Flabergasted

...that's me.

After reading this editorial that popped up in my Google News alerts this am.

The whole thing made sense, until the last paragraph, where Ms. Lu Ann Maciulla McNabb decides to pose her question. The bills all look good, look like they will extend gun rights, and treat gun owners the way they should be treated. What makes a church so special that someone with a valid permit to carry shouldn't be allowed to do so? I know of several instances right here in IN where guns were carried to church and no mass shootings happened.

There are also cases of legally carried weapons in churches STOPPING a mass shooting.

But that's not what I want to talk about is right here:

My question has been and continues to be, how can Virginia, the place where the worst mass tragedy in American history occurred, and which loses over 800 people every year to gun violence, continue to ignore the loss of life and create policies that leave families and communities devastated.

I'm going to assume she means the attack at Virginia Tech, where 32 people lost their lives, and I'll grant that VT was a tragedy (a tragedy that some of the laws now being proposed might have prevented...entirely possibly). However, there is no way in HELL that the massacre at VT was the worst mass tragedy in American history.

• September 11th, 2001 ring a bell. The city of New York lost more EMTs / Paramedics in one day then VT lost in students. FDNY lost 10 times as many firefighters at Ground Zero as students were lost at VT. Nearly 100 times as many innocent civilians died at Ground Zero alone.
• December 7th, 1941, a day which will live in infamy. Japanese warplanes bomb and torpedo the ships at anchor at Pearl Harbor, leading the US into WWII. 2400 citizens of this county were killed.
• July 1-3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg, 46,000 Service men of this country, fighting one another lost their lives over a three day period.

In the face of these things, the attack at VT pales in comparison based on pure carnage. Don't try and use emotion, especially fake emotion to get your feel good nanny state laws passed!

--Jim

Critical. Need to know...

....Information. Mission critical information...it was all denied to me.

As I mentioned the other day, my last remaining grandfather passed away. He's at peace with God, his wife and one of he daughters, who both proceeded him to their rewards. We buried Poppo in accordance with his faith and his last wishes.

The day was a long one, with both good and bad points. It was nice to see all of the family again. The circumstances could sure have been better though.

The most humorous part of the story involves me arriving at the church for the funeral yesterday morning. I'm dressed in head to foot in black, with the exception of a tie, colored gray and silver. I followed my mother into the church while dad parked the car.

As I walk in the door, an older man stops me and says, "Are you a pallbearer?".
"No" says I.
"Yes," says mother.

Huh. News to me. I hadn't heard a thing of it up until that very moment. Oh well, live learn and overcome I suppose.

To make it funnier, we complete the service in the church and follow the coffin out to the foyer/reception area of the church. The family was seated as a whole, there was no special seating for the pallbearers, so we worked out with our family.

The family is all gathered around the perimeter of the room when they call the pallbearers forward. We escort the coffin outside to the hearse and proceed to lift it. At this point, I'm on the right side of the hearse, right side of coffin, middle position. We lift, and as we do so, I turn my head to speak to my brother, only to find out he is missing. Poor boy forgot we had to escort the coffin, and had to use the restroom.

Thank you all for reading, I know I've been off topic recently, but I'm planning on doing a post this week about a trip to the gunshop, which should be fun (new toys maybe). I'll also share a story of riding MARTA in Atlanta.

Economic Stimulus Bill...

Only... NOT! Pet Projects! Billions of Dollars of Pork!

Don't get me wrong, I like bacon as much as the next guy, but not prepared by Congress...

Never mind that the bill will actually do more harm than good, which is a travesty in and of itself. Look at what else has happened:

The majority holders in the House and Senate kept the minority members from offering amendments to the bill.

When the bill was all said and done, it was over 1100 pages long, was delivered around midnight and voted on next business day. Call it 17 hours, if the vote happened by 5PM. That means that a member of Congress would have to read 65 pages per HOUR of legaleeze (assuming they didn't sleep at all after receiving the bill...). I can't read that fast when I'm reading for enjoyment.

In addition, I've heard reports that the text of the bill was never delivered to the representatives in a PDF or other electronic file, so there was no way to quickly search if for pork. This was a disgusting trick by the majority leaders in both the house and senate to pay off (that is buy votes) all of the pet projects of their constituents.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner talks about the bill in this short clip, well worth your time.

I'm so angry, I could literally spit at these people. These people should all be ashamed of themselves! This was not the way our government was intended to work.

Bayou Renaissance Man talks about it over here.

And as usual, Breda is far more eloquent than I am...

Insufficient Evidence Could Force U.S. Navy to Return Suspected Pirates to Somalia

As seen at Fox News.

Pardon me while my head explodes.

I'm sorry, but if these guys were caught by the US Navy and were in the act of committing, or attempting to commit piracy, this should be a simple matter.

Try them aboard ship, and when they are found guilty, shoot each of them and throw em overboard.

How often does the US end up doing this?  Taking a passive stance instead of an aggressive one.  If these pirates are returned to Somalia, I'd b e willing to be a weeks pay (that's actually a good chunk of change) that the prisoners will be actively pirating again within a week.

Let's not get me started on illegal aliens...

--Jim

Even the Wall Street Journal...

is saying that the new "stimulus" bill has pork in it. Never mind the fact that you can't find the Federal Government's power to do this anywhere in the Constitution

Even some of the MSM is reporting it. Maybe they're turning on the master?

Don't get me wrong, I like bacon as much as the next guy... but not from the .gov!

--Jim

More Stupidity from the Courts...

Let me start by saying that I don't smoke, never have, and have no real desire to start.  Maybe when I'm a grandfather, I'll take up smoking pipe (I actually like that smell....).  That being said:

I'm sorry, but if you choose to smoke, you're stupid.  In this day and age, the disadvantages of smoking far outweigh the advantages of doing so, in the same way that the disadvantages of heroine or crack far outweigh the advantages.  I personally believe that as an adult, you should have the right to make all of those choices for yourself.

I'm honestly completely in favor of legalizing marijuana, heroine, cocaine, LSD, all of it.  Provided that it is something you are doing to yourself, or it is happening between 2 consenting adults, the government should keep its nose out of it.  The government (at any level) should not be passing legislation telling citizens how to treat their own bodies.  The government should not be forcing a ban on smoking in all restaurants, and all bars. 

That all being said, if the effects of your choices come back to haunt you some day, well, they're also your responsibility.  Suing the tobacco industry because your husband died is just plain wrong, and the lady should have been laughed out of court.  It is extremely tragic that Stuart Hess died at the age of 55, from lung cancer, it truly is.  But the man had smoked for 40 years, even after knowing the risks, and quitting several times before making the decision to go back to it.  The tobacco industry did not stick the cigarettes in the mans mouth and light them up for him.

Hopefully the decision is overturned on appeal, but somehow I'm not sure that it will be.

And to Elaine Hess for trying to hold the tobacco industries responsible because your husband made piss poor choices: EPIC FAIL!

And to the jury that found in favor of Mrs. Hess, kindly do the world a favor, and take a long walk off a short pier.

--Jim