Mike Judge Was Right!

When it comes to firearms, the lack of education in this country is astounding. While the raging liberals want to paint us as the ‘uneducated hicks’, it is all too apparent that these people are the ones that have failed to educate themselves. In fact, when it comes to firearms safety and general knowledge, it is safe to say that we are heading toward what Mike Judge called an ‘idiocracy’.

Recently, examples have been floating around the internet and across social media sites making astoundingly stupid statement accompanied with the hashtag “gunsense”. These nonsensical holophobes have been spewing skewed statements in an effort to sway the uneducated. Below are the top three ridiculous posts that seemed to have gained irrational traction:

1. A “Full Auto” Bolt Carrier Group is legal!

Just because you put a loud muffler on your Honda Civic doesn’t mean that it is a race car! If you bother to look at the design of the AR-15 (semi-auto) vs that of the M16 (auto) you will know that the bolt carrier group (BCG) is not what determines whether the gun can fire in full auto. A ‘full auto’ BCG is simply a reinforced version of the standard AR15 BCG. There are many other parts that are needed to turn an AR15 into an M16 as can be seen in the following comparison diagram:

Please also note that such a conversion is HIGHLY illegal and the ATF will put you in prison for doing so.

2. What does AK-47 mean?

Mikhail Kalashnikov (K) designed an automatic (A) rifle for the Soviet Union in 1947 (47). As it is officially known in the Soviet documentation as Avtomat Kalashnikova (AK) and it was designed in 1947 (47) the rifle was assigned the designation AK-47. Also note that the models that you see in gun shops are NOT automatic rifles, they are semi-automatic. While legal in many states, automatic rifles are highly regulated and inordinately expensive.

3. What does 10/22 mean?

Unless you have a large bore rifle and 22 people lined up in a row, this is simply not happening. All you have to do is look up 10/22 on Wikipedia and you can figure out what the 10/22 designation really means:

“The Ruger 10/22 is a semi-automatic rim fire rifle chambered in .22 Long Rifle. It has a removable 10-round rotary magazine which allows the magazine to fit flush with the bottom of the stock.”

Well, I can’t expect people to be logical so let me break it down for you… the rifle ships from the factory with a standard 10 round magazine (10) and is chambered in 22LR (22). Put them together and you get the designation 10/22.

This is the same kind of crap that has been bandied about for years but now the dissemination of such falsehoods is accelerated by the ignorance found on the internet. It is this kind of crap that pushes countries into a nanny state where even knives are being regulated. The solution is not to inflame ignorance and strip the rights away from law abiding gun owners. The problem lies within the people who do not value life and in those who refuse to assign blame for heinous acts on the individual rather than inanimate objects. Fix the people, educate the public, and change the way these acts are perceived and you will find the results that you desire.

Hooray For Common Core!

I have been an opponent of Common Core ever since the program was launched. Not only does it force schools to adopt an entirely new curriculum, it is a heavily liberal biased measure that forces many school districts to spend money that they simply don’t have. Simply put it is a program that is detrimental on an educational and financial level. That was my initial reaction and that has only been reinforced as more and more examples have some to the surface from the curriculum.

I was scanning through a pro-Israel Facebook page this past week and noticed an article mentioning Common Core. While the media source is questionable in their own bias, it was interesting to read the excerpts found in the textbooks. Those questions included:

“Was George Washington any different from Palestinian terrorists trying to protect their country?”

“Was Jefferson a hypocrite? Did he really think of a slave as a sub-human while writing the Declaration of Independence?”

The liberal assumptions that are applied to the history of our Nation is clear in the thoughts that they wish to plant in the minds of students. However, this was not the most blatant example that has been found as the following, much longer, musing can also be found in the fraudulent pages:

“What then were the causes of the American Revolution? It used to be argued that the Revolution was caused by the tyranny of the British government in the years following the Seven Years War. This view is no longer acceptable. Historians now recognize that the British colonies were the freest in the world…”

“The French menace was removed after 1763 and the colonies no longer felt dependent on England’s aid. This did not mean that they wished for independence. The great majority of the colonists were loyal, even after the Stamp Act. They were proud of the Empire and its liberties…In the years following the Stamp Act a small minority of radicals began to work for independence. They watched for every opportunity of making a crisis and in Boston it was this group who staged the Boston Tea Party… In the Thirteen Colonies the Revolution had really been a civil war in which the whole population was torn with conflicting loyalties. John Adams later said that in 1776 probably not more than one-third of the people favored war.”

The debate over Common Core has been going on for a few years now with one example coming to mind which I remember reading about in 2012 when parents of students at a Tennessee high school protested the anti-Israel content of one of the advanced placement textbooks. The example that was given during that time from the textbook “The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography” was the following question: “If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”

In the end, if you are wondering why the educational system is failing both in quality and fiscally, it is because of the limitations placed on districts and students stemming from Common Core. Things change as we get older and time passes but, as this example demonstrates, it doesn’t mean that things are changing for the better. Maybe we should go back to teaching the facts rather than accusations and encourage self-reliance, continued study, and pride in our history and heritage. Furthermore, let’s focus on teaching common sense rather than common core!

Unhealthy Political Practices

Obamacare has a new poster child... Jonathan Gruber!

It seemed appropriate to follow up my post yesterday with this one. One of the big national stories that finally made its way around the media was the comments made by one of the “Obamacare architects” regarding the construction and passage of this useless piece of legislation. Note that the ‘main stream media’ was much later in picking this up than the “conservative” outlets.

On numerous occasions, Jonathan Gruber has spoken at great length to the deception that was built into the ‘Affordable’ Care Act. He also specifically noted that much of the strategy that was required to gain support for the bill required the left to leverage the stupidity of the American people. As was reported in Politico: “In the three videos that surfaced in the last few days, Gruber says parts of the law, including its insurance subsidies and so-called Cadillac tax on expensive plans, wouldn’t have passed back in 2009-10 if voters weren’t “stupid.””

While few have denied that Gruber was an economic consultant on the bill, there has been frequent and repeated efforts to backpedal and characterize Gruber as someone with limited influence on the legislation. However, this ignores the gross misconduct at hand. While we don’t know how much influence he had on the polishing of the turd, he was at the very least in the room and was privy to the construction thereof. He knew of the shell game that was being perpetuated and this is where his comments come into play.

Equally disturbing are the outright lies that have been told to the media this week specifically those from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who is quoted as saying “I don’t know who he is… He didn’t help write our bill.” She made this adamant statement despite the fact that she has referred to his work in the past. Of course, what do you expect from someone whose infamous pitch when pushing the bill was “But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

In addition to the lies, misrepresentations, and insults that have surfaced lately (although many of us knew that they were there all along) we now find ourselves at a point in time when healthcare premiums have gone through the roof, few new people have been insured, and financial limits have been placed on hourly workers who cannot go over 30 hours per week. We are getting taxes taken out of each paycheck to cover the program, we are required to take on benefits in our plans that we don’t want or need, and the total cost of the legislative cluster is far beyond any of the projections used to pass the law. Now I am ready to say to all those who questioned my opposition to this bill, I told you so!

The Education Question In Pennsylvania

Last week I saw two completely separate items in my email arrive in my inbox almost at the same time. While unrelated, they played off of one another in a rather interesting way. The first email was one of many from WalletHub about their most recent national ranking. The subject this time was “The Best and Worst States for Teachers” which immediately had me wondering, based on much of the biased media coverage I have been reading for months, how low Pennsylvania would rank on this list.

To my surprise, they ranked Pennsylvania at #2 based on a variety of variables such as salary, employment opportunity, quality of schools, ratios, and spending per student. The facts supported what I have been saying all along that education in the Commonwealth is not in the sorry state that the Democratic Party would have you believe. This leads me to the other email that arrived just moments later.

The debate the previous night between Governor Corbett and Tom Wolf (in sheep’s clothing) was full of the faulty statistics that have been bandied about in many of the attack ads by the desperate challenger. No one can argue that the education system in the commonwealth needs to be fixed but funding is something that is not lacking and more money is not the solution to those problems. Four things are slowly crippling the education system especially in areas still considered to be economically depressed: unrealistic educational expectations, wasteful spending, an unsustainable pension system, and the financial black hole known as common core.

Also playing a supporting role in the current situation is the evaporating federal funding so heavily relied upon by the previous administration. Even if you only focus on the stimulus numbers, Wolf’s claims don’t hold up. Even the local media has picked up on this fact as was reported on philly.com, “If the federal stimulus money is not counted, it is true: Corbett has increased the state's annual funding for basic education - to $5.5 billion in 2013-14…”

As was reported in another article, “how you count pensions, charter reimbursement and federal stimulus money makes a big difference.” What it comes down to is that you can’t believe the BS that is floating through the radio of teachers complaining about no toilet paper in the schools and blaming the Governor for it. The money is there, more money than ever before, but little is left once the nearly billion and a half pension system takes a chunk, administrative and school inefficiencies chip away a few more dollars, common core requirements suck the marrow out of the funding, and dollars are wasted on thinking all students are the same and all students need to go into higher education.

Unfortunately, the billion dollar illusion still seems to work in the public and in the media despite the curtain having been pulled back and the mirrors broken. People and school districts these days pretty much have the same mentality in that they don’t want to take responsibility for their own shortcomings. So, instead of staying on course and slowly increasing spending at a reasonable rate while trying to make the changes necessary for educational growth and success in the commonwealth, we face the very real possibility of higher income, sales, and real estate taxes under a new administration that will piss away the money that we are forced to give them (regardless of your income). Of course, you can prevent that from happening come November.   

I Was Wrong… This Is The Season That Smells Like Poo!

As the weather gets warmer the interesting season is already in full swing at the television and radio ads are on a constant loop. While not as persistent as they were a couple of years ago or as annoying as they will be in a couple of years, they are still just as bothersome especially in Pennsylvania with a Governor doing his best Mohammad Ali impression. Well, I guess that isn’t a great comparison until the final ballots are counted and the vote comes out in his favor.

Just like the natural season that we find ourselves in at the moment, now is the time when the aroma of bovine feces is at its peak. Yes, that’s right, its primary season. This is the point in the election cycle when facts have no bearing on the race for the nomination as accusations take center stage, voting records are glossed over, and personal histories are manipulated to both entice and repulse the public. It is also a time when the fringe element makes their presence known, her presence in this instance.

It is also the time when partisan lines are clearly drawn and pitches are tailored to the party members that are able to determine their fate (Pennsylvania only allows those registered voters to vote in the primary according to which party they are registered). Leave it to this time of year for the grandiose plans to briefly pop up above the line of the tide and the demands on incumbents to answer questions on policies and decisions that would have been handled differently if said candidate were in office. However, don’t bother using facts or try to demonstrate why the best decision was made, it will be determined wrong no matter the response.

That is the problem throughout the electoral process both locally and nationally. The facts have been lost in the rhetoric and the ability for a voter to come to their own conclusion is deemed radical and, sometimes, racist (this is being seen more and more in recent years to the point that you would think that we were all minority owners in the Clippers). Even what should be hard and definitive numbers are commonly questioned leaving costs to go unchecked in underperforming and financially dangerous policies. Job creation is shouted down and gainful employment is seen as a problem rather than something to be thankful for.

So, take the time to think for a moment and vote for what is right… vote for your rights (even the ones you don’t use at the moment because you never know). Consider the candidates that your friends may see as ‘the enemy’ and determine for yourself if they are really holing you down or whether they believe in the rights of individuals to better themselves. Once you have made your decision get off your butt and vote. And while you’re at it make sure you vote for grandpa even though he died in 1996. After all, no one is going to ask you for a photo ID.  

Dichotomy

Every month during our state meeting at the lodge we take a moment to recognize Masonic birthdays. Essentially, anyone who became a Mason in November would celebrate their Masonic birthday in November. Last night we decided to change things up a bit.

Rather than taking note of the Masonic birthdays for this month we took time to honor those who have served our country. All of our brothers who served in the armed forces lined up across the lodge and, one by one, stated their name, branch, and years of service. All branches were represented as well as service times ranging from 2 to 36 years and across generations from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan.

All of these men stood tall for a few extra minutes last night. All of these men continued to take pride in themselves and the morals that have guided them through their Masonic lives. Each and every one of them deserves the respect of all those who enjoy the rights and freedoms that they fought to uphold and defend.

There was also some news being talked about yesterday and last night that lies in stark contrast to the integrity and honesty that these men embody. It seems as though there are some in Washington that do not hold those morals in such high regard. Some have outright lied to us for years despite knowing the falsehood that they preached. Yes, Mr. Obama, I am talking about you!

The entire healthcare debacle and the lies used to push the agenda has left many with little, if any, faith in the federal government. The utter deceit and disregard for consequence is a model that cannot unite a people under one cause. It is a political calculation that can only result in the division of the people.

Furthermore, the recent news released by the Food and Drug Administration is completely absurd and is a power grab by and agency with a severe case of Jan syndrome. The FDA feels that they should be the ones to focus on public health and police the people but now Obamacare and the cronies therein are grabbing all the headlines. Marsha! Marsha! Marsha!

The FDA should ban these two... they're worse for our health than trans fats.

The FDA announcement regarding trans fats in processed foods and the elimination thereof is, in my opinion, an extension of the Obamacare program and a means for the FDA administrators to participate in the potato sack race. It gives the FDA additional control over the decisions that people are allow to make which, in their eyes, will reduce the health and therefore insurance risk. Basically, the President (Obama) wants to be your daddy, HHS (Sebelius) wants to be your mommy, and the FDA wants to be your nanny. Yes, that means you are the child!

Change was promised and that it certainly what we are getting. Now you may even have someone to change your diaper in the new nanny state. I just really hope that this is all a big joke and that Robin Williams will get drunk and perform the Heimlich on a country gasping for air.