The Partial Mistake of Relying on the 10th Amendment

This is primarily going to be a work of opinion rather than fact gathering and research this evening. And that might mean that the article ends up not being all that long. But I think that this is important and should be discussed so that we don’t fall prey to making the same mistakes on a smaller scale. My focus tonight is on the recent 10th Amendment movements. I believe I recall the number being 34 of the states have taken action in some form to reaffirm state’s rights under the 10th Amendment. I support those who are making that move, but not for the same reason as many others are supporting them. So I want to discuss them, and their reasoning, and the flaw in thinking that this is the ultimate answer to the problems that we face in dealing with government today.

Defining What Government Does… or Doesn’t

I was reading through the comments on last night’s open mic throughout the day today. Some good stuff there. An interesting discussion with Ray about racism that is forcing me to think hard about my definitions and my perceptions, which is a good thing. I look forward to continuing it. But I was really struck reading the back and forth between BF and Chris Devine concerning government, and the ensuing thoughts that were offered by PeterB. A couple of weeks ago we had a discussion about defining what government is, and why it is important to do so. But this conversation I was witnessing today went a little further than that and I felt it warranted some more discussion amongst us all. If you would like to first review the discussion from the other week, you can do so HERE . There were some interesting discussions. But I want to attempt to refine the conversation, specifically with Chris and BF, as I think differently than both of them…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 28, 2009

Well, I enter the regular Tuesday Night Open Mic weathered and worn. A teenage son that actually wants to hang out with and do things with his dad is a beautiful, albeit tiring endeavor. Add to that work and a blog, and I sometimes feel I am burning the candle at both ends! Add to that more character attacks to defend against, and I am downright worn out. But it’s all good, folks, that’s what I signed up for when I began writing this blog many months ago (Hard to believe I have been at this for 9 months already). Lots of stuff going on out there. I am finding that I tend to tackle things in the open mic that I don’t want to dedicate an entire article on. It is like Open Mic allows for the distracting stuff, so that we don’t let it get in the way of the important stuff the rest of the week. And that is a nice freedom to have during at least one night of the week. So without delay, I offer my Open Mic Topics and look forward to yours!

Stealth Legislation as a Positive?

As I mentioned the other night, I have my son with me for the summer, and while it hasn’t affected much the last couple of weeks, that won’t always be the case. Over the next three remaining weeks of his time here, there may be several nights where I choose to spend time with him as opposed to spending 4 hours writing an article. Just figured I would let everyone know why some nights might end up with no article, or limited amounts of my own thoughts, such as tonight. I was using my very limited time this evening to read a lot of articles on different subjects, hoping I would find something early to research and then write about. I stumbled across this article on the Huffington Post website. The headline jumped out at me and I couldn’t resist reading it. And as I did I became more and more annoyed at the blatant disregard for integrity or honesty from government….

Judging the Spendulus Bill

Here I am on a sunday night… tired as can be at only 10:00 pm. Certainly a rare occasion for me. A long weekend, a lot of driving, a great wedding, and some new friends. But all tiring none-the-less. I was reading an article earlier and found myself reading the rhetoric and wondering how much of it was true. The article was basically a Republican talking points article discussing how the stimulus bill can now be considered a failure. I am unsure how much we can tell if that is true at this point. I am inclined to believe that statement, but for a different reason that I will discuss later. But the claims from the right seem to be off base, just as off base as the claims from the left in regard to the economy. So I figured I would research a little and then ask all of you to weigh in and offer what you have read out there too.

Is Barney Frank the Biggest Idiot in Congress?

I have wanted to discuss this for a bit now and finally had a night where I was able to read a little bit and research a little bit to attempt to get a grasp of whether what I had heard was true. I was figuring that after what Barney Frank played a major role in causing the first time, there is no way he would be crazy enough to suggest the same idiotic mistakes a second time. Apparently I have far underestimated the level of stupidity that Mr. Frank and the sheer idiocy of anyone who listens to anything that this man has to say. As you recall, I gave him good marks for how he handled himself a month ago when he made a return appearance on The O’Reilly Factor. Whatever good things I said about him then, I take back. He is clearly delusional and apparently lacks the ability to learn from the mistakes of his own past and make better decisions going forward. This man is a bumbling fool and should be dismissed as a Congressman immediately…

Quick Hits for the Night

I am left with little time to write this evening. I am ecstatic to have my son here for the summer. That is a normal thing for me. What is not normal is that this is a teenager who actually wants to spend time with and hang out with his dad. So I am taking advantage of it by doing just that. It will mean that some nights I don’t get to write as extensively as I would like to do, but I will endeavor to still post an article whenever possible. I appreciate everyone’s understanding. Priorities have to be kept in order. And he is at the top of the list. I initially wanted to give my thoughts on the Obama press conference tonight, but that will take more time than I am left with. So I decided on hitting a topic quickly and letting us discuss it. My quick hit topic for this evening is the Senate proposal that failed yesterday, that would have allowed concealed weapon permits to work from state to state…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 21, 2009

Tuesday night looms yet again. After driving all day to Pennsylvania and back again (about twelve hours total) and dealing with Capital Beltway Traffic (I can’t believe I used to live there and put up with that daily) I am quite exhausted so I am fairly pleased to have an easy night tonight for writing. I will dedicate Topic number one to answering Ray, as he seems hell bent on attempting to prove something, although I am not sure what quite yet! But there are plenty of topics out there in the news, what with Congress attempting to put the screws to us and Hillary out there talking to other nations and California swiping city monies and calling their state budget “fixed”.  I can see tensions are running a bit high here lately. I urge everyone to remain calm and not panic. There is a lot going on. But we are FAR from being sunk yet. There is a lot of baseball yet to be played in this game. There are bad things happening, but remember that the American public may be slow, but they figure it out eventually. And it won’t be “too late”….

Transparency I Can’t See Through

When I was a kid, I used to have the habit of walking or standing in the way of whatever my parents would be watching on the television. Inevitably, I would get the comment from my father that I “make a better door than a window,” letting me know that he cannot see through me. I have never forgotten that phrase and I continue to use it on my son and Mrs. Weapon. But I think that it is quite safe to say that, despite campaign promises to “bring transparency to Washington,” this administration, like all those before it, has no interest in being transparent. In fact I think that this administration is far less transparent than any administration in my lifetime. So I have to say that government really makes a better lead lined concrete wall than a window these days.

Well Then…. Let’s Just Get it All Out There Part 1

Tonight I was able to catch back up and read a lot of the comments of the last couple of days. I was not surprised to find that there were quite a few that disagreed with me on several different areas. D13 took me to task a bit (at least I think so, he didn’t say my name, but I got the distinct impression that he was talking about me along with others). I was also accused of felony possession of kool-aid with intent to distribute by TexasChem. Finally, I was under fire from G.A. Rowe, but then again, he and I often disagree on minor things while agreeing on major ones. All three offered up that I was wrong. And I will take that criticism. I don’t mind a bit. For goodness sake that is what I am here for! Now let me say up front that I don’t take offense to a single one of these attacks on my positions…

Well Then…. Let’s Just Get it All Out There Part 2

As I mentioned in part one, I have finally been able to get to reading al of the comments directed to me out there. I am taking the time to answer some of them directly so that we can move forward with a better understanding of what is true for me. In the first part I responded to TexasChem on the ideas of personal freedom and liberty for all persons in the United States, regardless of their religion or sexual orientation. Now I will take the time to address D13, who seemed to question my path forward. The interesting thing is that I am not much different from him, but I think that he has misconstrued my thoughts and ideas. So I want to clear that up and discuss how I view the discussions on this site as three distinctly different ongoing conversations.

Guest Commentary… How to Submit

I have seen a few requests for information on how to be a guest commentator here. It is quite easy to do. Just write. When you have it finished email it to me and I will read it. If it is worthy of being a guest commentary piece I will contact you and talk about it. Don’t let that worry you, I have only ever rejected one or two commentary pieces and they were because they didn’t meet my respect criteria. If you are not a great writer, don’t worry about it. I will help. I will re-work anything that you would like me to. And before I actually post it you will have the final copy in your possession and you have final approval on what gets published.

What of the Global Currency Conspiracy?

I have to admit that there have often bee things that I want to bring up on this site that I have chosen to not touch with a ten foot pole. There are things I want to discuss, but I am not a conspiracy theorist. Some examples would be the President’s citizenship and the “One World Government” stuff. I find the ideas interesting. I don’t know that they have merit. I really don’t. I have not spent ample time researching Obama’s citizenship status. I have also not spent ample time researching the one world government stuff. So I don’t know how valid the arguments are for or against either conspiracy theory. But I am afraid that even bringing them up would render this site as filled with conspiracy nuts rather than intelligent folks trying to get a grasp on the truth today. Yet I find that I want to discuss them, because I want to become more informed. So for now I offer this little foray into conspiracy theories.

Channeling John Adams

My wife and I were watching the first part of the HBO mini-series this evening that chronicled the contributions of John Adams during the time of our founders. I have watched it before, a while ago. Mrs. Weapon had not watched any of it. So we thought we would sit down and watch an episode each night that we can until we finish it. I was listening to the speech that he gave just before he left for Philadelphia as one of the 5 representatives for the congress being held there. As I did, something really struck home with me. That spark has put me back on my soapbox tonight. And that is that the people of the United States have completely lost sight of everything that the founders were striving for when they did the things that they did. We have fallen into traps that were laid with the best of intention in most cases, and nefariously in others. I hear the calls to return to our roots and I submit to you that we are not ready to return to our roots….

Why The Hate for Sarah Palin?

I have been trying to go back and read some of the comments that I missed while I was on vacation. One thing that struck me was the hatred some espoused for Sarah Palin. I was literally reading it and saying to myself, “What the hell is this all about?” I understand she is a conservative. But it seems that the left has really strong hate for this woman. And I simply cannot figure out why. I mean, I have read all the same stuff. I have followed politics quite closely since well before she even entered politics. And I simply cannot figure out why the left hates her so much. She isn’t like Pelosi, who makes statements and pushes partisanship so blatantly and who is so far in left field that a ball that rolls to her has already long left the park. So I can’t figure it out. So I am going to talk a bit about Sarah, and maybe some of you on the left can help me understand your hatred for a woman who seems normal to me.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 14, 2009

It felt good to get back to the political discussions yesterday. I can’t tell you how much it pained me to not be able to participate in the discussions over the last week and a half. But I certainly cannot complain about the vacation that made that happen. It was a nice relaxing time where I didn’t have to worry about much of anything. I only regretted that I was not able to pre-write articles as I had intended so that you would all still get something new each night. Ah, but lessons learned. Here we are again at a Tuesday night open mic. I missed being a part of last week’s which ended up with an astounding almost 900 responses. I certainly realize that was helped by no new articles for several days afterwards. But it was good to see so much discussion and participation happening. I have been out of the loop for a bit, so I am looking forward to discussing the massive amounts of catching up I have been doing while reading news the last two days.

Starting Basic… Defining What We Seek

Some interesting conversations have been swirling around the last couple of days between BF, JAC, and others. This conversation seems to be focused around trying to define what government is and is not. It is an interesting conversation to have. More important, this is more than an interesting conversation, it is an absolute necessity. We discuss on this site daily the ways that we are dissatisfied with our federal government. We talk about things like “getting back to basics” and “returning to the principles of our founding fathers”. In short we are discussing what is right and moral, what is desired and deserved. We are talking about government; its purpose, its scope, its actions and its future. As we do so, we miss an important step in the discussion process…

Not Politics Tonight… Easing Back Into the Fray

Whew…. I have to say that I have missed being able to interact on the site. Paying 75 cents a minute is simply not possible when the Tuesday night post ends up with close to 900 comments! But I am back from my excursion to the Great White Northwest. It was a beautiful and restful trip. Rather than jumping right into the politics this evening I figured I would share a bit of my trip with all of you. I am hoping that no one finds it too boring that I do so. For those that are not interested in hearing about my trip or seeing any of the pictures that I took, I understand. Fear not, tomorrow we go back to our regularly scheduled programming and discussing politics. But for tonight, I ease back into the everyday writing practice of the blog. So what has kept me from my wonderful readers these last ten days or so? Alaska and Canada, my friends. And I wish I didn’t have to come back from up there….

Tuesday Night Open Mic for July 7, 2009

And we reach another Tuesday night. I apologize for not being around much this week. Or at least I offer a minimalist apology. I don’t have the access to be able to get in here much. Even if I was Bill Gates and wanted to spend the money to be on here constantly, I simply don’t have the time with my travels. Mrs. Weapon and I hiked about ten miles yesterday into the Alaskan wilderness. We were back out this morning around 7:00 and took to the Yukon. Quite a trip thus far. I will paste in a picture from this evening as we were leaving this particular area. In about 7 hours, we will be hitting Tracy’s Arm Fjord. We will be out wildlife hunting. The area is chock full of Grizzly Bears, Bald Eagles, and Moose. Looking forward to seeing some of each (although not too close to the Bears). But what’s on everyone’s mind in terms of current events?

Operating With No Net

Greetings to all from the Pacific Ocean. As I write this I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. I decided I had to go up and have a talk with Sarah about this whole “resigning” business. This has left me with very few options for writing unfortunately. I was finally able to get some semblance of news this afternoon and included in it was a clip from an interview with the Vice President on the new State Broadcasting Channel (ABC). I was just listening waiting for the obligatory “We need a Second Bailout” when he was discussing the economy. Instead he dropped a line that, in my opinion, epitomizes today’s political moves and the idiots that make them.

Making Nationalized Health Care MANDATORY…

I wanted to write tonight but I have found that perparing for my trip after a long day of work is proving more time consuming that I had intended. So rather than leaving you all with nothing, I decided that I would post the article that I was planning to write about this evening. Starting to see bills like this pop up really bothers me and worries me at the same time. It seems that the Senate has decided that not only will Congress plan on making national health care a reality, they will also work to make it a punishable crime to decide that you don’t want coverage at all. As I said, little time this evening so this is the article exactly as it appeared. I will try to find time while traveling tomorrow to jump in and add my thoughts.

How Do We Stop Legislative Madness?

I was watching Glenn Beck’s (Yes I know some of you have issue with him, but he is entertaining) video about the cap and trade legislation this evening and he was railing against the pork that was put into the bill at the last minute. And this got me steaming again on this topic and I decided that I wanted to discus the subject with everyone and figure out how we can begin to curb this practice in the US Congress. We have discussed the idea before, but we need to really start figuring out how we can stop it. The common practice has become to add pork to legislation in order to get people to vote for a bill that they would otherwise not vote for. And it is ridiculous and, in my opinion, criminal. And the fact that members of Congress simply smile and tell us that this is just part of doing business in Washington pisses me off to no end. Is this the Hope and Change that everyone voted for? Because it seems like it is nothing but more of the same with a dose of HGH…

Tuesday Night Open Mic for Jun 30, 2009

Another Tuesday night Open Mic. We have had some interesting discussions already this week. Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor seemed to be a topic that got some people fired up and the ABC infomercial seemed to be a hot topic for everyone. But there are plenty of other topics out there that we have not yet touched on this week. So we will do the open mic thing, but I also wanted to let all of you know how the next couple of weeks are going to play out here at Stand Up For America. I know that many of you are eager to get back to the “Building a Foundation” series, and I promise that we are soon going to be getting back to that. The past couple of weeks have seen us covering some topics with each of you having the ability to apply what we discussed earlier in the series. And there will be some more of that coming soon.