We are not Europe.

Recently, New York passed a law that states that "assault" rifles must be registered with state authorities.  I recall reading in the article that followed it up some time later that less than 20% of "assault" rifle owners in the state registered their rifles.  I'm pretty sure it was probably fewer than that, should all of the facts be known. 

Connecticut, after Sandy Hook, passed something similar, swearing that they only wanted to know where they were.  I'm pretty sure more registered there than in New York, but probably not as many as they'd've liked. 

And now, they're sending out confiscation letters.  Granted, they're only sending letters to those they think own an evil murder rifle, but I doubt the rest are far behind. 

The government officials involved in this stupidity are forgetting something: those that meekly registered their rifles like they were told may be sheep, but those that chose to disobey the law that ran contrary to their rights stated in and protected by the second amendment are likely to use those very rifles to protect themselves and their rights from a tyrannical government. 

They've also forgotten that Concord and Lexington were prompted by a government gun grab. 

In the twentieth century, there have been numerous gun grabs throughout Europe and Asia: The Ottoman Empire in 1915; the Soviets in the '20s; the Germans in the '30s; China, Uganda, Guatemala, and Cambodia through the second half of the century.  In each case, gun registration was near-immediately (within a year or two) followed up by gun confiscation.  In each case, the citizens meekly and lawfully turned over their arms.  And each case was followed up by massive numbers of people murdered by the very governments they turned their guns over to.  Millions.  Tens of millions.  Mostly either minority ethnic groups, persecuted religious minorities, or political rivals. 

Many Americans are both aware of this and wary of this happening here. 

This nation was founded by men and women who keenly felt the injustice of a hereditary political class that controlled their lives to a huge extent, and thus, left for freer pastures.  Though some two hundred years of political neglect--almost entirely benign--those who made this land their home learned to govern themselves, and learned to like the freedom to be left alone that they'd found here. 

In the early 1770s, that freedom started to be constricted.  The people were treated very unfairly (see the Declaration of Independence for further detail), and it chafed.  In 1775, the British government decided to quell the rebellion it could smell brewing before it got started, and misstepped.  King George III either didn't realize, or forgot, that the American colonies were made up of steel-spined malcontents that clanged when they walked.  And, in trying to seize the means for the colonies to defend themselves, triggered the very rebellion he feared in Concord an Lexington. 

Americans in 2015 are, for the most part, descended from these men who laid their lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor on the line.  We are not sheep. 

And, most of all, we are not European. 

We will not lay down our God-given rights to defend ourselves just because some chattering, inbred nitwits in the hereditary political classes that have grown like a tumor in the heart of our nation tells us to.

Who is my neighbor?

I hold myself--not the government, but myself--responsible for doing what I can to alleviate need I see in my neighbors.  A year or so ago, it was literally across the street: we had Bob and June Wheeler move into a house on the corner across the street that should have been torn down years ago.  They had nothing.  Literally nothing.  Only barely enough clothes for their kids.  No water, no electricity--the house wasn't up to code, and they couldn't afford to turn on their utilities, anyway.

We fed them all summer.  Took June to pick up an antibiotic prescription.  Helped literally as much as we could, up to and including attempting to get them signed up for the aid that they desperately needed, and what we couldn't afford to provide.

And then, we helped them scrape the money together to put gas in their truck to move in with her mother, most of the state away from us. 

It is my responsibility, when I see need, to do what I can to alleviate that need without endangering my own family's survival. 

That's why I linked this guy's GoFundMe page.  From what I gather, he is a patriot.  He has worked, and worked hard, all of his life.  He had an accident--which he didn't cause through bad behavior, mind you--and can't work any longer. 

In the Bible, Jesus was asked, "Who is my neighbor?"  He told a long, beautiful story about a man who was robbed, beaten, and left for dead, and how people who should have stopped and helped, didn't.  How somebody that, by all rights, should not have felt obligated, stopped.  It wasn't the government that helped.  It wasn't the church.  It was an ordinary, everyday individual.

The main point was, and still is, that we are all neighbors.  We are all supposed to help one another back up when we fall.  We are all supposed to nurse one another back to health when we're sick, clothe one another when we're in need, and feed one another when we're hungry.  We aren't supposed to shrug, say, "Well, I pay taxes--let the government do it," or "Isn't that what the church is supposed to do?" 

I can help Steven at the end of the month.  I can't help now.  He needs as much help as he can get, as fast as he can get it. 

He is my neighbor.  I am doing what I can, even if all I can do at the moment is to help get the word out.

Y'know...

I've been staring at this blank page, on and off all day, trying to come up with something uplifting...and I just can't.  Our nations is so very, horribly divided, not between the haves and have nots, but between the productive and the parasites (the worst of which are in government on local, state, and federal levels). 

All of my life, I've been so proud of our nation, and our system of government.  Lee Greenwood nailed it in my opinion--or, at least, that used to be the case.

Now?  Now, we have the government on all levels getting so intrusive and vindictive that I no longer say what's on my mind (not even here).  I no longer trust that the government works under constraints set out more than two hundred years ago by men much smarter than any I've ever met today.  I no longer believe I live in a free country.  Why?

PRISM. 

SWAT. 

NSA, DEA, BATFE, DHS, DFS, and all of the other alphabet soup organizations. 

I will admit: we have it nowhere near as bad as places like Egypt, or Somalia, or Cuba or Venezuela or Argentina...yet. 

I pray to God that it never gets to that level.

But, I haven't been able to write an uplifting post over what America means to me, and what it should be to the world. 

Because the America I grew up believing in?  The one I thought existed?  Yeah.  It died.  I'm not sure how, or when, but it's gone.

What's left?

History repeats.

Two hundred thirty-seven years ago today, our nation was born of a ruler's incompetence and tyranny.  The Declaration of Independence was signed by the delegates of the thirteen colonies, directly stating that the king was not a just ruler, and as such, our fledgling nation had the moral right--nay, imperative--to rebel, and set up a more just system of government.

Somewhere around one hundred years ago, the progressive movement was born, and began to aggregate power unto itself, slowly, ratcheting up their agenda on us like the heat under a frog in a pot of cold water. 

Today, many of the items listed in the Declaration hold true for our current batch of  rulers leaders:

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. (DHS and NSA anybody?)

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.  (DHS, IRS, SWAT, etc.)

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. (A non-military branch with funding and training equal to the military...which still answers to civilian control)

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: (No need for that now--that's what the NSA's PRISM program is for)

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: (Still haven't seen SWAT prosecuted for the murders of innocent victims)

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: (the Affordable Care Act was rejected by 67% of American voters.  Had it come to a vote of the people, it never would have passed.  And yes, according to the Supreme Court, it was a tax.)

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: (Snowden.  Need I say more?)

The water's nearly boiling, folks.  And there's nowhere left to go.

I miss my country.

Something is rotten in Denmark

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war...  --Amendment V, United States Constitution

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, but an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.  --Amendment VI, United States Constitution

In other words, anyone charged, whether on a local level by local law enforcement is entitled to a trial by jury, a trial that is both speedy and public--not held in secret--in the district where whatever crime the accused is being charged with was committed.  

Federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor... Washington Post

There's the first problem.  Snowden is not in active service, neither in the military, nor the militia.  He's an independent contractor--thus, he is entitled to a grand jury trial.  A public one, with all charges publicly available.  Not sealed.   By pursuing a sealed criminal complaint, Snowden's Constitutionally guaranteed rights are being violated by the government that is required by law to uphold the Constitution.

Big shock, right?

The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered and a district with a long track record of prosecuting cases with national security implications....Snowden flew to Hong Kong last month after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii... Ibid.

...And here's violation number two.  The "crime" of shining a spotlight on the government's ass-raping of the Constitution with a sandpaper condom and no lube happened in Hawaii.  Not Virginia.

Again, big shock.  It's not like the federal government has the collective reading comprehension of a two year old.  If they did, they'd realize that their jobs are clearly defined and firmly limited in the Constitution, and that the rights of the people enumerated in the Bill of Rights are not rights granted by government, but by God.  If they had the reading comprehension of a retarded lemur, they'd realize that the Bill of Rights is there to inform the people of what the government is supposed to be legally restricted from doing to them.

Then again, I don't know more than a couple dozen people who have read the Constitution in its entirety.  And none of them is a government official.

Disrespect.

I cannot think of any other word to describe a government who even permits an enemy to spit on the bodies of our soldiers, much less asks them to.

Of course an Islamic cleric is an enemy.  It doesn't matter where it is, where he hails from, or whether he serves in the US military or not--he is Muslim, and he is an enemy.  I'm pretty sure Ft. Hood's soldiers would agree with me.

Asking an Imam to pray over soldiers fallen in the line of duty is asking the enemy to spit on our troops.  And that displays a troubling disrespect on the part of our government.

I'd be sickened, but right now, it's making me far too sad.

4th of July celebrated

I don't begrudge the whole week spent celebrating our nation's independence--well, not much at least.  I just wish that people actually thought about what it is they're celebrating (and how much of it we just lost with the recent SCOTUS ruling), and I wish to high heaven that there was a bit of common sense used in when people set off their fireworks.

No, we're not under a burn ban, right now.  We are, however, about as dry as a tinderbox. 

And the knuckleheads living around us started setting off fireworks at about 8:30--an hour after I got the pixie down, waking her up--and didn't stop until nearly midnight.  That made it incredibly hard to get the imp down and asleep. 

People in towns ought to be considerate enough to think about their neighbors, neighbors' kids, and probable bedtimes, and avoid the noisy stuff after about 10:00.  Scared the bat crap out of both of the kids. 

Unfortunately, we all know how considerate others can be: not at all, not when it impacts what they want to do, when they want to do it. 

This is rich...

...coming from the guy that deliberately collapses national economies for fun: the cause of our current economic troubles is unrestrained capitalism, combined with ignorance on the part of some, and evil on the part of others.  From a story from The Blaze:

So you might want to pay attention to a recent story from The Daily Beast that claims George Soros is nervous about the future of the global economy and that he warns of dark things to come.

“At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” Soros said.

As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil,” writes the Beasts’ John Arlidge. “Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America [Soros] predicts riots in the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties [emphases added]. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.”

Yeah...good luck with that clampdown in the United States, you evil bastard.  You might want to remember why Admiral Yamamoto didn't want to invade the American mainland.

 And don't count on the military to squash the citizens.  There aren't many sympathetic with your politics amongst the rank and file that would be doing the dirty work. All of your sympathizers are amongst the REMFs that can't find their arse with both hands, a map, a navigator, and a GPS system.

This made me cry a little.

It may be because I'm pregnant, but I think it was more than that. Give it a watch.