On Guns

I had planned on talking about the school situations currently going on, and I still will, however I've decided to go with guns first.

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.

This amendment does not apply to hunting. It's main purpose is to allow the people of the united States to defend themselves from the possibility of their government becoming corrupt. Simply put, its so that our federal government will fear its own people's response to any laws or regulations it might try to pass. To put it another way, people who fear their government are subjects, a government which fears its people has citizens.

‎"When the people fear the government you have tyranny. . . when the government fears the people you have liberty."
-Thomas Jefferson


However, it goes deeper than that as well. It's not just self defense from the government that's our right, but also self defense from criminals. The people of the united States have the right to bear their firearms at all times. Its said that one armed man can control one hundred unarmed people. Take a bank robbery for example; You've got one to four armed robbers, and perhaps up to fifty (depending on the size of the bank) unarmed hostages.

Now imagine a bank, we'll say there are twelve customers, and fifteen employees throughout the building, all of which are armed and know how to use a gun. Four guys enter and draw their guns. In response, all twelve customers and four tellers draw their guns, one or more of whom alerts the rest of the staff of an attempted robbery, the remaining eleven employees appear, all bearing firearms. Suddenly the attempted robbery isn't a problem any longer, and the police have been notified and are on their way.

Guns in the hand of law abiding citizens are not dangerous to anyone who isn't threatening them. Guns in the hands of criminals are. Criminals have already shown that they have no trouble getting a gun, even when they can't buy one legitimately. So, if you're willing to break the law, you can get a gun much faster than someone who wants to get one honestly.

Rather than forbidding guns on school property, require that all teachers and staff carry a firearm. Instances like Columbine happening would drop drastically. The same goes for businesses.

I plan on writing about the current school issues, just gathering my thoughts on it. In the meantime, enjoy this completely unrelated 5-minute comedy hour:

Never Talk To Police

According to this former attorney, now a professor, you should never talk to the police. Now, I should clarify that this is more to do with being interviewed as a potential suspect or witness. You should always have a lawyer present, and you should remain silent, and express your intention to remain silent, until one is available. Especially if you're innocent.

I should warn you that both videos below are on the lengthy side, the first being 27 1/2 minutes, and the second a little over 21 minutes. However both videos contain information which everyone should have.





More information is available at Flex Your Rights.

 
 
 

Gamers, A Moment Please

"Chuck Bittner is a quadriplegic stand-up comedian, or as he puts it, “the can’t stand up comedian.” Chuck is hilarious, but make no mistake, he’s also a serious gamer. He plays mad crazy awesome using his face, as you’ll see in the above video. But, he can’t play every game and he wants to change that.
He’s started a petition to make custom button remapping a standard option on all games so they’re accessible to the handicapped and give all gamers the freedom to choose their button configuration. In May, Chuck is personally going to PAX East to talk to developers and present the signatures he’s collected.
You can do your part by signing the petition here."

Not Your Average Christian

I see in the news a lot about the Westboro Baptist Church. I've had my own experience with church groups like this when I visited Las Vegas a couple years ago, and I've had experience with other church groups which have their own brands of evangelism, all of which I can't agree with.

Groups like the WBC, and the one I encountered in Las Vegas, I flat out cannot support. Yes, I know where they're coming from. I understand why they are doing what they are doing. I don't agree with it. Quite honestly, I'm not all that certain that to guys or two women getting married is such a bad thing. But that's a topic for another post.

The group in Las Vegas was holding up signs which stated "God Hates Fags", and "You're going to Burn in Hell." This was at a gay pride parade. I see what they're doing, and I can't make it mesh with what I've read about Jesus. The only time Jesus showed this level of anger was when religious officials were making a mockery of God's Temple, and this was towards people who should have known better.

Jesus' main way of doing what he did was by establishing relationships with the people he was teaching. The religious officials had a hard time reconciling the fact that he would hang out with prostitutes and other ne'er do wells. When they brought it up to him he basically told them that he was here to help those who needed him.

I say I'm not your average Christian because I don't go out and evangelize. Now, if someone asks me, then I'll talk to them about it, however, I'm never the one to initiate such conversation. I think the one exception to this rule is when I get into discussions about evolution.

The emphasis to me has always been more along the lines of discipleship. Teaching to those who have become Christian, more about just what Christianity means. This stems from when I younger, and became Christian, the church I attended effectively said, "okay, we got him, he's going to heaven, let's get the next guy." They didn't actually say this, but this was kind of the perception I got about it.

I've heard stories of camps where 500 kids get saved in one night. I always think, well hey, that's great, what are you doing to follow through with them? A lot of the time, if I bring it up, I get blank stares as if they wondering what more could I want?

I've had customers when I worked at Meijer try to hand me gospel tracks, and then refuse to listen when I tell them that I'm already Christian. Or I've been to festivals where there's a booth set up, and I don't know what it is, but every time I pass near one, I get stopped and I hear the same set of questions every time.

It seems like every time, even though I explain I'm already Christian, they feel the need to continue to witness to me. It's at this point where I start having fun with them and play Devil's Advocate.

I just think that Church groups could be a much more effective in learning how to interact with people and win them over to their belief by simply examining how Jesus did it, rather than placing "GOD HATES. . ." or ". . . WILL BURN IN HELL." First of all, the only thing God hates is sin. Jesus told us that the greatest commandments are love God, and Love your neighbor as yourself. We would do well to remember that.

Smile!

Hat tip to Blogfather Harvey over at Bad Example. This is a really uplifting video and is definitely a great watch.

TSA: Keeping America Safe. . . From It's Own Troops

A friend of mine on Facebook just shared this article.

I tried looking this up on Google to see if it were actually real, and came across this report of the same instance, but with a little different information.

According to the first article, about 233 members of the United States Military were returning home from Iraq, the second article states that everyone had already been searched for bombs, ammo, and other weapons. Everyone had guns, all of which were unloaded.

The second article goes on to state that they had a stop in Indianapolis to let off about 100 National Guard members (So in actuality, before this stop, there were over 300 people with guns [unloaded] on the plane.)

Despite having already been searched, TSA insisted that everyone exit the plane and be searched again, they also administered swabbing for explosive residue. One serviceman had his multi-tool taken, another lost, of all things, his nail clippers, because apparently, in some way I haven't been able to imagine, they can be used as a weapon.

When the serviceman in question pointed out that he had a rifle, the TSA member dismissed it as being safe as you can't take over a plane with an unloaded rifle. The guy ended up relinquishing his clippers so that he could continue his journey.

Oh, and the explosive residue test? Everybody failed it. Who would have thought that people returning from a war-zone would fail an explosive residue test?


Also, while I haven't undergone formal military training, I'm more than certain that people are taught that a gun makes a great blunt object with which to hit your enemy (should it come to it) If not, chances are they've seen enough movies to know that it would serve as one.

Apparently, This thought has occurred to no one at the TSA. Never mind the fact that these men and women were just risking their lives to protect our country, only to be treated as potential enemies by members of the TSA. How about we treat these men and women like the heroes they are, rather than as the terrorists that they protect us from.

Republicans in the House

Lately news has been somewhat slow, as the new congress has just come into power. The Republicans held a reading of the Constitution on the House floor. Basically it was meant to be a shout out to the Tea Party for supporting them in the last election. It's also the first time that the U.S. Constitution has ever been read on the House Floor.

Let me start by stating that I think it was a nice gesture, but to be completely honest, I don't care that this was done. I'd rather have them not read from the Constitution and hold to it, as their constituents want them to. I'll hold off whether or not I'm glad that they're now in power until I see what they do with their power. I hope that at the very least, we have some kind of barrier against the out of control spending we've been experiencing for the past two years.

So while reading from the Constitution is a nice gesture, I'll leave you with this sound bit of reason: "Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie."

The Freakin' FCC

Recently, the FCC made itself more powerful, giving itself authority over the internet. This is despite a Federal Court telling the FCC that it has no authority over Net Neutrality.

Part of the FCC's reasoning is that it will prevent ISPs (Internet Service Providers) from blocking content. This already isn't a problem as any company which tries to do so will soon find itself devoid of customers, or under assault from internet groups like Anonymous. These kinds of groups have proven time and again to be extremely effective as crime fighters (another link about the same guy, but definitely NSFW) as well as attacking MasterCard.

The problem is, these people are not elected officials. If they do something the American people don't like, they don't have to worry about upcoming elections and suddenly finding themselves with a job. Further, once created, a government agency or commission has only one option: grow larger and more powerful. The original purpose of the FCC was to deal with Morse Code, and that's it. Now it oversees radio, phone and television, and has decided that the Internet also lies within it's domain.

The FCC claims that it has the good of the people in mind, but the people themselves are having none of it. What's the keep the FCC from doing things similar to China, and blocking certain traffic, "for the good of the people?"

Hint of Things to Come