What a mess! First of all let me say I hate the term "Obamacare"; and not just because it was coined by that actor guy named Limbaugh. The healthcare plan President Obama tried to get through Congress and the plan Congress passed are very different. What the President attempted would have really changed things (good or bad) and what we got is a bit of a water downed mess that won't change the big picture dramatically. Doctors, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, and mostly lobbyists will still make plenty of money, the upper 1-2% of Americans will get the greatest healthcare available in the World and the rest of us will pay allot for healthcare coverage. Don't misunderstand me here: I like what has passed. It is better than what was in place before. My premiums have gone up but I have known for three years they would. And I still pay very little for excellent coverage. Thanks to the new provisions: I didn't have to pay a dime for a routine colonoscopy, my wife gets a free mammogram, my children who are out of school and under the age limit are still on my policy, and family members with pre-existing conditions cannot be turned down for coverage. I know it is not a perfect solution but for Mr. Average Middle Class the changes have and will be good.
Perhaps at some point I will wax on the idea of socialized medicine. I think there are good things and bad things about it, but a good exploration will need more time than I have right now. I do think that is is unfortunate that because of the inclusion of the term (social-) many people will not consider anything that they think is linked to communism.
So healthcare reform is constantly being linked to partisan politics. If what we presently have is linked with President Obama and the Democrats, what is the Republican plan? Mitt Romney supported about the same thing in Massachusetts but now has changed his mind (OK by me to change your mind if it is done for thoughtful, principled reasons rather than cynical, political ones). What is Mitt's plan? He hasn't said. When a FOX reporter asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to describe his party's (R) plan to replace "Obamacare" (ugh!) he said that first the GOP had to repeal Obamacare. When asked the simple question two more times McConnell continued to refuse to offer any plan. He just kept saying that the GOP (not Congress mind you) must first repeal Obamacare. The most powerful man in the Republican party will not speak about a specific alternative healthcare plan. Of course this is the same politician that said "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President.” This powerful Congressional leader (remember Congress? supposed to by our lawmakers and overseers of the common good) cares more about dumping his political opposition then passing any meaning good legislation. And you wonder why I don't like politicians and especially the GOP right now.
The only way to get any good done for the common man is to be open to ideas. No matter who comes up with them or what words they contain. Listen. Debate the points not the ideology.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Now that my muse has kicked me in the...................
Since my muse has visited me and I hope will be around for awhile, I decided publish some stuff I wrote but never got around to complete or post. The following is something I wrote 3 years ago and for whatever ever reason never shared it. Needless to say, there has been much water under the bridge since I wrote this. I promise to revisit the subject with today's view.
OPTIMISM IN A CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY
OPTIMISM IN A CAPITALISTIC SOCIETY
What do capitalism, communism, free enterprise, and socialism all have in common? Well they all suck in their own ways, and if you talk about them you might just as well stand on a busy street corner and shout “abortion!” over and over. I think some of the worst parts of each are endemic to humans. Free enterprise and capitalism are disastrous without regulation. Communism and Socialism deny individual rights and lead to fascism. History proves that each system fosters greed. You can, however, have common good and the individual right to make a profit.
I’m like mostly everybody else in many ways. I am concerned with people losing jobs, not having healthcare, not having enough money to pay all the bills, etc...
Add to that a worry about war, the possible threat of terrorist attack at anytime, and a flu or chicken plague,,,,, hey! There is much to be concerned about. I am also like most other people in that I worry about me; me and my family; how I will get by and provide for them. Is this selfish? Yes, but since I am human (and I think this is the common flaw) it is how I relate to everything.
I read through the President’s economic stimulus plan and wondered how it would affect me. I’m not sure it will. Don’t get me wrong…….I trust President Obama and his financial advisors because I am optimistic and haven’t been thrilled with our government in many, many years. I am very hopeful that this plan will help the Economy in general and therefore eventually make my life a bit easier, more enjoyable, or at least a bit less laden with stress. I just hope so.
In order for me to figure out how this latest economic stimulus plan will help me I must look at how the present economy is affecting me. Basically this is my situation: I think I am pretty typical middle class. I am a government worker (job pretty secure for now) with good health insurance, retirement plan and fifteen years of loyalty (both me to them and them to me). I am about to have 3 kids in college, and my wife works at home. I have a mortgage, a cell phone, 2 dogs, 2 cats and more consumer debt than I would like. Does any of this sound familiar? I hope so, because I think I am pretty typical. I have a second job, and I am barely making ends meet. I have it good.
Really! My life could fracture at any time for a number of reasons but why focus on what if? I am paying my obligations…….all of them. I am feeding my family. I have no car payments. I occasionally take my wife out for dinner or to see a show.
The biggest problem I see that many people have right now is consumer debt. I have many friends whose stories go like this: One day "Bob's" bank and one of his credit card companies fail to agree on the paying/posting date of a bill. Of course, they each said that Bob needed to deal with the other about it. So what happened is that one payment got messed up and this caused all of Bob's other credit card companies to cut his credit in half, which in turn made his balances very near or at their limits, which in turn made Bob's credit score go down, which in turn made his interest rates skyrocket. Talk about a snowball effect! Many, many, many phone calls resulted in no help. Eventually (maybe in 10 more years) Bob will get everyone paid off and have mountains of available credit. But wait! No one has credit anymore…….it doesn’t exist because when the Government bailed the big banks out they still paid big salaries, big bonuses and according to CNBC bought: “curtains for $28,000, a pair of chairs for $87,000, fabric for a “Roman Shade” for $11,000, Regency chairs for $24,000, six wall sconces for $2,700, a $13,000 chandelier in the private dining room and six dining chairs for $37,000, a “custom coffee table” for $16,000, an antique commode “on legs” for $35,000, and a $1,400 “parchment waste can.” Lest I forget about the $50 million corporate jet (French made) Citicorp just bought.
The present state of the economy is directly affecting me very little. If things don’t get better or if gas prices rise again I will have a tough time. So my hope is that President Obama’s stewardship will help things improve in general and therefore I will be able to look forward to better times.
Some Republicans in Congress are worried that if money were sent out to taxpayers directly we would save it instead of spending it to stimulate the economy. Heck! When the Government sent me a stimulus check last year I paid bills with it. I didn’t save it or “spend” it on anything. I gave it to the banks just like they did. But I owed it to them. The American people owe the money grubbing banks and Wall Street firms nothing. I read the fine print and I understood what the banks backing my credit cards could do. I just really believed that would act in good faith and they haven’t. I want the Government to make the banking industry act in good faith. Most of us bear some responsibility for the place we are in but the greedy money mongers at the top (who may be losing more then anyone else but who also are feeling it the least) need to act in good faith. They can make things better simply by making it as easy for people (like me) to get in better shape just as they made it easy for us to get into trouble. Why not sacrifice some profit (profit: making anything more than what it cost you) to get the money moving again? The Government could make them do this. If Mr. “A” could afford to buy House “B” at 5% interest but not at 10% interest and Bank “C” lent money to Mr. “A” to buy House “B” (money that Bank “A” borrowed at less then 5%) then the Government should force Bank “A” to only charge 5%. In my case; as long as I am acting in good faith (I pay them every month) the interest rates on my credit cards should not be automatically raised across the board because of an error. If I showed any pattern of mistakes or missed payments then all bets could be off………I would deserve it. It doesn’t take an idiot to see that the Banks have not acted in good faith. I think the Government should step in and make sure that profit is made at no ones great expense. Regulate the amount of profit that can be made and measure profit realistically. Just because I made $100 profit this year and last year I made $125 profit doesn’t mean I lost money. I still made $100 profit.
As humans we can overcome ourselves if we will only choose to think of each other at least as much as we think about ourselves. Communism could work if not for greed, and I am sure that Capitalism can too.
Lamentations of a middleman
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am....." with all due reference to Gerry Rafferty and Stealers Wheel: I feel like I am stuck in the middle........again. Maybe it is because I was born a middle child. Well, I wasn't really born a middle child. I was born a baby; the baby in my family......the youngest. I hated being "the baby of the family". This lasted until I was thankfully given a younger brother when I was 8. So at first, I loved being in the middle. I most certainly wasn't the "baby" anymore (at 8 years old this is important for a boy). I soon learned however, that being in the middle wasn't all it's cracked up to be.
I worshiped my older brother. He is only two years older (and wiser) than me, but he has always been a larger than life, monster of a guy in my eyes. He knew everything I didn't and he knew how to manipulate the world around him to exist. He was god and I was his minion, shadow and best friend. Then one of his peer group would come around and my status instantly dropped to "tagalong" & "little butthole". Mom was always a great solace during these times of utter rejection. I didn't understand what horrible thing made me lose my older brother's love, but Mom could always distract me by saying something like "let's bake a bunch of brownies" or "come help me plant some these flowers". Thus I learned to love cooking, digging in the dirt and the wonderful power of the smile. You never get over rejection, you just learn to deal with it as part of life (humans' ability to choose,,,,,,,,another subject for another day) and go on until it rears it's ugly head again.
So Mom was always there to prop me up when life dealt me a blow. Then the new baby came along and I became the middle child. Seemingly this was great. Now I had someone to look up to me. It soon became apparent that because my younger brother was so much younger then me he needed and got the majority of Mom and Dad's attention. I understood. I had to learn self-reliance. I learned how to see and understand things from both sides and decide which way was the path of least resistance. This is both a blessing and a curse.
Where is the worse place to be in any conflict? The guy getting pummeled? No,,,,,the guy who has to step in and stop the guy whose animal instincts smell a kill. When you are in the middle you become the defacto peace maker who tends to fight for survival of the underdog. This puts you at risk for being pummeled too. To survive in the middle you understand that discretion is the better part of valor because that is all you believe you have, and it very often works.
Being in the middle means you come across as being non-committal. I do commit: just after much analysis. So am I a Democrat? Oh heck no! Idealist ideas I might have but I do keep an eye on what is,,,,,I call it reality. And unlike Will Rogers I really need organization in my life. So a Republican? I am too kindhearted and trusting. Also, I believe in looking real hard at this thing reality: shit flows downhill and the those with money have the power and the golden toilet seats at the top. There must be reason a gold toilet seat is cold. So I get pegged as being "moderate". Not really true. I have strong feelings about many things. I am not a fence sitter. Whatever the subject I stand on one side or the other. I just can usually understand why the other side feels the way they do. I like to claim that I am either the most liberal conservative in the world or the most conservative liberal in the world. I just very much hope that I am open minded.
I'm not sure whether I like being in the middle or not. It has served me pretty well. I have survived this way for a number of years. It is somewhat safe as long as you listen to both sides. I liken it to a scene in the movie "Shenandoah": the Confederate and Union armies are facing each other across a field taking a break from an obviously bloody stalemate. Just before the fight begins again, a skinny cow marches out into the field between them, oblivious to the fact that it looks like a good meal to both starving armies. All the men on both sides have a good laugh before a brave sole with a white flag rides out and chases the poor animal away. Then the reality resumes. Like the cow: the middleman has little hope of changing anyone's mind. But the middleman is almost always good for a laugh, and laughing is a good thing.
I worshiped my older brother. He is only two years older (and wiser) than me, but he has always been a larger than life, monster of a guy in my eyes. He knew everything I didn't and he knew how to manipulate the world around him to exist. He was god and I was his minion, shadow and best friend. Then one of his peer group would come around and my status instantly dropped to "tagalong" & "little butthole". Mom was always a great solace during these times of utter rejection. I didn't understand what horrible thing made me lose my older brother's love, but Mom could always distract me by saying something like "let's bake a bunch of brownies" or "come help me plant some these flowers". Thus I learned to love cooking, digging in the dirt and the wonderful power of the smile. You never get over rejection, you just learn to deal with it as part of life (humans' ability to choose,,,,,,,,another subject for another day) and go on until it rears it's ugly head again.
So Mom was always there to prop me up when life dealt me a blow. Then the new baby came along and I became the middle child. Seemingly this was great. Now I had someone to look up to me. It soon became apparent that because my younger brother was so much younger then me he needed and got the majority of Mom and Dad's attention. I understood. I had to learn self-reliance. I learned how to see and understand things from both sides and decide which way was the path of least resistance. This is both a blessing and a curse.
Where is the worse place to be in any conflict? The guy getting pummeled? No,,,,,the guy who has to step in and stop the guy whose animal instincts smell a kill. When you are in the middle you become the defacto peace maker who tends to fight for survival of the underdog. This puts you at risk for being pummeled too. To survive in the middle you understand that discretion is the better part of valor because that is all you believe you have, and it very often works.
Being in the middle means you come across as being non-committal. I do commit: just after much analysis. So am I a Democrat? Oh heck no! Idealist ideas I might have but I do keep an eye on what is,,,,,I call it reality. And unlike Will Rogers I really need organization in my life. So a Republican? I am too kindhearted and trusting. Also, I believe in looking real hard at this thing reality: shit flows downhill and the those with money have the power and the golden toilet seats at the top. There must be reason a gold toilet seat is cold. So I get pegged as being "moderate". Not really true. I have strong feelings about many things. I am not a fence sitter. Whatever the subject I stand on one side or the other. I just can usually understand why the other side feels the way they do. I like to claim that I am either the most liberal conservative in the world or the most conservative liberal in the world. I just very much hope that I am open minded.
I'm not sure whether I like being in the middle or not. It has served me pretty well. I have survived this way for a number of years. It is somewhat safe as long as you listen to both sides. I liken it to a scene in the movie "Shenandoah": the Confederate and Union armies are facing each other across a field taking a break from an obviously bloody stalemate. Just before the fight begins again, a skinny cow marches out into the field between them, oblivious to the fact that it looks like a good meal to both starving armies. All the men on both sides have a good laugh before a brave sole with a white flag rides out and chases the poor animal away. Then the reality resumes. Like the cow: the middleman has little hope of changing anyone's mind. But the middleman is almost always good for a laugh, and laughing is a good thing.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Here I am again.....
Now is the time to write! I just found two blogs I never "blogged". The ability to sit down and write has escaped me for a couple years.
Of course: now that I have discovered my blog again, I don't have time to write anything. Having two jobs is a bitch, but I know how fortunate I really am.
Of course: now that I have discovered my blog again, I don't have time to write anything. Having two jobs is a bitch, but I know how fortunate I really am.
Therapy,,,,,,,,,I need it, so I shall write again,,,,,,,soon,,,,,,I hope.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Finally a new post
A rather conservative friend of mine routinely sends me emails she receives that are generally crap forwarded a thousand times around the World spreading falsehoods. I used to fact check them and return the real facts back to people who are listed before me, but lately I just been hitting the good old delete key. She sent me this one and I couldn't stop laughing. Satire at it's best:
I received this email today. I think it is horrible that this stuff exists. Please forward this to as many people as you can so that the truth about this stuff will be known.
INCREDIBLE!
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE PEOPLE WE TRUST THE MOST TO LEAD US AND TEACH US THE TRUTH ARE ACTUALLY REALLY JUST ACTORS MAKING MONEY BECAUSE SO MANY OF US ARE SO EAGER TO BUY THE HATE THEY DISTRIBUTE?
READ WHAT SOME OF OUR “MORAL COMPASSES” HAVE HAD TO SAY WHEN THEIR MICROPHONES WERE OFF………
“the Democratic Party is a fine party and I have no problems with it…”
Sen. John McCain, April 1, 2004
“My listeners are so stupid. I could tell them Jesus was a Jew and they would hate him if I told them I did."
Sean Hannnity, September 1, 2008
“… conservative radio is the greatest drama ever made. Shakesphere would have had his own conservative radio show if the medium existed then. I’d be a liberal radio show host if the money was there, but it isn’t……conservatives are easier to herd and open their wallets quicker…..”
Rush Linbaugh, July 16, 2004
“most Conservatives aren’t interested in the truth. I love my mother but I’d tell my listeners to hate her if there was a buck in it. I’m not ashamed……That’s American free enterprise!”
Neil Boortz, May 30, 2008
“Americans are so ridiculously naïve. They get their truths from conservative and liberal radio pudits who are all just actors and wouldn’t know reality if it kicked them in the _ss. “
Dick Chenney, November 4, 2008
“Our founding fathers didn’t really have a clue. Like Stalin, I’m just in it for the money and women…..”
Glen Beck, December, 16, 2008
About the New Orleans refugees…..”they are all underprivileged anyway, so this must be working quite well for them….”
George W. Bush, September 5, 2005
We’re all humans aren’t we? Pass this along so that everyone can see that hate breeds hate and we must all learn to get along with each other. Take this to your churches and pray for unity and conservatism. Anything but communistic hatred and loathsome insecurity. My hope is that the time has not come for us to give up hope. We must take a stand for liberty and put down the oppressive liberal motorhead. Our country, this beautiful American soil is being soiled by the likes of Obamma, Biden, Pelosi and Reid. Don’t allow the immorality of the Washington crowd to wash over us. Let us breath pure white American air again so that we may crush our oppossers and put down anyone who refuses to see how right we are and how wrong they and all the other long hair, sex crazed dope smoking anarchist pinko commey fags are!
Buy that piece of prime waterfront real estate between Long island and Manhattan island but don’t pay too much for it! America needs a strong and healthy free enterprise system.
Please send this to 83 of your closest friends before noon or your big toe will fall off.
In the common vernacular of the day you have been punk’d. If you believe anything in this document you are dumber than I thought. This email is a work of satire and is intended to illustrate why you shouldn’t always believe everything you read or hear. Open your minds people and allow yourselves to grow. Only 2 of the quotes were really made (I will let you do the research and find out which 2) and them withstanding I do not attribute anything above to be the words of anyone except me.
I received this email today. I think it is horrible that this stuff exists. Please forward this to as many people as you can so that the truth about this stuff will be known.
INCREDIBLE!
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE PEOPLE WE TRUST THE MOST TO LEAD US AND TEACH US THE TRUTH ARE ACTUALLY REALLY JUST ACTORS MAKING MONEY BECAUSE SO MANY OF US ARE SO EAGER TO BUY THE HATE THEY DISTRIBUTE?
READ WHAT SOME OF OUR “MORAL COMPASSES” HAVE HAD TO SAY WHEN THEIR MICROPHONES WERE OFF………
“the Democratic Party is a fine party and I have no problems with it…”
Sen. John McCain, April 1, 2004
“My listeners are so stupid. I could tell them Jesus was a Jew and they would hate him if I told them I did."
Sean Hannnity, September 1, 2008
“… conservative radio is the greatest drama ever made. Shakesphere would have had his own conservative radio show if the medium existed then. I’d be a liberal radio show host if the money was there, but it isn’t……conservatives are easier to herd and open their wallets quicker…..”
Rush Linbaugh, July 16, 2004
“most Conservatives aren’t interested in the truth. I love my mother but I’d tell my listeners to hate her if there was a buck in it. I’m not ashamed……That’s American free enterprise!”
Neil Boortz, May 30, 2008
“Americans are so ridiculously naïve. They get their truths from conservative and liberal radio pudits who are all just actors and wouldn’t know reality if it kicked them in the _ss. “
Dick Chenney, November 4, 2008
“Our founding fathers didn’t really have a clue. Like Stalin, I’m just in it for the money and women…..”
Glen Beck, December, 16, 2008
About the New Orleans refugees…..”they are all underprivileged anyway, so this must be working quite well for them….”
George W. Bush, September 5, 2005
We’re all humans aren’t we? Pass this along so that everyone can see that hate breeds hate and we must all learn to get along with each other. Take this to your churches and pray for unity and conservatism. Anything but communistic hatred and loathsome insecurity. My hope is that the time has not come for us to give up hope. We must take a stand for liberty and put down the oppressive liberal motorhead. Our country, this beautiful American soil is being soiled by the likes of Obamma, Biden, Pelosi and Reid. Don’t allow the immorality of the Washington crowd to wash over us. Let us breath pure white American air again so that we may crush our oppossers and put down anyone who refuses to see how right we are and how wrong they and all the other long hair, sex crazed dope smoking anarchist pinko commey fags are!
Buy that piece of prime waterfront real estate between Long island and Manhattan island but don’t pay too much for it! America needs a strong and healthy free enterprise system.
Please send this to 83 of your closest friends before noon or your big toe will fall off.
In the common vernacular of the day you have been punk’d. If you believe anything in this document you are dumber than I thought. This email is a work of satire and is intended to illustrate why you shouldn’t always believe everything you read or hear. Open your minds people and allow yourselves to grow. Only 2 of the quotes were really made (I will let you do the research and find out which 2) and them withstanding I do not attribute anything above to be the words of anyone except me.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Back to the Old West
A recent shooting in my town that left 3 people dead has brought about many issues. For example: it has been suggested that if more people "strapped guns on their sides" that this tragedy could have been averted or at least the perpetrator stopped (as of this writing he is still at large). What disturbs me most about this suggestion is that it came from a police officer. Of all professions I would think a law enforcement officer would want to keep as many guns off the street as possible. He made a pretty convincing argument but the idea still scares the hell out of me.
I have considered getting a gun to protect my family. I live in a very rural county and if someone broke into my house while my wife were home alone she currently has no protection other then our 2 large, vocal dogs. The Sheriff's office is only a phone call away but the nearest Deputy might be quite far away. What would happen if really hard times hit and we have any kind of societal breakdown? What I mean by this is: suppose fuel prices skyrocket again (greedy oil companies and evil Arabs) and the grocery store shelves start getting bare. Electrical service becomes intermittent. Suppose I saw this coming and stored a year's supply of food essentials, fuel and water on my land. Next thing you know, my neighbor wants some. He comes over with his hand gun to appropriate some of my stores and I repel him with my shotgun. So he returns with a couple buddies and an assault rifle or two. OK, where does this end? Someone ends up dead. Do we really want to return to the day when he who carries the biggest gun wins all the gold? I know it is an extreme example but it could come about.
What really frightens me is that I am a pacifist, yet I am considering getting a gun. Next thing you know I will want to carry it around with me. I have had lots of training as a martial artist and tournament fighter; however, every time I began a fight the adrenalin rush was almost too much for me to control. I think that if I were in such a tense situation as having someone shooting a gun around that if I drew a weapon I'd be shaking so much I might shoot anything or anybody. I am having trouble getting past the idea that when eventually most people are walking around armed, that every argument would end up with a gun being involved. I've got an employee that I know loves guns and has a carry permit. What if I have to terminate this person someday? Should I keep a gun in my desk to protect myself? I wonder how to keep guns out of the hands of people that have no business handling them. I knew a guy who was a University Police Officer and was so paranoid he should never have been allowed to own a gun. Neither of these people are criminals but I shudder to think of what might happen if either finds a bottle of SCOPE in his mailbox someday.
I wonder if it would be much of a deterrent for criminals if more people were armed? A sign outside the door that says "I own a gun and I'm not afraid to use it" might be just as detrimental. I suppose it depends upon the type crime. A crime of opportunity is more likely to be second thought then a crime of passion.
I guess that a perfect world only the Police and the criminals would have guns and there would be enough police around to protect us all.
stw
I have considered getting a gun to protect my family. I live in a very rural county and if someone broke into my house while my wife were home alone she currently has no protection other then our 2 large, vocal dogs. The Sheriff's office is only a phone call away but the nearest Deputy might be quite far away. What would happen if really hard times hit and we have any kind of societal breakdown? What I mean by this is: suppose fuel prices skyrocket again (greedy oil companies and evil Arabs) and the grocery store shelves start getting bare. Electrical service becomes intermittent. Suppose I saw this coming and stored a year's supply of food essentials, fuel and water on my land. Next thing you know, my neighbor wants some. He comes over with his hand gun to appropriate some of my stores and I repel him with my shotgun. So he returns with a couple buddies and an assault rifle or two. OK, where does this end? Someone ends up dead. Do we really want to return to the day when he who carries the biggest gun wins all the gold? I know it is an extreme example but it could come about.
What really frightens me is that I am a pacifist, yet I am considering getting a gun. Next thing you know I will want to carry it around with me. I have had lots of training as a martial artist and tournament fighter; however, every time I began a fight the adrenalin rush was almost too much for me to control. I think that if I were in such a tense situation as having someone shooting a gun around that if I drew a weapon I'd be shaking so much I might shoot anything or anybody. I am having trouble getting past the idea that when eventually most people are walking around armed, that every argument would end up with a gun being involved. I've got an employee that I know loves guns and has a carry permit. What if I have to terminate this person someday? Should I keep a gun in my desk to protect myself? I wonder how to keep guns out of the hands of people that have no business handling them. I knew a guy who was a University Police Officer and was so paranoid he should never have been allowed to own a gun. Neither of these people are criminals but I shudder to think of what might happen if either finds a bottle of SCOPE in his mailbox someday.
I wonder if it would be much of a deterrent for criminals if more people were armed? A sign outside the door that says "I own a gun and I'm not afraid to use it" might be just as detrimental. I suppose it depends upon the type crime. A crime of opportunity is more likely to be second thought then a crime of passion.
I guess that a perfect world only the Police and the criminals would have guns and there would be enough police around to protect us all.
stw
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thoughts on the Second Amendment
I admit right off that I am not much of a gun person. Not that I have anything against them or people who feel very strongly about them but my feeling is this: guns are made to kill or injure creatures; the Zen part of me doesn't want to kill or cause pain to anyone or anything (however, mosquitoes, ticks, black widows, fire ants, and pesky flies are exceptions). I do realize that if someone broke into my house and threatened my family I'd shoot them. I don't think I would try to kill them but the blast from a 12 gauge might stop an intruder and not kill them.
So #2 in the Bill of Rights says that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. There are tons of things written about what exactly this means. The Supreme Court has been kept busy across the years interpreting this one. I think James Madison probably didn't seem so vague in his day (in the middle of a revolution and all) but it makes sense that it be written vaguely for the future. I doubt Madison could envision some of the weapons available today. So he left us with a line that we would have to interpret over and over again as the times dictated. I see the Constitution in the same way I see the Holy Bible: No matter how it is interpreted the main points are pretty hard to miss. Madison definitely wanted us to have the right to own guns.
Clearly........you can't stop Americans from owning guns. What about crazy Americans? The first part of right #2 says that a "well regulated militia" is necessary. This is justification for our ability to have guns. The "well regulated" part implies that some limits must be in place. This is why it is certainly not unconstitutional to take guns away from minors, crazy people and people who have demonstrated an inability to regulate themselves (by obeying the law).
If you want to own a shotgun or handgun for your own protection. It is your right. But owning a basement full of AK-47s or parking a tank in your front yard does not make you part of any regulated militia. Why would any law abiding citizen need to have these types of weapons?
So #2 in the Bill of Rights says that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. There are tons of things written about what exactly this means. The Supreme Court has been kept busy across the years interpreting this one. I think James Madison probably didn't seem so vague in his day (in the middle of a revolution and all) but it makes sense that it be written vaguely for the future. I doubt Madison could envision some of the weapons available today. So he left us with a line that we would have to interpret over and over again as the times dictated. I see the Constitution in the same way I see the Holy Bible: No matter how it is interpreted the main points are pretty hard to miss. Madison definitely wanted us to have the right to own guns.
Clearly........you can't stop Americans from owning guns. What about crazy Americans? The first part of right #2 says that a "well regulated militia" is necessary. This is justification for our ability to have guns. The "well regulated" part implies that some limits must be in place. This is why it is certainly not unconstitutional to take guns away from minors, crazy people and people who have demonstrated an inability to regulate themselves (by obeying the law).
If you want to own a shotgun or handgun for your own protection. It is your right. But owning a basement full of AK-47s or parking a tank in your front yard does not make you part of any regulated militia. Why would any law abiding citizen need to have these types of weapons?
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