My commentary on a variety of issues that interest me including gun rights, individual liberty, illegal immigration, politics, religion, taxes, aviation, judicial activism, journalistic bias and laziness, environmental activism, education, family, health, gardening, history, Scouting, genealogy, etc.
I am a retired international airline captain. In real life, I strike fear into the US Department of Homeland Security as a right-wing extremist (in other words, I believe in God, go to church regularly, own a gun or two, oppose Al Gore and the environmentalist fraud, expect the government to aggressively enforce immigration laws, believe English should be established as the nation's official language, believe the US Constitution says what it says, seek a return to the limited federal government described in the US Constitution, and as a military veteran have sworn to support and defend the Constitution). To quote one of my heroes, Captain Moroni: "I seek not for power, but to pull it down. I seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country." (Book of Mormon, Alma 60:36) In my spare time, I serve on the local Boy Scout District Training Committee. I coach a 4-H Shooting Sports club (see 4-H link below). I also teach the Utah Hunter Education Course, the Utah Concealed Firearm Course, and various other gun safety classes including most NRA courses (see Firearm Training link below).
A cousin is appalled at a chart created by a Leftist propaganda organization known as Center for American Progress (long known to exploit people who lack a talent for critical thinking). The chart shows that more people were killed in the US by gunfire from 1989 to 2014 than have US war deaths since 1776.
That's far too many deaths in either category, no doubt. But, gun-related deaths in the US are fewer than than poisoning deaths and fewer than motor vehicle traffic deaths over the same period. Did the Center for American Progress point that out? No, that wouldn't serve their agenda.
Firearms account for about 1.6 percent of unintentional injury deaths. As for the intentional-injury firearm deaths, a significant portion of those are lawful self-defense. Another large portion of intentional deaths is suicides -- deaths that likely would have been by some other means were not a firearm available.
As long as the Center for American Progress seems to be concerned about needless death, how about considering legal abortion? Since 1989 (the same period as that used in their article) over 35 million children have been legally killed in the womb -- usually for the mere convenience of one or both of the parents and always for profit. (Don't expect the Center for American Progress complain about that.)
My source: US Centers for Disease Control, a US government agency tasked with tracking deaths, injuries, and disease -- not the Center for American Progress which has a long history of not looking at statistics in context.
Who who needs critical thinking when ignorant emotion is so much easier? The "progressive" movement (eg, the Center for American Progress) relies on that far too-common ignorant emotion. We need smarter voters.
Today is Constitution. Today, we ratification of the US Constitution on this day in 1787.
In honor of this special day, Gary R. Herbert, Governor of Utah made this statement:
"How grateful I am for an inspired Constitution to unite our nation and guide us through the difficult task of governing. May we always defend, protect and adhere to it."
He went on to expand on that statement in his blog.
I wonder, does the governor mean the document the prohibits government interference (see US Constitution, Amendment 2 and Amendment 14, Section 1) with the right to keep and bear arms, yet he, himself, insists that responsible adults have written permission from one of his agents in order to carry a gun of self-defense?
Are he referring to the same Constitution that prohibits the central government from having a role in health care, education, alternative energy, environmental protection, public land management, religion, welfare, national parks, law enforcement, abortion, funding state and local projects, marriage, and countless other areas (see US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 and Amendment 10), yet he kowtows to the feds, obeying their mandates in those areas, in order to get "free" money?
Is that the same document that was created by representatives of the Statesandratified by the States to delegate a few specific roles to the central government (see US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8) while retaining sovereignty of the separate States, yet the governor leads a state government that acts as a mere functionary of the central government -- not as a sovereign State?
Is that the Constitution that says that the US Constitution is the "supreme law" of the land along with those laws that stay within the bounds of the Constitution -- not the laws, regulations, policies, and opinions of federal and state politicians, judges, and bureaucrats that go far beyond the clear limits defined in the Constitution and which he has a sworn obligation to nullify?
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