Second Amendment – Not the Law of the Land

When a citizen becomes a member of the Armed Forces, he/she is taught how to use firearms. When in a combat situation or part of a security force, the firearms are used for protection, as well as aggressive maneuvers. Basically, the government provides a license to kill. I am one of those citizens that is proficient with several types of weaponry, most of which is not necessary to use or own (except non-firing ones for a collector) – yet, I am told that I will go to jail if I carry and especially use a firearm in self defense.

Then when the military member resumes their civilian life, their state government and/or local government tells them they cannot either carry a firearm (even with a registered permit) or allowed to protect themselves, their property, or others, when the situation calls for it. Ask any criminal in prison if he is apt to mess with someone who may be packing.

We are told that this is why there is law enforcement officers. But if you really think about it, they arrive after the victims have been injured or killed – after-the-fact. This is no negativity to the law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to serve and protect, but they cannot be everywhere at all times. Then when they do capture criminals, the officers and the victims (or their surviving relatives) are frustrated at the liberal judicial system we have in America.

In most cases, if an intruder enters your home, for example, (and you cannot always know if they are armed or not), and you shoot them with your registered weapon – injured or killed – you become the criminal. If the intruder(s) were wounded, they could even sue you – and win!

I understand that when a firearm is used in self defense, and even when a police officer must fire his weapon – a hearing must convene to determine and be sure that it was self defense, defense of property, et cetera – and not foul play. But really, wouldn’t one think that once a person criminally trespasses, especially within another’s home, they would lose their rights, except for a fair trial?

What about the woman who could have prevented from being raped or attacked in some way, if she was allowed to defend herself with a snubnose-38?

The state governments ratified the Second Amendment, which means they agreed to it. And if the states who joined the Union later didn’t agree with the US Constitution and its amendments, why did they join the Union? (They had to agree or wouldn’t have become states).

The rule is: states may add to the articles and amendments according to the situations within their state government jurisdictions, but not disobey them or change the articles or amendments without US Congress approval. So every state that doesn’t allow citizens to “keep and bear arms” – are enacting an unconstitutional law or disobeying the US Constitution. If states choose to make citizens who want to carry a concealed weapon to register for a permit, this is not unconstitutional and law-abiding citizens don’t care. If the state government decides that before permits are issued, the citizen must pass a firearm safety and awareness class, no problem – it makes sense because not all citizens have been combat trained.

And speaking of sense, when are we going to start electing people that pass sensible laws and abide by the Constitution?

Despite the fact that 38 states now have state laws that abide by the Second Amendment, Wisconsin is one of the minority who just don’t get it. How can Governor Jim Doyle and his boys in the assembly tell us we cannot exercise the Second Amendment? Where is the Supreme Court on this? And why in the blazes did they re-elect this man?Why aren’t people paying attention to crime statistics between places that don’t allow citizens to defend themselves and others that don’t?

Think about it.

PS: I have written about this to my representatives and senators to no avail. Maybe I (we) should write to the Supreme Court justices directly. I wrote to President Bush, but received no answer. I highly doubt that President Obama will agree, considering his views on the Second Amendment.

Nonsensical Law by Intrusive Government

I heard the other night on the news about yet another municipality that is to start a new public no smoking ban within their city limits.

There just happens to be a psychiatric facility within the city limits that allows their patients to smoke. They are asking to be exempt from the ban.

So, I can’t help but think if the general public will have to comply, why not them?

By taking away their cigarettes indoors do they think this will cause more issues for them then they already have?

If the general public must comply to the new rules – why not them??

What’s with that?

Rights and Liberties: When "Rights" Interfere With Someone Else’s Rights

The phone just rang. My wife answers and it is a solicitor. She asks for the person’s home phone number so she can call her back. Of course, the person doesn’t want to give out their home phone and wonders why. My wife says so she can interrupt that person’s personal time to give her a message.

Don’t you think that phone calls soliciting anything, various periods of the day or night are annoying?

We put ourselves on a no-call list, and still get phone calls – mostly from charity. I am glad the election is over. I was receiving phone calls constantly from both political parties.

You tell the people, when there is a real person to talk to and not a recording that you are on a no-call list. Since most are charities that are calling, I ask them why they don’t honor the no-call list and they say that charities are exempt. Really?

I have written to various places concerning this, including my representative. Certain legislation has been passed and the business entities that utilize this annoying form of advertising – business and charity – claim they have the right to do so.

Well, let me give them a clue on how the Constitution works. You have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness as long as it doesn’t affect the rights of others. Very simple, really. But the great minds that are supposed to be in charge of the highest court in the land cannot grasp that concept.

It is this way with many things once taken granted to be under the umbrella of rights and liberties established log ago within a document called the Constitution of the United States of America. Here is an example of how we have deterred from the original concept of freedom.

Property rights. If a local contractor wants your property, it usually isn’t difficult to go to the local government and under certain procedures your property can soon no longer belong to you, or part of it. This was one of the main discussions when putting together the Amendments to the Constitution, the first ten being called the Bill of Rights. Under the rule of King George, soldiers could be stationed on your property or even in your home, with or without your permission. Property rights were important to the colonist.

And other “rights” are in the argument: gay rights, marriage rights, and what the government teaches your children at school. Public schools are no longer just institutions of learning in order to develop our children to be literate and to meet career goals through the progression of education. They are now brainwashing centers that teach our children that the global warming theory/hoax is real science. They do not teach abstinence or just what sex education was originally intended for – they hand out condoms and basically tell students that if they are going to have sex they might as well be protected. Government interferes with parenting, and, in fact, its methods and ideology is intended to govern parents on how they raise their children. And when government interferes with our personal lives, the results can be seen in the increase in divorce and other problems – as usual, government cannot take the place of one-on-one private public affairs. It is because government is not based upon individualism, although it was supposed to be originally, but focuses on the collective. Collectivism has its place when dealing with a nation’s citizens en masse, but when it comes to social programs and the judiciary, it must be narrowed down to the individual circumstances.

Parent-teachers working together are far better than government mandates from some distant senate floor. Instead the teachers’ unions and the government is in control.

Like Witchy Woman states:

What’s with that?

The "Birk Plan" – Plan "B" of the Bailout Request by Dysfunctional GW Bush

Here’s something to ponder from Joan B., Illinois, Friend of LPJ [sent to editor of Lighthouse Patriot Journal] and retired from the noble profession of teaching. The email was sent under the name of T. J. Birkenmeier – A creative guy & citizen of the Republic [edited] …

Plan “B” for Economic Recovery – The Birk Economic Recovery Plan …
I’m against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG. Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a ‘We Deserve It Dividend’.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are $200,000,000 bonafide US citizens 18 years of age and over. Our population is about 301,000,000 and counting – every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18 and over into $85 billion that equals $425,000.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18 and over as a We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%[i]. Every individual 18 and over has to pay $127,500 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18 and over has $297,500 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.
What would you do with $297,500 to $595,000 in your family?
- Pay off your mortgage, the housing crisis would be solved.
- Repay college loans – what a boost to new graduates.
- Put away money for college – it’ll be there.
- Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
- Buy a new car – create or retain jobs.
- Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – the health care situation is solved.
- Enable deadbeat Dad’s to come clean – or else.
Remember this is for every adult US citizen 18 and over, including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back, and, of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to redistribute wealth – let’s really do it – instead of trickling out a puny $1,000 economic incentive. …
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult US citizen 18 and over.
As for AIG – liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. … We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure, it’s a crazy idea that can “never work”.[ii]
But can you imagine the Coast-to-Coast block party?
How do you spell economic boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 billion. We deserve it more than the geniuses at AIG or in Washington, DC.
And remember, the Birk Plan only really costs $59.5 billion[iii] because $25.5 billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh – I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
“Birk”, T.J. Birkenmeier

Maybe we should all write to our senators and representatives sponsoring this Birk Plan in a more feasible plan . Thus far it is the most sensible I have read about since the bailout nonsense first hit the media wire, despite its mathematical errors.

Thanks, Joan – as usual you submit some pretty interesting (and often amusing) contributing pieces here at LPJ.

---

[i] Actually this would be at least 38% on the federal tax, plus any state tax. And it should also be noted that the sender’s math is wrong – it comes to $425 per person. [See also: Snopes] The proposal would be better to give an amount to each household, rather than each adult and then the amount would be more, but still not as much as the Birk Plan erroneously portrays. But I like the way he thinks about redistribution.

[ii] No crazier than what our elected officials come up with.

[iii] Versus the total bailout plan of $700 billion as reported by the media.

Computer Viruses

Just this past week we experienced several hours with power outage 2 days in a row. The first day was during the early morning hours. Later that same day when I went to work on my computer it wouldn’t come on. Oh No, GREAT!! Was all I could think, forgetting that my system was plugged into a surge protector power strip. DUH!!! Power surge, power out, duh! When it finally clicked in this old brain, I restarted the power strip. Wa-la! Computer on! Yeah! The following night hard at work on my computer and poof! No power! Gee, not again! Great! I didn’t even get the chance to save what I was working on.

As I stumbled my way out of our computer room in search for candles, I thought … Okay, not to worry I was working in Word. It has a recovery system so my stuff is safe, no loss.

Good, these worries now aside, on to the next challenge. Three hours later the power returned. It’s time to get back to work. I hit the button to start up my computer and…..NOTHING! This is not good. Okay I know my computer is old but come on….5 is not old, right? Well, I guess it is when it comes to computers. I know Word saved my stuff, but how am I to get it if I can’t even get my computer to turn on? Sure, I could share computers with my editor but, he need to be on his computer a lot more then me. I guess we could juggle the time thing. So I tried again…oh please start was all I could think and after ten minutes…NOTHING!

The next morning I just didn’t have time to dink with it, it was off to work. On my way all I could think was….I’ll have no choice by to use my editor’s computer if for nothing else but to pay those bills that come in that I no longer get paper copies of in the mail.

After work I decided with a hope to start my computer again.

Yippy!!! It came on!!

Perhaps it was just tired and needed a night off I thought. I was so happy. These two days was nothing compared to the nightmare of last year.

My editor and I (mostly my editor, cuz he’s my go-to guy when it comes to all this computer stuff) spent the better part of two weeks trying to get my computer back up and running, because one day Norton decided to be asleep on the job and a virus got in my computer. Yuck! Those NASTY things like viruses, bugs, worms, Trojans etc.

My computer was sick, now I had to try and back up what I could to CDs and save all my stuff, because I didn’t think about doing back ups, sort of new to all this computer stuff.

The little knowledge I have dates way way back to DOS base systems and menu makers, not all this window stuff. I know we did our tape and floppy back ups then, but really didn’t give it much thought when I got my new computer four years ago.

Anyway, I spent the better part of a week trying to save the files I could, the next week my editor did a full system recovery and helped me putting files back. Trust me, it was frustrating and time consuming and I’ve learned my lesson – do back ups!

I don’t understand the need for people with all extensive computer skills that they have just sit around and create these viruses just to reek havoc on those of us that just want to occasionally surf the net, pay our bills, email family and friend and perhaps run a couple of blogs like we do here. I’m not bothering anyone; well at least I don’t think I am!

Could they not put their skills and talent to better use?

What’s with that?

Unisex Bicycles

We need unisex bicycles – or guys just start riding “girl” bicycles …

Since my youth I often wondered why “boy” bicycles always had a bar across the frame just where it could cause severe pain and injury to the part of the body that makes boys different than girls.

Why don’t all bicycles have that nuisance bar removed from the frame extending from the seat?

Welcome to Volcano Venting

Welcome.

This blog was created for Kritter Korner’s, Kritter Girl, (known as Witchy Woman at Venting Volcano) because she mentioned about having a blog to “vent”; so, because I believe, like Humphrey Bogart, “What Baby wants, Baby gets” – I have set this up.

As her editor, I will continue to support her in her endeavors here, just as I do at Kritter Korner.

Witchy Woman has accepted the challenge and you now are viewing the results.

Have anything to vent about? Send your vent to witchy_woman@earthlink.net.

Editor, Keith Lehman
Editor/Author/Publisher – Lighthouse Patriot Journal
Editor/Guest Writer – Kritter Korner