OK, my last post was a bit on the LENGTHY side, but the truth is that I’m still grieving that our nation is mired in Iraq and I believe that this false sense of “relief” that appears to be the national mindset, based on the lack of media coverage, is a disservice to our troops and is “lulling” us into a place that is going to allow this travesty to continue for years to come. Today, the Iraq war surpassed the Viet Nam War as the second most costly “War” in our nation’s history, behind only World War II (Remember, the “War to end all Wars”). And President Obama has recently requested almost another $100 Billion to continue this misadventure. I probably won’t be around twenty years from now when the US will, evidently, finally claim “victory” in Iraq – after the present day Iraqi’s are either all dead or have somehow forgotten Abu Ghraib – and have somehow managed to figure out how to live and work together. We will then be able to truly claim that the “Surge” worked! Ughhh!!

However, that is not what’s on my mind tonight – and I really am going to attempt to keep this rather short. This morning I read a very interesting column in the NY Times by Bob Herbert about the recent flurry of violent deaths in the US via “gun violence.” The total, actually, is staggering – including more than one instance where Police Officers have been murdered in the course of their duties. Herbert pointed out that since the attacks of 9/11 there have been in the neighborhood of 120,000 deaths (murders) in this country from the use of firearms. This is approximately 25 times the total of deaths suffered by our military in the so-called “War on Terror” – fighting (or being targets) in Iraq and Afganistan. He also pointed out that the assault rifle ban has expired and Congress has evidently failed to act to renew it.

Of course, the NRA (National Rifle Association for anyone who’s had their head in the sand for the past 20 years) is totally against this ban and virtually every Republican and several of the Democrats in Congress are evidently running scared from the NRA. These guys have frightened a large segment of our population into thinking that President Obama is going to take their guns away from them (I have a wonderful neighbor – I could write an entire post on the ideal “good neighbor” about this guy – and it grieves me when I talk to him because he watches Fox “News” and they have convinced him that he’s going to lose his guns) to the point that there is a “run” on weapons in this country which I can only assume means lots of people are stockpiling them – or these secret militias are more of a problem than those of us who live without guns realize. Let me get to my point.

For some reason the NRA has succeeded in making millions of Americans believe that if the government regulates who can own weapons and what kind of weapons they can own it’s a violation of our 2nd amendment rights to “bear arms.” Now, I’m not a constitutional lawyer (or expert) – even though I did study the constitution 40+ years ago in my first attempt at college, I don’t believe the “right to bear” arms means that the ownership of deadly firearms can’t be regulated and limited regarding the type of weapons we can own. It just doesn’t make sense to me that a hunter, for example, needs an AK 47 to bag their elk or deer. An assault weapons ban makes total sense if we want to continue to have some sort of orderly peaceful society. The question I have with some of the “right wingers” who are backing the NRA is “do they want to have an orderly, peaceful society? After listening to Chuck Norris essentially “predict” that there is going to be some sort of armed insurrection (I’m not sure why – evidently they don’t like the idea of the government “reeling in” some of these out of control multinational corporations who are destroying our economy – or maybe they don’t like the thought of propping up the working people of this nation – or maybe (this is what I really think) they just don’t like the idea of a black President occupying the “White House.”

What is really curious to me. They seem so worried about the second amendment to the constitution – like they’re really worried about the document – but the news that President Obama is continuing the warrantless wiretapping policies of the Bush administration doesn’t even get so much as a whimper from these whackos. I’m kind of glad about that because I’d feel really awkward walking arm in arm with these guys protesting a REAL assault on our constitution. They are worried about rights that don’t exist. THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT GUARANTEE ASSAULT WEAPONS FOR EVERY FAMILY! And while the constitution is a “living” document that has to evolve over time the protection against unreasonable searches – which would clearly include the government listening to phone conversations or intercepting email messages or monitering credit card transactions without a warrant (which requires probable cause) – IS CLEARLY PROHIBITED! Where are these guys when there’s a real intrusion on our rights?

Now, if we allow President Obama to continue this outrage then, down the road, the gun whackos might actually have something to worry about. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a lot of room where the government could regulate the use and sale of deadly weapons without violating our “right to bear arms” as it is put forth in the constitution. However, if we start allowing that document to be undermined in one place – in my view it’s only a matter of time until someone attempts to do the same in another place. And, in the case of the wiretapping, if we say it’s OK because the President says so – due to some unfortunate event that makes him feel like he has to take extreme measures to “keep us safe” – then we are on a road that will eventually lead to the demise of our country as we now know it.

There is not doubt in my mind that we don’t need to sacrifice any of our freedoms to protect this nation from any possible attack that might happen in the future. Of course, President Bush – by allowing Osama bin Laden to walk away unchallenged after 9/11 – sent the absolute wrong message to any potential adversaries around the world. I understand that on the surface President Obama is trying to “right” that wrong by “going after bin Laden” – after the fact – but I believe he is just getting drawn into the trap that was set originally for President Bush. Bin Laden should have been taken out as soon as possible – originally Bush said the right things – any country that “harbors” him will be subject to whatever “collateral damage” occurs as we pursue him in order to bring him to justice. The fact that it’s almost 8 years hence makes that much more complicated – but bin Laden is being “harbored” by Pakistan, not Afganistan. I will have more to say on this later – but getting back to my main point – this failed attempt to bring bin Laden to justice has only brought destruction to our constitution while he has totally reconstituted his forces.

And, in the mean time, the killing continues in the Untited States at an alarming rate. When I stop and think about this (like I did after reading Herbert’s column) I just come to the conclusion that this country is so messed up it might be “past the point of no return.” And these whackos who want more guns (and tomorrow will evidently be dumping tea into rivers and lakes around the country because they don’t want rich people to pay an additional 3% in taxes) are going to do everything they can to insure that President Obama fails. I have come to the conclusion that we are truly in a war. However the war is not in Iraq (that’s an illegal occupation) the war is an internal one in this nation. The war is between a progressive majority of Americans who want to revitalize the middle class, who want to revitalize our environment, and who want this to be a nation that actually lives up to its lofty ideals. These “progressives” want this nation to reclaim the moral authority it had in the world prior to George W Bush squandering it after 9/11. They are being battled and will be battled every step of the way by the very vocal minority of Americans who listen to people like Rush Limbaugh on the radio and who watch Fox “News” on TV – for their information. It appears to me that Republicans won’t be happy until our government is completely destroyed!