Patriot Day in America

I really need to know what some people in this country are smokin' to get high. I mean, they must be high right, to act the way they do? Last week, the polls showed the confusion within the Tea Bag movement, where the sign carriers claimed they aren't racist, they like and want to keep their social programs like medicare and social security, they aren't looking for jobs because they don't need them, yet, they are extremely angry and are taking to the streets in protest.

Well, today is Patriot's Day in some parts of the country. Patriot's Day commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War back in 1775. Through the years other not so patriotic events have occurred on this day including, domestic terrorist bomber Tim McVeigh's killing of 168 Americans in Oklahoma City. McVeigh was ticked off by what happened in Waco Texas at the Branch Davidian Compound on this day. April 19^th is also the day of the bungled FBI raid on Ruby Ridge, when the feds went after white supremacist Randy Weaver.

Some self proclaimed patriots, like the gun happy Restore the Constitution people are rallying in a state park to celebrate, as close to DC as they can, to show the government they like their guns and weapons and don't intend to give them up without a fight.

Not that anybody asked them to.

During today's five hour rally on federal ground, they can carry their guns in the holster, on their hip, and their rifles slung on their backs with no bullets in them. They have to rally in Maryland within site of the Capitol because DC has very heavy restriction on guns inside city limits.

Ever since Obama took office these folks have been buying up bullets and guns so fast, you'd think the Soviet Union was back together and was martialing forces just off the coast of Nova Scotia, preparing to invade America and take this country by force.

However, recent gun history in America, reveals the loosening gun laws over the past several years. The Supreme Court has already rejected DC's gun law as too harsh, Congress is set to eliminate the DC gun law altogether, and President Obama signed the new gun law that allows these folks to carry guns inside national parks.

In other words, the man who is being excoriated for trying to take away their guns, actually is the one who put those guns into their cold hands to begin with. As a matter of fact, the number of states that allow for concealed carry has risen from just 9, twenty years ago to 37 in 2010.

Maybe it's not something they are ingesting...maybe it's in the air... maybe Obama Derangement Syndrome is real......maybe I need to buy a gas mask or helmet for protection. Whatever it is, these guys are preparing for a war that no one has yet declared.

Which brings me to the other thing happening today. Last year, a group of people got together in Illinois at what they called a constitutional convention. These people drafted what they say are 14 articles of freedom.

They are presenting these articles to all lawmakers today at around 2 o'clock at state capitals around the country. You can go here to read them. I will refer to them as “they” because frankly, I don't know who these people are. I wasn't invited to their convention. I didn't take part in the crafting of the 14 articles of freedom, and I don't know anybody who did.

So who are these people purporting to speak for me, someone who has voted in every single primary and election in which she has been eligible to take part. That act alone has put me on every list possible for inclusion in making decisions about this country.

Yet, I wasn't even asked to participate. They didn't ask...but I'm a tell em anyway..

Their introduction states they want to adhere to the priniciples spelled out by the Declaration of Independence. But do they understand that the Declaration was a dream...it was not the reality and never has been....same for the Constitution....a foundation and a beginning...not the final drawing to shape the country.

Think about it....the founding fathers wrote both the Declaration and the Constitution for white men with property, period.....not poor people....not women....not Native Americans and certainly not Blacks, free or otherwise...Blacks were not human and enslaved...women were chattel with perks in today's parlance...and Native Americans were a nuisance and in the way of white domination and expansion in the new world.

Eleven of the first 13 men who were elected president of the United States were slave owners. Yet they based their documents on the phrases “we the people” and “all men are created equal.” It was a dream in the making, set far off into the future.

They were smart enough to realize that the future changes and so must their founding documents, change to coincide with changes in the population, hence amendments to the Constitution are sometimes necessary.

Living in the past, is living in pain. You can't go back.

Real patriots, understand that.

Denying Guns to Terrorists

Overshadowed by the all of the info-tainment that passed as news yesterday was a little nugget about guns that had me doing a double take. Seems that it’s perfectly legal, as we speak, for people who are on this government’s terrorist watch list to buy guns in this country.

In fact, according to the GAO, gun permits were issued to 47 of 58 people who were listed on the watch list in a nine month period in 2005.

This insane action is coming to light because of a proposal introduced by New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, yesterday, who wants to make it legal for the Attorney General to block these types of gun sales, http://www.nytimes.com.

Dubya’s just-us department has also jumped on the bandwagon with a similar proposal. I guess the White House doesn’t want to be caught looking bad again in light of the shootings at Virginia Tech.

Law enforcement officials have apparently been trying to get this loop hole closed since 9/11.
But former AG John Ashcroft blocked all FBI efforts to compare the watch list with gun applications citing the Brady Gun Law.

Lautenberg’s measure was apparently introduced some time ago, but has been stalled by the gun crazy GOP controlled congress. The Senator, his aides and the Justice Dept, now think a Democrat controlled congress might prove more receptive to change. I’m not so sure. The National Rifle Association also has most democrats on a leash as well as the GOP. Getting loop holes closed in gun laws is an uphill climb no matter who is in charge of congress.

So far, the NRA has not weighed in on this issue.

I would think denying guns to terrorists is a “no brainer.” To paraphrase Dubya, why fight them here when we’re already fighting them over there.

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And speaking of “over there” seems the shaky Iraqi government is taking a page out of this administration’s play book and is going on vacation in July and August. They’re just going to shut the doors and walk away for a while.

Well, why can’t we do that? Walk away? Their walking away seems to be an indication that they think it’s our mess and that we are the ones who should handle it.

I don’t think we can walk away, but I do think we can ease on down the road and out ASAP.

Ya listening Dubya?

Hiding in Plain Sight...32...3311

We mourn those who died at Virginia Tech, as the killing escalates in Iraq. 157 die today, victims of a series of car bombs, reportedly orchestrated as an attack on the latest plan to make the country safer. At least 94 wounded in these same attacks.

3311 Americans dead since this farce of a war began. Bush is still playing politics by holding up funding, blaming Democrats for his mess.

Cho Seung-Hui was apparently identified as “troubled” and possibly dangerous and still nothing could be done to stop the rampage. In this country, this open society, you have to make a direct threat, or actually commit a crime in order to get arrested, or it seems to even get help.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, really. Women victimized by their mates go through this all the time. Nothing can be done against stalkers or abusive husbands and boyfriends unless the abuser takes direct action against his intended victim. More often than not, the victim is killed.

Just thinking or writing about violence or violent behavior will not get you incarcerated. If that were the case, then the guys who write horror movies like SAW or HOSTEL would be locked in padded cells with the keys lost forever.

One talking head on FOX, today speculated that maybe this society should treat everyone like in the movie “Minority Report,” where people were arrested before they committed crimes. These people were identified through their thoughts which were monitored by way of some amazing contraption operated by the government.

But our society cannot force citizens to see a shrink. We, as Americans are allowed to be crazy, as long as we don’t hurt anyone, even when it is obvious that we might, and eventually will. By law, we have to wait until the gun goes off, so to speak.

I would much rather see us as a society tighten up gun laws. I am troubled by the unwillingness of the NRA to compromise on the issue. If you want to own a gun for protection, I’m okay with that. I have a problem with assault weapons. I have a problem with automatic and semi automatic pistols in the hands of everyday citizens.

It’s not that I’m afraid of guns. I know how to shoot. I know how to handle guns. I don’t own a gun because I know that I CAN and will use it if necessary. If I were attacked and had a gun in reach, it would be used, make no mistake about it. So I choose not to have them available. I prefer to rely on my brain and survivor instincts for getting into and out of situations should they arrive. That may sound stupid to gun owners, but there are always other options.

Why not allow single shot for home protection, or rifles for hunting. Again, I’m okay with that. I have a problem with overwhelming useless firepower.

The argument for having guns to protect against crime are weak. The face of crime in America is still the young black male. But young black males are killing other young black males. There is no rampage going on against society in general.

Burglars usually attack a house when the owner is not home.

Home invasions happen to drug dealers, usually staged by other drug dealers or some thug looking to make a quick score.

Campus/school shootings are perpetrated by angry young white men against their peers and their own families.

Gangs rarely venture out of their neighborhoods.

So maybe as a society we need to address our approach to identify and to act against mental health issues exhibited by obviously troubled people before they explode against the rest of us.

How, I don’t know, because any answer that I can come up with makes us less of an open society. I don’t want anything put into place that hinders my American-ness.

Marching Backward

The boys of Ohio won a big one this week when state legislators overturned a Bob Taft veto of the current concealed carry gun law. The override abolished more than 80 local gun ordinances, including Cincinnati’s ban on assault weapons. The laws will actually fade away in 90 days.

The governor said he vetoed the state law because it was too broad and overturned the local ordinances. But the cave dwellers of the republican controlled legislature sided with the gun freaks of the NRA and went against the Governor.

So now it’s okay to own military style guns inside city limits again.

An assault weapon, for those of you who don’t know, are semi automatic rifles, pistols or shotguns originally designed for military or police use with larger than normal ammunition capacity. The bullets are typically housed in a removable clip. Semi automatic means you have to keep pulling the trigger.

The veto override now allows citizens to possess a semi automatic that can hold 10 or more bullets in a removable clip.

Fully automatic weapons are banned by federal law for everyone except the military, police and 007 types. It is possible for a private citizen to purchase a fully automatic weapon if they can get ATF, the county sheriff or police chief to sign off on the request and also pass an extensive background check. And after all that, it must be legal in the state of residence, too.

This is wonderful news for a city that is in the midst of a record breaking year for murders. So far there are 79 on the books. The record set back in 1967 at 82.