Gun Control

The original title of today's blog was going to be: Tid Bits, because there were a few little things I wanted to say on a few different subjects. I started out with the fact that Nancy Pelosi is backing Mike Capuano for US Senate, so that alone is reason enough not to vote for the guy if you didn't already have 10 reasons. Then I moved on to the subject of Gun Control and realized it needed a blog all it's own, because too many people still don't seem to get it. So here it is. E-mail me if you STILL don't get it after reading this. I will be happy to explain it again in terms you can understand.

Gun Control:
Many of you still don't get it so I'm going to do my best to explain this to you. My dad used to have a bumper sticker on his car that said, "When Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns". Read the statement again folks and then one more time. Now really think about it and try to let it sink in. Guess what? It's FREAKING TRUE!!!! When you vote FOR gun control you are voting for the government to TAKE AWAY YOUR RIGHT to own a gun. They are NOT taking the guns away from criminals!! Criminals already gave away their right to own a gun. Yet, they still have them. YOU, as LAW ABIDING citizens, WILL NOT. As it states in the 2nd Amendment, (just one of our rights under the United States Constitution,) as law abiding citizens, we have THE RIGHT to bear arms. When you vote for gun control, what's more important than giving away the right to own a gun, is the fact that you are telling the government that it's ok to take away YOUR RIGHTS! I've talked to some people who are all for the idea of gun control, because "children are dying in the streets because of guns." Helllooooooooo?? Anyone home? NO! Little children are not dying in the streets because of guns. Little children are dying in the streets, because some dirtbag bought an ILLEGAL gun on the street, or committed the crime of invading someone's home, and then, without any regard for a human life, pulled the trigger. When was the last time you read of a child's death because a law abiding citizen took their gun to the street and blatantly opened fire on a group of teens? If you've read that in the paper, or have seen it on the news, please tell me you've saved it or TiVo'd it, because I must have missed it. Ok, so obviously you don't like guns. You don't like them, you don't want one, you don't ever want one in your home. That's fine. I respect that. You have that right. The right NOT to own a gun is also covered by the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment gives you a choice. With the 2nd Amendment, you have the RIGHT to own a gun, but you also have the RIGHT NOT TO. Now, seeing as you don't want a gun, how would you like it if the government now said "Everyone MUST now own and keep a gun in their home"? You'd be pissed. You'd be beyond livid! Am I right? Of course. Because who is the government to tell you that you MUST do something that the 2nd Amendment tells you that you have a choice not to do? Those of us who would like to keep our right to own a gun, as well as ALL of our other rights given to us under the Constitution, would never dream of voting for gun control. When you decide you don't mind giving up ALL of your rights, then, and ONLY THEN, can you vote for gun control. But not until then. Because when you allow the government to take one of your rights away, what's to keep them from taking them all?

Alright, so now lets see where a couple of gun control scenarios would leave us.

Scenario One:
The majority of people voted FOR gun control and now your right to own a gun has been taken away. That's ok, you don't need one now, because guns have been outlawed right? Yeah, well, Joe Schmoe the dirtbag hasn't had a fix in hours and is in need of some quick cash or something to trade to curb his crack craving. Your house is close. The lights are out because it's 2AM and everyone's sleeping. Here comes Joe Dirtbag through your child's bedroom window, because the child left it open when she was feeding the raccoon in the backyard with the carrots she didn't like at dinner. She's adorable like that! Joe Dirtbag doesn't have the blueprints to your house (yet), so you wake-up when you hear Joe Dirtbag screaming at little Lisa to shut-up. You see, Joe Schmoe the dirtbag, he nearly fell on top of her trying to find his way in the dark and stubbed his toe on her bed post. It scared little Lisa half to death and she started screaming. You go running to her rescue with what? your baseball bat? You fling open the door and what to your eyes should appear? Your child running to you and Joe Dirtbag, the devil in his eyes, has a gun pointing at you. Darn. All you have is a bat. Go ahead, throw it at him. Yeah, that'll work. However, before the bat even makes it halfway to Joe, he's already shot your darling little Lisa. Thank goodness the government lets us own a baseball bat! (For now anyway). You are so devasted that you couldn't protect your little Lisa that you end up in an insanity ward and your house is sold.

Scenario Two:
The majority of people voted AGAINST gun control. The bleeding-heart liberals and the government are pissed and calling us extremeist who are as stupid as the Cambridge Police Department. 75% of law abiding citizens now have taken classes at their local gun club to learn how to safely own a gun. They have done their homework and now know how to clean, store and shoot thier newly purchased firearm. They bring home their shiny new choice of family protection. Little Jane wants to play with it. She loves shiny things don't you know? But, Jane isn't going to want to play with this, because her parents know that guns are trouble in the wrong hands. So they sit Jane down and tell her all about the gun. Of course they take the bullets out. Then they check 2 and 3 times to make sure the gun is safe for Jane to look at. They tell her what it is, why they have it, what it does and they let her hold it. Her curiosity is satisfied and she is no longer impressed. The family locks the gun in a place where Jane can't get it. It's also in a place nobody else can get it. So, here it is 2AM and Joe Schmoe Dirtbag is back in the neighborhood for another fix. The last family only had a bat. He loved that family! They had no gun and he now has the blue print to their home. But tonight, this house is closer. Joe Dirtbag comes through Jane's window, and again, with no blueprint, nearly falls on Jane and she wakes up screaming. You grab your gun and go bolting for Jane's bedroom. Joe is so surprised you have a gun he's frozen in place. He goes to aim his gun at you and you blow his brains out. You are safe, Jane is safe, and the new family who moved into Lisa's old house is safe.

So, when Joe Schmoe Dirtbag comes to your house in the middle of the night and is ready to wipe out your entire family, would you prefer to nicely ask him to leave or would you prefer to blow his freaking brains out? What lengths are you willing to go to keep your child safe? Hmmmm. Bat or Gun? Yeah, that's a tough one!
I don't know about you, but you couldn't pay me enough to vote for gun control!!! The government can take that idea and shove it where the sun don't shine. And while they are at it, they can take their BS Healthcare Reform and shove that too!

God Bless The USA! And please do it now before it's too late.

Correction to Remembering Sean Sullivan

Sean was not a veteran of the Gulf war. He was a veteran of Desert Storm. Sorry for the error. The anniversary of his death is August 21st. He passed away in 1991. RIP Sean.

Remembering Our Friend Private Sean Sullivan

Happy Veterans Day.  Today is a day Americans acknowledge our country's Veterans. I would like to thank an old friend who passed away too young, Private Sean Sullivan. Anyone who knew Sean never would have believed he'd end up becoming a Marine. But we were young then. Sean was young. Our days were filled with school (or sometimes playing hookie). Our nights were filled with waiting for darkness, so we could sneak our alcohol up to "Flat Top" above the Savin Hill Courts (which have since been renamed in Honor of Sean, to the Sean P. Sullivan Memorial Courts), where we would then proceed to get wasted and just have a good 'ol time. We were young teens and the only thing that mattered was having a good time with our friends. We weren't spending our time thinking about growing up and becoming responsible adults. Maybe our biggest concern at the time was "Do we have enough money between us for another keg?" Whether we did or didn't, we had fun. A huge amount of our fun came from spending time with our lovable friend Sean Sullivan a.k.a. Salamandor or just plain Sully. If I had to pick just one word to describe Sean, I don't think I could. He was such a combination of things. He was sweet, lovable, caring and carefree. He was kind and generous, thoughtful, friendly, good looking, smart and absolutely hysterical. More than anything, he was a friend. He was there to lend an ear or a shoulder. So, you wonder why we never would have thought he would join the service with all these wonderful attributes? Because to Sean, his friends were everything. To join the Marines would mean leaving his friends and the fun times of his teenage years behind. We thought Sean was too busy enjoying life to even consider a life in the service. Didn't he stop us all in our tracks the day we found out he enlisted?! But we were proud. Our dear friend chose to enter adulthood on the right track. He could have just as easily entered it as an alcoholic instead, as many of us thought we might, considering the amount of nights we spent in front of the packy looking for a buyer. He was now Private Sean Sullivan. Willing to give up his partying ways to serve his friends and country. When Sean enlisted we were in the middle of the Gulf War. It was a brave decicion he made. As it is for any American who enlists. Whether it be for 4 years or a lifetime career, these men and women put their lives on the line every day for us. Unfortunately, Sean didn't get to choose 4 years or a lifetime. At the age of 20, Sean's life was cut short. Not in the line of duty, but while home on a leave, Sean was killed in a car accident coming back from a canou trip with his friends. First question asked, and not surpisingly, had Sean been drinking and back to his partying ways? What was surprising is the answer was no. Sean hadn't been in the service long, but even a short time changed how diciplined he was. What it didn't change was the friend he had been to all of us. Sean wasn't killed instantly. He was left in a coma and at one point we actually had the hope he may actually stay with us because he had moved his arm. It turned out it was just an involuntary reflex and very soon after Sean left us. Physically he left us, but never has he left us in our hearts. Sean was the type of person who left a lasting impression on everyone he met. And I know, for me personally, I can't drive through Savin Hill without stopping by the bench dedicated to him just to say hi. Sean has been gone for somewhere around 17 years now, but like all our soldiers on this day, he will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. We still miss you Private Sean Sullivan.

Procrastination

When I decided to volunteer with Michael Flaherty's Mayoral campaign I thought it was because I believed we needed a new Mayor. Now I know it was me just procrastinating. I didn't want to clean the house! For 7 months I was able to justify not cleaning my house, because I was tired of the crime rate going up in my neighborhood, so I went out and held signs instead. I'd drive to Dunkin Donuts in the morning for my coffee and see all the little ones on their way to school and I'd think poor darlings, hope their school is one of the very few that is on par. Can't clean the house today, they need my help. The next day, I figured I would enjoy my paper and the coffee at Black Falcon, so I could get my self pumped up to clean the house and lo and behold there on the front page...more corruption within City Hall. How can I clean the house now? My community needs a new Mayor more than ever. So off to the committee I went to do some mailings. Ok, now I can clean the house. Oh, wait, how much of that mail was returned? We need to get the word out, let me get on the computer and put new addresses in and take old ones out. The house can wait a little longer. It isn't going anywhere. Let's get that returned mail back out there and while we're at it let's send out those other letters that need to go out. Great, that's done, I hear my house calling for it's bath. Wait just one minute! Who said what when commenting on the article about Michael and Sam teaming up?? OH NO THEY DIDN'T!! Well I can't let them get away with that, I have to put my 2 cents in. Hey lets make it 4 cents. Can I get 6? Finally, my house. It's cleaning day. Did I say cleaning day? I meant Election Day. No thoughts of sugarplums dancing in this head. Visions of crime, poor schools and corruption coming to an end with the election of a new Mayor were taking up my head space. Who can clean the house on this day? I need to debate all day with Menino's volunteer. He'll hold his sign. I'll hold mine. Michael will squash Menino at our location, because Southie People are ready now for change. We don't want to wait 4 more years. Well, unfortunately, although we took Southie, it wasn't enough. We're stuck with Menino for 4 more years. Now I'm ready to do it all again for 2013. But I did take the last 2 days off and finally got the house clean! Now it's back to work. Time to start spreading the word again....Flaherty for Mayor.

4 More years!

Ok, so Michael Flaherty will not become our Mayor in January. We're still stuck with Menino. I don't even like saying his name. But, what can you do? I'll tell you what you can do! Those of us who poured our money, time, heart and soul into Flaherty's campaign in the past 9 months know why we did it. We did it because we believed in Michael. We believed in who he is and what he stands for. He's not going to change who he is in 4 years and his values and what he wants for the residents of Boston aren't going to change either. Although, we can't campaign for monetary purposes this early in the game, it's not too early to start spreading the word. We have 4 years ahead of us and we need to keep Michael's name and beliefs alive. It may seem like a long time from now that we'll be casting our vote for Mayor again, but anyone with children can vouch that 4 years goes by in the blink of an eye. It goes by in an even quicker blink for people to start forgetting the candidate who didn't win. Let's keep fighting for what we were so passionate about not even a week ago! Together we can do this.
As well as using this blog for a forum to help Michael achieve our goal, I will also use it to discuss the little the little things in life :) Hope you'll follow along. But more importantly...Spread the word...Flaherty for Mayor 2013!