The Second Amendment

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.

The phrase “…the right of the people…” is not a new sentence and it is tied by punctuation and the lack of a capital letter to the front end of the sentence which begins "A well regulated militia...". It clearly shows the framers intent. This phrase is about a militia and the security of a free state – it is disingenuous to read just the part that suits your political agenda. This is the same disingenuous tactic used by the NRA. Everyone please in the future read the whole phrase and include the punctuation … if the often quoted …or rather mis-quoted right to bear arms was the sole intention of the framers it would have gotten its own amendment and started off with a capital t. This amendment is talking about state’s rights and the ability to raise a militia in the face of tyranny from a centralized government. That is the issue much dearer to the hearts of the framers than arming every citizen in the public square. How people got their food was not the intention of this amendment.

Let's get it right citizens!

Conservatives, Liberals and Neo-Cons

Let's get some definitions right:

Liberal - adj 1: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant of his opponent's opinions" [syn: broad, large-minded, tolerant] 2: having political or social views favoring reform and progress 3: tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition 2: a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets.

Conservative - adj 1: Favouring that which is established or traditional, with an opposition to change. Resistant to change. Traditional, conventional, orthodox, cautious, guarded, prudent, archaic, conforming to the standards and conventions of the middle class. As an estimate or calculation: deliberately low, for the sake of caution, unimaginatively conventional.

Neoconservative - An intellectual and political movement in favor of political, economic, and social conservatism that arose in opposition to the perceived liberalism of the 1960s: “The neo-conservatism of the 1980s is a replay of the New Conservatism of the 1950s, which was itself a replay of the New Era philosophy of the 1920s”(Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.). Moderate political conservatism espoused or advocated by former liberals or socialists.

I particularly hate the term neo-con - it's meant as some sort of hybrid bridge between liberal and conservative and I think it just clouds the issues. For instance all of the alleged conservatives name calling and saber rattling support a President who has extremely liberal views towards creating large government agencies, creating historically large fiscal deficits and an extremely liberal approach to using military power. George Bush is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination his actions define him as liberal. He also has an extremely liberal interpretation of the separation of church and state in direct opposition to the conservative (safe, guarded) approach of our forefathers.

The Liberals so vilified by the republican controlled congress reduced the deficit, created a surplus and shrunk the size of the federal government (by outsourcing) to government contractors. The Executive, head of congress and head of senate - Clinton, Gingrich and Dole - did a helluva better job running this country than the gang of Bush, Hastert and Delay. No once the republicans got complete control (and it took them decades to do it) they went nuts - like kids in a candy store - they built bridges to nowhere.

The Iraq war is a war to secure oil fields for American and Western allied countries. That's all it is - Saddam was a loose cannon but unlike his Dad - W didn't just go in and fetch Noriega and get out - nope he dismantled the whole countries security guard and has been scrambling to put it back in place ever since. He F'd up big time but in about three to five more years it should be stabilized or completely destroyed.

Finally how can anyone get all misty eyed, flag waving patriotic supporting our President when this President is cutting the benefits of the very soldiers doing his oil company backers bidding? How dare they. Look it's not what the politicians say ignore their speeches - it's what they put in writing and pass as law. Behind closed doors they screw the little guy again and again. Our tax dollars get redistributed to the uber wealthy - the over-represented 1% of our population that controls the politicians through their vast resources of money. Unless we watch the votes and pressure them they'll give the big money whatever they want - hopefully that doesn't get us all killed in the end.

Independent Media Now More Than Ever

There is no more bright line between politicians and corporate America (perhaps there never was) and there is no more bright line between the media and corporate America. The media now more than ever has an obligation - a patriotic duty to write independently about politics and the governing of our country. With the scary consolidation of financial power and the control of the media and the political process we are in a world of trouble if we can't cry foul when we have been wronged.

Audible, credible dissent is the indicator of a true democracies health even in a Republic.

What galls me the most is that the Politicians have the nerve to wave the flag. They deliver their speeches calling for the support of the President, the support of the war, the President calling for the support of himself, and calling for the support our troops, and if you don’t you are un-American. That rhetoric is trumpeted far and wide in the public square and out in the open in front of carefully crafted media events. While behind closed doors our politician’s actual deeds and the words they put on paper and their behavior is divisive, corrupt and inflaming.

It would be easier for all of us to stand together with the war in Iraq and other administration initiatives if behind closed doors the President wasn't giving huge tax breaks to the uber wealthy 1 percent of the population, giving tax payer subsidies to the uber profitable oil companies, shredding environmental laws like the clean air and water acts, trying to tell people who to love, how to love and when to have babies, distorting the true intention of the second amendment, advocating for a State sponsored religion, building bridges to nowhere, cutting our troops pay and benefits, not supporting our 9/11 rescue workers fully and completely, and basically screwing the little guy because the President’s constituency is “the haves and the haves more” (those are his words) ... and handing out fat contracts to his financial contributors while they fail to provide the necessary and basic equipment to our fighting men overseas and our rescue teams at home.

These men in charge are horrible hypocrites and the whole world can see through their act. The citizens need to stop wondering why the rest of the world hates us and elect men and women of integrity. Now more than ever we need an independent press to say what is necessary and true. It is the balm that soothes our souls and the catalyst to cure our misdeeds. Otherwise it’s all one big propaganda machine and we are now the Soviet Union of the cold war. That’s not what I want for my country and I hope those who control the purse strings feel the same.