A CONVERSATION WITH Ds AND Rs

            The Lane County Fair (Oregon) was interesting in that I had a chance to talk to both Ds and Rs. In addition, Peter DeFazio’s booth was immediately across from our Oregon Concealed Handgun booth. We were trying to get people to sign up for classes.

            Peter was not there! He made no appearance. Further, the booths cost money in the commercial exhibiting hall. There were a few volunteers but most of the time it was empty, in violation of the contract they had to sign, if there was equal treatment. Peter was not there! He made no appearance. They left way early on Sunday. I wonder if our tax dollars paid for that booth.

            It seems representative of Pete, no show, nothing substantive and positive.

            I talked to the Rs. They wanted to know if I am registered. They offered to help me change to being a Republican. With difficulty I didn’t laugh too much. I told them they were to liberal for me and too fractured.

            The Ds had a different tact. They actually listened to me a little. They had a bunch of beans and issues. You could have 2 beans to cast into cups representing current issues. It was contrived, self serving, and had a feel of being incestuous. I told them so. I suggested 2 more cups, one for Ds and the other for Rs. I told them I would then cast one bean in each cup because that was and is where the real issue lay. The lady looked shocked.

             That led to a conversation about Obama Care. The shirt below talks about health care as a human right. I asked them:

            "Does that mean I did not have to have heart surgery or in the alternative I did not have to pay for it?" After some pointed questions the D said, “Well, it isn’t really a right. We just framed it that way to generate acceptance.”

            I then asked him if he was willing to steal my prosperity to enforce the health care mandate, for the redistribution. “But, it is my property.” In answer he said, “We need the money to insure everyone has health care.” I know I looked confused because I was. I then asked him, “Are you going to personally do it, steal from me?” He did not answer. “Then you are knowingly a thief!” The conversation broke down at that point.

           Like most who steal, they have no personal integrity and this man was no exception. 

          At my core I believe in Liberty as framed by the founding fathers. That means I have a fundamental and inalienable right to keep my property. The Supreme Court of the United States of American, the Republic has said that which can be taxed, can be taxed into extinction. The issue does not get much simpler.

OBAMA - CLINTON - FONDA

Can anyone tell me the difference in that each caused by their actions and/or failure to act American citizens to die? The second question would be whether their failures constitute treason by any of the definitions used today?

I note we have locked up for indefinite periods of time people merely suspected of being terrorists against the Republic of the United States of America. Treason has no statute of limitations either.

I have paid my dues. I joined the VFW today. I am so grateful Obama was not my Commander-in-Chief. I would have feared for my life from the enemy within not daily but hourly. 

I am pleased that H. Clinton was not the Secretary of State when I served over seas. In the arms of disaster she would have been somewhere else. When her phone rang at night, where was she really?

It is with prayer I give thanks Jane Fonda did not visit us while I was stationed overseas.

AND while it may be short lived, I give thanks to my heavenly father for of the freedoms enumerated by our founding fathers that are still intact today.

Amen.

Carry Concealed in California!

In my educational role volunteer teaching Concealed Handgun classes for certification in Oregon and Utah I have had to field questions about California, one of the most restrictive states in the Republic. It seems to me a lot of anti-gun proponents totally miss the mark (or better said, the bulls-eye?). While I doubt they are stupid, most certainly they are misinformed, misguided and misdirected. If they fail the test of the 3Ms, then they are stupid!

Recently the 9^th Circuit Federal Court of Appeal basically said some portions of the California gun laws are unconstitutional. That analysis is under the Bill of Rights, 2^nd Amendment.

To understand the ruling, California’s state constitution lays the standard for review of state gun laws. That is in the light of the 2^nd Amendment where the state of California did not set exceptions aside for California’s 10^th Amendment State's Rights to limit California citizen’s gun rights. In fact, California did just the opposite.

The people of California clearly state:  State of California Constitution; Article I: Section 1.  All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.

Article III:  SEC. 1.  The State of California is an inseparable part of the United States of America, and the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.

The people of California have said they have “inalienable” rights which in part allow them to personally defend life and liberty; and in that process they can obtain safety, happiness and privacy. The people accepted the Federal Constitution as an overlay on their state constitution and adopted it as superior to their constitution. How, oh stupid person, can those people obtain safety, happiness and privacy if they do not have the means to defend themselves or their property?

California’s has long practiced discretionary review under their statutes and in violation of their citizen’s constitutional right by honoring a statutory “good cause” (California Penal Code Section 26150 and 26202) basis for issuing a concealed handgun license.

Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has decided to issue concealed handgun licenses amid the political chaos surrounding the issue but in keeping with the federal law defined in part by the Court of Appeal. She is to be commended for that decision.

I suggest dropping Sheriff Hutchens a note or short letter in support of her efforts to constitutionally protect their constituent’s constitutional rights. Navigate their website at: http://www.ocsd.org for further information or click on “contact us” on their CCW page at http://www.ocsd.org/about/info/services/ccw.  

I fully support Sheriff Hutchens for political courage during this trying time.

Don Leach, Author and Retired Attorney

http://www.thinkingwrite.org/oregon-concealed.html

WAR - Today & Tomorrow

The last couple of days I listened to FOX, CNN, and MSN news about a plane shot down by the Russians, Ukrainians or whoever. Ukrainian government trades accusations of blame with 

pro-Russian rebels it is fighting in eastern Ukraine. They each in their own way as does the rest of the world make much ado about the “civilians” who lost their lives. This has caused me to ponder. In a time of war, who are the civilians?

It seems to me whether one is wearing a uniform may not be a determining factor. As I explore the subject matter, those who are called civilians support the or a war, whatever that is, one way or another. If they are a citizen of one of the countries in conflict then their taxes, their human resources, even their very existence goes to support one side or the other of the conflict.

It does not matter whether they consciously think in these types of terms, it is enough it is a reality of their existence at a time of war.

I turn to the innocents, whoever they are. They have to be so unaware of the existence of conflict at its root that they have no reference with which to come to an understanding of what war is. They would be the children and crazies who have not been exposed to or understand the evils of powers run amok.

As I think in these terms I come to an understanding of what war is: War is evil and the empowerment of evil run amok.

While I get lost in the feelings of empathy for those who lost family, friends, and loved ones, I cannot think of them as other than warriors who support one cause or another; again excepting the innocent children.

I think when as a nation the private citizen rises up to resist the tyranny that at its core supports a war effort, only then will they be other than a warrior of that war. Instead, they become a warrior of another war, an internal war. 

AND that leads me to the deteriorating condition here in the United States. I am thankful we continue to provide ourselves the support necessary to bring our own Government back under control of "the people" if it does not do so itself. To that end, I support your Article I, Section 27 of the Oregon Constitution to carry firearms in our personal defense and the federal 2nd Amendment that assures us the right to arm ourselves against the tyranny of our own government!

I am the author of Oregon Concealed which provides current insights into carrying a concealed handgun here in Oregon. I am grateful for the federal 1st Amendment as well making this blog and that book possible.