Guns, Guns, Guns!

Here's the thing, nobody's doing ANYTHING to Nugent. Since President Obama took office, NO federal gun laws have changed one bit, and no cases have been decided related to gun laws by the Supreme Court. He's the one having a giant, violence inciting hissy fit for absolutely no reason ... well there are obvious reasons, but I'm not going to get into that.

Here's what I will get into - I think it would be a good idea for people to actually understand the 2nd Amendment.

The "right to bear arms" has nothing whatsoever to do with personal defense or hunting. Let's take a look at the meaning of the amendment when it was actually written, as originalists like Justice Scalia are so fond of doing. Having a gun during the time of the founding fathers was a given. People couldn't survive in that wild land without guns to hunt and defend themselves against wild animals, native American attacks, etc.

No, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not talking about defending yourself against bears or burglars. They are talking about "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Here's the problem with that, case law has established that the legal definition of "arms" is anything you can carry in your arms. The founding fathers certainly never foresaw nuclear weapons, missile launchers, etc. All the handguns in the world are not going to stop those weapons. So, if you were to follow the founders meaning to it's modern equivalent, then by that logic, yes, your neighbor should be able to have a rocket launcher in his garage, and you can build a missile silo in your back yard. I sure as hell don't want to live on that street. Imagine what Ted Nugent would do with those weapons.

By the same token, concealed weapons, are not something the founders would have envisioned as a necessity of "a well regulated militia necessary to the security of a free state." That's utterly absurd.

The Constitution is not some infallible, sacred document that cannot be improved with time and advancements. Otherwise, I'd still be a non-person who is little more than a piece of property in this country. I've heard many times that "the Constitution is not a suicide pact," and "it is a living document." I believe both of those things to be absolutely true, and if the founders were alive today, they most certainly would not want their neighbors having missile silos in their back yards. That would be insane.

However, the founders are not alive today - we are. We are the self-governed. They gave us a great foundation for liberty, and some pretty terrific ideas. It is up to US to maintain and nurture what they started, and we're doing a pretty sh*tty job IMO. Not since The Civil War have we been so polarized, and usually based on nothing of substance. In fact, we seem to think polarization IS governing and refusing to compromise or think for ourselves is patriotism. Nothing could be farther from the true. WE are our country, not so much dirt and trees, and WE are our government. It's what we do together, as a government, for the common good - that's what patriotism is all about, what we have in common, not out disagreements. I can't figure out how that got so confused.

Affordable Health Care Act meets the Supremes

EVERYONE should listen to the ENTIRE oral argument, instead of what the idiot pundits on each side tell us to think. You can listen HERE.

It is VERY important to remember that the Sup. Ct. Justices are NOT speaking in support of one side or another in oral ARGUMENTS. They are simply hashing out the various legal questions that each side must address and getting THEIR arguments on those issues. Justices often question the attorneys regarding positions they, themselves don't advocate. Oral arguments and what each justice says is not necessarily indicitive of their opinions.

So, let's not be such drama queens. The decision is MONTHS away. So, I'd like to say, there's no need for another never-ending outragathon! There's so much to be in a useless tizzy Futile, half-baked rage is all the rage, on BOTH sides of the political spectrum. :D

A lot can happen in 3 months. I doubt Kennedy has made up his mind yet, and it sounds like he will be the tiebreaker again. However, I want to emphasis, that I have read oral arguments where you were sure you knew which side a Sup. Ct. Justice came down on, when what he/she was really doing was testing the soundness of the argument they actually favored. These justices are probably going to hash this out many, many times in the next few months, trying to persuade and inform each other on various legal theories. The decision is FAR from in the bag for either side, and THAT is my entire point. No sense getting all freaked over something that hasn't happened yet and may not happen, and you couldn't affect anyway. It's just embarrassing to see people on your "side," or the other, act like freaking idiots all the time. Jeez.

"The Justices will cast their first votes on the mandate’s constitutionality later this week, and there are perhaps three months of deliberations that would then follow."

"If that coalition were to form, it would be likely that Justice Kennedy, the senior among those five, almost certainly would assign the opinion to himself — unless, of course, the Chief Justice ultimately were persuaded to go along so that this historic case did not turn out to be decided 5-4. Roberts was among the more combative adversaries of the mandate, during Verrilli’s argument, but he made considerable efforts to remind the challengers’ lawyers of the government’s key points, perhaps to test how solid their answers to those points would be."

http://www.scotusblog.com/

Let's wait and see what the actual decision is, shall we?

The fact is, the government mandates we do all kinds of things, on the local, state and federal levels - like get vaccinations, have car insurance, educate our kids, right down to keeping our lawn mowed in some communities. WE are the government, on EVERY level, and WE have made laws that make our society a better place for all of us. That's all government is.

I think the interesting argument here is whether the commerce clause is what the government should primarily be resting the constitutionality of this law on. Seems to me the general welfare clause makes more sense. But this is why I am giddy that I get to listen to these oral arguments in full. I find this kind of thing utterly fascinating. It's well beyond my education and training as a paralegal, and that of most lawyers in fact. Constitutional law is a VERY specific and difficult area of practice, but a lot of this argument is plain spoken and the concepts are not difficult to understand. It's much more interesting that Keith Olbermann yayaing mindlessly till I want to blow my brains out.

Why is Gas So High, and Whose is REALLY Responsible?

It's hard to find a CREDIBLE chart that shows the national gas prices for the last decade, but I think it's pretty clear under whose administration the wild fluctuations began and how gas prices got where they are, and that this 5 min. $1.85 a gallon "anomaly," was just that, an anomaly, brought about by the global economic meltdown. It is hardly indicative of any long term or stable gas price that Pres. Obama inherited, lol. I mean, come on people, how can you be suckered by such total nonsense? It's that Glenn Beck style of finding some obscure little factoid and torturing and twisting it into something utterly absurd. Truth does matter.

Oil is a vital global commodity, the price of which should not be some mysterious, unknowable calculation, left up to those who control it and make HUGE profits extorting the people of the world by limiting production to drive up the price. We simply shouldn't allow it. There should be TRUE competition, and prices based on more than the whims and angst of a bunch of high stakes gamblers at the oil market casino.

Of course, ultimately, the answer is renewable energy, but that is not going to happen over night.

How does any of this make sense to ANYone?



"The price of gasoline edged up again today for the 27th day in a row. But here's an interesting twist: Prices are up even though the U.S. is now producing more gas than it needs. In December, for the first time in more than 50 years, the U.S. became a gasoline exporter."

"The U.S. has become a net exporter of gasoline for the first time in fifty years. Thanks to rising production at refineries and declining demand, the United States exported more gasoline than it imported in December. The unusual development reflects the segmented U.S. energy market — the East Coast needs to import gas while the Midwest produces a surplus."

FREE OUR MIND!

BTW, I FREAKING told you so!

The Saints Going to the Big Show . . . a Reward for Dirty, Illegal Play

Here's the thing about Joe Paterno and Mike McQueary

You see a grown man raping a child, you stop him, beat the dog crap out of him, and call the police. There's no - I told someone who told someone, and no one did anything about the pedophile with access to dozens of extremely vulnerable children. WTF?

That part of the entire BULLSHIT conspiracy doesn't ring true at all to me. It's hard for me to swallow that Paterno and McQueary just "told" someone and didn't think they had the duty to do anything else about it. I'm a 5'2" girl, and I would have beaten the dog crap out of someone if I saw them doing that, and hounded them to the ends of the Earth until children were safe from them and they were locked up. Who wouldn't do that? What kind of sub-human just looks the other way? It's baffling that anyone thinks we would buy that crap.

Hate Groups Torture Families of Dead Children and Soldiers with the Supreme Court's Blessing, While "Occupy" Protesters Gassed and Arrested

Police Fire Tear Gas at Occupy Protesters in Oakland

I actually don't think the President has the authority to tell all states, counties, cities, and private parties in the country that they have to let people protest in spite of whatever their local laws are. Further, I don't think it would be a good idea to make this a Democrat vs. Republican thing, and I don't think that would be helpful to the protesters either. I actually think we can get republicans on our side. A lot of them already are given the approval ratings of the Occupy protesters. Not all republicans are totally brainwashed by Faux Spews, and the point of all of this is the 99% who are ALL being dramatically affected by and angry as hell at Wall Street.

One thing I am certain of, is Pres. Obama is weighing all these considerations carefully.

However, if some officials and police around the country continue to behave as if they are on the verge of turning into Mubarak or Gaddafi, at some point, something very, very bad is going to happen, and then, a chain of events none of us has ever even considered might be set into motion, for better or worse.

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Marine Vet Injured Last Night As Riot Police Attack Occupy Oakland

Last night, Occupy Oakland was attacked by riot police for the second night, with the department using heavy-handed tactics to disburse protesters. Video has emerged of Scott Olsen, a Marine veteran affiliated with Veterans for Peace, being carried away after being injured by non-lethal weapons.

It's very hard to understand how this is happening to peaceful, legitimate protesters in my country, including military veterans who put their lives on the line for the rights they are trying to exercise, when those God Hates Fags/Westboro Bapt. Church monsters can legally protest at soldiers' and childrens' funerals.

Gaddafi Dead

They showed video of Gaddafi on ABC news today. I was streaming the president's statement regarding his death, and before the president came to the podium, ABC showed the video. It's only a minute or so, taken with a cell phone I'd guess. It's not graphic violence, but it's hard to watch. Gaddafi is in a huge crowd, being pulled and shoved and knocked around. He is haggard and bloodied, and he is clearly terrified, mortally terrified, and for good reason.

What I found jarring about it wasn't any blood or gore, but the intense fear and rage so visible and palpable in that short clip. You know you are watching someone who is about to be violently killed, someone who surely knows it. This is no movie - it is real, and thank God we don't see that very often, nor do we want to.

I found it extremely hard to take, deserved or not. Surely other leaders in the world who are oppressing their people and trying to stamp out human dignity and cries for freedom should take heed.