Please contact your state rep, senator and president about rational gun control.

Dear  Mr. Armstrong :

 

Thank you for contacting me about the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue. 

 

My family and I join all Americans in grieving for the children, teachers and staff who had their lives taken from them in the vicious attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We must pledge never to forget the victims of this senseless act of violence.

 

From the attack on Congresswoman  Giffords that left six dead , to the shootings in Colorado, Wisconsin, Oregon and Connecticut, it is too painfully clear that we must take meaningful action to make our communities safer. The 2008 Skagit County mass shootings that killed six brought this type of tragedy to our home. No single law can prevent the actions of a madman, but that is no excuse to not take action.

 

I continue to hold my position that Congress should reinstate the assault weapons ban and ban high-capacity ammunition clips above 10 roun ds per clip, as proposed by Representative McCarthy. These military-grade weapons serve no legitimate purpose in civilian life.

 

We must close the gun show and private sale loopholes and strengthen background check requirements to make sure  that criminals and the mentally ill are unable to purchase guns.

 

Gun control is part, but not all of the solution. Mental illness has been shown to be a factor in some of these mass shootings. Mental illnesses are often misunderstood and under-diagnosed. Health providers need to give mental health the same attention that  physical health is given. Congress should direct more research into mental illness and provide more funding for effective care of mentally ill patients.

 

We have not seen the last of violent crimes in our country, but if Congress and the President act, we can make our communities safer and shrink this cycle of violence.

 

Again, thank you for contacting me on this issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other issue.

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Sincerely,
Rick Larsen
United States Representative
Washington State, 2nd District

Obama’s Last Stand: American Gun Control

After years of the entire democratic parties feet dragging over gun control, and passive NRA ass kissing due to fears of voter disassociation within the gun nut crowd. I have to express my anger at the Democratic Party for only stepping up now after a grade school is massacred.

They truly were the ones that had a chance to do something about the rampant indiscriminate gun violence in our country, and turn rational gun control into something real that could have prevented tragedies like the one in Connecticut.

Fair, progressive, and conducive with the times we live in now gun legislation, even ten years ago could have drastically changed our circumstances concerning these rampant senseless shootings in America today.

Lucky for us, President Obama is on his last term and in a position to finally do the right thing about progressive gun control instead of worrying about votes.

The trouble with any form of rights is that they can become just as dangerous if not more as having no rights at all if you do not recognize the responsibilities of how you use those rights. The right to carry arms is one of those dangerous and perpetually disputed and controversial rights we have as Americans that constantly turns around to bite us in the ass when we least expect it.

That may sound like socialism slipping into communism to the far right, but being responsible does not historically include American politics, and the shady party histories and leaders on both sides that are constantly worried about their own careers, and the best interest of votes rather than voters.

Honestly and objectively thinking of the country first regardless of your personal ambitions; that is in my view the measure of a true patriot and leader.

I might not have always believed in Obama's choices, or certain overseas politics, but one feeling I have never questioned about our president is that he really does care about the health, welfare, and safety of his nation’s citizens, nor do I ever doubt his patriotism or commitment to gradual political change for the betterment of all Americans.

Unity is what our country needs right now, healing not division. We need to think about the people, the country, and what we can do to help bring us all back from the brink of our own self destruction caused by domestic individual selfish interests. An American should love all his country - not just the part that agrees with his views.

The sad fact of things is that if you Google political unity over Newtown shooting as of my search on Dec. 20, 2012, nothing pops up. That tells me right there that the only chance we have of rational workable gun control lies solely in the hands of a last term president, and a scared and divided nation over the right to bear arms.

That Casey Anthony Bitch

I hate to say I told you so jury but I fucking  told you so. Now that the new evidence has come out to the light of day in this fucked up case, that was stupidly overlooked by the investigating sheriffs department in Florida,  clearly damns her with the Firefox search on her computer looking for the perfect way to suffocate someone on the day of her daughters disappearance. I don't think we need to give her even an O.J.'s benefit of the doubt anymore about her guilt.

When I heard the verdict for acquittal in the Casey Anthony trail I was shocked, then dumbfounded at how someone let alone a whole jury could be so dumb.

I have heard of reasonable doubt,  and I certainly do not like to judge,  but one look at that selfish trampy bitch and I knew she was guilty. Come on, I think everyone has met girls like her who have kids with men they don’t love, then when it comes to choosing to be a good mom, or partying all night long and looking cool jumping in every guys lap that will give her a wiggle, she will choose the wiggle over her own flesh and blood every time.

Those pictures of her partying her ass off as people still looked for her missing child was bad enough, but this latest news about the sheriff’s dept. down in Florida not seeking professional police to actually check her Firefox  searches instead of just checking unused and usually forgotten these days Internet Explorer makes me want to study law and become a prosecutor.

Once again it gets confusing who are the stupidest people in this sad saga of human depravity and intentional tragedy. My only consolation is, as it was then, that the bitch won’t even  get a job at Wal-Mart for the rest of her life! She will have to try and party on welfare wages after she pays the rent on some dump that’s low enough to take her tainted money; let alone a boyfriend low enough to want her tainted taint too.

Smoking Willie

I have been a big fan of Willie Nelson since I’ve had ears. I don’t even listen to country that much but I listen to Willie every chance I get. I went out and bought a copy of his album Heroes, and was amazed and also amused to see that the second song down, Roll Me Up And Smoke Me, also included a diverse group of music  legends in Snoop Dog, Kris Kristofferson, and Jamey  Johnson.

This is one of the things that I have always liked about Willie Nelson is his ability to not only think way outside the box , but to be also able to throw the box away entirely  so as not to be trapped within set confines , be it musically or in his private life.

You can see the wisdom and contentment these days in Nelson’s eyes,  and when he is seen hand in hand with his wife Annie D’ Angelo;  his tax problems with the IRS seem to be a past crisis that has been put aside for the happier things in life.

Willie Nelson is still on tour like he was a young rock star rather than a country legend. He tours constantly to venues that vary from large stadiums to casinos and resorts, he of course is also a strong advocate of Farm Aid and played a live rendition of Roll Me Up And Smoke Me to a roaring thankful crowd in 2011.

I think Willie Nelson appeals to the rebel in all of us who envy his tireless perseverance throughout the years to absolutely not back down when face to face with established conformity. This idealistic stamina was again in play when Nelson was busted with marijuana in 2010 at the age of 77, on the way to his Texas ranch in Austin.

There has never been a blatant condoning of the use of hard drugs in his ideology, and he has not been perceived as such by the general public or his adoring fans. Willie Nelson seems to work his magic of standing by both his ideals and integrity when talking about his marijuana use that seems to justify our sympathies for him.

Whatever the magic Willie Nelson works on the hearts of Americans from all sorts of walks of life, age, and gender,  there is no doubt in my mind that it will keep on working long after he stops working. He is and always will be one of my favorite musicians of all time.

The Crimes of Israel and Its Self-Rightious Wars

Some things were seen by some people in advance, and it was painful that no one took the time out of their busy day to listen or care the first or second time it was explained to them. Maybe now they will understand more clearly who the real terrorists are that are hiding in our own privileged little political clicks.

Seeing it is painful for any human being with a true conscience, but not as devastatingly painful than what is inflicted on the victims of our supposedly superior egos, and the oversights of our own self-indulgences that we carelessly impose on those we purposely overlook as actual human beings.

Their brutal reality never seems to equal to our perceptions of our own righteousness. Enough words--here is just a few of a few thousand pictures that speak for themselves in peoples true and actual realities outside our safe little perfect country.

Believe me when I say it deeply saddens me to even show such horrible realities into anyone’s positive perceptions of the world we live in, and we all had a great influence in creating this reality we and they are in now.

Let’s really separate church from state from U.S. politics by separating ourselves from Israel. Believe me when I say that Jesus will fully understand our decision, and fully appreciate why we did so.

A Centuries Old Corporate Lie

The greed and ego of financial power is fueled by money with no spiritual or intellectual purpose. This selfish ideology is always protected and enacted by its corporate soldiers who are trained in the art of instilling fear into the average financially struggling citizen. They tell the masses that the poor will have even less if socialism is allowed to empower the powerless. This tactic is age old but transparent to those with nothing left to lose, or nothing left that hasn’t been slowly stolen from them by governmental  or corporation interests already.

Washington State’s Ballot: It’s All About Controversy

 I live in Washington State  where most everyone I know has already voted for president through mail. Washington and our neighbor Oregon are the two strictly mail in voting states in the union,  giving polls headaches as to which way Washington  might have already made or broke a candidate’s big day before Nov. 6^th even arrived.

It was a little weird hearing how my friends and family members voted for president all week in the past tense. One thing I found ironic was that the return envelope for the ballot required postage paid for by the voter if you put it in the U.S. mail.  

Washington State has been in some financial troubles also with a billion dollar fiscal shortfall of its own. They recently transferred their control of hard liquor from state liquor stores to the private sector for the first time since the end of prohibition in order to focus on tax collecting from hard liquor users, rather than selling booze to them.

The State Legislature has already passed an initiative legalizing gay marriage months ago that was then immediately blocked by petition from those who believe marriage is between Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. This set up the election drama and suspense in this state over another hot social issue that had me looking over my shoulder when filling out the my ballot on my coffee table so no one saw what box I checked.

  

Legalizing marijuana was also on my ballot and I looked around the room again, and when no one was looking checked that box as well with a smug smile on my face as I licked the envelope, placing the stamp that taxes would not pay for on it, then walked it to the street corner and dropped it in the Mail box.