Saturday, December 22, 2012

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

Heard that one before?

Okay, well I know that David slew Goliath with a sling shot and a rock.  But I'm hard pressed to think of another example of rock vs. human.  And for the life of me I cannot think of another killing involving a fork or a rolled up newspaper or a Christmas tree.

But let's ask these folks what they think about the issue:

Abraham Lincoln
Alexander Hamilton
James Garfield
William McKinley
John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King
Robert Kennedy
John Lennon
Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06
Daniel Barden, 9/25/05
Rachel Davino
Olivia Engel, 7/18/06
Josephine Gay, 12/11/05
Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06
Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06
Dawn Hochsprung
Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06
Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05
Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06
James Mattioli , 3/22/06
Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05
Anne Marie Murphy
Emilie Parker, 5/12/06
Jack Pinto, 5/06/06
Noah Pozner, 11/20/06
Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06
Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06
Avielle Richman, 10/17/06
Lauren Russeau
Mary Sherlach
Victoria Soto
Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06
Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06


What's that you say?

So today is 12-22-12.  Below is a story of the Old World known as Earth I. That world ended yesterday if you didn't notice.  I did.  And I'm sure many of you did, too.  So, please remember the new rules of Earth II:

I. Be kind to everyone, even your waitress and the greeter at Walmart.
II. Hug your kids at least 5 times a day and check their homework.  
III. Take an opportunity at least twice a day to make someone else smile
IV. Remember RAOK (Random acts of kindness) 
V. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Thus there is no need for guns or the NRA.  Obama and the Republicans will hug.  Trump will stop talking and get a haircut.  Murdoch will give ALL of his $ to Operation Smile.  Lindsay Lohan will join a convent.  Honey Boo Boo and her mother will go vegan.  The Cubs will win the World Series. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will  rent a nice summer cottage in Miami next door to Benjamin Netanyahu and they'll play pinochle every night for Hanukkah gelt.  Apple and Samsung will make nice and give away free computers to everyone in the new world.  Arabs and Palestinians and Israelis will join hands and sing IMAGINE, GIVE PEACE A CHANCE, and ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! 

Let's make it happen...TODAY!!!

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121221_World_War_II_survivor_of_a_dark_day.html#recent_comm

Friday, December 21, 2012

Armed, dangerous, and unaware

The NRA defends it's stance by quoting the Second Amendment.  I would advise them to read Alexander Hamilton's analysis in Federalist #29.  The intent, following the Revolutionary War, was how to protect the State (meaning a state such as NY, not the US as a whole) from foreign incursion.  It is important to remember that when the Amendment was written the US had no standing army due to fears of a potential monarchy subsidized by a strong military alliance.  Thus the need for local militia for protection. Militias were local, and the need was there for them to be trained to be ready at any time for service.  Thus they needed to be armed as well as ready.  The Amendment is written as one function, the need for armed militia.  If there were two separate functions it would have been written thus: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, [AND] the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  The Amendment read in conjunction with Federalist #29 is clear.  Hamilton's analysis was used to limit gun rights right through until 1939, when the Supreme Court heard a gun case, but not until 2008 were the limits removed. Claiming the right to own weapons as a Constitutional right is in error.  The right came directly from a conservative Supreme Court which used their authority to usurp the Constitution and become legislators rather than judges.