My Community Service Letter To President Obama

Yes I really sent a letter to President Obama today. I sent it via an email to the White House this morning. I have to agree with him, I think volunteering for community service is a good thing. That's why I used to be a soccer coach, an assistant coach at little league, and both an assistant coach and coach for a roller hockey league for quite a few years. I have also done a few other things to help out - mostly through my local herpetological society. I have been doing community service or years now with no prompting from the president. Truth be told though, I have not done all that much of it lately and his incessant talking about it has reminded me to offer to lend a hand once again to my community. The letter I sent to the president follows:

Dear President Obama,

I am a registered Republican but I can see merit to some things across political lines. I see merit in your call for community service. Of course, I see community service as good only if voluntary. So, I plan to do my part through an educational program for the youth of my community. In that regard, I was wondering, how does a person obtain federal stimulus monetary assistance?

I would like to start a program to teach youngsters about an American tradition. This program will include teaching local youths about our Constitution and about our rights. It will be open to children from the ages of 12 up through 17 (with their parents’ permission). It will be offered at no charge to the participants. It will teach about our freedoms, rights, liberties and our responsibilities as Americans. It will include participation in a sport that is hundreds of years old and that has been enjoyed by American Citizens of both genders and by those of all racial, ethnic, religious and secular backgrounds.

The cost for this would be more than I could afford on my own. I am willing to donate several hundred dollars a year and my time toward this program but the price to use a proper facility with a classroom and practical training area will likely prove more than I could afford. There would be the costs of teaching and insurance. I imagine this could run into several thousands of dollars if I had even as few as 25 students per year.

I believe that teaching our youth the proper way to enjoy their right to keep and bear arms is an important but often forgotten national responsibility. Not only would such a program teach our youth about the RKBA, and about shooting sports, it would also prepare them in the event they are ever called upon to take up arms to defend our great nation in military or law enforcement service. I sir, with your financial help, am willing to serve my community in this manner. Are you ready to help me do so?

Best regards,
Glenn Bartley

I am quite serious about my offer. After I receive my positive reply from Washington, I plan to contact the National Rifle Association and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association to see if they have any pointers on how to put this together. I almost cannot wait for the positive reply and all the money that the government is sure to put into this program to help the youths of my community learn about their heritage to keep and bear arms.

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - Africans Come To America As Indentured Servants

August 1, 1619 is often acknowledged as the 1st day that African slaves were brought into the American Colonies (what later became the state of Virginia) as Indentured Servants. Their being the first Africans in America is sometimes disputed in that it is reported a census record for Virginia showed 32 Africans some 5 months earlier. With regard to those Africans brought into Jamestown on today's date: They were purchased by Jamestown, by way of barter, from a passing Dutch ship bound from Angola to Mexico. The ship needed repairs and Jamestown needed able bodied workers. The deal was done in order to provide Jamestown with those able bodied workers after their own population had been decimated by disease and war with Native Americans.

These first Africans joined what then was probably 1/2 of the white population of America as indentured servants; those white indentured servants were mainly Irish, Scottish, English and German. Approximately 1/2 of all whites in America during the 17th and 18 centuries were indentured servants. As indentured servants, these first Africans in America had something different to which to look forward than did many who followed them; they had freedom on the horizon. As indentured servants they worked for for a set period, and then were set free and provided with land and supplies upon attaining freedom.

It was not until after the only briefly successful Bacon's Rebellion, led by Nathaniel Bacon, that the slave trade of Africans in America pretty much turned to pure slavery - whereby African slaves became slaves for life, and their progeny inherited their slave status. The rebellion while at first a success, was put down several months after it had begun. It was a rebellion made up mostly of poor landowners and indentured servants, that fought against local Indians whom they saw as a threat, and against a government that was unjust to them. The government, in the long term, failed to support the campaign against the Indians despite many colonists and indentured servants losing their lives to them. Whether or not invasion of Indian lands by Bacon was right by today's standards, the truth of that time was that the government opposed the right of people of the Virginia Colony to be able to defend themselves, and bacon supported it. In addition the government had caused fine tobacco production (the main cash crop) to drop, and then raised taxes to make up for the loss in revenues. Furthermore the governor, Sir William Berkley had granted special favors to those in his favor, and had virtually ignored the needs of those wealthy not in his favor, and also ignored those who were poor and who were indentured servants.

Had the rebellion been a success there may never have been African slavery, as opposed to indentured servitude, as we know it today. Things also may have been quite different not only for those who were brought here against their wills from Africa, but for all Americans. This is because the acknowledgement of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (as a means of self defense, and as a means to oppose tyrannical government) was born under Bacon. It was also one of the first things that was revoked once power was restored to the former ruler of Jamestown. It was not until the rebellion was squashed and the liberty to exercise that right was revoked that slavery took a different turn, albeit indirectly but no doubt in part caused as a result of the rebellion's failure. (Please note the facts about Bacon's Rebellion, and about Bacon, were pretty much undisputed until recent years with the revisionist view of all things historical. Today many ultra-liberal 'modern' historians try to make Bacon look to be little more than a greedy land baron, when in fact he was a rebel in opposition to tyranny, and he fought along with many poor landowners and indentured servants.)

We can certainly learn from history folks, and we need to beware of those who would taint history, and they who would under that veil of lies try to strip us of our rights. Free men, and men who see others as equals, such as was Bacon, see one of our most important rights to be the Right To Keep And Bear Arms. This is so that we can defend ourselves and so that we can put down tyranny when it tries to overpower us with unjust rule. It is only the tyrants who wish to do away with that right, and it has been that way throughout history. Trust no man who says you do not have an inalienable right to keep and bear arms because in all likelihood, once you surrender those arms, it will be the same man who holds you under his well armed rule no matter what your race.

All the best,
Glenn B

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-Americans (see the history section of this article)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States (see the Colonial America section of this article)

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0805681.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_Rebellion

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p274.html

http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/bacons-rebellion.htm

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/military/bacon.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant

Can You Guess The Source Of The Below Quotation?

Read the following, and tell me source of it.

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed.”

If you do not know the source of the above quotation, well you just might be amazed to find out that it comes from the New York Civil Rights Law, Section 4, Article 2. I wonder does it look or sound familiar to you? Yes of course it does! Here it is with a single word changed:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Yep that is the second Amendment to the United States Constitution found in the Bill of Rights. The NY Law looks awfully similar to it, does it not? Yet New York is one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it comes to firearms possession. I can only hope the NRA will ram it up their snouts in Albany until they realize that the people have the right to keep and bear arms even here in New York.

Reference:

http://www.nraila.org/statelawpdfs/NYSL.pdf

http://law.onecle.com/new-york/civil-rights/CVR04_4.html

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

Some Other Rationale As Why We Should Be Armed, or Blogs About Gun Rights...

... can be found in these blogs:

http://greybeard.igogg.com/archives/365

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007331.htm

http://penofjen.blogspot.com/2007/04/conclusions.html

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/10503/

http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2007/04/point-counterpoint.html

http://armsandthelaw.com/archives/2007/04/column_by_v_tec.php

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/04/2nd_amenment_ri.html

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2007/04/we-license-cars-yackyackyack.html

http://bloodletting.blog-city.com/22_dead_on_the_altar_of_gun_control.htm (this one written by a doctor)

One last link, but this one is not to a blog simply because there were no blogs when it was written. It is an article length letter called: Letter from An Angry Reader that was sent into Esquire magazine many years ago by a once upon a time anti-gun person. If the link does not work, go to: http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3499, it is quite worth the read.

Some of the reads at the above links are short, some are lengthy. All are pro gun-rights, and no matter what side of the gun issue you find yourself on, I suggest you read them all. I will leave it to others to rant against the right to keep and bear arms, as for me I support that right (free speech), and the right to keep and bear arms 100 percent.

All the best,
Glenn B