He means it this time... Maybe

POTUS has just announced that GITMO needs to be closed.
Lets see if he can deliver on this one. After all, the first time he talked about closing GITMO the only thing that happened was rhetoric.

The unfortunate array of terrorist attacks

We have had the Sandy Hook shooting (December 2012) and the Boston Bombing (April 2013) recently.

So, what did they have in common?

All of the attackers did not legally posess some type of firearm (shooter 2, bombers) which they used.

They Run Towards Fire

Firefighters risk their lives by charging into burning buildings to save lives. Sometimes, this ends up costing them their lives.
No one deserves honor more than those who give their lives for the safety or freedom of another.

The Family Business...

It seems like the Bush family's business is politics. I agree completely with Mrs. Barbara Bush that we've had enough Bushes. I probably take it a bit further, since I think that the family should find something else to do besides politics - at any level.

Also, I really don't want to see the Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton match-up that Mrs. Laura Bush suggested for the next presidential election. I want to vote for a candidate because I want them in office and not because I really don't want their opponent to be elected.

ANZAC Day

On this day in 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli.
May they, and all others who chose and continue to chose to risk life and limb in the service of their country never be forgotten.

Tyranny of the majority

The important bits of the new New York gun control law are taking effect today. The NRA's New York affiliate (among others) is going to be contesting the law in court.
And then I read Governor Cuomo's response.

"Yes, they are against it, but they are the extremists and the extremists shouldn't win, especially on this issue when it is so important to the majority," Cuomo said in a radio interview Wednesday. "In politics, we have to be willing to take on the extremists, otherwise you will see paralysis."

Just because you have a majority doesn't mean that your opponents are extremists, and even if they are extremists, that still doesn't mean that you can take away their rights. As James Bovard said, "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."

I hope that the courts strike down this oppressive and asinine law.

 

Throwing money down the rathole

We're giving more money to the UN, while Sequester continues to hit the military hard. We should cut money from the dictators and incompetent/corrupt bureaucrats in UN before we cut money from the military.

More Gun Control Madness

New York confiscated a man's guns on mental health reasons, then found that they'd confiscated the wrong guy's firearms.
I now have no intention of ever seeing a mental health professional ever again, unless I feel that the problem is worse than the possibility of having my property confiscated. I've been a user of firearms for over half of my (admittedly short) life, and I have every intention of continuing to use firearms, even if it means avoiding mental health professionals for the rest of my life.

Then we have the new Senate bill debate on another gun control bill - a bill that would increase the scope of background checks, while containing language to lure Republicans over.
It, like all gun control laws in the history of this nation, is blatantly unconstitutional. The wording of the second amendment is uncompromising, and allows for no wriggle room.

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.

 In the beginning of our nation, any free citizen could buy, own, use, and sell any weapon that they chose, without having to go to the government for permission. This included the Pennsylvania Long Rifle, which, though primarily a hunting weapon, was used to great effect in the American Revolution and the various conflicts with Native Americans, the Brown Bess Musket, which, though less accurate than a rifle had a much greater rate of fire and a bayonet lug, and was from start to finish a weapon with only one purpose, war. If one had the money, he could buy artillery, even warships.
In the modern era, while I can still buy standard hunting firearms, the various modern military firearms used worldwide are not available, except in reduced functionality models that function the exact same as the standard hunting weapons, albeit with a few extra features such as bayonet lugs - not that the lack of bayonet lugs would keep any sufficiently motivated person from mounting a bayonet. If I buy from someone who sells firearms for a living, I have to undergo a background check.
My right to keep and bear arms has already been infringed upon enough. I will not tolerate any further infringement upon that right, and I will vote against any politician who infringes or proposes to  infringe any further on that right, even if I agree with that politician on every other issue.

Scumbaggery or Foolishness

When people celebrate the death of an enemy leader (e.g. Bin Laden) who sought to destroy them, they're fools, for another, more capable leader may step forward and bring defeat to those who thought they'd won a great victory.
When people celebrate the death of one of their own leaders, no matter how much they disagreed with and despised the leader in question they're scumbags plain and simple, the only exception being when the leader has given them ample reason to celebrate their death - ample reason being the murder, manslaughter, or outright oppression of the citizenry. Maximilien Robespierre, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, and many others all provided ample reason for their people to celebrate their death. Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, was not one of those blood-soaked tyrants. Even those who hated and despised her the most do not have anywhere near enough reason to celebrate the death of one of freedom's shining lights.

One of the world's mad dogs

North Korean leadership have repeatedly demonstrated a propensity for provocative language towards a nation capable of turning their country into a smoking parking lot - without resorting to any sort of WMDs. They have continued to ramp up the rhetoric, even occasionally shooting live weapons into South Korean territory. They've managed to piss off their sole powerful and reliable ally, and have continued to act in a manner that, in any other time or place would result in a war of serious proportions. One day the leaders of North Korea will be put down, like the mad dogs they are.

Gun Control Proponents don't know what they're talking about?

I'm not surprised that yet another gun control advocate has demonstrated a profound ignorance about firearms. It happens all the time, often enough that only the most obviously ignorant/stupid comments made by high level officials are worth noting (Carolyn "shoulder thing that goes up" McCarthy and Joe "Shotgun" Biden being the best known examples). Diana DeGette's definitely fall into the category of obviously ignorant/stupid.
I find the shenanigans amusing and painful. Amusing because they have no clue what it is that they seek to ban and/or regulate into oblivion, painful because, despite their ignorance, there is a substantial portion of the populace who want to see them succeed.