The Destructive Seventeenth

We all hear over and over about the famous “Checks and Balances” built into the government by the Constitution. Supposedly each of the three branches are separate and equal, in order to prevent any one branch from gaining too much centralized power and moving the nation back toward tyranny.  In recent times we have seen over and over that the balance is portrayed as a balance between the “Two Parties” so one political party does not gain overwhelming power over the levers of government. The last is the most risible of all, as there were no real political parties when the Constitution was written, and as most have heard, outgoing President Washington warned about the danger of parties as he left office.

All of this addresses the balance of power within the Federal Government. All of this also fails to address one area of balance which was intentionally removed, and all but forgotten. This loss, and loss of memory is perhaps the most destructive to our republic.

The loss suffered is erasure of any check or balance of the power of the Federal government against the states, which was erased by the 17^th amendment. Prior to that well planned assault on the structure and foundation of the Republic, each state sent two representatives to Washington DC to represent their interests. The people at large elected their congressional representatives to address the concerns of the “nation at large’. The balance thus created prevented the complete centralization of power in the Federal Government. As the states each had a seat at the table, they could restrain the unchecked appropriation of funds from the individual states and so could maintain some direct influence. It was this brake which could prevent the creation of such monstrosities as the EPA, or even the nationalizing of health care under the wildly laughably named ‘Affordable Health Care act” aka Obamacare.

Convincing the representatives of fifty individual states to support such a concentration of authority in the central government would have been impossible if each of the senators had to answer to the state governments, instead of a mass market of statewide voters swayed by pork barrel spending confiscated from other states and poured out through the largess of a non-accountable federal government. Imagine a Senator trying to explain to the legislature or governor who had sent him to Washington that the home state would be directed by an appointed bureaucrat in DC to spend funds confiscated from the residents, with no say nor control on  the appropriation or disposition of such funds. This, in fact was the bedrock principle of Federalism and States Rights upon which the Republic was founded.

Unfortunately we have raised too many generations of helpless victims, accustomed to dependency upon the distant Federal Leviathan for assistance and direction in all manner of situations. Imagine the governors of various states in the early days of the nation, calling hat in hand, as supplicants to someone in Washington for assistance when storm, or fire, or any manner of danger threatened them. Imagine if the various states simply waited, instead of mobilizing various state militias to fight against the Crown for our independence. It seems an anachronism to read the names of the various state regiments as they signed up as groups to fight in the Civil war, and even in the early days of the First World War

The saddest and most recent example of the total surrender of sovereignty of individuals, and the states which represented them, to the Leviathan is the latest proposed reaction to mass murder in Connecticut.

Rather than allow that historically powerful state to take action, we do not even imagine a purely local reaction. Instead, we hear two proposals, one to disarm Americans through some sort of Federal Gun Control, or to place Federally Funded police in every school throughout the land. To install such Federal Police in the schools would require funding equivalent to that of the TSA. And we all know just how well such funding has succeeded.  It would also complete another strand in the noose of centralization. Private schools are one of the very few areas that are not currently dominated by central government control. Any Federally funded police agency would necessarily entail central control, and thus attach more strings on the lives of every American.

While we surely shed tears for the many families irreparably damaged by the deeds of a madman in Connecticut, it is simply unimaginable that every community in the nation should therefore surrender more sovereignty to pay reparations for the evil deed.

A more appropriate solution and one true to the ideals of the republic as it was founded would be to remove federal restrictions on the rights of Americans to defend themselves and their communities as they see fit. Each local school will certainly know better how to meet the need for protection far more accurately than any group of bureaucrats sitting in hearing rooms in front of banks of cameras in DC.

Get Washington out of our lives, and we will live them better, happier and with far more liberty than any life dictated to us by any government, no matter how well thought out.

One more note, in this vein, please take note that the Governor of Hawaii has now appointed a replacement for the late Senator Inouye. In his explanation of his decision he has stated the following:

“Of course Sen. Inouye’s views and his wishes were taken into account fully, but the charge of the central committee, and by extension then myself as governor, was to act in the best interests of the party … the state and the nation,”

The Governor has clearly internalized the lesson of the Seventeenth amendment. His priorities are listed in this statement, and the nation is not first on his list, is it?

 

Keep The Faith!

The Rev

All the News That Isn’t

I know, it’s a familiar title, and not original.
this week in France, a Muslim terrorist attacked and killed jews, in he name of his religion.
He killed several elite french military men, and using a gun, held police at bay for hours, eventually jumping to his death, while continuing to shoot at the police who could not capture him.
Several things
first, all the major nets covered other stories first.
Why?
Let’s look—
Muslim terrorist Can’t say that.
he used a gun.. They are supposed to be banned, thus unavailable in France, how’d that happen?
Third, he killed Jews… Thought they were the persecutors not victims. supposed to be running the world… not hunted and killed.
And he was a TERRORIST… Thought we were done with that.
Can’t shake up the fat happy sheep watching wheel of fortune and “the voice’ on their big screen Tv while cashing their second year of unemployment checks.

No way will the big shots in charge allow anything to shake these fat blobs of gelatinous lipids from their torpor. They might just fire up a dormant neuron long enough to understand they are being misled, and maybe one or two percent of them might actually resist their slavery.

Window Wars

The recent post about the execrable Senator Lindsey Graham prompted a few interesting comments. One mentioned ‘The Window War” A long time ago I think I had read that, and did not even catch it’s repost in February.

Here is a link to a wonderful story, posted on Sipsey Street Irregulars, by Mike Vanderboegh. I encourage you to spend a few minutes and read it. Be careful, as always no one is being encouraged or enticed to do anything even remotely against any laws. We’re all good, law abiding citizens.

Now, go read and enjoy.

Keep the Faith

The Rev

If these were “civilians”

Here is the whole article. 

 Here is the excerpt: 

“A statewide SWAT team exercise at a firing range on the secured grounds of a nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland was halted this month after stray bullets shattered glass and struck a command center near the plant’s reactors, officials said yesterday.

Reactor safety at the Calvert Cliffs plant in Lusby was never compromised, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Constellation Energy Group, which operates the facility. But Constellation closed the range, a popular training site for local law enforcement agencies, pending investigations by plant security and the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, which hosted the exercise.

 

At least five bullets escaped the firing range and traveled more than a half-mile before striking buildings and a vehicle near the reactors, according to the NRC, Constellation and the sheriff’s office.”

 

My thoughts:

 “Reactor safety at the Calvert Cliffs plant in Lusby was never compromised”

The real reason to be upset (to me) is the employees, there, were in serious danger. Shooting without P R O P E R backstop is ridiculous. The folks in the line of fire are what concern me. I mean it hit a car? What if a fellow was having lunch or just parking? Hit Windows too, what about employees at the windows? If they have P R O P E R backstops then why are we getting stray volleys? Uncontrolled bursts from either inept or irresponsible shooters?

Someone’s rump should be in a sling for this one. Bet nothing happens though. Had this been a private range (what I mean is individual owned) and “civilians”, we’d have heard calls for gun control, range closure, lawsuits, “only professionals should have firearms”, and the Brady crew would have been on scene with picket signs and body bagged adults doing die-ins.

Speaking of which… You know I gotta say it.

“I am the only one professional enough to…” (watch the linked video to that, if you haven’t seen it, it’s a classic)

The States vs the Feds: Conflict Lies Ahead

December 29, 1860 a resolution was passed in Charleston, South Carolina. It laid out the reasons for which the legislature was determined to dissolve the legal bonds which bound the state to the United States. There is still a debate over many things, the primary contention still is the ‘true reason’ for secession. Die hard believers still say the issue was ‘States Rights”. Opponents still ask the question: States rights to do what? In this they are casting the accusation of Slavery.  In retrospect there is really not much debate, regardless of the noble intent of some, the bulk of the leaders were slavery proponents, and they were the driving force behind the secession and the war.

That is the muddied history which still clings to very word ‘Secession’. The war fought and won by President Abraham Lincoln would seem to have settled the issue of the right of States to secede from the Union.

If that is the case, then why have so many states begun the process of passing State Sovereignty, or Tenth Amendment Resolutions? The last several decades have seen a steady and almost unstoppable trend toward increasing centralization of power in DC, at the expense of the states, and individual liberty.

Recently there was a stunning landmark which passed with little notice. An article in USA Today documented a change in funding for states. The largest source of revenue for most states is now the Federal Government. We are rapidly heading to a point of no return.  The DC Government will continue to expand programs, offering limited term financing for them. As the federal funding goes away, states will be forced to increase taxes on their residents to replace the DC dollars which have evaporated.  They will turn to DC for more funds, giving away more and more control as they accept increasing federal funding for day to day operations.  Once the states are completely dependent upon the DC government for revenue they will no longer be functional as separate government units. At that point we will effectively have the end of the United States, total replacement with a monolithic federal unit dominated by a central government. This will complete the process begun with the 17^th amendment. The states are being made irrelevant by design. The founding premise, of Federalism is a notion relegated to obsolete textbooks, and most Americans have never even heard of the concept.  Principles of subsidiarity are non existent in our nation. The ideas of Federalism,  local rule, and self reliance have been replaced by a culture of dependence and Big Government control and reliance on The State to provide all.

It may be too late, but somehow some of the states are taking stock and beginning to realize if nothing is done, the country will be altered permanently.

At this time, more than thirty states have such State Sovereignty resolutions in process. The Tenth Amendment Center has a clearinghouse for information on the progress in various states.

The big question that needs to be asked is this: Once a state passes such a resolution what happens when the inevitable conflict arises. Just how strongly will the states fight to protect their rights?

And just how strongly will DC assert its powers?  Will this become a new war, fought in the courts? Or will we see another brutal conflict, with states joining together against a federal government intent on maintaining a union by all means necessary, including force?

A potential wild card is the movement toward a new Constitutional Convention. At this point we are roughly two states short of the threshold required to call a convention to rewrite the Constitution. Should that happen, all bets are off.  I would bet that the current members of Congress, the lords of the two party system will do anything necessary to prevent such a thing from happening. Perhaps that’s a weak point.

It is interesting to see some of the maneuvering taking place recently. Several states have taken aim directly at the DC government’s infringement of Second Amendment rights. Alaska, Montana  and Texas have passed or introduced state gun rights bills, which assert that any federal regulations are invalid within the borders of the state so long as the manufacturing and sale of said items remains exclusively within the state. This is a direct challenge to the many tentacles the DC government has extended via the expansive interpretation of the ‘Commerce Clause’. There is little question, should any of these bills become state law that there will be swift action to challenge them in federal jurisdiction.

As  more states get on the same side, the media will be less able to characterize them as extremists

Ride fast and shoot straight has numbers and info on the growing movement. As you can see there is a large and growing sentiment among the various states. As more and more join, this will be perceived as mainstream, making it difficult for the media to describe all adherents as fringe elements.

We need to move on all fronts, using everything at our disposal to press the issue and to regain control of our government from the entrenched party structure that has simply bent government to serve their wishes instead of the goals of the Constitution. Much work needs to be done, but it is beginning to look just a little bit less daunting as more join the fray.

Keep the Faith

The Rev

 

 

Second Amendment (once more) Proves Invaluable

There is a story out there today, from College Park, Ga. It seems some malefactors entered an apartment, intent on doing some evil. One of the legitimate guests was prepared, and exercised his second amendment right to keep and bear arms.  From WSBTV in Georgia, here are the details:

A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

and more:

Bailey said the gunmen started counting bullets. “The other guy asked how many (bullets) he had. He said he had enough,” said Bailey. That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment. 

Follow the link above and read the whole story. Then contrast it with the shootings we constantly hear about in the media with entirely different outcomes.  Defenseless students in college dorms, stripped of their second amendment rights and unable to stop someone bent on murder. We are told over and over that it is the guns that are the problem. Well this puts that lie out in the open for all to see.  In this case, the bad guys picked on someone who was not rendered defenseless, and was able to meet force with force. 

This is just one more example which shows the truth of Americans acting in self defense. When we can get government off our backs, and be prepared, we can protect and defend ourselves. Kudos to the quick thinking and calm action of the student. Gratitude for the Second Amendment, and the fact that the State of Georgia is generally affirmative on the issue of gun rights.

Also in the news today, our friends at the Columbia Conservative Examiner report that the SC State Supreme court has intruded, voiding the South Carolina Tax Free Second Amendment holiday.

Go here for details

Keep the Faith!

The Rev

Guns, Mexico and the DHS report

Again and again we hear the representatives of our government, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to the President apologizing to Mexico for causing the problems south of the border. It is ‘our fault’ with our boundless appetites for drugs, and of course for providing “90% of all weapons” used by the narco-terrorists in Mexico. If only we could stop our be-knighted citizens from wanting these death dealing weapons,  they would not be available at ‘gun shops along the border’ and the drug lords would be disarmed. See, it’s not the fault of the weak and corrupt Mexican government, nor of the hundreds of Mexicans who desert their posts in the army and join the well armed gangs. It’s the fault of the American Second Amendment and those of us who still cling bitterly to our guns and bibles.

This week, in a short visit to Mexico, President Obama found one more foreign stop to denigrate America, and to grovel to a foreign leader to beg forgiveness for America’s transgressions. 

From the NY Times:

The Obama administration had already pledged to send more agents to patrol the border with Mexico and more helicopters to Mexico. But on Thursday the president went a step further, announcing that he would press the Senate to ratify the long-stalled inter-American arms treaty, which the United States had a major hand in negotiating through the Organization of American States.

The Mexican President discussed the problem, claiming the US as the source of all his country’s trouble:

But while the two pledged their “shared responsibility” in the drug wars during a news conference here, they seemed to diverge on the issue of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. Mr. Calderón said nearly 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico could be traced to the United States, adding that organized crime increased after the ban expired.

Now, in recent weeks, Pres Obama has repeated over and over to US media that he will not seek a reintroduction of the assault ban. However in reply to President Calderon:

Mr. Obama campaigned on a platform of renewing it, but he suggested Thursday that reviving the ban was politically impossible because of opposition from gun enthusiasts. “None of us are under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy,” Mr. Obama said, while insisting he was “not backing off at all” from his conviction that renewing the ban made sense.

(italics mine)

So, with the government of Mexico in a state of collapse, much of the country controlled by drug gangs, armed with weapons, equipment and even the soldiers of the Mexican Army, the president of the United States goes to Mexico and says it’s all the fault of American Citizens. Curious isn’t it?

Meanwhile Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary released a report advising US law enforcement to be on the lookout for American citizens who think taxes are too high, abortion is wrong, visit gun ranges or have just left the military. They are the real danger, according to the report.

Despite criticism from both outside and inside government, Ms. Napolitano has stood firmly behind her report, stating that she remembers Timothy McVeigh, and so the report is justified. I guess she forgets the Saudi Islamoterrorists from 9/11 as her memory skips back to 1994. One deranged American is a source of law enforcement attention, but an entire ideology bent on our destruction is now to be called ‘Man caused destruction’ instead of Terrorism.

Take a step back, and look at all of this. Obama has consistently been a ‘blame America First’ politician. When pressed he has moderated his rhetoric, but never deviated from his path.  He has joined with his Attorney General, Eric Holder, to condemn us intelligence and military interrogators as torturers, even while saying they should not be prosecuted. The left wing of the Democrat party has always been about self perpetuation and maintaining power.  While the focus of attention is on external threats, Americans tend to draw together to unite to oppose a common enemy. Such was the case in the aftermath of 9/11. However as soon as some distance  made it possible, the left began to push for a return to a pre 9/11 mentality.

That focus is now inward. As President Obama and his international representatives scurry around the globe, condemning not those who have commited such acts, but America for somehow causing others to WANT to do so, they create a certainty that America is no longer prepared to stop our adversaries. As they blame the US, they must then, logically take steps to prevent a repeat. So,we skip over 9/11, and focus on McVeigh, and such events as Columbine high school, the attention of the bovine media will shift. Instead of being forced to call Americans ‘Heroes’ as they fight and die to save  us, they will be able once more find fault with Americans.

Law enforcement can be twisted, as Homeland Security now controlled by ‘open borders’ advocates will focus on creating domestic demons to fight. More and more we will see criminals conjured from the ranks of the law abiding. Those who maintain that the Constitution is the Law of the Land will be ridiculed and attacked. Free speech will be redefined as hate speech. We are seeing the opening salvo of a fundamental attack. The fact that even in the face of outright criticism Ms. Napolitano has stood firm shows that this is not a mistaken policy paper. They are moving. Concerned patriotic Americans need to stand firm, and speak out against this.

Keep the Faith!

The Rev

******UPDATE***********

Over at the Conservative Examiner, they must be reading similar tea leaves.

Check out his most recent post: HERE

To Serve and Protect (themselves)

This week there was another rampage, this time in Binghampton, NY. A man armed himself, and walked into a ‘community immigrant center’ and began shooting.  One of the first to be shot managed to call 911 to request police assistance. Police reportedly arrived within minutes. From their own reports, they heard no gunfire, but waited more than  an hour before entering the building. (Emphasis added by me)

Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers.

 and there is more:

The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — and a hunting knife.

Ok, so here we have a crazed man, armed, carrying a knife. The police are called. They turn out to answer a call for people in distress.  They arrive, and wait hours to make sure they are safe. I guess since they didn’t hear the gunshots, but were still afraid to enter the building. He also had a knife. I guess they couldn’t hear any stabbing noises either, but waited outside just in case. Imagine being inside the building, knowing the police have arrived, counting on them to help (after all, no one inside the building was permitted to be armed) and then waiting for an hour and a half before anyone actually walked into the building to ‘help’. We have been told for all our lives that it should be left to the ‘authorities’ to protect us. And here they show that they will not take a risk  to help those they have sworn to ‘serve and protect’.

Mark Steyn collects some horrific examples of police-style ‘protecting’ from around the country.  Time and again those we are told will be our last resort in times of danger have failed to uphold their  end of the deal.

I realize I run the risk of  tarring all with the same brush. I am not saying all police are delinquent.  Most police officers are diligent and devoted members of the communities they serve.  However, this is NOT the official policy of law enforcement in the United states. In a case from the District of Columbia ( Warren v District of Columbia) two crime victims sued after police failed to respond to multiple calls for assistance. The women were raped, tortured and beaten for over fourteen hours. The DC Court of appeals ruled that the police have no obligation to respond nor to protect someone from being the victim of a crime. The Police, nor the District could be held responsible for their failure to assist the women being assaulted.

This afternoon, in a radio report, the head of the police involved in the Binghampton Police discussed the case. He stated that the shooter had a bullet proof vest, showing that he may have planned to shoot it out with police.  He elaborated, saying that he thought the gunman must have been ‘ a coward’ because when he heard the police sirens he hid in a closet and killed himself.  This comes from the police who, armed with heavy weapons, arriving en mass on site, certainly with protective gear and without doubt bearing superior firepower, still refused to enter the building for an hour and a half, in order to protect the safety of the officers. NOT to protect the citizens they have legally disarmed. Not to pursue the lawbreaker. To ensure the safety of the police officers. 

Next time some bureaucrat tells you there is no need for civilians to carry guns, think of the police in Binghampton, NY. Think of the DC court ruling. Think of the RCMP officers described by Mark Steyn.

Then if you have not already done so, proceed to your nearest shooting range and practice. Practice as your life depends on it. It just might. Be prepared for the day it will.

Keep the Faith.

The Rev.

———UPDATE————

From The Corner at NRO this morning, ‘Jack Dunphy’ discusses the Binghampton,NY fiasco. Bringing his own police experienct to bear he writes the following: ( find it here)

 

re: Binghamton    [Jack Dunphy]

 

Mark Steyn echoes the frustration expressed by many at the failure of some police officers to react decisively to an incident of ongoing violence.  He cites a news story on the mass killing in Binghamton, New York, that told of officers arriving within two minutes of receiving the first call, but waiting “for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers.”

“What’s the point of calling 911, Mark asks, “if they arrive within two minutes and then sit outside for the rest of the day to ‘make sure it’s safe?”

The question is reminiscent of the Columbine massacre that occurred ten years ago this month outside Denver.  The delay in deploying officers into the school led to changes in policy in my own Los Angeles Police Department and in other agencies across the country.  In Los Angeles, officers responding to reports of shots fired within a school, a business, or what have you, must determine if they are facing an “active shooter” or a “barricaded suspect.”  In the case of the former, the first four officers on the scene are obliged to make entry, locate the shooter, and end his aggression.  In the case of a barricaded suspect, it is assumed that he has no access to victims inside, allowing the officers time to take whatever actions are needed to apprehend him.  If this involves waiting outside for the suspect to surrender or fall asleep, so be it.

But in a situation where, as in Binghamton, a suspect is known to have shot people, an hour’s delay in making entry strikes me as grossly excessive.  Even if the gunfire had ceased, the people already wounded deserved an all-out effort to provide them with medical care as quickly as possible.  I expect we’ll be learning that some of the victims bled to death while waiting for the help that came too late.  Knowing how police departments function as I do, I have no doubt that there were officers ready and willing to enter the building within minutes but were prevented from doing so by superiors who, in ordinary circumstances, make no decisions weightier than selecting which desk tray to place a piece of paper in.  These people had to be prodded from their desks when the trouble started, and their presence at the scene merely clogged up the decision-making process.

— Jack Dunphy is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. “Jack Dunphy” is the author’s nom de cyber. The opinions expressed are his own and almost certainly do not reflect those of the LAPD management.

 

 

04/06 06:37 AM

Now This sounds like a Good Idea

From Ride Fast and Shoot Straight comes this  fast and smart bit:

 

One round shot equals one vote cast

 

Imagine, 100 million gun owners voting every Saturday.

A Temporary Reprieve

I have written several times about the attempts by the Pelosi led House to ram a bill through the House of Representatives to create a full seat for the District of Columbia. Virtually anyone involved has agreed that this is, at the very least, of dubious constitutionality. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s current non voting representative has said, essentially ” So, sue me!”.

Well, it seems the folks at the NRA have managed to apply some political pressure and it has worked.Writing in Human Events, Jed Babbin has stated that the Blue Dog Democrats were swayed by the potential of being exposed by the NRA as anti gun. Good for them!  There is no certainty that this bill will not resurface sooner or later, but for now, it appears it has been pulled. I have only a single source for this, but will dig further. But, at least this is good news amidst the rubble that the US congress has provided so far

Keep the Faith!

The Rev.