Greg Hartnett

Once again, the US has completely eclipsed the rest of the world on military expenditures. We spent approximately $420.7 billion for the military in fiscal year 2005 ($401.7 billion for the Defense Department and $19.0 billion for the nuclear weapons functions of the Department of Energy). The Arms Control Center has more 2005 highlights.

How many vaccines could we have provided with the money we burned on this B-52??

Approximately $100 million up in smoke…

A few months ago, I wrote a letter to my local representative regarding the Firearms Manufacturers Protection bill. In a nutshell, the bill gives firearm manufacturers a loophole in providing victims due process. Unfortunately, our pro-gun Congress was only too happy to pass the bill, and it sailed through by a vote of 283 to 144. The majority of the opinions of our legislators were similar to those of Congressman Joe Schwarz, the noble gentleman representing the state of Michigan, who fell back on the Second Amendment with:

The Second Amendment was not written as a mere exercise in constitutional thought. It had a practical purpose: first, to ensure that citizens would have the tools to protect their families and their homes and, second, to ensure that an ARMED militia could be called up to defend the country in emergencies.

Get real. Read the entire pathetic address he gave here

While travelling, I received a reply letter from Rep Carolyn McCarthy that read:

Thank you for contacting me about H.R. 800, the Firearms Manufacturers Protection bill. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

No industry in America has received the extreme and unnecessary leval of legal protection that the gun manfacturers can receive from this bill. The gun industry should be treated the same as all other industries. This legislation would shield gun manufacturers from being taken to court even if they sell guns to criminals, or produce guns that lack reasonable safety features and even discourage them from making their weapons safer. The balance of power would shift from the public if they, or their loved ones, were hurt or killed due to the negligence of the gun industry.

Since the tragic shooting on the Long Island Railroad, gun violence is close to my heart. For me, there is no other choice but to support “common sense” legislation that saves lives. Nothing I have proposed, or supported, prevents a law-abiding citizen to own a gun. I believe the desire to reduce the incidence of children’s gun violence and the ability of felons to get guns is one we all share.

Thanks again for writing. I encourage you to continue to contact me about issues important to you.

-Carolyn McCarthy
Member of Congress

I really didn’t take much away from this reply letter. I want some feedback on what the hell she is doing to protect me, and my kids from gun violence in NY, and throughout the US. So, I will accept her invitation of continued correspondence, and continue writing. I will ask her what she plans on doing to “save lives” and what type of legislative changes she has in the pipeline for future proposals. Maybe I’ll drop her my domain name, and invite her to share her opinions here. What a hoot…

Additional gun control resources:

GunCite
Brady Campaign
Open Society Institute - Gun Control in The United States (PDF)
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Violence Policy Center
Americans for Gun Safety
Firearms Law Center

As the second step in my journey to become a full-fledged activist, this week, I have signed a petition, and pledged a donation to MoveOn.org to help their campaign to stop Samuel Alito from being appointed to the Supreme Court. In addition to the petition, I sent a letter to my representatives (once again with the help of MoveOn):

The nomination of Samuel Alito poses a grave threat to the protections Americans count on, including basic workers’ rights, women’s rights, and civil rights. We call on the Senate to stand up for all of us and reject the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.

After Miers withdrew her nomination, Bush has acted in typical fashion with a knee-jerk response pandering to the right wing. Alito’s pro-business, anti-abortion, HIV-discriminating record has got fellow liberals nervous. The stakes are high with this nomination. At least he has a more impressive biography that Miers - but so do I.

So, with the help of MoveOn, I have signed a petition stating my displeasure over the appointment of Mr. Alito, and I ponied up some of my hard earned dollars to help in their efforts. Pretty painless, and it took me less than five minutes to complete. If you are interested, sign the petition.

Tonight I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have known for years that Bush was completely incompetent. I have told anybody willing to listen how he is ruining the country, destroying the environment, and making the entire world a more dangerous place. In a time when the stakes are higher than at any point in human history, our nation finds itself at the mercy of what can only be described as a fascist.

During tonight’s episode of Bill Maher, right-wing mouthpiece Ann Coulter actually said that she was turning against President Bush. Throughout all his mistakes, lies, crimes, and misdeeds, the recent nomination of the underwhelming Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, was enough to send Coulter packing. When asked is she would turn against Bush on this issue, Coulter replied affirmatively.

Could this be the actual turning point to bring down the Bush Crime Family? The Republicans sure have a lot of fires to put out - the Karl Rove CIA fiasco, the Tom Delay indictments, the ineptitude of response to hurricane Katrina, the quagmire in Iraq, the spiraling deficit, the cronyism, yada, yada, yada…

Bush unequivocally gets my vote as the worst President ever.

In his never ending mission to embarrass all logical Americans, the BBC reports that President Bush said the God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the report, Bush says:

‘God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan’.
“And I did, and then God would tell me, ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq…’ And I did.
“‘And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.’ And by God I’m gonna do it’

Does anybody else see the irony in Bush fighting fundamentalist, right wing, extremists?

Now playing:
Yellow Ledbetter from the album “3/09/03: North America - #37 State College” by Pearl Jam

It is encouraging to see that not all of the Democratic party is falling in line. Senator Ted Kennedy, stands as the lone Democrat voicing opposition to President Bush’s nomination of Alberto Gonzazlez for attorney general. Though many Democratic senators have been slamming Gonzalez for his role in aggressive administration policies for the detention of suspected terrorists, most said they would vote to confirm him anyway. Hello!! Why?? Politics as usual - I guess Kennedy is the only one who fears he has nothing to lose - I can hear the right wing talking heads now with their drunken-Kennedy quips.

I salute you, Ted. Have a drink on me
Full story at the Washington Post

Well, the number of soldiers reported injured topped the 10,000 mark, according to Pentagon officials.

To further muddy the situation, it would appear that some murder charges are being dealt in the death of an “injured insurgent” in Falluja. The tragedies continue to unfold - while over 100,000 die from natural causes at the dawn of the new year, we continue to find ways to kill one another en masse.