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Friday, March 29, 2013

God,Guns and Gays.


A letter writer from Goliad, Jeneal Jackson, asked citizens to write their federal congressional representatives to stand up for marriage between a man and a woman. What good is that going to do when only one republican has announced that he’s for marriage equality? Only the uninformed doesn’t know where the GOP stands on this issue. Gay marriage is now before the Supreme Court and is beyond the bounds of Congress.

The issue is about the constitutionality of proposition 8.and DOMA. I don’t think it’s a job of the Federal government to define marriage, no matter how many times the evils of homosexuality is mentioned in the bible. I did get a chuckle when Jeneal Jackson said, “even a non -Christian can understand this one.” Perhaps Mr. Jackson will someday understand that we should let the states police the marriage laws and not the feds or his definition of Christianity.

I recommend the Stonekettle Station blog (click on the blogs I visit) because he gives careful thought-out answers to another letter that is very similar to the one Mr. Jackson wrote.

Before 9/11, it wasn’t fashionable to be anti- Muslim. It’s not unusual to see a large gathering of people in a public restaurant holding hands and saying grace before their meal. I wonder why it’s cause for panic when two or three Muslims put down their prayer rug and start to pray? On any given Sunday, you can surely find a church service on television but you would be hard pressed to find a non- Christian service. An isolated incident is not a war on Christianity and neither was the incident where gunman killed six people and critically wounded three at a Sikh temple during Sunday services. I’m old enough to have gone through school where prayer was led by a teacher. I’m here to tell you that it didn’t make a difference. Mr. Jackson should read the statue because he’s either preaching ignorance or bigotry.

I understand the politics of the NRA and gun laws, but I also understand the consensus of the American people. Poll after poll clearly shows that Americans want background checks. I was horrified to learn that Senator Grassley(R-IA) was working to water down a gun bill in order to avoid Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz's filibuster. So is the senate now catering to the tea party on such an important issue? Those three senators smell blood in the water and they are willing to hold up legislation at any cost.

As I said the other day, the gun advocates have one argument, and that’s their fear of gun confiscation. I read where the parents of Jared Loughner took his shotgun away because they feared what he would do in his condition, but he was legally able to purchase a Glock 19 at the Sportsman’s warehouse outlet in Tucson, Arizona. That’s on us because we allow the absolutists to hold up the 2nd Amendment as if it’s written in granite. If you’re a bartender, you better not get caught selling more liquor to someone who’s intoxicated.

In order to enforce stricter laws on straw purchasers, prosecutors need a paper trail but that’s what the GOP senators are objecting to. The message is “go after the entertainment industry and the records of the mentally ill but guns are strictly off limits.

The investigation of the Newtown shootings is nearly over, and we have found some startling evidence that proves Adam Lanza favored the Bushmaster and the 30 around clips, so he could kill as many schoolchildren as possible. How do we know this? He left behind the 10 round clips and other weapons in his arsenal that would slow him down. We know that they prefer rapid fire weapons with extended clips for maximum destruction.

Why is it that we can’t prevent a prisoner who was recently released from prison from persuading a straw purchaser to buy him a gun? The released prisoner knew he couldn’t pass a background check and probably knew that we don’t normally prosecute straw purchasers. A prosecutor can’t make a case without a paper trail unless they go through trouble of setting up a sting operation and then they have to rely on video evidence or a confession.

We no longer can fool ourselves, we know the motives of mass shootings, the weapons of choice and equipment and the flaws in our gun laws but some just want to shrug their shoulders and say “that’s unfortunate but that’s life.”

Have a good weekend,Good Friday and Happy Easter.

7 comments:

Mike said...

Pretty good tribute to the Joshua family.

http://m.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2012/jun/18/gp_monroejoshua_061912_179512/

Frank Tilly has a good video of Aunt Jo's BBQ run by the decedents of the Joshua family.I think I will try it out next week.

I remember hearing all the old timers talk about the Joshua family when I worked for the TX HWY Dept....I'm sure they exaggerated the riches of a family that came from slaves. It was like clockwork,every-time we passed the estate....I always meant to read about them but I always forgot.

Edith Ann said...

Where do I start?

It makes me very angry as a Christian to have folks FORCE their religious views on the rest of us! There is nothing worse than self-righteous over-pious folks who have such a narrow view of reality that they can look through a key hole with both eyes!

As to Adam Lanza, his choice of clips is interesting and supports what the experts are say--smaller clips would have slowed him down. Of course the NRA doesn't want to see this. It defeats their argument!

The folks who are shrugging their shoulders are the ones who look at the sad reality as the cost of doing [NRA] business.

Yes, Stonekettle Station is a great read! He is absolutely correct!

Mike said...

A lot of them get their filtered news from Worldnetdaily or other conspiratorial sites like infowars and think it's their obligation to warn others.

I can pray whenever and wherever I want; say "Happy Easter" or not and go to the place of worship of my choice. I don't have to fear or hate Muslims or gays.Last Sunday our church was packed,so I don't have a fear of religious liberty being taken away.

The NRA has settled on an answer of "any new law will not work and it will only lead to our tyrannical government taking away the guns." Law enforcement cannot defend us ;it's gonna take these wannabe Rambos to protect us.

If we lose the battle this time we'll have no recourse than to replace the obstructionists in 2014 upstanding that's it's an uphill climb.

Mike said...

OMG,now Pat Robetson is spreading a lie.

Pat Robertson, Pope of the Televangelists, is joining with the crackpot theories of Alex Jones that warns Americans the feds are out to get us, just like he did during his Clinton 'black helicopter' days.

Robertson: Long trains full of armored vehicles, personnel carriers with armor, what are they for, the army going into battle against the enemy? They're used by Homeland Security against us,” Robertson ominously warned. “Imagine what Homeland Security is doing is just awful and we’re going to talk about how much ammunition they’re stockpiling: who are they going to shoot, us?

David Edwards:

The same theories have also been picked up in recent weeks by the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.

And on Thursday, Robertson weighed in on the side of the conspiracy theorists, calling it “like something out of science fiction: long trains of full or armored vehicles, personnel carriers with armor.”

And then of course we have to debunk these fictitious reports since it is possible that it could enter the mainstream.

The conspiracy about secretive ammo stockpiling is completely unfounded.

According to the Associated Press, the ammunition is used in trainings for “tens of thousands of federal law enforcement officers” and for the use of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.As Media Matters pointed out, DHS does own light armored vehicles for emergencies and raids on drug cartels, and the recent purchases of such vehicles were actually for the U.S. Marine Corps.

In fact, the conspiracy theory is so baseless that even the NRA has debunked it.

Edith Ann said...

Pat Robertson. Anyone who puts any stock in anything that guy has to say deserves to spend their days afraid!

L O O N Y T O O N !

Have you seen the Alan Simpson smack down on the republican party? It is good!

Edith Ann said...

Speaking of Loony Toons, the vile commenter from Inez has weighed in on Jackson's letter.

Okay, this is my question: How are we supposed to know when to follow the Bible and when to follow the Constitution? Our lawmakers are not helping one bit. Sometimes they are beating us over the head with their Bibles, and at other times, they are pounding us with the Constitution.

Last time I checked, the US was not a theocracy, but these folks sure act like it is. And when they claim to be pro-war, pro-guns and other things that kill and then in the same breath claim to be pro-life, it confuses me!

Who is correct here? How does one know which 'good book' to use?

Mike said...

I guess it depends on the venue; I have not heard passages from the Bible as a defense against gay-marriage in the two cases before the Supreme Court. The United States Constitution is a document that protects Christians and non- Christians. It protects every human being in the continental United States.

I’m not going to get spiritual advice from a lawyer and I won’t get legal advice from a priest.

As for the commenter from Inez, “one who lives in a glass house should not cast stones.”