Mostly True Tales

In a close 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has struck down the Washington DC gun ban upholding the second amendment. This is a huge victory for every American citizen.  I’m sure the NRA will now go full force after similar communities. It looks like Chicago will be next. Every American should have the right to protect his family and home. Somehow, I feel it will become quite important for America to have a strong militia in the future.

I love Justice Scalia’s comment that the handgun is Americans’ preferred weapon of self-defense in part because “it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.”

“Power is inherent in the people, it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.” - Thomas Jefferson

“Those who give up essential liberties to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

In a separate recent decision, the Court has found the execution of child rapists a violation of the 8th amendment. This would be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I tend to disagree with this opinion as did 4 of the Justices. I think I would have to consider rape certainly cruel, and not that unusual.

This particular case revolved around the rape of an 8 year old girl. The state of Louisiana wanted to put the sick bastard down. But, now society must pay. They must pay to house, cloth, and feed this wacko for the rest of his life. At what cost? I couldn’t find statistics for Louisiana, but in Florida the cost is $19002 a year, in Texas, $22000. So let’s use the Florida number, and assume this rapist is going to live another 40 years. He gets a paid vacation for the rest of his life and the tax payers shell out $760080 to make it happen.

Think about it. Who couldn’t retire to a comfortable life with $760080 in their pocket?

I live and breath the Constitution, but I disagree with the Courts interpretation of this issue.

Whether you agree or disagree, these Judges have the ability to preserve, or remove your rights based on their opinions. It’s important for all Americans to realize, THIS is the single biggest issue at stake in the upcoming Presidential election. What kind of Judge will Barack Obama nominate? What kind of Judge will John McCain nominate? There are currently several Justices that are over 80 years old. The next President could potentially, dramatically change the face and opinion of the Court. You and I will probably have to live with their decisions for the rest of our life.

Do you wish to preserve your rights, or loose them? Think about that when you cast your vote in November.

I first heard of the free, pocket sized edition of the Constitution, available from the Heritage Foundation, while listening to the Laura Ingraham show 2 or 3 months ago. I went to the Heritage Foundation website and signed up to receive my free copy. About a week later I received my copy in the mail. I was immediately impressed with the little book, which also included the Declaration of Independence.

Every other copy of the Constitution I had ever seen, was just that, a copy of the original, written, in not so easy to read, calligraphy. This, was a printed copy, paper bound, with John Trumbull’s, Signing of the Declaration, on the cover. The little book only measures 3.5 X 6.5 inches, so it truly is pocket sized, easy to carry around, and keep handy. Yet the type inside the book is normal sized and easy to read, even for my 46 year old eyes.

As I began to read the words crafted so carefully by our country’s founders, I suddenly began to feel empowered, and I started carrying it around with me everywhere. I would read it in the morning with coffee. I would read it while eating lunch. I would read it in the bathroom. I would read it before bed. I read it, and read it, and read it, over and over again. The more I read it, the more I understood it. I’m still reading it.

I began to love my little pocket Constitution and decided it would be nice to have some additional copies. I had read that they where available for $1 apiece. Suddenly, I had a great idea, I would hand out copies of this little book at my bar, the Amazing Bar & Grill. I decided I would call the Heritage Foundation and order 50 copies.

I called the number listed for the Heritage Foundation Bookstore (800-544-4843) and strangely got their voice mail, but I left a message with my phone number and intentions. The next day I got a call from a gentleman requesting my address and informing me they were sending out the 50 copies free of charge. Two days later, I received the package.

I was very excited when I opened the package to find exactly 50 fresh, brand new copies of the book. Using large rubber bands, I quickly bundled them up into neat little piles of 10 to take down to the bar. Before I left the condo I ran into my first two recipients, my daughters, Bonnie & Sarah.

It was a thrill to give them both their own personal copy of the Constitution, and explain to them how important it will be in their future, that, they be more than familiar with the document.

I then headed down to the Bar with two bundles of 10 copies to place in my drawer where they would wait for their new owners. It didn’t take long. The first few copies went out to my closest friends in the complex and many of their teenage children. Then, to the rest of my regular guests. I was particularly interested in the young people, the older people are generally a lot more patriotic and knowledgeable on the subject. When I gave a copy to my oldest daughter’s boyfriend (that’s right, I said boyfriend), I jokingly said,

“I expect you to have that memorized by next summer.”

He excepted the challenge and soon, the many other kids in the complex decieded to join in. The challenge was on! Ironically, Bonnie’s summer extra credit project, is a study of the Constitution, which we just found out about 2 days ago. Marcia’s response was,

“Fortunately, you have your own personal copy of the Constitution and a Dad that can, and will, help you with it.”

I was proud and excited by the opportunity.

I was quite careful in handing out individual copies of the book, as I didn’t want them to be represented as worthless leaflet trash. My policy was 1 per family, unless they had teenage children, in that case, each child would receive their own personal copy. Never the less, I handed out my first 20 copies in less than 48 hours. My approach was always the same. Talk with them a little, hear them out, and then, I would open my drawer, and say,

“Hold on a minute, I have a little gift I want to give you, it’s your own personal copy of the constitution.”

I would pull the little book from my drawer, turn it around, so the cover faced them, and then hand it to them. The result was 98% positive and always led to great, stimulating, political discussion, which is good.

I brought down another 20 copies from the condo and handed them out in the same manner. With each person, I would explain that this was a private organization providing these booklets, not the Federal Government, I would also point out the fine work the Heritage foundation does and encourage them to visit the website.

In 10 days, I had given out 42 copies of the Constitution, each with it’s own political discussion. I realized too late, I didn’t order enough copies. There are 204 condos at Parkview Bay. Counting family and friends of each unit, I could easily hand out a thousand copies. Once again, I called the offices of the Heritage Foundation, thanked them for the prior 50 copies, and requested another 100. Again, I offered to pay for them, again, they said, “no charge.” I expect them any day now. I have been extra conservative in handing out my last 8 copies, but at the time of this writing, I have 2 copies left.

This has been a great mission, as well as, an experiment in human nature. It has been very interesting and stimulating to hand a copy of the Constitution to someone and watch their expression. Most of them have been shocked, then curious, then excited. One person out of 48 threw it on the ground and walked away. I wanted to kick her ass, but I didn’t, instead, I recycled her copy and gave it to another person that appreciated it.

I’m hoping the next shipment from the Heritage Foundation arrives soon, and I can continue my mission as, “The Constitution Man” of Parkview Bay.

If you know me, or know of me, I would encourage you to come on down and get your personal copy of the Constitution. If not, please contact the Heritage Foundation.

God bless America.

How else can I describe it. I’ve been in hiatus for quite sometime and I’ve finally decided to come out of my cave. It was a hard, long, cold, and dark winter for the Amazing’s, mostly cold. I think I sat by the fire for most of it. Not taking calls, not returning email, just sitting by the fire in a funk, watching Fox News, King of the Hill, and That 70’s Show.

You could call it depression, I think I would.

I used to laugh at my Grandmother for hating the cold winter and snow, but as I get older, it becomes easier to understand.

For the last couple years I’ve been wishing out loud we could sell everything and move to the Caribbean. Once, Marcia said we could do just that, after the kids were out of school. My guess would be, that means college, another 11 years. That’s going to be tough.

In the mean time, I’ll have summers at the lake, and it’s finally summer, I guess. It’s supposed to hit 88 today and 90 the rest of the week, but the evenings have been cool and the lake has been slow to come to a nice temperature. The evenings have been so cool, we’ve been using the heater Scotty got me over the winter, almost every night at the Amazing Bar & Grill.

Actually its been a really slow start for summer here on the lake. We’ve had the coolest spring on record for 50 years, and a lot of rain, not to mention 3 tornado’s. The weather combined with the high cost of gasoline has really been hard on the lake economy. All the restaurants, bars, and stores, are hurting. I wouldn’t want to be a boat salesman right now and home prices are down 16-20%. It’s a buyers market for both boats and homes, but gas, food, and entertainment will cost you more than ever.

Still I love the lake. It doesn’t cost me much to sit down at the bar with my laptop, in my office on the water. I sit and watch, work, and wait. It usually isn’t too long before something breaks and needs to be fixed or someone needs help. Everyday is a adventure and a story in itself.

As for my watercraft, all the guages read full. I consider it an investment, in fun. Nearly 500 gallons of gasoline purchased prior to Memorial day for mear $4.39 a gallon, compared to todays price of $4.69. Needless to say, I don’t just take the boats out and drive much anymore, I need a reason to go out, like company. So far this year, we have only coved out one day as a family. We idled out to our favorite cove, dropped the anchor and idled back at the end of the day. Now that the kids are older, we don’t really need air conditioning and TV anymore, so that means no generator, which is a good thing. At the end of the day the fuel gauges hadn’t moved and that’s a good thing too. I will probably have to make that tank last all summer long.

The most efficient vehicles in our fleet are the jet-ski’s. They are also the only thing Marcia and the kids can drive. Our 11 year old ski’s are broken more than running these days and it was getting tiresome working on them constantly, so it wasn’t too hard to for the famly to convince me we needed a new one. I bit the bullet just before the Memorial holiday and we now have a nice new 2008 Sea Doo GTI se.

It’s amazing the difference 11 years makes when you’re talking about jet-ski’s. This bike has electronic ignition, so it starts instantly even cold. No more choke and cranking, then letting the engine warm up, it’s just the push of a button and then purr. The engine is 4-stroke, which means it doesn’t burn oil like the old ones did. It’s just like a car, you change oil once a year rather than adding oil constantly. The engine is 155 hp, which means it will go over 60 mph and has enough power to pull a tube, skier, or even a wakeboard. Of course the dash is all electronic as well, conplete with water tempurature guage, which is nice. The feature Marcia likes the best is the retractable ladder on the back which makes it easy to get on from the water. It’s just nice to be able to walk down to the dock, start it up, and take it out, without worrying about being towed back in, so I’m happy with the purchase. And as I said, it’s the cheapest watercraft we own to drive.

Well that’s the update from the lake and all for today. I have a few political issues on my mind for future posts. I’ll try to stay current through the summer.