Could You Not Do Something About My C - Mark?

Apropos yesterday's Blog, I went on-line today to check the Sarasota newspaper for anymore gun-play articles and was not to be disappointed.

Two in particular:

The First deals with the State of Texas law that permits its university students to bring guns into the class room.

How Bizarre.   Bullet Proof Vests Anyone?

The Second is less cut and dry.

It reports that yesterday "four to seven, including the gunman, are dead and 20 to 30 people are injured after a series of shootings in south-central Kansas."

Police report that the killer had been served earlier in the day with a court order demanding him to stay away from his former girl friend.  This action apparently triggered a melt-down on the gunman's part which led him on a shooting spree ending with his arrival at his employer's place of business where he shot - killed and wounded more - this time his fellow colleagues before police were able to bring him down.

Now I would say this is a mixture of domestic / work place violence that the Second Amendment giving US citizens the right to bear arms never envisaged.

The NRA would likely say it is a classic case of ordinary citizens needing to be armed in order to protect themselves.

So dear Reader - you decide.  Who is correct here?

But one thing is very clear - whether you side with me or the NRA - the United States of America is plagued with a gun culture.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

Compared to Florida ,,,, The Wild West Was Tame

The Olde West is generally defined as the period after the American Civil War - 1865 to 1885 - some twenty years.  Estimates indicate that during that time less than 20,000 men, women and children were killed by guns... 1,000 per year.

Contrast that today with the 30,000 plus Americans killed annually by guns.

But first a reminiscence:

Several years ago, my wife and I visited Tombstone Arizona - the site of the West's most famous gunfight.... The Gunfight At The OK Corral. The fight took place in 1881 between the Earps / Doc Holliday and the Clanton / McLaury Gang.

While there, we visited the town's Boot Hill - similarly named to other olde west cemeteries. Two headstones in particular stand out in my memory - (not exactly word for word):

Here lies John Stead;
We hung him for horse thief;
He said he was innocent;
Turned out he was right;
But he is stoned cold dead nonetheless.

Here lies Billy John;
Thought himself the fastest draw in the West;
Turned out he was second best.

But those heady days have nothing on present day America as the above statistics confirm.

And yet in the face of these bleak numbers, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is giddy at the thought that the Second Amendment to their Constitution protects the rights of its citizens bear arms.

Countless ads by the NRA proudly ?? that this right enables Americans to protect themselves from the bad guys.

They conveniently ignore the fact though that it is the 'good guys' who are being killed by their own guns.

I spent some time in Florida recently and in the small city in which I stayed - the local paper recounted daily numerous local gun killings.  Indeed of the 50 or so which I read about, only - 1 fell within the definition of self-defence.  The rest involved domestic disputes, children gaining access to their parents weapons, family members being mistaken for invaders, suicides and so on.

Hardly anyone mentions the fact that when the second amendment was passed into law - in 1791, weaponry consisted of single shot flintlocks.

So today we see automatic assault weaponry protected by this amendment.  Why not include tanks and CF 18s?

In respect to the love of guns, it is a different world in America and is one that is most definitely not the envy of the world.

So I will close in the famous words of the late Charlton Heston - "I'll give you my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands".

And more likely caused because he accidentally tripped.


As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'

Prime Minister David Cameron ...

Arguably today's Best Leader of a Western World Nation.

That said, he does not have much competition; in fact he is competing against only two others - Obama the a sad excuse for a US President and Angela Merkel - Chancellor of Germany.

But even Angela is flawed - perhaps fatally so - having led by her heart and not her head when she backed a plan to offer refuge in Germany to a million poor souls fleeing the war-torn Middle East.

Cameron though has gone from success to success but his major challenge may now be just before him:

First the successes.

In the 2010 General Election, Cameron failed to win a majority but successfully finessed a coalition with Nick Clegg - Leader of the Liberal Democrats.  The coalition held until May's 2015 Election when Cameron once again regained majority party status.

Next, on September 18, 2014 he faced down the Scottish Separation Vote winning by over 55%.

The big challenge now for Cameron is the upcoming Referendum on whether Britain will stay in the family of EU Nations. This vote is scheduled to take place this coming June 23rd which polling shows the outcome to be tight.

Cameron has deftly handled this issue demanding that Brussels grant concessions to Britain leading up the vote. In so doing, he has appeared as a tough negotiator for his Islanders but in reality, I believe he has always been an unabashed EU backer and is merely posturing to ensure the vote goes his way.

So the question is whether or not Cameron is right to support Britain's continued involvement with the EU?

Britain has had some critical advantages right from the beginning:  it did not adopt the EURO and thus retained governance over its own domestic economy and it did not adopt the Schengen Agreement which has allowed it to control its own borders which has become so important with the massive refugee resettlement from the Middle East currently rocking the rest of the E.U..

So of the 28 countries which make up the E.U., Great Britain already retains significant powers unto itself.

Moreover, the world is forming itself into large trading blocks from the Free Trade Agreement between the USA, Canada and Mexico to the recently negotiated Pacific Rim Agreement, it would be foolhardy for the UK to think it could strike out on its own.

And of equal importance is the issue of defence.  With Russia on the path of aggression and China flexing its new eco might - militarily - in the Far East, the EU is needed to offset these two belligerents.  This is especially true, more than ever, with the USA retreating into isolation.

So will Cameron be successful in this most recent test of his leadership?

My belief is that he will, but nothing is guaranteed.  I say this because the EU has been floundering on a number of fronts - some mentioned above - and indeed there is no guarantee this experiment will ultimately win out.  But the stakes are high and if Britain was to bail, it would add a nail to the EU Coffin and would go against their own interests..

So I am glad this very important issue is being led by Cameron and if he is ultimately successful it will go along to cement his reputation as one of Britain's Great Leaders.

Long Rule Britannia and the European Union.

As I see it...

'K.D. Galagher'