An Open Letter to VP Joe Biden on Gun Control

Honorable Vice President Biden,

Now that you have been appointed to create a new gun policy, I have a few suggestions.

1) As long as we have an imperial President who can carry out extrajudicial assassinations from a "kill list," then the culture of violence in America will grow worse.

2) As long as the NDAA allows our imperial President to detain whomever he wants indefinitely without habeas corpus or due process of law, then the President will lead the culture of violence with injustice.

3) Why do corporate "persons" get due process of law under the 14th Amendment, but NDAA detainees don't? Yet corporations are killing more American citizens every year than any terrorist has ever done by polluting our air, soil, water, and food supply while many of the NDAA detainees never killed anyone, and none to the magnitude of corporate culpability.

4) In Australia, they passed a ban on ownership, importation, manufacture, and sales of assault weapons and had a mandatory buy-back program. I think this is a good idea except for the fact that the citizens of the USA no longer trust our government to represent us for the best interest of the Common Good. Therefore, if weapons are to be removed from citizens, then the police should be equally disarmed. The 2nd Amendment was written to prevent a repeat of imperial power like King George had in Great Britain at the time, and allow a free and sovereign people to insure that we continue to have a government that represents us.

5) Senator Feinstein's assault weapon ban doesn't address the weapons that are currently in circulation and also includes 900 exceptions. Her proposed legislation is a Red Herring to toss a bone to the American People but retain a brisk market in lethal weapons. Senator Feinstein is a war hawk and corporate sellout; I don't trust anything she does.

6) We had a more prosperous economy when taxes were high and manufacturers were prohibited from moving their factories overseas. Now that corporate "persons" have the liberty to create jobs overseas using workers easy to exploit and governments easy to bribe, the middle class in America has shrunk while the disparity in wealth between the 1% and the 99% has increased upward. Tax cuts have robbed municipalities of the money they need to effectively serve the American People. And have robbed our children's futures by underfunding public schools. Budget cuts have shrunk public education; where will cash-strapped schools find the money to hire armed guards?  Even the Sheriff had to cut his staff!  

7) And finally, private armed militias like Academi nee Xe nee Blackwater, should be prohibited from having bases on American soil.   And are we going to buy back their assault weapons? 

Now that the American people have been robbed, toxified, and public property is exploited for private profit at the expense of the People, we may need our guns when the corporations come to enslave us. Which side are you on, Joe?

These Crazy Times - Comment from Grandpa Dan

Let Obama hear this.  If you want to know the opinion of the grassroots, then read the opinion of Grandpa Dan, 

Subject: These Crazy Times

     This is one of those times when the purpose of my writing weighs more on its therapeutic value to me ,  than imparting information....sort of like  a Catholic at the confessional or an orthodox Jew at the Western Wall.....

     Yesterday I received my latest issue of "Mother Jones".....The front cover shows a photo of an American soldier beneath which is the caption, "Age of Treason-This soldier is ready to take up arms against the Obama Administration. A further photo shows the same soldier holding a pistol across his chest, forefinger "At The Ready".... He is not alone".......

     I found the accompanying article depressing for a variety of reasons , not least of which is the wide number of well known's who lend approval to what this soldier represents......

     While reading this disturbing tale of modern day dissidents, my mind drifted back to my teen-age days when "The Young Communist League" and "Bund  Meetings" were in full bloom.....All of the malcontents, the extremes , both left and right , had suddenly found their voices ....loud and clear....  

     The biggest difference between then and now is that Then it was more or less subterranean, and mostly all talk , and now it appears to be preparation for an armed rebellion..........Never in my memory did participants attend public political gatherings , armed with sidearms , rifles and shotguns.....Open talk of violence against the U.S. Army and the Administration....Hidden is the racial bias which belies the supposed advances we have achieved in social justice.....

     Normally I shun quotations , but the coalition of the very far right  has taken on dimensions which appear to me as more dangerous than any outside enemy could possibly pose....The open hostility they display is so widespread that it resembles an uncontrollable wildfire .....Some quotes follow:

     "He , (Lee Pray, the soldier on the cover) , considers the Bushmaster (a $ 5600 rifle and scope ) his preparation to take on the U.S. Government when it declares martial law"..."His belief that that day is imminent has led Pray to a group called "Oath Keepers" ...."A patriotic org . of the 'Right'....."Established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement that includes Tea Partiers, Birthers, and 912ers , Glen Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Pat Buchanon have all sung it's prases"....

     "What makes the Oath Keepers unique is that its core membership consists of men and women in uniform, police, and veterans....At their ceremonies , they pledge to protect the Constitution , but then vow to disobey" Unconstitutional" orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government"...                                                                                     

     "........They are recruiting military buddies, stashing weapons, and ammunition ,  running drills, and outlining a plan of action" ...."The Brass would be shocked by the number of soldiers willing to turn against their Commanders"  ...."Pray is both a Birther and a Truther...He believes that he is following an illegitimate , foreign born president, in a war on terror launched by a government plot --9/11".............And much more .....

     It is all too easy to brand these dissidents as crackpots but the likes of " Glen Beck,  Michele  Bachman, and Sarah Palin, all  share the same animus" .....It seems to be a pandemic....You may have noted the revival of the notorious  Birch Society ....

     The days ahead bare close scrutiny.....Love, Grandpa Dan       

                                                                                             


Grandpa Dan is a WWII veteran living the American Dream.  He was born of European immigrants fleeing Pogroms.  He was drafted into the military and served in WWII.  The military taught him watchmaking, and he used GI Bill to open a jewelry and watchmakers shop after he got out of the service.  His business grew, he retired to Florida where he became friends with my mom.  He now lives in assisted living where he enjoys the good life with his wife and writes political commentary to his personal friends. 


I also would like to comment that it is unconstitutional to have private militias on our own soil, yet we tolerate firms like Xe/Blackwater building bases in North Carolina.  Then we cut domestic spending in order to bankrupt our treasury waging endless foreign wars paying top dollar for "security services" from private militias funding their massive buildup of strength.  

When US militaries and National Guards all are exhausted from endless foreign wars, the private militias building up on our own soil will easily overtake the skeleton crew left behind by budget cuts. 

The Terrorists threatening our nation are from within

Now that our military is depleted and our treasury is long gone and deep in debt, the USA has been rendered totally vulnerable to attack. From the privatization and mismanagement of FEMA, homeland security, and public utilities, we are now facing an enemy far more insidious than a suicide bomber. The greatest threat to the security of the United States is the ruthlessly brutal, privately funded mercenary army, Blackwater. Their troops don’t need to invade; they are already here. In fact, they are better trained, better armed, and in greater numbers than our own troops.

Where did they get the money for their superior weapons? You need only look at the US Treasury to find the source. And, now our country is deep in debt for financing a superior army via the war in Iraq that is stationed within our national borders and answers to no law but the highest bidder.