Freedom of Speech
Pastor Martin Niemöller
You've probably heard his poem First They Came... in original or modified form at some point or another. I had seen a version of it in reverse order of losing our Bill of Rights, something along the lines of:
When they took the 4th Amendment, I was silent because I didn't deal drugs.
When they took the 6th Amendment, I was silent because I am innocent.
When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was silent because I don't own a gun.
Now they have taken the 1st Amendment and I can say nothing about it.
While the original obviously has much more impact both in verse and when you take into account the history of the author and reason he wrote it, the amendments version does illustrate a good point.
As we slowly lose our rights (just Google American loss of liberty or anything like that and you'll find plenty of shocking results aside from warrantless wiretaps and opening of postal mail as well watch lists among many other things), this poem reminds us that the loss of liberty does not come overnight, it is a slow but steady process until one day it is too late. Hopefully the Supreme Court will start the ball rolling in the right direction with their pending decision on the 2nd Amendment.
People often forget, that while the 1st Amendment is at the very core of America, so is the 2nd and without it, the 1st is worthless.
And people also sometimes forget that the Bill of Rights is about
individual rights. Don't take my word for it, Thomas Jefferson wrote it himself "A bill of rights, is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference."
Jefferson's position gained advocates, and a compromise was reached. State legislatures agreed to ratify the draft document with the understanding that the first national legislature meeting under the new constitution would pass amendments guaranteeing individual liberties. That is precisely what occurred. By 1791, these 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, had become part of the supreme law of the land.
Now if you're still with me, read this:
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms REPORT
of the SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION
of the UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
Second SessionFrom the preface:
We did not guess at the purpose of the British 1689 Declaration of Rights; we located the Journals of the House of Commons and private notes of the Declaration's sponsors, now dead for two centuries. We did not make suppositions as to colonial interpretations of that Declaration's right to keep arms; we examined colonial newspapers which discussed it. We did not speculate as to the intent of the framers of the second amendment; we examined James Madison's drafts for it, his handwritten outlines of speeches upon the Bill of Rights, and discussions of the second amendment by early scholars who were personal friends of Madison, Jefferson, and Washington while these still lived. What the Subcommittee on the Constitution uncovered was clear — and long lost — proof that the second amendment to our Constitution was intended as an individual right of the American citizen to keep and carry arms in a peaceful manner, for protection of himself, his family, and his freedoms. The summary of our research and findings form the first portion of this report.
...
Both as an American citizen and as a United States Senator I repudiate this view. I likewise repudiate the approach of those who believe to solve American problems you simply become something other than American. To my mind, the uniqueness of our free institutions, the fact that an American citizen can boast freedoms unknown in any other land, is all the more reason to resist any erosion of our individual rights. When our ancestors forged a land "conceived in liberty", they did so with musket and rifle. When they reacted to attempts to dissolve their free institutions, and established their identity as a free nation, they did so as a nation of armed freemen. When they sought to record forever a guarantee of their rights, they devoted one full amendment out of ten to nothing but the protection of their right to keep and bear arms against governmental interference. Under my chairmanship the Subcommittee on the Constitution will concern itself with a proper recognition of, and respect for, this right most valued by free men.
Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman
Subcommittee on the Constitution
January 20, 1982
Labels: opinion, shooting
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Fuel crisis? What fuel crisis?
While riding the XT, I'm relegated to a rather mediocre speed of 55-60mph as I crawl along the freeway, though I do have the occasional burst into the 65-75mph range when congested traffic dictates. I can live with the slower speed, although not every day, so I do occasionally throw the old FZR into the mix for some more spirited jaunts down the superslab. Anyway, on yesterday's commute it seemed like I went for ages and never hit my reserve and in fact didn't, until this morning at the 163 mile mark. Why that is significant is that when I topped her off today, I only put in 1.7 gallons.
Some quick math will tell you that at 1.7 gallons and 163 traveled miles I got 95.88mpg or 96-freakin-miles-per-gallon! So while generally Americans laugh at less fortunate countries where it is the norm to see most people riding mopeds and scooters at 90+mpg, here we're content to bitch about paying $4 for a gallon gas, while sucking down 8 miles per gallon as we bomb down our freeways at 80mph so that we can spend an extra 15 minutes laying in bed before work.
So to you Mrs. Yukon driving lady that was yapping on the phone and tailgating me before tearing off down the freeway at a likely 10mpg on your solitary commute to work in a vehicle designed to carry 8, I say I will have the last laugh... when I see you at the pump. ;)
Labels: motorcycles, opinion, xt225
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Etymotic Research ER6i Isolator In-Ear Earphones
Wow I love these things. For years I had been putting off getting a set because I just couldn't bring myself to spend $130+ on headphones. Of course, for riding, regular ear buds sortof work, but between the road noise and the increased volume levels you are quickly headed for deafness if you do it for very long. Earplugs are fine for normal riding when you've got some scenery to deal with, but the long commute I'm doing down I5 was getting to me. I mean, after 3hrs a day of nothing but road noise, you start talking singing and to yourself in your helmet... well, at least I was. Anyway, when I recently priced these out again it turned out they'd come down in price to the somewhat reasonable amount of $75 which coming from Amazon also yielded free shipping.
I've been using them for about a week now and I can definitely say they are worth every penny. They keep the road noise out just as well as flanged earplugs and they let you listen to music or audio books at a respectable volume. So why waste all that commute time listening to road noise, listen to music or buy some audio books and learn another language. At the rate I'm going, I've got 15hrs a week of time I can use for learning something.
Labels: gear, motorcycles
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
The little bike that could
So I accepted a great new job working with awesome people in an area we both want to move to, largely for personal reasons such as great housing opportunities and the area is like a giant playground when it comes to the hobbies we enjoy. The catch is that we won't be moving for another six months or so and until that time I've got a nice long 170mi round trip daily commute. In passing a friend of mine brought up the commute and inquired as to how terrible it must be to deal with every day, I suppose to some that could be the case. Personally, I think it is all about how you look at it. I mean, I get to ride my bike for a few hours 5 days a week and I get to see the sunrise and sunset every day, it's hard to look at that with a frown. Though now I do mildly regret selling my F4i, that sure was a nice bike and would have made the commute much smoother, but everything happens for a reason and I was just going too damn fast on that thing.
I started out doing the commute on my FZR, a ratty bike for sure, but the 600 definitely makes quick work of the ride. At roughly 50mpg, it certainly beats the drive in any car, esp my trucks which get 12-15mpg. Of course, the downside to doing a long daily commute on a sportbike is most certainly due to the riding position, hunched over and looking up. After a few hundred miles of that, your neck and lower back start to pay the price.
Enter the 225; I can sit upright, it has nice soft suspension and it gets a whopping 84mpg allowing me to do a full 170mi ride on 2 gallons of gas, something which would set me back about $50 to do in the Rover, costs a mere $7 on the bike. Of course, the bike only weighs about 260lbs so in addition to limits of the smaller sized air cooled motor that means my top speed really should hover around 55-60mph, lest I be fighting the northwesterly demons for my life. Having done the ride many times I can honestly say that it is actually not as bad as I would have thought and it does force me to chill out on the streets, another reason for getting the little bike.
I've got to say, this bike is just awesome. Great on the trails, decent on the street and easy on the wallet. When I eventually run this one into the ground, I foresee the newer 250cc version finding a spot in my garage. Of course, that might be some ways off however, as with proper maintenance, this single cylinder 4 stroke can run for decades. :)
Labels: motorcycles, xt225
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
the me that you know doesn't come around much
that part of me isn't here anymore
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Pastor Martin Niemöller 
