Dealing with the Million Mom March

Million Mom March organization says it's not dead :-(

Welcome Million Mom March participants!
Congratulations on following the advice of Sun Tzu's Art of War ("Know your opponent, know yourself, your victory will never be in danger.") But am I really your opponent, and do you really know yourselves? YOU ARE BEING USED. Click on the link above.

Dealing with the Million Mom March / Bell Campaign Hydra: The Strategy

In Greek mythology, the second Labor of Hercules (shown at left, wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion, which was his first Labor) was to kill the Lernian Hydra, a monster that grew two new heads for every one that Hercules chopped off. Hercules' nephew Iolaus cauterized the severed necks with a torch as Hercules cut, and this put an end to the monster.

My original (March-April time frame) for dealing with this monstrosity was to chop at the heads with leaflets like this one, which were (hopefully) to be given to Million Mom March participants by the Second Amendment Sisters and similar groups. However, the Million Mom March's own alleged misconduct in other matters exposed it to the strategy shown in the picture, and described below.

• Hercules (severing the heads; unlike the Hydra, the MMM has trouble growing new ones)
• Letter for distribution to chapter organizers
• Also try leaflets, especially the one on the MMM's poor security (corrected by me; I do not want innocent people, even on the other side, to get hurt by identity thieves because the MMM didn't use a secure server to collect personal information)
• Apparent effect: The Million Mom March's Web site no longer lists contact addresses or Web sites for its chapters (only two exceptions were found). Also, I know of no truly active Million Mom March discussion forums, at least none that are publicly accessible. The White Hats (pro-Second Amendment) were visiting these and, by rational discussion (not harassment), doubtlessly turning off many of their rank-and-file, which is the idea. (Why do you think they have a no-debate policy???)
• In other words, it is now much harder for them to use the Internet to recruit new members, because we can enter any publicly-accessible forum, or E-mail / snail-mail any addresses they post, and not only debate them (a losing proposition for their side) but expose them for lying to their members and to the press, and for apparently abusing their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. They are, in short, pinned down.
• Knight (attacking the body)
• This is not a case of using the IRS and FEC to "get them," because, if they had not (in my reasonable opinion, see the evidence at the links below) abused their 501(c)(3) tax exemption by electioneering, this arm of my strategy would not have been effective and I would never have used it; I do not deal in lies or false accusations. There is an ancient saying that harm and evil can never enter a place into which they are not invited (e.g. the preface to Kipling's The Holy War, in which the walls of Mansoul could never be battered down by the mightiest enemy unless the townsmen consented). Had the Million Mom March played fair and followed the rules-- note that the NRA Institute for Legislative Action and Political Victory Fund have never tried to claim tax exempt status-- they'd have been fine. Handgun Control Inc. does not claim tax exempt status, and no one is filing complaints to the IRS or FEC about them. Instead, the MMM invited these consequences into their organization.
• Complaints filed with the Internal Revenue Service
• Complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission
• Complaints were also filed with the Federal Trade Commission and related agencies, since false and misleading claims like "12 children a day" in conjunction with fundraising might not be permitted.
• Apparent effects:
• All political candidates were removed from the "Apple Pie Award" page in July
• Neither the Million Mom March nor HCI (against whom complaints were also filed with the FTC and related organizations) now claims that 12 children a day are killed by gunfire.
• The Million Mom March now appears very sensitive to the electioneering issue, and specifically warns its chapters against it until a separate lobbying organization is created.
• In summary, I think they were hit, and hit hard by this.

• Key Principles for turning the Million Mom March into an unprecedented public relations disaster for its organizers and backers
• Want to hear Handgun Control Incorporated, Bill Clinton, the Bell Campaign, and so on squeal like stuck pigs? Here's what to do.
• Public domain letter to the editor for your local paper
• Million Mom sponsor addresses: send 'em pro-Second Amendment literature.
• Be polite. Stress how Handgun Control Incorporated, the Violence Policy Center, and the Bell Campaign are abusing their trust and goodwill.

• Million Mom discussion forums; let 'em hear our side!
• Certified letter to Million Moms regarding the deceptive and misleading "12 children a day" at their Web site.
• Right now, we can assume they didn't know any better and simply made the mistake of trusting Handgun Control Inc. Of course, if they continue to post "12 children a day" after receiving the letter, which was sent to both their addresses and which encourages them to check the real number for themselves, they will be knowingly and willfully lying to their sponsors, media contacts, and march participants.
• On the other hand, if they want to talk to the White Hats, we do want a win-win solution.
• Certified letter to Rosie O'Donnell, regarding same
• Some pleasant thoughts about the upcoming events in Washington (and beyond!)

This is what Handgun Control Incorporated, the Violence Policy Center, and the Bell Campaign expect to encounter in the way of firearm owners' political clout and acumen: They probably read too many of Benson's cartoons about the NRA. Created with IMSI MasterClips, Corel PhotoPaint. Image credits and copyright. For viewing only, not reproduction.

This is what they're going to get: Left picture Uhlan 1: "Is that Rosie 'you aren't allowed to own a gun, and you should go to jail if you do' O' Donnell I hear squealing about our public relations releases, Hillary Clinton's and Albert Gore's running mate Al Sharpton, or a stuck pig?" (215K WAV sound effect) Uhlan 2: "What's the difference?" Right picture: Highlander 1: "The Million Moms told their spokespeople not to engage in any debates about gun control during media interviews." Highlander 2: "They're really hoplophobes*, they don't even like the political equivalent of cold steel." Highlander 3: "They'll like it even less in a few moments." * hoplon = shield, weapon, tool. phobia = irrational fear of

Hey, Rosie O'Donnell: just to let you know how much I respect you: 

Rosie says gun owners should go to prison; that's her opinion. My opinion is that she should renounce her U.S. citizenship and get out of our country. She will probably be happier in a place like Malaysia or Singapore (one has a death sentence for mere gun possession, as I recall), and we will definitely be happier without her.

Key Principles for turning the Million Mom March into an unprecedented public relations disaster for its organizers and backers

War is a science
With rules to be applied
Which good soldiers appreciate
Recall and recapitulate
Before they go to decimate the other side

"War is a Science," from Roger Hirson's and Stephen Schwartz' musical comedy Pippin

The best possible outcome would be for a large number of the rank-and-file marchers who attend the event to walk away in disgust, and perhaps express this disgust to the press. To achieve this, White Hats who are attending the event should consider the following:

1. Do not argue the Second Amendment or "our" gun rights with the rank-and-file marchers. They do not care about them.
• We should be in a position to show them, and let them prove for themselves, that the Million Mom March organizers knowingly and willfully lied to them. NO ONE likes to be lied to, even by their own side. This is our principal weapon if the Black Hats expose themselves to it, and, as of now, they are doing so.
• When leaders lie to followers, it breaks down the bond of trust and commitment in the organization. I have a background (MBA) in organizational psychology; I can tell you with some authority that breakdown of commitment is the worst disaster that can befall any organization. It can easily lead to total organizational collapse and defeat.
• Loss of commitment is not the same thing as demoralization. Demoralization is the feeling, "We're losing," but followers still trust their leaders. Morale may have been very low at Valley Forge, for example, because of cold and short rations, but most soldiers stayed because of their commitment. (E.g. they still trusted and respected George Washington.) A demoralized organization can easily recover, especially after a couple of even small successes.
• Remember, many of the marchers are spending a LOT of money (air fare, bus fare, hotel, perhaps child care) to attend. Their discovery that they've been lured to Washington under false pretenses will NOT make them happy.
2. Do not heckle the rank-and-file marchers personally. It will only antagonize them and harden their commitment, which is the opposite of what we want to do.
• Machiavelli's On War says that a good way to unite your followers is to give them a common enemy. We must not personify a common enemy (the "NRA child-killing gun crazies") to help the Black Hats do this.
• They are victims, not villains. We are their friends. We are there to help them by exposing their real enemies, the leaders who are lying to them and manipulating them. (More on this)
• Hatred and contempt can and should be directed at deserving enemy leaders and other public figures.
• Bill Clinton, a Million Mom "Apple Pie" awardee, is an easy mark for derision and ridicule as a proven adulterer and sexual harasser: just what a mostly-female audience wants in a man- NOT.
• One could go even further and bring up the Juanita Broaddrick allegation: "Maybe this is why he doesn't want women to be able to protect themselves from sexual assault."
• Ridicule directed at the Apple Pie award: Bill Clinton impersonator says, "Thanks for giving me an apple pie to put in my mouth, ladies-- now, I've got something for you to put in your mouth, if you'll join me for a private interview in the Oval Office."
• Rosie O'Donnell has made some intemperate statements. Keep watching this page as May 14 approaches.
• Handgun Control Inc. knowingly and willfully lies to the public, as does the Violence Policy Center.
• March organizers (see first section)
• Million Mom "sponsors" can be used to ridicule the march's ideas, as opposed to its participants.
• This leaflet directs contempt and ridicule at the Million Mom March T-shirt. It makes Hitler, a Ku Klux Klansman, and a rapist "sponsors" of the march by associating them with gun control, and specifically the Million Mom platform of licensing and registration. "Saturday Night Special" is exposed as a racist code word.
3. Use gun control's ugly history to discredit the event.
• "Saturday Night Special" is "Negrotown Saturday Night Special," and "Negro" is not the word the white supremacists who invented it used. This should be made clear to every Black person who is seen in the march. He/she can be given my leaflets on the subject, and/or "Gun Control is Racist" from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership."

Public domain letter to the Editor for promoting AIMM
In MS-DOS text with layout

FEEL FREE TO COPY. I am the author of this material, I hereby place it
in the public domain, and I give you permission to copy it, even word
for word, and represent it as your own work for the purposes of
publicizing AIMM. (If I give it away, it ain't plagiarism if you take
it-- as opposed to HCI's "lifting" of Eddie Eagle material from the
NRA.)

Note: it DOES NOT MENTION THE MILLION MOM MARCH. (Why give them the
publicity?) but it gets in a good whack at their "Apple Pie" winner,
Bill Clinton.

The letter ------------------------------ The letter (~280 words)

A group of women and their supporters will be demonstrating against gun
control in Washington on Mother's Day, May 14. The Second Amendment
Sisters (SAS) and Armed Informed Mothers' March (AIMM)  recognize
Handgun Control Incorporated's (HCI's) snake oil remedies for what they
are: fraud and quackery.

SAS and AIMM have identified HCI's and Bill Clinton's claim that firearm
misuse kills 12 children a day as an outright lie. They know that gun
licensing and registration, which white supremacists invented in the
late 19th century to disarm Black people, will not keep firearms away
from violent criminals who don't (by definition) obey laws. They will
only make it harder for their victims to get guns. Criminals won't use
mandatory trigger locks, which HCI's own lawyer Dennis Henigan, and
Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, proved— by fumbling public
demonstrations with the locks— can get their owners killed in
life-threatening situations.

SAS and AIMM don't think HCI's idol Bill Clinton, a proven adulterer and
sexual harasser, is a "Mom and Apple Pie" role model for our society.
HCI's and so-called liberals'- people who claim to have been foremost in
the civil rights movement- use of the racist buzzword "Saturday Night
Special" sickens and disgusts them. During the late 19th century,
working-class Blacks, and immigrants like Jews, Italians, Irish people,
and Poles, bought inexpensive handguns— the only kind they could afford—
to protect themselves from white supremacists. The white supremacists
agitated for bans on these guns, which they named "Negrotown Saturday
Night Specials," and "Negro" wasn't the word they used.

More information about SAS and AIMM is available at www.sas-aim.org,
18484 Preston Road, Suite 102 #141, Dallas, TX 75252, tel: (877)
271-6216.

Million Mom March Discussion Forums

Listen up, this is their worst nightmare. The pro-Second Amendment side must locate Million Mom March discussion forums and post responsible and courteous, but unambiguous and effective, material there. Here is what happened when this was done:
 

Still active Heated but constructive discussions are taking place between our side and their side.	Heavily moderated/ censored to exclude "incorrect" material See the comment at right. The presence of a censor prevents our side from arguing with them or posting material their leaders don't want them to see, but it also impedes their ability to recruit new members.	Taken down/ no longer active In the manner of a bridge that is destroyed by its owners to prevent its use by the opponent. Problem is, when you burn your bridges, you also make it hard to maintain contact with your own side.
Michigan discussion board: the owner tried censorship but simply made himself look bad. Now at least people are talking somewhat civilly and even constructively. San Antonio forum (pretty much overrun by White Hats)	Bellingham WA E-Groups discussion board. Traffic dropped somewhat after a couple of postings got in that showed how the MMM was lying to its own followers, then the discussion board owner restricted membership. Mississippi guest book; the owner must now approve all postings.	Yahoo message board. Here's what the owner said when he/she shut it down. To all MMMers, Sorry to let you down, but I can't continue with this club. The constant harrasment by NRAers is something I can't keep up with.  ... I cannot afford the stress of regulating people who don't belong here. [My comment: the famous MMM "no-debate policy. They cannot deal with our arguments, because they have no viable ones themselves.]                  TO all NRAers, ... Obviously your online number is far greater than the online number of MMMers. I'm not really sure if you guys are unemployed, have no kids, or just have no life, but I've looked around in the clubs, and you're just everywhere, posting so many messages a day. You cannot possibly be productive and post so much, I know, I skipped a lot of things to be online defending my viewpoint. ["My opponents weren't fair, they didn't let me win."]  Anyhow, I guess you win the online battle. You have worn me down, congratulations. But in the real world, the number of people like me is growing, and you will face serious opposition.  At press conferences, marches, and rallys everywhere, we outnumber you.  And this is only the beginning. [That's right, it is only the beginning. :^)] Good luck. [You're gonna need a lot of it.] P.S. Please post this in the guncontroldebate club  Don't slam the door on your way out.

Again, BE POLITE AND RESPECTFUL. The people who are participating in these are not the enemy; they are being deceived and manipulated by the enemy (HCI, MMM leaders and organizers, Bell Campaign). They have genuine and legitimate concerns about firearm misuse. Our job isn't to flame or heckle them, it's to educate them about how they're being mislead-- and we also have an obligation to answer their concerns constructively. In some cases, very constructive win-win discussions have started.

DO NOT resort to Internet abuse like flooding discussion groups with messages. I personally helped shut down a group of Net vandals that was doing this to a Usenet group a couple of years ago. This sort of stuff is NOT what our side is about; I do not want anyone like that on my side. Individuals on their side may call any "incorrect" posting harrassment (the Mississipi group did), but the fact that they disagree with postings about the fact that the MMM (again, I'm referring to the national leaders, not the grassroots followers) lied to its marchers, sponsors, and media contacts, or that it may have used 501(c)(3) donations for electioneering, or that their idol Rosie O'Donnell lives in a gated community and has a private security guard who just applied for a gun permit, is not harrassment. It's peacable free speech.

Here's their basic problem. The Internet gives them (the leaders and manipulators) the ability to recruit people and rally people to their cause, but it's also an open, frictionless battleground for ideas. Anyone who can't support his/her position in front of an open-minded audience will be overrun quickly, for there's nowhere to dodge or hide. The MMM can't enforce its no-debate policy in an open discussion group. If they keep their forums and message boards open to maximize their ability to contact new recruits, they will be destroyed; we can probably get a lot of existing supporters to walk away from them and even change sides. It gives us access to their members and followers, and that's their worst nightmare. If they close and censor their forums to prevent this, they limit their own ability to function. We do not have to worry about them debating in our forums like talk.politics.guns because they have no arguments we can't handle.

The same applies on a national level. Mainland China, for example, must choose between limiting its citizens' access to the Internet (and thus limiting China's opportunity for technological research and development, marketing, and economic growth) or run the risk of its people reading about Tibet, Taiwan, or Tiananman Square. I'm sure they have filters set up to exclude Web content that includes those keywords, or "human rights." Well, text in an image (.GIF or .JPG) is not picked up by usual content filters. Images, of course, take up more bandwidth but this is a way to get politically incorrect text past censor software. Someone who wants to cause trouble for the Beijing dictators could embed a whole treatise on Tiananman Square (including pictures) in images, while offering very bland text about "harmonious government of China by its enlightened leaders."

Here's a downloadable letter for MMM coordinators

Certified Letter sent to the Million Moms on 4/4/2000 (delivery confirmed)
It is now on record that the Million Moms know "12 children a day" is inaccurate. Since they continue to post that at their media area, they are knowingly and willfully lying to their march participants, sponsors, and media contacts. The leaflet  "Why does the Million Mom March need to lie?" is now authorized for release to Million Mom sponsors, and to march participants on May 14. The certified letter to Rosie O'Donnell also has been delivered.
 

From: William A. Levinson  [address, phone, and E-mail given]

To: Million Mom March organizers, by certified mail Z 052 034 882 ==> NJ address  4/13/2000 Z 052 034 883 ==> DC address 4/18/2000 cc: Second Amendment Sisters

4 April, 2000 For the record: 12 children a day is inaccurate.

Dear Million Mom March organizers,

The statement, "Every day, 12 children die from gunshot wounds. Each day there is no action on this issue, we lose 12 more children…" at the Million Mom March's Web site [1] is inaccurate. It overstates and exaggerates the problem by about 85%.

You can verify this yourselves at the Center for Disease Control's Web site, http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html, "Injury Mortality Reports." Run a query for "firearm" under cause of death, "all intents," and "no age adjusting required" for ages 0-19, for 1997. You get 4223 deaths, the same number that is quoted in Handgun Control Incorporated's literature and at the Million Mom site. Your own site, in fact, says, "4,223 young people ages 0-19 were killed by gunfire - one every two hours, nearly 12 every day in the U.S. in 1997." [2] This sounds like Clintonese: "I guess that depends on what you mean by 'children.'"

When you run the same query for children (0-17 by our country's laws and customary terminology), you get 2284 deaths (6.3 per day). 4223 is 85 percent higher than the correct number. [3] Before we get into the issue, "Even 6.3 children a day is bad," let's look at the key point: someone is presenting misleading information. Pinnocchio's nose is growing. When someone has a valid case, they don't need to resort to deception and exaggeration.

I do not currently blame or condemn the Million Mom March grassroots organizers for this inaccuracy. Your organization's only fault, as I now see it, was to trust Handgun Control Incorporated and William Jefferson Clinton— neither of which are known for their veracity— to do its homework. Now that the Million Mom March is aware of the inaccuracy, I am confident that it will revise its Web site accordingly. (Since I am obviously on the other side of the gun control controversy, I invite and encourage you to check the numbers for yourselves first.)

Now let's look at the real figure, 6.3 children a day. HCI and Bill Clinton would like you to think the risk implied by "6.3 (now that I've corrected their numbers for them) children a day" applies to your law-abiding child, or your friend's or neighbor's. It absolutely does not; this is an example of how HCI and its associates lie with statistics. Homicides among (and justifiable shootings of) teenage gang members and organized criminals inflate even the risk suggested by 6.3 per day. Your child's risk is well below the rate implied by "6.3 per day," while a gang member's risk is far higher.

You should be aware that HCI has developed "lying with statistics" into a fine art, as shown by http://www.handguncontrol.org/firearm_facts.htm: "Thinking of buying a gun to protect your home? You may want to remember that guns kept in the home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill a family member or friend than to kill in self-defense." A brochure [4] from Doctors for Integrity in Research & Public Policy exposes this for what it is: a lie clothed in literally true numbers. "Gun prohibitionists would have us believe that most murders involve ordinary people driven to kill in a sudden fit of rage, only because a gun was present. This is based on HCI's distortion of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report statistics. To the FBI, a murderer that lives in the victim's apartment building or drug criminals that know each other are 'acquaintances.' ... Almost all the 'relatives' killed each year are the very same men, well-known to the police, that have been brutalizing their wives, girlfriends, and children for years— those men are killed in self-defense."

Now examine the words, "43 times more likely to kill." HCI chooses its words very carefully. From police instructor Massad Ayoob's The Truth About Self Protection, page 327, "For every one shooting thirteen to fifteen criminals are deterred or driven off just by the sight of the gun, and this fully accomplishes what the homeowner bought the gun for in the first place. When you also consider the fact that only about one out of four people who are shot actually dies, you realize that for every home intruder shot dead by the resident, there are ninety-nine others who don't get killed, but who give up their assaults." Mark Twain was right: there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. And now we have Handgun Control Incorporated and William Jefferson Clinton. Million Moms, you should choose your friends more carefully.

I encourage the Million Mom March sponsors and organizers to talk to the Second Amendment Sisters, many of whom are also mothers. [5] Like you, every member of SAS (and the NRA, for that matter), wants zero deaths and injuries from firearm misuse. [6] These people are not your enemies, they want exactly what you want, and they would like to be your friends. So would I. Why not talk to women and mothers in SAS about win-win solutions? (You're also welcome to talk to me, but I suggest SAS because they offer firearm-owning women's and mother's perspectives.) Talk can't hurt, and it might help.

Regards, William A. Levinson

Notes:
 [1] http://www.millionmommarch.com/html/media.html
 [2] http://www.millionmommarch.com/html/media/gvfacts.html. The Million Moms cite the Center for Disease control. I added up HCI's numbers and also got 4223: see http://www.stentorian.com/2ndamend/13perday.html.
 [3] 1939 deaths (18-19 age group) divided by the correct number, 2284
 [4] http://www.nysrpa.org/e&tf&f.htm
 [5]  http://www.sas-aim.org, (877) 271-6216
[6] Unsafe gun handling is, incidentally, cause for instant disqualification and expulsion from NRA-sponsored shooting events. … as opposed to the example set by gun control idol Dianne Feinstein, who put her finger on an "assault rifle's" trigger and allowed its muzzle to point at her audience. The weapon was unloaded and, as I understand from San Francisco Mayor Brown, rendered incapable of firing. "Unloaded" is no excuse, but a disabled weapon is admittedly no more dangerous than a theatrical prop that one actor might safely point at another. Nonetheless, no NRA-trained shooter would have even set this kind of example.

Certified Letter to Rosie O' Donnell

From: William A. Levinson [address, E-mail given]
To: Rosie O'Donnell
WB - Warner Brothers Television
4000 Warner Blvd., Building 34R
Burbank CA 91522
certified mail Z 052 034 889 Delivered 4/17/2000

       14 April, 2000

Regarding the Million Mom March: 12 children a day is inaccurate.

Dear Ms. O'Donnell,

I understand that you are the master of ceremonies for the Million Mom March. You might want to be aware of the following to avoid unwittingly making inaccurate or offensive statements to the press and to your audience.

The statement, "Every day, 12 children die from gunshot wounds. Each day there is no action on this issue, we lose 12 more children…" at the Million Mom March's Web site  is inaccurate. It overstates and exaggerates the problem by about 85%. You can verify this yourself at the Center for Disease Control's Web site, http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html, "Injury Mortality Reports." Run a query for "firearm" under cause of death, "all intents," and "no age adjusting required" for ages 0-19, for 1997. You get 4223 deaths, the same number that is quoted in Handgun Control Incorporated's literature and at the Million Mom site. Their own site, in fact, says, "4,223 young people ages 0-19 were killed by gunfire - one every two hours, nearly 12 every day in the U.S. in 1997."  When you run the same query for children (0-17 by our country's laws and customary terminology), you get 2284 deaths (6.3 per day). 4223 is 85 percent higher than the correct number.

You also should be aware that, if you use the phrase "Saturday Night Special," you will be (effectively) calling Black members of your audience the "N" word. I'm bringing this to your attention because both Handgun Control Incorporated and the Million Moms throw this phrase around a lot. "Saturday Night Special" is a racist code phrase; it's actually "Negrotown Saturday Night Special," and "Negro" was not the word the white supremacists who invented it in the late 19th century used.  You might want to have members of your staff check out the term's origins before using it; you may be surprised.

Regards, William A. Levinson

Some Pleasant Thoughts While You Wait  :-)

War is a science With rules to be applied Which good soldiers appreciate Recall and recapitulate Before they go to decimate the other side "War is a Science," from Roger Hirson's and Stephen Schwartz' musical comedy Pippin Politics also is a science: more at this link Gleefully awaiting the political equivalent of this one: "The Fore and Aft held their fire till one bullet could drive through five or six men, and the front of the Afghan force gave on the volley. They then selected their men and slew them with deep gasps and short hacking coughs..." "The Gurkhas' stall at the bazaar was the noisiest, for the men were engaged- to a nasty noise as of beef being cut on the block- with the kukri [Gurkha knife], which they preferred to the bayonet; well knowing how the Afghan hates the half-moon blade." And, once the enemy had broken, the pursuit: "The red lances dipped by twos and threes, and, with a shriek, up rose the lance-butt, as the trooper cantering forward cleared his point." -Rudyard Kipling, Drums of the Fore and Aft And Caesar's spirit, raging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war. Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II (HCI: "Hey, redneck gun nuts aren't supposed to know Shakespeare!") For the Spartans, the trumpets never called retreat. Documentary These colors don't run. The American Flag

More Shakespeare: Henry V's St. Crispin's Day Speech If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires: But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more, methinks, would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made And crowns for convoy put into his purse: We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names. Familiar in his mouth as household words Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition:* And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3 (Prior to the decisive English victory at Agincourt) * make him a member of the gentry, even if he is a commoner Pity the Million Moms couldn't have scheduled their upcoming debacle for St. Crispin's Day, which is on October 25. ...let us not wait for other people to come to us and call upon us to do great deeds. Let us instead be the first to summon the rest to the path of honor. Show yourselves to be the bravest of all the captains, with more of a right to leadership than those who are our leaders at present. [NRA, listen up] Xenophon, The Persian Expedition (Anabasis)

The View from Their Side* (Think of this in terms of a political event) An' some one shouted "'Ook it!" an' it come to sove-ki-poo,** An' we chucked our rifles from us -- O my Gawd! There was thirty dead an' wounded on the ground we wouldn't keep -- No, there wasn't more than twenty when the front begun to go; But, Christ! along the line o' flight they cut us up like sheep, An' that was all we gained by doin' so. I 'eard the knives be'ind me, but I dursn't face my man, Nor I don't know where I went to, 'cause I didn't 'alt to see, Till I 'eard a beggar squealin' out for quarter as 'e ran, An' I thought I knew the voice an' -- it was me! ... An' there ain't no chorus 'ere to give, Nor there ain't no band to play; But I wish I was dead 'fore I done what I did, Or seen what I seed that day! Rudyard Kipling, "That Day" ** Sauve qui peut! ("Save yourselves, who can!") Handgun Control Inc., Violence Policy Center, Bell Campaign: we suggest that you memorize the following phrases: Je me rends! Quarter! Kamerad! I cease resistance! Uncle! I surrender! Sauve qui peut! ("Save yourselves, who can!") * "Their side" refers again to the organizers and manipulators, NOT the rank-and-file participants.

The View from Their Side: (if you're feeling Turkish)* Well, I remember that terrible day, When our blood stained the sand and the water. And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter. Johnny Turk, he was ready, he'd primed himself well, He rained us with bullets and showered us with shell. And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell,  Nearly blew us back home to Australia. "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (Suvla Bay/ Gallipoli, 1915)         * "Their side" refers again to the organizers and manipulators, NOT the rank-and-file participants.

Xenophon (The Persian Expedition) on Smith & Wesson's capitulation:

It is far better to see people who want to be the first to run away standing in one's enemy's army than in one's own ranks.