“Do you fear the force of the wind,

The slash of the rain?

Go face them and fight them,

Be savage again.

Go hungry and cold like the wolf,

Go wade like the crane.

The palms of your hands will thicken,

The skin of your forehead tan –

You’ll be ragged and swarthy and weary

But – you’ll walk like a man.”

- Hamlin Garland

Back in Action

I can explain. You all probably thought I abandoned this blog after I've been gone for the past two weeks, but that's not like me. I could just tell you that I was on vacation, but that's too easy an out. So I'll explain... I was in the desert shooting guns. No really, here's proof.

I spent about a week with family and friends out in the scorching, searing desert of Nevada at a training facility called Front Sight. It's a self-proclaimed bastion of Second Amendment enforcement in the United States. Their goal is to provide the highest level of arms training to citizens, law enforcement, and soldiers while at the same time raising the level of gun education and awareness among users. They have identified a serious problem in the United States - the lack of gun education among users. We all like to wave our Second Amendment right around in the face of the world, but the reality is that we have neglected the responsibility that comes with that right. People do a lot of stupid things with guns in their hands. Sure, the media can be gun-phobic and blow the problem out of proportion, but what other choice do we give them when gun users are continually injuring themselves or innocent people by simple user error.

Front Sight's commitment to preserving the Second Amendment through training responsible, educated gun users was impressive to say the least. When I arrived I had no idea how to hold, load, or shoot a Glock 9mm, but after several days I was clearing jams, drawing from a holster, and shooting accurately from distance. Their training is nothing short of phenomenal, better than the military and police force I must say, just by hearing all the personal stories from cops and soldiers who frothed over the level of training they received at Front Sight. Check them out at FrontSight.com.

Oh, and the other reason I disappeared: Las Vegas. By coincidence, sheer luck you might even say, it was only 45 minutes away. Okay, maybe we planned it that way.

Book Recommendation

Melanie Phillip's new book The World Turned Upside Down is a provocative, hard-hitting look into the major ideological battlefields dividing America and the Western World. As a journalist first and foremost, Phillips accomplishes what few great journalists can - seeing through the swamp of emotional and sensational news to the cold, hard facts of the issues. She debunks today's popular myths and misconceptions with clear, poignant writing and research. Her book is so well documented it doubles as a handbook for key issues like global warming, the war on terror, and the secular attacks on Western religion. The World Turned Upside Down reveals the destructive ideologies eating away at religion, morality, and truth - the core of American greatness. Phillips, a British journalist, combats American popular culture in a way that few writers can, as an outsider looking in, not someone caught in the day-to-day, tit-for-tat battles Americans engage in.

At its core, The World Turned Upside Down recognizes the backwards state of politics and culture in the West due to the loss of religion and the dependance of man on his own reason. Modern society tells us that faith and reason are inseparable, but Phillips proves the opposite. Christianity and the Bible gave us our foundations for knowledge, progress, and order, she argues. Without that foundation, the world as we once knew it is eroding in front of our eyes. Above economic debt, foreign threats, and faulty science, the abandonment of religion poses the greatest threat to the West, she says, opening us up for attacks on all sides, from radical Islam to secular humanism. The World Turned Upside Down is a cautionary tale; if we continue down this spiraling path, the world will truly be standing on its head.