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Month December 2009

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The Wrong Message

Dec 31, 09 9:11 PM

I hope everyone had a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, or Winter Solstice (whichever greeting fits your fancy). My Christmas was wonderful…I got to see family I hadn’t seen in a very, very long time and have the opportunity to rebuild relationships that, a couple of years ago, I thought were gone forever.

On Christmas Day, however–December 25–we escaped tragedy by the skin of our teeth. 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam with 80 grams of a high-grade explosive called PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, which is also the main ingredient in Semtex) sewn into the crotch of his jockey shorts. When the plane entered the sky over Middlesex County (Ontario), Abdulmutallab used pillows and a blanket to conceal what he was doing: injecting a liquid acid into the packet of PETN in his underwear in an attempt to blow up the plane.

Thankfully, the good Lord had other plans, and they did not include allowing that passenger jet to be blown out of the sky. The Mixture didn’t react properly and instead of exploding, it merely set the would-be terrorist on fire. A Dutch passenger tackled him and dragged him to the front of the plane. All of the witnesses said that Abdulmutallab wore a completely blank, expressionless face, even though he had third-degree burns on his legs. He later crowed to investigators that he had attempted the attack at the behest of his Al Qaeda handlers in Yemen.

It has since come out that we knew who he was; his own father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab–former chairman of First Bank PLC and a prominent member of Nigeria’s high class–had gone to the American embassy in Lagos and shared his concerns that his son had become radicalized in Islam and might be working with Al Qaeda. British MI5 had a dossier on him because of his extremist activities while studying in London. He wasn’t a lone nut, nor was he poor; his last known address was a three-million-pound loft in the UK.

Not only did we know who he was, how he got on the plane should have raised every red flag known to the transportation industry. He had no luggage and was escorted by a “well-dressed man”. He had no passport. Nobody thought to question why he would be getting on this flight to the US. Not since Richard Reid has a Muslim terrorist been so brazen in any attempt to commit terrorist acts on American soil.

Al Qaeda claimed the plot. Then they promised that they had hundreds waiting to commit similar atrocities.

Richard Reid hatched his boneheaded idea just a few months after 9/11. At the time, we were still cleaning up and trying to figure out exactly what to do to keep ourselves safe from this sort of thing. Today it’s been a full eight years since the face of our world changed, and while Bush had already done all he could do by the time Reid was stopped, Obama has done nothing but tear down our defenses–and when his administration’s stupidity was revealed by this latest attempt, he stayed in Hawai’i. Vacation was more important. Seeing Avatar is, too, I guess, because that was on the agenda for today.

I’m not nearly as angry with Obama for staying in Hawai’i as I am angry that something so horrid nearly succeeded because Obama doesn’t want to “rush” any decisions. We can’t racially profile. We have to be careful about offending Muslims by targeting them for searches at airports. We can’t rush to judgement on this the way we are on healthcare and climate change. God forbid we stop the killers; it’s far more important to keep shoveling money into that bottomless pit labeled “hysteria.”

As I sit here at my dad’s place, listening to good music and celebrating the start of a new year, I wonder where we’re going. Did we learn anything from 9/11? Did we learn from the London and Madrid bombings? Did we learn from Richard Reid? Or will the next Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab succeed in killing hundreds of innocent Americans before we wake up? Worse, will the next four or five succeed?

I wonder what kind of world my niece is growing up in. What will we tell her and my soon-to-be nephew when they come of age and ask us about this decade? Will we tell them that the Hollywood elite led us around on a short leash? Or will we be able to tell them with pride that we fought our hardest and won?

Personally, I’d prefer the latter. Israel makes no bones about the fact that they openly profile Muslims in their airports. I think maybe they’re on to something. Who else is trying to blow us all to kingdom come? I hate to tell you this, but white supremacists (while menacing) are not the biggest threat. If we really want to stop the next 9/11 from ever happening, we’re going to have to swallow our pride and start doing things that aren’t politically correct. We can start by knocking off the whining about immigration reform, kicking out the offenders, and not allowing those on extremist watch lists to EVER set foot on American soil.

Thomas Jefferson understood what needed to be done with the Muslim raiders in his day. He read the Qur’an and used their own beliefs against them. To this day, the copy he owned sits under glass in the Library of Congress.

We here at gayconservative.org hope you all have a very happy and safe new year. I pray that our eyes will open this year before any more have to die. God’s grace, love and peace to you all.

Comments (15)

What Liberals Did to Detroit

Dec 28, 09 10:45 AM

Entitlements, big government, free money — with liberty and justice for all.

Comments (24)

Making Noise

Dec 24, 09 6:17 PM

Since we’re on the subject of healthcare reform, I’d like to talk about one of the issues that affects healthcare the most: lawsuits.

Back in June, Obama delivered a speech before the American Medical Association. They cheered some of the things he said at first, but he actually said, “don’t get too excited, just hold your horses, guys…” before then announcing that he would never support tort reform.

He was instantly booed by the entire gathering.

One of the things no Democrat wants to admit is just how much medical malpractice lawsuits contribute to the exorbitant costs of healthcare in America, largely because trial lawyers give so damn much money to the Democratic party. That’s completely aside from the fact that both our current President and First Lady as well as the last Democrat pair are ALL lawyers (well…Slick Willie was disbarred, to be fair). The Democrats have all salivated over passing landmark healthcare legislation before the 2010 elections, and while they’ve all whined and moaned about how many people are uninsured because it’s so expensive, all but one of them have refused to admit the glaring truth, something that made John Edwards richer than God: trial lawyers make a killing off of medical malpractice lawsuits (no pun intended), and they are completely out of control.

Who’s the one to admit it? Barack Obama himself. He called it a ticking time bomb. Yet as he did so before the AMA he immediately turned around and said he’d never support reform.

While there are genuine malpractice issues that require regulations and the right of a patient to have recourse if negligence is truly to blame for severe injury, if you look at it honestly, these lawsuits cost far more than they’re worth. Some of the suits that end up in court are legitimate. Unfortunately, many aren’t–they’re simply the result of a patient or their family wanting to blame somebody for the abrupt change in their lives. I have seen very talented doctors do all they can to save patients they knew would not survive because of the severe trauma find themselves in court over their patient’s death because the family just wanted someone to pay. When I work as an EMT, we have to document every single thing right down to the miniscule things that were said because we might be sued, too.

Thanks to lawsuits, we have defensive medicine. Doctors will order the most expensive tests for things they can often eliminate as possible diagnoses simply to cover themselves on the off chance that something goes wrong and they end up getting sued. When a $250 x-ray can suffice for a complaint of back pain, doctors sometimes order $1500 MRI’s just to cover their backsides. Numerous blood tests will be performed when, in fact, a doctor can usually tell by symptoms what the issue is and confirm it with one or two tests. That sort of practice in medicine costs a hell of a lot annually, driving up insurance costs.

Doctors, hospitals and city EMS agencies will often try to settle out-of-court because the cost of going through trial is greater than just quietly settling, which is another massive problem. It tempts those who know they don’t have a strong case to sue anyway in the hopes of getting anything they can. Whether the plaintiffs and defendants settle or go to trial, these suits cost the entire country a lot of money in a lot of different ways. It also costs the court system precious time, thousands of hours that could be better spent on, say, our flailing and foundering criminal “justice” system. (I know, common sense is annoying–but why ignore it if it’ll work?)

One of the biggest solutions is staring us right in the face and we’re completely ignoring it. I still have not heard one person, one single expert, give solid, factual evidence that insurance companies are the problem. I have to wonder, though, as should we all–why would the Democrats ever be willing to even consider tort reform when they’ve got a near-endless supply of campaign funding from trial lawyers?

Reform belongs in the areas where the problem is, and right now the Democrats are doing little more than making noise.

Comments (39)

Freedom of Choice

Dec 23, 09 10:44 PM

I’ve been enjoying my time with my family (I taught my 18-month-old niece to say “tattoo” even though she can’t say my name yet) and friends, missing those who can’t be here. Every family has their own quirky traditions, mine being no exception. I would gripe about the news that the Obamas have an ornament on the White House tree bearing a picture of Chairman Mao, but I’m not sure that would do any good at this point.

What I really wanted to write about tonight is the healthcare takeover boondoggle that is playing out in the Senate. I almost cannot believe some of the outright bribery going on hasn’t managed to show up as so much as a blip on our collective radar. I say almost because I know how liberal the vast, overwhelming majority of the MSM is and I know what’s going on now is completely acceptable to them.

It is entirely UNacceptable to me. It should be to all of us.

Lousiana senator Mary Landrieu declared that she couldn’t be bought off just before accepting a $300M payoff for so-called “Gulf Coast recovery.” Nebraska senator Ben Nelson accepted a promise that Nebraska would never have to pay Medicaid expenses–millions of dollars that every other state in the Union cannot get out of. Hundreds of millions in buyoffs have been attached to the legislation about to pass the Senate, and every Democrat in elected office is defending this behavior.

This after Nancy Pelosi and co. announced in 2006 that they were going to fight against the “culture of corruption” in the Bush administration. Ironic, isn’t it?

All who support this legislation claim that healthcare is a right. It’s not fair, they say, for the uninsured to have no access to the same care that others do. What they’re conveniently forgetting is that nobody is denied access to care. According to the law, if you go to a hospital emergency room in need of medical attention they cannot refuse. If you are ill or injured, whether you’re insured or not, you’ll be taken care of. So I still don’t understand what they’re wailing about.

Let’s go over some of the facts. The complaint is that healthcare costs too much. They say it’s because insurance companies are greedy and they’re making money hand over fist in this business. Actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Insurance companies aren’t nearly as profitable as, say, trial law firms.

Doctors pay big bucks to go to medical school. They often end up in debt for their student loans afterwards, and they need to pay it back while making a living. On top of that, once they begin practicing they need something the vast majority of the populace doesn’t need: malpractice insurance. They need something to guarantee financial security in the event that a lawyer ends up suing and winning in a big way. That insurance is expensive, starting off at $20,000 annually and getting up to $275,000 annually, depending on the specialty.

Then there’s equipment. The high-tech equipment that helps run everything from a family physician’s office to a major metropolitan hospital comes with a price tag that would make most of us go nuts trying to compute. One single x-ray machine costs upwards of $8,000, while an MRI scanner costs around $3M.

Unfortunately, healthcare is run by people. Not just nurses and doctors, mind you–there are lab techs, x-ray techs, MRI techs, CT techs, patient care techs, phlebotomists, janitors…millions of people have jobs in the healthcare industry. They have to be paid. That isn’t cheap, either, considering most of them require special education for their fields as well. I looked into going to school for respiratory therapy and nearly had heart failure at the cost, which I was not willing to get a student loan for, no matter how much money they make.

All of this has to be considered when debating healthcare. It’s not cheap to provide because it’s not cheap to keep it running. To complain that healthcare should be a right means you have to be willing to accept that having a certain amount of income, whether employed or not, is also a right. It is pure socialism, like it or not.

This is also the first time in America’s history that the government has suggested mandating that every citizen, regardless of circumstance, purchase anything. Car insurance is a different issue; driving a car has the potential to affect many people if a driver gets stupid behind the wheel, and driving is not something that everyone does. This legislation is suggesting that every single citizen of this country must be insured, whether by a private company or the government. That strips us of some of our most basic freedoms. And, like it or not, it brings us one giant step closer to a socialist America, one void of the freedoms I hold so dear.

Then again, we have the FDA banning certain products left and right simply because some people are irresponsible with them (such as ephedrine, which I liked, and alcoholic energy drinks–my Jaegerbombers will be illegal soon!).

The government admitted the need to stay out of my bedroom. Now they need to stay out of the rest of my life unless I commit a crime. Nobody has any business whatsoever forcing me to pay for someone else’s healthcare. We had federal welfare once that operated in a similar fashion.

It was a disaster, resulting in entire generations living off the government dole without ever working a day in their lives. I will not give up one freedom, my freedom of choice (which you Dems seem so keen on when it comes to abortion), for some imagined “right” to substandard healthcare that I wouldn’t have bought when I had the right to provide my own care.

Comments (10)

Attacking the Samaritans

Dec 22, 09 2:04 PM

Some time ago, I was getting off a very long shift when I drove up to a horrible accident. Up to that point, it was the goriest MVA I had ever seen on a lonely stretch of state highway. There was exactly one other person there who hadn’t been involved; it looked as though the vehicles, one being a very large pickup truck, had hit head-on at a very high rate of speed. The driver of the smaller vehicle was literally in pieces. His head was misshapen (I won’t give the more disgusting facts), an arm was severed in the middle of the road–it was obvious even to the untrained that this man was very dead.

When I simply looked at him and got on my phone to call 911, the woman who’d seen the wreck started yelling at me to do something. She didn’t know what I should be doing, but she was adamant that I needed to help the man. There was nothing I could do, so I moved on to the other driver, who was still alive and in severe distress. At that, all I could do for him was put pressure on a wound and hold his mouth open so he could breathe. The entire time I did this the woman screamed at me, even hitting me from time to time, demanding that I go back to the other driver and help him. When police finally arrived, she told them she had no idea who either of the men were but could not get over the fact that I walked away from the corpse in the other car.

I was more upset about that then than I would be now. I had a lot less experience then. But I learned a very valuable lesson: I am not God. I cannot save everyone simply because I want to. It was not a lesson I imagined learning in such a fashion while I was in school. I never did find out if the other man survived.

On December 9 in New York City, two EMT’s were in a coffee shop when a pregnant employee collapsed. The initial reports say that the EMT’s refused to help, telling other employees to call 911. We don’t know what really did happen, though, or what the circumstances were–yet not only is the girl’s mother calling the EMT’s inhuman, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already called their actions “inexcusable.”

How can anybody say that before knowing the facts? How do we know these two EMT’s were on duty? There’s a big difference between being on duty and off–when I am on duty, I have a lot of equipment at my disposal. I also have direct access to medical direction from a designated trauma room physician. When I’m off duty, I don’t have those things, and without some of the tools in my rescue arsenal there are a lot of things I simply can’t do. Now, if it were me standing there watching someone collapse, I wouldn’t leave, but unless she had stopped breathing, her heart stopped beating, or was having a seizure, I’d pretty much be standing there like an idiot wishing I could do more, such as using a portable EKG to check her heart rhythm or calling medical direction.

This is something I know from experience, and I have about the same number of years as the EMT’s involved in this case.

Often, when someone we love dies suddenly and tragically, we want to lash out at anyone who might have been responsible. In some ways it’s actually easier when someone caused the death because then we have something to focus on. Our grief does not give us the right to crucify someone simply because we want to be angry, however.

I’m not willing to blindly accuse these two EMT’s without proof of negligence. If they had been on duty, they’d have had their rig outside and would not have ignored the problem, I can tell you that right now. So if they weren’t on duty, how do we know what was said? How do we know that they didn’t explicitly tell those folks, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do, you need to have an ambulance dispatched”? How do we know they were taking a break, as some news outlets have reported, rather than leaving or just beginning their shift?

These days, EMT’s and paramedics are sued left and right. Most often it’s not because they have deep pockets; rather, it’s because their employers appear to and they’re easy targets. Our job is to help those in crisis and stabilize them for transport to a hospital, where doctors work the real magic. When we’re not on duty, guess what? We’ll likely do what everyone else would do: call 911.

Don’t hang these guys yet. Don’t attack them for lack of evidence. Do for them what everyone screams for us to do with the criminals in our society: let them remain innocent until proven guilty.

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Then…God Made Peace Officers

Dec 21, 09 3:59 PM

In the guestbook for fallen DPS officer Chris Marano, an anonymous fellow public safety worker posted this:

When the Lord was creating peace officers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the Lord said, “Have you read the spec on this order? A peace officer has to be able to run five miles through alleys in the dark, scale walls, enter homes the health inspector wouldn’t touch, and not wrinkle his uniform. He has to be able to sit in an undercover car all day on a stakeout, cover a homicide scene that night, canvass the neighborhood for witnesses, and testify in court the next day. He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.”

“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord, “it’s the three pairs of eyes an officer has to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through a bulge in a pocket before he asks, ‘May I see what’s in there, sir?’ (When he already knows and wishes he’d taken
that accounting job.) Another pair here in the side of his head for his partners’ safety. And another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, ‘You’ll be all right ma’am, when he knows it isn’t so.”

“Lord,” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “rest and work on this tomorrow.”

“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk into a patrol car without incident and feed a family of five on a civil service paycheck.”

The angel circled the model of the peace officer very slowly, “Can it think?” she asked.

“You bet,” said the Lord. “It can tell you the elements of a hundred crimes; recite Miranda warnings in its sleep; detain, investigate, search, and arrest a gang member on the street in less time than it takes five learned judges to debate the legality of the stop… and still it keeps its sense of humor. This officer also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with crime scenes painted in hell, coax a confession from a child abuser, comfort a murder victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how law enforcement isn’t sensitive to the rights of criminal suspects.”

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the peace officer. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model.”

“That’s not a leak,” said the lord, “it’s a tear.”

“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.

“It’s for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag, for justice.”

“You’re a genius,” said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” he said.

On Thursday, December 17, an Arizona DPS (Department of Public Safety) patrol officer spotted a silver Mercury SUV on the North/Westbound 101 with stolen plates. He tried to pull the driver over but she refused to stop. A chase ensued and another DPS officer was asked to lay down stop sticks to deflate the tires of the suspect vehicle. Officer Chris Marano, well ahead of the chase in the Westbound lanes, laid down the sticks as he saw the vehicles approaching. The suspect swerved to get around the sticks and nearly hit Marano; he jumped out of her way and directly into the path of a pursuing DPS vehicle. His fellow officer never had the chance to stop.

Despite the desperate efforts of firefighter paramedics to save him, Officer Marano was pronounced dead at John C. Lincoln Hospital minutes later. I had met him a couple of times, and though I didn’t know him well, he was a very nice guy and always the officer you knew would have things ready for you when you arrived on a call.

I will blog later about the flab of human debris who caused this tragedy. For now, keep his family–parents, a wife and four children–in your prayers. If you wish you can click here for information on how to help the family.

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Irony? Try Hypocrisy

Dec 18, 09 8:13 PM

(There’s been a lot going on in my corner of the world…I’ve been “seeing” a girl from my hometown who’s in med school here in Arizona, and that’s the only information I’m going to give–she doesn’t want to be identified publicly and won’t give me pictures until she’s absolutely sure I will never, ever post them on Facebook or MySpace (no matter how much I swear). As a result I haven’t been spending much time going to the library or my dad’s to use a computer. Once I fix my computer next month it won’t be so long between posts and responses. There’s also been an event that has rattled several of my friends in public safety, and I won’t give many details as I’ve promised not to give much away, but an Arizona DPS officer was killed last night while laying down stop sticks to end a chase. Pray for his family; he had a wife and four children aged 4 months – 7 years.)

Reader BurningMonk added this comment a couple of days ago to the post Burn Their Churches to the Ground:

I’m so tired of the irony of your blog.

Spend time doing something for your community, like building one, not splintering off.

Fighting back is the only way to achieve freedom. Please just check out some of the violence against gays around the world and in your hometown…Please don’t be the gay that will walk by as I get beaten up or threatened.

Read the book “Faggots” by Larry Kramer, and start to get a clue about your history.

Stop spreading Hate please, Conservative Gay…thank you

I felt this needed its own post and response. Here it is.

I am tired of the absolute hypocrisy and shill nature of the gay rights movement.

I will always, regardless of who the target is, stand up and either speak or act in defense of those targeted unfairly. If I hear a politician spewing outright lies, I will call them out. If I hear a fellow Christian disparaging all gays as being sick and twisted, I will correct them. If I were to see someone being beaten by a group of people simply for being gay, I would have absolutely no fear in taking a few hits to fight to protect them–I am well-trained and not afraid to take or offer harm if the situation calls for it, though I don’t issue threats unless I am about to actually do harm.

Note what I said there: regardless of who the target is. That means that if I hear a gay rights activist saying or doing something wrong, I’ll stand up against you, too.

Wanting equal rights does not give anybody the right to do or say anything you please. We’re not being rounded up and put in camps. Hell, we’re not even being arrested under sodomy laws anymore. The big issues now are the right to marry and protections for housing and employment (hate crimes is marked off the list, thanks to you guys–I have always been firmly against any and all hate crimes legislation). Housing and employment I can certainly understand; nobody should be discriminated against as long as they are responsible, capable members of society. Marriage (Philip will likely disagree with me on this) is something I don’t think we should mess with, and I’m perfectly fine with civil unions as long as they offer the same benefits under the law.

Either way, proposing violence against your adversary simply because you disagree with them is never excusable unless they do violence against you first. THAT is hate, folks, whether you like it or not. By doing and saying these things you are, believe it or not, persecuting them, and that is something they actually look forward to.

I know the gay community’s history quite well, as do Philip and Steve. There is just as much hypocrisy and crime in our past as there is in everyone else’s. BurningMonk, if I saw you being beaten I would fight just as hard for you as I would for any of my friends. I would be willing to do severe injury–even kill–to protect you from the violent thugs who actually do threaten us. Those punks are not being led by Christians today, however, and I will not tolerate them being branded as hatemongers any more than I would tolerate the punks doing violence.

If you want to know where the hate is, take a long hard look in the mirror. It’s a two-way street.

Comments (3)

Lunacy

Dec 15, 09 2:02 PM

There is so much going on in the news right now I don’t know where to begin. From the new statue of Obama as a 10-year-old in Jakarta to Chris Matthews railing about “white tribalism” from a network that’s never met a black anchor it liked, from Democrats crying murder at conservatives against healthcare reform with bogus horror stories to the SEIU-backed immigration bill that Democrats are trying to push despite unemployment levels at an all-time high, I’m not sure where to begin.

Just over a week ago, my uncle Kenny called me from Houston. He was absolutely stunned: it was snowing for the first time in nearly a decade. It wasn’t just snowing, though…it was sticking, and there was enough for my aunt Jennifer and cousin Judy to build a snowman at the family ranch. I watched the news that night to see my hometown transformed into a winter wonderland, a place I couldn’t recognize because I couldn’t see the skyline for all the snow falling.

(It is definitely worth mentioning that Houston voted to elect its first-ever gay mayor, Annise Parker, though I will reserve support for her until I am able to find out more about her positions on key issues that affect my city. She is a Democrat.)

While the biggest snowfall in a decade blanketed Houston, extreme low temperatures were recorded in other parts of the country–and a big pow-wow started in Copenhagen, Denmark. The UN held its first-ever global climate change summit. It’s still going on.

Al Gore made an ass of himself (yes, again). He said this:

“These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”

It gets better. The doctor he quoted came back, stunned, to say that there were no actual figures to support this announcement. Dr. Maslowski said that the numbers given by Gore were “ballpark estimates” given in a discussion they’d had several years ago. The good doctor admitted openly that there was no actual data to prove any of this. And doctors from the NOAA soundly rebuked Gore’s nonsense.

While this was going on, the leaders of third-world countries walked out in protest. Why? They were angry over the lack of progress on drafting legally binding emissions targets for rich nations like the US. In other words, they were pitching a fit because all the money they are slated to get if this deal goes through–money to be paid by countries like ours to these poorer countries ostensibly to defray the costs of scaling back carbon emissions, amounts which will end up being enormous–isn’t guaranteed. In short they were angry that payday might not come as some other countries promised. Who wouldn’t walk out?

When my parents were kids, global cooling was all the rage. If we didn’t do something about how were were treating the planet we were going to see the next ice age. Now, a couple of generations later, we’re at the other end of the spectrum. Most scientists say that data points to the idea that the planet goes through these cycles regularly–cooling and warming–to balance itself out. I think our continual obsession with our ability to destroy the planet is little more than narcissism.

Comments (4)

Illinois and Guns: An Issue To Consider For 2010 Governor Races

Dec 13, 09 2:59 AM

As 2010 approaches, I run the risk of sounding reminiscent of the 1994 mid-term elections.

I was still a youngster during those days but remember the 2nd Amendment was a big deal. Also; of course, we are also in the midst of one of the worst economic periods in history where far too many state and local governments are tainted with wasteful spending policies.

There are three candidates that have gotten my attention. The first (probably like many of you) one I have been noticing has been Andy McKenna. He galloped in by referring to himself as an “outsider.” Then, along came Adam Andrzejewski claiming that McKenna headed the Republican party within our state (to which I still must back this up with sources), he’s calling himself the true “outsider.” Then comes Bill Brady — another conservative.

While all three promise major ethics reform within our state — which is a heartbeat away from California #2 on the economic no-no list, it seems that Adam Andrzejewski wants to cut the most from state spending sprees.

The three candidates on the issue of guns — according to an article from the Associated Press:

On the question: “Would you sign or veto legislation banning the sale and possession of semiautomatic assault-style weapons in Illinois?”

McKenna: “I believe in the Second Amendment and law abiding citizen’s right to own firearms to protect their families and for sporting purposes.”

Andrzejewski: “Would veto a ban on semiautomatic ‘assault weapons’ in most circumstances. It comes down (to) law abiding citizens having the right to defend their life, liberty and property.”

Brady: “I am opposed to any further restrictions to the ownership of firearms as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and would veto legislation banning the sale and possession of semiautomatic weapons.”

Here is where it changes:

On the question: “Would you sign or veto legislation allowing concealed-carry for handguns?”

McKenna: “I am opposed to concealed-carry legislation.”

Andrzejewski: “I would sign it. … Law abiding citizens have this right.”

Brady: “Constitutional rights should be afforded to eligible, law-abiding Illinois citizens, and therefore concealed carry should be legalized.”

MCKENNA IS OUT!!

For me, anyway. Sadly, he apparently has more money to run more commercials. Brady and Andrzejewski both gave the same answers, yet, to me Andrzejewski’s was more direct and obvious to him.

Just weeks ago in my neighboring small town – a lovely Hispanic business owner who owns a small-town hair salon had her business invaded. In the small shop, her three children were there who all worked small jobs for their mother. Her oldest was 23. The illegal gunmen entered the shop and demanded the money from the register. The 23-year old opened the drawer and gave them every cent they had — which came to about $100.00. They then demanded his cell phone and once he handed it to them, they shot him in the head tragically killing him almost instantly in front of his younger siblings before fleeing.

Just three nights ago, my brother’s car, in our very small rural town, was broken into. His glove box and armrest was ransacked for a few dollars in change….we immediately contacted a security company for an alarm system.

The point is, we should have the right to carry guns to protect ourselves. What if I had decided to get my haircut that night? I have been to this small town salon many times as my family runs a small accounting firm as well.

I want the right to protect myself and my home! If guns are only in the hands of the illegal folks, we may as well kiss our futures goodbye.

Take a look at Chicago’s murder rate. Mayor Daley for years has advocated strict gun control and he got it.

Every year though, gun violence and murders continue to rise.

The only way they will go down is when law-abiding citizens have the power to protect themselves.

We must push this issue hard for 2010. Talk to your neighbors and please, share your thoughts with me on this issue as well.

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“The Sarah” Shocks William Shatner on “The Tonight Show”

Dec 11, 09 11:17 PM

After one of his infamous “Palin readings,” Shatner got the tables turned on him.

The look on his face was absolutely priceless!

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