Bad News and Tactical Corsets

The news is so relentlessly bad that I had to resort to cribbing this link from Say Uncle — Tactical Corsets — to cheer myself up. This is, of course, inevitable...a combination of the corset, resurrected from the Land of Dead Underwear by cowboy action shooter'ettes, and the continued fascination with all things tactical. Hey, if this catches on it could have a profound effect on spectator attendance at practical pistol matches.

Interesting comment from Jim Shepherd on this AM's SHOOTING WIRE. He was talking about Cerberus Capital Management, now the Freedom Group, and their notorious close-mouthedness (is that a word?), and he said this: 

Ultimately, Cerberus Group represents a major gorilla in the industry. But that cloak of secrecy keeps many in the industry from putting much faith in their words. Privately, the company insists it's ferociously pro-gun, but corporate policies forbid media attention.

That aversion was one that led gun bloggers, some of the new power-brokers in the gun world, to run an anti-campaign against a senior Cerberus member's campaign for a position on the NRA board. After he failed to get elected, one blogger laughingly told me "maybe now they'll realize if you don't talk to us, we don't have any use for you."

Nice to be one of the new power-brokers, as soon as I figure out what that means. You'd think a new power broker could get ammo, wouldn't you? Actually, and I think I've mentioned this before, I find myself sort of in the "mainstream" current of the new media...my flagship, DRTV, is now owned by OUTDOOR CHANNEL, as is the hugely successful DOWN RANGE Radio podcast. I'm producing 4 (soon to be 5) broadcast series for OC. Back when I was a Famous Rock Critic in NYC, I once flayed the Clash — I loved "London Calling," but then who didn't? — for claiming they were "outsiders" while making a zillion dollars touring and cutting albums for the majors. Sigh...

Part of my malaise is that I'm reading Matt Bracken's third book in his "Enemies Foreign and Domestic," FOREIGN ENEMIES AND TRAITORS. It is extremely well written and grim, grim, grim. The phrase "ripped from the headlines" is pretty much a cliche, but — sadly — it applies here. Much of the novel is set in West Tennessee, where I grew up, and it cuts a bit close to home. I've walked the places Matt writes about, and the people seem far to much like distance cousins.