Bagman and Seatbelts

    ©John Womack, 2011.  All rights reserved.

Bagman and Red Lights

Copyright John Womack, 2011.  All rights reserved.

Open Letter to Mr. McHenry about Firearms.

I have no problem with the right of  “the people” to keep and bear arms.   And I agree with the statement in your letter to me of February 18, 2011, that  “that right comes with a huge responsibility.”   

I wrote you not to say that the Second Amendment has let the American citizens down, I am saying that the United States Congress has let us down by  not establishing sufficient laws concerning the use of firearms in America.  That is why I have written you four times and called your office five times in the year 2011 alone concerning gun laws. 

You said in your letter that the “government’s responsibility is not to limit the lawful rights of law-abiding gun owners.  Rather, it is the government’s duty to strictly enforce current gun laws and levy stiff penalties against criminals who use guns to commit crimes.  

Well sir, let me propose to you that the laws of the United States are not sufficient to protect its citizens, and that the Congress of the United States is derelict in it’s duty to pass laws to protect its citizens.  

That assertion is based on the following facts:

1)  Some 11,000 American citizens are killed each  year by firearms (Bureau of Justice - see graph at end of letter)

2)  Consider that when a group of Saudi Arabians attacked and killed less than 3,000 Americans (and other nationals) on September 11, 2001, we embarked upon a war that now, ten years later, involves us in combat in three nations,  Another 4,000 American troops  have been killed in those wars, along with perhaps 100,000 Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani citizens,  and we have spent somewhere between $1.4 and 3 Trillion dollars because “terrorists” killed 3,000 Americans.  

3)  BUT  - that same number of Americans were killed again in the United States from firearms alone, by other Americans before Christmas Day in 2001, 90 days after the attack by alien “terrorists”.   

4)  And THEN, another 3,000 Americans were killed by other American “Terrorists?” in March, again in June, and September, and Christmas Day again in 2002, and the same in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and now we are coming up on another “anniversary”. 

5)  That means about 115,000 Americans have been killed by other Americans with firearms, mostly handguns, since the “terrorists”  did their nasty little trick.

6)  And you say – in your letter to me – that “the actions of a minority of people abusing their freedoms should not limit the freedoms of the majority of decent and upright Americans.”   

7)  Mr. McHenry, what part of 33 shot dead every day do you attribute to a minority of people abusing their freedom?  

Notice that I have not even asked that  you introduce any laws concerning gun control in America.  I have simply asked that you help to begin a dialog in this country about whether we even need gun control.  I have asked that that group include the NRA,  along with other interested groups, and that a full and in-depth discussion ensue to discuss all the problems we can find that are associated with guns.

So - can we have a discussion?  And.  If not – WHY not?  Please either help to start this discussion or tell me why you don’t want to.

Bureau of Justice Statistics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

Note also that the National Center for Injury Prevention and control stated During the 33-year period covered by this report, the total number of firearm deaths increased by 130%, from 16,720 in 1962 to 38,505 in 1994.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/firarmsu.htm

Peter King and the Radical Right

Republican representative Peter King of New  York is convening a congressional investigation into the Muslim religion.  Well, it’s really just an investigation into “radical” Muslims.  I think that is great.  It’s long overdue,  too.  And I hope that committee doesn’t just investigate Islam but I would encourage them to go further and continue their investigations into Judaism.  Certainly, the Jews are part of the problem in the Middle East, and the United States is (secretly) sworn to protect Israel regardless of their issues, so Representative King should definitely get to the bottom of Judaism.  Or at least the “radical” part of Judaism.  

And while King and his Homeland Security Committee are at it why not take a peek into the Christian religion?  At least those damn “radical” Christians?  We have all heard that the Protestants are trying to take over the officer corps of the United States Air Force by going after the cadets at the Air Academy, right?  And there has got to be a radical reason for that!  And then why not call some Bishops from the Catholic church to talk about pedophilia perhaps, and the “Art of Coverup” and how to lie while holding a cross and looking pious.  Representative King is a Catholic so he should have some input in there.  And before we forget, why not take a look at Mormons, again, just those pesky “radical Mormons”.  And before we forget, we also ought to see if we can find any radical Buddhists or radical Hindus and march them before Peter King.  And to be fair, we also ought to seek out radical Seiks, Coptics, Jains, and . . . well, now we are getting close to ignoring some religions.  So i will have to just quit before I upset some people.  I certainly wouldn’t want to have to go before congress as a Radical Blogger.  Oh, by the way, will these people have to take an oath with their hand on a Bible?

Of course, that brings to mind other possibilities of ways to spend taxpayers' money.  Why not take a look at congressmen – only the radical ones of course – and let’s especially not forget investigating the radical Republicans.  And then there is the matter of Radical Journalists – my, that would make a fine show – lots of really great talent there, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and others. Maybe congress could even get Olberman to prepare a Special Comment!  Wow.   You know what?  They could even televise this, put it on a special cable show like HBO, sell tickets and help reduce the Deficit!! Now how’s that for a Radical Idea? 

Bradley Manning?

Bradley Manning is a puzzle.  To me – anyway.  For a PFC he was a gigantic creature  He knew a lot of information and he had access to an enormous amount of classified stuff.  I can’t help but wonder how a PFC had that kind of access to anything.  I used to have access to a lot of classified information myself, but I never knew anything close to the whole story.  In fact I only knew kind of important little glimpses.  Very few people, as I  recall only one or two, actually had enough access to know anything like a “big picture”.  And those people were of pretty high rank.  So, I can’t help but wonder 1) how a PFC would have access to anything like a portion of the data he apparently released to WikiLeaks, and 2) what the hell were his supervisors doing, and 3) what the hell were his supervisor's supervisors doing? 

Did Bradley Manning do the nation a disservice by releasing that data?  Actually he may have done a great SERVICE to us by pointing out how much classified information seems to be laying around unprotected.  Apparently he just released stuff that was really more embarrassing than anything else, the kind of goodies that eventually seep out anyway, and which all the people who are identified therein, and supposedly were embarrassed about in those leaks, all pretty well knew about  anyway.

But Manning was apparently just after the petty stuff.  If our classified information is really this poorly guarded then there may be some really important things out there that the wrong kind of people might get hold of and that could be really bad.

Also, maybe we could create some new levels of classified information.  Then we could have “Confidential”, “Secret”, “Top Secret” and “Embarrassing”.  That way we wouldn’t have titillating tidbits of gossip mixed in with the number of troops we have in a certain location, their firepower and problems they might facing, and you know – important stuff. 

Meanwhile, how we are treating Bradley Manning in prison may be saying a lot more about who we really are as a nation than what he leaked about us says about him.

And then there is the question that we never ask in this country anymore:  "Why"?  Why did he do it?  Why?