Women & Guns

I’ve never been someone who screams for attention.  I write this blog for me – not for anyone else.  I don’t take advertising dollars.  I don’t plop my links down at more popular blogs just to get some traffic.  If my friends decide to link to my blog, I’m grateful, but I don’t live for traffic.  I don’t care if people read or not.  That’s why I sometimes use language that is… well… somewhat salty.  If people like what I write, I am grateful.  If they don’t, so what?

But this is one time I will toot my own horn.  Recently, a writer named Genie Jennings interviewed me for an article in Women & Guns magazine.  She used a combination of interview questions and passages from the very first article that I ever had published – The Moment – to write a very nice story about me.  It’s very sweet, and she did a great job. 

I’m sort of humbled, because she makes me sound a lot better than I am.  Yes, I served in the Army, both on active duty and in the National Guard.  Yes, I’m a mom.  Yes, I’m a blogger and a writer. It doesn’t sound nearly as impressive as when Genie writes about me, but I thank her for her kindness.

In the spirit of “All Ted All the Time”

Seems I can’t turn on the news or view a web page without seeing wall-to-wall coverage of Ted Kennedy’s funeral.  So in the spirit of 24/7 Ted coverage, I submit the following sent to me by Superman, who is suffering from Nicki withdrawal, because I’m in class for two months for work, and have no Internet access during the day with which to keep him occupied.

Chappaquiddick, of course, never went away. But sometimes Kennedycould seem oblivious even to that ultimate blemish on his career. In1974, when President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for his Watergatecrimes, Kennedy issued this thundering statement:

“Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or isthere one system for the average citizen and another for the high andmighty?”

File this under “The ultimate hypocrisy.”

More Second Amendment ass kicking?

I certainly hope so!

The Supreme Court will consider two new cases on the scope of
individuals’ Second Amendment right to have guns at its first
Conference for the new Term, on Sept. 29, according to the Court’s
electronic docket.  Both petitions challenge a Seventh Circuit Court
ruling that the Amendment does not restrict gun control laws adopted by
state, county or city government, but applies only to federal laws. 
The cases are National Rifle Association v. Chicago (08-1497) and McDonald v. Chicago (08-1521).

The newest SCOTUS Justice, the “Wise” Latina has previously ruled that the Second Amendment does not apply to states.  So does that mean that the rest of the Bill of Rights doesn’t either?  Does that mean that prayer may be instituted in public schools as long as they don’t receive federal money?  Does that mean that states can impose a state religion on residents?  Can states limit free speech, hamper a free press?  Can state governments control what is printed in newspapers?  The Supreme Court has repeatedly interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates most portions of the Bill of Rights.

The question of the Second Amendment is still open.  Most of the Bill of Rights has been incorporated to apply to the states. 

My question is: why shouldn’t it apply to the states?  Why not a uniform application?  Why should some enumerated rights be protected, while others not?

On Ted Kennedy

I’m torn on this.  On one hand, I don’t like speaking ill of the dead.  Not sure why.  I think it’s kind of crass.  But on the other hand, when I know the deceased will be lionized as an American hero, while his significant faults are surreptitiously swept under the carpet, I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut.

On one hand, I honestly think Ted Kennedy was a despicable human being.  There’s nothing about that man that even remotely struck me as redeemable.  The fact that he basically murdered a young woman… drove her into a pond, let her drown and didn’t even bother calling the authorities until after she was long dead… it’s unforgivable.  What was even more unforgivable to me was the fact that he didn’t bother calling anyone… didn’t bother helping her… didn’t bother doing anything, and only served a suspended sentence of two months in jail.  That’s how much Mary Jo Kopechne’s life was worth – a suspended sentence of two months.

Ted Kennedy spent a lifetime in Washington eroding our freedoms and expanding our government, while working to weaken our defenses and maligning nominees for the Supreme Court that just happened to be conservatives.

Ted Kennedy was a murderer.  Plain and simple.

He was a murderer who didn’t pay for his crime, but rather spent a lifetime sucking at the taxpayer teat, while systematically working to rape the American public of more of their earnings.  He enjoyed power and prestige, while his victim died a horrible death, without even an attempt at a rescue.

So, will I shed a tear over his death?  No.

Do I think the heaping praise is absolutely unwarranted?  Yeah.

But I do send condolences to his family?  Yes. My thoughts are with them.  It’s tough to lose a loved one, and I hope they heal soon.

What’s another banning?

Banning guns, knives, swords and (healthy) teeth was apparently not enough for the British nanny state.  Now they’re out to ban the traditional pint glass you get in a pub, because they can apparently be used as weapons.

Terrific. 

I think the next step to protect British subjects from violence is to encase them in styrofoam and then wrap them in bubble wrap. 

Plans to replace the traditional pint glass with
one made of shatter-proof plastic will not be accepted by drinkers, the
pub industry has warned.

The Home Office has commissioned a new design, in an attempt to stop glasses being used as weapons.

Official figures show 5,500 people are attacked with glasses and bottles every year in England and Wales.

If glasses are outlawed, only outlaws will have…

The Home Office Minister, Alan Campbell, said the redesign could make a
significant difference to the number of revellers who are injured.

Much like the British gun ban made a significant difference to the number of Britons victimized by armed thugs?