2ND Amendment Ruling Due in 2008

[barfle]

Reckognizing that a Constitutional conflict exists when attempting to maintain an adequate military in peacetime, we find ourselves struggling to meet the military challenges of the modern world while keeping our military readiness within Constitutional restraints.

Simple. Just stay in a constant state of war, which is what we've been doing as long as I've been alive.

[Shapley]

Exactly. Declaring an end to the 'cold war' created the problem, but there's still the 'war on drugs' and the 'war on terror'.

[jamiebk]

Ihave an idea.....Why don't we declare war on war...Would this bring peace?

[Haggis@wk]

Ihave an idea.....Why don't we declare war on war...Would this bring peace?

Only the dead have seen the end of war

[Shapley]

"War is the father of all things and the king of all; and some he has made gods and some men, some bond and some free." Heraclitus of Ephesus

"War and love always find a way." Berthold Brecht

"War is the strong life; it is life in extremis." William James

"When you become confused in your false ego you say to yourself, 'I will not fight' you are misled. By your nature you must fight" Bhagavad Gita

"The whole earth, perpetually steeped in blood, is nothing but an immense altar on which every living thing must be sacrificed without end, without restraint, without respite until the consummation of the world, the extinction of evil, the death of death." Joseph de Maistre

"The history of man is the history of war." [attributed to Hermann Goering]

[Serenity]

Fighting is an instinctive response that is lower on the evolutionary scale than a rational, thoughtful response. ("F 'em all!!! That'll "learn 'em!"". Ha-ha....I won....struttin' my stuff now! They'll think twice about invadin' my space now).
A dog will think twice about lashing out at the hands that feeds it even though it does very little thinking.

[analog]

Wasn't that explored by HG Wells in Island of Dr Moreau ?

And they revert. As soon as my hand is taken from them the beast begins to creep back, begins to assert itself again.

[Haggis@wk]

A dog will think twice about lashing out at the hands that feeds it even though it does very little thinking.

But when it does, that's called a revolution. War is when you try to take away your neighbor's dog's bone

[Serenity]

That's right...you're fighting over something insignificant.....your neighbor's dog's bone. Would you rather be remembered as "Haggis the Horrible", striking fear in everyone remembering you or "Saint Haggis", People feeling inspired, loved and willing to contribute to the memory of your cause.

[piqaboo]

Exactly. Declaring an end to the 'cold war' created the problem, but there's still the 'war on drugs' and the 'war on terror'.

disingenuous.

[Shapley]

Exactly. Declaring an end to the 'cold war' created the problem, but there's still the 'war on drugs' and the 'war on terror'.

disingenuous.

How so?

[Haggis@wk]

A Pizza Hut deliverer fired shots at an armed robber who threatened his life, wounding him and leading to the criminal’s capture by police. What kind of reward did James Spiers get for his self-defense? Unemployment:

A Des Moines pizza driver who was suspended from his job after he shot an armed robber said today he has been overwhelmed by support from people who cheered what happened.

“But no one had contacted me directly about a job offer,” said James William Spiers III, 38, who was sent home by Pizza Hut managers after he fired multiple shots at a man who put a gun to his head Thursday and demanded money …

Spiers, who has a valid handgun permit, said he’s been “pretty much in the dark” about his job since the incident. Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut’s corporate offices in Dallas, said last week that employees are not allowed to carry guns “because we believe that that is the safest for everybody.”

“I just know that, given what happened, it’s not likely I’ll have a job anyway,” Spiers said. “Right now, I’m just taking some time off, trying to cool things down.”

I believe Pizza Hut has every right to set its employment conditions; I personally think it’s wrong.

If they think Pizza Hut’s corporate image is better served by having their deliverers die on doorsteps around this nation than to have the ability to defend themselves, that’s entirely their decision.

In the past few decades more and more of these companies who routinely put their employees in harms’ way (7-11, pizza companies, food delivery services, etc) have insisted that remaining defenseless is the best defense; a dubious proposition and one that has backfired more than once.

Here’s one story that ended with two dead deliverers. Here’s another from earlier this year.

I’m lazy but Google search turns up 574,000 hits for pizza delivery murder including Pittsburgh that had one two years ago that remains unsolved; one from December in Wisconsin, where earlier another deliveryman wound up prosecuted for defending himself; a Chicago woman got murdered in 2006 while delivering pizza. Almost three months ago, another pizza-delivery murder occurred in South Carolina.

I don’t much like Pizza Hut so any threat from me to stop using their products is an empty threat, regardless; I informed them that I would.

All Americans have a legal right to protect themselves. A company that puts its workers in harms’ way while insisting they risk martyrdom over a ten-dollar delivery ain’t one I’m going to support.

[BigJon@Work]

Aren't most delivery people independent contractors anyway?

[Haggis@wk]

Why are gun owners so happy?
Arthur Brooks reports:

Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they "bitter." In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were "very happy," while 9% were "not too happy." Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns.

The gun-owning happiness gap exists on both sides of the political aisle. Gun-owning Republicans are more likely than nonowning Republicans to be very happy (46% to 37%). Democrats with guns are slightly likelier than Democrats without guns to be very happy as well (32% to 29%). Similarly, holding income constant, one still finds that gun owners are happiest.

[Shapley]

Fake 'Pro-Gun' Group Endorses Sen. Obama

I pointed out in a recent post that the Democrats had set up their own fraudulent site for those looking for Project Vote Smart, a respectable non-partisan site providing candidate information. The fake site was merely a link to various Democrat websites.

[Serenity]

Can I buy a toy water gun and still be happy? Oh yeah? If i buy a real gun and go to the shooting range, will I become happier the more I practice? Well.....maybe if I stop concentrating on the boring bullseye circles and start aiming at moving objects will it become more challenging. Is it OK to start pointing my newly-bought weapon at passing civilians and mouthing-off firing sounds with my mouth just like my kids do when they watch TV? WHAT!? It's not real!

BANG! BANG! ( I think I'm becoming trigger-happy!) Second Amendment (damn it!)!

[Haggis@wk]

Can I buy a toy water gun and still be happy? Oh yeah? If i buy a real gun and go to the shooting range, will I become happier the more I practice? Well.....maybe if I stop concentrating on the boring bullseye circles and start aiming at moving objects will it become more challenging. Is it OK to start pointing my newly-bought weapon at passing civilians and mouthing-off firing sounds with my mouth just like my kids do when they watch TV? WHAT!? It's not real!

BANG! BANG! ( I think I'm becoming trigger-happy!) Second Amendment (damn it!)!

Can I buy a toy water gun and still be happy? Oh yeah?

Maybe, they were always fun in the summertime

If i buy a real gun and go to the shooting range, will I become happier the more I practice?

Probably, I've always been pleased when I get better at anything, including shooting and golf

Well.....maybe if I stop concentrating on the boring bullseye circles and start aiming at moving objects will it become more challenging.

Dunno on Bulls eyes, I always use silhouettes. Moving targets are more fun but require a trip to the outdoor range for me; the indoor range is closer.

Is it OK to start pointing my newly-bought weapon at passing civilians and mouthing-off firing sounds with my mouth just like my kids do when they watch TV? WHAT!? It's not real!

No, that's generally called "assault with a deadly weapon" and is illegal anywhere in the United States.

[Serenity]

Thanks Haggis from keeping me from getting carried away!

[analog]

I know guys who own scores of guns.

I know a lady who owns nearly a hundred pairs of shoes.

I have about a dozen outboard motors.

'Tis a fine madness. To each his own.

[Shapley]

I know guys who own scores of guns.

I know a lady who owns nearly a hundred pairs of shoes.

I have about a dozen outboard motors.

'Tis a fine madness. To each his own.

I own guns, shoes, and an outboard motor...

I also own more CD's than I'll probably ever find time to listen to, and DVD's that I've owned for over a year without watching. I finally quite buying DVD's for myself, declaring that I'll not buy more until I've watched the ones that I have.

madness, indeed.