I received a (snail mail) letter in the mail today from my Texas State Representative, Valinda Bolton. It was a brief letter:
Dear Mr. Daub:
I want to thank you for contacting me and sharing your thoughts on House Bill 410 [relating to the requirement under certain circumstances that a license holder display the person’s license to carry a concealed handgun].
I wanted to let you know that I was happy to vote in favor of this bill when it came before the House this past Friday. Thank you for giving me your input on this important bill; it is the active involvement of citizens like you that helps me come to an informed decision on legislation.
Again, thank you for taking the time to let me know your opinions. Please feel free to contact me with any further concerns or ideas you may have.
Sincerely,
Valinda Bolton
So a (likely) boilerplate thank you letter, but it was welcome to get such a follow-up. Furthermore, it was welcome to see that she voted in favor of this bill.
Of course, I’d like to see her helping HB 1893 move along, but we already know how she feels on that one. I guess this is how she earns her “C” grade from the NRA.
Montana passed into law a bill that exempts Montana-made guns from federal regulation.
Texas follows suit with HB 1863. It’s made it out of committee. We’ll see where it goes.
Howard Nemerov notes an interesting common thread between the way gun control and the swine flu are presented.
He’s right. It’s all about presenting fear, preying upon fear, and that government is the only one who can save us! Didn’t Ronald Reagan say “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'” How soon we forget.
Roy Batty was right. Living in fear is what it is to be a slave.
Mahatma Gandhi said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” A wonderful and noble thought.
Reading this from Roberta X reminded me of a thought I had a few weeks ago.
Driving around town with Family, Wife noticed a car with a bumper sticker that had the Gandhi quote on it. I do think it’s a beautiful thought, but I started to wonder how many people actually do that.
For instance, I wish to see people being more responsible for themselves, so I work to be more responsible for myself. I work to teach my children and other children in my care (e.g. my work as a Cub Scout Den Leader) about being responsible for themselves. I want to see people that work hard to be rewarded for their efforts, so I work hard, climb the ladder, save my money, and teach my children the same. I don’t want to see people go hungry, so I use my hard-earned money to buy food for my church’s food pantry.
Then I see people that want to spread the wealth. But then I ask them to spread some of their wealth directly to me, and they never seem to pull out their wallets. If the change (and hope) you wish to see in the world is to spread the wealth, then shouldn’t you be that change and start by spreading your wealth?
I see people that want others to pay for their health care or their groceries or their gas or whatever. But again they never seem to want to pay for mine when I ask them to.
I see people demanding mandated volunteer service (ignore the fact that makes no sense, or that it’s akin to slave labor), but I never see those same people volunteering.
Oh I see. You want *ME* to do that, but the gander just wants to sit back and reap the benefits. I see. Sow nothing, reap something. I see. Don’t consider the sustainability of that course of action, since you just want your big screen TV now. I guess someone didn’t have The Little Red Hen read to them as a child. Maybe that’s why some of us get a wee upset at such propositions of hope and change.
If you want to see change in the world, it starts with you. You need to change yourself and be that change. If you can’t be that change, maybe it’s not such a great change. If you can be that change, I can at least say I’ll have more respect for you.
A couple hours ago I finished watching the movie Blade Runner. Never seen it before, so it was about time that I did. Interesting movie, and I should probably watch it again to more fully appreciate it. While the movie wasn’t quite what I expected, in a good way, there was one line that jumped out at me. Roy Batty said:
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it? That’s what it is to be a slave.
True, so true.
Early Sunday mornings are my favorite time for motorcycle riding. The roads are about as dead as you’ll see during the week, so there’s little pressure and little noise. It’s a great time to ride.
This morning the weather was great. Cool, breezy, fairly cloudy. Just had some rain so the roads are fairly clean. And with the rain we’ve been getting lately, everything is green. Wildflowers in bloom up and down the roadsides, lush green grass. It’s just a great time to cruise and enjoy what’s around you; be thankful for it too.
I prefer to ride alone as riding is my therapy, my escape, my time to decompress and unclutter my head. On Sunday mornings, it’s my personal time for commune with the greater thing(s) out there. When you roll through and experience the sights, the sounds, the smells of the world around you, you get reflective… you get thankful… you count your blessings and perhaps discover a few you didn’t realize you had. I haven’t been able to ride much latey and it reflects in the level of stress I’ve been feeling. While today’s ride was short, it was better than nothing and certainly welcome.
To boot, I stopped by Cabelas, picked up a couple things including .22 LR ammo (finally, someone has it back in stock!). I picked up 5 bricks — that’s over 2500 rounds, and I guess means I have an instant arsenal now, right? For anyone who wonders why someone would need that much ammo, well… come shooting with me sometime, you can use the Buck Mark, and you’ll see how quickly one runs through it. You might even have fun too, but don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. 🙂
I’ve been passing on covering things like “the Mexican Gun Canard” and the 20/20 “guns on campus” abomination because other blogs have covered them mighty well. I have nothing to add.
But discussion of the Inter-American Arms Treaty (also known as CIFTA) has ugly implications. You need to contact your Senators and ensure this doesn’t happen.
So you just went to a Tea Party yesterday. Now what to do?
Check out After The Tea Party. from the American Majority group.
Stuff From Hsoi 