“The power under the constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can and undoubtedly will, be recalled.”

~ George Washington (1787)

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Light posting again!

For a few days.  The cartoons will still come up.

Wednesday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!


Wednesday news & opinions

Politics

Media

Looking Ahead

State Government, Legislation

Second Amendment

Big Government, Corruption

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

January Lecture: The Second Amendment

This is a lecture, presented by Jeff Burkhart, a lawyer from Walla Walla, that focused on constitutional law, but with a brief survey of the law of using lethal force in self defense. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session.

This leads to The video is broken up to stay within YouTube's 15 minute limit. The audio is spotty in places.  Any bad editing is not the fault of the videographer.

The video will automatically start each video in sequence.  If you want to select individual videos to play, go to the YouTube playlist here.

Recorded on January 8, 2013.



Tuesday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!


Tuesday Opinions and News!

Big Government

Looking Ahead

Socialism, Communism, Liberal Mindset

Civil Discourse

Politics

Unions

Core Values

Media

Second Amendment

Agenda 21, EPA

State Government

Monday, January 28, 2013

Wake up America!

Another family business destroyed. It's past time to restore limited government.

Monday Cartoons

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News, thoughts, and opinions for a Monday

Socialism, Communism, Liberal Mindset

Looking Ahead

Big Government, EPA, Corruption


Politics

The Constitution

Education

Foreign Policy

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Second Amendment Legislation Roll Up

There are many problems facing our nation, and not just infringements or violations of the Constitution.  But this is an excellent example of just how Congress works, and and a possible method to help to focus your attention on a specific topic, while discussing (yet another) direct assault on the Constitution.

This listing was extracted from the POPVOX blog, and is a summary of legislation related to the Second Amendment, as of January 25th, 2013. There are 30 bills in this list; 25 are sponsored by Democrats, and 5 by Republicans.  Some Democrats have sponsored more than 1 bill; for example, Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) has sponsored 4: S. 22, 33, 34, and 35 (Perhaps coincidentally, Senator Lautenberg has at least one Democrat seriously challenging him for the 2014 primary election). All of them further impinge upon the Second Amendment to some degree; a few are deceptive in how they do so.

In an example of both, Congressman James Moran (D, VA-8) is sponsoring HR 21, The NRA Members' Gun Safety Act: To provide for greater safety in the use of firearms.  But, according to the Firearms Policy Coalition:
H.R. 21 would extend the Brady Law background check procedures to all sales and transfers of firearms. The bill would also require the reporting of thefts within 48 hours; require that all states that allow residents to carry concealed firearms institute a permitting process requiring that the applicant demonstrate good cause for requesting a LTC and that the applicant is “worthy of the public trust” to carry a concealed firearm in public; and allow the Attorney General to deny the transfer of a firearm or deny a firearm (or explosives) permit to persons known or suspected of terrorist acts.
The text of the bill is consistent with the Coalition's statement, and with Congressman Moran's past legislative activities.  The bill is anything but Second Amendment friendly.  So it's worth noting that you need to read the bill before it's passed in order to know what's in it.

While the Republicans have fewer bills in the pipeline, those are consistent in supporting the Second Amendment to some degree:

  • House Resolution 40, House Resolution expressing that active duty military personnel who are stationed or residing in the District of Columbia should be permitted to exercise fully their rights under the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
  • HR 410, The Restore the Constitution Act: To provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.
  • HR 35, Eliminating ‘gun free zones’ in schools. To restore safety to America's schools. 
  • HR 133, The Citizens Protection Act: To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act. 
  • S 82, The Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act: A bill to provide that any executive action infringing on the Second Amendment has no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.

All of the bills are listed below the fold.  Sponsors are noted for each bill in italics.  Links to each POPVOX page are not provided; please go to their blog for those.

Note that many bills never make it out of committee, so this is simply an indication of the general direction of each party thus far.  Finally, this list has not been checked against Thomas.gov:

A new means of communicating with Congress?

POPVOX.com seems to be that.  From their "About Page":
 POPVOX bridges the gap between the input the public wants to provide and the information Members of Congress want and need to receive.

Constituent communications are flooding and overwhelming Congressional offices. POPVOX verifies, aggregates, and simplifies communication with Congress on an open and trusted (and nonpartisan) common ground. Advocacy organizations, trade associations, unions and other groups send their members to POPVOX to take action on bills pending before Congress. Congressional staff and lawmakers log into POPVOX to measure the pulse of their district. POPVOX provides a curating interface for anyone — including Congressional staff, the public and the media — to access and understand the voice of the people.
Registration is required, and any opinions offered to Congress must include your contact information, which is consistent with Congressional policy and protocol on their own web sites. 

POPVOX is different in that it tracks legislation, and allows you to directly contact your Congressional delegation for a given bill.  In addition, there's an informal voting mechanism for "support" or "oppose", and links to the various organizations and lobbies that support or oppose a bill. 

But POPVOX is a business -- make no mistake about that.  They make their revenue through advertising and other services.  But they do pledge to protect your privacy.

Please check it out, and see how it works for you.  If nothing else, you can get a summary of legislation in one location, without having to scroll through Thomas.gov

Sunday Cartoons

Click to enjoy!

News and Opinions For A Sunday

Elections

The Constitution

Second Amendment

Looking Ahead

Politics

Big Government, EPA, Corruption

Socialism, Liberal Mindset, Communism

State Government, Taxes

Media

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Saturday Cartoons

Click to enjoy!

Saturday news & opinions

Education

State Government, Agenda 21, Big Government

Big Government, EPA

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

Socialism, Liberal Mindset

Foreign Policy, Terrorism

Media

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Cartoons

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Friday news and opinions

Civil Discourse

Big Government, EPA

Liberal Mindset, Socialism

Politics

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

Budget Battle

State Government, Big Government

ObamaCareTax, Big Government

Foreign Policy

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thursday Cartoons

Click to enjoy!

Thursday Thoughts & News

Patriotism

Looking Ahead

ObamaCareTax

Education

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

Politics

Budget Battle

Big Government, Foreign Policy, Corruption

Socialism, Communism, Liberal Mindset

United Nations, Bill of Rights

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Wednesday Cartoons

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Wednesday news and opinions

Liberal Mindset, Socialism

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

ObamaCareTax

United Nations, Agenda 21

Budget Battle

Politics

State Government, Taxes, Big Government

Media

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesday Cartoons

Enjoy!

Tuesday opinions and news

Civil Discourse

Socialism, Corruption

Politics

 Second Amendment

Local Government, Taxes

State Government, Big Government

Media

ObamaCareTax

Big Government

Financial, It's the Economy

Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday Cartoons

Enjoy!  Click to enlarge.

Monday News & Opinions

Politics

Liberal Mindset, Socialism

Media

The Constitution, Bill of Rights


ObamaCareTax

Taxes

Sunday, January 20, 2013

New Front On Terror

Or so elements of the Federal government would have you believe:

The world is beset by terrorists — witness the American hostages taken in Algeria this week — but portions of our federal government continue to obsess about alleged home-grown threats from the “far right.”

The Combating Terrorism Center, which is based at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, has issued a new report on its website entitled:  “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.”
 The author, Arie Perliger, is an instructor at West Point, teaching the same cadets who will, one day, become part of the next generation of leaders in the Army.  If you want more background on this person, try this excellent article.

Sunday Cartoons

Click to enlarge.  Enjoy!


Sunday opinions & news

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Saturday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  And enjoy.


Saturday opinion & news

State Government

Politics

Liberal Mindset, Socialism, Communism

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

Budget Battle

Financial

Education

Big Government

Media

Looking Ahead

Friday, January 18, 2013

Second Amendment Organizations You Can Support

The National Rifle Association is the biggest organization supporting the Second Amendment, and they are quite effective. But if you want other options, here are some for you:
And, of course, it helps if you write your legislators, state and Federal, and let them know where you stand on the subject of gun control.  It's not all doom and gloom on that front.

Or any other subject for that matter.  Just remember the question Benjamin Franklin gave this answer for:

Friday Cartoons

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Friday opinions, thoughts, and news

State Government

Big Government, Corruption

Media

Financial

Agenda 21

The Constitution, Bill Of Rights

Politics

Liberal Mindset, Socialism

Taxes

ObamaCareTax

Looking Ahead

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thursday Cartoons

Click to enlarge and enjoy!  Don't forget below the fold.


Thursday news & opinions

Media

Agenda 21

The Constitution, Bill Of Rights

Big Government

Budget Battle

Financial

Politics

ObamaCareTax

Taxes

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Wednesday Cartoons

More below!  Click to enlarge.


News and opinions for a Wednesday morning

Budget Battle

State Government, Budget Battle, Taxes

The Constitution, Second Amendment

Financial

Socialism, Communism, Liberal Mindset

Politics, Corruption

Core Values

Media

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

For the 2013 Legislative Session....

....send the right message!

Making a difference....

....one e-mail at a time.

As small as it may seem, writing your elected officials can have major impact, if done properly.  It doesn't matter if you are writing FOR or AGAINST some piece of legislation; your voice is heard, even if they choose to vote otherwise.  Members of Congress do weigh the opinions of their constituents, in an informal vote.

And here's a fairly simple way of doing it; every elected official has a "contact me" page, of which many are linked on our side bar.  But one site (Congress.org) puts it all together as one message, if you want it really simplified. Check this out:

Contact Your Federal Officials

Contact Your State Officials

You'll end up getting their e-mails (from which you can unsubscribe), but it's a fairly simple way to contact your Congressional delegation.  If you need to contact just one, go to their "dot gov" page for that.

Tuesday Cartoons

Click and enjoy!  Don't forget what's below the fold.


Tuesday opinions and news

State Government, Taxes

Terrorism, Media

Media, Politics, Corruption

ObamaCareTax

Second Amendment

Socialism, Communism
 
Big Government, EPA

Budget Battle

Unions

Monday, January 14, 2013

Monday Cartoons

More below the fold!  Click to see 'em better.


Monday thoughts, opinions, and news

Budget Battle, Taxes

Budget Battle, Taxes, State Government


United Nations

Media, Corruption

Education

ObamaCareTax

Big Government

Politics

Looking Ahead

Socialism, Liberal Mindset

Education, Local Government

Education


Second Amendment

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Saturday Cartoons

Click to enlarge and enjoy!


Saturday News & Opinions

Agenda 21

Education

Unions

Politics, Looking Ahead, Budget Battle

It's The Economy

Liberal Mindset, Corruption, Socialism

Media

State Government

Second Amendment