Dear John Jacob,
These are the times that make men vomit. Have you seen the latest Gunowners Of America Alert?
Mr. Milquetoast himself, Harry Reid, may pass some version of ObamaNationCare because NOT ONE Senate Republican has the brass to stand up and just say NO…..not one more lie….not one more penny… not one more day…. not one more usurpation.
What possible power does this pantywaist Reid have over Senators like North Carolina’s Richard Burr to silence him into submission? The State that gave the nation Jesse Helms (Senator NO), now has Richard Burr (Senator Go-Along-To-Get-Along).
In case you did not read the Alert here is the money quote:
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has adopted a losing strategy that will, unfortunately, help speed up the passage of Harry Reid’s anti-gun health care bill.
The Senate can do little without every senator agreeing to do it — or at least not objecting to its being done. Hence, you hear about “unanimous consent requests.” This means that every senator agrees to considering a particular amendment or, at least, to voting on it at a particular time.
The thing about these requests is this: They almost always make it easier for the bill to pass.
Hence, we are at the point where WE SHOULD STOP ALL UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENTS TO FURTHER REID’S HEALTH CARE FREIGHT TRAIN. And a single senator can do this by simply saying: “I object.”
But instead, Mitch McConnell has already started allowing amendments to be offered which will let the Senate Democrats “clean up” the bill … just enough to get it passed by the Senate.
We need to stop this sort of deal making. We need to stop these requests which grease the skids for Harry Reid’s freight train.
And, in particular, we don’t want to clean up this diabolical monstrosity. We want to kill it.
So our message? Kill the bill. Kill the bill. Kill the bill.
AND NO MORE UNANIOMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENTS TO FACILITATE THAT BILL’S PASSAGE.
Previously I wrote to you about my attempt to find an actual upfront, out-of-the-closet gunowner in Senator Burr’s Office. (CLICK LINK HERE) Apparently staff insouciance extends past the Right To Keep And Bear Arms and flows directly into the all pervasive culture of tyranny that flourishes in contemporary Washington.
At the end of the day Richard Burr is just another Republican In Name Only. He is just a “beard” to give Bolshevik Liberal Ideas the appearance of normalcy.
If Burr can not throw speed bumps into path of ObamaNationCare even with symbolic objections why bother to keep him in office at all? Let a Democrat have the seat so they can take ALL the responsibility for their cockamamie schemes.
In disgust,
Raleigh Constituent
John Jacob H's RKBA Commentary 
May God give America good senators and Congressmen who could actually think of American interest rather than their own. Amen
As a senior member of the Senator’s staff, I’d be pleased to discuss with Raleigh Constituent or John Jacob both the legislative strategy on the health care bill and the alleged “staff insouisance” when it comes to the Second Amendment.
Excellent!
Welcome to my humble blog!
Are you the official designated out-of-the-closet gung-ho gunowner on staff?
What do you shoot and where? Have we crossed paths at an IDPA match? Bullseye? Long range rifle?
Will you write the text of Senator Burr’s press release wherein he resolves to follow GOA’s suggestion and stop all further unanimous consent agreements by the simple expedient of a simple NO?
Has the Senator answered National Gun Writer David Codrea’s Candidate Questionaire?
CLICK LINK HERE
Has the Senator ever called his own offices incognito to discover exactly what occurs when some random voter phones with an ordinary question?
We the People of the RKBA Community look forward to a constructive dialogue with the Senator and his staff on the future course of this country.
In Liberty,
JJH
Careful boys!
Is it really likely a Senior Staff Member for Senator Burr would incorrectly spell
“insouciance” AND fail to use a spellchecker before he posted his message on a
public website to defend his outfit from charges of insouciance?
Something fishy here.
(Swip)(Swip)(Swip) Z
So it is your contention no rational Senior Member of Senator Burr’s staff
would misspell”insouciance” in a public website post and thus demonstrate
the insouciance he claimed did not exist in the Senator’s Office or amongst the staff.
Point taken.
In Liberty,
JJH
JJH –
No, I haven’t been officially designated. I came by it naturally. I imagine the same is true for most of the other gun owners on staff, and probably for a lot of your readers. I regret your correspondent was not able to find a gun owner among the three staff members he or she spoke to. I’d be happy to talk to your correspondent about it.
I take it your second question was intended more to establish my Second Amendment bona fides, as you see them, than it was to determine if I’m a good shot. For the most part, I’m confined by time constraints and other obligations to weekly trips to the (indoor) range. I hope you’ll forgive me if I decline to share with you the combination to my gun safe or the serial numbers of its contents. Ultimately, though, it is not my bona fides on the issue that matter: the man who casts the votes and determines office policy is a gun owner, avid outdoorsman, and hunter with a strong record of supporting and defending the Second Amendment. I’m not familiar with David’s questionnaire, but will certainly take a look. At the end of the day, I think the Senator’s record speaks for itself.
As to the legislative strategy on the health care bill, there is only one amendment that will have any bearing on the final vote on the Reid bill. It is unlikely to get any kind of “unanimous consent” – which, while important, doesn’t mean as much when the majority has 60 votes at its disposal. See, for example, the cloture vote of November 21, in which the Senate Democrats secured the 60 votes needed to take up the bill (Scored on the GOA website at http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/votes/?votenum=353&chamber=S&congress=1111). When they have secured 60 votes on that amendment, they will move to end debate and pass the bill.
I’m all for constructive dialogue, and appreciate the opportunity to discuss these important issues with you and your readers. Case in point: the GOA website includes a story on its front page about the Senator’s bill, S. 669, to protect the Second Amendment rights of our nation’s veterans (a bill that has been the subject of negative editorials, written by the usual suspects, in at least two national papers). Will you and your readers rally to the defense of that bill?
C
PS – Yes, I should run spell check more often. Mea culpa.
Many thanks again for your comments.
We, The Trampled, welcome the opportunity to speak truth to power.
In that vein, while your candor is appreciated, your artful answers are not.
No one asked for the combination to your gunsafe, but experience has demonstrated the firmest grasp of the complexity of the Right To Keep And Bear Arms comes from those who exercise that right most frequently.
Gun Guru and NRA Board Member Jeff Cooper openly carried his 1911 pistol on routine errands in Arizona until he died. Coincidentally he seemed to have a pretty good grasp of the 2nd Amendment as well.
As for legislative strategy note GOA is not a lone voice skeptical of Republican acquiescence to unanimous consent agreements. The Titular Head of the Republican Party- Rush Limbaugh-has also expressed concern.
Surely a Senator who has a “B” rating from GOA ( as a gun supporting compromiser) would find some way to break from conventional wisdom and upend the Democrat Wrecking Crew.
http://gunowners.org/111thsrat.htm
Here at the scorched roots of society you might be surprised at how familar we are with the various topics du jour inside the Washington DC bubble (to include S 669) http://gunowners.org/fthoodtragedy.htm
For example, Grassroots North Carolina has issued numerous alerts about Richard Burr’s endorsement of the Blowing Rock Land Grab, a topic not widely discussed by the conventional press -but widely circulated amongst hunters and gunowners. Apparently the votes of hunters in that neck of the woods are disposable in the Senator’s overall re-election strategy.
The real question to answer is how familiar are you folks in the ivory tower with the daily nonsense that occurs around the country as a result of your, um, insouciance?
A family farm in Ohio has a year’s supply of food seized because of some contrived sales tax investigation? (Stowers File) https://johnjacobh.wordpress.com/category/ohio-stowers-food-raid/
A Maryland Mayor watches as his dogs get shot in front of him and his fifty something Mother-in-Law as part of some contrived drug investigation?
(Berwyn Maryland) https://johnjacobh.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/swat-team-gone-wild-update-berwyn-heights-md-file/
This kind of stuff is terrorism and anarchy by another name.
If Republicans cannot stand and deliver on the issues these and other examples represent they are more useless and dangerous than Democrats.
We have been down this road before:
George the elder Bush: Read my lips no new taxes.
George the younger “Vote Freedom First” Bush: Unleashes Acting ATF Chief “Maximum Mike” Sullivan on unsuspecting FFL’s.
Father of the TSA.
Doubles the size of the Education Bureaucracy.
If you would like to talk about the issues this forum is open to your comments.
With all due respect please leave the canned answers in your desk drawer.
In Liberty,
JJH
Please forgive the artfully canned candor of my previous post. I’m still learning the rules of debate on this blog, as well as what is considered constructive dialogue here.
Reasonable people can disagree on the appropriate legislative strategy for any bill. It appears we will have to do so in this case. We are fighting this bill, but, as I said, there are 60 Democrats in the Senate. If all 60 are in agreement, they can pretty much do what they want. To stop this bill from becoming law, we must hold them short of 60. To hold them short of 60, we have to remind them, and inform their constituents, about what this bill does and what it represents. We will use the full range of tools available to us to achieve that end, including accepting UC requests, making UC requests, and objecting to UC requests.
I take your point about the frequent exercise of the Right To Keep And Bear Arms, and how such exercise only helps strengthen understanding of—and appreciation for—the Second Amendment. Would I like to be able to shoot every day? Absolutely. Am I able to? Unfortunately, no. But I would be an ardent supporter and defender of the Second Amendment even if I did not own guns, just as I am an ardent supporter and defender of the First Amendment even though I don’t have a blog.
As to the land exchange, the town (and, by extension, its population of roughly 1,400) purchased the land in question in 2003. The town wishes to engage in the land exchange, which has been the subject of local discussion and consideration for almost a decade. The request for a land exchange represents a local decision, and we are accommodating the local request at the federal level. This story has been covered by the local conventional press. It is certainly your right to disagree and advocate against the land exchange bill.
I am familiar with both of the other two stories you mention, more so the Prince George’s County drug raid than the Ohio Department of Agriculture SWAT team’s food raid. Do I believe both are examples of the overreach and increasing militarization of law enforcement? I do. Should the citizens of Maryland and Ohio hold their local and state elected officials accountable? Yes.
Finally, I did not mean to imply you and your readers were unaware of S. 669 or the campaign against it. I have seen blog chatter about the bill elsewhere; perhaps I’ve missed a previous post on your blog about the bill. If so, I apologize.
Many thanks again for your effort to present the Senator’s point of view.
There are no particular rules of debate here though I do reserve the right to grade the content of various contributions in a range from lame to excellent (as I expect to be graded-fairly or unfairly-myself).
The Ohio Food Raid may be of some interest to the Senator in his role as a member of the Armed Services Committee and Readiness Subcommittee since the Head of Household was an active duty Seabee (US Navy) on deployment in Iraq (I believe) at the time some low-level functionary in the Ohio Department of Agriculture took it upon himself to shop around for a SWAT Team to enforce some preposterously arcane tax regulation.
It is amazing battlefield combatants must travel with a JAG Officer over each shoulder to define the rules of engagement while civil authorites can summon the hounds of hell for the most insignificant infraction -real or imagined- with little more than a few minutes of paperwork.
(If you wish to establish six degrees of separation between Ohio and North Carolina understand there is a substantial contingent of Seabees stationed in Raleigh)
Surely there can be no more demoralizing news from the homefront than to learn some armed thugs literally took food from the mouths of your children under color of law while you were overseas helpless to assist.
It would send a strong message to the troops to learn a United States Senator covered their backs while they were deployed.
Frankly, I think an investigation into the circumstances of this case would be a great morale boost for Seabees everywhere.
As for legislative “strategeries” I can only remind you Jesse Helms saw and/or created opportunity where Elizabeth Dole and Lauch Faircloth saw only liability.
In the end their fear doomed them to failure.
When you are surrounded you can shoot in any direction and hit the enemy.
There is no current discussion on this blog of S 669 as there is no discussion of a least a thousand other issues that emerge on a nearly hourly basis.
For that I apologize.
After 18 months of bloggery I have begun to conclude the way to kill the alligators is first to drain the swamp.
To chase them individually is to deplete limited resources.
But I will devote what attention I have available.
In Liberty,
JJH