Day: September 24, 2009

In Defense of Self Defense

September 24, 2009

Self defense …

The primary uses of firearms are recreation and self-defense. Relatively few people have any issues with firearms used for the recreational purposes of target shooting and hunting.

More people seem to have issues with firearms used for self-defense.

Every living thing on this planet is born with a natural right to defend itself. Every bug, every cat or dog, and every human being. Some people doubt this, at first. To those I ask, “Do you own your body? Or do the police?” (…pause for reflection…) “If you own your body, are you not responsible for its well-being and protection?”

More bad news from the Government

September 24, 2009

This is for all those people who say that the Government should stick to the very basic things outlined in the Constitution:

It was announced today that scientists have achieved a medical breakthrough, a vaccine that provides an almost one in three protection from the HIV virus.

https://news.aol.com/health/article/new-aids-vaccine/684837

“Even though the benefit is modest, ‘it’s the first evidence that we could have a safe and effective preventive vaccine,’ Col. Jerome Kim said in a telephone interview. He helped lead the study for the U.S. Army, which sponsored it with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.”

Sarah Palin’s speech in Hong Kong

September 24, 2009

I am appalled at Sarah Palin, who professes to being a practicing Christian. Christians are called to Build Up the community not Tear Down as she has done with her speech about America and what she considers to be problems. You never hear any other dignitary visiting another country tear down their own country. But then again, Sarah Palin is not a dignitary, she is just a Soccor Mom whose values as a parent are to be questioned.

Her love of money had a lot to do with her quitting her job as Governor of Alaska and deserting her Constituates. She continually blames everyone else for her lack of knowledge, it’s time she take responsibility for her actions.

She should join Todd and run his fishing company. She is a blemish on the Political Scene.

Census worker hanged in Kentucky

September 24, 2009

When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: “Be careful.”

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word “fed” scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

“Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as ‘the government.’ I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there,” said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

Obama angers many with lobbyist pick

September 24, 2009

President Barack Obama’s nomination of a trucking industry lobbyist to head the agency that regulates the industry drew fire Wednesday from senators and safety advocates.

Anne Ferro, the president and CEO of the Maryland Motor Truck Association for the past six years, was named to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a troubled agency that has been widely criticized for allowing safety recommendations to languish for years without action.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., told Ferro at a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, that the motor carrier administration is “an agency in dire need of reform.”

“Given your ties, Ms. Ferro, to the trucking industry … I am concerned about your ability to take the bold action we need to keep Americans safe,” Lautenberg said.

Some walk out on Palin during speech

September 24, 2009

Former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said the US government was wasting taxpayers’ money and could aggravate poverty, said delegates at her first speech outside North America on Wednesday.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska, gave hundreds of financial big-hitters at the CLSA Investors’ Forum in Hong Kong a wide-ranging speech that covered Alaska, international terrorism, US economic policy and trade with China.

Her performance, which was closed to the media, divided opinion.

Some of those who attended praised her forthright views on government social and economic intervention and others walked out early in disgust.

“She was brilliant,” said a European delegate, on condition of anonymity.

An armed America: Time for a change

September 24, 2009

The gun brandishing and outbursts at town hall meetings this summer were like a brain scan of the nation.

It was surprising, for instance, how off-point some parts of the national brain were. Criticism leveled at individuals with weapons, even if porting them was legal, were out of place and inappropriate, but seemed to not phase them at all.

Arms are instruments of threat and coercion; town hall meetings are about information and reason. Guns are not friendly persuasion.

None of the vehement negative protests made sense until I realized how this was foreshadowed about three years ago at a seminar I attended. A small group of journalists, filmmakers, academics and others were invited to share ideas about what was driving public opinion when it came to immigration. In 2006, numbers in the 70 percent range favored immigration reform but legislation got stuck in Congress as if a consensus didn’t exist.

House votes to block Medicare rate hike

September 24, 2009

With no Social Security cost-of-living increase expected in January, House Democrats want to cancel all of next year’s premium increases for Medicare Part B recipients.

Most seniors won’t face a Medicare premium increase anyway, but Democrats say those few who would should be shielded. A vote on a bill to stop the Part B increases was scheduled for Thursday.

With no Social Security cost-of-living allowance, the vast majority of Medicare recipients already are exempt from premium increases for Part B, which provides coverage for doctor’s visits. However, a small group of seniors would face increases. The standard premium is projected to go from $96.40 a month this year to $104.20 a month in 2010. Some could face premiums high as $120 a month, according to House Democrats.

Afghan war: Vietnamization is not an option

September 24, 2009

As America’s latest wartime president reviews the grim but realistic assessment of his top war zone general— and reshapes the military strategy that will become his legacy — this much is certain:

The Vietnamization of the war in Afghanistan cannot, and will not, be an option.

And this much is far from certain: Whether the Iraqization of Afghanistan (which is a semi-accurate shorthand for what the general is proposing) really can be an option that can succeed in this latest war that is close to Iraq only in proximity — but in no other way.

This is your computer-addicted brain

September 24, 2009

A recent article on salon.com attempted to sweep away legitimate criticisms of the downside of high-tech on human intelligence:

“By now the arguments are familiar: Facebook is ruining our social relationships; Google is making us dumber; texting is destroying the English language as we know it. We’re facing a crisis, one that could very well corrode the way humans have communicated since we first evolved from apes. What we need, so say these proud Luddites, is to turn our backs on technology and embrace not the keyboard, but the pencil.”