The new gun control laws

So our governor has rammed through another set of gun laws for NY State. I didn't know this, but in NY there is a mandatory 3 day period before bills can be acted on, unless there is some kind of emergency that demands immediate action. And I guess a tragedy in another state, 4 weeks ago, is such an emergency????

I'd really like Mr Cuomo, or ANYONE, to tell me exactly why I should feel safer because magazines are now mandated to hold 7 rounds instead of 8. So some wack job decides he is going to commit a mass murder. He gathers together necessary equipment, but carefully strips out 3 rounds from each magazine so that he doesn't break any gun laws as he commits his mass murder? Am I missing something here, or is it as completely asinine as it sounds? And of course we cannot have any rifle that has a bayonet lug on it, because so many have been bayoneted  recently.

We truly have gone completely mad, if we think that this new laws protects anyone from anything. And oh by the way, many police officers are now criminals, because in their haste to DO SOMETHING, the lawmakers failed to exempt law enforcement personnel on duty from the 7 round restriction.

Firefighters Down

4:15 PM
2 volunteer firefighters in Webster N Y (outside Rochester) have been shot and killed, and 2 more critically wounded in an apparent ambush. A felon apparently set his house and car on fire and then shot the firefighters when they arrived.

What a way to celebrate Christmas!!!
This guy had already been convicted of killing his grandmother. Why was he out on the street? Is life that cheap in NY State? (Answer: yes it is. You'll get more time for stealing somebody's money than for killing  them, it seems)

One has also to point a finger at the media who sensationalizes shootings and killings. Every toad suddenly sees a way to be the BIG story, and decides to make a name for himself by becoming a me-too murderer.

For the brother firefighters who died trying to protect others, for their families, for the wounded firefighters and their families, I pray for you all.

What I found to be an excellent rebuttal to most of the currently heard arguments against gun ownership. It's long, but a good read.
http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/an-opinion-on-gun-control/

To the vast hordes who eagerly await every word from my keyboard, the joy and peace of Christmas to you all.

The tragedy of the Ct. shootings still hangs in the air. And even before the first victims are laid to rest, as sure as night follows day, the politicians are on their soapboxes calling for more gun control, more laws, MORE, MORE, MORE!!!  We have to do something!!!!
But this predictable response is not just from Washington or Albany. It trickles down to the local level as well.

Mayor Bloomberg has his group of mayors who follow him lock-step in his continued attempt to restrict private gun ownership. And when you look at that list, surprise, surprise, our own mayor is listed there
http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/letter_121912.shtml.

Never mind that there there is no, zero, zip evidence that any of the laws already passed have had any effect on crime; never mind that when private ownership of firearms rises, violent crime rates fall; never mind that criminals and/or insane people don't follow the rule of law..... we HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!!!!!!  And our mayor signs on to this

Well it's been a long break, but the urge to put pen to paper (figuratively anyway) has made itself known once again. Since I last added anything to this blog, a lot of things have happened, too many of them NOT good. But even setbacks can be a learning experience.

Earlier this month, Mr Obama was re-elected president. When I heard this I admit I was shocked and upset. Now having thought about it for the weeks since then, I am no longer shocked, but truly disappointed. I'm not disappointed in him; I expected exactly what I have seen happening since his first election, so can't say I was disappointed.

But I am disappointed by the apparent choice of a majority of the citizens of this country to support a man and a party which has made no effort to conceal their plan and goal of "fundamentally changing" this country. I'm sorry, but the way that this country was and has been was pretty good. It made this country the beacon of hope for millions; it led the world in producing a standard of living that was the envy of the world; it gave its citizens more and greater freedom than any country in history. And we are walking away from that. We are following the very path that has led Europe, Greece, Spain and other countries into financial and social disaster. And we are doing it willingly, even as we watch these countries founder after following the very course that we have decided to follow. THAT is disappointing.

There are several ways to cope with this. One can pretend that nothing has changed, and continue to pretend that this country is the same as it was. One can get angry and cynical, and make everyone around them unhappy as well. Or, one can hunker down, admit that one's views are now the minority view, and try to hold to the core beliefs that got the country this far in hopes that eventually others will see that the current path is a path to failure. In the meantime, I have to admit that I take a certain perverse pleasure watching as all of the supporters of the "fundamental change" begin to realize that there is a bill, a VERY big bill, for those changes, and that the only one who pays, when all is said and done, is the consumer and the taxpayer, and that we are both of them.

9-11 Ten years later

As I have in past years, I offer the following link

http://attacked911.tripod.com/

It's been 10 years, only 10 years, and we are forgetting already the horror of that day, and the heroism of the police of the Port Authority, NYPD, the EMS responders, and the FDNY members. All of these men and women went to the site, and knowing the danger and the chance of never going home, still went into the Twin Towers to rescue as many as they could. Their actions helped untold numbers of people escape to safety before the towers fell.


We owe it to them all NOT to forget, not to forget the horror and terror and tears of that day, or to forget their bravery, courage, and self-sacrifice.

We must not forget them for the same reason that we must remember all great heroes of our past. It is the heroes who show us what can be done, what greatness man can aspire to, and what heights we can reach for. It is the heroes of 9-11 who stand tall before us, leading by their example, personifying so much of what makes us a great people. It isn't the politicians, it isn't the Hollywood glamour stars, it isn't the current pop music stars, it isn't the svelt TV anchorman or woman. It is the first responders, men and women often working 2 jobs to keep their families fed, clothed and housed, men and women with dirt under nails, blisters and broken bones, who get up day in and day out to stand between all the bad things out there and the strangers whom they have sworn to protect. The least that we can do is to take one day to bow our heads and pray for them, and to thank them by remembering them.

Happy Birthday to the USA, the greatest country in the history of the world

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

"An almost unbroken 50 years of deficit spending has finally brought us to a time of reckoning. We have come to a turning point, a moment for hard decisions. I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a question, and now I put the same question to all of you: If not us, who? And if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget. We can then begin reducing the national debt."

--Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 1985.

Ronald Reagan , President, 1981-1989

Pelosi + gov't jets = WASTE

The next time anyone talks about your "carbon footprint", hit 'em with this.
And she has the audacity to lecture US about waste!!!!!

9/11 nine years later

I force myself to look at this at least once a year.

Never Forget.

never

And a well written piece on 9-11

Don't Be Discouraged

In these times that we are living, it can be easy to slip into discouragement or even despair. We write and/or call our representatives in Washington and our state capitals, and we are brushed off without a second thought. The majority of us object to one bill after another, but they pass anyway because "they" are so much smarter than us, and know what is best for us, even more than we know ourselves.

Well, I've been reading Laura Ingraham's new book "The Obama Diaries" which, by the way, I do recommend, and in dealing with this very topic, she helps put things in perspective.

"Consider how ridiculous you would sound:
American from 1776: "We had to fight the world's largest empire with an all-volunteer army"
American from 1814: "We had to watch the British burn down the president's house"
...
American from 1945: " We had to fight Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan"
American from 1951: "We had to roll back the Communist invasion of South Korea"
...
American from 2010: "We had to deal with..Barack Obama and Joe Biden! And Nancy Pelosi! It was...horrible!""

Thank you once again Laura, for putting things back in perspective. In the grand scheme of what this country has been through, AND triumphed over, in the past, these politicians are certainly not insurmountable!

A Quickie

Saw this via Theo, and said to myself, "Self, there is a lot of truth in that", so thought I'd share it

What big government problem??

Congressmen are supposed to have sworn to uphold the Constitution, which pre-supposes that they have read the Constitution, or at least have an idea what it says. And it would seem that most of those who are our appointed representatives would have the general concept of limited government, that our government was set up to restrict the power of Washington over the citizenry. Right? Right?

Well, listen to what this congressman has to say.

No wonder we feel like we are becoming mere slaves of the state.

Not Too Long Ago.....

Not too long ago, I seem to remember discussions being held. And these discussions were all about the new TARP plans, and all of the wonderful things that it would for all of us. A few of us tried to point out the fallacies that were being talked about, the lies that were being told. And we were shouted down as right-wing nut jobs, tea-baggers and other assorted insults. Now here we are a year later, and all the wonderful things that were going to happen........didn't. What did happen is unemployment continued to climb, government got much bigger, the economy slid more, and deficits skyrocketed.

Not too long ago, I seem to remember discussions being held. And these discussions were all about the new health care plans, and all of the wonderful things that it would for all of us. A few of us tried to point out the fallacies that were being talked about, the lies that were being told. And we were shouted down as right-wing nut jobs, tea-baggers and other assorted insults. Now here we are a year later, and all the wonderful things that were going to happen........didn't. What did happen is unemployment continued to climb, government got much bigger, the economy slid more, and deficits skyrocketed.


Not too long ago, the housing market tanked and started to drag the economy with it. Some of us tried to point out that the biggest offenders in the entire debacle were Fanny-Mae and Freddy-Mac, both of them quasi-governmental institutions, through which several Washington insiders made great wads of money by a wee bit of book-cooking, and for their shady dealings walked away rich and free, while Freddy and Fanny took a scizillion dollar hit, which WE taxpayers were forced to make good. All of this sub-prime nonsense is directly traceable to federal rules which required banks to offer mortgages to people who they KNEW would default, rules issued directly out of Washington, with certain prominent senators standing in front of the cameras telling us how secure Fanny and Freddy were even as the walls were crumbling around them.

And now we have a new 2,000+ page law, yet another of the seemingly endless collection of bloated and unread laws emanating from the capital. This law is going to do all sorts of the wonderful things for all of us, reforming all the problems in our financial system. EXCEPT, it does nothing about Fanny and Freddy, the source of most of the recent problems. What it DOES do is set up yet another honking-big bureaucracy to help control the growth of bureaucracy ( somehow that is supposed to make sense to us!!), and grabs yet more power for the central government. Along with the over 150 new agencies already created in the health care bill, this monstrosity sets up even more agencies to oversee even more of our economic activity. And our illustrious congress follows along in lock-step, either too ignorant or too malevolent to care that through this bill, they and their positions as representatives are being castrated. No longer will congress make decisions or have any input at all. All decisions are handed over to faceless bureaucrats who staff all of these new agencies.

Considering the batting average so far with all of these bills that promised all of the wonderful things that it would for all of us, I have to admit that I am more than a little skeptical. In fact, I am sick with disgust for what these people are doing to our great country.
Sometimes I can convince myself that at least some of the people in Washington are acting out of a sincere belief that they are working for the common good, even if I cannot comprehend why they believe what they profess. But more and more of the time, I can give myself no explanation for their actions other than that they are either a part of a group of people who have completely sold out all of their beliefs for their own enrichment, financial or otherwise, or else that they really don't want our country to survive, let alone thrive, or that they are truly stupid, too stupid to see that what they are doing is driving this country down more and more. Forget political posturing here....each and every person who continues to spend not just our money, but our children and their children's money, has to be one of those choices. There is no other explanation that I can see. Common sense, let alone history or even the current happenings in Greece and elsewhere, are screaming out that this path leads inexorably and always, to the financial disaster and ruin of the country following that path. And history also shows that one of the features that gave us our greatness among countries ands cultures was the individual freedom given to every man, freedom to pursue the paths chosen, freedom to use earnings as desired, freedom to succeed and freedom TO FAIL; these are all needed to attain greatness. Now, before we can do any of this, we must be given permission, we must be guided, we must be protected from ourselves and every other potential bad thing out there in the world, and we must be babied for every hurt that we might get and be reimbursed for any of our losses by our all-loving government.
NO, NO, NO. This isn't the path to greatness, this is the path to pathological dependance, to perpetual infantilism. Being "grown-up", being an adult, being great (or trying to be great, which is probably even more important) means taking some knocks along the way, taking risks that ARE risks and either succeeding or else failing, then getting up and tying again and again. We didn't get here as a country by being coddled by "big-brother". We got here because our fathers and their fathers and grandfathers worked hard at what they did, took risks and failed, had the courage to strike out again and again, always harder, always higher. They didn't spend what they didn't earn, and were always the first to assist others who needed "a helping hand" (not charity, just a helping hand, and they knew the difference!) and they took pride in what they tried to do and took pride in the greatness of this country. Their word was better than any contract, and the government was something that was there to protect them in war, not an ever expanding power trying to control every aspect of their lives.

Maybe we should look back and learn.

A Friend

Today, I helped bury a friend. Chief Herb Faurote, of a neighboring department, died this week and his funeral was held today. This is the lot across the road from the funeral parlor, with some of the apparatus visible which were there to honor him.



This is the procession of chief's cars heading to the cemetery.All of the apparatus were behind me in this picture.

This is the cemetery itself.
Herb had been chief since dirt was young, or so it seemed, and as I spent time in the fire service, he was one of those people who was always there. In all of our work with his department, it was obvious that he put all that he had into the fire service and into his department. He will be missed by just about everyone who knew him.

I was also again struck by just how much of a brotherhood the fire service really is. Gathered here were 25 or more departments from all over the county as well as representatives from the NYS OFPC (State Office of Fire Prevention and Control), all gathered to say good-bye to one of our own. It is something that is difficult to explain to an "outsider" but really and truly does exist, a real bond of brotherhood that has to be seen and felt to be truly appreciated. I overheard a family member or friend commenting on how they were touched by the number of firefighters there and the respect that they showed to Herb. I didn't interrupt their conversation; it wasn't my place to do that. But I was answering her in my own mind: "Ma'am, you have to understand. Herb was one of us. He was a brother to each and every person that you see here in the uniform of a firefighter, even those who are too young or too new, or from so far away that they have never even met him. He had "been there, done that" with us. He had fought the dragon of uncontrolled fire that we all are pledged to fight, and usually had won the fight. But he had also tasted the defeats that we all have experienced, shared the hurt and pain, both the physical injuries and the deeper hurts that never quite heal completely that also come with the job. He was a firefighter, Ma'am and that is why we all are here for him today."

Rest in peace, Herb, you've earned it.

Too good to be true

What a great piece of history!!
Before you write it off as another "right-wing nut job' read it, and have a good laugh as you learn some interesting history

Still here

Been away awhile.....had to think long and hard about whether I'm doing anything except beating my gums saying things that everyone already knows. And of course, one has to ask also if it isn't simply egotism thinking that I really have anything to say of any import.

But when I stumble upon a link like this, I just have to share it if I can. It really touched me.

Happy Father's Day to all Dads, and thank you, Lord, for the family with which I am blessed.

All That They Said Wouldn't Happen

"Individuals who don’t purchase health insurance may lose their tax refunds according to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. After acknowledging the recently passed health-care bill limits the agency’s options for enforcing the individual mandate, Shulman told reporters that the most likely way to penalize individuals that don’t comply is by reducing or confiscating their tax refunds."

From the Daily Caller

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that the government would be so heartless.

health Care summary

Let me get this straight… We are trying to pass passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president that also hasn’t read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

Compliments of Flopping Aces.

pretty well sums it all up.

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

On this Easter day, let us all remember that He died and rose again from the dead that we all might live. Keeping that in mind sort of keeps everything else in its proper perspective.

A Happy Easter to all, and a belated happy holy days to the Jewish brethren as well.

Obama Promised a Civilian Army And.......

During the campaign, Obama called for a civilian army as big as the military, and we were told that it was just retoric, nothing to be concerned about. "Nothing to see here. Move along please...." And lo and behold, buried in the middle of the Obamacare bill... is this little gem. I guess Nancy Pelosi was right....now that we passed it, we'll get to see what's in it.


Update...this MAY be a false alarm, and may be referring to the US Public Health Service. We'll see