The world's most Uninteresting man

Osama is dead!!! Every news channel, radio station, and the internet is a buzz with the news. Truly this is a glorious moment in history the man who caused so much death and destruction now ceases to exist. Let’s not forget though Osama is just the main head of the hydra, and the beast still exists. The fight is nowhere near being over. Now it is critical for us to support our troops as they push forward in this fight, and God willing return home in the near future. In the mean time Bravo Zulu and a huge thanks to the men who carried out this phenomenal mission.  Let us not forget all the support troops who made this mission possible, as well as our leaders in Washington who made the incredibly difficult decisions.

Moral Dilemma HB 354

Hey Y’all, over the past few weeks I have been reading many articles concerning House Bill 354.

This proposed bill would allow students, faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Like any political debate you must have two opposing sides to the argument, and as with all debates both sides have taken the argument to the very extreme. Those for the bill want to paint a picture of the Lone Ranger saving the day when a crazed student snaps and starts killing everyone in sight. Those against the bill want you to believe that allowing the bill to pass will be a powder keg waiting to blow. That every F, failed romance or drunken frat party argument will end in a wild wild west shoot out. Well now both sides present a humorous argument, so let’s take a look at it without all the drama. Lets first look at the amount of violence that the media forces upon us daily. Movies, videogames, and mainstream television are becoming more and more violent. The nightly news is filled with reports of violent acts of murder, rape, and assaults on water fowl. Society in general has become more hostile, just take a look around the next time you are stuck in traffic and see all the people losing their temper. Over the past decade and a half, school shootings have now happened in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Pearl, Mississippi; Paduch, Kentucky; Springfield, Oregon; Littleton, Colorado; Virginia Tech; Northern Illinois; Appalachia school of law; and University of Texas. Mass shootings have occurred in Killeen, (Luby’s) TX; Fort Hood; and New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO.  With these incidents in mind it would be safe to say that the current honor system of not carrying a gun on campus or otherwise where not allowed by law is ineffective, at best. Now with these terrible incidents in mind, we need to look at the reality of concealed carry.  There are 38 public universities with over 500,000 students in this state. The average age range is 18 to 22 years of age.  The fact that you must be 21 years or older to apply for the concealed carry license drops the number of eligible college students considerably, this leaves non- traditional students to be the majority of eligible candidates. Now you must consider that a vast majority of these non-traditional students are prior military and combat veterans, such as myself. A great deal of these students I have personally trained in my ten plus years as a military weapons instructor. I feel confident that a reasonably stable licensed individual poses no threat carrying a concealed weapon on campus. The fact is, most fire fights (shootouts) last between 10 to 20 seconds. The average response time for a SWAT team is 20 minutes. The Virginia Tech shooting lasted roughly ten minutes. Would it not be a more reasonable decision to allow those with the knowledge, ability, and experience to carry and potentially deter a horrible situation? Not allowing the legal carry of weapons will not solve anything, the emotionally and mentally distressed individual will, and has used a weapon regardless of the law. The challenge is on all of us to do what is morally right to protect ourselves and one another, despite social disapproval and ridicule. To gain more insight on the use of weapons and the psychological aspect of killing I invite you to read some of LT.Col Dave Grossman’s work at www.killology.com . The essay “On sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs” really sums up today’s society and the need for a concealed carry law; this can be found at http://www.killology.com/sheep_dog.htm

Relaease of feeble inmates

Hey Y'all,
 The article in the Dallas Morning News http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20110210-texas-house-budget-writers-urge-prisons-to-release-more-feeble-inmates.ece titled Texas House budget Writers urge prisons to release more feeble inmates is an interesting read.  According to the article the proposal is to release elderly inmates with health problems on a medical parole to save the state money. A committee presented the statistics that inmates 55years old and older make up eight percent of the prison population ,but make up 31 percent of the medical cost. The article continued stating that the state is spending an average of ten thousand dollars a year for each critically ill inmate.   Looking at the numbers presented in this article it would seem that the state would be saving a large sum of money with medical paroles. However it seems that the folks involved with this proposal have over looked some things. They have not considered that a 55 year old former inmate will have limited job skills ,problems readjusting to society in general thus making employment near impossible. Now we have an unemployed former inmate with severe health problems with no no way to support themselves or provide healthcare for them selves. The former inmate will have no other choice but to turn to the state for assistance. Then we have him on state assisted living and health care possibly even living in a state funded nursing home. I am at a loss as to how this saves money or helps the state budget in anyway.