Take ALL the Guns!* (*But only from law-abiding citizens protecting their families and property)

I don't need a gun, but at this point that is my choice.  I live in a large metropolis where police are only seconds away (an NYPD precinct is less than 5 blocks away). At one time I lived in a small town--in a rural area--where the police were 10, 15, 30 minutes away.  I needed a gun to protect my family and guests in my home for which I was responsible.  What about those that live in a border community where it's dangerous to walk your property at night?  I would be especially troubled and would want a firearm in my home or on my person. Here's a difference: my firearm (like my friends' and families') is obtained legally and responsibly. I follow the law.  I don't mind getting my weapon(s) licensed.  I don't mind taking a certification or safety training course.  After all I license my car, I have insurance, and I pay my taxes.

As of today, their are multiple supply lines for illegal weapons that are unimpeded.  The border is not secured and the flow of illegal firearms, drugs, and dangerous elements continues into and out of this country. But yet enforcing borders, isn't part of this conversation.  Those speaking for gun bans are those who don't give two thoughts about securing the influx of illegal weapons and contraband across porous borders.  They only seem to want to take away the legal right to have protection.  They want to leave open the illegal weapon traffic-ways and close off the legal purchase of guns used by law abiding citizens for protection and sporting.  These advocates overwhelmingly live in larger cities, like I do, with adequate and speedy protection from local law enforcement.  For the most part, we have a highly trained and deployed army (in our case, the NYPD) for our protection. But what about the rest of America? In some areas of rural America (where I came from), there is a single deputy and one State Trooper per 50 square miles.  There were nights when an alarm would go off at my business, and the Deputy Sheriff or State Trooper would arrive 30-45 minutes after I did.  

More gun laws are not going to help this situation. It will only leave a large part of the responsible American population reliant again on government.  It will leave them reliant on local authorities that may or may not be able to respond quickly to the real dangers that affect those who living in small towns and rural communities.  

There seems to be a common factor with all of these horrific and senseless acts of school violence.  It is that these young men are having societal issues that may be exacerbated by mental illness.  The weapon is the means and the medium.  It is not the cause.  If they don't use a gun, they use a knife.  If they don't use a knife, they will use a car, or a poison, or a baseball bat.  What is next, Nerf only baseball bats in our schools and MLB?  Knives banned in all kitchens across the country?  Pest control companies that only employee cats?  

I am not advocating the rescinding of gun laws.  I think it is good that you have to have a license to drive a car.  I think it is good that some substances are limited and tracked (explosives, poisons, and controlled prescription medications). Should there be controls?  You bet - but within the guidelines of the Constitution.  Should some of these high-volume clips and assault weapons be readily available?  I don't think so, but that is my opinion and should be addressed by state and local legislators, Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States.  I think that we can make some common sense laws without stripping away rights of protection.

But until ban advocates get serious about how guns are controlled in every aspect--especially at the border, and until they are serious about taking them out of the hands of criminals--a ban does only one thing: they disarm the responsible populous and leave illegal weapons in the hands of criminals.  They limit protected and legal sporting.  They give confidence to the heinous, and throw out the last line of defense of the lawful.

It's time to look at the cause instead of the means.  It's time to have a safety net for our mentally ill.  For our sons, brothers, cousins, nephews and friends.  For the boy who isn't able to understand the difference between social and anti-social behavior.  Help for the mom and dad that don't know how to help their troubled son.  This is only going to get worse and more frequent.  Not because of the availability of guns--but because these diseases are becoming more common and less is being done to help them.  We have runs for Cancer, relays for Cystic Fibrosis, and telethons for Muscular Dystrophy.  Where is the help for Eric and Dylan?  Where is the help for Adam and his mom?

I read the following over the weekend and it made a profound impact of my thoughts on this topic.  It is from the "Anarchist Soccer Mom" blog and has made the rounds on Gawker, Huffington Post, and other outlets.  Please take the time to read this mom's story…  In some circles the title has been printed as "I am Adam Lanza's Mother." 

Thinking the Unthinkable  http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html

Stumble on History - Labor Day Weekend

Firefighters battling the blaze at the Asche Building,
home of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in March 1911.
146 people died and more than 70 injured. 

I was walking through Greenwich Village in New York City and remembered a documentary I had seen a few weeks back about the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911.  I was surprised to find the scene was, well, remarkably unremarkable.  As I was circling the building, the sky went dark and cool breeze came over the area.  I remembered the black and white photographs I'd see of the bodies on the street of the women who had jumped to their deaths from the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the building.  They had no other choice after management had locked the exit doors, had no plan for evacuation and fire escapes that melted under the extreme heat of the fire.  That day 146 people lost their lives - mostly young women in their teens and twenties.  This tragic even paved the way for legislation and eventually organizations like OSHA dedicated to the protection of the American Worker.

Now what I didn't tell you is that as I rounded that corner, I walked into the shade of the building and happened across a breeze that often blows between buildings down a narrow street in the city.  There was nothing ghostly about the shade or the cool breeze, but I couldn't help but feel a bit emotional to stand in its shadow, to stand on those sidewalks.  Today, it is a very average looking building (now the chemistry and biology building of NYU) and relatively plain except for a small plaque on the Southwest corner noting its place in history.

Effective Leadership! (Sarcasm intended)

The voters spoke for Congress to get something done! I'm sure that going forward we are going to see a tremendous amount getting down and dirty to get things accomplished! I'm sure that those that were re-elected will start during the lame duck session to really show voters that we elected the right people for the Senate and House of Representatives!

I'm sure that the big things that are on the peoples' minds will be the first priority. I'm sure that tax cuts will be addressed immediately. Job's and unemployment benefits will be addressed immediately. After all, there is only 2 weeks left in this session of Congress and we need to get right to work. I'm sure the leadership will want to start on day one with an agenda and an inspirational speech to pump up our Senators to get things done quickly!! GO TEAM!!

All the attention is on Harry Reid to set the tone for this, perhaps, the most important lame-duck session of Congress in decades. Will it be agenda setting? Will it be a message of bipartisanship and Senatorial work ethic? I know it will! After all, this race for Harry was a little too close for comfort, and he won only because his opponent was less than formidable. Surely Harry got the message!

Sorry, Nevada voters. The big opportunity to change things up has gone to hell and your native son has screwed you (and the rest of us) over yet again. Harry's six minute snoozer to start arguably one of the most important lame-duck Senatorial sessions in decades was to waste the peoples' time talking about a football rivalry between Boise State and Nevada. I guess once you've secured another 6 year term in the Senate, your sense of urgency on behalf of the people is minimized. Sharon Angle, at least wouldn't be setting the agenda for Upper House of Congress.

This is just an example of the fundamental problem with the leadership in Congress. A problem that is too abstract for the voters to actually be able to address. Only our elected officials can really fix it, yet they refuse to go against the power structure. Why is it that just because a member has been in Congress has been in office the longest (and perhaps has been corrupted the most) that he or she should have the most power. Cases in point - Speaker Pelosi, Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Speaker-Elect Boehner, Hoyer, etc.

None of these people are hearing our voices. Pelosi is governing our country and setting the agenda as if the entire country has the demographics and ideology of San Francisco. As long as the House continues to elect her Speaker or Leader, there is no chance that this will ever change. It is nothing more or less than cowardice in the ranks of the Democratic House Members. The lone standout was the bravery of Congressman Schuler.

Another example is Steny Hoyer. Congressman Hoyer is completely out of touch and is now advocating to reduce the pay for our fighting men and women in the armed forces. He obviously can't tell the difference between overpaid federal bureaucrats and the brave men and women putting themselves in harms way. Dear Mr. Congressman - you can freeze federal employee pay raises without freezing the men and women's raises that are dying for us overseas. WAKE UP!

Mitch McConnell, Republican Minority Leader in the Senate, who is not able to articulate any argument and continues to give fodder to the far left by stating his only goal is to make sure that President Obama is defeated in 2012. Sounds like a partisan hack who is unable to work across the aisle for the American Peoples' goals. WAKE UP! Your number one goal is the economy and jobs! Did the election mean nothing to you, either?

What could have been a great start to a historic Congress is what we hoped it would not become - a quagmire led by incompetence on both sides of the aisle.

mR

Here's a 2 min clip of the 6 minute speech. At least with Sharon Angle, this could have been entertaining. Wake me up when this is over. On second thought, wake me up in 2012.

Photos courtesy of AP, Alex Brandon and Manuel Balce Ceneta

YouTube Video courtesy of Harry Reid, US Senator for Nevada

No Mandate on the Left, No Mandate on the Right

I thought this would be a good moment to interject an Almost Average American’s perspective into the current game of politics. I thought someone needed to inject some clarity into what the election of Scott Brown (photo: AP) in Massachusetts actually means. I’ve seen Democrats dismissing how huge the election of a non-liberal is in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Nancy Pelosi (photo: AP) is still promising business as usual. What they don’t realize that their “lock -n-step” army has deserted them. The people get it, but those in power do not.

I hear Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republicans taking credit for Brown’s win as if it was some brilliant political strategy and that they have now awakened the liberal voters of Massachusetts into believing the conservative ideology of the Republican Party. Hallelujah, there has been a mass conversion in the Bay State! They have almost convinced themselves that it was their incredible ideals and stand-up performance that lead to the electorate in the Massachusetts to suddenly change their mind and support the Republican party. Again, those in power are misreading the voters’ motives.

How sorry all of them are going to be in the fall. The complete disdain that is being demonstrated by the people of Massachusetts is not with Obama, it is not with the Democrats. Nor is it an awakening of biblical proportions to the ideology of the party of the religious right. The people of Massachusetts, as it is in the rest of the nation, is disgusted with the establishment of Washington, DC regardless of ideology. The closed door deal making, the bribing of the Senators from Nebraska and Louisiana, the special interest of Organized Labor as well as the Rx and Insurance lobbies have collectively turned the voters stomach. The disgust is not just with the Democrats, it is with any establishment regardless of party affiliation.

The death blow to the Democratic candidate wasn’t the elitism of Coakly, it was her promise to be a faithful Democratic soldier in the Washington game. It wasn’t the down to earth, truck driving, good ole boy, Scott Brown that won the election. It was simply that he wasn’t part of the establishment. The voters learned that lesson over the last year when a “change” or establishment candidate promised he was above it all and has miserably failed to deliver on anything.

This has been caused because the Democrats have overplayed what they thought was a mandate. It turned out to be a vote for change from the political machine of the Bush years. It has turned into a change to the bigger political machine of the Chicago based Obama machine.

The Democrats have ruined their chances for a successful 2010 election cycle. If the Republicans refuse to learn from this, 2010 may be the year for the Independent. The nation is sick and tired of being told what it needs. Congress, and the president may find out what we need is something, anything, but what is currently in Washington.

Today We Start Again...

Wow, almost a year since I was last here.  Maybe I'm starting to get excited about democracy again.  We've come through a very long and difficult campaign.  And it's time to put all else aside for the good of our nation, our families, and ourselves. This is the great thing about democracy - we get to start over again.  

Whether or not I agree with the President Elect, I am invigorated and hopeful.  That is something I did not think he could deliver--but he has.

Whether or not I agree with Senator McCain, I am proud of him as well.  It's now up to us to hold President Obama to his word and his speech from Grant Park in Chicago.  It's up to us, because other's won't.

I didn't think today would be a good day--but it is.  

Let's not do to this president, what was done to the past.  

Today we are all Americans.  Today we get to start over and forgive, forget,  because tomorrow counts more.  Hope, compassion, truth, country.  I had doubts that we could come together again--but we will.

mR

Happy Holidays...

I sincerely wish all of you a very happy holiday season. I don't care what religion you are (or aren't) or what you choose to do this time of year. I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas because that's what me and my family celebrate during this time of the year. If you are Jewish, please wish me a happy Hanukkah. If you are Muslim, please wish me a prosperous Ramadan, etc. I respect your traditions, even if your tradition is to have no tradition.

What I don't get is people fighting over what is appropriate to display or not to display. And don't get me started on the hypocracy involved in all of it. It seems that the same groups that are for "free speech" are the same ones tearing down the parts that they don't like. Free Speech is the right to offend. Free Speech is the right to criticize. Free speech is the right to give a message that others may not agree with. The ACLU will defend the right for anyone to say anything, but will make sure that citizens of a particular city or county can't display their traditions or their speech. The same people pushing for sexual educational messages in the public arena are the same groups that are pulling the religious symbols (or rather Christian Religious symbols) down. If it is not hate speech, or a vulgar obscenity, then why is there even a question? When I go into an old Italian neighborhood, I enjoy watching the old Catholic customs that they practice during a wedding or funeral procession. I would love to walk through a Muslim neighborhood during Ramadan and see the various lanterns on display of their faith. The feeling I get walking through a predominately Jewish neighborhood during the nights of Hanukkah gives me a sense of peace. Next, the ACLU will be taking away the ancient American Indian traditions in their communities in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Losing the Christian traditions has exactly the same impact on our culture as it would if you took away those traditions from their respective cultures. A vital and important part of that culture would be lost.

Please, if you get the chance, take a look at a post at the Daily Kos. Read the descriptions of all of these religious symbols. Then read the one about the Christmas Tree, which in their opinion is the Christian Symbol for Christmas (I personally feel it is more secular). Why is it that all of the other symbols are very respectfully described yet the Christmas Tree (which is now apparently religious) is described like this: "We all know that the Christmas tree is really a pagan symbol adopted by our culture to honor crass commercialism at its worst. But in this instance it will stand in as a symbol of Christian rejoicing at the birth of the Savior and the enlightenment he tried to bring to the world."


This isn't just on the Daily Kos. This is the leftist blogosphere that you've been hearing so much about. There is no war on Christmas. There is a war on common sense by the looney left that has been slowly raging into the mainstream. To be honest, it pisses me off that these people are so far gone and dishonest with even the simplest of truths. What does something like this accomplish? Don't offend anyone's religion, unless they happen to be Christians.

I am sure that you will find the same kind of garbage of the far right loonies blogs as well. But to be honest, I don't know where they are because they are not spouted by the media as fact. There are a lot of right wingers that I don't agree with (You know who you are Ann Coulter). But other than her and a few like her, I don't know where to find this kind of unabashed spewing of hypocracy and hatred that is so prevalent on the left. If you know where, please let me know so that I can get pissed off about them as well. On the right, people like them are already thought of as crazies. Find me a normal right leaning person who agrees with the likes of Fred Phelps and his family of escaped mental patients (i.e. Westboro Baptist Church) and I will agree that they are far right crazies.

By the way you can visit their website at http://www.godhatesfags.com/ and read their page on why they are thanking God for today's bridge collapse in Nepal that has left many dead. In my opinion Westboro on the right = Loons on the left (Daily Kos, Randi Rhodes, Al Franken, Rosie O'Donnell).

Isn't it time we were honest with ourselves? I don't know if that will ever happen, but I do honestly have a wish for all of you (even Ann Coulter and Rosie O'Donnell). I wish you a very Happy New Year. And a special wish goes out to those Americans and other countrymen who are away from their families this year fighting for those all over the world. We hope you are all able to come home in 2008. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

mR

Don't Like the Time? Change the Clock!

It is official. Hugo Chavez has lost his mind. Starting next week, the time in Venezuela will move back 30 minutes. He's given everyone till next Sunday night to change it and there is a multitude of confusion both inside the government and outside whether the clock moves forward or backward. Venezuela will officially be what we have always known - in a whole time zone unto itself. (Reuters)

mR

Very Upsetting Story from Texas

I have always tried my best to give this administration and its staff the benefit of the doubt. But I have tried to be honest about its shortcomings. Even through the Blackwater fiasco, I tried. This story that I read about today is inexcusable. I'm going to post a link to a story that I read on ABC News.com via the Drudge Report today that makes me very sad and very angry. I can honestly say that I have never felt so let down as I do by the United States Departments of State and Justice. The legacy of former A.G. Gonzalez continues and a huge problem for which the Secretary of State must answer.

This is the kind of garbage that makes it difficult for our brave men and women overseas to do their job, to earn the respect of the world, and to earn the respect of the people and nations that they are serving. Iraq is a noble cause, but it has been so messed up by the present bureacracy and administration that I am embarrassed to have voted for them. I hope the story of this young woman leaves many people in Washington unable to sleep tonight. The screams of help from this young lady should ring in every politician's and Iraq contractor's head for a long time to come.

Rape Cover-up in Iraq reported by ABC News via The Drudge Report.

I've been very critical of the media throughout the Iraq War and I think it's more than justified. I think that very much has been made of very little. And I think that very little good has been reported of the abundance that has happened. But I do think that this story needs to be told--VERY LOUD, and VERY CLEAR. A young women named Jamie Leigh Jones deserves justice. It just goes to show that brutality is not only a quality of the extremists that our brave Soldiers and Marines are fighting. It is also a quality of a few who answer to no law in Iraq. Our goal should be to protect the innocent. It should not be used to shield the guilty.

Let me be clear. This - in no way - has anything to do with any group of people as a whole. Nor does this story have any relation to tactics used by the CIA in the questioning of terrorist suspects and enemy combatants. I do hope that leftist partisans do not try to draw this into the "torture" debate. But I am afraid that Harry Reid (political hack that he is) is going to blame the President and every other member of the Bush administration for every brutal detail. What is sad is that he might even get the support and sympathy of the media to go along with him. The administration is responsible for their inability to earn justice for this young lady. Only the men who perpetrated these actions (and possibly the company) are responsible for the crime.

KBR & Halliburton executives should be screaming from the rooftops for investigations and apologizing all over themselves. I am absolutely disgusted that these companies are American and continue to remain silent. The management of these companies verges on incompetency and its stockholders should be disgusted. If they are responsible for setting this culture in their organization, then they should also be punished to the full extent of the law. I would also hope that a free market would exercise its right to sell off their shares and/or replace the management if need be.

Am I speaking before I've heard all the facts? Yep. I hope I don't have to eat my words, but I could not keep silent on this.

My thoughts and prayers are with Jamie and her family.

mR

Picture Source: ABC News.com

Coming Back Online....

I have been bored with Politics over the last few months. Probably not so much bored as tired of the lies and the garbage, but it's getting too close not to have a voice. Please make sure that you use yours as well, if for nothing else but to vote in the primary.

The "Greatest" Generation

I always smirked at the older folks when they said that they didn't understand what was happening to kids these days. I always thought that we were fine and that the older generation just didn't know what they were talking about. We treated it as a "barefoot in snow, uphill both ways" story. Now that I've reached my early 30's I'm not quite sure if I look at their stories the same way. I don't think it's just my age, I think it's more than that. Society is going to hell in a handbasket, and my generation is one of the largest contributors.

At what point do we start looking at society and start worrying about the future. I'm not talking about global warming, social security, or even medicare. I'm talking about a lack of leadership in the generation that is coming up behind me and the new generation behind that. What is going to happen after my generation is too old to lead. What happens when we are the retired and aging generation.


We have only ourselves to blame. Parents of today are corrupting our future. For evidence look no further than Lindsay's, Britney's, and Paris' parents. All in the name of entertainment and free speech. There may be nothing wrong with educating our children about the real world, but what's lacking is the education. Allowing children to make the moral choices without education is a recipe for disaster.

Who is educating our children? Is it a representative cross section of society? Absolutely not. In 2001, 34% of educators claimed to be center of the road politically. That sounds great. Until you look at the other numbers. Only 18% claim to be right leaning. A whopping 48% claim to left leaning. That's a stunning statistic. It's all about freedoms and speech, etc. That's all well and good, but there is no such thing as freedom of speech inside the family.

Who is raising our children? Video games, cell phones, the internet, and television. Teachers are running movies like "Brokeback Mountain" in middle school classrooms. Recently a friend told me that their children were taking field trips to see Spiderman 3. When I was in school it was trips to a dairy factory, a museum, or a zoo.


Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with "Brokeback Mountain." Free speech should be alive and well and I personally found the movie boring and pointless. Even for a love story, it lacked content. But I don't think that a movie that is rated PG13 or R should be shown in a middleschool classroom setting. I don't want my nieces or nephews watching "Bachelor Party" or "Cruel Intentions" during English Class. They need to watch it at their friends house when their parents aren't around like we did. At least then we knew it was wrong. It wasn't legitimized by a teacher or a parent who says that kind of portrayed behavior is "OK".


Instead we end up with Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton filling the vacuum left by today's parents.