*(My apologies to Louis L'Amour)
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
So reads the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States. Every school age child that has advanced to, oh say, the second grade has been taught (or should have been taught but may not have been considering our “politically correct” society) these words. I cannot remember the first time I read them, but I’m sure it must have been in a school setting – it seems like I have always been familiar with them and the other rights expounded in the Constitution. What I cannot remember is ever having any confusion or misunderstanding about what they mean. The point is that any school child with a second grade education and even halfway decent reading skills can read these plain words and understand what they mean.
This doesn’t seem to be the case with those progressive members of our society and government (you know who they are, i.e. the ones that know so much better how you should live your life than you do). Mayor Adian Fenty and other “progressive” politicos in Washington, DC, recently took a case questioning the plain meaning of the Second Amendment to the Supreme Court of the United States.
As I understand them, the basics of the case are these:
Dick Heller is a “special police officer” who works in security at the Federal Judicial Center. His duties require him to carry a handgun while on duty. Because D.C. is such a violent, crime-laden city, Mr. Heller desired to keep his weapon at home to provide a means of defense for himself and his family. He applied for a license to do so, but because D.C.’s laws completely ban the possession of handguns and require long guns (rifles and shotguns) to be “unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device”, his application was denied. It is a crime in D.C. to even carry a gun from room to room in your own house.
I surely am not the only one that can see the irony and absolute hypocrisy of this situation. Mr. Heller is required to carry a handgun while on duty protecting government employees at the Judicial Center, but he is prohibited from even having a handgun or any other functional weapon that he can use to protect himself and his family in his own home. Likewise, Mayor Fenty and other “important” city and government officials have armed bodyguards to protect them, but the regular citizen cannot even protect himself.
Well, when the city denied Mr. Heller a license, he sued. The case ultimately was heard by the Supreme Court, and a decision was issued on June 26. By a 5-4 decision, the court determined that “[t]he Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.” Well, … duh! I mean, I am extremely thankful the court got it right. But, did we really have to have nine very expensive, black robed, juris doctorate, Supreme Court justices tell us this? As I indicated previously, I know several moderately intelligent second graders that could have read the plain language of the Second Amendment and told us this. And at significantly less expense!
The problem is there are too many “progressive” would be conspirators that would love to take away our Second Amendment rights. As long as we have the Second Amendment, our rights and freedoms are secure. If we ever lose the right to “keep and bear arms”, we will no longer be the “We the People”, the sovereign of our nation that are governed by our own consent. Rather we will be subjects, ruled by the whim and decree of the political elite. I pray this will never happen!
I do thank God that the Supreme Court got it right. But, I am concerned about a couple of things. First, it was a 5-4 decision. Just one vote the other way, and the Second Amendment would be history. That we have four supposedly very intelligent, experienced Supreme Court justices, who are sworn the uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, that would blatantly attempt to rewrite the Second Amendment out of the Constitution, in what I think is a direct violation of their oath of office, is extremely frightening to me. This just illustrates how very important it is that we elect good men to office that will appoint judges to the Supreme Court who will interpret the Constitution only in accord with what it says and means, rather than reinterpret the Constitution in accord with what they want it to say and mean.
Second, the Supreme Court did not go far enough. The Court left open the possibility that other laws that restrict our Second Amendment rights could be found constitutional. This could include gun licensing laws, gun registration, existing laws against concealed carry, laws restricting purchase and transport of firearms, etc. Each of these laws in some manner “infringe” upon my right and your right to “keep and bear arms”. To the extent they do, they are clearly unconstitutional no matter what the courts determine.
I do, however, agree with the Court regarding felons and the mentally incompetent being restricted from firearm possession. How can I agree with this considering that, it seems, some individuals’ Second Amendment rights are being infringed? Simple. By committing serious crimes (i.e. felonies) against the United States or its citizens (remember, we are the sovereign of our nation), a criminal (i.e. a felon) forfeits his rights as a citizen. This forfeiture can be total, i.e. as in capital punishment where the felon is deprived even of the right to life, or near total as in being imprisoned and isolated from society for an extended period of time. Very few rights are available to prisoners in such a situation. After a felon has served his time and is released, some of his basic Constitutional rights are restored, but not his Second Amendment rights. I feel this is a just response to serious crimes.
I have not agreed with several things President Bush has done, but I thank God that he was able to appoint Justices John Robert and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. I hope and pray our next president (please, not B. Hussein Obama!) will appoint good men of like character and convictions as Justices Robert and Alito to the Supreme Court. Because of them, Mr. Heller will have his gun!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
They Got It Right!
I noted this past week a couple of news articles reporting that the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that all the children captured in the invasion of the Yearning for Zion Ranch must be returned to their families. I honor the Texas Supreme Court for getting it right. It is the first glimmer of common sense I have seen in this entire situation. I emphasize again, I do not condone coercing young pubescent girls into premature marriage. Warren Jeffs was convicted of being an accomplice to rape and is currently serving time for actions related to this. But, if there are things like this going on, they should be addressed legally on an individual, case-by-case basis. It would have been totally inappropriate to arrest the entire membership of the FLDS Church because of crimes alleged to have been committed by Warren Jeffs. But, that is essentially what happened at the YZR compound. The entire YZR compound was invaded, all the YZR families were disrupted, all the children (even nursing babies) were captured and removed from parental custody, and it was all precipitated because of a single hoax phone call. I still can’t believe this happened in the United States of America. I hope there will be justice for the people of the YZRanch, some kind of pay back to the Texas agencies involved in this atrocity. Bless the Texas Supreme Court.
Monday, June 2, 2008
The hypocrisy is astounding!
I have been extremely troubled these past few weeks as I have read the plethora of reports regarding the invasion of the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas. Not that I feel the religious practices by the fundamentalist sect at the YZR compound was right or the correct religion. If one can stomach the reports from the mainstream (why do I detest that word) media and glean any truth from them, two main aspects of this situation emerge that I want to comment on.
First, a founding principle of our nation and a basic principle of Judeo/Christian doctrine is the precept of freedom of religion, i.e. the citizens of our country are (or should be) allowed the freedom to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience, how, where, or what they may. This principle is rapidly being eroded by man-made strictures imposed by our government and society. And, whether the generic Christian world (meaning all those good “Christian” folks that are so willing to point fingers at others but can’t see their own problems (Rev. Wright, Father Pflager, Jesse Jackson, Mike Huckabee, et al?)) wants to acknowledge it or not, polygamy is a correct principle of Christian doctrine. Review for example: Genesis 16, Abraham; Genesis 29-30, Jacob; 1 Samuel 1, Hannah (see verse 2); and of course the story of King David (who had many wives and in this sinned only in the case of Bathsheba and Uriah); etc. These are some examples that I could remember that are recorded in the scriptures mainly because they establish the lineage of or relate to the prophets and kings. However, the scriptures contain other examples of polygamy, a tenet that has been widely practiced by adherents of the Judeo/Christian religions throughout history, and is still common in many societies today. The best example that this is a correct practice and in accord with the principles of Christianity is the teaching of Christ himself. The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25) is clearly based on the principle of plural marriage, and Christ would not be teaching incorrect Christian doctrine.
I must note that my wife vehemently rejects, apparently, the principle of plural marriage. She feels the prophets were lecherous old men that included polygamy in the scriptures as a cover for their own lustful actions. Me? I feel her feelings border on blasphemy – not because I favor polygamy, but because I’m afraid she verges on denying the prophets and, consequently, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To make it perfectly clear, I do not support polygamy in this day and age, not because it is an incorrect principle (its not), but because it is currently against the law of the land, and because it seems that God has not authorized its practice in this age. For these reasons, I feel the practice of polygamy by the sect at the YZR was and is wrong.
The other aspect of the religious practices of the YZR sect that disturbs me is the apparent coercion (forcing?) of young pubescent women into plural marriage relationships. Evidently this was being done not by threat or physical force, but by persuading these girls that their eternal salvation would be in jeopardy if they did not enter into these relationships. Marriage is a sacred relationship that should be entered into only by a man and a woman of their own free will and choice. Girls 12 to 17 years of age may be physically mature enough to mate and bear children. But they are not mentally, emotionally, or spiritually mature enough to make informed decisions about marriage based on at least embryonic love (not some older guy’s lust), or to make the serious life-long commitment that is required to enter into marriage and assume the weighty burden of bearing and rearing children. That girls of this age group were (are?) being coerced (forced?) into polygamous relationships with men old enough to be their fathers, or even with younger men nearer their own age (although my understanding is that many of the younger men were run out of the YZR to reduce the competition for the affections of these young girls), is totally abhorrent to me. And, I think, an abomination in the eyes of God. If this was (is?) the practice at the YZR, then I think it constitutes statutory rape and should be dealt with by the law of the land.
On the other hand, delving deeper into the activities of the YZR sect, one will find an industrious people, clean living, and hard working. They took care of their own. They were not a burden on your and my tax dollars. They produced their own food, made their own clothes, built their own homes. They even quarried the stone and produced their own cement to construct their temple and other community structures. The members of the sect are not idle people. Their family values appear to be exemplary. They are chaste; premarital sexual experience of any kind is unacceptable. Husbands and wives are married (though there may be more than one wife). Fathers and mothers seem to be united in supporting and providing for their children, and they are not absentee parents. All the children I’ve seen in the multitude of reports appear to be clean and well cared for. These are traits and characteristics of the sect that we have rarely seen in the MSM. Why? I think it is because these things do not fit the deviant picture the MSM is trying to paint of these people. One trait the MSM has had a hard time distorting (because it shows up in all the pictures) is the simple, modest, and chaste way the women dress, their bodies covered from ankle to wrist to neck in unadorned dresses, modest in style and color. Likewise, the men dress in sturdy, utile garments made to withstand the rigors of industrious activity. I admire these characteristics.
I must insert another personal note. My son points out that these modest dresses the women of the YZR wear may not be just an indication of a chaste lifestyle and convictions, but could very well be symbols of subjugation. A valid consideration.
So, we have a sect that is somewhat off the “beaten path” of “mainstream” Christian doctrine, living a lifestyle in accord with their understanding of Christian doctrine. Though I do not agree with the practice of polygamy or the coercion of teenage girls into marriage, I have a hard time finding where their practices deviate substantially from Biblical standards. But, their lifestyle is offensive to some of our good Christian folk. For this we send in an invasion force consisting of SWAT teams, armored vehicles, hundreds of law enforcement officers, and who knows what all military firepower, equipment, and troops. Families are disrupted, children are taken by force from peaceful homes, ripped from the bosoms of their mothers and fathers by armed military and law enforcement personnel. God! I thought the Holocaust was past!
I think this is the height of hypocrisy!
Go to Reverend Wright’s church, Father Pflager’s church, Jesse Jackson’s church, or just about any big inner city “mainstream” generic Christian church. What will you find? A large segment, if not a majority, of the 12 to 17 year old girls hanging out of halter tops, with short skirts, or other similarly provocative attire. You will find that casual “hook-ups” are normal for these girls. Not only will most of them not be virgins, but they will be promiscuous. Many of them will be doped up, strung out, unwed mothers, living off welfare and other handouts from your and my taxes. Most of them can’t or won’t work for a living. Abortions for these girls who find themselves “knocked up” will be funded by our taxes and will be considered just another form of birth control. You will find many children resulting from these “hook-ups” living in fatherless homes, abused and neglected. Many of these children will be totally abandoned and living on the streets. These children will be growing up without moral guidance, and will only continue the spiral into degradation of family, moral, and spiritual values. Crime, immoral behavior, drug abuse, poverty, and “sin” diseases will be rampant among these people.
Go into any big city school district, or almost any school district that obtains significant funding from federal tax dollars. What will you find? You will find your 12 to 17 year old daughters in classrooms learning not only how to have sex, but how to do it and “get away with it”. You will again find that casual “hook-ups” are the norm, many such occurring in empty classrooms, stairwells, locker rooms, etc. If a girl winds up pregnant, she can go to the school nurse and an abortion will be arranged without notifying the parents or obtaining their authorization. The smart ones will go to the nurse before she gets involved in the “action”, and she can get free condoms or other birth control paraphernalia, again without parental notification or approval. Education in our schools must be amoral, which is just another way of saying without morals. Our children are forbidden to pray or mention God, but they are openly taught the doctrines of atheism.
Without much effort, I could go on and on. But you get the picture. It makes me sick!
On one hand, we have a people that are industrious, clean living, chaste, healthy lifestyle, little or no crime, caring for their own, not being a burden on society. But, they live in a manner that transgresses an obscure law against polygamy that most people don’t even know exists, a law that has been invoked or enforced only rarely since it was enacted consequent to the Mormon persecutions of the mid-1800’s. And their religion coerces young teenage girls into polygamous marriage relationships, but at least they were married before they were bedded (unlike much of the rest of society). If these actions are illegal, then they should be dealt with individually, on a case-by-case basis, one situation at a time. There was no justification for an invasion, which, it appears, was based on a hoax phone call in the first place.
On the other hand, we have the inner cities, the schools, churches, and similar organizations that breed (pardon the term) immorality, crime, disease, gangs, broken families, dependence on society’s handouts, and every other depravity you can think of. Where are the SWAT teams, the troops, and the armed invasion to go in and clean out these cesspools? What is wrong with this picture?
The hypocrisy is astounding! Is it any wonder our nation is in decline?
First, a founding principle of our nation and a basic principle of Judeo/Christian doctrine is the precept of freedom of religion, i.e. the citizens of our country are (or should be) allowed the freedom to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience, how, where, or what they may. This principle is rapidly being eroded by man-made strictures imposed by our government and society. And, whether the generic Christian world (meaning all those good “Christian” folks that are so willing to point fingers at others but can’t see their own problems (Rev. Wright, Father Pflager, Jesse Jackson, Mike Huckabee, et al?)) wants to acknowledge it or not, polygamy is a correct principle of Christian doctrine. Review for example: Genesis 16, Abraham; Genesis 29-30, Jacob; 1 Samuel 1, Hannah (see verse 2); and of course the story of King David (who had many wives and in this sinned only in the case of Bathsheba and Uriah); etc. These are some examples that I could remember that are recorded in the scriptures mainly because they establish the lineage of or relate to the prophets and kings. However, the scriptures contain other examples of polygamy, a tenet that has been widely practiced by adherents of the Judeo/Christian religions throughout history, and is still common in many societies today. The best example that this is a correct practice and in accord with the principles of Christianity is the teaching of Christ himself. The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25) is clearly based on the principle of plural marriage, and Christ would not be teaching incorrect Christian doctrine.
I must note that my wife vehemently rejects, apparently, the principle of plural marriage. She feels the prophets were lecherous old men that included polygamy in the scriptures as a cover for their own lustful actions. Me? I feel her feelings border on blasphemy – not because I favor polygamy, but because I’m afraid she verges on denying the prophets and, consequently, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To make it perfectly clear, I do not support polygamy in this day and age, not because it is an incorrect principle (its not), but because it is currently against the law of the land, and because it seems that God has not authorized its practice in this age. For these reasons, I feel the practice of polygamy by the sect at the YZR was and is wrong.
The other aspect of the religious practices of the YZR sect that disturbs me is the apparent coercion (forcing?) of young pubescent women into plural marriage relationships. Evidently this was being done not by threat or physical force, but by persuading these girls that their eternal salvation would be in jeopardy if they did not enter into these relationships. Marriage is a sacred relationship that should be entered into only by a man and a woman of their own free will and choice. Girls 12 to 17 years of age may be physically mature enough to mate and bear children. But they are not mentally, emotionally, or spiritually mature enough to make informed decisions about marriage based on at least embryonic love (not some older guy’s lust), or to make the serious life-long commitment that is required to enter into marriage and assume the weighty burden of bearing and rearing children. That girls of this age group were (are?) being coerced (forced?) into polygamous relationships with men old enough to be their fathers, or even with younger men nearer their own age (although my understanding is that many of the younger men were run out of the YZR to reduce the competition for the affections of these young girls), is totally abhorrent to me. And, I think, an abomination in the eyes of God. If this was (is?) the practice at the YZR, then I think it constitutes statutory rape and should be dealt with by the law of the land.
On the other hand, delving deeper into the activities of the YZR sect, one will find an industrious people, clean living, and hard working. They took care of their own. They were not a burden on your and my tax dollars. They produced their own food, made their own clothes, built their own homes. They even quarried the stone and produced their own cement to construct their temple and other community structures. The members of the sect are not idle people. Their family values appear to be exemplary. They are chaste; premarital sexual experience of any kind is unacceptable. Husbands and wives are married (though there may be more than one wife). Fathers and mothers seem to be united in supporting and providing for their children, and they are not absentee parents. All the children I’ve seen in the multitude of reports appear to be clean and well cared for. These are traits and characteristics of the sect that we have rarely seen in the MSM. Why? I think it is because these things do not fit the deviant picture the MSM is trying to paint of these people. One trait the MSM has had a hard time distorting (because it shows up in all the pictures) is the simple, modest, and chaste way the women dress, their bodies covered from ankle to wrist to neck in unadorned dresses, modest in style and color. Likewise, the men dress in sturdy, utile garments made to withstand the rigors of industrious activity. I admire these characteristics.
I must insert another personal note. My son points out that these modest dresses the women of the YZR wear may not be just an indication of a chaste lifestyle and convictions, but could very well be symbols of subjugation. A valid consideration.
So, we have a sect that is somewhat off the “beaten path” of “mainstream” Christian doctrine, living a lifestyle in accord with their understanding of Christian doctrine. Though I do not agree with the practice of polygamy or the coercion of teenage girls into marriage, I have a hard time finding where their practices deviate substantially from Biblical standards. But, their lifestyle is offensive to some of our good Christian folk. For this we send in an invasion force consisting of SWAT teams, armored vehicles, hundreds of law enforcement officers, and who knows what all military firepower, equipment, and troops. Families are disrupted, children are taken by force from peaceful homes, ripped from the bosoms of their mothers and fathers by armed military and law enforcement personnel. God! I thought the Holocaust was past!
I think this is the height of hypocrisy!
Go to Reverend Wright’s church, Father Pflager’s church, Jesse Jackson’s church, or just about any big inner city “mainstream” generic Christian church. What will you find? A large segment, if not a majority, of the 12 to 17 year old girls hanging out of halter tops, with short skirts, or other similarly provocative attire. You will find that casual “hook-ups” are normal for these girls. Not only will most of them not be virgins, but they will be promiscuous. Many of them will be doped up, strung out, unwed mothers, living off welfare and other handouts from your and my taxes. Most of them can’t or won’t work for a living. Abortions for these girls who find themselves “knocked up” will be funded by our taxes and will be considered just another form of birth control. You will find many children resulting from these “hook-ups” living in fatherless homes, abused and neglected. Many of these children will be totally abandoned and living on the streets. These children will be growing up without moral guidance, and will only continue the spiral into degradation of family, moral, and spiritual values. Crime, immoral behavior, drug abuse, poverty, and “sin” diseases will be rampant among these people.
Go into any big city school district, or almost any school district that obtains significant funding from federal tax dollars. What will you find? You will find your 12 to 17 year old daughters in classrooms learning not only how to have sex, but how to do it and “get away with it”. You will again find that casual “hook-ups” are the norm, many such occurring in empty classrooms, stairwells, locker rooms, etc. If a girl winds up pregnant, she can go to the school nurse and an abortion will be arranged without notifying the parents or obtaining their authorization. The smart ones will go to the nurse before she gets involved in the “action”, and she can get free condoms or other birth control paraphernalia, again without parental notification or approval. Education in our schools must be amoral, which is just another way of saying without morals. Our children are forbidden to pray or mention God, but they are openly taught the doctrines of atheism.
Without much effort, I could go on and on. But you get the picture. It makes me sick!
On one hand, we have a people that are industrious, clean living, chaste, healthy lifestyle, little or no crime, caring for their own, not being a burden on society. But, they live in a manner that transgresses an obscure law against polygamy that most people don’t even know exists, a law that has been invoked or enforced only rarely since it was enacted consequent to the Mormon persecutions of the mid-1800’s. And their religion coerces young teenage girls into polygamous marriage relationships, but at least they were married before they were bedded (unlike much of the rest of society). If these actions are illegal, then they should be dealt with individually, on a case-by-case basis, one situation at a time. There was no justification for an invasion, which, it appears, was based on a hoax phone call in the first place.
On the other hand, we have the inner cities, the schools, churches, and similar organizations that breed (pardon the term) immorality, crime, disease, gangs, broken families, dependence on society’s handouts, and every other depravity you can think of. Where are the SWAT teams, the troops, and the armed invasion to go in and clean out these cesspools? What is wrong with this picture?
The hypocrisy is astounding! Is it any wonder our nation is in decline?
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