Imagine if it was Dubya's Doobies? Best part of the story? The commenter who points out that while Romney went to High School, Obama went to school high.
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GOP finally taking some action over Fast & Furious? It's about time. Perhaps they're trying to play this into an election issue. I've got mixed thoughts about that - after all, Brian Terry, the Border Agent who was killed, should not be a political pawn. Yet if the Right is going to take down the current Left administration in November, they will have to fight for it.
ADA, Ohio — Kelsey Griffith graduates on Sunday from Ohio Northern University. To start paying off her $120,000 in student debt, she is already working two restaurant jobs and will soon give up her apartment here to live with her parents. Her mother, who co-signed on the loans, is taking out a life insurance policy on her daughter.
“If anything ever happened, God forbid, that is my debt also,” said Ms. Griffith’s mother, Marlene Griffith.
Ms. Griffith, 23, wouldn’t seem a perfect financial fit for a college that costs nearly $50,000 a year. Her father, a paramedic, and mother, a preschool teacher, have modest incomes, and she has four sisters. But when she visited Ohio Northern, she was won over by faculty and admissions staff members who urge students to pursue their dreams rather than obsess on the sticker price.
“As an 18-year-old, it sounded like a good fit to me, and the school really sold it,” said Ms. Griffith, a marketing major. “I knew a private school would cost a lot of money. But when I graduate, I’m going to owe like $900 a month. No one told me that.”
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Abraham Lincoln - Fashionista I didn't realize that, with his mussed-up hair, Honest Abe was so far ahead in his stylin'.
Women, interested in firearms... in California? Yes! On March 24th the Women on Target event, held at an outdoor shooting range in southern California drew 100+ women for 100 slots. The event was designed to familiarize women with the sport of shooting - and was taught by women, with the men delegated to workhorse duties.
There is still hope for Kalifornia.
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Do as I say, not as I... Evidently, Bill Cosby has weighed in on the Trayvon Martin case. From ABC (emphasis added),
"We've got to get the gun out of the hands of people who are supposed to be on neighborhood watch," Cosby said in his first public remarks about the case, published today.
"Without a gun, I don't see Mr. Zimmerman approaching Trayvon by himself," Cosby added. "The power-of-the-gun mentality had him unafraid to confront someone. Even police call for backup in similar situations.
"When you carry a gun, you mean to harm somebody, kill somebody."
Yikes!
Flash back to 2005, in this New York Magazine article titled, New York's Gun Culture (emphasis added),
Who’s Packing Heat?
Taxi Driver star Robert De Niro is one of New York’s most famous gun owners, as is his friend Harvey Keitel. Others on the list include Arthur Ochs Sulzberger (a former Marine), Don Imus, Bill Cosby, Joan Rivers, Howard Stern, Tommy Mottola, and Donald Trump (just one pistol, says his spokeswoman, who didn’t know the make).
The Charleston County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed following an accidental shooting that occurred Monday at a North Charleston gun range.
...
According to witnesses at the gun range, Patteron was shooting on a lane when he stopped to inspect the weapon. He turned the handgun toward himself when it discharged, striking him.
The mass murder in Afghanistan was predictable. Twice in the past three weeks, I published that it was coming. Why was I able to write this with sad confidence? I’ve spent more time with combat troops in these wars than any other writer: about four years in total in country, and three with combat troops.
About 200 coalition members have been killed or wounded from insider attacks. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is tantamount to being Taliban and has not bothered to apologize. Instead, Karzai whips up anti-U.S. fervor at every opportunity. Twice, Karzai has threatened to leave politics and join the Taliban.
Even our most disciplined troops — not the few problem troops — have lost all idealism. They have not lost heart for the fight. Mostly, they just don’t care. They fight because they are ordered to fight, but they have eyes wide open. The halfhearted surge and sudden drawdown leave little room for success.
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Afghans will seek revenge and they will have it. This will lead to yet greater possibilities of another mass murder from our side. We are considering holding the trial in Afghanistan. Pashtuns don’t care about our justice system. They don’t even care about the Afghan government; they want blood for blood. We are being drawn into a feud.
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CNN covers Fast & Furious ICE Agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata. By all rights you should have heard their stories at least a small percentage as much as that of Trayvon Martin's.
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When Cultures Diverge? Joe Carter links to a story about the massive rate of suicide in Japan, tied to the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. From the post,
According to Bloomberg, suicides rose in April, May, June and August---the months following the natural disasters that devastated towns in northeastern Japan and triggered a nuclear crisis. For a 14th straight year, suicides in Japan have exceeded 30,000.
After the disaster the West marveled at how orderly the Japanese responded - especially the fact that there was little to no looting and unrest. It was hinted that such was evidence that their culture was superior to that found in most of the West.
Yet, despite the orderliness that their culture rests on, we still see the fruits of what can only be termed a "here and now" philosophy. Whether in East or West, the human condition is woefully insufficient to provide the Hope that all humanity needs.
A Republican voter in New Mexico is under criminal investigation for signing up his dog as a Democrat in a bid to highlight what he considers deficiencies in the state’s registration process.
No mention is made as to whether or not an investigation on voter registration procedures is forthcoming.
The FCRA and FACT protect your rights if you are a victim if ID theft by enabling you to put fraud alerts on your credit report with the consumer reporting agencies, get a free credit report from the three national consumer reporting agencies when placing a fraud alert, block fraudulent information from appearing in your credit report, and receive a notice of these and other rights from the consumer reporting agencies.
The Kershaw County Sheriff's Department says a gruesome crime lead them to open up a free concealed weapons class for women.
According to Sheriff Jim Matthews, the department opened up the course and waived an $80 fee to sign up in response to the brutal murder of Beverly Hope Melton.
Despite spending a whopping $2.7 billion on creating and running a long-gun registry, Canadians never reaped any benefits from the project. ... Even though the country started registering long guns in 1998, the registry never solved a single murder. Instead it has been an enormous waste of police officers’ time, diverting their efforts from patrolling Canadian streets and doing traditional policing activities.
“Although San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was a strong advocate of gun control while on the Board of Supervisors, he surrendered 3 handguns when police recently booked him on misdemeanor domestic violence charges,” KCBS reports.
Mirkarimi apparently owned them while sponsoring legislation last summer to bolster San Francisco gun control laws against a lawsuit by the National Rifle Association.
What was that about trusting only the police with possessing firearms?
Police say the woman had put the handgun on top of a chest of drawers, thinking the weapon was out of the children's reach.
Police say the 4-year-old boy managed to get the gun and shoot his little brother.
Have a firearm and have kids? Then you make sure that the firearm is secured at ALL times (which either means locked away or secured on your person). Kids WILL find a way to the firearm. Also, you teach children about firearms - especially the kid's rules of gun safety if they happen across an unattended firearm: STOP! Don't touch! Leave the room! Tell an adult!
Authorities say a Florida pastor's daughter who was accidentally shot in the head in a church died Saturday at a hospital.
The round came from a gun owned by a CCW carrier in the church. From the article (emphasis added),
Investigators have said Moises Zambrana was showing his gun in a small closet to another church member interested in buying a firearm. The St. Petersburg Times reports that the other church member, Dustin Bueller, was Hannah Kelley's fiancee.
Zambrana reportedly removed the magazine from the Ruger 9mm weapon but did not know that a round was still in the chamber. The gun went off, firing a bullet through a wall. Kelley was struck in the head.
Guns don't just go off. The firing pin or hammer of the handgun must strike the chambered cartridge and that happens when the trigger is pressed, either by one's finger or by any object that is situated inside the trigger guard.
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Stupid And stupidity is not limited to those "trained" to work with firearms.
Mark your calendars for March 23. That's when a new movie, October Baby, will hit movie screens. I was able to preview the film last week and suggest you go see this one in the theater. I'll be up front, it is a strong pro-life movie dealing head-on with abortion. But it was powerful and compelling, without being preachy. The message comes through loud and clear, but in a way that stirred my soul (yes, yes...I cried like 4 times -- it was intense). And ultimately, the message is hopeful.
Although Christians have been getting inked for centuries, the recent rise in popularity and mainstream acceptance of tattoos is leading many Christians to reflect on the meaning and prudence of the practice.
"Nearly 40 percent of young adults aged 18-28 have tattoos now, which is more than four times the number in the Baby Boom generation," noted Matthew Lee Anderson in his book Earthen Vessels: Why our Bodies Matter for our Faith. "While tattoos mark a desire for significance within a destabilized world, they are a live option for most young people precisely because we have not escaped the clutches of the consumerism and the individualism that are so often criticized."
In a hip, artsy, area of Houston, a hip, artsy pastor is taking an unorthodox approach to Lent.
...
He asked them to get tattoos. Specifically, he asked congregants to get a tattoo corresponding with one of the Stations of the Cross, the collection of images that depict scenes in Jesus’ journey to his crucifixion.
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Another member of Ecclesia, Joyce O’Connor, channeled her family when she was deciding what station of the cross to get tattooed onto her body. O’Connor, who has one biological child and two stepchildren, connected with the fourth station, Jesus meeting his mother.
“I am a mother and in just a minuscule way can relate to how Mary must have felt,” O’Conner said.
“The tattoo captured me and I love it,” she continued. “When I think of that image, I don’t feel tragedy or sadness because I know how the story ends and it makes me smile.”
Permanent images on your body using Biblical imagery as a metaphor for what has happened in your life?
It seems to me that this is nothing more than a carnal attempt at personalizing scripture or, in these cases, Biblical notions.
Silence is golden, so there are plenty of times when it'd be awfully convenient to mute those around us, and a couple of Japanese researchers have created a gadget that can do just that. Called the SpeechJammer, it's able to "disturb remote people's speech without any physical discomfort" by recording and replaying what you say a fraction of a second after you say it. Why would that shut up the chatty Cathy next to you? Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) is based on an established psychological principle that it's well-nigh impossible for folks to speak when their words are played back to them just after they've been uttered.
1. Worship is not only expressive, it is also formative. It is not only how we express our devotion to God, it is also how the Spirit shapes and forms us to bear God's image to the world. This is why the form of worship needs to be intentional: worship isn't just something that we do; it does something to us. And this is why worship in a congregational setting is a communal practice of a congregation by which the Spirit grabs hold of us. How we worship shapes us, and how we worship collectively is an important way of learning to be the body of Christ...
2. Because worship is formative, and not merely expressive, that means other cultural practices actually function as "competing" liturgies, rivals to Christian worship. ...The point is that such loaded cultural practices are actually shaping our loves and desires by the very form of the practice, not merely by the "content" they offer. If we aren't aware of this, we can unwittingly adopt what seem to be "neutral" or benign practices without recognizing that they are liturgies that come loaded with a rival vision of "the good life." If we adopt such practices uncritically, it won't matter what "content" we convey by them, the practices themselves are ordered to another kingdom. And insofar as we are immersed in them, we are unwittingly mis-shaped by the practices.
There is a level of hypocrisy that goes beyond belief from the anti-gun crowd. Over the years anti-gun zealots such as Rosie O’Donnell suggested that no one should have gun, yet her bodyguard was armed. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues a crusade against all guns (not just the illegal variety) with his anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, yet everywhere the billionaire goes he has armed guards.
And now it seems that David Brock could be the biggest hypocrite of them all. His name might not be as familiar to readers as Bloomberg or O’Donnell, but Brock is founder of Media Matters for America, a progressive watchdog site that routinely calls out the NRA for anything pro-gun.
Yet it gets even better (or worse, depending on your point of view), from the Daily Caller,
By 2010, Brock’s personal assistant, a man named Haydn Price-Morris, was carrying a holstered and concealed Glock handgun when he accompanied Brock to events, including events in Washington, D.C., a city with famously restrictive gun laws. Price-Morris told others he carried the gun to protect Brock from threats.
Remember incidents like these whenever someone advocates "common-sense" gun laws. Yes, as these anti-gun people so plainly illustrate, "common-sense" equates to taking the necessary steps to protecting oneself.
Negligent Discharge (ND) of the day Remember, Remember, Remember: Guns don't discharge or "go off" all by themselves. From Knoxnews.com (emphasis added),
A vendor at the Knoxville Gun & Knife Show shot himself in the hand while attempting to show off his personal weapon Sunday, according to the police.
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Adams, a licensed vendor at the event in the Jacob Building on Magnolia Avenue, apparently was showing his personal concealed weapon — a Kimber .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun — to a customer when the weapon discharged, DeBusk said.
Branden M. Slavens, 28, has been charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree assault, armed criminal action, felonious restraint, first-degree robbery, felony resisting arrest, third-degree assault and two counts of first-degree tampering, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
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Between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Friday, Slavens used an ax to force his way into the back door of a residence within one mile of the crash site, the documents said. A woman at the residence, awakened by noises, initially told Slavens to leave before he used the ax to get in. Once inside, he threw the woman onto the floor, the documents said. A man at the home then came down the stairs with a rifle. The man later told police he pulled the trigger to protect himself and his wife, but the safety was on. Slavens then struck the man on his left arm with the ax, causing severe injuries. Slavens then took the gun.
In a speech on Tuesday morning to the New York City Police Foundation, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the department was working with the Defense Department to develop gun-scan technology “capable of detecting concealed firearms.”
The tool would operate as a sort of reverse infrared mapping tool by reading the energy people emit and pinpointing where that flow is blocked by some object, like a gun.
It’s the last thing two burglary suspects expected to hear when they broke into a Coon Rapids home. From within the house came the unmistakable sound of a pump shotgun. At the other end of that gun was a 22-year-old woman who is nine weeks pregnant.
Actually, it was in Long Beach (close to Los Angeles), and it was ICE Agent on ICE Agent.
From CBS2 News,
A workplace encounter turned deadly when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent turned a gun on his boss after he threatened disciplinary action at the Long Beach Federal Building Thursday evening.
...
During a press conference held by the FBI and ICE, officials said the incident began when an ICE supervisor called in an agent to discuss disciplinary action. The agent responded by shooting his superior. Another employee intervened and shot the gunman, who died at the scene.
Why is this important?
In the debate regarding the 2nd Amendment and private ownership of firearms it is often argued, from anti-2nd Amendment apologists, that we the people should only trust firearm ownership and possession to "those qualified" - i.e., law enforcement. The fly in the ointment with such "reasoning" is that law enforcement personnel are human and, as such, are subject to the same failings as the rest of us regular folk.
While incidents such as this one should not be used to broadbrush paint all law enforcement officers as derelict, we need to remember that responsible firearm ownership and possession is by no means limited to their domain. As such, we should also remember that private citizens in the United States are guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms.
Another point to take away from this story, particularly with regards to the use of firearms in the act of self-defense, can be found from this L.A. Times excerpt,
Kevin Kozak, 51, a second-in-command of ICE in Los Angeles, suffered six gunshot wounds to his legs, upper torso and hands. Authorities identified the shooter as Ezequiel Garcia, 45, a supervisory agent, who was shot to death by another supervisor in the office after wounding Kozak.
The victim was shot six times yet was, as an article elsewhere states, "awake and lucid."
Private citizens who keep firearms for self-defense need to always be cognizant of the fact that an attacker may not be stopped when hit by only one or two bullets - unlike what is typically portrayed on TV or in the movies. If forced to use a firearm for self-defense, per all competent trainers, you never shoot to kill, you shoot to stop (the attack). However, be aware that it may take multiple shots on the assailant to stop him from harming you or your loved ones.
As with any form of self-defense you may choose to use, training and preparation are key.
From Self-defense instructor, and law enforcement officer Massad Ayoob comes word of an upcoming boycott of Starbucks due to their policy of following state laws regarding the legal carrying of firearms on their premises. Per Ayoob,
We discussed here in February, 2010 how the Starbucks chain, when gun haters demanded that firearms be banned from their coffee shop premises, stood up and said no, they would follow the laws of the given state, and those legally carrying guns would be welcome...
It seems than an anti-gun group has called for a boycott of Starbucks on this coming Valentine’s Day, February 14. As Dave explains, many of us in the gun movement will be buying something at Starbucks on that day, just to make sure that Starbucks has a profitable holiday despite being boycotted by the antis.
A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine's Day 2012. Its goal is to eliminate the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S.
Ayoob states that thehighroad.org, a firearms related forum, is promoting its own anti-boycott of sorts, encouraging supporters of the 2nd Amendment to make a special trip to Starbucks on Valentine's Day. Also, sending an e-mail of support along the lines of,
I’ve just heard that there’s a planned boycott on Feb. 14 by anti-Second Amendment groups attempting to punish Starbucks for their decision to follow state and local law instead of changing company policy on law abiding customers carrying firearms legally. While I’m an occasional customer I’ll make a point of doing my share to offset any business Starbucks may lose due to this proposed boycott. I’ll see to it that my family and I are in Starbucks at least once on Feb. 14.Thank you for not caving in to the radical beliefs of a small vocal group of marginalized extremists.
Thank you for your feedback regarding Starbucks' policy on open carry laws.
At Starbucks, we deeply respect the views of our customers and recognize that there is significant and genuine passion surrounding the issue of open carry weapons laws. We comply with local laws and statutes in the communities we serve. Our long-standing approach to this issue remains unchanged and we abide by the laws that permit open carry in 43 U.S. states. Where these laws don't exist, openly carrying weapons in our stores is prohibited.
As the public debate around this issue continues, we encourage customers and advocacy groups from both sides to share their input with their public officials. We are extremely sensitive to the issue of gun violence in our society and believe that supporting local laws is the right way for us to ensure a safe environment for both partners and customers.
Your call is very important to us... [click] It seems that the recession has hit California so hard that calls to the Employment Development Department sometimes go unanswered - to the tune of 9 out of 10 call! From the OC Register,
More than nine out of 10 callers who wanted to talk to a state Employment Development Department agent were unable to get through on the phone at the peak of layoffs in 2008-09, according to a state audit released Thursday.
Callers got so frustrated that they dialed in an average 23 times — and sometimes as many as 80 times — trying to get through to an EDD agent, according to a customer satisfaction survey last June.
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Man arrested after weapon is fired at apartment complex What's particularly interesting to note about this story is that, evidently, the man is had a restraining order prohibiting him from being at the apartment complex, and he is a felon - which prohibits him from possessing a firearm. But, hey, since when do criminals care about the law?
Meanwhile, it's next to impossible for a law-abiding citizen to obtain a concealed carry weapon permit in southern California.
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Two men arrested after cache of weapons is found in their home But owning weapons (of the legal variety) is not against the law. Oh, read further into the story and you'll find out that both of these guys were also barred from possessing firearms. Dang! Are we noticing a pattern here? From the OC Register,
The search turned up a variety of weapons, including an AK-47, high-powered rifles, at least one assault rifle that had been altered to be automatic, a baton, flak jackets and ammunition, Bertagna said.
City officials on Wednesday approved an ordinance to keep sex offenders out of parks.
The ban, based off the County's Child Safety Zone Ordinance developed by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in April, is tailored for the city and its privately home owner association-owned parks. The ordinance would require sex offenders to receive written permission from the city's chief of police to enter a park. A specific location, time and date would be required before permission could be granted. The city's proposed draft has received approval from the District Attorney's office.
The City Council unanimously approved the ban even though it may be largely unenforceable unless local HOAs come on board, City Attorney Greg Simonian said. All 25 parks in the city are privately owned. City officials have contacted the individual HOAs about the proposed ordinance but have been turned down.
Really, you can’t bring guns into the 9/11 Memorial?
A tourist from Tennessee waltzed into one of the most secure sites in the city — and politely asked a cop if she could check her weapon.
Instead, she was dragged out in cuffs.
Now, Meredith Graves, 39, is facing at least three years in prison for thinking New York’s gun laws are anything like those in the Bible Belt.
Get it? A law-abiding citizen, albeit very wrong in her understanding of the anti-2nd amendment laws in New York City, was attemtping to follow the law and now faces prison time.
Also in the story,
Mayor Bloomberg, with the help of the five district attorneys, has crusaded against the flow of illegal guns, especially from the South.
Some veterans linked to the Leatherneck.com online community started sending letters to city officials Monday urging them to drop the prosecution of Ryan Jerome.
He's accused of trying to check his gun, registered in his home state of Indiana, while visiting New York City in September. They say he was acting responsibly and got bad information about city rules.
His story about being a Navy SEAL wasn’t so fishy after all.
The Virginia man arrested for gun possession in Manhattan Thursday and thrown in a psych ward when he claimed to be a member of the elite military unit but couldn’t provide proof was telling the truth, The Post has learned.
A Tennessee lawmaker angry that a home state tourist was busted with a loaded gun at Ground Zero introduced is threatening to go after New Yorkers who speed in his state.
In each case, the death weapon was a 12-gauge shotgun. Some in the anti-gun camp have already blamed the law that allows ordinary, law-abiding citizens to be armed in parks like the one where the ranger was killed, for the depredations of a madman who had already violated every law from the Sixth Commandment on down before he reached the park. I try not to use words like “idiocy” when speaking of the other side, but in this case it fits. The firearm is a tool, which carries out the will of the owner. Evil in the first case, good in the second. Yes, it IS that simple.
It has been legal for people to take loaded firearms into Mount Rainier since 2010, when a controversial federal law went into effect that made possession of firearms in national parks subject to state gun laws.
That controversial federal law actually applies to the concealed carry laws which, to the best of my knowledge, do not apply to the carrying of 12-gauge shotguns.
Only 1 percent of all mobile subscribers are guilty of gobbling up 50 percent of the world's bandwidth, according to a new report by the British company Arieso, which advises mobile operators in Africa, Europe and the U.S.
But crotchety as I am, I find it sort of creepy--and anecdotally, as the first generation of what David Brooks calls "Organization Kids" enters the workforce, employers are apparently complaining that they have an outsized sense of entitlement combined with a difficulty coping with unstructured tasks.
Most So Whats are like Gerst, says David Kinnaman, author of You Lost Me on young adults drifting away from church.
They're uninterested in trying to talk a diverse set of friends into a shared viewpoint in a culture that celebrates an idea that all truths are equally valid, he says. Personal experience, personal authority matter most. Hence Scripture and tradition are quaint, irrelevant, artifacts. Instead of followers of Jesus, they're followers of 5,000 unseen "friends" on Facebook or Twitter.
This is not surprising given our culture of peace, prosperity, and self-infatuation... the sorry thing is, we perpetuate this mentality in the church and in how we think we are evangelizing.
Ben Witherington is a Biblical scholar whom I highly respect. While I've not read any of his books, I have heard him interviewed several times, and recently read his critique of Frank Viola & George Barna's book Pagan Christianity. When it comes to New Testament data, you'd be hard pressed to get a better or more thorough commentator.
However, in perusing his site, I ran across a post he wrote (just after the 2011 Tucson shooting in which Rep. Gabby Giffords was gravely wounded and 6 other people killed) regarding firearms and gun ownership in general. Suffice it to say that he is less than enthusiastic about the manner with which the 2nd Amendment is exercised in 21st century America. While he is entitled to his opinion, I must say that I consider his arguments to be weak and without substantial basis.
Myth # 2: "If we ban guns, only criminals will have guns"
Myth # 3: "The Constitution and the Bill of Rights gives the private citizen the right to own whatever gun his heart desires"
Myth # 4: "Hunting Animals (e.g. Deer) is a Sport"
Myth # 5: "The Best Way to Protect Yourself and Your Family is to Buy Guns"
Rather than actually address these "myths" properly, however, he resorts to erecting straw men, following illogical paths, tossing out red herrings, and presenting false or misleading information. Let me address what I believe to be the problems with his arguments.
Is the term "Christian Yoga" an oxymoron? It doesn't seem to be to many evangelicals, who embrace the practice of yoga, sometimes couched in Christian terms. Pastor Mark Driscoll gives us his views,
There is nothing wrong with stretching, exercising, or regulating one’s stress through breathing. But when the tenets of yoga are included, it’s by definition a worship act to spirit beings other than the God of the Bible. By way of analogy, there is nothing inherently wrong with intimacy, sex, and pleasure. But when the tenets of adultery are included, it’s a sinfully idolatrous worship act. A faithful Christian can no more say they are practicing yoga for Jesus than they can say they are committing adultery for Jesus.
A brutal man with a terrible temper and a genuine god complex, he was also a man who drove people to new heights of innovation and creativity. As much as people hated to receive a tongue-lashing from Jobs, they knew that in the end he motivated them and pushed them to do better. And this is a crucial component of the strange legacy of Steve Jobs. He will forever be known as a great innovator and a man who lived at the crossroads between the humanities and the sciences. In his own field and in his own way, he sought to make the world a better place. But he did so at the expense of so many people whom he left abandoned and brutalized. It’s like he cared for humanity but not for humans, for mankind but not for individuals.
"Mom & Dad, take me to camp... ...so I can socialize,"
Remind me again - we're in a recession so severe that some are comparing it as the closest we've come to the Great Depression? And yet, we have people sending their dogs to camp?
51204.5. Instruction in social sciences shall include the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of both men and women, Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.
[emphasis added]
Wait, it gets better.
51500. A teacher shall not give instruction and a school district shall not sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, or because of a characteristic listed in Section 220.
[emphasis added]
And if you think that you have the right to teach what you want in the privacy of your own home, consider this little paragraph.
SEC. 6. It is the intent of the Legislature that alternative and charter schools take notice of the provisions of this act in light of Section 235 of the Education Code, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or other specified characteristics in any aspect of the operation of alternative and charter schools.
...this past weekend ...California governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB499 allowing children as young as 12 to make their own decisions regarding the Gardasil vaccine.
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Well, at least Governor Brown's recent signing of 3 gun-control bills will help. Right? Maybe we need a gun-control bill for the LAPD. It seems that they had some trouble controlling the whereabouts of some of their firearms. Not to worry, though, they only lost some submachine guns. It's also reported that criticism of those who were negligent has been light, presumably because they are fellow officers. David Codrea also points out that the LAPD Chief is a darling of the Brady Campaign, is against open and concealed carry, and doesn't want honest citizens to have normal capacity magazines. All this, I suppose, because the normal citizen isn't responsible enough.
What would you say if you found out that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives allowed firearms to be purchased illegally, in the U.S., and then also let them be transported into Mexico? And what if said firearms were then found at the scene of a firefight where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed?
ATF management was allowing potentially hundreds of semiautomatic firearms to be walked across the Mexican border in order to pad statistics used to further budget and power objectives.
Mexican authorities were kept in the dark, and protests that they should be informed were overridden, first by the Phoenix ATF office, and ultimately by higher-ups in Washington, DC.
A gun used in this operation was involved in a December 2010 incident in which a Border Patrol agent was killed.
Do you think that an anti-2nd amendment administration might have used such tactics as a back-door for instituting stricter gun-control measures in the U.S.? Do you think that the head of the BATFE knew about these operations? How about the DOJ? How about White House officials?
At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010.
And if the White House knew about it, then how about the prime resident of the White House?
Two final questions: If Obama didn't know about it, why not? If he did know about it, why approve it?
Under fire for an operation that allowed smuggling of U.S. weapons across the nation’s border with Mexico, President Obama said in an interview that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the controversial “Operation Fast and Furious.”
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Obama told Univision‘s Jorge Ramos that President Felipe Calderon wasn’t informed of the operation because he — the president of the United States — wasn’t informed either. When asked whether he knew of the weapon smuggling plan, Obama responded that it is “a pretty big government” with “a lot of moving parts.” (emphasis added)
Yeah. I guess it's too much to ask the President of the United States to skip a few rounds of golf so he can pay attention to that big government he's supposed to be leading.
One parting thought - Imagine the outcry if this was happening under the Bush administration.
Are you aware that the governor of New Mexico is a Republican Hispanic woman? Are you also aware that Gov. Susana Martinez is a Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permit holder? Recently, she re-certified for her CCW permit and scored 100% using both .38 and .45-caliber handguns. What's more, she even Tweeted about it and posted a YouTube video of one of the courses.
Is that cool or what? Gotta love that sound of steel being hit.
Can you imagine a story about Barack Obama shooting? About the only thing I can think of him shooting is a basketball.
As for firearms, you can be sure that an anti-2nd Amendment politician like Obama has his crosshairs set not on teaching proper gun handling techniques, nor on promoting the right of self-defense, but on that of taking away your rights and, if he can get away with it, your firearms. Rest assured that, by his own admission, he's addressing gun control "under the radar." And pay close attention to how he stacks the bench of the Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor, "wise Latina" that she is, doesn't seem to think that you and I have a right to self-defense.
Don't let them take it away from us. Vote. Teach. Lobby.
Concealed Carry Weapon - Some truth on the topic Consider that less than one of every 200 murders committed in the U.S. are done by concealed carry weapon permit holders, and that for each one that does commit a murder there are 20,000 permit holders who don't. Also consider that possessing the permit does not give one an advantage if one is intent on committing a crime. From the article, The Unconcealed Truth About Carrying Guns,
What the gun control groups don't tabulate is how many homicides have been averted by a licensed, concealed handgun. Kleck, who has done extensive research on the topic, says it is "quite reasonable to expect that thousands of lives are saved by defensive gun use by persons who carried guns in public places." Even if he's wrong, it would take only a handful of such incidents to offset the homicides "caused" by concealed-carry laws.
Note that in the incidents listed above, the gunmen entered "gun-free" zones carrying firearms. Also note that it wasn't the firearms that were responsible for the carnage but the individuals using them.
An emergency drill set to take place in an Iowa school Saturday is drawing outrage after organizers revealed the mock scenario involves an “anti-immigration” pro-gun student shooting dozens of students in a racially-motivated shooting spree.
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