I was born September 17, 1949 in Caldwell, Idaho. Like Idaho's climate, I have a dry sense of humor. It may be a result of faulty genetics, but I come from sturdy stock. My great grandfather once served as a postmaster right on the line between Camas and Elmore Counties and is buried on what was once his land. According to research my only sibling has done, we generally agree that he started his westward trek in Indiana sometime after 1838 and died of pneumonia in 1911. If Google earth is correct, there are at least 2.5 million average steps between Ripley County, Indiana and his gravesite.

2013 Resolution?

Posted Tuesday, January 1, 2013, at 10:04 PM

I received an e-mail this morning from an old buddy, urging that I sign an electronic petition on a pro-gun website and that I forward the message to everyone on my contact list that owns guns so that they might sign as well. The following is my response to him and the half dozen others on his message:

"I share Rick's concern over the gun ban legislation. I don't know whether this petition is going to make a lot of difference.

Having worked with a lot of Congressional staffers during my ISSU years, each and every one of them assured me that a single post card, hand written, and signed by a constituent carried more weight with them than a petition signed by hundreds of people.

The reasoning was simple enough. They believed that the person that send that postcard cared enough about the issue to spend a few minutes of HIS or HER time and a few cents out of his pocket to do something.

If you believe for one minute that it will NOT be the staffers that decide which information gets to your elected officials, there isn't much more I can say.

I seriously urge you to invest the time that you would spend forwarding this and/or stewing over who you should send it to and go to these links and type out a brief message against the ban.

Crapo : www.crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Risch - www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email

Simpson : https://simpson.house.gov/contact/contactform.htm?zip5=83703&zip4=1159

Labrador: https://labradorforms.house.gov/email-me/

NOTE: It looks like Labrador's site is set up so that if you aren't in his district, you can't submit an e-mail using the form. (what a crock.)"

With the arrival of another New Year, perhaps the time has come for those who frequent these and other blogs to make a concerted effort to provide those elected to represent us a concise and current measure of our feelings on matters such as gun control, the fiscal cliff, military spending or foreign aid.

I have been remiss in doing this for a number of years. Having worked inside of government, I also know that such correspondence can be "duly noted" and summarily tossed.

There is no time like the present and it beats the dickens out of some of the other possibilities.

Comments

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Happy New Year Warren! I received an e-mail from my congressman expressing concern about my well-being and encouraging my input on the issues that we face as Americans.

Needless to say, they didn't heed my advice to take a pay cut to whittle down the deficit.

We keep trying though.

-- Posted by KH Gal on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 7:49 AM
Thanks Warren, I appreciate that

-- Posted by jessiemiller on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 8:17 AM
I agree with Mr. America. Although I lost faith in the GOP about 8 years ago.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 8:41 AM
Dave, here is a link to a Democrat that is deeply involved in the assault weapon issue:

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

By all means, feel free to express your views there.

Zook, I talked with my nephew in San Diego the other day and he echoed your son's experience. He was looking for a home defense shotgun and wanted my opinion about whether to buy a Mossberg or a Remington. He was confused when I said that he'd be money ahead to choose a field grade hunting version of either with an open choke over the home defense model. He came around a little when I told him that at 20 feet, the home intruder was unlikely to appreciate the looks of the pretty grips.

-- Posted by wh67 on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 9:56 AM
wh67, I'll stick with making my views known to the people who represent me.

I'm counting on those I've voted for to be able to craft an articulate argument that would counter any argument for legislation that Ms. Feinstein puts forth.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 10:52 AM
Trevor, I hope the issue of gun control fades out. We should be looking at what drives young school aged kids to rock the schoolhouse.

Those guys back in Washington have got more pressing issues to work on, like modernizing entitlement programs that were put in place decades ago and loaded down over the ensuing years.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 10:59 AM
Didn't the President's EO grant raises to the schedule you are paid under MHresident?

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 11:07 AM
Dave, I respect your commitment to directing your comments to those who are charged with representing you. I agree wholeheartedly with your hope that the gun control issue fades from the scene and that our nation faces issues of vastly greater significance.

At the same time, personal experience indicates to me that there is a need to be vigilant of those that would use raw emotion from such a senseless tragedy to further their cause.

I finally ended up advising my nephew that his best choice would be a pump action, field grade hunting shotgun, in that it would certainly serve as a defensive measure, but was also less likely to fall under the classification of a "military style" weapon.

I might also add that his facebook photo was taken at a USMC weapons display a few years back. He is holding a REAL assault weapon, 50 cal. And although he is 36, he still thinks mostly of how "cool" it looks.

-- Posted by wh67 on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 12:04 PM
MHresident, here's a link to some info.

http://govmil.com/2012/01/0-5-gs-pay-raise-proposed-in-2013-for-federal-civilian...

Good Luck in the New Year.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 12:20 PM
What a bunch of hooey! Guns kill people; Obama has to get anything through a recalcitrant Congress dominated by ridiculous libertarians who don't recognize the 21st century, or even the 20th.

Get a life people and join the country. Idaho can't survive without ongoing Federal bail-outs, and wouldn't exist without the hand-outs. 'Though you live in the boonies, you'r still supposedly part of the country, and ought to abide by national election results and the sentiment of rational people living in the rest of the nation.

-- Posted by Hobbit on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 4:25 PM
Hijacking an airliner with a box knife and crashing it into the Pentagon sounded pretty far fetched too, Patrick.

-- Posted by wh67 on Wed, Jan 2, 2013, at 8:47 PM
The Kontra piece is agreeably among the least emotional, most well documented commentaries to surface in this recent gun controversy.

I believe very strongly that pro-gun folks are going to have to carefully separate the emotion from the facts if there are to be viable discussions on the topic of additional gun control measures.

Having said that, I am even more firmly convinced that the anti-gun camps ARE NOT going to let this "opportunity" pass and will resort to any and all means available to gain "victory".

-- Posted by wh67 on Thu, Jan 3, 2013, at 9:22 PM
Another celebrity weighs in with limited emotion:

http://cnsnews.com/blog/charlie-daniels/gun-owners-me-are-not-problem-and-taking...

-- Posted by wh67 on Thu, Jan 3, 2013, at 10:10 PM
Good links wh67 and H4A. I enjoyed them.

-- Posted by skeeter on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 6:26 AM
I think the election proved most of the folks that live here don't like right wing conservatives or for that matter left leaning liberals.

We need to come together on issues instead of dividing in this country.... Moderate sounds good to me.

Sounds like the ole zook has the thinking of a Nazi!

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 10:44 AM
Anybody subscribe to Time Magazine any more?

Here's what they had to say about gun violence:

http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/

-- Posted by wh67 on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 1:17 PM
Well Zook Am I one of the garbage you need to scroll past? I'm not a Republican

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 8:06 PM
Looking forward to it Zook.

-- Posted by wh67 on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 8:22 PM
Second Amendment Quiz:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/1104/Second-Amendment-Quiz/Topic-of-Se...

Hope4America, this was a link on the page you posted from Yahoo.

I got 8 out of 12 correct. The ones I missed were not especially critical to the outcome of the current national gun rights debate (MY OPINION).

And the quiz is hardly "scientific" (Again, MHO).

-- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 8:58 AM
Well Zook if you have to try your level best not to be rude to me, maybe we should not speak when we meet. I wouldn't want you to raise that BP while trying your level best not to be rude to me.

My take on Feinstein wanting to take our guns ....It won't happen she tried to get that passed in 1995 and it didn't get enough votes. They will never take our guns away. I do however believe we need to put some tougher restrictions in place.

I like that one they have been kicking around where you can't buy those clips that have more then 10 rounds in them. What do you guys think about this ban?

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 10:40 AM
There's no quick answer on how to fix the violence in our Country

Here's something I found online

hunters -- make their own bullets as a hobby. They're called "reloaders."

"People have been making ammunition themselves since the 1880s. That's something anybody is capable of doing with a little bit of know-how," Hill said. "Those kinds of bans are like throwing a steak on the grill for like 10 seconds and calling it cooked. It just looks like it's cooked but it's not.

"You can reload. Or, you can order online and get stuff from outside the U.S. It's too late for any of that," Hill said. "And it never works."

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 11:27 AM
No firearm, be it a single shot rimfire, a belted magnum side by side or an actual military assault weapon, is lethal in and of itself. I'll repeat that.

No firearm is lethal BY ITSELF.

No magazine, regardless of capacity, regardless of what weapon it fits or the cartridge it holds is inherently evil.

ONLY with human intervention do they have the capability to harm or protect.

And that is something that is well beyonds the control of our government, or any government.

It's a matter of personal responsibility.

-- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 11:37 AM
Oliver North

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 5:48 PM
Passing ANY laws against the types of firearms or the size of magazines only affects the law abiding citizen. I'm always amazed that liberals can't understand criminals don't care about laws.

Timothy Mcvay as someone used as a reference didn't use a gun of any type. He used a rental truck, fertilizer, and racing fuel. He also killed more children and people than the guy on the east coast last month.

The press doesn't tell the whole story; as in the Virgina Tech shooting. The shooter used two pistols and have 19 magazines (NONE WAS OVER 10 ROUNDS). The problem was the shooter could drop a magazine and reload in less than 2 seconds, he was proficient and didn't need a high capacity magazine. This makes any argument about magazine size a bunch of crap-ola.

Most people don't look at history and realize we are repeating it. People throw insults and words like nazi and racist around trying to nullify facts. But people need to research a little about Germany 1935. The Germans to include the German Jewish population was well armed before Hitler came to power. After Hitler came to power he started with a "little" gun control, then more, then more. Eventually it came down to just the military and police being armed. It didn't start as a complete ban, it didn't start as anything more than we are doing this for your safety.

Austrailia is anothr example of gun control gone wrong. They made people (except criminals) turn in their guns. In one year violent crime is through the roof, armed robery, muggings, gun related murder and shootings, rape, and all crime has increased. WHY? because the criminals know the average citizen can't protect themselves, the criminals are the only people that make out from gun control.

Unfortunatly people are too stupid to see it.

Giving up liberty (freedom) for a sence of security is a sure way to loose both. Benjamin Franklin knew this and quoted something simular to this.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

This was written by Franklin, within quotation marks but is generally accepted as his original thought, sometime shortly before February 17, 1775 as part of his notes for a proposition at the Pennsylvania Assembly, as published in Memoirs of the life and writings of Benjamin Franklin (1818). A variant of this was published as:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

This was used as a motto on the title page of An Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania. (1759); the book was published by Franklin; its author was Richard Jackson, but Franklin did claim responsibility for some small excerpts that were used in it.

-- Posted by Trouble2011 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 10:59 AM
PATRICK,

1. Flying in a plane isn't in the constitution last I checked? I can choose to drive, take a bus or train, I don't HAVE to fly.

2. Can you point to cell phones in the US Constitution I can't seem to find it? I can choose not to use or buy a cell phone. I can't remember anywhere it said I HAD ot have one.

3. Again I can't find anything about social media or internet sites in the US Constitution, I must have a faulty copy. I'm NOT forced to buy a computer or use the internet but I choose too.

4. I'm sure thats what the German Jews and Germans Political Prisoners said also. Show me one case where a law abiding citizen killed a bunch of people in a mass shooting. This is a trick question by the way. Everyone concerned about guns should move to Chicago as only the police are allowed to have them......it should be the safest city in America. Please explain how it isn't if you can.

-- Posted by Trouble2011 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 3:41 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ooa98FHuaU0#t=26s

And in case you don't believe Amidst The Noise's presentation on violent crime, here are their sources:

*FBI Uniform Crime Reports Table 1

*FBI Uniform Crime Reports Table 16

*FBI Uniform Crime Reports Table 8

*Crimes Detected in England and Wales 2011/2012

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-media-isnt-being-honest-about-this-oddly-eno...

-- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 6:09 PM
Patrick_A,

I live in the same country, can't afford to hire armed body guards, yet share the feeling for the need for personal protection.

If you believe that Ms. Feinstein and Ms. O'Donnell can "do anything legal that they want to do", do you believe that I should not have the same opportunity?

-- Posted by wh67 on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 10:51 AM
Mountain Home is a very scary place to live. I think I might have to strap on a gun when walking around the neighborhood as I too can't afford a body guard.

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 11:11 AM
Being the staunch Democrat that you are MsM, I suspect Sen. Feinstein would have no problem hiding a little pork in the assualt weapons bill so that you could hire someone to pack the weapons and all those nasty 30 round clips. :-)

A couple of million be all right?

-- Posted by wh67 on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 11:54 AM
Warren I'm not a Democrat.... I have voted more Republican then Democrat. I have voted for Obama both times and that is my true word. I also voted for both the Bush's and Reagan. I call myself an Independent who stands in the middle of the road.

The way the Republican Party stands today, I will not vote Republican again unless they start leaning towards the middle.....

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 12:21 PM
MsMarylin, I was only joking. Even put the smiley face after it.

Patrick_A - Nobody on the extreme left is talking about taking guns away? NOBODY? Really....

Trevor - the Mrs. flew into San Diego about 24 hours ago, with my credit card in her purse. By now, I suspect California may have a few dollars more....

-- Posted by wh67 on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 12:43 PM
This is a good documentary. It has been quite a while since I watched it, but it's still relevant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXMEfCZqwM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 7:07 PM
I don't know H4A that web site of yours sure doesn't show your maturity

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 8:49 PM
Here's another link to "Fully Automatic America: Vanguard"

https://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DExXMEfCZqwM%26feature%3...

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 10:09 AM
H4A That wasn't a lecture it was my opinion. If your ok with your vulgar website well then carry on!!

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 10:36 AM
Yeah Invite me too LOL!

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 12:30 PM
Bazooka, you need to stop arguing with patrick; when you argue with a fool you just get a headache.

His argument that gun laws affect criminals and the mentally ill and not the average citizen is just plane foolish.

I just put the idiot on ignore, he isn't worth the time of day.

-- Posted by Trouble2011 on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 5:50 PM
FAQ # 49 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfb1HIKVYVA

Thanks, Zook.

-- Posted by wh67 on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 9:04 PM
Call it a supportive link if you will. The intent with posting this video link was to indicate that there are others that share my contention.

-- Posted by wh67 on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 10:34 PM
Let me guess the leader of the pack will be Alex Jones

-- Posted by WinterStorm on Thu, Jan 10, 2013, at 9:59 AM
Who's going to be the bugle player?

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Thu, Jan 10, 2013, at 11:45 AM
APPLEJACK THREE NINER FIVE BRAVO SIERRA:

//

Catch a ride to the end of the highway

And we'll meet by the big red tree,

There's a place up ahead and I'm goin'

Come along, come along with me.

Come on the risin' wind,

We're goin' up around the bend.

CCR

APPLEJACK THREE NINER FIVE BRAVO SIERRA

-- Posted by Pale Ale on Thu, Jan 10, 2013, at 12:51 PM
After the "IT" hits the streets I suppose taxpayers will pay for that clean up as well.

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Thu, Jan 10, 2013, at 12:51 PM
I have 3 friends that work where KT does and all 3 tell me they cut hours every winter, and they all have worked there a lot longer then KT. If you don't believe me, call their office and ask why

-- Posted by MsMarylin on Fri, Jan 11, 2013, at 10:25 AM
http://www.mountainhomenews.com/story/1929467.html

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Sat, Jan 12, 2013, at 9:52 AM
We'll be doing that! Dive trips planned for Roatan, Bonaire and. Cozumel! And next year Chuuk (Truk) and the Great Barrier Reef! We are truly fortunate and grateful!

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Sat, Jan 12, 2013, at 11:33 AM
Warren,

Second Amendment Quiz:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/201...

I got 100% correct the first time through. I'll admit that I had to flip a coin on one guestion, but fortunately the correct answer was heads. Thanks for sharing.

I don't really need anything. I have plenty of B-Bs for my Daisy Red Rider. But I'm gonna head up to that thar gun show. It could have some entertainment value. C-YA all there.

-- Posted by Pale Ale on Sat, Jan 12, 2013, at 1:01 PM
I've pieced together information from several sources (Scully, Mulder, J, K, Z, et. al.)that some of the weapons were not even from this planet!

Investigators are most likely gazing in wide wonder at the crap that is being spun out of the confusion of the first day's reports.

Fool.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 10:37 AM
I have asked the webmaster to remove my comment referencing the Family Security Matters article after running into a couple of security issues with links embedded in that piece. While I still believe that there is a significant need to consider mental health treatment and diagnosis in any dialog regarding many of these recent events, I am hopeful no one has any adverse experiences from the links.

-- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 3:01 PM
Stats can be misleading? This was from a news team in Cincy. How are they misleading you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tRJ0ls_W9XM

-- Posted by KentuckyTransplant on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 3:41 PM
He is not "my guy" and he doesn't work for FOX News. He works for WXIX Fox 19 in Cincinnati.

As far as him talking fast... He spoke clearly and in English. He also posted the number so you could read along.

The numbers, whether it be these that the "speed talker" mentioned or the ones from H4A's video, they came from the FBI. You can look them up for yourself. Are they biased too?

It doesn't take expertise to understand the greater than and less than value of numbers. I mean, how hard is it to see that Britian has more violent crimes than the U.S. per 100,000 people? I may not be all that smart but, I do know that a quarter is bigger than a dime.

-- Posted by KentuckyTransplant on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 5:23 PM
Don't forget your hat.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 6:06 PM
It appears that Idaho may be ahead of the curve when it comes to reporting mental health issues to the Federal database for gun purchases.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130111026&gcheck=1&...

-- Posted by wh67 on Sun, Jan 13, 2013, at 9:55 PM
Didn't I hear Obama say this morning that he was meeting with Biden this afternoon to discuss the recommendations about gun violence?

-- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Jan 14, 2013, at 2:14 PM
To why67's link re: Governor Jindal's proposals in Louisiana; those proposals are steps in a direction, but as the VP said, there's no silver bullet.

Case in point:

http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-inde...

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Mon, Jan 14, 2013, at 3:44 PM
With a juvenile sentence, this obviously troubled young man can at worst be incarcerated until he is 23 years old. As I understand juvenile legal prceedings, the act he committed will effectively "disappear" upon his release and he could walk into any legitimate gun shop, make application for and purchase any legal firearm under current law.

It will be interesting to hear specifics of what the VP's recommendations are.

-- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Jan 14, 2013, at 6:19 PM
The way the story reads it appears to me that the young man was trapped in the dreams of his father.

-- Posted by Dave Thompson on Mon, Jan 14, 2013, at 7:12 PM

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