Blog
A Tough Month!
April 2012 has been a bad month for sailing along the Pacific Coast. On April 14th, five sailors were killed when their boat was swept into the rocky shoals of the Farallon Islands. Then, two weeks later on April 28th, three sailors were confirmed dead, the fourth is still missing, in what was at first believed to have been a collision with a commercial vessel. Subsequent reports indicate that the vessel may have grounded and broken apart.
There's an old saying in sailing that 'if you're not cold, wet, hungry, bruised, and bleeding, then you're not having fun'; but there is no humor in this kind of stuff.
Be careful out there!
-fl
Quantifying the Obvious
In an April 23, 2012 article titled Our National Media Don't Deserve Their 'Mainstream' Title in Investor's Business Daily, Representative Lamar Smith pointed out that "the opinions expressed by the media are neither widespread nor accepted by the majority of Americans. To call today's national media "mainstream" is inaccurate." As an example, Smith pointed out that "Gun control is [an] issue where the national media are not "mainstream." According to a study by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy, only 25% of journalists listed the Second Amendment "right to own firearms" as being "essential." A Gallup poll conducted last year shows public support for the right to bear arms to be at an all-time high of 73%.
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"Stand Your Ground" Laws
Stand Your Ground Law is good law since it puts the legal burden where it belongs—on the predator. However, since the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Florida's Stand Your Ground law has come under intense scrutiny. As of this date, all of the facts regarding that incident have not been released to the public. Florida governor Rick Scott is presently forming a task force to reexamine Florida's law. If the task force is honest, I'm sure that they will come to the same conclusion that the state legislature did when they enacted the law. Critics, however, argue that such laws have led to shootouts over petty disputes and have hampered police investigations with a sweeping grant of legal immunity.
On Monday, April 23, 2012, the Cato Institute held a policy conference on Stand Your Ground laws featuring Clayton E. Cramer, Historian, Co-author, Cato study, Tough Targets: When Criminals Face Armed Resistance from Citizens; Massad Ayoob, Firearms Trainer, author of In the Gravest Extreme; Steven Jansen, Vice President, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys; moderated by Tim Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute.
Watch the Event in QuickTime (M4V)
Download an Audio Podcast of the Event (MP3)
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Original Intent
There has been a renewal of interest recently in the Constitution and the original intent of the people who wrote it. The importance of the document to the freedom and survival of this nation cannot be denied, and it's good to periodically review the founder's intent as they struggled to assemble the document; the vernacular has changed over the years, but human nature has not changed a bit. The process of building our Constitution is well documented and, thanks to the internet, available for all to review.
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Wondering
Of the many "civil rights" that are guaranteed by the United States Constitution, the right to keep and bear arms is one of the most clearly defined. Yet there seems to be confusion about it. If people have trouble understanding the 2nd Amendment, is it any wonder that they have trouble understanding anything? Is this misunderstanding of the 2nd Amendment real or faux (that's a fancy French word for phony)?
If the misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment is honest, or due to plain ignorance, then clarification is readily available—thanks to the internet. However, if it's an intellectually dishonest interpretation, I suspect it's because the concept of freedom is so demanding of personal responsibility that it presents too large a challenge to the undisciplined amongst us—and those who represent them in Congress. The irony is that lack of discipline is what makes the 2nd Amendment even more relevant today than it was in 1791.
Or, is there something more sinister going on? Maybe we'll know more about that possibility when the investigation into the 'Fast and Furious' scandal is completed.
Just wondering...
-fl