Firearms Friday: Here We Go Again

Another tragedy, another barbarous act, another opportunity for politicians to further their agenda. As has been the case many times over in recent years, in the wake of a murderous rampage by a deranged individual, the President took advantage of the situation and promoted his gun control agenda. And it was not a side note buried in a mountain of words, it was front and center, prominently on display… opinion inserted into the limited facts known by officials at the time.

“I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. But let’s be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it.”

While heinous events such as the one in Charleston are leveraged for the sake of naïve political ideology, the facts at the end of the day are quite simple. This was a mass killing by a disturbed individual who, given his previous indictment, was illegally in the possession of a firearm. While there are various theories as to how he obtained it, if he was aided in acquiring that weapon in any way, those individuals should be held responsible for their actions in assisting in the perpetration of the crime.

Criminals will always find a way to carry out their evil acts. No amount of regulation or control will ever stop this from happening. As President Reagan wrote in 1983 (after the attempted assassination by Hinkley two years prior), “It’s a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers. I happen to know this from personal experience.” If you believe otherwise you are delusional in your utopian thoughts.

Of course, this is coming from a former President who was also an NRA member. Furthermore, he was known to have carried a revolver on at least several instances while in office as was recently noted by Brad Meltzer and previously reported by Ron Kessler in his book “In the President`s Secret Service”, However, lets look more closely at the beliefs held by those who appose the Second Amendment. While this article is nearly 40 years old now, it still holds true today. Here is an excerpt from an article published by then Governor Reagan in the September 1975 issue of Guns & Ammo:

“There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism--government.”

The issues in this country are not in the rights that have been granted to the citizenry, the problems are in the individuals. This includes those who refuse to accept others as equals, those who don’t respect that sanctity of human life, and those who fail to fear the overindulgence of power. These issue are not the burden of law abiding citizens who believe in self-sufficiency and personal responsibility. This is not a time to strip people of their rights (especially while there are attempts to expand the rights of others). One person committed this act (potentially with the assistance of others) and that person / those people are the ones who should burn for this!

A Return To Letter Writing

Negotiations with Iran have long been a polarizing subject from all colors on the political spectrum. This has always seemed a little odd to me given the United States’ tenuous relationship with the country, the vile policies of their leadership, and their attempts to vilify and desire to destroy Israel. To this end, I would support the current nuclear negotiations with Iran if they would simply reverse every position that they have doggedly held on to for so long.

This was the driving force behind Netanyahu’s speech to Congress as Israel can’t afford, nor can the United States, to see Iran develop a nuclear arsenal. To think that this radical country would stick to any agreement let alone one so ill-conceived is naive at best. Believing that they will only use the development and technology for peaceful purposes is like saying Hillary only deleted private emails. It just doesn’t add up.

It was for this reason that Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) penned a letter to the Islamic Republic and why 46 other Senators joined him by signing the letter (the full text of the letter can be found on The Wall Street Journal blog). Contrary to many of the reports from “unbiased” news outlets, this was not an attack on the president nor was it a threat. The letter was a means to demonstrate the significant public opposition to the current negotiations. The current 10 year plan is one that won’t work, one that should not be supported, and if signed, one that should be overturned as quickly as possible to limit the fallout.

With that said, the means by with this message was presented may not have been the best decision. But, again, this is not a means to offend or undermine, it is a way to ensure that the opposition is heard loud and clear. Frankly, it is one of the more transparent actions that I can remember seeing come out of Washington. There was no doubt as to who signed the letter.

The subsequent twisting of the words and assumption of motive is what the public should be up in arms about. That and the idea that there are too many who are placing their trust in the untrustworthy, crossing their fingers, and hoping that there is some semblance honest in the empty promises of a murderous republic. That is simply a stance that I cannot support, Israel does not support, many in the military and intelligence communities do not support, and at least 47 politicians in Washington do not support.

Can You Smell The Hamentashen?

I just realized earlier today as I was thinking about this post that I haven’t written about Purim for a few years. The last time I wrote about this joyous Jewish holiday was at a completely different point in my life as my wife and I were in the midst of the Aliyah process. Obviously there were different things on my mind and events surrounding our life but much of the post remains relevant even with things having changed so drastically over the years.

In fact, it is rather poignant given the speech that we heard yesterday and what is happening in the region as I write these words. So instead of trying to write the same thing over again, I am simply going to include most of that blog content below. After all, we still need to make some noise!

The joyous, and sometimes raucous, celebration is a community act. No one acts alone. Everyone works together and supports each other, to turn the voices of many into one to make one collective noise.

However, beyond these community gatherings of support and joy, the voice of the Jewish people is shattered. I am not talking about the differences between the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc. communities but of a more fundamental and deeper chasm… supporting Israel.

Purim is a time when we should recognize what we can do as a people. We can’t just sit around and stuff ourselves with Hamentashen, we must rally to support our homeland, we must speak with one voice, we must stomp our feel and blot out the accusations being made against our home. Whether it is by writing, by praying, by making Aliyah, make your voice heard!

We all need to regularly show our admiration for those who live in the land that G-d has granted to us, support for those in the IDF who protect us and defend our right to exist as a people and our right to a homeland, and respect for the holy men who pray for us all and carry on the traditions that many take for granted.

We live many different kinds of lives but we are one people with one home. We all want peace and we will all fight for peace because no one should live in a home being torn apart by conflict or partitions. We must ensure that we will not be cast out into the Diaspora again to be gripped with the longing to return and the inability to do so. We need to ensure that we and all our future generations have a place to call home! We need to make some noise!

A Tale Of Two Speeches

There were two speeches given today that were of personal interest to me as both a Pennsylvanian and an Israeli. The local and international mix that I heard today was an interesting mix of “what are you thinking” and “what are we thinking”. As Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (in sheep’s clothing) took to the podium in Harrisburg I prepared for the former and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium in Congress I couldn’t help but consider the latter. In both instances I was left with the feeling that there are too many people in this world and in politics in particular that are completely out to lunch. But let’s take one speech at a time…

Wolf’s address to the commonwealth was to explain the reasoning behind his 2015 budget. Specifically he stated that the budget would achieve the following:

It is a budget that reflects my conversations with many of you here today.

It includes democratic ideas, republican ideas, and ideas that exist beyond party lines.

It is rooted in the values of fairness, inclusion, and common sense.

It is a balanced budget, and it eliminates our $2.3 billion deficit.

However, his ‘rescuing’ of the middle class is not what it seems on the surface. While he is supposedly proposing a decrease in the state income and real estate taxes as well as the corporate tax rate, he is also looking to raise the sales tax, pull $1 billion from the burgeoning natural gas industry, and increase educational funding in the commonwealth from 35 to 50%. The last might be the most crippling to his theoretical ‘balanced budget’ in that the system is broken. We need to put the system in dry dock and find the cracks, holes, and weak points rather than buying more duct tape and hoping we stay afloat. While all this is supposedly going to save the average tax payer over $1000 per year I am betting that the opposite will be true (if we are lucky).

As much as Wolf’s declarations annoyed me, Netanyahu’s assertions inspired me. In the face of a hostile political play which has been in production for weeks, the Prime Minister took center stage and said what many of us were thinking… the President’s policy, his deal, is misguided and dangerous. While this excerpt from his speech doesn’t address the nuclear development in Iran, it does speak to the heart of the matter:

America's founding document promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Iran's founding document pledges death, tyranny, and the pursuit of jihad. And as states are collapsing across the Middle East, Iran is charging into the void to do just that.

Iran's goons in Gaza, its lackeys in Lebanon, its revolutionary guards on the Golan Heights are clutching Israel with three tentacles of terror. Backed by Iran, Assad is slaughtering Syrians. Back by Iran, Shiite militias are rampaging through Iraq. Back by Iran, Houthis are seizing control of Yemen, threatening the strategic straits at the mouth of the Red Sea. Along with the Straits of Hormuz, that would give Iran a second choke-point on the world's oil supply.

Just last week, near Hormuz, Iran carried out a military exercise blowing up a mock U.S. aircraft carrier. That's just last week, while they're having nuclear talks with the United States. But unfortunately, for the last 36 years, Iran's attacks against the United States have been anything but mock. And the targets have been all too real. 

Those who have opposed this speech and have questioned the opposition to Obama’s deal should take note of those two paragraphs. Iran is a threat to my people, Israelis and Americans alike, and we should recognize that reality rather than allowing a rogue regime continue to run rampant throughout the region. Such situations, when left unchecked or addressed without a firm resolve, can have a dire impact on the world not just the countries and people surrounding them. We should stand with our only true democratic ally in the region and prevent the terror from overtaking the world.

Highlights And Shutouts From The Oscars

Last night we turned on the television for only the second time in the past week. All of the sudden the Oscars coverage began running across the screen. We had both completely forgotten about the awards show but it’s not like we have been dedicated viewers in the past either. It is basically a collection of movies that we haven’t seen with a few that we would like to watch at some point in the future. Sometimes it is not even a matter of what role someone played, it can simply be a ‘I liked him/her in some other completely different movie/show so it would be nice to see them win.”

While we only saw a maybe a total of about ten minutes of the show scattered throughout the night, there were a few interesting things that caught my attention. Keep in mind that these are not unique observations as it seems that everyone took note of them immediately but sometimes there is nothing new to say when recording your life. And where there are great moments there are times when the selections are a bit disappointing… such is the case every year at every awards show.

First let’s start with the surprising moments getting the most talked about moment out of the way… who knew Lady Gaga could really pull off the Sound of Music? Come on, don’t lie, no one saw that coming. While I am not a fan of her music she obviously has an amazing voice and I hope that this side of her comes out more and more because it is worth hearing. Thankfully she didn’t perform in a meat dress… that might have killed it.

The other moment was early in the evening (also called Cuba Gooding Jr. time) when JK Simmons, stunned by the sound of his own name, took the stage to accept the award for best supporting actor. While many of you may remember him from the State Farm commercials, Spiderman movies, or Law & Order which adds a little twist to the award in and of itself I remember him in a different role which really makes you do a double take… I best remember him as neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger on Oz. A great actor and I am happy to see him win it just seems odd when I think of him as that character accepting the award. However, his speech cut through all that and we should all heed his advice… “Call your mom. Call your dad, if you are lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet. Don't text. Don't e-mail. Call 'em on the phone. Tell them you love them, and thank them, and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you."

Of course, with the good moments are also those that disappoint a little as both the actors I was rooting for to get best actor, Michael Keeton and Bradley Cooper, failed to take home the prize. I have always been a big fan of Keeton from Mr. Mom, Batman, Beetlejuice, Live From Baghdad, My Life, etc. and would like to see him pull it off one of these days. Cooper, in all the parts I have seen, reviews I have read, and interviews I have watched about American Sniper was Chris Kyle. I am quickly becoming a fan of his work. Lastly, why wasn’t Clint Eastwood nominated for best director? That was a bit of an oversight but, when compared to leaving Joan Rivers of the “In Memoriam” video, it doesn’t seem all that bad.

Double D’Oh!

On my way to the office on Tuesday morning the radio was full of both local and national discussions as we would see a new Governor take office in Pennsylvania around lunch time and the President was set to address the nation in his State of the Union speech in the evening. It should be no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I wasn’t looking forward to either of these speeches. Two meals ruined by the double d’oh!

The morning flew by as I as jumping from project to project trying to make sure things were lined up for what was going to be a scattered afternoon. As I walked out of my office to head to a meeting Tom Wolf (in sheep’s clothing) was being sworn in as the 47^th Governor of the Commonwealth. While his speech was innocuous there are too many questions still unanswered stemming from his previously stated views from the campaign. While by no means all encompassing, this was pointed out later in the evening by 6 ABC (a local Philadelphia news station) when they reported the following:

“Wolf outlined his goals in positive, general terms - creating good-paying jobs, equalizing educational opportunity in public schools and providing "a government that works." He did not mention a projected $2 billion-plus revenue gap for the fiscal year that starts July 1 or his proposals that include levying a new tax on the natural gas industry, overhauling the state income tax and increasing public school funding.”

Basically we are all just waiting for the state and local taxes to go up along with the federal taxes that are certain to be on the rise as well. Having a greater chunk taken out of our pay is a near certainty heading into the final two years of the Obama administration. Some will say that it will only be imposed on the top 1% but those are not the ones that are going to feel it. Trickle down taxation is something that is not discussed as much as it should be but simply put the ripple from top to bottom is certain and, in the end, we are all going to have lighter wallets.

By the way, Business Insider has a great state by state chart of how much you would have to make to be considered part of the 1%. The Atlantic has another chart that breaks it down by age. While still high compared to what many of us take home each year, it is takes far less than a million dollar annually to be considered part of the 1%. In fact, when you think about it, nearly every politician that you vote for would fall into this top echelon.

However, what really struck me about the evening speech by the President is the combative tone which he used throughout the night including the record threat to veto four separate initiatives expected to be passed by Congress. This is particularly striking when paired with his other pleas for understanding and cooperation. With an economy that is still lagging and national security in question, might we consider the fact that there are other ways to go about doing business. Of course that wouldn’t work. Instead we are going to keep paying more and more money to support failed and flawed policies because the best way to fix a problem is to throw money at it and the best way to get people to accept something is to give it to them for free (you just get taxed for shipping, handling, and processing). The state of disillusion is strong indeed!

Leaving Things Unfinished

While it inevitably happens from time to time, I hate leaving things that are half finished but sometimes other priorities come to the fore and there is no other option. Eventually, I go back and complete that item or project but there is generally no guarantee when that will happen. However, that task is always on my mind and it doesn’t take much for me to return to the work that was once abandoned.

I was reminded of this when hearing the president speak last week. Unfortunately, his hand had to be forced in order to return to an unfinished war. There was no golf course to which he could retreat that would hide him away from that speech that you could tell he was dreading. When the words were spoken we listened hoping that we would hear of a solution that we could all stand behind. For many of us, the ‘solution’ presented fell far short of what we wanted to hear.  

The threat that we currently face from ISIL is one that many of use feared would grow out of our abrupt departure from the region. We hoped to hear of an all-out campaign to obliterate this terrorist organization that some report to be as much as 31,000 strong. While we have been engaging in targeted strikes, this does not seem to be stemming their growth. We need to show strength but we were left with the following rhetoric from the president:

Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL.  And any time we take military action, there are risks involved –- especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions.  But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.  This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.  This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.  And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year:  to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. 

With a government a mere days old at the time of the speech and our greatest source of intelligence in the region, Israel, having to fight alone to defend their borders, we have little regional support that could counter this growing threat. There are times when overwhelming force is not the answer but this is not one of those situations. We gave up once, we let this threat grow unchecked, and we failed in finishing the job. We can’t let that happen again and trying to claim victory from a distance is not a viable solution.

There is a time for rhetoric… not now. There is a time for negotiations… not now. There is a time to let others handle the problem… not now, we started it. There is a time to step on their necks and not stop until they are wiped off the map and relegated to the biography of a failed president… that time is now. Now is the time to claim victory and fight for the peace and stability of the region.

Making Masonic Memories

 

Tonight, for the first time, I felt comfortable at the Secretary’s desk during our stated meeting. So much so that I feel as though it is my desk at this point. Are there still rough patches during the meeting? Of course there are but I have gotten a lot better at quickly smoothing them out and moving on to the next item. And all of this couldn’t have happened at a better time as the District Deputy Grand Master was in attendance. This was an unofficial official visit that was rescheduled from last month.

In addition to the usual reading and approving of the minutes and the bills, we also had a lot of petition work to be done as we, thankfully, had three petitions that needed to be voted on. Getting though everything efficiently and in the proper way was a gratifying experience especially when I caught the approving glances from some of the long standing Brothers in attendance. Knowing that, in their eyes, I am doing at least a good job keeping things running smoothly really means a lot when you consider the fact that they have seen Masons come and go over the past 40+ years. After all, I am only just the most recent person to be elected into this office and with it comes the responsibility to uphold the values of masonry and the legacy of the lodge (along many other things to which I swore when I took the oath of office).

One of the responsibilities bestowed upon all officers in any lodge is to provide a positive example to all members of the lodge especially those newly made masons. The one time during the evening when I was caught off guard was when the District Deputy Grand Master asked myself and another brother to stand at the front of the lodge and face the brethren. It was at that time when I received my Master Builder Award from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

This award is earned by newly made masons when they meet certain educational requirements and demonstrate their continued involvement in their lodge, their district, and freemasonry in general. There is a two page check list which must be completed and approved in order to earn the honor. It was a great experience to receive the award and one that I will never forget, especially when I could see many heads nodding in agreement when I gave my very brief acceptance speech.

This award should be the goal of every new mason. If you have given the proper thought and consideration in your decision to become a mason and you are committed to embracing freemasonry, the requirements set forth should even be a challenge. It is the standard to which we should hold ourselves as we start our masonic journey and the example we should set for others who have decided to join our fraternity.

So tonight was an excellent experience and another moment that I will never forget. I am looking forward to the next moment and I am looking forward to guiding new brothers through the process in order to obtain this honor and know the sense of pride that it brings to your masonic life. For now, I am going to enjoy the moment and appreciate all that I have experienced in Masonry throughout my first year.