Jeremiah Wright's Attempted Slander of US Marines

AS I am driving down the road doing todays 390 miles of honest work the ol talk radio is abuzz with Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wrights latest comments and Barack Obama's repudiation of same. Oh well, just more comedy from the Democrats right? I mean, after all, these are the folks who after two years in power are still campaigning against George Bush.

But, something was amiss. Wright apparently compared my beloved US Marines to the Roman Legions.

From Fox News:

“We cannot see how what we are doing is the same thing that Al Qaeda is doing under a different color flag, calling on the name of a different God to sanction and approve our murder,” Wright said in the April 13, 2003, sermon. “Remember it was soldiers of the 3rd Marine Regiment of Rome who had fun with Jesus who was mistreated as a prisoner of war, an enemy of the occupying army stationed in Jerusalem to insure the mopping up action of Operation Israeli Freedom.”

Instead of outrage at the attempted slur, I could not help but laugh. In fact his comments only demonstrate

that he is ignorant of historical reality and cannot properly compare or contrast. Let's see.

Romes Legions were the preeminent conventional force of their era. So are todays US Marines.

Romes Legions were held to higher standards than the citizenry they served. So too, todays US Marines.

Romes Legions executed the assigned missions with a single minded professionalism and did not allow personal politics to get in the way. And today, our Marines are doing the same. Apparently both eras had leaders that made the best of a bad situation.

By contrast, Romes Legions were often cults of personality dedicated to the Commander. Not in my Corps.

Romes Legions as a whole personally supported the reigning Emperor. My Marines have sworn to uphold the Constitution.

Romes legions committed what we consider atrocities by todays standards. Deplorably, there are Marines who've been accused of the same. Now, google the words "courts martial" and then reread the paragraph above about who is held to a higher standard.

As usual, the Reverend Dr. Wrong got it Wright.

Sharpton Threatens NYC

This week, the trial(s) of the NYC detectives concluded. They were acquitted of killing a groom on his wedding day with over fifty gunshots. The Reverend Al Sharpton has vowed to shut down New York City.

The tragedy of the shooting has opened more wounds in a city already believed to be racist, and good-ol-boy oriented. That doesn't excuse Sharptons actions. If it were not for racism, he (Sharpton) would not be in the public eye. When the mighty Al can come out in defense of all miscarriages of justice, instead of only the racially charged ones, then I might accord him a bit more credibility.

The Virginia Tech Shooting - One Year Later

Before I even start, I want to say that as a person my heart goes out to the survivors of the VT Shooting. My heart also goes out to the victims families. What happened is a tragedy in every sense of the word. But what is going on after a year could make a tragedy bloom into a political travesty.

One year later some of the survivors are turning into political activists. I don't have a problem with that. The nature of the activism is anti-gun. I do have a slight problem with that.

The problem is that so far as I know, there is no campus in America where one can lawfully carry a weapon. Those places are not so much "gun free zones" as they are "free victim zones". The victims are traumatized. I get that. I hold no malice towards thier views. But I am afraid of the potential results.

What should have happened was that the campus cops should have immediately locked down the campus. Instead read what USA today reported today:

The report also concluded that the Virginia Tech Police Department erred when it did not ask the university administration to issue a campuswide alert after two students were killed in a dorm room. University officials waited almost two hours to notify the campus.

Another thing that could have happened is that an armed and trained student population could have defended themselves. Instead we have dead students and traumatized survivors.

The Second Amendment guarantees our right to be armed. As a State University which receives federal funding that guarantee was taken away. You would think that the opposite would be true. I support that a private business can ban guns. It is a private entity and you don't have to patronise it if you don't like the policy. But a government agency is supposed to uphold the constitution. They didn't, and people died. Rather than suing the State, I would have sued the State and the Fed.

The young activists are going to push for tighter mental health laws. I concur. If a Doctor says that someone is so mentally unstable that they cannot be trusted with a weapon in accordance with thier constitutional rights, then they should not be allowed in public. It sounds harsh. It is harsh. The reality is that if Cho couldn't be trusted with a gun, then he was already a danger to society and should have been in a hospital.

My fear is that the radical anti-gun lobby is going to milk this. The victims are attempting to put their lives in order. If working towards reasonable procedures to ensure that the mentally ill or criminals don't have access to weapons helps them cope, then go for it.

I'm afraid that ever more restrictive gun laws only penalize the law abiding. those who desire a gun will get a gun. Just like drug laws, they are inneffective. The rationale is simple. Tighter gun control will lead to less crime. But, remember that the logic being used can be used elsewhere. Tighter automobile controls will lead to less accidents.

I'm all for stopping mass shootings. But it cannot be done at the expense of law abiding citizens.

Moral High Ground in Texas?

For y'all that don't live in Texas, we love our liberty. In fact, one of the reasons that Texas is so great is our independence and individuality. Of course, since we are so modest... we'd never let on that things could be less than perfect in the Lone Star State.

Not today. The part of being Texan is telling it as it is. In good conscience I have to protest the travesty taking place near ElDorado. There is a polygamist compound there that identifies itself as Yearning for Zion Ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a breakaway sect, and the "official" Mormon Church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, does not recognise them.

A phone call, allegedly from a sixteen year old girl, laid a claim of sexual abuse. This prompted the authorities to descend on the compound in search of the victim and the perpetrator or evidence of a crime.

I have no problem with that in general. My issue is that as of right now over 400 kids have been removed and may be placed in foster care.

On Monday, investigators spent a fifth day searching the 1,691-acre West Texas compound and announced that a judge had now approved the removal of 401 children for possible foster placement, pending court hearings, because of suspected abuse or neglect.-- from the New York Times

Right there, in plain view of God and everyone we see the state arbitrarily cutting the parental rights away without obvious cause. Me, I think that this is on par with the Waco incident a few years back. Essentially, we have what amounts to a commune that isn't really bothering anyone being persecuted by government agents simply because the lifestyle doesn't square with the JQ Public version of "normal".

Oh, and they haven't found the girl who made the phone call yet.

I only have one wife. I don't agree with what I know of the Mormon faith. But, that doesn't allow me to trample on thier rights to live as they see fit so long as they harm no others. And, try as I might, I have yet to find anything to imply that the citizens living in the ranch are doing anything other than living thier lives and trying to worship as they see fit. Yep, it's that whole First Amendment thing in action.

Last time I looked, Texas was supposed to be the proudest state in the United States of America. It's too bad we are not living up to it today.

NRA Icon Heston Dies

Hollywood Legend and NRA Icon Charlton Heston died Saturday Night. I'm not going to rehash his life and times here. I am simply going to say that he was one of a very few of the Hollywood Elite that I truly admired. His stands politically were not always popular. But they were stands that needed to be taken. We must never ever forget that it's only a right until it is taken away from us. Rest in Peace Mr. Heston

We Will Get The Government We Deserve

I can feel it now. I am within seconds of blowing my stack and moving into a pure rant mode. Between Obamas racist church, Clintons landing under sniper fire, McCains RINO tendencies, and Pauls marginalisation by everyone, I am seriously getting steamed. I just cannot believe that the American public can be so incredibly stupid. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

I will make a deal with you. If you click the link to read, I will try to calm down and be rational. Fair enough?

Not counting the starting of Baseball season, todays biggest news draw was the interrogation of the top 5 CEO's of "Big Oil". From a Constitutional standpoint, I guess this is "regulating commerce". To me it is simply pandering to a populist need to blame someone for high gas prices. Isn't this supposed to be a capitalist country? Ha, fooled us all didn't they? I want to know when Congress is going to go after the big insurance companies? Or how about the huge markups on pantyhose? Please, Please, tell your friends that successful companies do not deserve to be pilloried. Instead they should be emulated. If that doesn't work, you might mention to the illiterati that any penalties imposed on big oil will simply pump up the price of gas.

Then, I also heard all the punditry telling us how Ralph Nader was going to steal votes from McCain, thus landing O'Hillary Bama in the White House. Guess what? I don't care. I am writing in Ron Paul. If my write in vote causes Senator McCain to lose, then he didn't deserve to win. Speaking of just deserts, we will, in the end get the .gov we deserve.

obama clinton mccain ron+paul election+2008 big+oil