Gotta Love It !

Mayors Against Illegal Guns

How can anyone be against a group with such a noble title as "'anyone' Against Illegal Guns"?

Well, it's easy when the title doesn't tell the real agenda of the organization.

Quick little look at the MAIG "Media Center" reveals the Editorials and Op-eds that warm their little hearts:

"...those frightened and insecure individuals who feel a need to carry concealed weapons."

They apparently love comments from the Violence Policy Center like this gem from that organizations legislative director Kristen Rand:

"State concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers and other murderers. It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these deadly laws."

Their goal on the surface certainly sounds noble, they claim to want to protect the second amendment and law aiding citizens ability to protect themselves while keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. The sad fact is that their true agenda will only be apparent to someone who digs deep into the their policy papers, their press releases and editorial rhetoric.

Where Is The Middle Class

To define the boundaries between classes one would have to measure lifestyle. Since inflation is always a variable, why not define middle class by the measure of what it was like in the United States after WWII and how that has changed compared to today.

The Cleavers
In the middle class of the baby boom era the nuclear family had one breadwinner and almost always a stay at home mom. The family wasn’t basking in wealth and did have to keep an eye on expenses but could afford to take a vacation every year.

Of course they did save in other ways because pies and cakes came out of the flour bin, not the freezer. Jeans got patches sewn on the knees and if anyone’s name was on the ass it better be Levi or Wrangler.

Christmas time would come and go and the family could afford to entertain and still get the Red Ryder with the compass in the stock and the thing that tells time for the little fella.

There was always plenty of food on the table, steak was seldom but it was a treat every once in a while.

The family couldn’t save a whole lot, however managed to save a little for special occasions or rainy days.

There was a pretty good chance that with a little scrimping and saving when Wally or the Beaver graduated high school he not only could read, find the United State on a globe; could probably name most if not all of the states and capitols and actually the family could put him through college if that’s what he or she wanted.

The middle glass of the 50s & 60s didn’t drive yuppie luxo-mobiles but they were able to replace the family station wagon (antique mini-van) every few years or so before it got to 100k, because that’s when they fell apart.

The middle class could afford to actually plan for retirement and always had the nest egg investment of the house with the mortgage that after years they managed to pay off.

In the 50s such a level would probably take an annual income of about 15,000.00… Just about the cost of their 3-bedroom colonial on a modest 1/4-acre not too far from downtown, probably with good public transportation. These days the above would probably take an income somewhere north of 350,000.00… Just about the cost of a 3-bedroom colonial on a modest 1/4-acre not too far from downtown probably with good public transportation.

Concurrently, lower class would be a family income below 350,000.00 and the poverty level being anything below about 75,000.00.

The upper class of course managed all of the above and more with little concern. They had portfolios that were blue chip and they had enough set aside that any risky investments were just with the extra that they could afford to loose. The Mrs. had hired help, can’t plan parties without it you know. Of course little Johnny had a modest trust fund that would ensure he never had to stand in a soup line no matter how much of the old money he drank and pissed away. The income was probably north of 150,000.00… Just about the cost of their 6 or more bedroom estate home with servant quarters and a dungeon in the basement for when the Mr. and Mrs. put on the leather underwear. Of course set on at least a few acres somewhere near the country club. Today I think that would be about 1 million plus up to about 10 million.

Of course I see an Uber-Class as being anything above 10 million.

So, do I see redistriution of wealth as being the answer? Nope. But let's be realistic when we talk about middle class, especially when it comes to identifying such things as tax rates. These things are certain to become hot topics in the near future.

Where Are Our Priorities

How can it be that today, perhaps the most holy day of the year to many christians… so many businesses take pride in being open.

Well, maybe we’ve told them that’s what we want.

I’m cooking a turkey for the holiday, our holiday meals always include cranberry sauce, stuffing and black olives. So, if I forgot and didn’t get enough black olives… God help those companies that are closed and can’t serve my needs.

We want convenience, so our values have fallen to the side of the road and we will not be inconvenienced by a closed retailer. No matter how that may impact our idealistic beliefs.

The reality is, we leave reason for God to question our motivation and desires, and in turn it leaves us too far from the path for us to know… just where can we walk in his steps.

Idealist

Perhaps I’m too much of an idealist.
Imagine if you can, a world where every man and woman were bound by their word.
Imagine if you can a world where every word you read were truth.
Imagine if you can a world where our public servents, served our needs before their own.
Imagine if you can a world where truth was the norm and lies were inconceivable.
Imagine if you can a world where honor and integrity were values that everyone aspired too.
Imagine if you can a world where individual desires were always subservient to the good of the whole.

Ok…

Enough of that S**t…

Now wake up and realize that although we all want this, it isn’t happening today
Realize that you can never believe a word you read and little of what you see.
Realize that most never put the community before their own good.
Realize that the public servants are seldom public and almost never serve.
Realize that lies gain print and truth falls on the floor.
Realize that dignity and honor have fallen by the roadside and are only viewed today by too many as being weaknesses.
Realize that it will never get better if you don’t get involved.

New and Old

This blog is both new and old, only several minutes old here on wordpress but I’ve begun to transfer over a few of my postings here to blogger from my Yahoo 360 page. Yahoo 360 just didn’t cut it, problems after problems and it looks like most people who started blogs there several years ago are just letting them fester, so shall I.

Today I was reading the forum post by Juan Wiliams on FoxNews about how it’s time for America to loose the “Time to End to America’s ‘Lock and Load’ Mania” and composed a brilliant comment which somehow was lost and never posted. I should have copy and pasted it here first but “shoulda” is a hindsight word.

Lets see if I can remember some of my brilliance…

It went something like this:

Juan,

Have you ever had to call 911 for a prowler or burglary?
Did the ne’er-do-well hand you the phone and wait patiently while you made the call?
Were the police there to protect you within split seconds?
If you or a family member were injured or murdered would knowing you had done the right thing by calling 911 be a comfort to you… That you did everything you could have?

Well in any event the only people who would have read it would be the 1,900+ other people who disagree with his dribble and have commented.

JPFO - 2A for The USA Part 1

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership bills themselves as being the most aggressive defender of firearms ownership. They've put together this video and it's certainly worth watching. This is part 1 of 3. The entire video can be found on the JPFO website as a streaming video or can be found in the three seperate segments on YouTube Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Where Do Those Guns Come From?

Okay, so the Mexican drug cartels have nasty guns. Homeland Security is going to add something like 360 more Border Patrol agents. There going to be look for guns more agressively.

One report suggested that they might actually check 1 in 10 cars so you see it's getting serious. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the Customs and Border Patrol. They do wonders with what little resources they have I'm sure.

Our politicians would have us believe that it's those nasty drug people buying them at Gun Shows in the United States via "Straw Purchases" and then sneaking those military grade weapons and explosives into Mexico.

However, the reality may be completely different.

Here's an interesting read.

It would appear that our State Department has authorized the sales. Yup, directly exported with the approval of State with Congessional Notification.

Liars, Damn Liars; Politicians

90% of firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico were sourced in the United States.




Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quoted it.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein did too so it must be true right? RIGHT?

Nope


Were they a little off? Yeah just a little, the real number is:

17%

Thats right only 17%, not 90% of those weapons were sourced in the United States. Sure they rounded up a bit but that's okay isn't it? Afterall, it's a statistic that might be used to incite gun control in the US so it's perfectly ok to round up a bit.

Apparently in 2007 and 2008 the Mexican goverment submitted to 11,000 firearms (of the 29,000 recovered at Mexican crime scenes) to the Unites States BATF. Of those 5,114 were succesfully traced and found to be sourced in the United States. That works out to 17% of the 29,0000 weapons found at Mexican crime scenes.

The scary part is these people are doing the bailout dollars too aren't they.

Sooner or Later They'll Get to Me

So, I'm just waiting patiently for my bail-out.

Oh, I don't need a billion dollars...
I don't need a million, in fact give me $50,000.00 and I won't bother anyone for a while.
No really, I promise.