Gunner's views on current Political Issues

One of the issues in front of the US Supreme court this spring concerns the gun ban in Washington DC. The court may decide the case applies only to the district of Columbia, which is unique because it is not a state, or the court could confirm that the 2nd Amendment give individuals the right to own guns. This is the first time in 70 years a Second Amendment issue has been accepted by the court, and back then they dodged the issue of individual right. If things keep going the way they are in this country we may need our guns!

A long time back you asked about the Glock semi-auto. Personally I don’t like anything about it. The Glock was designed to be safe to carry, and to be reliable when carried by people with little training. It is a double action weapon without a hammer, so the trigger pull cocks and fire the gun each time the trigger is pulled, giving the gun a long and heavy trigger pull and making it difficult to shoot accurately. The safety is a button on the trigger, which prevents the gun from being fired unless it is depressed, so nervous cops can’t forget to release the safety when they need to fire the gun in a hurry. It also keeps them from shooting themselves in the leg if they forget to lower the hammer before they return the gun to the holster. I carry my Taurus with the hammer down, and the safety off. That makes the first shot double action, with a long, heavy trigger pull, and each succeeding shot single action with a short, light trigger pull. If I have time I can cock the hammer for the first shot.

As you know, I have mixed feelings about the war in the Middle East. I was very much against going into Iraq in the first place, but since we are there we need to finish the job. The most resent problems with Moqtada al-Sadr’s millitia in Basra just makes blood shoot out of my eyes. First, why is that jerk still alive? As far as I am concerned, you surround Basra. Then you announce that noncombatants have till sundown to leave the city, and after that you move into the city and kill every living thing left behind.

I recently told Dana that the only person I know off who actually solved the problem of poverty was Count Drakula. His city was overrun by beggars, who were mostly deceased and cripples. Drakula invited them all to a holiday feast at his castle, and then had them killed. Problem solved. Dana was not impressed by Drakula’s solution to poverty, although I reasoned that Drakula spared these poor people from a lifetime of misery.

Sometimes I can’t figure out if I am getting old and grumpy, or if the world really is going to Hell in a hand basket. Part of it may just be that humans were only designed to deal with the problems within their tribe or village, and now we are being inundated with the problems of the whole world. I follow the primaries as well as patience allow, and this crop of candidates are the most miserable, pathethic, lying bunch of thieves imaginable. First, the president does not control the economy, and never has, so the candidates are lying when they claim they will fix the economy. In fact, the economy is mostly a matter of perception, and the scare of a major recession is being used to distract the populace away from the greedy corporations who are exploiting us. The main reason for the present downturn in the economy right now are the fuel prices, and earlier this week the US Senate questioned a bunch of fuel company executives about making 40 billion dollars in profits during the past year, while collecting more billions in tax incentives from the government. Apparently these executives convinced the senators that that their profits are modest and reasonable. Hey, somebody get a rope.

This is enough bitching for this time, because I could write many more pages if I get into all the ways we will be exploited and controlled by the man-made global warming crowd if they get their way. I am working on a story about Grayulf, who settled in England to get away from the growing power of the Christian church and the kings in Denmark.

Gunner.

Tribute of Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston died last night. To me the life he lived and the characters he played in film symbolized the ideal Man. He lived a reserved dignified life which is difficult to do when you are world famous. He was one of the great film stars of the fifties and sixties. There are very few of them left. Also he belonged to a select group of actors who has a screen present that was almost magical.

Charlton’s film roles were some of the most heroic ever depicted on film. My all time favored is Le Cid. The scenes with Sophia Loren are in a class all by themselves when it comes to romance. The battle scenes are also great. Of course, Charlton Heston’s film roles were often so pro Christian that a good Heathen had to bit his tongue. Anyway, Charlton would have made a great Heathen.

During Charlton’s later years he did not do much acting, but spent his time as a spokes person for the American Rifle Association. He became a leading advocate for "the right to bear arms". Charlton received much criticism because of this role by the liberal left, which tend to hold the belief that no one should own a gun. We in Canada also tend to hold the view that no one should own hand guns or assault rifles. This attitude works well in Canada for the most part. We do have relatively little gun violence compared to the US.

I will say that if I lived in the US my views on firearms would be much more in accordance with Charlton Heston. To live in an environment where the dangerous people have guns and you don’t, is kind of stupid. An excellent example of a country were all “law-abiding people” are armed at all times, is modern day Israel. There is less gun violence in Israel then there is in countries where carrying firearms are illegal. Of course in Israel, we only consider gun violence between Israelis.

To get back to Charlton, I will raise a glass tonight in his honor. In what ever next life he encounters, I wish him the best.

Cheers

Ole

Sick of the US Primary

All we see on American news is the continuing story of the Democratic Primary race between Obama and Hillary. It has become rather nauseating to see which one will be the best President of the US. The impression you get from watching the news is that who ever wins the Primary will automatically become the next American President. Once in a while you catch a few seconds shot of the Republican candidate, McCain.

Obama and Hillary are trying to out do each other by being the most social conscious and race sensitive politician ever. They both talk about public health care, solving the illegal immigration problem, and ending the war in Iraq. The real problems of the country are being ignored. They both say that what ever is wrong is because of Bush's bad leadership and policies.

As much as I love democracy and the freedoms that come with it, I believe that these two politicians will be worse then the four years with Jimmy Carter.

If we take a hard sober look at world politics it becomes instantly clear that Western Democracies are in serious trouble. The current US debt of many trillion of dollars is like living with a time bomb. If and when it goes off, it will take the western economy with it. Both the Chinese and the Saudis are holding trillions of American dollars, and if they dumped them the US dollar would worth maybe .25 cents.

The most damaging policy of the west and especially the US is giving away its industrial industry to Asia, and especially to China. On the news today, it was announced that the US has lost a quarter of a million jobs in the last three months. A lot of these jobs were manufacturing jobs what will never come back. You can not buy a par of shoes or a piece of clothing in Canada and the US today that is not made in Asia. I could write pages of all the industry that have been given away. Most of it did not need to leave North America. The multinational corporations are moving out our industry and jobs to make a slight increase in profits. Our inept, corrupt, ineffective, bought off politicians, are standing by doing absolutely nothing.

Another totally serious issue is that current governments will not deal with is immigration. This is another time bomb not deal with. The reason, of course, is that they provide cheap labor.

A major issue that the Democrats will more then likely totally bungle is the foreign policy. In this area, Bush has left an unbelievable mess. To deal with this will take a strong focused president that will not hesitate to use force. Both Osama and Hillary believe they can deal with Muslim leaders by reasonable dialog and that they can end the Iraq war by negotiation. If they try that the US will be leaving Iraq in a way that will make the Vietnam route look like a walk in the park. McCain says that the US will stay in Iraq till they can leave with honor. I don't know it that is possible, but can the US survive the alternative.

So who will eventually become the next leader of the free world? Does it not almost seem funny to call western democracies the free world. Free to give away their economies, free to be over run, free to limit free speech to accommodate hateful religions.

Like I have said before, I will not have to deal with the traumatic experience of voting for one of these candidates because I am a Canadian. But I will have to live with the consequences of their actions.

Finding My Blog Niche

I am into my third month of this Blog and am starting to get a sense of where I‘m going and what I want to say. It is easy to vent anger and frustrations about all the problems I see around me and the abuses of agencies and governments. Taking a general approach to these issues is like shouting into the wind.

It is also very tempting to focus on organized religions and the suppression and control that they preach in the name of salvation. I am a Heathen and therefore a member of a religious community so I need to be careful about slamming religion and spirituality in general. The religions that I have the most issues with are what we sometimes call the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The truth is that I know a lot of people who belong to these three religions and for the most part, they are great people. Some are actually very spiritual and respectful to other religions. It is not the individuals of these religions that I have issues with. They are victims of religious corporations and do not see how they are being controlled and manipulated for non spiritual purposes.

My issues are with the people behind the scenes who are manipulating religious organizations and political institutions. I believe they work to keep our society and governments in confused and turmoil. Their methods wary widely from using ultra conservative religion doctrine, to terrorist acts, and regional wars. The purpose for keeping society in perpetual conflict and ciaos is obvious to me; a peaceful and democratic society is the greatest threat to their power and control.

I do not want to sound like another promoter of conspiracy theories. That I am talking about is obvious when you stop and think about what is happening around us. I do not believe much of what I am told or what I read. I try to observe patterns of behaviors and political trends. Most often you find the truth in behaviors and actions, not in works. What I do know is that social conflict, religious hatred, and wars, are manipulated and orchestrated by very powerful individuals and groups behind the scenes. These are the people and groups I want to focus this Blog on.