Now, THIS Is More Like January...

(Not that my joints are really LIKING it...they're not!)

Yes, it IS cold (as cold as a witch's teat in a brass brassiere) outside this morning, after overnight temps down around the lower double digits.

The good (?) news is that we're looking for a high today in the upper twenties...and that's about it, folks.

Oh, and if you see this big BRIGHT ball rising into the sky...don't worry, it's just THE SUN!
So, let's not dilly-dally, but get right into the mix and see what pours out, fair enough?
*** First up today - Mayors Against Illegal Guns...whenever I hear this, my teeth begin to itch, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

This "group" was founded on 2006 by none other than mayor NANNY Bloomberg, the richest man in the Seven Boroughs of NYC.

And yesterday, there was a photo op (in Ft. Wayne) with our very own mayor (King) Henry holding court with his vassals, along with the mayor of Angola, IN.
Here's the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130115/LOCAL/301159984
My take on this is that I AGREE with SOME (but not all) of what these people have to say. And most ALL of what they speak about has been ALREADY IN PLACE...for DECADES!

So why rehash the same old? Just enforce the laws we have.
Yes, keeping firearms OUT of the hands of the crims and mentally ill IS a fantastic idea...when it works.

Thing is, the Looneys often fly under the radar, and their medical history is considered "privileged" information between them and their shrink.

As for the "crims"...well, they just STEAL weapons from law-abiding citizens, or attempt to pull off straw purchases.
So, legislating "bad" people becomes a study in the abrogation of civil rights, as the ACLU would probably argue.
We're not so much a nation of LAWS, as we are a nation of LAWYERS...make no mistake there.
Banning high-cap mags is stupid as is banning or curtailing the LEGAL sale of anything considered an "assault-style" weapon.
Actually, ANY weapon could be considered an ASSAULT-style, because most all of them CAN be utilized for any type OF ASSAULT, depending on what or who you plan to attack. Same can be said for the stealth of a knife or other BLADED weapon...a garrote, a pillow case or even a plastic bag (with those warnings printed on them about child-suffocation).

Any HANDGUN is obviously in this barrel with the rest of the "pickles", although revolvers are not considered high-capacity, they ARE just as lethal.

And if legislation is passed in just ONE regard here, it's popped the cork on a bottle with so much "Genie" inside, that it will never be able to be recaptured and the bottle re-corked.

The anti-gun nuts will not know WHEN to stop with these bans.
They always start off "small"...chip away at liberty bit by bit, until one day, you wake up and don't know WHERE you live any longer...the nation's changed SO damn much...and you didn't see it coming, because it's progress in taking away your freedoms was SO slow and calculated.
Now, let's stop and think for a moment...
Mayors against ILLEGAL guns - that SHOULD mean that every LEGAL gun purchased by a law-abiding citizen should be EXEMPT, right?
(perhaps not as much as you would think, although THEY will say otherwise)

The only ILLEGAL guns are those wielded by the WRONG people, so why not go after JUST THOSE PEOPLE instead?
I mean, when was the last time you went to a gun shop, and saw an AR-15 just HOP off the rack, run out the door and go and KILL someone?
I must confess, I have NEVER seen that happen, but there are those politicians and pundits out there that DO BELIEVE this occurs...and with alarming frequency.
Hey, maybe I just buy MY guns at stores that ONLY sell "smart" ones...the guns that BEHAVE themselves, and only shoot when removed from a holster or cabinet and taken to a range, or to kill an intruder bent on harming the family and relieving us of our stuff.
What about those well-behaved firearms that ONLY kill animals when it's owner is HUNTING?
Clearly, we can see that none of this is really about GUNS, per se, other than the fact that some people don't want ANYONE to own one...period.

We did our own society a disservice when "we" decided to mainstream the mentally ill among us, thinking that drugging them into some sort of compliance would honestly work out for everyone else.

We thought ourselves more "humane" by doing so, and as a result, also did away with the death penalty as a final solution to the most heinous and horrendous of criminals in our society.
That's why Charles Manson has been a "ward of the state" for all these decades (on YOUR dime), and why others are even released from incarceration, but the breakdown of the penal system in America is best left to another time and another post.
We have had some tough laws regarding gun purchase and ownership on the books since the Kennedy Assassination. (in my lifetime)
Some cities even regulate the sale of BB pistols and toy guns...talk about denying a young boy of his childhood.
Yes, the wussyfication of America has been ongoing for some time, and look at the net results.

Still, when you begin to affect the LEGAL ownership of firearms, in ANY manner, by those who ARE responsible individuals, you are only empowering the criminal element of our society, because ANY law created will NEVER be followed by such people...plain and simple.
So, we're back to square one - it's about the PEOPLE, or rather as many state...the CULTURE.
There are no real illegal GUNS...just ILLEGAL people who manage to get them...remember that.
Moving on...
*** Last out of the barn this morning...there's this:

Today is the ACTUAL birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and not the 3rd Monday of the month commemoration of "his" day..

(that's on the 21st)
I would be VERY interested on how Dr. King would view today's society.
He probably would be rendered speechless, and I could understand why.

I've always thought of him as a visionary...one who could see the potential and possibilities in mankind, and urge us all to reach for them, and hold fast to them.

He had a dream (as the speech reminds us), and that dream could today be considered more of a nightmare than anything else.

Sure, there are some that HAVE espoused the teachings and words of Dr. King, and still believe in a world where we all can really "get along", but we've been pulled in too many directions for far too long that we (as the human race) have become so out of shape and distorted in our OWN beliefs.
That's not to say that we can't make it back from the societal precipice...we can, IF we are willing to work in order to do so.

Dr. King was not a perfect man...hell, none of us are, but there's no reason to sit back, toss up our hands and say "oh, well"...

We can ALWAYS strive for something better...in our world, in our city, or even in ourselves.
Our complacency will be the death of us, and that's why we need to never rest upon it.
I feel that Dr. King would still think we all have a chance of doing better...of becoming better.
And that doesn't begin with any sort of technology...or regulation...or law.
It begins not from without, but rather from WITHIN.
We get THAT part of us right first, and so much more will become so much clearer so much more often.
In that, I think Dr. King would agree.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.