The left is getting dangerous. It is getting near the time to make it extremely dangerous for them. They threaten and try to scare us 'til no end. What is the next step? What is the answer? Civil war? Revolution? Just sayin...If Im thinking it someone else must be also. What are you thinking about?
January 4, 2013
By Robert Spencer
As Michael Walsh noted last week at PJ Media, the Westchester Journal News has published the name and addresses of legal gun owners in Westchester County, New York. While many have rightly upbraided the paper for endangering innocent people and giving criminals a map of homes without guns, the paper has stuck to its guns (so to speak!), not only defending its action but warning that more gun owners will soon be outed. And thus in a nutshell we see the Left's narcissistic, solipsistic and savage new moralism.
The Journal News editors believe that they are in the right to victimize Westchester gun owners, making them subject to possible vigilante attacks, legal harassment, and who knows what else, because they think they have the moral high ground, and are so morally obtuse as to assume that since they have that high ground, any action in its service is justified.
The American Left, which thoroughly dominates the mainstream media, no longer believes, if it ever did, in the concept of reasonable and respectable people disagreeing in good faith on core issues; it increasingly demonstrates that it believes all opposition to its own outlook and policies must never be tolerated, but only eradicated. Its opposition is never to be engaged on the level of ideas, but only ridiculed and held up as evil. The Left has done nothing but demonize its opposition for years. Organizations like Media Matters routinely repeat remarks made by conservative politicians and commentators as if they were obviously risible and/or morally offensive, without ever bothering to explain why or to offer a substantive refutation of any kind. They and others like them never debate or discuss issues, but only deal with their opposition with endless games of "gotcha" and searches for "gaffes."
After the Left has played such games for so long, this new level of savagery was perhaps inevitable. For the Westchester Journal News, owners of legal guns are evil, and thus have no rights they are bound to respect. For the Left in general, their opponents are evil, and so can and should even be put in physical danger if that is what is needed in order to bring about its silence and submission.
This savagery grows more common by the day, and doesn't extend only to gun owners. I myself have been on the receiving end of this thuggery because of my work in opposing the global jihad and Islamic supremacism -- as has my colleague Pamela Geller and other defenders of the freedom of speech and equality of rights for all people. A Leftist journalist named Nathan Lean, the editor-in-chief of Aslan Media, who has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and New York Daily News, has sent me several tweets and emails containing personal information about myself: where he thinks I live, who he thinks my wife is, and more.
The purpose of these messages was unmistakable: Lean was signaling to me that he thought he knew my whereabouts (and that of my family), despite my attempts to conceal them because of the many death threats I receive. And why would he want me to think that he knew where I was? So that I would be frightened into silence, afraid that one of his many violence-inclined allies might do me in if I continued to speak out for freedom and human rights. Yet despite his appetite for menace, Lean had no trouble getting published in flagship mainstream media outlets -- which tells you a great deal about them.
In the 1930s, when the National Socialist German Worker's Party, aka the Nazi Party, was consolidating its power in Germany, its storm troopers regularly terrorized its opponents: showing up when they spoke to shout them down and intimidate them, vandalizing their messages, and sometimes attacking them outright. We are rapidly approaching the same situation in America today, as the Left's demonization of its opponents descends to this menacing new level.
The Westchester Journal News does not have the moral high ground, and never did. Any doubt about that was removed when it published the addresses of the gun owners. But soon thuggish demonstrators outside the homes of those gun owners and others targeted by the Left will be a commonplace of American life. And the next step after that will be even worse: it is only going to get more dangerous -- physically and in other ways as well -- to oppose the policies of those who style themselves our moral superiors. With four more years of Obama coming, there is no stopping them now.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Did Muhammad Exist?.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Senator Feinstein's Constitutional End-run
Senator Feinstein's Constitutional End-run
By Alan P. Halbert
There's more than a touch of hypocrisy in the recent exploitation of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy by the MSM, Obama, and the Democrats. All the wanton murders due to Fast & Furious (estimated at 300 or more) do not appear equal to one life lost at Sandy Hook. The administration paid criminals to illegally arm drug cartels in Mexico, choosing to supply them with none other than "assault weapons", mostly AK-47's with some Barrett .50 caliber BMG rifles and a few hand grenades thrown in for good measure.
The result was the deaths of federal agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata, along with another thirteen American citizens, and several hundred Mexicans. Another disgusting milepost for 2012 is the 500th homicide in Chicago, Obama's and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hometown. This sad statistic was achieved when Nathaniel Jackson was shot and died at the scene on December 27th at 9:00 P.M. as he stood on a street corner.
The MSM has largely been silent about these tragedies, choosing instead to concentrate on the victims at Newtown. In the process they overlook at least 466 child gunshot victims with 68 fatalities in Chicago this past year alone.
This brings us to Senator Feinstein's attempt to revive the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 with her recently drafted gun control legislation. She will introduce this revamped legislation to the Senate in January in an effort to resolve our supposed epidemic of violence as revealed by Obama in his Sandy Hook speech to the nation. In effect, what this darling of the left has done is reintroduce all of the weapons that were not subject to registration initially.
This is simply a national gun-registration scheme; a synopsis of the NFA follows:
The National Firearms Act ("NFA"), 72nd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236, enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as 26 U.S.C. ch. 53, is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. (Note: bold emphasis is mine)
Originally, pistols and revolvers were to be regulated the same as machine-guns, though they were exempted as the legislation moved its way through Congress. Feinstein's expansion of the NFA will include all of the weapons they had the intelligence to exclude previously.
It is interesting to note that the NFA became law right after the repeal of Prohibition. Congressmen of the day were intimately familiar with how unintended consequences play out from their legislative intent. Prohibition released a murderous rampage of gang-related violence on this nation dwarfing anything we have seen since, leading to the expansion of the Mafia and other organized crime syndicates that are still with us today, another testament to a benevolent Congress.
Owning an NFA weapon subjects the owner to loss of certain constitutional rights, chief amongst them the surrender of our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights to due process. The possession of an NFA weapon allows the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) to demand inspection of these weapons any time they appear at your door, usually unannounced, all without a search warrant of course.
These weapons are individually registered to the owner. You are not allowed to transfer them without the express permission of the government. Transporting the weapon across state lines for any purpose without government approval beforehand is illegal. This is also applicable to each weapon you currently own. Senator Feinstein's draft does not discuss the waiver of the $200.00 dollar fee to register "grandfathered" weapons in the NFA database.
To legally posses an NFA weapon requires that the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) in your area of residence sign a BATF form that expressly allows the citizen to possess such weapons. You will also need to submit photographs of yourself, a fingerprint card, and of course, pay the $200.00 fee and possibly a registered Class III Transfer Agent, with his fee as well.
Imagine a harried rural or county sheriff overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests made to his office. This will probably place many weapons in limbo while the documents are in process. No doubt they will enact some method of holding these weapons while this plays out; probably leading to many lost, stolen, or outright confiscated weapons by attrition.
Not to mention how many LEOs will be required to perform the background checks on individuals for weapons that are already legally owned, taking them away from legitimate law enforcement duties. This will probably lead many local law enforcement agencies to throw up their hands and refuse to comply with these new requirements; again leaving law-abiding citizens in limbo with lawful weapons in their possession subjecting them to arrest and prosecution, leaving many weapons surrendered by default.
I have to wonder how many leftist CLEOs will choose this route? Los Angeles, Detroit, Newark, and Chicago to name just a few cities play host to such officials. Of course, they will excuse themselves with "legitimate budget" busting cover story(s)... if only we had the funds....
You get the idea.
These tactics are nothing short of a backdoor scheme to render legal weapons illegal by redesignating them through the NFA as equivalent to automatic weapons. The result will be a national gun registration database for conventional arms. At the same time, these very same legislators (along with Obama) have encouraged untold carnage and mayhem through policies of looking the other way as regards the inner cities of this nation, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East as our government willingly supplies criminals, jihadists, and cartels with weapons.
Now in their ultimate wisdom, they wish to make pariahs and criminals out of law-abiding citizens by means of an act of Congress that will force us to reapply for our lawful and legally owned weapons for a false premise of security from ourselves.
Discussing the real reason for the Sandy Hook tragedy is beyond the gun control mentality of the leftists currently ensconced into the media, educational institutions and seats of power in this nation. It is simply about power and control... not guns. The action of our president in Fast & Furious and the arming of Al Qaeda in Libya, Syria and the pipeline of illegal weapons funneled by the Mexican drug cartels back into our nation renders this clear enough.
We are in far more danger from these actions of our own government than from another Sandy Hook atrocity by a crazed killer.
The Second Amendment's purpose is to provide for the citizens' defense from all who would deny their natural God- given right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" against a criminal, a foreign or domestic enemy, or our own government. We will witness the end of the Republic if this proposed legislation is passed, since all of our rights flow from the citizen's ability to defend them.
As for this citizen, I will never disarm or surrender my Second Amendment rights, much less willingly comply with such a traitorous act of Congress if enacted... it is actions like these that light revolutionary fervor in a nation and its citizens. It did so in 1776 and it will do so again.
By Alan P. Halbert
There's more than a touch of hypocrisy in the recent exploitation of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy by the MSM, Obama, and the Democrats. All the wanton murders due to Fast & Furious (estimated at 300 or more) do not appear equal to one life lost at Sandy Hook. The administration paid criminals to illegally arm drug cartels in Mexico, choosing to supply them with none other than "assault weapons", mostly AK-47's with some Barrett .50 caliber BMG rifles and a few hand grenades thrown in for good measure.
The result was the deaths of federal agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata, along with another thirteen American citizens, and several hundred Mexicans. Another disgusting milepost for 2012 is the 500th homicide in Chicago, Obama's and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hometown. This sad statistic was achieved when Nathaniel Jackson was shot and died at the scene on December 27th at 9:00 P.M. as he stood on a street corner.
The MSM has largely been silent about these tragedies, choosing instead to concentrate on the victims at Newtown. In the process they overlook at least 466 child gunshot victims with 68 fatalities in Chicago this past year alone.
This brings us to Senator Feinstein's attempt to revive the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 with her recently drafted gun control legislation. She will introduce this revamped legislation to the Senate in January in an effort to resolve our supposed epidemic of violence as revealed by Obama in his Sandy Hook speech to the nation. In effect, what this darling of the left has done is reintroduce all of the weapons that were not subject to registration initially.
This is simply a national gun-registration scheme; a synopsis of the NFA follows:
The National Firearms Act ("NFA"), 72nd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, 48 Stat. 1236, enacted on June 26, 1934, currently codified as amended as 26 U.S.C. ch. 53, is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those firearms. (Note: bold emphasis is mine)
Originally, pistols and revolvers were to be regulated the same as machine-guns, though they were exempted as the legislation moved its way through Congress. Feinstein's expansion of the NFA will include all of the weapons they had the intelligence to exclude previously.
It is interesting to note that the NFA became law right after the repeal of Prohibition. Congressmen of the day were intimately familiar with how unintended consequences play out from their legislative intent. Prohibition released a murderous rampage of gang-related violence on this nation dwarfing anything we have seen since, leading to the expansion of the Mafia and other organized crime syndicates that are still with us today, another testament to a benevolent Congress.
Owning an NFA weapon subjects the owner to loss of certain constitutional rights, chief amongst them the surrender of our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights to due process. The possession of an NFA weapon allows the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) to demand inspection of these weapons any time they appear at your door, usually unannounced, all without a search warrant of course.
These weapons are individually registered to the owner. You are not allowed to transfer them without the express permission of the government. Transporting the weapon across state lines for any purpose without government approval beforehand is illegal. This is also applicable to each weapon you currently own. Senator Feinstein's draft does not discuss the waiver of the $200.00 dollar fee to register "grandfathered" weapons in the NFA database.
To legally posses an NFA weapon requires that the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) in your area of residence sign a BATF form that expressly allows the citizen to possess such weapons. You will also need to submit photographs of yourself, a fingerprint card, and of course, pay the $200.00 fee and possibly a registered Class III Transfer Agent, with his fee as well.
Imagine a harried rural or county sheriff overwhelmed by the sheer volume of requests made to his office. This will probably place many weapons in limbo while the documents are in process. No doubt they will enact some method of holding these weapons while this plays out; probably leading to many lost, stolen, or outright confiscated weapons by attrition.
Not to mention how many LEOs will be required to perform the background checks on individuals for weapons that are already legally owned, taking them away from legitimate law enforcement duties. This will probably lead many local law enforcement agencies to throw up their hands and refuse to comply with these new requirements; again leaving law-abiding citizens in limbo with lawful weapons in their possession subjecting them to arrest and prosecution, leaving many weapons surrendered by default.
I have to wonder how many leftist CLEOs will choose this route? Los Angeles, Detroit, Newark, and Chicago to name just a few cities play host to such officials. Of course, they will excuse themselves with "legitimate budget" busting cover story(s)... if only we had the funds....
You get the idea.
These tactics are nothing short of a backdoor scheme to render legal weapons illegal by redesignating them through the NFA as equivalent to automatic weapons. The result will be a national gun registration database for conventional arms. At the same time, these very same legislators (along with Obama) have encouraged untold carnage and mayhem through policies of looking the other way as regards the inner cities of this nation, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East as our government willingly supplies criminals, jihadists, and cartels with weapons.
Now in their ultimate wisdom, they wish to make pariahs and criminals out of law-abiding citizens by means of an act of Congress that will force us to reapply for our lawful and legally owned weapons for a false premise of security from ourselves.
Discussing the real reason for the Sandy Hook tragedy is beyond the gun control mentality of the leftists currently ensconced into the media, educational institutions and seats of power in this nation. It is simply about power and control... not guns. The action of our president in Fast & Furious and the arming of Al Qaeda in Libya, Syria and the pipeline of illegal weapons funneled by the Mexican drug cartels back into our nation renders this clear enough.
We are in far more danger from these actions of our own government than from another Sandy Hook atrocity by a crazed killer.
The Second Amendment's purpose is to provide for the citizens' defense from all who would deny their natural God- given right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" against a criminal, a foreign or domestic enemy, or our own government. We will witness the end of the Republic if this proposed legislation is passed, since all of our rights flow from the citizen's ability to defend them.
As for this citizen, I will never disarm or surrender my Second Amendment rights, much less willingly comply with such a traitorous act of Congress if enacted... it is actions like these that light revolutionary fervor in a nation and its citizens. It did so in 1776 and it will do so again.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Sam Colt and the Law of Self-Preservation
Sam Colt and the Law of Self-Preservation
By Glenn Fairman
"God made man but Sam Colt made them equal."
It is said that the 2nd Amendment follows hard upon the 1st so as to serve as its bodyguard -- providing the added incentive of coercive force by a wary citizenry to guarantee that those initial cherished liberties, expounded by our Founders, did not go the way of the 10th Amendment. The 2nd Amendment, interpreted as the right to bear arms by a free people, has not escaped that yawning chasm that has opened up between the political Right and Left, and the rationale behind this stratification falls along the same familiar tensions of individual vs. collective. The nature of men, having proved insufficient in wisdom for the eradication of evil, must then paradoxically utilize the equalization of deadly force to not only suppress the jaundiced glint in our neighbor's eye but the tyranny that arises when men esteem the chimera of ordered equality over liberty.
Of all laws that are deemed to have their origin in nature, the Law of Self-Preservation is indeed the most fundamental. Each person, ceteris paribus, has been deemed to have an a priori right to guard the sanctity and value of their life through any means necessary, assuming their attitude is one of general peace with men and not of the character of brigands. The friction arises with the inherent inequality of humanity, evidenced in their disparate size, strength, and stature. Now, while defensively brandishing a knife or cudgel poses a strong inducement in mounting one's stout defense of life or property, the use of a firearm has irrevocably changed the dynamic relationship between both predator and victim. Since criminals, from the dullest to the most sophisticated, are deeply concerned with maintaining both their own freedom and their "skin," more than a passing thoughtful consideration is generally weighed within a criminal's nefarious equation when deciding whom he shall next fall upon.
Assuming that the above statement is true, it would seem logical that municipalities or states whose concealed and open carry gun laws were the most relaxed would be the same areas which would have the lowest rates per capita of crimes either committed with force, or through the threat of deadly force. Therefore, should we be surprised that national statistics bear this position out? Conversely, regions that have severely forbidden either the sale of handguns or the lawful concealment thereof should reflect elevated levels of crimes against both property and life. And generally, we find that this premise, especially true in the major urban centers, to be consistently affirmed.
Accordingly, the current murder and violent crime rates in the Washington DC, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia areas are astronomical, despite having hardened laws against concealed carry. These misdirected laws have indeed the net effect of proscribing their citizenry from effectively protecting themselves from criminals--miscreants who care not a whit for the asphyxiating legal technicalities that burden and condemn honest citizens. And as governments have increasingly sought to regulate the sale, transportation, and use of handguns and "assault rifles," they have increasingly begotten a nation of sheep by laying bare their population's throats to packs of increasingly dangerous and feral werewolves. Can it be any longer doubted that the same misplaced compassion that would outlaw firearms has willed these darkened hearts through government's calculated legislation of filial destruction and subsequent moral anarchy?
In the concrete jungles of our urban cities or in our seemingly tranquil suburbias with their flaccid social disintegration, many Progressive-minded levels of government have made the considered decision that in lieu of a debauched and malicious portion of its citizenry, it is far better to effectively disarm their constituent fiefdoms in order to show them that superficially they have their best interests at heart. All the while, and with their fingers testing the winds, those same politicos are deftly side-stepping the fact that those cretins with pernicious intent will handily acquire guns elsewhere, or commit their menacing acts with a baseball bat or a lawnmower blade if necessary.
We now see in Great Britain, a country that has elevated to the status of fetish the disarmament of its society, a towering crescendo in property and violent crimes, as men and women even possessing rifles and shotguns are fearful of using them for fear of being charged for killing or maiming thugs in self-defense. Within the milieu of such a nation of rabbits, the fabric of trust and safety erodes and sends a subliminal message to society that emboldens the brazen and terrifies the weak and defenseless.
America's 2nd Amendment, once thought to be the most secure of our organic rights, has come under assault by forces that believe that the monopoly on significant coercive force should be limited to the agents of the State; and as Dennis Prager has wisely said: "As the State grows larger, the individual in fact grows smaller." Our government exists to guarantee our lives, liberties, and our properties. Not only has it proven itself insufficient to this foundational task, but it has actively conspired to disrespect our personal sovereignty and safety, having wandered far afield of its fundamental mandate. Meanwhile, tireless energy is spent attempting to instead equalize and homogenize us---mandates that had never once entered into the minds of the Founders.
Perhaps the best indicator of where the 2nd Amendment is the booming sale of handguns; this barometer is rooted in the anxiety and trepidation that Americans feel for both the safety of their families in perilous economic time, while it is a hedge against the predations of a regime that has forgotten its minimalist confines and spilled over into the imperial, the unilateral, and the arbitrary. Gun manufacturers have mockingly named Barack Obama as their Man of the Year for his contribution to a veritable tsunami of firearm sales. This, in itself, might evoke a good belly laugh if the stark implications of it weren't so damn depressing.
By Glenn Fairman
"God made man but Sam Colt made them equal."
It is said that the 2nd Amendment follows hard upon the 1st so as to serve as its bodyguard -- providing the added incentive of coercive force by a wary citizenry to guarantee that those initial cherished liberties, expounded by our Founders, did not go the way of the 10th Amendment. The 2nd Amendment, interpreted as the right to bear arms by a free people, has not escaped that yawning chasm that has opened up between the political Right and Left, and the rationale behind this stratification falls along the same familiar tensions of individual vs. collective. The nature of men, having proved insufficient in wisdom for the eradication of evil, must then paradoxically utilize the equalization of deadly force to not only suppress the jaundiced glint in our neighbor's eye but the tyranny that arises when men esteem the chimera of ordered equality over liberty.
Of all laws that are deemed to have their origin in nature, the Law of Self-Preservation is indeed the most fundamental. Each person, ceteris paribus, has been deemed to have an a priori right to guard the sanctity and value of their life through any means necessary, assuming their attitude is one of general peace with men and not of the character of brigands. The friction arises with the inherent inequality of humanity, evidenced in their disparate size, strength, and stature. Now, while defensively brandishing a knife or cudgel poses a strong inducement in mounting one's stout defense of life or property, the use of a firearm has irrevocably changed the dynamic relationship between both predator and victim. Since criminals, from the dullest to the most sophisticated, are deeply concerned with maintaining both their own freedom and their "skin," more than a passing thoughtful consideration is generally weighed within a criminal's nefarious equation when deciding whom he shall next fall upon.
Assuming that the above statement is true, it would seem logical that municipalities or states whose concealed and open carry gun laws were the most relaxed would be the same areas which would have the lowest rates per capita of crimes either committed with force, or through the threat of deadly force. Therefore, should we be surprised that national statistics bear this position out? Conversely, regions that have severely forbidden either the sale of handguns or the lawful concealment thereof should reflect elevated levels of crimes against both property and life. And generally, we find that this premise, especially true in the major urban centers, to be consistently affirmed.
Accordingly, the current murder and violent crime rates in the Washington DC, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia areas are astronomical, despite having hardened laws against concealed carry. These misdirected laws have indeed the net effect of proscribing their citizenry from effectively protecting themselves from criminals--miscreants who care not a whit for the asphyxiating legal technicalities that burden and condemn honest citizens. And as governments have increasingly sought to regulate the sale, transportation, and use of handguns and "assault rifles," they have increasingly begotten a nation of sheep by laying bare their population's throats to packs of increasingly dangerous and feral werewolves. Can it be any longer doubted that the same misplaced compassion that would outlaw firearms has willed these darkened hearts through government's calculated legislation of filial destruction and subsequent moral anarchy?
In the concrete jungles of our urban cities or in our seemingly tranquil suburbias with their flaccid social disintegration, many Progressive-minded levels of government have made the considered decision that in lieu of a debauched and malicious portion of its citizenry, it is far better to effectively disarm their constituent fiefdoms in order to show them that superficially they have their best interests at heart. All the while, and with their fingers testing the winds, those same politicos are deftly side-stepping the fact that those cretins with pernicious intent will handily acquire guns elsewhere, or commit their menacing acts with a baseball bat or a lawnmower blade if necessary.
We now see in Great Britain, a country that has elevated to the status of fetish the disarmament of its society, a towering crescendo in property and violent crimes, as men and women even possessing rifles and shotguns are fearful of using them for fear of being charged for killing or maiming thugs in self-defense. Within the milieu of such a nation of rabbits, the fabric of trust and safety erodes and sends a subliminal message to society that emboldens the brazen and terrifies the weak and defenseless.
America's 2nd Amendment, once thought to be the most secure of our organic rights, has come under assault by forces that believe that the monopoly on significant coercive force should be limited to the agents of the State; and as Dennis Prager has wisely said: "As the State grows larger, the individual in fact grows smaller." Our government exists to guarantee our lives, liberties, and our properties. Not only has it proven itself insufficient to this foundational task, but it has actively conspired to disrespect our personal sovereignty and safety, having wandered far afield of its fundamental mandate. Meanwhile, tireless energy is spent attempting to instead equalize and homogenize us---mandates that had never once entered into the minds of the Founders.
Perhaps the best indicator of where the 2nd Amendment is the booming sale of handguns; this barometer is rooted in the anxiety and trepidation that Americans feel for both the safety of their families in perilous economic time, while it is a hedge against the predations of a regime that has forgotten its minimalist confines and spilled over into the imperial, the unilateral, and the arbitrary. Gun manufacturers have mockingly named Barack Obama as their Man of the Year for his contribution to a veritable tsunami of firearm sales. This, in itself, might evoke a good belly laugh if the stark implications of it weren't so damn depressing.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Veteran's Day 2012
Veteran's Day is today. The day we remember those who served and came home. I thank each and every man and woman who served, from the bottom of my heart, for each and every sacrifice you all made. I can never do anything enough to show you how much you mean to me personally. How you all fight day after day so far from those that love you. Fighting a war to keep America's enemies at bay. Hero. A word that fits each and everyone of you that give your all everyday. So today I salute you here in this blog and America gets to show their appreciation. I want you to know that tomorrow I will be thinking about praying for your safe return to your families. Fear not there are still millions of Americans doing the same. I do not express feelings very well but I want you to know that I salute you and I thank you, Heroes.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Election Thoughts.
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”
- Samuel Adams
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Ben Franklin
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. Thomas Jefferson
The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand
Nuff said.
- Samuel Adams
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Ben Franklin
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson
When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe. Thomas Jefferson
The Smallest Minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. - Ayn Rand
Nuff said.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
6 June 1944 D-Day
Tired, wet, miserable, 3000+ miles from home. Could you have had the courage to disembark and do your job in the face of machine gun fire and entrenched sharpshooters? Men falling everywhere always wondering if maybe the next one was going to be you. Blood and body parts everywhere, dead men washing in and with the waves. Think about who you are today could you have done this? Could you have been there on those beaches and fought to survive and liberate Europe from the NAZI stranglehold? Regular guys like you and me did, they fought and died that day; acts of courage and valor too many of us will never know and luckily will never have to know. Damn this country produces such great people too many we will never know the names of. Thank you to all of those that fought that hellish morning in the first wave. We will never forget what those soldiers who died there did for mankind. Thank a vet.
It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
- Anonymous
Casualty estimates for Allied forces vary, but range from 2,500 to more than 5,000 dead on D-Day. Adding to the confusion is that D-Day books and histories often count wounded, missing and troops taken prisoner.
On its Web site, the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, England, says an estimated 2,500 Allied troops died. The U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C., numbers 6,036 American casualties, including wounded and missing. The Heritage Foundation in Washington estimates 4,900 dead.
"It's very difficult to get accurate figures. People get buried. Bodies disintegrate. Evidence of the deaths disappeared. People drowned," said John Keegan, author of "Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris."
He estimates 2,500 Americans and 3,000 other Allied troops died on D-Day.
More than 19,000 civilians in Normandy also died in Allied bombing before and after D-Day to soften up German defenses. And Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men in April and May 1944 in operations ahead of the invasion, the D-Day Museum says.
Even as the ranks of veterans who survived the assault and the push into Germany thin with time, work on tallying the dead continues.
Carol Tuckwiller, director of research at the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in Bedford, Va., has spent four years combing through government, military and cemetery records for names of Allied dead on D-Day. She hopes to have a figure by next year.
"We feel like we're probably going to end up with a total of about 4,500 fatalities for both the Americans and Allied countries. Right now, we have about 4,200 names confirmed," she said. "Of course we realize we may never be 100 percent complete."
It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
- Anonymous
Casualty estimates for Allied forces vary, but range from 2,500 to more than 5,000 dead on D-Day. Adding to the confusion is that D-Day books and histories often count wounded, missing and troops taken prisoner.
On its Web site, the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, England, says an estimated 2,500 Allied troops died. The U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, D.C., numbers 6,036 American casualties, including wounded and missing. The Heritage Foundation in Washington estimates 4,900 dead.
"It's very difficult to get accurate figures. People get buried. Bodies disintegrate. Evidence of the deaths disappeared. People drowned," said John Keegan, author of "Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris."
He estimates 2,500 Americans and 3,000 other Allied troops died on D-Day.
More than 19,000 civilians in Normandy also died in Allied bombing before and after D-Day to soften up German defenses. And Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men in April and May 1944 in operations ahead of the invasion, the D-Day Museum says.
Even as the ranks of veterans who survived the assault and the push into Germany thin with time, work on tallying the dead continues.
Carol Tuckwiller, director of research at the National D-Day Memorial Foundation in Bedford, Va., has spent four years combing through government, military and cemetery records for names of Allied dead on D-Day. She hopes to have a figure by next year.
"We feel like we're probably going to end up with a total of about 4,500 fatalities for both the Americans and Allied countries. Right now, we have about 4,200 names confirmed," she said. "Of course we realize we may never be 100 percent complete."
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Non Sibi Sed Patriae
Just something I came across in my travels. We must never forget.
Non Sibi Sed Patriae
General Charles C. Krulak, USMC
Commandant of the Marine Corps
Commencement Remarks for the Uniformed Services University at the DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, 16 May 1998
Thank you Admiral Zimble for that very kind introduction.
First let me say what a pleasure and an honor it is for me to be here this morning.
Like most of you in the audience, I too have a loved one that is graduating today.... And, I too feel that overwhelming sense of pride from seeing a person I cherish garner such a high achievement.
I am also honored to address the future leaders, researchers, and healers of the medical profession the graduates of the [F. Edward] Hebert School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Nursing, and the Graduate School of Medicine. And, it is to these men and women that I would like to speak for the next few minutes.
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit the island of Iwo Jima. Known to the Japanese as Sulfur Island, it is a hot, bubbling, volcanic atoll that to this day, still has active sulfur vents.
During February and March 1945, it was the scene of one of the most horrific battles of World War II. During the 36-day campaign to take that island, a Marine fell to Japanese fire every two minutes ...every two minutes for 36 days a Marine was killed or wounded. It was the only battle, in the history of our Corps, where Marines suffered more casualties than the enemy.
Today, the island still bears the scars of that titanic struggle....It is a place heavy with history and long-on memories....The winds that constantly blow across the black sands of the Iwo Jima beaches seem, at times, to carry the voices of the warriors that fought there so long ago. It is a mournful and reverent place....
Joining me on that tortured ground was the family of the late John Bradley. They had never been there before, and they wanted to see where their husband and their father had fought.
John Bradley, who survived the battle, rarely spoke to his family about his experiences on Iwo Jima. When pressed, he would gloss over and downplay how he had won the Nation's second highest award for bravery-- the Navy Cross.
He earned that decoration by rushing to the aid of two wounded Marines, and then shielding them with his body while he tended to their wounds. When Bradley hurried to their aid, he didn't exactly rush ... he crawled ... crawled, because he had been shot through both legs just a few minutes before. Another reason the Bradley family wanted to visit Iwo Jima was because they wanted to see the site of the most famous battle photograph ever taken ...the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi.
That memorable event ...captured in a bronze and granite sculpture ... is known today as the Marine Corps War Memorial. Five Marines and one Navy Corpsman took part in that flag raising -- three did not survive the battle.
The Navy Corpsman did ... and as you have probably guessed ... his name was Pharmacist Mate 2 John Bradley.... Let me encourage you to visit the War Memorial one day ... run your hands across the cool granite ... step back and read the engraved words: "Where Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue" ... and then, let your eyes travel up to the sculptured figures.... young men ... forever captured in bronze.... Look for Corpsman John Bradley, you'll recognize him ... he's the one with the empty canteen pouch.
You see, prior to climbing Mount Suribachi, he gave the last of his water to a dying Marine.... On hot ... bubbling ... Sulfur Island, John Bradley would go the next 24 hours without water....
What I want to talk to you about today goes beyond bravery ... goes beyond sacrifice ... I want to talk to you about selflessness.... John Bradley was a brave man and he sacrificed greatly, but most of all, he was selfless. His brave acts were not done for any reward ... nor were they intended to be captured by NewsCam 4 or CNN ... there was no public glory in what he did. In fact, men under fire rarely speak of glory ... instead ... they speak of: "who can be counted upon and who cannot. " Above all, they speak about and remember the small individual acts of selflessness.
When Felix de Weldon, the sculptor of the Marine Corps War Memorial, asked John Bradley what had happened to his canteen -- John couldn't even remember ... in the heat of battle, he had completely forgotten. But, the surviving Marines of Bradley's unit knew ... and they remembered ... and they told de Weldon the story of his sharing his water. Selflessness is unforgettable ... even small acts of selflessness are unforgettable.
Today, when you leave here, you will find yourselves placed into positions of great responsibility. You will be men and women of letters and possess a special and unique educational experience. That alone, will cause the mantle of responsibility to be thrust upon you. And because of who and what you are, you must don that mantle of responsibility. With responsibility comes many challenges.
These challenges normally are translated into choices.
A choice to operate ... a choice for therapy ... a choice to do nothing....
But of all the choices you will face, there is none greater than the choice between self ... or selflessness.
Is the benefit for you ... Or, is it for your team? ... Or your patient? ... Or your clinic? ...Or your family?....
Over the chapel doors at the United States Naval Academy is a simple Latin inscription -- Non Sibi Sed Patriae -- "Not for self, but for country." Simple, but powerful.... Selflessness takes time to develop.
Rarely does a man or woman suddenly grow a brain and a spine in the middle of an operating room or on a battlefield.
Likewise, rarely does a person develop a sense of selflessness in a single moment in time. Spontaneous selfless acts rarely happen. Instead, they are built on a strong moral foundation and then carefully layered by doing the right thing ... time and time again.
All of you possess a strong character ... strong morals ... and a strong sense of duty. Let me encourage you to add to those strengths a spirit of selflessness. That spirit is within you now ... draw from it ... use it ... and encourage it from others. Use it to lead ... to build your team ... and to serve those you know and those you know not.
John Bradley gave the last of his water to a wounded Marine on 23 February 1945. That afternoon, he was struggling to climb the fire swept heights of Mount Suribachi.
The next day, he braved enemy fire to aid two wounded Marines and just a few days later, though wounded himself, he again braved enemy fire to aid two more Marines. It was not for sense of self that he performed those brave deeds. It was for others ... for those he knew and for those he knew not.... Deep within his soul, John Bradley instinctively understood that:
Non Sibi Sed Patriae, is contagious. After aiding those final two wounded Marines, Corpsman John Bradley ... badly wounded ... lost consciousness. He awoke 36 hours later aboard the hospital ship USS Solace. How he arrived there is unknown. The names of those Marines and Sailors that carried him off the fire-swept field of battle ... who placed him on the small boat ... who carried him to the ship ... have been lost to history ... only their selfless deed remains.... Even small acts of selflessness are unforgettable.
Thank you and Godspeed....
Non Sibi Sed Patriae
General Charles C. Krulak, USMC
Commandant of the Marine Corps
Commencement Remarks for the Uniformed Services University at the DAR Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, 16 May 1998
Thank you Admiral Zimble for that very kind introduction.
First let me say what a pleasure and an honor it is for me to be here this morning.
Like most of you in the audience, I too have a loved one that is graduating today.... And, I too feel that overwhelming sense of pride from seeing a person I cherish garner such a high achievement.
I am also honored to address the future leaders, researchers, and healers of the medical profession the graduates of the [F. Edward] Hebert School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Nursing, and the Graduate School of Medicine. And, it is to these men and women that I would like to speak for the next few minutes.
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit the island of Iwo Jima. Known to the Japanese as Sulfur Island, it is a hot, bubbling, volcanic atoll that to this day, still has active sulfur vents.
During February and March 1945, it was the scene of one of the most horrific battles of World War II. During the 36-day campaign to take that island, a Marine fell to Japanese fire every two minutes ...every two minutes for 36 days a Marine was killed or wounded. It was the only battle, in the history of our Corps, where Marines suffered more casualties than the enemy.
Today, the island still bears the scars of that titanic struggle....It is a place heavy with history and long-on memories....The winds that constantly blow across the black sands of the Iwo Jima beaches seem, at times, to carry the voices of the warriors that fought there so long ago. It is a mournful and reverent place....
Joining me on that tortured ground was the family of the late John Bradley. They had never been there before, and they wanted to see where their husband and their father had fought.
John Bradley, who survived the battle, rarely spoke to his family about his experiences on Iwo Jima. When pressed, he would gloss over and downplay how he had won the Nation's second highest award for bravery-- the Navy Cross.
He earned that decoration by rushing to the aid of two wounded Marines, and then shielding them with his body while he tended to their wounds. When Bradley hurried to their aid, he didn't exactly rush ... he crawled ... crawled, because he had been shot through both legs just a few minutes before. Another reason the Bradley family wanted to visit Iwo Jima was because they wanted to see the site of the most famous battle photograph ever taken ...the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi.
That memorable event ...captured in a bronze and granite sculpture ... is known today as the Marine Corps War Memorial. Five Marines and one Navy Corpsman took part in that flag raising -- three did not survive the battle.
The Navy Corpsman did ... and as you have probably guessed ... his name was Pharmacist Mate 2 John Bradley.... Let me encourage you to visit the War Memorial one day ... run your hands across the cool granite ... step back and read the engraved words: "Where Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue" ... and then, let your eyes travel up to the sculptured figures.... young men ... forever captured in bronze.... Look for Corpsman John Bradley, you'll recognize him ... he's the one with the empty canteen pouch.
You see, prior to climbing Mount Suribachi, he gave the last of his water to a dying Marine.... On hot ... bubbling ... Sulfur Island, John Bradley would go the next 24 hours without water....
What I want to talk to you about today goes beyond bravery ... goes beyond sacrifice ... I want to talk to you about selflessness.... John Bradley was a brave man and he sacrificed greatly, but most of all, he was selfless. His brave acts were not done for any reward ... nor were they intended to be captured by NewsCam 4 or CNN ... there was no public glory in what he did. In fact, men under fire rarely speak of glory ... instead ... they speak of: "who can be counted upon and who cannot. " Above all, they speak about and remember the small individual acts of selflessness.
When Felix de Weldon, the sculptor of the Marine Corps War Memorial, asked John Bradley what had happened to his canteen -- John couldn't even remember ... in the heat of battle, he had completely forgotten. But, the surviving Marines of Bradley's unit knew ... and they remembered ... and they told de Weldon the story of his sharing his water. Selflessness is unforgettable ... even small acts of selflessness are unforgettable.
Today, when you leave here, you will find yourselves placed into positions of great responsibility. You will be men and women of letters and possess a special and unique educational experience. That alone, will cause the mantle of responsibility to be thrust upon you. And because of who and what you are, you must don that mantle of responsibility. With responsibility comes many challenges.
These challenges normally are translated into choices.
A choice to operate ... a choice for therapy ... a choice to do nothing....
But of all the choices you will face, there is none greater than the choice between self ... or selflessness.
Is the benefit for you ... Or, is it for your team? ... Or your patient? ... Or your clinic? ...Or your family?....
Over the chapel doors at the United States Naval Academy is a simple Latin inscription -- Non Sibi Sed Patriae -- "Not for self, but for country." Simple, but powerful.... Selflessness takes time to develop.
Rarely does a man or woman suddenly grow a brain and a spine in the middle of an operating room or on a battlefield.
Likewise, rarely does a person develop a sense of selflessness in a single moment in time. Spontaneous selfless acts rarely happen. Instead, they are built on a strong moral foundation and then carefully layered by doing the right thing ... time and time again.
All of you possess a strong character ... strong morals ... and a strong sense of duty. Let me encourage you to add to those strengths a spirit of selflessness. That spirit is within you now ... draw from it ... use it ... and encourage it from others. Use it to lead ... to build your team ... and to serve those you know and those you know not.
John Bradley gave the last of his water to a wounded Marine on 23 February 1945. That afternoon, he was struggling to climb the fire swept heights of Mount Suribachi.
The next day, he braved enemy fire to aid two wounded Marines and just a few days later, though wounded himself, he again braved enemy fire to aid two more Marines. It was not for sense of self that he performed those brave deeds. It was for others ... for those he knew and for those he knew not.... Deep within his soul, John Bradley instinctively understood that:
Non Sibi Sed Patriae, is contagious. After aiding those final two wounded Marines, Corpsman John Bradley ... badly wounded ... lost consciousness. He awoke 36 hours later aboard the hospital ship USS Solace. How he arrived there is unknown. The names of those Marines and Sailors that carried him off the fire-swept field of battle ... who placed him on the small boat ... who carried him to the ship ... have been lost to history ... only their selfless deed remains.... Even small acts of selflessness are unforgettable.
Thank you and Godspeed....
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