Sunday, December 23, 2007

Belated Wishes Are In Order To You All...

...for a Happy Festivus, or at least to you of the rest of us! Had I the time I thought I would have had, I would have wished you this whilst still the 23rd of December. Alas events took a turn or three in a different direction than that for which I had planned, and I am arrived here - already on the eve of Christmas - and only at this moment have I found the opportunity to wish you Happy Festivus. I can only wish that it had been otherwise, but as fate would have its often found joy in rambunctious dishevelment of ones plans, my plans for a wonderful Festivus were tossed aside as if a leaf in a tempest.

My day had been planned so that I would finish laying the new oak floor in my son's room, but unexpectedly, as oft will be the case, my attentions were diverted. My daughter, who recently bought her first car, a brand new one at that, called to say the car had broken down. My wife and I helped her survive the panic stricken moments of her first breakdown (not her first nervous breakdown mind you, but her car's first mechanical breakdown) and we successfully got triple A to give her a tow. Then we picked her up and tried to cheer her up, which was especially difficult once she had realized that the car had broken down because of a rather silly mistake on her part, which I will not explain further here as she has been embarrassed enough by it for one day. After that it was back to work for me on the flooring job, but I soon broke all of my properly sized drill bits and had to quit for the day.

Once having finished with that task for the day, I decided it would be the nice thing to do to drive my daughter to the home of her beau's parents in CT where she had planned to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Well it may have been the nice thing to do, but it took up almost all of the remaining time within the day. We left home at about 1900 hours (7PM), and I drove through a terrible windy rain storm. All in all, 193 miles and about 4 hours later, I was back in the neighborhood. By then I was much in need of a libation, so I stopped at a local establishment to imbibe just two. My arrival there was at about 2310 (11:10 PM), and I arrived home at about 0005 (1205 AM) of the 24th. Yes I was too late, by just minutes, to wish you all a Happy Festivus in a timely manner; for that I offer my apologies. Of course, not all of you will be offended, nor will many of you even know of what I write when I refer to Festivus; but for those of you who are offended or are at east aware, you know it is for the rest of us. HAPPY BELATED FESTIVUS!

All the best,
Glenn B

The Arguments Against The 2nd Amendment...

...have in recent decades have quite often, among other things, pointed out the so called fact that the people no longer have anything to fear from their government, therefore the idea of a well regulated militia, made up of armed citizens, to combat a tyrannical government is preposterous. Charles Schumer is one of the big proponents of this type of thinking, or should I call it anti-gun propaganda. There are many other examples of gun-control advocates who have used the same type of reasoning to try to take away the guns of the American citizen. The truth of the matter is though that their reasoning is quite faulty. Time and time again, the left, yes I mean the liberals (even those who wear Republican garb, such as GWB, and have no doubt he is mostly quite liberal in his policies) want to take away the rights of the American people, or shave them down to make it less prickly for themselves to remain in power while bamboozling the rest of us. The right to celebrate your religious beliefs is one right they have whittled away, the right to freedom of speech is another they are attempting to cut back as witnessed by them trying to limit conservative radio talk shows, the right to be protected from searches without probable cause is another (Patriot Act), and the list goes on. Most importantly though they have tried to destroy our Right To Keep And bear Arms, and as I said they use, among others, the reasoning that we need not fear our government.

Well, case in point, let me point you to this:
FBI planned mass arrests in 1950, and to this: Report: Former FBI Director Hoover Planned to Arrest 12,000 Americans Suspected of Disloyalty. Yes that threat may seem old to some of the youngsters out there, but it is not that long ago, nor was it all that long ago that Ruby Ridge took place, nor that the Branch Dividian compound was stormed by federal agencies and troops. Now I do not agree with Communism, I find it an abhorrent form of government. I do not believe that cultism such as the Branch Davidian wackos are a good thing, I think they were nuts and criminals. I do not believe that Randy Weaver was innocent of all crimes of which he was suspected. However, I do believe in rule of law (good, moral laws); and I do believe that in essence our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, are good and moral laws. I believe that the rights expressed within those documents are in effect sacred. I believe they are worth fighting for and dying for. I also vehemently do not agree with anyone who would violently attempt to overthrow the government of the USA as it now stands (a republic practicing democratic principals), and I believe in upholding the constitution and protecting our nation. Therefore I think that guys like Schumer have it all wrong regarding the 2nd Amendment.

We still need, and always will need, to have the right to keep and bear arms whether for hunting, self defense, or to overthrow tyrants. No, those tyrants, or they who would choose to be tyrants, have not gone away. They are forever lurking just under the radar behind the smiles of of the phony politicians, behind the badges of the corrupt lawmen, in the guise of your next door neighbor (no I am not calling every politician, every lawman or every neighbor a tyrant, I am saying this is how tyrants disguise themselves before trying to overcome us). Tyrants or they who would be tyrants are just waiting to put the knife between our shoulder blades should the opportunity arise. We need to be forever vigilant, but not just that. We also need to be forever ready to fight back against tyranny, and the best way (in my opinion) to be ready is to remain forever armed.

All the best,
Glenn B