that's not fearful and quaking. This guy does not come across as a shrieking bliss-ninny, despite his ironic name.


http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=5770



MILWAUKEE — Halfway is not the NRA’s way. That much I gathered Saturday during my visit to the group’s national convention at the Midwest Airlines Center.
In the exhibition hall there was big, like hunting knives the length of my forearms. And there was small, like the intricate one-third-scale guns the Miniature Arms Society had on display. David Kucer showed me a photo of a miniature Colt .45 next to a dime. The coin was only a hair smaller.
Kucer said it takes him as much as 400 hours to complete one. They’re made with the same materials as their full-size cousins, and they’ll even shoot tiny ammo — although the buyers have to find it somewhere else.
There was serious, like the place that sold fanny packs, vests and purses with specially sized slots for a concealed weapon in areas where that’s allowed. And there was silly, like the booth that sold chess sets with outdoors themes. The one pitting elk hunters versus deer hunters was my favorite. Imagine moving the king and queen around the board in majestic blaze orange.
There was an embrace of politicians, like the handful who got mentions during the group’s banquet for advancing its causes. Or Teddy Roosevelt, the president who seemed to turn up in some form in every aisle. The Doug Turnbull Restoration booth offered a very limited edition replica of the rough-ridin’ president’s Winchester Model 1876 as part of a $28,000 package.
Then there was a complete disdain for other politicians, most often Gov. Jim Doyle.

With my shooting career on hold since the grade-school summer day I failed to clip a single skeet pigeon, I don’t track gun legislation too closely. So the fliers and books aiming to expose an overarching conspiracy to disarm average citizens sounded a bit paranoid to me.
I stopped to talk to Eric Obermeyer, a Racine native, at the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association booth. He seemed like a reasonable guy, so I asked him if the slope really seems that slippery.
Law enforcement types confiscating guns after Hurricane Katrina caught the NRA’s wary eye, he said, prompting its push to keep it from happening again.
I told Obermeyer I see the distinction between John Q. Hunter and John Q. Looter, but is such a strong reaction required when we may never face a situation that chaotic again?
“As soon as you say something can never happen, then it does,” he said.
Anyway, he said, there’s more to the NRA than lobbying. He meant the training programs, but I also saw booths with NRA insurance agents and travel agents.
Nobody remarked on my name. Considering the other Michael Moore’s dealings with the NRA produced “Bowling for Columbine,” I was surprised.
Hollywood did have a presence. R. Lee Ermey, who’s got a show on The History Channel, signed autographs and posed for pictures. To me, he’ll always be the ultimate drill sergeant from “Full Metal Jacket.”
I was tempted to walk up and request he bark “WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION?” into my face. Probably the wrong setting for raised voices.
Ermey was a real-life drill instructor, but he was outranked Saturday. Gen. Tommy Franks spoke at the group’s banquet.
Franks, who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the first stages in Iraq, had a touch of Southern self-deprecation. But his tongue has stayed sharp in retirement. He said he was thrilled to be among “people who actually know the difference between citizens and criminals” as well as between “a semiautomatic and an assault gun.”
“Between the arrogance of the East Coast and the West Coast, there is a population that gets it,” he said.
I pictured him chewing the arrogance out of some private.
Finishing up, Franks said, “No matter which side of the political aisle you find yourself on, get that sticker on your car that says ‘Support the troops.’ ”
There’s a good spot to meet halfway.

Mike Moore’s column runs three days a week. He can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or by e-mail at [email protected]

 

[ball3006]

So, she didn't stand for the.....

National Anthem..............'bout says it all.........chris3

 

[AJ Dual]

Wisconsin would probably be a junior version of Illinois if it weren't for one thing. There are two liberal cities that try to dominate the state's politics instead of just one.

In Illinois, despite the nominal capital being Springfield, the state is clearly run, albeit by proxy, from Chicago. Wisconsin is a mildly schizophrenic mix, leaving out the hard-core urban liberals, the rest of the state, suburban and rural, is dominated by easy going, nominaly socialy conservative people, who have a very gnerous dose of midwestern generosity and kindness, which creates a progressive tradition that the liberals can exploit.

Fortunately for the middle-right majority of the state, the two competing cities, Milwaukee, the largest, and Madison, the capital, have two competing forms of liberalisim.

Milwaukee's is the traditional, and more cynical poverty-pimping variety of urban liberalisim, with a side-dish helping of it's waning blue-collar union base. Whereas Madison is more of the "Berkley" brand of liberalisim, bean sprouts, socialisim, and tie-dye…

The two different brands of liberalisim keep them from being the powerful voting block they could be, and allow the smaller communities, rural areas, and the large Milwaukee suburbs that currently posess the economic zeitgeist to prevail, if only partialy. This dynamic is what keeps Wisconsin from being a lost cause, and why things like our CCW legislation very, very, close to passage.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

For what it's worth, I received a reply from Ms. Smith:

You sound like an angry person with guns. Just what our country needs.

She gets right to the point, doesn't she?

My response:

In fact. Ms. Smith, I am a minister, and those who know me know that I am anything BUT an angry person.

However, having had my father and 4 uncles serve in WW2, my grandfather in WW1, and myself in Vietnam, all to defend your right to speak and write foolishness, it would seem to me that the very LEAST you could do is not make fun of people who respect the flag of the country that defends your freedom to make a fool of yourself in print. Weren't you taught to stand for the national anthem when you went to school? Haven't you ever attended a high school, college or professional sporting event? It isn't ONLY the NRA convention that plays the national anthem, and people actually do stand for it, and cover their hearts, in other venues.

I suppose you meant your column to be satire, but to those of us whose lives were (and are) at risk your comments were grossly insulting and demeaning.

But I do thank your for the courtesy of replying.

Regards,
___