A few Christmas Light Displays in Coatesville

I'm sure there is a lot more. There's a short time window to photograph them, about sundown to 1/2 hour after sundown.

President Obama declares “Peace in our time!” O wait...

That was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he got back from talking with the Germans, just before the Germans went to war with England. Chamberlain believed he was negotiating with reasonable people. 

President Obama is just way too much like Neville Chamberlain to negotiate with Republicans. He needs to tap Richard Trumka as his primary negotiator. Richard Trumka knows what Republicans are made of. I like this ad:

"This fight is not going to be won by the president taking a step towards Boehner, Boehner taking a step toward the president, the president taking a step toward Boehner, Boehner taking a step toward the president and so forth until they meet in the middle," Damon Silvers, policy director at the AFL-CIO, told Ezra. "That hasn't worked before. Boehner doesn't take the steps. It will be won by the president clearly siding with the American people on tax fairness and preserving the safety net from benefit cuts."

MORE AT:

A shift in posture, a sense of 'weakness'

My Double Barrel Side by Side

The photo is of Scott Middle School. The flag is at half-mast because our nation is in mourning. When I bought my first shotgun it was 1959 and this school was called Scott Senior High School. 

My first shotgun was a side-by-side 12 gauge. I sanded the stock "raised the grain" and coated it with linseed oil. I think I learned how from an article in the National Rifle Association's "American Rifleman". I bought the shotgun used, as is. When I fired one barrel the action opened about an 1/8 inch and I needed to snap it shut to fire the next barrel. That took too long for a second shot so in practice it was a single shot gun. 

Pheasants are the best tasting fowl. I went around Pennsylvania frightening pheasants for a few years. Now and then I brought something home to eat. Being outside in the crisp fall weather was most of the fun. Shooting gave me a reason to be there. I didn't relish the killing part but at some point the bird changed to something to eat. 

I attempted deer hunting with a borrowed Winchester 94. Deer hunting as I know it required sitting still for long periods. After five minutes of immobility something would begin to itch.  Usually it was my nose. The itch would grow and grow until I gave in and scratched. The deer were saying "Check out the guy with the Winchester that can't sit still". 

After President Nixon changed farming by not paying for fallow fields the pheasants disappeared and I stopped hunting. 

Back in 1956 the "American Rifleman" was filled with articles on shooting, firearms safety, care of firearms and developing " Wildcat" special cartridges and rifles to fire them. There was very little Second Amendment stuff. 

I don't hunt anymore. Maybe if I moved to Montana where my brother lives I might start again. He is disabled and shoots far away elk from the back of a pickup truck. I think I could do the same thing. 

If I did hunt again I don't think I could be an NRA member. 

Now a days being an NRA member is about the same as being a John Birch Society member. The NRA has become an extremist organization. I think it began to change after the Civil Rights Act, Nixon's "Southern Strategy" and all that. The NRA became an arm yourself to protect your daughters from the "black menace" organization. So the NRA is basically a racist organization. 

I think it's time we begin to call the National Rifle Associate what it has become; a shill for racial hatred and ammunition manufacturers. Ignore the NRA and stop the killing. 

Pat Sellers' supporter Larry Pratt wants teachers to pack guns

"27 KILLED IN CT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:Lives Could have been Spared if Not for Ban on Staff Carrying Guns

Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, responded to the tragedy saying, "Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands. Federal and state laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered. This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones. The only thing accomplished by gun free zones is to insure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun."

MORE AT:

http://www.specialguests.com/guests/viewnews.cgi?id=EFVVVEplZkTaTaajMi&tmpl=default

SEE MY POST:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2011

Larry Pratt and Coatesville's Pat Sellers

You might remember Pat Sellers for his “Referendum” designed to protect the “Saha Farm” from eminent domain and as a rigorous campaigner for the infamous “Bloc of Four” Coatesville City Council. Pat Sellers allegedly has a connection to Larry Pratt.

 Larry Pratt is mentioned in "Land of the Paranoid" in today’s Washington Post:

“As much of the right sees it, the government is planning to incarcerate its enemies (see Beck and Erickson, above), socialize the economy and take away everyone's guns. At the fringe, we have figures like Larry Pratt, executive director of the Gun Owners of America, 

MORE AT:
http://coatesvilledems.blogspot.com/2011/01/house-hopeful-charged-in-fight-with.html

Republican Gladiators Fight to the Death

The battle over the "Fiscal Cliff" does not include any Democratic fighters. Democrats are enthusiastic spectators watching Republican Gladiators fighting each other to the death in the "Fiscal Cliff" Arena.

Extremist Teabagger Republicans are fine with going over any cliff if it harms government, the government they vow to "drown in a bathtub". They are fine with going "over the cliff" even if it means that Republicans never win Congress, the Senate, or the Presidency again.

The Teabsggers understand the unpopularity of the things they do. Most a expect to be one term Congressmen. They want to destroy the Federal Government in that one term they have. It doesn't matter if they drown the Republican Party in that bathtub along with government.

So it's the Teabagger Republican Gladiators vs. the Wall Street Republican Gladiators in the Republican Party's fight to the death over the "fiscal cliff".
Democrats are the cheerful fans in the Coliseum with their thumbs turned down.

I think John McCain is getting back at Susan Rice. She called McCain's pal Muamaar Qadhafi "delusional"

Qaddafi "delusional," unfit to lead, says Susan Rice

CBS NEWS February 28, 2011

McCain's pledge to help Muammar Qadhafi was supported by Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. All three are now appearing on news shows bad talking Susan Rice. 

I'm really surprised that most news organizations have not picked up the link between John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Susan Collins who once supported Qadhafi and now oppose Susan Rice. 

Leaked cable: John McCain pushed to arm Qadhafi

"A leaked U.S. diplomatic cable shows that Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain promised to help Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi obtain U.S. military hardware in 2009. 

The cable, released by the open information group WikiLeaks, reveals the pledge came at meeting that was attended by other prominent members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). 

In the meeting, Muatassim Qadhafi, the Libyan leader’s fifth son and national security adviser, requested U.S. assistance in obtaining military supplies, both lethal and non-lethal. 

The cable indicates that McCain was the dominant voice among the congressional delegation in a push for military hardware for Qadhafi. 

“Sen. McCain assured Muatassim that the United States wanted to provide Libya with the equipment it needs for its … security,” according to the cable."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62114.html#ixzz2Df1Cah3y

Calls for Secession and Domestic Terror

The volume of people petitioning the White House to secede from the United States should wake up the Department of Homeland Security to what I believe is a threat of extreme violence from domestic terrorists.

 Radical Right Joins in Secession Frenzy  

"Hundreds of thousands of disgruntled conservatives, still smarting from the re-election of President Obama last week, are signing petitions to allow more than 30 states to secede from the United States — and they are being joined by a motley collection of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Klan sympathizers. 

As of midday today, eight of the petitions, which are being posted on a government website set up to encourage citizen participation, have crossed the threshold of 25,000 signatures required to prompt a guaranteed official reply from the White House. (The states are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, the state with the most signers.)… 

Most of those posting at Stormfront seemed to realize that they were engaging in a pipe dream. But a few had definite hopes. “Once the cumulative secession petition count exceeds one million then Obama will be very worried,” wrote “Disappointed American.” “One million pissed off armed Americans, coupled with the [antigovernment group] Oathkeepers 3%, can defeat the military. At 2 million signatures, it’s basically a certainty at least one state will secede.” 

MORE AT: 

Radical Right Joins in Secession Frenzy

ALSO SEE:

"In 2009, the DHS caved to criticism from the political right and essentially gutted its unit that monitored non-Islamic domestic terrorism. The action came after heated but misguided criticism from right-wing commentators about a leaked DHS report – an entirely accurate and prescient report, in fact – that warned of a rising threat of terrorism from various sectors of the radical right." 

FROM: 

SPLC Urges U.S. Government to Take Domestic Extremism Seriously