Who benefits...?

So, I'm reading this over at Brock's place and it makes me think...  (scary, I know)

Why is the media keeping the Trayvon Martin case alive for so long?  There has been no obvious miscarriage of justice.  The media and the race baiters are keeping it alive for their own selfish reasons.

There have been no charges filed, no arrest, and no trial.  There is a reason for that, at this point in time.  The evidence doesn't point to any wrongdoing.  Will an impartial investigation lead to charges against Zimmerman, or will it conclude that there was no crime committed under the laws of the state of Florida?  Now that Holder and the DOJ are involved, can there be an impartial investigation, or will a preplanned outcome prevail?

Will there be an investigation, trial, and, if found guilty, punishment, for the major media outlets that "modified" the recordings of the 911 call to fit their need?  I think it's been pretty well proven that that occurred :)  It's helping keep the fire burning.

There are a lot of threats being tossed about.  Idiots like Al Sharpton, JJJr., Louis Farrakhan, Maxine Waters, Spike Lee, NBPP, and Oprah Winfrey (Notice that all of these people are black millionaires.  What do you suppose would happen if a white person acted and spoke as incite-fully as these folks have?) are demanding that George Zimmerman be arrested, tried, convicted, and put to death.  If the law won't do it, they will.  They want their pound of flesh, whether it is deserved or not, and they will do anything to get it.  Of course, they won't do it themselves.  They will run their mouths until someone in "their" community does it for them.  The outcome is the same.  They are just as guilty as the guy who pulls the trigger, tosses the brick, or wields the knife. 

The escalation of the rhetoric from the black "leaders" can only lead to one outcome. The inciting of violence.  I wish I could say that this falls under the Law of Unintended Consequences, but it doesn't.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They can safely assume that if they continue with their hateful commentary that it will lead to racial violence.  Probably on a large scale.  Whom will that benefit?  :)

The only option they give is to arrest, try, and convict George Zimmerman.  It doesn't matter whether he is guilty or not.  There doesn't even need to be any further investigation.  They want to dispense with all the formalities and get to the execution.  The retribution.  The revenge.

Are their motives altruistic?  Hardly.  They are all self promoters.  I don't think that anyone can argue that.  They are all well versed in self-promotion.  It has made all of them rich and powerful.  Well, perhaps not powerful, but influential.  What they are doing now by demanding "justice for Trayvon" is attempting to increase their street cred.  That's all.  If things get ugly they will sit back and say "y'all shoulda listened".  They'll wash their hands of their involvement.  They are untouchable.  As untouchable as the politicians and bankers who have brought this country to the brink of financial disaster.  These people can do or say whatever they want, without fear of consequences.  I wonder why that is?

It seems that it all comes back to racism.  It benefits them to keep racism alive.  It makes them rich.  What else can one believe after watching and listening to these rich black people?

They don't want you to know who rounded up their black brothers and sisters in Africa and sold them to the slave traders all those years ago.  They don't want you to know that soooo many more of their brothers and sisters were sold into slavery to be shipped to Europe and South America than were ever brought to this country.  They'd like you to believe that slavery was unique to the United States and that white Americans caused slavery.  They want you to believe that white Americans of two and three centuries ago were evil and that white Americans are still evil today.  They don't want you to realize that slavery in the United States ended when the War Between The States ended, almost 150 years ago.  They keep racism alive by demanding special treatment for blacks in every aspect of life because their ancestor's ancestors sold their fellow blacks into slavery.  This all occured between 7 and 15 generations ago.  Slavery ended in this country 7 generations ago!  Wrap your mind around that.  They are promoting racism and strife and are actively preventing normal human discourse amongst the people of all races in this country.  We can never get to a state of racial equality in this country as long as the race baiters continue to keep racism alive.  Who does this benefit?  :)

They promote racism and then blame the racism that they create on "Whitey".  Pretty neat trick, if you can get away with it.

Why is it that blacks who have "white" friends, blacks who live in "white" neighborhoods, and blacks who have made the effort to educate themselves and make a good life for themselves are seen as outcasts.  They are seen as traitors to their race.  Tell me why?

Wouldn't the world be better off if, instead of sowing the seeds of hate and racial division, the race baiters spent their time and energy teaching their followers that there is a set of behavioral rules that must be followed to survive on your own and to achieve success in this world?  If the race baiters would teach their followers that everything given to you comes with a price?  Personally, I don't think that the race baiters care about these things.  I think they care about getting richer and more influential.  I think they like the power and I think that the people that they are keeping in chains are an easy target for them.

Anyway...

What does the media gain from all of this?  They get ringside seats to the big show.  They get to choose whom to interview from the sidelines to get the message that they want to convey out to the people.  They get to sell advertising between scenes of death and mayhem.  They will make lots and lots of money.   They are the whores to the political class.  That's another story for another time.

What?  You thought that they reported only the truth and only for the good of the people?   That there is nothing in it for them other than the satisfaction of sharing the truth?  That they are motivated by some altruistic ideal?  Kinda like politicians?

I'm currently reading "Injustice: Exposing The Racial Agenda Of The obama Justice Department" by J. Christian Adams.  Mr. Adams was an attorney in the Voting Rights section of the obama Justice Department.

Let me quote a few lines from the Introduction of this book:

"For much of his life, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. carried around something peculiar.  While most people carry cash, family photos, and credit cards in their wallets, Holder revealed to a reporter in 1996 that he keeps with him an old clipping of a quote from Harlem preacher Reverend Samuel D. Proctor.  Holder put the clipping in his wallet in 1971, when he was studying history at Columbia University, and kept it in wallet after wallet over the ensuing decades.

What were Proctor's words that Holder found so compelling?
 
Blackness is another issue entirely apart from class in America.   No matter how affluent, educated and mobile (a black person) becomes, his race defines him more particularly than anything else.  Black people have a common cause that requires attending to, and this cause does not allow for the rigid class separation that is the luxury of American whites.  There is a sense that every black man is as far from liberation as the weakest one if his weakness is attributable to racial injustice.

When asked to explain the passage, Holder replied, "It really says that ... I am not the tall U.S. Attorney, I am not the thin United States Attorney, I am the black United States attorney.  And he was saying that no matter how successful you are, there's a common cause that bonds the black United States attorney with the black criminal or the black doctor or the black homeless person."

Has anyone ever asked Holder what exactly is the "common cause" that binds the black attorney general and the black criminal?  More important, what should the black attorney general do about this common cause?  Should the black criminal feel empathy for the black attorney general, or more likely, do the favors flow in one direction?

Holder's explanation of Proctor's quote offers some key insights into our attorney general's worldview.  First, being "more particular" than anything else, skin color limits and defines Americans-in other words, race comes first for Holder. Second, despite Americans' widespread belief in trans-racial principles such as individual liberty and equal protection, blacks are expected to show solidarity with other blacks.  And third, black law enforcement officers are expected to show this solidarity with their racial compatriots, including black criminals."

You can read more of the Introduction over at Amazon.com.

And then there is barack obama who believes the Critical Race Theory teachings of his professor, the late Dr. Derrick Bell.  Critical Race Theory teaches that all of the problems befalling blacks are the fault of, and attributable to, the white man.     No personal responsibility, no individual accountability.


Read more on Dr. Bell and CRT here.

Here are obama's feelings on The Constitution from a 2001 NPR interview and repeated almost verbatim during a Barbara Walters interview in October of 2008:

"If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court. I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order as long as I could pay for it I’d be o.k. But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that."




Anyway...  The Trayvon thing is a distraction. 

You may want to stop by and wish Ken and Miss Lisa the best on the happy occasion of their marriage.

Link here.



Stay safe.

The Infantryman's Arrogance...

From David P. in S.C.

Thank you for sharing, my friend...

http://knottiesniche.com/2011/11/16/the-infantrymens-arrogance/

Infantrymen have a pride and arrogance that most Americans don’t understand and don’t like. Even soldiers who aren’t infantrymen don’t understand. The pride doesn’t exist because we have a job that’s physically impressive. It certainly doesn’t exist because it takes a higher level of intelligence to perform our duties. It’s sad and I hate to admit it, but any college student or high school grad can physically do what we do. It’s not THAT demanding and doesn’t take a physical anomaly. Nobody will ever be able to compare us to professional athletes or fitness models. And it doesn’t take a very high IQ to read off serial numbers, pack bags according to a packing list, or know that incoming bullets have the right of way.

The pride of the infantryman comes not from knowing that he’s doing a job that others can’t, but that he’s doing a job that others simply won’t. Many infantrymen haven’t seen a lot of combat. While that may sound ideal to the civilian or non-infantry soldier, it pains the grunt. We signed up to spit in the face of danger. To walk the line between life and death and live to do it again – or not. To come to terms with our own mortality and let others try to take our life instead of yours. We have raised our hands and said, “Take me, America. I am willing to kill for you. I am willing to sacrifice my limbs for you. I will come back to America scarred and disfigured for you. I will be the first to die for you.”

That’s why the infantryman carries himself with pride and arrogance. He’s aware that America has lost respect for him. To many he’s a bloodthirsty animal. To others he’s too uneducated and stupid to get a regular job or go to college. Only he knows the truth. While there are few in America who claim to have respect for him, the infantryman returns from war with less fanfare than a first down in a high school football game. Yes, people hang up their “Support Our Troops” ribbons and on occasion thank us for our service. But in their eyes the infantryman can detect pity and shame; not respect. Consider this: How excited would you be to meet the average infantryman? Now compare that with how excited you’d be to meet a famous actor or professional sports player and you will find that you, too, are guilty of placing the wrong people on a pedestal. You wouldn’t be able to tell me how many soldiers died in the war last month, but you’d damn sure be able to tell me if one of the actors from Twilight died.

Yet the infantryman doesn’t complain about that. He continues to do his job; to volunteer his life for you, all while being paid less in four years than Tom Brady makes in one game.
It’s a job most Americans don’t understand, don’t envy, and don’t respect. That is why we have pride for the infantry.

Stay safe.

Insanity...

Someone much wiser than I am once said that the definition of insanity was performing the same act over and over again expecting a different result.  (Albert Einstein)

Watching the Martin/Zimmerman circus reminds me of this insanity.

The evidence appears to be accumulating in support of the claim of self defense by George Zimmerman.  In spite of this fact the Liberals and race baiters scream louder and louder that Travon was the definitive Choir Boy.  Good to the core.  The victim of a racist white man.  Yes, some are still calling Zimmerman a white man.  obama called himself a man of mixed race, a mutt, until he was elected to his current office.  Now he's black.  All black, all the time.  See how that works? 

Liberal politicians, professional race baiters, people too stupid to think for themselves and people who should know better are all jumping on the "Travon was murdered by a racist" bandwagon.  The evidence does not appear to support their contention. 

I wasn't there.  I don't know what happened that fateful night.    Neither do you and neither do the Liberals who are shouting the loudest so that they can be heard over the voice of reason.

America today.

It's a distraction.  Something being used to draw your attention from the things that are really going on.

Pay attention.

Stay safe.

So...

Huffpost says the Trayvon situation may not be what it seems.  The rest of the MSM will follow suit.  They have to.  :)

Perhaps obama and Louis and The Reverands should get on the news again now and change their tune to try to calm people down rather than fan the flames of racism.  Any violence that occurs over this situation can be laid directly at their feet.  Perhaps they should try the truth.  At least try Due Process.

Read it all here.

MSM, black activists, obama...  You better start putting the fires out right now.  Admit that you were wrong.  Admit that you lied.  Man up, folks.

Stay safe.

"Acted like a Thug..."

Things are heating up...

From HuffPost:

The New Orleans police department has suspended an officer under who is currently under investigation for a fatal police-involved shooting for posting that Trayvon Martin "acted like a thug" and deserved to "die like one" in a comment on a news website.
The comment appeared on Sunday night beneath a news article about a rally for Martin. When another commenter called the posting Griroir's comment racist, Giroir replied that "Eddie come on down to our town with a 'Hoodie' and you can join Martin in HELL and talk about your racist stories!:-P," according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Read the rest here. 

How do you 'spose  this whole thing is going to end?  It doesn't look good, eh?  :)

Stay safe.

When in the Course of Human Events...

Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. ~~ John Adams  May 15, 1776

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

 Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

 We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.  ~~ Adopted by Congress July 4th, 1776

Think about it.

Stay safe.

Financial Armageddon....

The Sun Also Sets

 By Mark Steyn

National Review Online

I was in Australia earlier this month and there, as elsewhere on my recent travels, the consensus among the politicians I met (at least in private) was that Washington lacked the will for meaningful course correction, and that, therefore, the trick was to ensure that, when the behemoth goes over the cliff, you’re not dragged down with it. It is faintly surreal to be sitting in paneled offices lined by formal portraits listening to eminent persons who assume the collapse of the dominant global power is a fait accompli. “I don’t feel America is quite a First World country anymore,” a robustly pro-American Aussie told me, with a sigh of regret.

Well, what does some rinky-dink ’roo-infested didgeridoo mill on the other side of the planet know about anything? Fair enough. But Australia was the only major Western nation not to go into recession after 2008. And in the last decade the U.S. dollar has fallen by half against the Oz buck: That’s to say, in 2002, one greenback bought you a buck-ninety Down Under; now it buys you 95 cents. More of that a bit later.

Read the rest here.

The economy has been talked about here in the Blogosphere since Bush II.  obama has gone crazy with the debt and the spending.  No other administration in history has spent as much as obama has, either in total dollars or as a percent of the economy.  The addition of 6 trillion dollars in debt in 3 years and 2 months defies the ability of the mind to comprehend it.  The debt is approximately 66% greater now than it was when obama took office.  That is an undeniable fact.  Talk to his supporters, the beneficiaries of his largesse, and they will put a positive spin on it.  They believe their spin. 

Never before has an entire Congress, an entire government, no...  an entire people sat back and watched an economy collapse around them and not raise a finger to stop it. 

There is only one way that this can be stopped.  One way.  That is for the government to take over and control every single aspect of our economy.  EVERY ASPECT.  Think about what that means.  Wrap your little brain around that, if you can...  THE GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE OVER EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF THE ECONOMY.  Capitalism is on her deathbed.  Free enterprise will disappear.

This has been the goal of obama and his Liberal cronies from the very beginning.  To collapse the American economy so totally and so completely that there is only one way out.  The current administration is now waiting for "the people" to ask obama to save us.  They are waiting for the people to demand that the government take over the entire economy.  Everything about it.  No more private enterprise.  We are at that point.  Our government owes more than the entire economy creates.

The people will make that demand.  Soon obama will present himself as the only one who can save us.  Soon the people will turn their lives over to the Collective. Soon we will end the dog and pony show that's currently taking place amongst the politicians and their parties.  It doesn't matter if the Ds or if the Rs are in power.  The end goal is the same.  All in the guise of saving us from ourselves.  We aren't smart enough to take care of ourselves.  We need our Rulers to make the hard decisions for us.  Look around you and see all of the Useful Idiots who gave them the power to do what is being done today.  In any group of 10 people in this country today, 5 are looking forward to this happening.  Most of those same 5 take more than they produce.  "Equality" is the professed goal.  Everyone will have the same.  Well, everyone other than the Elites and the Apparatchiks.  They are "a little more equal" than the rest of us.

Sounds like fiction, eh?

The election is less than 8 months away.  Will it happen?


Any relatively intelligent junior high school student can figure out that Amerika is coming to an end.  Politicians  continue to take more than we have and to spend more than they have.   They know what they're doing.  They know exactly what they're doing.  They know that they have destroyed America.  The end is just around the corner.  America and the industrialized world are beyond repair.  They were supposed to be destroyed.  They have to be destroyed in order to create the "One World Economy and One World Government".   There is no other way.

The people who support obama (and those like him) look forward to the the collapse of Capitalism.  They think that there is a better world on the other side.  :)  It ain't happenin', bay-bay.... 

Not only have they been taught the Marxist mantra, they believe it.  It's their religion.  A religion without hope.

I hate to be such a "downer".  I hope I'm just not seeing clearly and that I am totally wrong.

Stay safe

Theory of "DUH"...

Stay safe.

Defiling graves...

 From David P. in S.C.

Radical Muslims Defile World War II Graves, Demand Religious Tolerance

 Read it here...

As always, read the comments.

"The quickest way to enslave a nation is to deny its citizens their history.  Our schools are doing their best to revise our historical beginnings.  God help us." ~~Greg Squires

Stay safe.

 

Gun rights...

Stay safe.

How it works...

Stay safe.

Economy...

Stay safe.

The Fearful Master...

From David P. in S.C.

Verbatim Post.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/16/pruden-a-curious-experiment-in-gun-control-in-afgh/

PRUDEN: A curious experiment in gun control in Afghanistan

This is not your daddy’s Marine Corps. Or maybe it’s just not your daddy’s general. More likely, it’s just not your daddy’s commander in chief.

Nothing but a direct order from the White House could have persuaded Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, the senior Marine in Afghanistan, to disarm his men on the battlefield, even for an audience with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

The general tried to make the best of his sticky wicket, as our British cousins (some of whom were in the audience, disarmed as well) might say. “You’ve got one of the most important people in the world in the room,” the general said of the visiting defense chief. He said he wanted the Marines to look just like their Afghan partners. “This is not a big deal.”

Saying that only emphasizes how very big a deal it really is. Marines are never parted from their weapons, whether they’re on their way to the latrine, the mess tent, or to look up the chaplain. The luckless sergeant assigned to execute the general’s order told the incredulous troops that “something had come to light” and it was everybody outside to stack their automatic rifles and 9mm pistols.

Was caution driven by fear that someone might take a shot at Mr. Panetta? Did someone think that “armed Marines” — the mere term is a redundancy — would embarrass the dozen or so Afghan troops who arrived at the session unarmed? (It’s impolite to guess why they were unarmed.) Unregistered guns frighten folks like Mr. Panetta, and he had suffered through a semi-scary arrival earlier when an Afghan in a pickup truck broke through a security line and screeched to a halt up close and personal.

The sergeant who instructed the Marines to lay down their arms couldn’t say exactly who the cowardly lion in the senior ranks might be. “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy. We just adjust.”

Mr. Panetta, who was briefly a shavetail Army lieutenant himself many wars ago, gave the usual VIP remarks to the troops, all about who’s challenging whom in “the hell of war itself.” Everybody applauded politely and nobody took a shot at him, even with a spitball.

Mr. Panetta was on a fool’s errand to Afghanistan, to apologize on behalf of President Obama for the ninth, 12th and 17th time for the massacre of Afghan women and children by an American soldier. The soldier was invariably referred to by everyone, including the correspondents and their editors who ought to know better, as the “alleged” shooter even though he turned himself in with a confession. Nobody is brave enough to speak in simple and unadorned declarative sentences.

Neither was there anything any president could say to erase the sadness and madness of the soldier, removed to Kuwait to await a proper military court-martial. It was right and proper for the president to try, even though excessive apology suggests insincerity. Brief is always better.

The aftermath of the massacre was entirely predictable. The usual riots erupted as the rite of Muslim mourning. What passes for a government in Kabul stoked the outrage and the Afghans began killing each other with roadside bombs at once to demonstrate the profundity of their grief. Keeping score of madness in the Middle East is a full-time job.

President Obama got an early reply to his apologies and good-faith efforts to explain how the massacre happened. There is universal Afghan scoffing at the story that one soldier acted alone. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, told Mr. Panetta that “the Afghan people” had lost their “trust” in the “international forces” and suggested that bug-out time is at close at hand. This would enable “the Afghan people” to get back to their mutually assured destruction without fear of further interruption. The Taliban, which has been talking to the Americans about a “negotiated settlement,” dispatched an email message to President Obama to get lost, and take the dead horse he rode in on with him. The Taliban office in Qatar, opened to enable the talks, would be closed because of the president’s “ever-changing position” on “peace” talks.

The Taliban position on peace is clear and unchanging; it would behead Americans wherever it found them. So much for diplomacy. Mr. Panetta is back in Washington, the brave experiment with gun control is over and their weapons were returned to the Marines. It’s not yet clear if the bullets were returned, too.

• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.

Disarming United States Marines in a combat zone.  Sounds to me like someone is a chickenshit.  The upside of this is that probably none of those Marines have much respect for the chickenshit.  Or his boss, for that matter.

"Judge me by the people with whom I surround myself"

Believe me, bubba...  We do.

Stay Safe.

U.S. Jihadist fears for his life...

So Sad: U.S. Jihadist in Somalia Fears For His Life

Comments   0

Via AFP:

A US-born Islamist fighter viewed as a key foreign leader within Somalia’s Shebab militia allied with Al-Qaeda says he fears his life is now in danger from fellow extremists. Omar Hamami — better known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki — gave the warning in an undated video posted on several Somali websites and YouTube Saturday. “To whomever it may reach from the Muslims, from Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, I record this message today because I feel that my life may be endangered by Harakat Shebab al-Mujahideen due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the Shariah (Islamic law) and matters of the strategy,” he said, speaking in English. . .

I guess he didn’t fully read the recruiting brochure. . . — Greg Pollowitz

Stay safe. 

Subsidies...

Verbatim Post.

By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama is calling anew on Congress to end tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry, saying the nation needs to develop alternative sources of energy in the face of rising gasoline prices.

Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address that he expected Congress to consider in the next few weeks halting $4 billion in tax subsidies, something he hasn't been able to get through Congress throughout his presidency. He said the vote would put lawmakers on record on whether they "stand up for oil companies" or "stand up for the American people."

"They can either place their bets on a fossil fuel from the last century or they can place their bets on America's future," Obama said.

Industry officials and many Republicans in Congress have argued that cutting the tax breaks would lead to higher fuel prices, raising costs on oil companies and affecting their investments in exploration and production. The measure is considered a long shot in Congress, given that Obama couldn't end the subsidies when Democrats controlled Congress earlier in his term.

Republican presidential candidates have accused Obama of delaying drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and in a national wildlife refuge in Alaska and faulted him for not advancing the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. They have also criticized policies pursued by the Environmental Protection Agency as inhibiting energy development.

Obama said there is no quick fix to high gas prices, which climbed to $3.83 on Friday according to AAA, but he pushed back against critics who say he is opposed to more drilling. He said the U.S. is producing more oil than at any time in the past eight years and has quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs.

"If we're truly going to make sure we're not at the mercy of spikes in gas prices every year, the answer isn't just to drill more _ because we're already drilling more," Obama said. He said his administration was trying to develop wind and solar power, biofuels and usher in more fuel-efficient vehicles to make the nation less dependent on oil.

In the weekly Republican address, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said his constituents have been hard hit by an increase in gasoline prices and were "fed up with the way the president is handling this issue, and rightfully so. The most forceful thing the president has done about high gas prices is try to explain that he's against them."

Gardner said the $800 billion stimulus spending sought by Obama promoted energy companies that went bankrupt, wasting taxpayer money.

"After spending money we don't have on what won't work _ and overregulating what would _ is it any wonder gas prices have more than doubled on the president's watch? Make no mistake, high gas prices are a symptom of his failed `stimulus' policies," Gardner said.

Obama is expected to keep up a drumbeat on energy this week, traveling to four states over two days to push his administration's "all of the above" energy strategy. The trip includes stops in Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Ohio.


So....

Subsidies are a touchy item.  Take away the subsidies and taxes should go down, right?  Wrong.

Take away subsidies and prices go up.  Some go up to the point that the item or product being subsidized is no longer affordable to the average person.  Milk.  Grain.  Oil.

People still have to eat.  And drive.

Your taxes won't go down.  They will be redirected to the same place they are being redirected to today.   That would be to the 47% who currently pay no Federal income taxes.  It will go in larger volume to those who collect their "unearned entitlements".

You and me?  We'd pay the $8 for a gallon of gasoline.  Or for a gallon of milk.  Along with the $10 for a pound of ground beef.  How much do you think food prices would go up if subsidies were cut?  How about the cost of transporting that food to your local grocery?  Everything that we consume today in this country, in this world, is transported by truck or some other conveyance that burns an oil product.

Changing to biodiesel or electric doesn't minimize the need for fuel.  It simply makes it more expensive.  Like wind power.  A wind generator is very expensive.  I believe that the life expectancy of a wind generator is about 10 years.  The same as the payback time.  While wind generators are being erected all around the midwest, they are being abandoned elsewhere in the country.  Not cost effective.  Seems like that old definition of insanity...  "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result".  Perhaps that's a subsidy that should go away?

It's disingenuous for our government to tell us that budgets will be decreased if subsidies are cut.  It's just another lie.  They will still collect and spend that money.  And more.  It will still go to "unearned entitlements".  It's easier than putting those people who are long term recipients of said entitlements to work.

I realize that this is an oversimplification of the issue. Not everything needs to be so complicated.

Stay safe.

Heinlein...

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay
for what he does not want merely because you think
it would be good for him."
-- Robert Heinlein

Stay safe.

Zoomie...

Excellent artwork at Zoomie's place.  Check it out.

Let's get this party started.

Stay safe.

Youngest manchild...

St. Pattie's Day.  A few Irish Car Bombs under his belt.  I think living in Arizona has done something to his brain.  :)  (he reminds me of me)

Stay safe.

Good one...

Stay safe.

Dance...

Stay safe.

Precise...

Stay safe.

Wages...

I don't think this is 100% accurate, but it's pretty close.  :)



Stay safe.

Happy...

Stay safe.

Lyndon Johnson and our longest war...

From Steve in Arizona...

A good read about the political mindset that probably caused the Vietnam War to go on much longer than it needed to.  Also shows the distrust that politicians have for the military professionals who advise them.  Think General Stanley McCrystal and the "arrogant one".  When political motivations trump military reality, we all lose.  People die.  Deaths caused by arrogant, powerful men for political gain.

Anyway...

Lt. Gen. Charles Cooper, USMC (Ret.) is the author of "Cheers and Tears: A Marine's Story of Combat in Peace and War" (2002), from which this article is excerpted. The article recently drew national attention after it was posted on MILINET. It is reprinted with the author's permission.
"The President will see you at two o'clock."
It was a beautiful fall day in November of 1965; early in the Vietnam War-too beautiful a day to be what many of us, anticipating it, had been calling "the day of reckoning." We didn't know how accurate that label would be.
The Pentagon is a busy place. Its workday starts early-especially if, as the expression goes, "there's a war on." By seven o'clock, the staff of Admiral David L. McDonald, the Navy's senior admiral and Chief of Naval Operations, had started to work. Shortly after seven, Admiral McDonald arrived and began making final preparations for a meeting with President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
The Vietnam War was in its first year, and its uncertain direction troubled Admiral McDonald and the other service chiefs. They'd had a number of disagreements with Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara about strategy, and had finally requested a private meeting with the Commander in Chief-a perfectly legitimate procedure. Now, after many delays, the Joint Chiefs were finally to have that meeting. They hoped it would determine whether the US military would continue its seemingly directionless buildup to fight a protracted ground war, or take bold measures that would bring the war to an early and victorious end. The bold measures they would propose were to apply massive air power to the head of the enemy, Hanoi, and to close North Vietnam's harbors by mining them.

Read it all here.

Some things never change.  We involve ourselves in wars that we lack the willingness and fortitude to fight to their proper conclusions.  (assuming that we fight wars with the intention of winning them)  Politics always trumps common sense.  We may start out with the best of intentions but we quickly lose our way.  Before you know it ten years have passed and we no longer remember what our goals or reason for being were.

Stay safe.

Al Qaeda hates Fox News...

From HuffPost...

I suppose that you can take this article several different ways.  Personally, I find it somewhat humorous.... 

Materials taken from Osama bin Laden's compound following his death in May 2011 reveal that Al Qaeda has major issues with Fox News.
Columnist David Ignatius, who had a huge scoop in Friday's Washington Post, reported on his exclusive look at documents taken from bin Laden's compound. The main thrust of Ignatius' piece described that bin Laden was plotting to kill President Barack Obama and Gen. David H. Patraeus.
Ignatius also wrote that the documents revealed information about al Qaeda's media plans surrounding the 10-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
Ignatius wrote that al Qaeda's U.S.-born media adviser, Adam Gadahn, detailed where bin Laden should send his anniversary video. "It should be sent for example to ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and maybe PBS and VOA. As for Fox News let her die in her anger,” he wrote. Gadahn also described the networks as "all on one level — except [Fox News] channel, which falls into the abyss as you know, and lacks objectivity, too."


Read it all here.

I love it!  It sounds like Al Qaeda likes (loves?) the liberal MSM and apparently trusts them to get their word out with the appropriate slant.  It seems that they don't feel the same way about Fox News.  I hope that the Conservative media uses this to show how the MSM is the mouthpiece for most of what's bad about the world today.  I suppose that some silver-tongued wordsmith could make the case that the MSM aids and abets Al Qaeda.

They seem to act like a typical Liberal.  The only people that they associate with are those with whom they agree, or those who agree with them.  And we wonder why we are where we are.  :)

Anyway, Happy Friday...

Stay safe.

Gotta go...?

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Hump Day...

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The most important election since 1980...

Stay safe.

More CRT...

In November 1985, the Harvard Law Review published an article by Derrick Bell that was a "classic" in the development of Critical Race Theory. The article was edited by then-student Elena Kagan, and was cited by Prof. Charles Ogletree in support of her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2010. The article makes clear that Critical Race Theory sees the U.S. Constitution as a form of "original sin"--a view later embraced by Obama as a state legislator, and reflected in his actions and appointments. The following is an excerpt from the non-fiction portion of the article; much of what follows is a fictional story that Bell intended as a parable of racial "fantasy." (99 Harv. L. Rev. 4)

Read the rest here.

Stay safe.

Critical Race Theory...

Last week, Breitbart.com released video demonstrating Barack Obama’s close relationship with Derrick Bell, the father of Critical Race Theory (CRT). And we’ve seen Soledad O’Brien try to twist the definition of critical race theory in order to protect Obama by grabbing a quick definition from Wikipedia. But just what is CRT? Why is it so dangerous? And what role does it play in President Obama’s thinking?

 

Read the rest here.

Stay safe.

Don't know what to think...

A few thoughts bouncing around in my head today.  I apologize if they seem disjointed and out of order.  Or make no logical sense.

I'm angry.  This has really set me off.

The soldier who went outside the wire in the middle of the night and murdered 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children...

The first thought that went through my mind is that you don't just go out and kill non-combatants.  Every soldier knows that.  There are so many reasons why it's wrong.

Then I thought about how I would feel if it happened here, to my family.  Not pleasant to consider.  How would I respond?  What "justice" would I wish for?

I have no idea what was going through his mind.  I can't even imagine.  He was serving his fourth combat tour.  I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often when soldiers are forced to serve combat tours again and again.  It has to wear on a person.  It has to change a person.  Yes, I realize that they're all volunteers.  Perhaps that's part of the problem.   Fairly decent pay and benefits.  (not great, I know)  A shitty job market and a shitty economy here at home.  Whats a guy to do, right?

He volunteered for sniper training after he returned from his last deployment to Iraq.  He passed the psych eval for that training.  He then suffered a brain injury, recovered from it, and again passed a psych eval.

We still had a draft when I served.  Perhaps we should have it again?  Spread the load.  Share the love.  "You get lower quality soldiers with bad attitudes who don't want to be there so they don't perform".  Yep, some of them.  You have some of those in the volunteer ranks, too.  The vast majority shoot back when being shot at, though.  That "self preservation" thing.  That's another topic for another time.  :)

There is a good article here regarding this man and this incident.   Read the entire article.  It isn't very long.  Pay special attention to the last paragraph.

E-6 with 11 years of service.  4th combat tour.  Some have served more time in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some less.  Some none at all.   Wife and 2 kids.

He will be charged with murder and other crimes in the next few days.  The charges will be levied in Afghanistan.  I don't suppose that's unusual.  The Afghan government has already stated that they want this soldier brought to "justice" in Afghanistan.  They don't want this soldier taken out of their country to be tried in America. They do not trust the Americans to come to the right verdict in America.  Afghanistan is a different world.  They don't do things the way we do.

I believe that it will now become a political circus.  We don't want to piss our Afghan allies off any more than we already have.  We have to satisfy their need for justice. It's their country, their citizens who were murdered, after all.

I can see the trial taking place in Afghanistan.  They won't listen to any defense regarding mental illness.  They want blood.  That's the way it works.  I'm not saying whether that is right or wrong.  I'm not judging that at all.

No person in their right mind would do what he did.

I'm afraid that if it happens this way, if he is tried by Courts Martial in Afghanistan, he will be found guilty.  No extenuating circumstances.  No insanity defense.  Guilty plain and simple.  What he did was wrong by any normal standards.

Except that we continue to send these people over there time and time again to satisfy a political need.  This man's actions, no matter how abhorrent, no matter how uncivilized, no matter how wrong, are an indictment of the system that put him there.  Like the psychiatrist in the article said...  His leaders knew or should have known that there was something wrong.  He didn't snap.  He berserked. 

Again, I firmly believe that what this soldier did was wrong, based on what little any of us know about the incident.

I'm concerned that this soldier's fate is already sealed.  And that it is a political decision.  Our government is going to send a message on this one.  They are going to appease our Afghan allies.

10 years at war in that country.  The same small group of people serving.  Multiple tours.  War and more war.  We have no idea how it's going over there.  I'm sure that there are successes, but we rarely, if ever, hear about those.  Whenever an American soldier screws up we hear about it.

I had a young Second Lieutenant who became my platoon leader straight out of Officer Branch Basic during my second tour in Germany.  I was the Platoon Sergeant at the time and we became friends but lost touch after I came back home.  He retired as a Colonel and then became a civilian contractor.  He is back in Afghanistan right now.  (3rd or 4th time)  He's there for the money.  Wife, kids, grandkids back home in Ohio.  Actually, I think he's there for something more than the money.  He's a believer.  Always has been.  Anyway,  he emailed me one morning last month and said that two American officers were executed in an Afghan government building.  Shot in the back of the head.  This was the day after the koran burnings.  A few hours later it was all over the news.  He said it's getting crazy over there.  And dangerous.  He never said that before.  That it was dangerous.  He's too old to be doing the shit he's doing :)

Anyway... 

I have a bad feeling about this one.  I believe that Eddie Slovik was the last American soldier to be executed by the US Military.  Desertion.  If he wasn't the last, he was one of the last.  Doesn't matter.  The only soldier executed for anything other than rape or murder since the War Between The States.  Message sent.

102 soldiers were executed during WWII for rape or murder. 35 in WWI.  Slovik is the one you hear about.  Not that it matters.

You have no idea how much I hope I'm wrong about this.  No idea.

I'm torn.  I don't know what to think.  Don't even know why I think this way.

He went through the wire.  He pulled the trigger.  He set the fires.  He alone is responsible for his actions.

Or, is he?

Your thoughts?

Stay safe.

P.C....

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?... Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?... The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."

~~George Orwell 
          1984

Stay safe.

Dream, baby. Dream...

Federal Reserve, banking, and basic finance simplified.  They were smart to call it the "Federal Reserve".  Makes folks think it is a government entity.

Stay safe.

Rescue...

"A U.S. Marine rescued a boy who fell into the lion cage at the National Zoo. He jumped over the fence, punched the lion, and snatched away the boy. The next day the Washington Post reported that a Marine attacked an African immigrant and stole his lunch." --comedian Argus Hamilton

 

 

Stay safe.

Osama...

So...

Was Osama bin Laden buried at sea after being killed by U.S. Navy Seals in Pakistan just 1/2 mile from a Pakistani Army base where he had lived, unknown and undetected by us or our Pakistani allies, for 5 years?

Did the US Navy Seals really kill him?

Did he die of renal failure in the mountains of Afghanistan sometime in the last 9 or 10 years?

Or was he killed in Pakistan and his body moved to the US Military Mortuary in Dover, Delaware?  Where is his body now?

Does it matter?

Perhaps he's alive and well in Miami?

Huffpost says that Anonymous hacked some high level security company's server and gave the purloined emails to WikiLeaks who then published them.

If true, or even partly true, this could be embarrassing to the obama administration, right?  Or not.  obama is a sociopath.  He doesn't get embarrassed.  No feelings.

More questions than answers.  

Anyway...

Next topic.

Did you notice how the media is questioning everything about the current Republican candidates for their parties presidential nomination?  I mean everything.   I wonder why the same media failed to vet obama in the same way 3 1/2 years ago?  They didn't ask obama any hard questions.  The made no hard accusations.  Free ride for the pothead.

Stay safe.

Monday...

A man from Minnesota went and cut his entire left side off.  Whoa!  Don't worry though, he's all right now.



McThag presented me with the Liebster Blog award.  Thank you!  I don't have a speech ready yet so I'll have to get back to you on that.  :)  Seriously though, thank you.

I'm not sure of 5 people to pass it on to....  


Iowa is trying to pass an amendment to our constitution protecting the rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.  It passed the House on a strict party line vote, save one.  Representative Brian Quirk, a Democrat, voted with the majority to pass it.  Thank you Brian!  Now on to the Senate.  It won't be so easy there.  Representative Lance Horbach from Tama gave this speech before it was voted on in the House..

 
Good job, Lance!

Iowa is one of only 6 states that does not have a RKBA amendment to it's state constitution.  Iowa's motto is "Our Liberties We Prize, Our Rights We Maintain."  How ironic.

There is also Stand your Ground/Castle Doctrine legislation that was passed out of the House and is going on to the Senate.  It's gonna be interesting to see how it goes.

The entire Democratic Caucus walked out of legislative session for 6 hours one day last week in protest of this legislation.  Apparently when Democrats don't want to debate legislation that they may not like, they get up and leave.  Happened in Wisconsin and Indiana recently.  Wow.  Way to get things done, er, I mean, "Listen here kiddies, sit down and do the job that you were elected to do!  You aren't going anywhere until you've finished eating your peas and carrots".

I can only assume that the Democrats don't like it because they would prefer to give criminals more rights than law abiding citizens.

In my mind, the most important thing about the Stand your Ground/Castle Doctrine legislation is the protection it gives you after the fact if you have to use your firearm to protect yourself or others.  If no charges are filed against you, or if you are adjudicated not guilty in criminal court, you cannot be sued in civil court.

"There will be blood in the streets.  People will go toe to toe and use their guns to settle their arguments".  Whatever.  That's the same thing they said when Iowa became a "Shall Issue" state.  Hasn't happened.  Isn't going to happen.

Our Sheriff and several Prosecutors don't like the Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine legislation.  In the words of our Sheriff (paraphrased) "The bangers are good liars.  They will be quick to tell you that they were in fear for their life, so they shot".  I can see his point. The other scenario is that the banger gets shot by the citizen.  No charges are filed because it was a good shoot.  The banger's family sues the citizen and wins, thereby forcing the citizen to financially support the banger's family forever while destroying the citizens life.  Why should I have to pay the family of some low-life who died while trying to kill me?

Its an imperfect world that we live in.

Anyway...

Stay safe.

Don't piss her off...

This was brought into the shop my son works at in Arizona.  She musta been really mad.  Yes, she removed the crankcase oil filler cap and squirted a bit of spray-foam in there, too.

 She got his Benz, too.  Thought he was cheating on her.

My son says "If we had a female president who went to work with this attitude everyday, no one would mess with us".  I think he's right.

Stay safe.

Not Applicable...

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Host Name:				gate1-hawaii.nmci.navy.mil									Browser:				IE 7.0
IP Address:				138.163.128.41 — [Label IP Address]									Operating System:				WinXP
Location:				Honolulu, Hawaii, United States									Resolution:				1920x1080
Returning Visits:				1									Javascript:				Enabled
Visit Length:				Not Applicable									ISP:				Navy Network Information Center (nnic)

Referring URL:				gunblogblacklist.blogspot.com/
Host Name:				gate2-sandiego.nmci.navy.mil									Browser:				IE 7.0
IP Address:				138.163.0.42 — [Label IP Address]									Operating System:				WinXP
Location:				San Diego, California, United States									Resolution:				1024x768
Returning Visits:				11									Javascript:				Enabled
Visit Length:				Not Applicable									ISP:				Navy Network Information Center (nnic)

Referring URL:				www.ma-rooned.com/
Host Name:													Browser:				IE 8.0
IP Address:				140.194.140.11 — [Label IP Address]									Operating System:				Win7
Location:				Sacramento, California, United States									Resolution:				1536x960
Returning Visits:				0									Javascript:				Enabled
Visit Length:				Not Applicable									ISP:				Headquarters, Usaisc

Visit Length:   Not Applicable.  That's a new one to me.  Never saw that before.

Stay safe.

Chardon, Ohio...

I received this in today's email from Bob at Ohio Ordnance Works.  It bears reading.  A voice of reason.

Firearms, whether directly or indirectly, impact everyone’s life in some way. In the wake of the recent events at Chardon High School, the impact of firearms was felt on an entire community when a fatal shooting occurred in the high school- which is in the middle of this idyllic town, not far from my home, other homes, offices, and other schools.
Being a resident of Chardon almost my entire life and an alumni of the high school, I was shaken that such violence could happen in our community. Chardon was a place I have always felt safe from the kinds of evils that happen elsewhere in the world. In one morning, that peace of mind was stolen. The little town on the hill known for snowfall and maple syrup, where you could leave your doors unlocked and roam the streets safely at night, became the epicenter of a national news story. Somebody, or something, had to be the cause of this unsettling- and someone or something had to bear the blame.

As always with these kinds of unthinkable violent acts, the involvement of a gun caused a strong response. There seems to be an emotional connotation attached to any conversation involving firearms, and the nature of the discussion leaves no middle ground. People either want them or hate them, and both to the extreme. After the events of the past week, the time had come to reassess the role of firearms in my life, and whether or not I would condemn them as a vessel of death and destruction or reaffirm their need as a fundamental right and last line of defense.
To research firearms statistically is not an easy task, but one that is necessary if you are going to truly form an educated opinion on the subject. I looked for evidence that was empirical and unbiased, though finding it proved difficult.
First of all, are people carrying around more guns these days?

Read the whole thing here.

Like I said, a voice of reason.  Yes, I realize that reason means nothing to some folks.

Stay safe.