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The following thoughts came to me from a friend’s email. I do not know if Mr. Junius P. Long actually exists or if the following thoughts are his. Regardless of his status, these words and thoughts sum up quite nicely how the ruling political class has screwed up the country’s finances, priorities, liberties, and common sense.
By Junius P. Long - Food For Thought
If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for being in the country illegally ...you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If you have to get your parents’ permission to go on a field trip or take an aspirin in school, but not to get an abortion ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If you have to show identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor or check out a library book, but not to vote who runs the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If the government wants to ban stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines with more than ten rounds, but gives 20 F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If, in the largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not a 24-ounce soda because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If an 80-year-old American woman can be stripped searched by the TSA but a woman in a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If a seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher’s "cute," but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If children are forcibly removed from parents who discipline them with spankings while children of addicts are left in filth and drug infested “homes”... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If hard work and success are met with higher taxes and more government intrusion, while not working is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, subsidized housing and free cell phones ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If the government's plan for getting people back to work is to incentivize NOT working with 99 weeks of unemployment checks and no requirement to prove they applied but can’t find work ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you more "safe" according to the government ... you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
To Mr. Long’s thoughts I would add the following bits of political insanity:
If your government thinks the best way to stop illegal gun running is to become an illegal gun runner via Fast and Furious…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government thinks that light security is best for a U.S. embassy located in one of the most unstable and violent areas of the world (Benghazi, Libya)…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government has a massive and ineffective tax code and inept tax collection agency (IRS) that results in over $380 billion in lost tax revenue every year via tax evasion…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government operates social safety programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamp, Unemployment Insurance) that loses over $200 billion a year to inefficiencies and criminal fraud…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government operates a Defense Department that is in such financial disarray that trained GAO auditors have found it impossible to audit its financial operations…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
If your government has 15 different agencies overseeing food safety laws, more than 20 different programs to help the homeless, 80 programs for economic development, 82 Federal programs to improve teacher quality spread across 10 different Federal agencies, 80 programs to help disadvantaged Americans with their transportation needs, 47 programs addressing job training and employment, 56 programs to help Americans understand finances, 20 programs that support business incubators, 19 different programs that support tourism, 18 programs, which spend a combined $62.5 billion a year, to address food and nutrition aid, and 100 different programs across five divisions within the Transportation Department that all fund efforts for highways, rail projects, and safety programs…you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.
Never has the case for term limits been stronger since as Einstein once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Or the same politicians and idiots.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Yesterday, we talked about the farewell speech that Congressman Ron Paul gave in front of Congress last year. Congressman Paul has been one of the few Washington politicians who appreciated, respected, and tried to preserve the tenets of freedom and liberty that have made this country great. Unfortunately, he was in a small minority that tried to protect the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Our discussion yesterday focused on the many small ways that freedom has been eroding in this country over the years, almost totally at the hands of the political class, death of freedom by a thousand cuts:
- Debt is growing exponentially.
- The accompanying household tax burden grows every year.
- Government politicians and bureaucrats control more and more of our lives including our retirement income via Social Security, our retirement medical care via Medicare, and our pre-retirement medical care via Obama Care.
- This Presidential administration sees no problems with killing American citizens without due process of law, both overseas and domestically.
- This Presidential administration sees no problems with holding anyone in captivity without due process for indefinite amounts of time.
- This Presidential administration sees no problems with spying and tracking citizens without any justifiable reasons.
- This Presidential administration continues to execute and lose the war on drugs, destroying Fourth Amendment rights and freedom of choice in the process.
These and other affronts to liberty were discussed yesterday using Congressman’s Paul speech as the basis. Today, we will examine some other concepts of freedom and hope he provided as an outline on how to retrieve the freedom we have allowed the political class to take away:
“No one claims it’s permissible to go into one’s neighbor’s house and tell them how to behave, what they can eat, smoke and drink, how to spend their money. Yet rarely is it asked why it is morally acceptable that a stranger with a badge and a gun can do the same thing in the name of law and order. Any resistance is met with brute force, fines, taxes, arrests and even imprisonment. This is done more frequently every day without a proper search warrant.”
“Government in a free society should have no authority to meddle in social activities or the economic transactions of individuals.”
“Nor should government meddle in the affairs of other nations. All things peaceful, even controversial, should be permitted.”
“Achieving legislative power and political influence should not be our goal. Most of the change, if it is to come, will not come from the politician, but rather from individuals, family, friends, intellectual leaders, and our religious institutions. The solution can only come from rejecting the use of coercion, compulsion, government commands, and aggressive force to mold social and economic behavior.”
“The idealism of nonaggression and rejecting all offensive use of force should be tried. What I am talking about is a system of government guided by the moral principles of peace and tolerance.”
“A society that boos or ridicules the Golden Rule is not a moral society. All great religions endorse the Golden Rule. The same moral standards that individuals are required to follow should apply to all government officials. They cannot be exempt.”
“To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions have to be overcome. Number one is envy, which leads to hate and class warfare. Number two is intolerance, which leads to bigoted and judgmental policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of love, compassion, tolerance, and free market economics.”
“The best chance of achieving peace and prosperity, for the maximum number of people worldwide, is to pursue the cause of liberty. If you find this to be a worthwhile message, spread it throughout the land.”
Fabulous words for anyone to follow if they desire to live in a free society. Unfortunately, these words cannot be applied to most of the American political class:
- When a California Congresswoman openly wished that American citizens that did not agree with her political views should go to hell, she was not living up to the Golden Rule or showing any kind of compassion or tolerance.
- When politicians blame the rich, the successful, and the high producers in our society, they are not reducing envy, they are fueling it.
- When government entities buy billions of rounds of ammunition and over 2,700 armor tank vehicles they are reinforcing their ability to use brute force, coercion, aggression, and compulsion to mold social and economic behavior.
- When government continues to execute a lost war on drugs or tries to dictate the size of your soda container these are nothing more than other ways to aggressively behavior, not recognizing the right of a free people to do what they want as long as they do it peacefully and non-aggressively.
- When the Patriot Act, NDAA, spying on citizens, and indefinite detention is viewed as major achievements of the political class, the opposing concepts of peace, nonaggression, privacy, and freedom have been relegated to the history bin.
- When politicians “energize their base” by demeaning, slandering, and belittling those in our society that have a legitimate contrary view to those politicians, they are spreading the cancer of intolerance, not enhancing the art of debate and the ideal respect.
You get the idea. We have allowed the political class to divide and conquer us, going a long way in destroying our democracy in the process. As Congressman Paul points out, to reverse this trend we cannot rely on the same politicians to restore the ideals of liberty and freedom. That victory has to come from ourselves, our families, our friends, and others outside the realm of politics, or as Einstein once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Or the same politicians.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Let’s take a step back from gun control lunacy and Obama Care idiocy and talk about something more basic today and tomorrow: freedom. The following thoughts are from the last speech given in Congress by long time Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
Congressman Paul has been one of the very people in the Washington political class who has sincerely worried about the erosion of liberty and freedom in this country. This loss of freedom was usually at the hands of overreaching, overbearing, and over politicized politicians and their usually ineffective, wasteful, and dangerous policies and legislation.
Many smart people throughout history have correctly observed that freedom is seldom lost by a sudden outburst of tyranny. It is usually lost over time, bit by bit, kind of like death by a thousand cuts. You do not notice how much freedom has eroded away until it is too late to stop the erosion.
Congressman Paul’s points do a great job of pointing out how that slow erosion, how those tiny cuts have dramatically reduced our freedom in this country without most of us noticing. It is a good starting point to determine if this path of slow tyranny is a good path for America or if there is truly a need to change the path back to our heritage of liberty as outlined in the Constitution. Is it a continued road of ignorance or back to the enlightened road of free will, free expression, and freedom from the shackles of politicians and government.
The first part of his speech goes down a checklist of freedom reducing acts from just the past few years:
"[Still] our liberties are restricted and government operates outside the rule of law.. Here are a few examples:
- Debt is growing exponentially.
- The Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation passed without much debate, have resulted in a steady erosion of our Fourth Amendment rights.
- Tragically, our government engages in a pre-emptive wear, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
- The drone warfare we are pursuing worldwide is destined to end badly for us the hatred builds for innocent lives lost and the international laws flouted.
- It’s now the law of the land that the military can arrest American citizens, hold them indefinitely, without charges or a trial.
- Rampant hostility toward free trade is supported by a large number in Washington.
- Sanctions are used to punish countries that don’t follow our orders.
- Bailouts and guarantees for all kinds of misbehavior are routine.”
To these gross impositions on freedom, the root causes of our liberty loss, we should add a few more causes:
- You are not living in a free country when all forms of government confiscate, on average, over 30% of an American household’s income every year.
- You are not living in a free country when about 500 people in Washington, people you have never met, can force you to purchase a product or service of their choosing, as witnessed by the health insurance mandate demanded in Obama Care.
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls your elder years medical care (via Medicare).
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls a large portion of your retirement income (via Social Security).
- You are not living in a free country when the central government controls a large portion of your pre-retirement medical care (via Obama Care).
- You are not living in a free country if your ability to go to college, via student loans, is dependent on the actions and whims of Federal government politicians.
- You are not living in a free country if your ability to get a home mortgage, via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is dependent on the actions and whims of Federal government politicians.
- You are not living in a free country if the Federal government’s executive branch can independently and arbitrarily designate any American for assassination and then actually commit that assassination without due process of law (e.g. Anwar al-Awlaki).
- You are not living in a free country when a President can seize control of all forms of communications when he alone decides it is in the national interest (Executive Order - Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions)
- You are not living in a free country when the Federal government can collect and store every electronic communication any citizen makes (e.g. email, text messages) in massive data storage centers (e.g. Bluffdale, Utah) without due process, a warrant, or privacy protection.
- You are not living in a free country when the Federal government executive branch thinks it can affix a GPS tracking device to any citizen’s car without a warrant (see U.S. Vs. Jones decision).
- You are not living in a free country when crony capitalism wastes billions of taxpayer dollars every year without any redeeming societal benefits (e.g. Solyndra, Fisker, Telsa).
- You are not living in a free country if the executive branch can circumvent Constitutionally mandated government appointment reviews via a "czar" politburo.
When taken in total, the above actions by the American political class have shot us a long way down the road to tyranny. In light of these actions, the Congressman’s speech addresses some very serious questions to all Americans:
“Why are sick people [Americans] who use medical marijuana put in prison?
Why are Americans not allowed to use gold and silver as legal tender as mandated by the Constitution?
Why is the Transportation Security Administration permitted to abuse the rights of any American traveling by air?
Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of our prisons? How can making our entire society a prison solve the problem?
Why do we sacrifice so much getting needlessly involved in border disputes and civil strife around the world and ignore the root cause of the most deadly border in the world - the one between Mexico and the U.S.?
Why does changing the party in power never change policy? Could it be that the views of both parties are essentially the same?
Why is there so little concern for the executive order that gives the President authority to establish a “kill list” including American citizens, of those targeted for assassination?
Why is patriotism thought to be loyalty to the government and the politicians who run it, rather than loyalty to the principles of liberty and support for the people? Real patriotism is a willingness to challenge the government when it’s wrong.”
Thought provoking questions that every American needs to ask themselves if liberty and freedom in this country have any chance of surviving. We are well on our way to a thousand cuts and once we get beyond that magic number, the ability to restore our freedom and liberty will become next to impossible. Those forces that do not care about these Constitutional concepts, the American political class, will be too entrenched to give back the freedom they took away from us.
Congressman Paul’s insights and questions should be our wake up call. These should be the starting points and road map of taking back our country from the those who use our country for their own political gain, personal enrichment, and selfish ego satisfaction.
Today, we laid out the root causes of our problem, the erosion of liberty. Tomorrow, we will review the back half of the Congressman’s speech which lays out the types of behavior that is needed to stop the bleeding before it is too late.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Last week we did a popular post that showed how inane and stupid the Chicken Little talk was from Obama and other Washington politicians relative to the financial sequester:
http://www.loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/03/chicken-little-and-washington-political.html
The sequester required a small 2% across the board cut in spending by the Federal government because the President and those in Congress were too incompetent to come up with a rational plan to trim government spending over a 17 month period.
The President was given the task of deciding how to cut the spending by a measly 2% and he chose the most vindictive and cruel ways to do it, ensuring that the citizens of this country would suffer the most despite the fact that the government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
He chose to shut down school and family tours of the White House despite the low cost of continuing them and the tradition of continuing them. He chose to release over 2,000 illegal alien criminals, of which over 400 had been convicted of a violent crime. He threatened to shut down the long tradition of the White House Easter Egg Hunt despite its low cost. He threatened other measures to maximize the negative impact on America.
We pointed to a number of ways that the government could have cut far more expense with much less pain to Americans. However, politically, that was not the best route for the President, with vindictiveness and pain being his path of choice. A week or so after that post, we have uncovered a whole new set of wasteful spending projects and programs that Obama should have shut down long ago but did not.
1) Last week CBS News, a main component of the mainstream media, actually did a piece on government waste that should have been cut before it even happened. The IRS spent $60,000 to have a mediocre Star Trek themed video produced for internal use. The video can be viewed at the following link:
http://patriotupdate.com/2013/03/taxpayers-fund-irs-star-trek-parody/
You cannot claim that you are running an efficient government operation when tens of thousands of dollars are spent on unneeded videos, especially poorly made ones like this piece of trash that will have no redeeming value and impact virtually any American’s life. Makes you wonder how many more such government videos are produced that are just as unnecessary.
2) U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont recently wrote a letter to a Vermont citizen regarding the status of the next generation U.S. military fighter jet, the F-35 which has been under development since 2001: “The F-35 program has been poorly managed and is a textbook example of how not to buy military equipment. The causes of the F-35 program’s present difficulties are too numerous to detail in my response to your letter; however, I believe the F-35 program is approaching a point where the military services and a majority of Congress will recognize that the jet is just too costly to proceed with purchases at today’s planned levels.”
While I applaud the Senator’s candor, I think he is being a little too kind. According to a recent report from the Secretary of Defense by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, J. Michael Gilmore, dated February 15, 2013, the fighter’s ultimate cost is likely to be about $1.5 TRILLION which will put it at 100% over budget. The plane currently cannot fly in bad weather, on instruments, or at night due to failures in many of it systems. These failures exist despite the fact that the American taxpayer has already spent $400 billion on this disaster.
$400 billion already spent, No viable jet fighter in sight. Over $1 TRILLION still to be spent. You could give a lot of White House tours for $1.5 TRILLION.
3) Apparently the Federal Department of Education has a great amount of say in the education processes on native Americans. As a result of sequester, this administration and its strategy to make these measly 2% cuts hurt as much as possible, forced expense cuts on Native American schools in Minnesota, according to the outraged Congresswoman from that district, Congresswoman Betty McCollum:
- Native American schools in Minnesota are freezing salaries, leaving job openings unfilled, enlarging classroom sizes, and making other cost savings moves to satisfy demands being enforced by the Department of Education.
- The White Earth Reservation tribal school may cut the school year down to save money.
- The Red Lake School District has cut security staff.
However, at the same time these kids’ education capabilities are being cut, the Department of Education is creating a totally new position that pays over $127,000 a year. The job is going to a former aid of Congressman Charles Rangel, David Johns, and is titled, “Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans.”
I would assume that this is not a solitary position and that this new executive director will also have a staff of people burning through taxpayer money. You decide: do not create and staff this position and new entity, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in
order to minimize the cuts to Native American education processes or expand the Federal government bureaucracy and screw the kids’ education. Not being the vindictive type like our President, I would have kept the resources with the kids and not the bureaucrats.
4) And for the worst hypocrisy of all, Vice President Joe Biden. He recently flew to Europe where he spent one day London and one day in Paris. Total cost to the American taxpayer: about $1 million. Yes, one million for a two night stand in Europe. Copies of the receipts for these two nights can be seen at the following link:
http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/6986-biden-spends-585000-in-one-night-paris-stay-on-your-dollar/
Details of the London expenditures include the following:
- Biden’s entourage needed 136 rooms at the Hyatt Regency, certainly not your low end hotel accommodations by any stretch of the imagination.
- These 136 rooms resulting in a total of 893 room nights for the stay for members of his security force and other entourage members, all for a one night visit.
- The total cost just for the hotel stay came out to $459,338.65, or a little more than $500 per room for these public servants
Comparable expenses were run up at the Paris stopover.
Look, I understand the need for our politicians to visit overseas locations and meet foreign leaders. I understand they need to be kept safe, it is a dangerous world out there. But come on, 136 rooms, Hyatt Regency, $500 a night? Why did these people not stay at our embassies, they are secure. The London embassy certainly has the room:
Or why couldn’t Biden have stayed at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in London, another secure location which also certainly has the space while the rest of his entourage stayed at the equivalent of the Red Roof:
The reason he did not is that Biden is just like every other politician in the White House and in Congress: they are so out of touch with reality and the need to intelligently and unselfishly cut expenses that they would rather have the people of America suffer before they see their plush, extravagant, and selfish life styles affected.
Biden’s expenses could have been used to operate White House tours for a whole year. Instead, the tours are out for Americans, the Hyatt Regency is still a go for politicians.
This Chicken Little behavior of our political class through this whole sequester mess, a process they agreed to 17 months ago, proves once and for all that we need term limits more than ever in this country, as proposed by Step 39 in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government.” When the ruling political class is more focused on making life painful for the citizens in this country, it is definitely time to replace those that find being vindictive more preferable to being compassionate and caring.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
This post will finish our latest series of posts and updates regarding the Newtown school shootings and the overall gun control debate. Last week we reviewed the many instances where the Second Amendment has allowed and empowered ordinary Americans to defend themselves, their families, and their properties from criminal elements and other such scum.
We also reviewed other aspects of gun control including the direct report from Vice President Joe Biden who openly stated that any gun control laws they come up with will basically do nothing to prevent violence but these laws should be passed anyway to show they are doing something in Washington even if it is a useless endeavor.
Today’s post will focus on the words of two people that have been personally touched by gun violence. The first set of words is a letter from a Columbine school shooting survivor, a survivor who was actually wounded that day, to President Obama which elegantly and correctly explains in simple terms why shredding the Second Amendment and imposing draconian gun controls on law abiding citizens is the last thing that we should be considering. It should be required reading for all Washington DCand other state level politicians who either do not understand the real implications of their actions or are too lazy to think thought to the root causes of the problem.
The second set of words is from a father of a slain child in Newtown. This father points out that guns were not the problem, theat a disregard for life and hatred was the cause of the shootings. Their actual words and experiences do a much better job of why more gun control is not a solution to the problem caused by Newtown, putting trained, professional and armed police professionals in our school is the simple, straightforward, and best solution for avoiding future Newtown incidents.
So, before anyone goes off and espouses why more gun control is the only solution, control managed by the inept politicians in Washington, listen carefully to the following opinions which carry much more weight than the opinions of those that have not been victims of such violence and hatred.
********************************
Mr. President,
As a student who was shot and wounded during the Columbine massacre, I have a few thoughts on the current gun debate. In regards to your gun control initiatives:
Universal Background Checks
First, a universal background check will have many devastating effects. It will arguably have the opposite impact of what you propose. If adopted, criminals will know that they can not pass a background check legally, so they will resort to other avenues. With the conditions being set by this initiative, it will create a large black market for weapons and will support more criminal activity and funnel additional money into the hands of thugs, criminals, and people who will do harm to American citizens.
Second, universal background checks will create a huge bureaucracy that will cost an enormous amount of tax payers dollars and will straddle us with more debt. We cannot afford it now, let alone create another function of government that will have a huge monthly bill attached to it.
Third, is a universal background check system possible without universal gun registration? If so, please define it for us. Universal registration can easily be used for universal confiscation. I am not at all implying that you, sir, would try such a measure, but we do need to think about our actions through the lens of time.
It is not impossible to think that a tyrant, to the likes of Mao, Castro, Che, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and others, could possibly rise to power in America. It could be five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years from now — but future generations have the natural right to protect themselves from tyrannical government just as much as we currently do. It is safe to assume that this liberty that our forefathers secured has been a thorn in the side of would-be tyrants ever since the Second Amendment was adopted.
Ban on Military-Style Assault Weapons
The evidence is very clear pertaining to the inadequacies of the assault weapons ban. It had little to no effect when it was in place from 1994 until 2004. It was during this time that I personally witnessed two fellow students murder twelve of my classmates and one teacher. The assault weapons ban did not deter these two murderers, nor did the other thirty-something laws that they broke.
Gun ownership is at an all time high. And although tragedies like Columbine and Newtown are exploited by ideologues and special-interest lobbying groups, crime is at an all time low. The people have spoken. Gun store shelves have been emptied. Gun shows are breaking attendance records. Gun manufacturers are sold out and back ordered. Shortages on ammo and firearms are countrywide. The American people have spoken and are telling you that our Second Amendment shall not be infringed.
10-Round Limit for Magazines
Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Seung-Hui Cho used two of the smallest caliber hand guns manufactured and a handful of ten round magazines. There are no substantial facts that prove that limited magazines would make any difference at all.
Second, this is just another law that endangers law-abiding citizens. I’ve heard you ask, “why does someone need 30 bullets to kill a deer?”
Let me ask you this: Why would you prefer criminals to have the ability to out-gun law-abiding citizens? Under this policy, criminals will still have their 30-round magazines, but the average American will not. Whose side are you on?
Lastly, when did they government get into the business of regulating “needs?” This is yet another example of government overreaching and straying from its intended purpose.
Selling to Criminals
Mr. President, these are your words: “And finally, Congress needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job. We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of turning around and selling them to criminals. And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this.”
Why don’t we start with Eric Holder and thoroughly investigate the Fast and Furious program?
Furthermore, the vast majority of these mass murderers bought their weapons legally and jumped through all the hoops — because they were determined to murder. Adding more hoops and red tape will not stop these types of people. It doesn’t now — so what makes you think it will in the future? Criminals who cannot buy guns legally just resort to the black market.
Criminals and murderers will always find a way.
Critical Examination
Mr. President, in theory, your initiatives and proposals sound warm and fuzzy — but in reality they are far from what we need. Your initiatives seem to punish law-abiding American citizens and enable the murderers, thugs, and other lowlifes who wish to do harm to others.
Let me be clear: These ideas are the worst possible initiatives if you seriously care about saving lives and also upholding your oath of office. There is no dictate, law, or regulation that will stop bad things from happening — and you know that. Yet you continue to push the rhetoric. Why?
You said, “If we can save just one person it is worth it.” Well here are a few ideas that will save more that one individual:
First, forget all of your current initiatives and 23 purposed executive orders. They will do nothing more than impede law-abiding citizens and breach the intent of the Constitution. Each initiative steals freedom, grants more power to an already-overreaching government, and empowers and enables criminals to run amok.
Second, press Congress to repeal the “Gun Free Zone Act.” Don’t allow America’s teachers and students to be endangered one-day more. These parents and teachers have the natural right to defend themselves and not be looked at as criminals. There is no reason teachers must disarm themselves to perform their jobs. There is also no reason a parent or volunteer should be disarmed when they cross the school line.
This is your chance to correct history and restore liberty. This simple act of restoring freedom will deter would-be murderers and for those who try, they will be met with resistance.
Mr. President, do the right thing, restore freedom, and save lives. Show the American people that you stand with them and not with thugs and criminals.
Respectfully,
Severely Concerned Citizen, Evan M. Todd
*****************************
Rather than do the transcripts of the father of a Newtown victim, his actual words can be accessed at the following link:
http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/01/4127-father-sandy-hook-speaks-out/
His quotes are very compatible with our theme of posts regarding how to fix the world so that Newtown and Columbine never happen again, our assertion that we need more hate control before we even think about more gun control. The following insights are quotes from his video:
“We need civility across our nation.”
“We need common decency to prevail.”
“Cultivating character.”
“Parenting is where we need to focus.”
“If there are going to be gun laws, we need to enforce them.”
“Criminals break the laws. There are more than enough [laws] on the books.”
Both victims, and victimhood extends to the families and friends of all those who needlessly perished in both horrors, deserve to be heard, listened to, and their insights seriously contemplated because they have gone through the entire gamut of emotions and thoughts that most of us cannot even imagine.
Together they make more sense than just about anything coming out of Senator’s Diane Feinstein’s office, Harry Reid’s office, Joe Biden's mouth, and the White House, all of whom likely have other, more political motives, beyond the safety of American children.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
A few weeks ago, the Federal government was forced to trim about 2% from its bloated budget as a result of a deal that was made by Congress and the White House, involving BOTH political parties, in August, 2011. Since that date, the Washington political class proved its incompetence again by being unable to come up with a satisfactory spending reduction plan, resulting in this so-called sequester, across-the-board spending cuts.
Since that sequester happened, and in light of the fact that the government again has not been able to come up with a simple budget and is in the midst of negotiating yet another continuing funding piece of legislation, we have seen a number of politicians try to politically leverage these meager spending cuts rather than actually manage the budgetary affairs of the nation:
- News reports indicated that the Obama White House had decided to make the sequester spending cuts as painful and visible as possible rather than trying to minimize the waste and minimize the impact of ordinary Americans. As we have written previously on this matter, Obama took the vindictive approach to governing rather than the compassionate approach to governing.
- This pathetic, selfish attempt at leadership resulted in the White House cutting off the traditional tours of the White House that have been a part of school trips and family vacations for decades, if not centuries.
- The White House also took a stab at potentially cancelling this year’s White House Easter Egg event on the grounds of the White House, blaming the budget deadlock that seems to eternally plague the Washington political class. The Easter event is another time honored family and citizen event that Obama was contemplating killing off for political gain and positioning.
- Earlier this week there was a tragic Marine Corp. training incident in Nevada that resulted in the death of seven Marines. Never one for compassion, always looking only for political gain, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave a speech on the floor of the Senate which tried to tie the meager spending cuts, most of which have not taken effect yet, to the deaths of these seven Marines, trying to blame the Republicans in the process.
- Arne Duncan, Obama’s Secretary of Education, also got into the “Chicken Little Act - Washington Political Class Version” by falsely telling America that many, many teachers would lose their jobs as a result of a meager 2% reduction in Federal spending. He failed to mention during his rants that only half of the 2% would be for non-defense spending and that the vast, vast majority of teachers in this country are not paid with Federal spending dollars but with local and state government funding. More vindictiveness vs. compassion and reality.
Total lack of leadership, starting at the top of the Federal government with President Obama.
Better to get political points than to minimize the pain on ordinary Americans. If these four talking points were the only way to reduce government spending, then the pain to ordinary American families and kids would be justified. But wouldn’t it have been a better idea to look at the following government insanity and spending before vindictively going after high visibility spending just to hurt citizens at the expense of political posturing:
1) According to the www.recovery.gov website, the website that is the official tracking source for government spending on Obama’s economic stimulus funding, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia.” Specifically, according to the grant’s own words, “The project examines how reproductive morphology covaries with season, age, and social environment in a diverse sample of duck species that differ in ecology, territoriality and breeding system."
Really, we are spending Federal government money to study sexual behavior of ducks? That $384,949 could have funded more than four months of White House tours for families and kids, a far better expenditure than studying the sex life of ducks. Not spending the money on such nonsense would have been another good use of the funds.
Wouldn’t if be fun to sit in on the NSF meetings when these idiotic programs are discussed and then approved: Yes, in the national interest, it is best to spend taxpayer wealth on “duck reproductive morphology.” Ridiculous. Instead, according to Obama, Reid, Duncan, et al, it is better to cut off White House events for Americans, let Marines die, and teachers lose their jobs.
2) According to the www.federalgrantswire.com, the Federal government will spend $1.5 million of taxpayer wealth in 2013 to continue efforts to protect African elephants and their habitat. The website states that the funds will go to “any African government agency responsible for African elephant conservation and protection and any other organization or individual with demonstrated experience in African elephant conservation.”
Really, first duck sex and now elephant conservation? With an almost $17 TRILLION national debt and no more White House tours, maybe we should not be spending this kind of money on elephant conservation in Africa on “any African government agency.” This $1.5 million would have funded more than a year of White House tours and probably a couple of Easter egg events thrown in. Or better yet, do not spend our money on this type of nonsense at all and try to get the debt problem under control.
3) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has previously awarded more than $1.5 million to study biological and social factors for why “three-quarters” of lesbians are obese and why gay males are not, calling it an issue of “high public-health significance." Unfortunately this $1.5 million “investment” will not pay dividends until the project’s completion in 2016.
But the NIH did not stop their funding of lesbian studies with just this one obesity grant:
- Since 2009, the University of Illinois has receive about $2.7 million in receiving Federal funding to study “sexual minorities [lesbians]” and their propensity to drink.
- The University of Washington has been granted $1.15. million since 2010 for its project “High Risk Drinking in Emerging Adult at-Risk Women,” which researches why young lesbians and bisexuals face an “elevated” chance for hazardous drinking.
- In 2012, Old Dominion University in 2012 got $446,056 for its study titled “Minority Stress, Alcohol Use, and Intimate Partner Violence Among Lesbians.”
Obesity is a problem. Out of control alcohol drinking is a problem. But do we really need three separate studies, or any studies at all, to find out if and why lesbians are heavier drinkers than non-lesbians? Do we really need to spend millions of dollars and wait many years to POSSIBLY find out why lesbians are more likely to be obese? These studies would have funded White House tours for almost six years or would have reduced our sky high national debt by almost $6 million without harming the vast majority of Americans in this country.
3) As we come up on the ten year anniversary of our ill-fated invasion of Iraq, a new report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., identified at least $8 billion that the U.S. military wasted in the reconstruction of Iraq after the fighting subsided. $8 billion would fund a lot of White House tours and Easter egg events!
While this money is already spent and lost, it is a good bet, a great bet, that this type of waste, billions of dollars worth, is still going on throughout the military budget. We recently reported on the fact that the General Accountability Office had thrown up their hands while trying to audit the Pentagon, saying that the financial bookkeeping of the Department was so bad that it could not even be audited by trained audit professionals.
Rather than finding vindictive ways to hurt ordinary Americans, maybe Obama, Reid, and the rest of the Washington political class should actually start doing their job and start ferreting out these types of billion dollar wastes within our military. Not only would it save the White House tours, it would certainly make a huge difference in our debt situation without harming national defense.
4) The Bankrupting America website was also lamenting the Chicken Little Antics of Obama and others on March 18, 2013 when they reported that that a massive $2.2 billion in “mistaken” payments were made from the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2012. This $2.2 billion was about half of what the Navy is scheduled to reduce its spending by due to the sequester.
In other words, if the Defense Department was not so inefficient and inept, the impact on our national defense via the Navy cuts would have been 50% less severe. Maybe the Washington political class would be better off making government more efficient and less vindictive and petty.
5) The Investors Business Daily reported on a study on March 13, 2013 that found, despite the cries of anguish from the Washington political class due to the meager sequester spending cuts, the Federal government was still actively looking to fill almost 2,600 job vacancies within its many bureaucracies.
It seems that if the spending cuts were that dreadful, why would there be so many jobs being actively shopped for prospective candidates? Wouldn’t the sane approach be to freeze all current hiring to get through the sequester spending cuts?
Especially insulting to Americans is that the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that released thousands of illegal aliens as a result of the sequester, is actively looking to fill 107 job vacancies. Wouldn’t a better approach would have been to use this funding to detain illegal aliens like the Department is supposed to do? Salaries and benefits for these 107 positions would probably come in at about $10 million a year, money that could have prevented the release.
But the Department of Homeland Security are not the only government hypocrites in this area:
- The Agriculture Department is looking to fill 115 positions including such “critical” positions as a recreation forestry technician in Sedona, Ariz., a dairy grader in Winnsboro, Texas, and an archaeologist in McCall, Idaho. This is the same Agriculture Department that had warned of Americans falling ill from tainted food due to short staffing should sequestration go into effect. But still is looking to expand its staff by over 100 positions.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs, which had warned of homeless vets being dumped onto the streets, is advertising for 905 new well-paying jobs. At a loaded salary/benefit package of $100,000 per position, this additional headcount budget of about $90 million could have kept a lot of veterans off the street.
- The Department of the Interior, which continues to buy more land instead of selling or leasing the Federal government's energy-rich land holdings, has advertised 115 new posts since sequestration began — even as it threatens to close Yosemite and other national parks.
You get the idea, Obama, Reid, Duncan and the rest of Chicken Littles would rather try to scare and bully the nation than just doing their jobs and being good stewards of the American taxpayer’s wealth. Instead, either through incompetence, laziness, or vindictiveness, these people go out of their way to make life difficult for its citizens, the exact opposite of what leaders should do. But possibly what Chicken Littles do.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Yesterday we continued our ongoing series about trying more hate control throughout the country before we shred the Second Amendment via more gun control. Yesterday’s post focused on showing a number of real life, dangerous situations where Americans were able to protect themselves, their families, and their property using the Second Amendment to defend against punks and robbers.
Today’s post is the latest in this saga of protecting the Constitution and the Second Amendment, two concepts that are essential to Americans’ pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.
1) The following graphic was in a recent article in the Washington Post, despite the Second Amendment (double click on the graph for a bigger look):
Interesting trend, the violent crime rate has gone down by almost 50% in just one generation (twenty years) despite the Second Amendment.
Could it be that more and more Americans are living in states that allow its citizens to more freely utilize their Second Amendment rights, as pointed out by Rob Vance, who blogs at No Lawyers — Only Guns and Money? He generated a chart that’s just as nice as the Washington Post’s chart. The only difference is that, instead of showing just the FBI’s decreased crime numbers, it also includes data about increases in the percentage of citizens that live in states where the right to carry a concealed weapon is in effect:
Coincedence or a cause and effect relationship? Given that violent crime escalated in Chicago despite the toughest and most restrictive gun laws in the country over the recent past while violent crime went down as the ability to carry a concealed weapon went up in the rest of the U.S., you can draw your own conclusions.
2) Let’s look at what has happened in Washington D.C. over past few years. Washington at one time had a very tough and restrictive set of laws relative to gun possession. However, frustrated and scared citizens living in crime infested neighborhoods rebelled and filed suit to overturn the restrictions on their Second Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, agreed with them and invalidated the D.C. anti-gun laws. As expected, gun control advocates forecasted that Washington, D.C.’s high crime rate would go through the roof as more citizens armed themselves. However, just the opposite happened as explained by John Lott in a March 2010 in a Fox news opinion piece:
But Armageddon never arrived. Quite the contrary, murders in Washington plummeted by an astounding 25 percent in 2009, dropping from 186 murders in 2008 to 140. That translates to a murder rate that is now down to 23.5 per 100,000 people, Washington’s lowest since 1967. While other cities have also fared well over the last year, D.C.’s drop was several times greater than that for other similar sized cities. According to preliminary estimates by the FBI, nationwide murders fell by a relatively more modest 10 percent last year and by about 8 percent in other similarly sized cities of half a million to one million people (D.C.’s population count is at about 590,000)
Coincidence or cause and effect? You decide, especially in light of the Chicago situation.
3) Newsmax reported on February 22, 2013 that 23 U.S. Congressmen and women had sent a signed letter to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, urging them to prosecute existing gun laws before any further restrictions and violations of the Second Amendment were put into place, citing the following facts and realities:
- The letters cited a Syracuse University study that show firearms prosecutions under President George W. Bush peaked at 11,015 in 2004 while the Obama administration has prosecuted about 7,774 firearms cases in 2012.
- This either indicates that gun violence is down, meaning there is no urgency to implement strict gun control laws or the Obama administration is not doing its job under existing gun control laws, again meaning there is no urgency to implement strict gun control laws.
- A quote from the letter goes as follows: “We must all be looking for ways to prevent senseless acts of violence and the taking of innocent life but the best place to start would be enforcing the laws that Congress has already enacted.”
- Given the high rate of violent crime rise in Chicago, the President’s hometown, the lawmakers’ letter is quick to point out that the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago, is the lowest ranked of all Federal court districts in gun-related prosecutions despite a surge in Chicago area gun-related violence.
- “In a city like Chicago, which saw 506 murders last year, it is appalling that the U.S. attorney’s office in that jurisdiction only prosecuted 25 federal firearms cases during 2011,” the group wrote.
- The letter asserts that of the 76,142 gun permit requests that were denied following background checks by Federally-licensed firearms dealers, only 4,732 were referred for prosecution. Of that total, only 62 prosecutions resulted.
- This translates into a prosecution rate of a measly .08% on over 76,000 denials of gun permits and a not much better prosecution rate of 1.31% of cases that are referred for prosecution.
Seems these 23 politicians might be onto something. Why add more Federal government bureaucracy to life when the existing Federal government bureaucracy functions so miserably?
4) But not only do these Congress people get the insanity of adding more laws when the existing laws are not obeyed and enforced, Vice President Joe Biden in his own colorful way has also reached the same conclusion. On January 31, 2013, Politico reported on Biden’s quotes where he essentially conceded the point made by the 23 Congress people above, that doing something that does not work is better than doing nothing:
“Nothing we’re going to do is going to fundamentally alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting or guarantee that we will bring gun deaths down to a thousand a year from what we’re at now.”
Despite this statement, he still wants new restrictions on Second Amendment rights. Which always gets us back to Einstein’s popular saying when it comes to Biden: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." It is insanity to pass more restrictive gun laws but let’s do it anyway.
5) The New York Daily news reported on December 29, 2012 that Chicago suffered is 500th homicide for the whole year of 2012 that day. The Pentagon reported after this date that 310 American soldiers had died in Afghanistan fighting in 2012. Still think that strict gun laws for law abiding citizens is a good idea?
The best way to prevent more mass school killings like Newtown is very simple: somehow find about $7 billion a year in the hundreds of billions of dollars that the Federal government wastes every year and use it to fund and place a trained, professional, armed law enforcement officer in every U.S. school. It is that simple, so simple that smart people would have figured it out already and resourceful people would have already deployed the resources to protect our kids.
Instead, the Washington wasteful spending and bad priorities continue, the Washington blather continues, and our kids are as unprotected today as the were the day the Newtown shootings went down.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Shortly after the Newtown school shooting late last year, we presented a set of posts that proposed we address the root causes of gun violence, too much hate in this country in its many forms, rather than shredding the Second Amendment and the gun rights it bestows on Americans. The first post in that series can be accessed at:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-about-more-hate-control-before-more.html
We followed that series up with a second series earlier this year that focused on the many instances that occur every day where Americans use their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves, their families, and their assets:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-about-some-hate-control-before-more.html
As Senator Diane Feinstein’s ridiculous gun control legislation moves through the Senate, we thought it appropriate to provide an update with the latest instances where the Second Amendment is saving lives of ordinary Americans, a process that would likely be severely curtailed if radical and stupid legislation like Feinstein’s ever became law.
1) Local Milwaukee news outlets reported that on March 12, in West Allis, Wisconsin , a Marine Corps veteran, who was carrying a licensed concealed weapon, was able to stop a vicious attack on a woman while driving home from work without firing a single shot. The veteran came across a large built man while he was viciously kicking a woman on the ground in the head and in the body.
It turns out the man was the ex-boyfriend of the beaten woman who had been stalking her. The veteran stopped, got out of his car, and confronted the man with his legal handgun. He also called the police who arrived to find the veteran holding the man at bay while the woman lie bleeding on the ground. The woman suffered cuts, bruises, and a broken nose but thanks to the heroic actions of the veteran and the Second Amendment, that was the extent of her injuries.
http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/6369-marine-with-licensed-concealed-carry-gun-saves-woman-from-being-beaten-to-death/
2) The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press reported on February 20, 2013 that a Burlington resident fired his handgun into the floor of his apartment on recent morning as a warning to a knife wielding burglar who then ran from the residence. The man had gone out for a walk and when he returned he found the burglar already inside the apartment. After a brief struggle and the firing of the shot, the suspect fled, leaving the citizen and his property intact.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130220/NEWS02/302200013/1007/RSS02?nclick_check=1
3) TV station KREM reported on March 6, 2013 that an intruder was shot and killed after police said he was trying to force his entry into a north Spokane home via the home‘s doggie door. The homeowners did personally know the intruder who had been harassing them and who was armed with a knife, a weapon that police confirmed they found at the scene.
http://www.krem.com/news/crime/Man-shot-and-killed-trying-to-force-his-way-into-North-Spokane-home-195798001.html
4) TV station KHOU reported on February 22, 2013 that A 21-year-old man sprang into action to protect his family when three armed men/suspects barged into their home in a home invasion effort. When the son opened the door a crack to see who had knocked, the three suspect rushed into the house, pushed the son and father to the ground, and started attacking the mother.
Fortunately, the son was able to break free, get his father’s shotgun, and fired at the intruders, killing one of them on the spot. The police were alerted to the home invasion and shooting and were able to quickly track down the other two suspects as they fled.
Police know of no reason for the home invasion, making it a case of random violence that was stopped by the Second Amendment.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/21-year-old-protects-family-kills-suspect-during-home-invasion-in-NW-Harris-County-192475271.html
5) NBC News in Prince Edward, Virginia reported in mid-February that a deadly home invasion resulted in a homeowner killing two of the three armed suspects who invaded the home of a man and his two year old child. The home invasion began around 4:30 a.m. when three unknown men forced their way in the front door of the home.
Police said that the man called 911 to report a home invasion and said the suspects were armed. Police reports indicate gunfire was exchanged between the suspects and the caller. Two of the suspects were pronounced dead at the scene, while the third managed to escape on foot. The homeowner and the child were not harmed as a result of the Second Amendment.
http://mrctv.org/videos/man-defends-his-2-year-old-son-shoots-and-kills-2-home-intruders
6) The local Fox Network news station in Dallas reported in late February, 2013 that a local elderly homeowner shot and killed a would-be intruder as the intruder tried to climb through the man’s window into his home. The home invasion attempt occurred in the middle of the day and was not the first time that this home had been burglarized.
The intruder had a long criminal record. The homeowner was not arrested and will likely not be prosecuted since he was protecting his home with a legal, Second Amendment-sanctioned weapon.
http://mrctv.org/videos/man-defends-his-2-year-old-son-shoots-and-kills-2-home-intruders
7) The Miami Herald reported on March 3, 2013 that an 81 year old man realized that he was being followed as he drove his car. He knew he should not lead the follower to his home and eventually pulled over to the side of the road, parked, and pulled out his legally owned firearm.
He got out of his vehicle and was confronted by a much younger man who demanded everything that the older man owned. To protect himself, the elderly man brandished his gun and fired on the would-be robber in order to protect himself. The would be robber has a long list of previous criminal activity including altering a serial number on a gun and illegally carrying a concealed weapon. No charges or arrests were made against the elderly man.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/11/3280251/suspected-robber-shot-by-elderly.html
\8) CBS News in San Francisco reported on February 26, 2013 that some Oakland residents have become so fed up with crime and violence that they are forming or hiring their own security forces to protect their lives, their families, and their assets. Apparently, corruption and forced cutbacks in the Oakland Police Department has resulted in a spike in criminal violence, leading to citizens taking charge of their own security.
The report outlined how 25 homes in just one neighborhood had been robbed in just the past two months, with one home hit twice within 24 hours. According to Alaska Tarvins of the Arcadia Park Board of Directors: “You have to walk around in your house with a gun to feel safe here.” Hopefully, ill-thought out, anti-freedom to protect oneself legislation like Feinstein’s will allow these brave neighbors to continue to protect their friends and families in light of the light protection they currently get from local police precincts.
These are just a few of the many instances everyday where Americans are able to protect themselves as a result of the Second Amendment. All research and studies show that average police response times to a 911 call are around 20 minutes. A lot of violence can occur in that 20 minutes, violence that is prevented daily by the Second Amendment.
If you agree with idiocy like Diane Feinstein, remember a few things. Just because you have not suffered a home invasion, does not mean it will not happen. Just because a would-be assailant has not crawled through your doggie door, does not mean it will not happen. Just because you have not been targeted while driving, does not mean you will not be targeted. Just because a previous boy friend and stalker had not attacked you does not mean it will not happen in the future.
If you want to take the chance that these types of violence will not find you, that is your right. However, it is not your right to deny this type of protection to others. As we have pointed out many times in this series of posts, we need to reduce the root causes of criminal violence. We need more hate control, a primary root cause of the violence, before we even start to talk about more gun control.
We need to talk about improving economic chances and opportunities, understanding how video games and extensive medication of our youth affect decisions, and the easiest solution of all relative to gruesome shootings like Newtown: we need to somehow find about $7 billion a year, by cutting out just a handful of wasteful Federal government spending programs and projects, to place a trained armed police officer in every U.S. school.
Understand the root causes, protect our kids, don’t shred the Second Amendment.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
