Here is the bill: https://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h308/show

This link will take you to a website where you can quickly and easily email your Senators, Congressmen and the President: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/mail/?alertid=61046526&type=ML

I just sent the letter below to President Barack Obama (D), Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), and Representative John Carter (R-TX).

I’m writing out of a deep concern regarding the upcoming bill to be introduced by Congresswoman DeGette that will ban firearm magazines larger than 10 rounds. My wife and I are law-abiding citizens with military training and we each legally carry pistols for self defense. Every single weapon we own holds more than 10 rounds in the standard-capacity magazine that comes with the pistol. Even my subcompact pistols hold at least 13 rounds. I cannot help but believe that the framers of this bill are oblivious to the fact that many, many handguns come standard with magazines holding almost twenty rounds and many rifles have standard magazines that carry even more - there is nothing “high capacity” about these devices. This law will effectively cripple my constitutionally protected right to carry by banning every single standard magazine on the market for all of the firearms I own. Please, do the research and you will see that this bill does nothing to deter violent crime while making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. Vote against it.

The following post is an open letter which I submitted to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison after she submitted a bill barring the FCC from protecting net neutrality.

Ma’am,

I’m concerned about a bill you submitted on December 16th, a “rider” that would ‘prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards’.

I’m concerned about this bill firstly because I am in the military, and I find it unbelievable that military spending is so often used as a vehicle for other political aims. If military spending bills are to be nothing more than a way of passing less popular legislation, that says a lot about both our legislative system’s flaws and about our nation’s feelings towards the military - namely, that we are just a budget item.

This came out back in February, but it was so good, I felt it needed another showing.

With $5,725,813,591.00.

That’s the total amount (thus far) spent on 100 interesting projects funded by the recent government stimulus bill. It includes such gems as $2.2 million spent to build water pipelines to a golf course in San Francisco and $350 million to build a map of America showing where broadband internet is and isn’t available. Or $219,000 for a “Study on ‘Hookup’ Behavior of Female College Coeds.”

No really, that last one didn’t come from some college humor website or even Facebook - it’s real (number 33). The Stimulus Checkup is Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) look at what’s costing America so much money. I vote we fire some people.

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”
– William Tyler Page

I have just become aware, via Slashdot, that President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The BBC has this to say:

In awarding President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian committee is honouring his intentions more than his achievements.

For comparison, here’s a list of my intentions:

• I intend to cure cancer (all forms), HIV/AIDS, and every other disease. Looks like they better give me the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine.
• I intend to end world hunger and poverty. I smell a Nobel Peace Prize!
• It is among my long-term goals to discover, in a flash of brilliance, the Theory of Everything. Definitely an intention worthy of a Nobel Prize for Physics, no?
• Also, I’m going to write a book which every person in the world will read and it will instantly become their favorite. Sounds like a Nobel Prize for Literature is coming my way!

I guess they can keep the prize for Chemistry, but I definitely deserve the other four for my achievements intentions, don’t you think?

Look, I don’t care who you are, there is no reason you should be texting while driving. Your life will not end if you put the message on hold long enough to pull over, but you might end someone else’s life (or your own) if you take your eyes off the road! Texting is worse for you than alcohol, where driving is concerned, and I’m all for the legislative efforts to kill the combination. I’m tired of idiots on the road who are alternately speeding and dropping well below the speed limit, weaving erratically, and generally making life a (dangerous) pain because they think that the world revolves around their cellphone. DROP THE PHONE AND DRIVE!!!

I support citizenship tests for members of Congress.

My wife sent me this article last night, after the two of us and a couple of our friends had a pretty long discussion of personal responsibility.

The article is about a woman who’s suing her college because she can’t find a job. A woman who graduated with a 2.7. A woman whose job search has lasted only three months. A woman whose excuse is, “It doesn’t make any sense: They went to school for four years, and then they come out working at McDonald’s and Payless. That’s not what they planned.”

And a little bit scary: this article, emailed to me by a friend, details a San Diego couple who are being told that they will be subject to fines if they continue to hold a regular Bible study in their homes without a “major use permit.” The article is watery on legal details, but I assume the law in San Diego County differentiates between primarily residential and primarily commercial properties, and that churches provide income to the county because they must be zoned as commercial properties. But this is the couple’s home! There is no basis for the prosecution of anyone holding a gathering in their home save that the gathered persons participate in some illegal activity; last I checked, Bible study was still (thankfully) legal in this nation. Anyone want to read the first amendment?

I found this on Slashdot this week… it’s an article about how hard it is to fire teachers in California. I think that it says a lot about personal responsibility. The article notes that even when commissions found that a school district had reason to terminate teachers, they weren’t allowed to do so. One example reads, “The district wanted to fire a high school teacher who kept a stash of pornography, marijuana and vials with cocaine residue at school, but a commission balked, suggesting that firing was too harsh.” Isn’t marijuana ILLEGAL? And we wonder why some Californians are so screwed up! President Obama had this to say: “I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences.” Bravo. Now let’s see you fire some people who have no business working with children!

I read an article in the Birmingham Weekly a few weeks ago that really struck me, and I just found the page I’d clipped as I was wading through the deep piles of stuff on my desk. While the article is about other things, one paragraph near the end is worth noting for the on-the-money comments about real service in our culture.

“That’s where we’ve relegated service in our culture. We’ve made it something for the young to do instead of getting drunk … on a beach in Mexico,” writes the author. “But if you’ve reached that threshold tax bracket, don’t life a finger unless it’s tax deductible.”

If anyone has an original source on this story, please let me know - it’s hilarious!

Just like our schools do!

Hooray, Johnny, you’ve come to school for 13 years and not killed anyone! Here’s your diploma! Hooray, Billy, you didn’t actually even come to school very much the last three years and you’ve been busted six times for marijuana possession, but you’re going to some Division I school on a basketball scholarship, so here’s your diploma!

No wonder our nation is failing… our workforce believes that they are entitled to all the benefits and none of the work - they’re told over and over in school that they’re special and good and perfect and, wonder of wonders, they actually believe it. While every person is created with some inalienable rights, a high-paying job isn’t one of them; that’s something you have to work for. And no, I don’t have one. Talent, motivation, and guidance are all necessary for results in any enterprise, but time is a critical element, and the discipline to work through that time. I think schools should teach kids discipline; I know that the business sector doesn’t generally care about a bachelor’s degree, and if all you have is a high school diploma, you may as well not apply, unless you intend to work as a janitor. Why? Because it doesn’t take anything to get a high school diploma today. All it takes to get a bachelor’s degree is a set of student loans and a few all-night study sessions to catch up after the debauchery of spring break.

A friend of mine brought this article to my attention yesterday: 10 years later, school still sugar free and proud. It notes the surprising story of Browns-Mill Elementary School, and the principal who, according to the article, single-handedly removed soda and junk food from her school and got kids asking for broccoli. I think it’s terrific. Someone saw a problem, and, instead of complaining to the federal government for more money or new laws, went out and fixed it. Now, we can debate soy milk as a health food or the benefits of exercise for the brain all day long, but there’s no doubt that something positive happened at Browns-Mill, and there’s even less doubt that the federal, state, or even local government was necessary to pull it off. While I do support some level of funding from those levels of goverment to the nation’s schools, along with a baseline standard to which students should be held to receive a diploma, I think that it should be as hands-off as possible, so that parents can influence their childrens’ educations to the greatest extent. I have no idea how best to do it, but I applaud people like principal Dr. Yvonne Sanders-Butler who just do it anyway.