Guns, Beer and some post primary election talk...

Guns, Guns, Guns...
Tonight I went to one of my favorite drinking establishments to meet a friend and enjoy a tasty adult beverage. The establishment I went to is one I have frequented many times; this time though, there was something different

No Guns at the Great Dane

I never thought I would see the day when I saw a sign like that anywhere in Wisconsin. I have no problem with people owning guns. I own one myself. If you want to go hunting or target shooting great. Have at it. I also understand that the second amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms; however, we live in a far different world that of our forefathers. As a society we have grown, we no longer are a people living on the frontier needing to defend our homesteads from hostiles. We have a standing army to defend our borders.

The notion that we as a people need weapons to prevent our government from becoming tyrannical is a specious argument at best. I highly doubt an armed population is going to be able to go up against M-1 tanks and AH-64 Apaches. There is also the argument that we need weapons for protection against criminals. Again, I do not buy that argument. Unless you have reflexes like a cat it is doubtful you would be able to pull a weapon out in time to prevent an attack.

Fear Sells

This argument is really one of the easiest arguments for the gun lobby to make. If you do not carry a concealed weapon you will be a victim of a horrible crime. You can see this argument clearly in the ad that appeared on this very blog earlier today to the left. "Seconds Count: Police are only minutes away." That is a pretty powerful message - carry a handgun or you will be a crime statistic.

Carrying a weapon, especially a handgun, makes a person feel powerful, invincible even.  Now the gun lobby cannot tell you that, nor can it tell the people who are buying this load of bile that either. So they sell a message of fear. As we know fear sells...and everyone is buying.

Sadly though as long as the gun lobby is as strong as it is and as long as the gun lobby stirs up the second amendment extremists we will never be able to have a reasonable and logical debate on guns and the gun issues we are facing in this country.  Perhaps it is time for us, as a nation, to revisit the second amendment and create a new amendment that places reasonable restrictions on gun ownership and ones ability to carry a weapon in public. We no longer live in the old west...we are supposed to be a civilized society.  Lest we forget, handguns have one purpose and that is to kill people.


Mmmmmm...Beer

Unless you live in Minnesota.

Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes -- a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.

In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew their state-issued liquor purchasing cards. Many of them did not make it.

Now, with no end in sight to the shutdown, they face a summer of fast-dwindling alcohol supplies and a bottom line that looks increasingly bleak.

One by one, bars get tapped out

Republican hostage taking in Minnesota is appearing to be bad for business. If a deal is not reached by the end of August they run out of tax stamps for cigarettes...while as a non-smoker that does not bother me, I am sure it is going to bother a number of people. Then of course there is the irony,

Sen. John Howe, R-Red Wing, is concerned enough that on Tuesday he even advocated for Dayton using his executive powers to allow alcohol sales to continue.

"The governor keeps insisting he wants more revenue, but if he doesn't instruct his administration to address this issue, he'll be chasing revenue out of the state,"

One by one, bars get tapped out

I would suggest to Senator Howe that he and his colleagues work with the Governor of Minnesota on this impasse. An impasse of the Republican party's making. I hope they solve this soon I really do not want all of Minnesota coming to Wisconsin and drinking up all of our Spotted Cow.

Elections

Just another word about the recall elections...I have to say that I am disappointed in the Wisconsin media. While all of the media outlets in the state have noted that there were fake democrats running in yesterday's election; not a single one of them condemned the Republicans for doing such an unethical and hypocritical act (especially when one considers their stance on election integrity with the voter ID bill.) What I saw with news reporting on this issue was an entire industry fearful of showing any partisan bias an entire industry afraid to tell the truth. The reason for this is, I am sure, fear of losing advertising dollars. There was a time in this nation when the media was considered the fourth estate, or the unofficial fourth branch of our government...the branch that kept government honest. Thanks to media consolidation there is no room at the table for anyone to make a stand, to do the right thing.

Paul Ryan...are you serious? Really?

I was going to write up a blog post today on the recall elections and Republican election fraud today; however, I figure that there are a lot of other outlets that are better qualified and doing a far better job of covering the recall elections than I can do. I also did not want Paul Ryan to get away with saying something incredibly stupid.

“We are already taxing our job creators and our businesses more than our foreign competitors are taxing theirs,” House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said on CBS’s “The Early Show.”

“We don’t want to go farther down that path,” Ryan said. “We want to make sure that America’s job producers, our employers, are not put at a huge competitive disadvantage. And right now they’re paying higher tax rates.”

Paul Ryan: Don’t hike business taxes

Really? Did he really just say, "We are already taxing our job creators and our businesses more than our  foreign competitors." Sadly, yes he did, which only proves that the congressman from the first district of our fair state is out of touch with reality.

How far out of touch...well, I am sure you all remember this,

The company (General Electric) reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether

So not only did GE not pay any taxes...they got a rebate of $3.2 billion!! And Ryan says that American Business are overtaxed? If GE was overtaxed in 2010 then why did they get such a large rebate? Why are American business sitting on piles and piles of cash, why are these same businesses paying CEOs million or billion dollar bonuses?

American businesses are not overtaxed. They need to pay their fair share. Businesses require a educated workforce, they require infrastructure to transport goods and services. They require a safe, secure, environment in order to do business. All of these things are paid for by taxes. The argument that they are the job creators so they should not pay is a foolish argument. Business may create jobs; however, without government support, i.e. education, infrastructure, police and fire protection, they could not turn a profit. Congressman Ryan, you sir are wrong, your ideas, your parties policies are not good for Wisconsin nor are the good for the United States.

Comments...

Should I allow comments on my blog? That is the question. Honestly, I am a little gun shy about allowing them after my last true post was swarmed by the RKBA (Right to keep and bear arms) cabal on Daily Kos.

If I do allow them I will moderate them...I will not allow bullying, hate speech or any other speech that I consider offensive. Now don't throw the First Amendment in my face...the First Amendment means that the government has to allow free speech...I don't have to. I will open comments on this post to get your thoughts.

Kodiak54 Daily Kos Blog Archive

For any new folks checking out my blog here is a link to my blog archive at Daily Kos. At this point it does not look like I will return to write there; however, I have a lot of history over the Great Orange Satan and I hate to abandon it so feel free to check out my older blog posts.

Kodiak54 Blog Archive

Recall Elections, fake candidates and voter ID

We are coming up on the recall elections quickly with the primaries for the recalls of the Republican Senators starting tomorrow. Now one would think that the fiscal hawks of the Republican Party would want to keep the costs of these elections down - right?

Wrong...the Republican Party has inserted fake candidates into all of the recalls against Republican Senators. Now why would they do this? To give their candidates longer to campaign. Now I don't know about you, but, I find the Republican plans flat out unethical. While it may be perfectly legal to run fake candidates it is one of the more unprincipled things I have seen the Republicans do so far this year, which is saying a lot as the current crop of Republicans that we have here in Wisconsin are about the most dishonorable group of people I have seen serve in our legislature...and I have lived through the caucus scandals.

Now as you can tell the Republicans in Wisconsin are so concerned about the fiscal well being of our state by not only forcing unnecessary primary elections upon us unwitting peasants that they also passed a law that raises the cost of future elections by passing the Voter ID bill. Basically a law looking for a crime...however, being so concerned about the integrity of elections as they are (you can tell they are concerned about this because they are running fake candidates in the primaries) they passed this law for a crime that is never committed. Hell, how can you possibly worry about voter fraud, i.e. people voting twice, when you can barely get fifty percent of the population to vote in the first place.

But - I guess when you are worried about the states fiscal health and the issue of voter fraud you have to think outside the box and come up with solutions like running fake candidates and passing laws that disenfranchise voters in the name of fiscal responsibility and election integrity.

Only in America

Last week I DVR'd an episode of Only in America hosted by Larry the Cable Guy. Now, I am of mixed feelings on this show. He is a funny guy; however, he does on occasion throw out the occasional right wing talking point or slams a democratic politician. The episode I watched this evening about Secret Santa. Seemed a little odd to watch this story in July...but hey, I will roll with it.

How I wish I had the money to help people in the way these Secret Santa's do. At one point the man playing Santa stated that he goes through one hundred thousand dollars each Christmas season. Giving away that amount of money just boggles my mind.

It seems even more amazing to me after the conversation I had this morning with my son and ex-wife. We have a decision to make in the coming weeks about our Beagle, Gus. He is having some serious issues urinating...and we do not know how we can even afford to take him to the vet. If it is anything serious we will more than likely have to put him down. These are not happy times in the Andersen household.

What makes this even worse is that a couple of weeks ago my ex-wife had to attend a meeting where she works. The CEO of the company stated that they will all have to do more with less (something I have been doing where I work for two years) that they have to tighten their belts and sacrifice. They were then informed that they would all have to take furlough days. The CEO will retain his six-figure salary and his six figure bonus.

Wouldn't it be a better world for all of us if the haves realized that the have-nots are the reason they are haves...I am tired of being told that I have to sacrifice...when I don't see any of the haves sacrificing.

Second Guitar Lesson (Or, I still can't count to four)

Had my second guitar lesson last night - I still am having trouble counting to four...especially now that I know there are different ways to count to four. Then my instructor tells me I have to learn math. Math!?! I didn't sign up for math. There is a reason I am a writer. No Math!

But, it is a lifelong dream of mine to learn to play guitar - so I will learn math. On the upside, I have moved on in the book to power chords on the fifth string. I guess that is a good thing.