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I
decided to read this story not from the point of view of the American
press but rather from an article written by the BBC in London,
England. You know about England, don't you? England is one of those
terrible countries that have those strict and evil gun laws preventing
God-fearing British from owning arsenals, and, so it seems, preventing
crimes like this from happening over there.
Mr.
McDermott is pleading not guilty by reason of mental defect. All the
more reason he should have an AK-47 in his myriad of kitchen utensils.
The
American press, as well as many of you, have lamented how the recent
presidential election has caused us to be a laughingstock amidst
others in the free world. Let me tell you what another
"civilized" country thinks of this latest armed catastrophe
in our country.
The
BBC quotes Washington correspondent Stephen Sakur as saying,
"Workplace shootings have become depressingly familiar in
America." That, I believe, is a real admonition by another
country of what in America seems to be "funny."
Now
before any of you send me NRA stickers saying something as quaint and
charming as, "You can pry this gun from my cold, dead
hands," let me finish what I am saying.
America
is based on many traditions. One of the most popular is the sport of
hunting. Another is the sport of competition shooting. Another
"sport" in America, unfortunately, is protecting one's home
from burglary, larceny and vandalism. I would not for a moment wish to
deprive any of these Americans from their choice to own firearms. I am
interested in preventing maniacs like Michael McDermott from owning an
AK-47. Mr. McDermott’s right to bear arms should not supersede the
right to life that seven of his co-workers so needlessly were forced
to give up this past week.
The
NRA states that there are 20,000 current gun laws in the United States
that are not being enforced. They are correct. The laws carry little
practicality, not only because they are not enforced but also because
they have too many loopholes and have been watered down to the point
of being useless. They have been watered down because our legislators,
in an effort to make everyone happy, have placed sharks in the legal
code that have no teeth when it comes to punishing those who profess
that their right to own deadly and inappropriate weapons supersedes
the rights of others to live.
[to top of second
column]
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The
murders in Massachusetts are just the latest tale in a country gone
mad. A gun has never killed anyone that didn't have another human
being pressing the trigger, either through error, callousness or
animosity.
A
gun used for sport or protection doesn't have to have a 30-round clip
and be semiautomatic or fully automatic. We don't have to continue to
kill each other, all the while professing we have the right to
proliferate the country with the kind of weapons that have no other
purpose in their creation but the taking of human lives.
The
NRA is an important force in this country. They are the ones who will
prevent our legislators from going too far with gun laws that hurt the
rights of the law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms. They also are
the ones who won't allow sensible gun laws such as registration and
the removal of weapons that have no purpose other than the
extermination of our fellow man.
So
where do we go as a country from here? We don't have to overreact as
Canada and Great Britain and Australia have done regarding the
ownership of firearms. We don’t need to take everyone’s guns away
from them. We only need to all sit down and form one simple basic set
of laws that punish without remorse those who illegally use firearms
in the commission of a crime, while protecting the rights of honest
citizens to keep and bear arms.
The
law should be based on two simple yet basic principles. Those who care
to and are law-abiding should have the right to own firearms. Those
who also are law-abiding should have the right not to NEED to bear
arms if they so desire.
[Mike
Fak]
This article is re-published
courtesy of www.fakmachine.com.
Click
here to comment on this article.
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It
doesn't matter where you live in America these days. From a
deregulation with massive cost increases plus a threatening power
shortage on the West Coast to unusually cold weather in the South and
Southwest, all of the United States is finding itself under the same
financial blizzard as the Midwest and Northeast.
Synthetically
high fuel prices have created an economic disaster throughout the
country that is being ignored by the major media as well as Capitol
Hill. Oh, sometime in January we will start to see massive coverage of
this debacle. After it is too late for anyone to do anything about it,
that is.
I
don't use the word synthetic loosely in this article. The Oxford
dictionary defines synthetic as "artificial, man made." OPEC
playing with production as well as U.S. oil producers following suit
on the price of a barrel of crude shows that the oil crisis is in fact
man-made. Man-made to produce a new stratosphere of profits for the
chosen few. The huge costs to small business and the American people
could become a harbinger to an economic recession.
This
inflationary spiral is already having telling effects in our local
economy.
One
local businessman stated his heating bill has doubled over the same
period last year. "Right now, with the weather we are having, it
would probably be cheaper for me to close up shop, set the thermostat
on 50 degrees…"
Another
small-business man looked at the natural gas increase from both sides
of the spectrum. "People need to understand. I not only get
nailed with a huge bill here at my business, but then I go home and
find the same type of bill in my mailbox for my house. This winter is
killing me, and it’s just beginning. I can tell that this winter
will hurt my sales. I already have had people tell me they need to
save their money to pay their heating bills and are putting off
repairs on their cars. Now I'm out sales as well as having higher
expenses."
One
small merchant said: "It looks like I might have to raise the
price of a glass of beer just to stay even with last year. The timing
of the city council raising my liquor license fee really helps my
Christmas spirit also."
[to top of second column
in this article]
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A
manager of a small statewide chain store explained: "We don't get
the bills here at the store. The main office, however, says we have to
cut back wherever we can to offset our heating bills going up so high.
I asked if that included shortening employee’s hours. ‘It includes
everything,’ answered the manager."
Homeowners
across central Illinois are starting to tell horror stories over cups
of coffee. Some are lucky. They contracted for their fuel oil at last
summer's prices, which at the time seemed high. Those costs now look
like the bargain of the century.
One
individual berated himself for replacing an electricity-eating furnace
last spring with a new 92-percent-energy-efficient gas model last
spring. "It looks like I made a thousand- dollar mistake changing
to gas," he lamented.
I
could continue with local quotes, but I believe the point has been
made. Heating costs are causing businesses to see their profit margins
erode. Homeowners are finding their discretionary income being
swallowed by a furnace rather than in area stores’ cash registers.
Slowly, prices of all wares will rise just to allow merchants to
maintain margins. Employee hours will be cut, and the vicious cycle
goes on and on. The end product will be called a recession. It will be
synthetic, brought on by corporate America, OPEC and the lack of a
federal energy policy. The recession won’t affect these entities,
however. The recession has been earmarked for the American consumer,
the one group in this country that can least afford a higher cost of
living.
In
the meantime the silence of the media and our politicians is
deafening. Except for Allan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman.
He is seen in the news, telling the American people that he won't cut
prime interest rates until necessary. The man just doesn't have a
clue.
[Mike
Fak]
This article is re-published
courtesy of www.fakmachine.com.
Click
here to comment on this article.
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