The night before Christmas - a soldier story

Have to pass this Christmas story on. . .


Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone 

  In a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone 
  I had come down the chimney with presents to give 
  And to see just who in this home did live 
  
  I looked all about, a strange sight I did see 
  No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree 
  No stocking by mantle, just boots filled with sand 
  On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands 
  
  With medals and badges, awards of all kinds 
  A sober thought did come through my mind 
  For this house was different, it was dark and dreary 
  I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly 
  
  The soldier lay sleeping, silent and alone 
  Curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home 
  The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder 
  Not how I pictured a United States soldier 
  
  Was this the hero of whom I'd just read? 
  Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed? 
  I realized the families that I saw this night 
  Owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight 
  
  Soon round the world, the children would play 
  And grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day 
  They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year 
  Because of the soldiers, like the one lying here 
  
  I couldn't help wonder how many lay alone 
  On a cold Christmas eve in a land far from home 
  The very thought brought a tear to my eye 
  I dropped to my knees and started to cry 
  
  The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice 
  Santa don't cry, this life is my choice 
  I fight for freedom, I don't ask for more 
  My life is my God, my Country, my Corps 
  
  The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep 
  I couldn't control it, I continued to weep 
  I kept watch for hours, so silent and still 
  And we both shivered from the cold nights chill 
  
  I didn't want to leave on that cold, dark, night 
  This guardian of honor so willing to fight 
  Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure 
  Whispered Carry on Santa, all is secure 
  
  One look at my watch and I knew he was right 
  Merry Christmas, my friend, and to all a good night 
  
  By:  Major Bruce Lovely, adopted from a similar poem 
  by Anonymous.

We need new Role Models

While sitting in lodge the other night our speaker talked of George Washington and how much he had done.  He also brought up how we don’t have role models anymore and asked if this was the problem with our country today. . . .

That got me thinking on this a bit.  Look at who our kids have to look up to these days. . . rap stars, thugs, drunk Hollywood stars like Lindsay Lohan and company etc. . . .

What do kids have for a role model for our kids?  They watch TV like Survivor where folks stab each other in the back every week to win.  We have sports stars driven drunk and killing team members.  We have sports starts running dog fights. . . .

Lets not even start talking about the number of celebrities we see drunk, on drugs, and living the proverbial train wreck of a life.  2 month marriages, quick divorces for almost any reasons.  No one wants to work at anything anymore.

I am beginning to think he was right.  Our kids and our society don’t have any good roll models any more.  And we need one.   We should be looking back on our founders to see how they risked their lives to give us this country.  We should be looking at folks throughout our history who have put the country first and made thing happen to make the world a better place.

Why won’t the news folks cover these things?  Why won’t we teach history any more on what our founders and forefathers have gone through to create this great nation.

We are so busy downing the USA and our history and our founders.  We need to take a hard look at what that had gotten us.

Our kids are brats, self centered and we look to the government to do all for us.  We have folks that won’t lift a finger to do anything.  We have welfare and families on it for generations and proud of that. . . .

Now we have folks shooting up schools and politicians dancing in the carnage to push for more power and more government and less freedom as if that is the answer.  We have lost our way at all levels.

No, I think the answer is we need to take a very long look at what we are putting forward to our kids as role models, who we look at ourselves as role models.  We need to look at how we act around our kids too that reinforces these actions.  We have gotten the society we let the government give us.  We can therefore change it.

It is time to bring back role models and some old fashion ideas.  We need to start teaching our kids to respect adults, to respect each other, that they will not always win or get their way and that is not a bad thing.  Life does keep a score and sometimes it does not go your way.  We need to teach kids to look up to folks that make hard choices and do what needs to be done not for the glory but because it needed to be done.  We should be teaching them about our vets in all wars who have paid the ultimate price to keep us free.  We should hold Medal of Honor winners up as role models.  We should be holding up our founding fathers as role models too.  Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King. . . there are many we could use.

We need to stop letting our kids look to communists, socialists, criminals, gangsters and drunks as role models.  These people should be mocked and shows for the failures they are. 

We are creating a generation of powder puffs who want and expect things to be handed to them. . . we can’t survive that way. 

We need a generation that looks for the work to be done, says “We Can” and does it.  We need kids that grow up on the history of explorers, scientists, risk takers that helped expand our world and make it a better place.  People like George Washington, Lewis and Clark, Harriet Tubman. . . there are too many to name.

People with honor, respect for our Constitution, respect for each other and our country.  Maybe then our kids and us with them will get back on the right path and this country will have a lot less problems.

Gun Facts in MA. . .

I got this idea from Caleb at Gun Nuts Media

For all you folks that think we need more gun control in Massachusetts I have some basic facts you should know first. .. . . . .

Disclaimer, I am not a lawyer and your mileage may very. .  I have lived in MA my whole life and had permits and owned guns for about 30 years now.

§  In MA we still have an Assault Weapons Ban in place and cannot buy NEW magazines that hold over 10 rounds

§  An “assault weapon “ in MA is a gun with more than one of the following -  a pistol grip, collapsible stock, flash suppressor, or a bayonet lug.  It has nothing to do with machine guns which are covered by Federal Law and very hard if not impossible to get in MA and require special licenses

§  In MA you need a license just to own a gun or ammo.  Even if it lives in your house and never gets used.  Every gun you buy is registered with the state.

§  In MA we have competing lists of pistols you are permitted to purchase.  You can not buy many new models of pistols because they will not OK them in MA for safety reasons ( of course the police can anyway)

§  Permits are at the discretion of the local police who can deny a pistol permit for any reason they want. 

§  We have multiple levels of permits.  Class A for carry (CCW and large cap pistols),  Class B for non large cap pistols and large cap rifles – Target and hunting only,  Class C for low cap rifles – this is a shall issue permit if you have a clean record, and class D for pepper spray ( only state you need a permit for spray)

§  You pay $100 for all permits which are good for six years./  Renewal of a permit currently takes from a few months to almost a year.  You are a criminal 90 days after your permit expires if you have not received you new one yet and still own guns. . . . or ammo

§  Technically if you have a spent brass case stuck in your shoe tread you better have a gun permit or you face a year in jail.  So if you take a friend shooting and they are not licensed and they keep a piece of spent brass they are now a criminal.

§  Some towns ask for more than the law permits such as a doctors note or a psychiatrists note before issue of any permit.

§  To get a carry permit you need a reason that the Police agree with.  That it is your right is not a good reason in many places.  You have to show you are under a threat or need it for work and if they agree you get to carry. . . if not you don’t.

§  Some towns will not issue anyone a CCW Class A permit no matter what your background is and they can legally do that.

§ Some people who have had permits for 30 or 40 years are being denied renewals because of issues on their record like a fight back in high school 50 + years ago.

§  Every had a restraining order pulled against you?  Even by an ex just doing it to piss you off and make life miserable for you?  No permit for you

In the end it is not easy to get a permit in MA, and darn near impossible in the cities.  You can have your permit pulled for many reasons that have nothing to do with the law.  If the Police decide they don't think you are a fit person (not defined by law) they can deny or pull your permit.  

Then we also have all the Fed rules that we also must meet to be issue the permit.

And lets not forget safe storage laws so all guns must be locked up. . . not much help if your home gets invaded but then again the state don't care much about our safety.  

We don't need more gun laws in MA, we have plenty to cover us thanks.  It would be nice if we sorted through and actually enforced what is on the books before we get excited about passing new ones. . . . 

The AWB and you - a view from a gun owner on the left

HERE is a great write up from someone on the LEFT who says the AWB is no good and does not do what you think it does.  they did their homework.

Thanks to Kathy for the heads up on this

Here is a sample but go read the whole thing:

10 Years Later
When the ban expired in 2004, everyone was anxious to study the results. Had it reduced crime?

How could it have?

The National Institute of Justice found that the ban hadn’t reduced gun crime or crime involving “high capacity” magazines, and that the effects of renewing the ban were “likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.” It then added: “Assault weapons were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban.”^[9]

The Center for Disease Control released a study of gun control legislation, including the assault weapons ban and found “insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of any of the firearms laws reviewed for preventing violence.”^[10]

The National Research Council noted that all of the studies they had looked at “did not reveal any clear impacts on gun violence” and noted “due to the fact that the relative rarity with which the banned guns were used in crime before the ban … the maximum potential effect of the ban on gun violence outcomes would be very small…”^[11]

Why we can't let emotions make our laws!

As a pro gun and pro civil rights supporter I have posted numerous times on why gun control has failed.  I have posted facts and numbers to show this. . . .  Others have also posted on this and added more info on how up to two million times a year guns are used to save lives.  Guns allow people to defend their kids from home invaders.  Guns let that 100 lbs woman stop that 250 lb rapists from having his way.  Guns let minorities (black, brown, gay, whatever) protect themselves from the angry mob.  Guns protected people in the LA riots as madness swept the city.  Guns are a tool, it is the user that is good or bad and it is the user we need to address with the law, not the tool.

Now that I have seen the NRA conference where they suggested the same answer the Clinton's did in 2000 but now the same people who supported it then hate it now. . . Showing that they don’t want to talk or even look at any ideas that come from the pro rights side.  

I have an idea.  I watched as protesters who say they want a discussion on gun laws interrupt that very discussion to yell, scream and act like children blaming the NRA for the acts of a madman.  Since the gun control folks seem to run on emotion instead of facts I thought what would the call for less gun control would look like if we did that too?. . .

Now let me say right up front I think emotions are THE WORST way to make laws.  I do not in any way want us making any more bad laws (see Patriot Act, Gun Control, TSA and many more) laws based on emotion.  Laws need to be based on real facts to be valid.  Emotions do not belong in the legal process if you want a fair law.

So lets take a spin through the emotional side. . . ..

Senator Feinstein, you, the Brady Campaign, and the gun control crowd have the blood of the victims of the mass shooting on your hands.  It is a direct result of your “Gun Free Zones” which are more accurately called Victim Disarmament Zones that these people are dead.  All but one mass shooting where three or more folks were killed since 1950 has been in a gun free zone!

Your gun control crowd has forced us to put our children and loved ones in harm’s way by forcing them into areas that they cannot defend themselves.  You have then advertised this so that every madman in the world knows where these places are and who is there.  You have set up our children as bait for these madmen to come with bombs to blow them up, gas to burn down the buildings, and guns to kill them.

And when the inevitable happens you and the news media dance in joy over the news.  The media turns the madman into a hero overnight.  The madman who is usually a nobody who had done nothing of note in his/her life is a household name overnight.  You give him the fame he/she wanted in killing these people yet you forget the names of the victims.  You take his name and use it to create more laws and controls on law abiding folks to make it easier for the next madman to kill more of us.   Your friends in the news media rally around the story and let us all know where the killer rates on their scorecard of mass murder. . . he made number 4 isn’t that great!  You all pump the killer up encouraging the next one to try to do better and kill more.

It is starting to look like these mass murders are not by accident but part of your plan. . . .

No folks, the blood is not on the NRA’s hands.  The blood is on the hands of every one of you that has called for gun control and ignored the real problem. 

And that you want to double down on your error makes me sick.  You folks really need to look at the facts for a change and stop letting the emotions run your life.  You can’t say you want a reasonable discussion on gun control when you shout down everyone else’s ideas but your own even when the data shows your idea does not work.

Gun control has failed.  A gun is just the tool used this time.  They have used bombs, gas, airplanes to kill us but you don’t look a those items.  No you fixate on the gun. . . . We need to start a real conversation on how we deal with mental health issues in this country and how we deal with the mentally ill.  One more law will do nothing.  One more law passed because of emotion instead of data does even less.

An Open Letter to our Leaders in America

Dear American Leaders

The reason I am contacting you is in regards to the terrible events of last Friday in Connecticut.   Any death of a child is tragic, and to have a madman kill 26 people is unthinkable but it happened. 

The problem we now face is what to do about it.  We can get emotional and pass another law but that will not fix the problem.   We need to take a hard look at how we deal with mental health issues in this country. 

It is time to take a hard look at FACTS and admit that gun control has not worked.  We have placed our most precious gift – our kids (I have 3) in schools that are gun free zones.  Why?  How can we not protect our kids?  We all but advertise they are defenseless and wonder why crazed killers go there. . .  what are we thinking?

Over and over again these gun free zones have been where the madman goes to kill people.  All of the mass shootings (more than three killed) since 1950 have been in gun free zones with the exception of the Gifford shooting.  This is not by accident.  People know where folks will be disarmed and cannot fight back.  This attracts these sick people as we have see over and over. 

The other thing we have see over and over is that when a civilian is there to stand up to them right away things end with far fewer deaths.  It has been shown that when there is a lawful gun owner on site to react the death toll is just over 2- when people have to wait for the police to get there the average death toll goes over 14.  That is the hard facts of gun control – it does not make us safer, it puts us in more danger.

To take the emotion out of it look at it this way:  We have outlawed drugs. . . but now we have the war on drugs and still almost any high school kid in the US can tell you how to get drugs.  Our war on drugs has not stopped the supply and has increased the violence involved as gangs and dealers fight for control.  Innocents are injured and killed in their crossfire and neighborhoods ripped apart.

Prohibition in the 1920s was supposed to end alcohol in the USA.  What we got were stronger gangs and people still got their booze.  The laws did nothing to stop it and increased the violence in our country to the point we repealed the amendment and I hope learned from it.  I admit our War on Drugs gives me doubts we learned a thing.

I am asking that you do not support any NEW gun control laws.  We have plenty on the books now and they have done nothing to protect us.  This shooter killed his own mother, stole her guns, took them to a gun free zone, and then killed 26 people.  He broke at least 30 laws.  Do you think one more will change things?  We need to have a national discussion, but on Mental Health, not gun control.  Until these people get the help they need we will not change anything.  This time the tool was a gun.  In 1927 44 were killed when the madman used a bomb at the school instead.  Timothy McVeigh used a car bomb and killed 168 people in 1995.  In 1990 the Happy Land fire in NYC (Very strict gun control) killed 87 people – it was arson with gas, a very common item anyone can get.

Please support our rights.  Don’t punish the millions of law abiding gun owners for the act of a madman.  Don’t take away my ability to protect my children.  It is un-American to punish folks for acts they did not commit – why is this different.  It is time for our leadership to stand up and fix things.  Please push for help for the mentally ill.  Only then will we see the madness stop.

Thanks You 

An Open Letter To the Discovery Channel/Sons of Guns

Dear Discovery,

I would like to know when Sons of Guns will be back on the air?  I hope you will not allow the acts of a madman in Connecticut to make your decisions for you.  A TV show did not cause this horrendous act or drive this man to commit it.  Millions of law abiding people own guns.  Guns are used to prevent crime up to 2 million times a year.  Please do not discriminate against all of use based on a man who broke multiple laws to commit this horrid crime.  We cannot let the madman win.

If you look at the discussions on the net with each news report you can clearly see the vast majority of people realize this tragedy was a mental illness issue, the gun is just the tool picked this time.  Other madmen have used other tools such as cars, gas and airplanes to kill and we have not banned those or taken them off the air.

Guns are just a tool, and make our lives safer.  Gun sales have been up for years now and violent crime has been going down.  Blaming an inanimate object is foolish.  We need to take a hard look at how we address these issues.  It is time to start placing the blame for these tragic events on the person not the tool.  Would we feel any different if he use a bomb like the madman in 1927 did (and killed more people)?  We have a mental health issue in this county, not a gun issue.  

Please show us you also understand this and support our Constitution and our rights as Americans to not all be judged by the acts of one madman.  Millions of law abiding citizens who own guns should not be vilified for something they did not do.  Gun owners also grieve over this senseless loss of life and every one of us wishes we could change what happened.  We must keep working on finding the real cause of why this madman did this and why he did not get the help he needed.  Knee jerk reactions to attack gun owners will not help us or fix anything.  Please bring this show back.

I look forward to the return of Sons of Guns

Thank You

Gun Control

Had to pass this on 

Larry knows his stuff, go and read it

A taste to think about - So how often are guns actually used in self-defense in America?http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html

On the high side the estimate runs around 2.5 million defensive gun uses a year, which dwarfs our approximately 16,000 homicides in any recent year, only 10k of which are with guns.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm Of those with guns, only a couple hundred are with rifles. So basically, the guns that the anti-gunners are the most spun up about only account for a tiny fraction of all our murders.

Why People Own Guns

This is a story you must read.

It shows how one person woke up and realized the need to own a gun.

Folks the government has no right to enact gun control.  the Second Amendment is clear.  Why we have let them is the question.  And look at what it cost us?

Time to stop the madness, stop the gun grabs, and remind the Pols they work for us and we want a real fix of the root cause . . . not another quick news bite as they strip us of our rights.

Guns are not the problem.  madmen are.  Good men need to be armed to deal with this.  End of story.

Gun Control Rant

Uncle Jay has a great post up. . GO READ IT

interesting bit at the end of how CT does not force the mentally ill to get help. . .  maybe we need to look at that if they are deemed a threat?  but for now we have to wait until they either do something or say they are about to do something. . .  just because a doctor thinks they are a danger does not mean we can force them to get help. . . . .

But don't worry, I am sure the Pols in DC won't even look at mental health issues. . . why deal with the root of the problem that is letting them grab power from us?