Look What NRA Paranoia, Coupled With Congressional Cowardice Will Get America

UPDATE

This amendment failed to pass today in the United States Senate.  I am very pleased.

However I am NOT pleased with the  ‘yes’ vote from Senator Feingold.  I love our Senator, which is why I am even more troubled with his rationale on this vote.  On the flip side Herb Kohl actually voted for my concerns this time, and I am thankful to him for that.

Over the past couple weeks I have been reading about this matter.  Today it was summed up concisely in an Op-Ed piece.   The article points out the way conservatives love to talk, but then forget to consider what they do runs counter to the words they spout.  Be mindful before you read the excerpt below that the Republican Party’s 2008 platform insists that Congress should respect the limits imposed by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that authority not granted to the federal government is reserved to the states.  Having said that consider the following.

In New York, the state imposes careful restrictions on who may carry concealed firearms. With the Thune amendment, New York and other states would be obliged to recognize licenses from jurisdictions which choose to issue them practically for the asking.

For example, in Ohio and Missouri, virtually any resident without a criminal record or prior hospitalizations for mental illness can carry a gun. Under the Thune amendment, that Midwesterner could legally carry the gun straight into New York, despite New York’s more stringent rules.

It gets worse. States like Florida and Texas are willing to issue carry permits to nonresidents under policies just as lax as those of Ohio and Missouri. The Thune amendment would provide a legal backdoor to a New Yorker who does not qualify for a carry permit under New York’s state law. The undeserving local applicant could obtain a permit down South, and then be entitled by federal law to carry his concealed gun around New York.

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Correct To Name Legislators Who Accepted Campaign Cash

To some it may seem like nit-picking, or being too much a stickler for detail.  But the reporting of those members of the Wisconsin State Legislature that accepted campaign contributions during the recent budget process is an important matter to take note of.  First off there is to be no asking for, or accepting of, campaign cash during any portion of the budget process once the Governor has submitted it to the Legislature.  The fact that a government watchdog group, in this case, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, is monitoring closely the flow of monies from special interests to the members who make the budget decisions is a  darn good thing.  Granted, some of the sums might seem small, and even a paperwork snafu might have been involved in a case or two.  But the larger mission of reporting on the all too easy flow of campaign cash, and the effects it has on the political process is priceless if we are to hope for a more responsible and ethical government.

Some will wonder what harm such a small amount, such as $50.00 can play in the complexity of the over-all budget process.  But money and water are both insidious things that have a way of flowing and getting to places that no one would have ever thought possible.  And the damage once done is often hard to repair.

We all can be proud of the determination and efforts by Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to bring to light not only the large amounts of cash, but also the small ones.  Since there should have been no amounts at all solicited or accepted no one can blame anyone accept the legislators named in the reports.

Video: Amazing Chorus Makes A Rain/Storm Sound

This is amazing.   Turn the speakers up, and be prepared to bring others near you to the moniter to see and hear this.