Friday, December 28, 2012

First Step Against Mass Murder

By Semperpapa

Everyone is clamoring for solutions after the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The tragedy of the mass murder of 26 innocent people at the Sandy Hooks Elementary School has deeply touched the entire Nation, especially the reality that 20 of those victims were just babies.

While long term solutions may be entertained and planned, especially in the realm of mental illness, the first target for the progressive movement is the disarmament of the American people.
It i very clear that the tragedy of Newtown is a much welcomed event by the anti-gun nutcases around the country. Long forgotten are the faces of the children and the adults who perished by the hand of a suicidal maniac. In the eyes of the radical left, starting at the very top in the White House, the loss at Sandy Hook is not more than one additional event to be used for the achievement of their anti-constitutional agenda.

America has "evolved" from a country of self relying citizens to a country where individuals look at the government to solve every glitch in their daily existence. And in the case of the 2nd Amendment, there are individuals who are more than willing to relinquish their right and freedom in exchange for a fake, manufactured sense of protection. And the tyrannical government currently in place is more than willing to oblige.

Just hours after the devastating news from Newtown begun to hit the wire, many leftists goons already took the opportunity to spew their venom. At the same time I started to think what steps could be taken to avoid the next Sandy Hook.
Clearly, stopping a deranged murderer is practically impossible if he or she is really bent on such level of destruction. But the reality is that our society must address the need to prepare for such tragic eventualities.

We have armed guards at airports and banks. Why is that? Well, because they are common targets of criminals and terrorists.
High profile individuals have teams of armed guards protecting them. Why is that? Well, because they are in the financial position to employ such 'hired guns' to protect them and their families.
So what makes these people and things more deserving of protection than our children?

Just as the anti-gun rhetoric was hitting its crescendo across the Internet, the thought of a school marshal program similar to that for airlines formed in my mind.
The basic of the program is that every school in the country should have at least one trained, vetted individual who is capable and willing to step up to an active shooter and try to stop the action. Multiple individuals would be even better.

The school defenders could be part of the faculty or staff, on a volunteer basis and under complete anonymity. This approach would be preferable, as the cost of this program would be limited to the background investigation and the training.

But considering the high number of spineless liberals forming the ranks of educators these days, folks who live in the Utopian world of government 'protection' and unicorn pixie dust, the school marshal program could be filled by the employment of Veterans who today find themselves out of uniform and unemployed.
The training requirement of these candidates would be minimal and the cost of their employment could easily be offset by the elimination of some of the high paying administrative, non-classroom position that are abundant in every school district.

The main point of the program would have to be that the school marshal identity would be known only to few staff members and never to the students and parents.
Basically, no difference of a sky marshal. When we board an airplane, we do not know if the passenger next to us is armed and ready to defend the craft from potential terrorists. We also do not know if the pilot or co-pilot are armed. But we board that flight anyway.
For all those who are succumbing to their linguine spines and claim that they would be concerned that their child went to a school with such a program in place I ask: would any of the parents or family members of the 26 killed in Sandy Hook rather feel uncomfortable about knowing there were armed guards at the school if their loved one had gone home that day?

Whether on a university campus in Virginia or a movie theater in Colorado or an Elementary School in Connecticut, the common threads of these events are that in each case someone with a deep mental illness was involved and that the areas where the crime was committed were the so-called "gun free zone" which really only means that in such zones only criminals are armed.

We have to take the first step in protecting our children. We should be more concerned about taking our children to schools where they can become sitting ducks than to schools where we know there are folks who are trained and equipped to safeguard them.
The "elite" make sure they send their children to schools where armed guards protect their precious offspring, but the same elite is rabid set on forbidding you and me from doing the same for our children.
Are their kids more important than ours?

Just my thoughts!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

We Must Give Good Guys A Chance

By Semperpapa

There are no doubts in anyone’s mind that the actions of Sandy Hook Elementary School’s principal Dawn Hochsprung were heroic at a minimum.

According to reports, the 47 years old educator, alerted by the noise of Adam Lanza shooting his way into the school, Friday morning, came out of the office she was in and launched against the murderer in an attempt to stop him.

Yes, her actions were heroic, but just the willingness to sacrifice one’s own life is unfortunately not always enough to stop evil, as in the case of Ms. Hochsprung. Adam Lanza cut her down together with another teacher.

The problem in the scenario was not the woman courage and dedication to the safety of her students, nor her determination to try and do something, but the fact that she did not have a chance in succeeding in her act.
The odds were stacked against her in an insurmountable way as she was completely unarmed against an heavily armed assailant.

This is the story that continues to repeat itself over and over, always leaving a bad taste in the mouths of those who still believe we, as human beings, have the right to self defense.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) expressed my views perfectly on Fox News Sunday, when he said that he wished Ms. Hochsprung had had her own M4 carbine that day.

Those who are bent on the surrender of our society to an ideology of cowardice are all fired up in their renewed quest to infringe upon the rights of all Americans to self defense.

There have been university professors, (I know, not much of a surprise) who called out for the killing of whoever suggested the teachers should have been armed and in a position to defend themselves and the students. These statements were made not long after the news of the massacre started to stun the American people.

But I would like to ask any of the family members of the victims, if they would have preferred that the “gun free zone” approach for the school would have been violated by someone who was then going to be in the position to stop the criminal before getting to his other victims.

I am not saying that if Ms. Hochsprung, or anyone else in that office or classrooms, would have been a trained firearm holder that no one would have been hurt that day.
What I am trying to say is that we, as a society, have the obligation to give those who we allow to take care of our children the ability to not only care for them in the classroom setting, but also to be able to face and tackle unexpected situations like the one in Newtown.

One additional point to address some of the ignorance on display via the so-called media: some have maintained that an armed “defender” would have not made a difference because the attacker had body armor.

Before making real fools of themselves, some of these idiots in the media should do some research by asking folks who can answer such question, namely police officers or members of the Military who actually have been shot while wearing armor, to find out about the effects.

These so called journalists believe that wearing body armor makes the person invincible. But the reality is that even with a full body armor, including the ceramic plates used by the Military in combat, being hit with a bullet is a knock down experience. Even if the round does not penetrate the armor, the force of impact is such that the person is usually knocked down, and temporarily stopped. There have been cases of armor wearers who were shot in the chest and had the wind knocked out and even heavily bruised ribs.

The point is that they survived, but were also out of the fight at that moment.

Armor is not an invisible shield!

In the case of Dawn Hochsprung, had she been armed and able to place a round in the chest of Adam Lanza, she would have been able to knocking him down long enough to finish the job with a head shot. And maybe, just maybe, win the fight and save lives.

What it comes down to is that the good guys must be given a fighting chance. The way things are today, the policies and procedures are not much more than window dressing for public consumption, while all the screaming for additional gun control is nothing more than a political agenda.

Those who really are traumatized by the events of last Friday in Connecticut want solutions, not political agendas.
The left is rabid again against guns, not because of the massacre in Newtown (they are after all "necessary collateral damage" for the struggle), but because it is a golden opportunity for their pursuit of the dismantlement of the Constitution. The infringement upon the 2nd Amendment is an absolute must for the tear down of the rest of our rights.


Meanwhile, the so-called “gun free zone” continue to remain the main targets of those who want to bring death upon our society. These criminals are called crazy, but they have enough sense and sanity to always target people in places where they know law abiding citizens are not armed. Again the good guys are left no chance.

Just my thoughts!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Happy For The Tragedy

By Semperpapa

The horrific massacre at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, has touched the lives of every single American as it has, once again, exposed to the very presence of Satan. I am not merely referring to the religious image of Satan, but merely to the very expression of pure evil as it, at times, manifests itself in mankind.
The more details we learn about the massacre, the more our collective consciousness is challenged in the search of an explanation, maybe not a fully rational one, but nevertheless a possible explanation that would give some sense to the whole thing.

But, as it always happens in such cases, there are those in the progressive movement who rejoice at these sort of news. Yes, you read right: rejoice.

You may consider my statement crude and insensitive, and it may very well be, but when the anti-gun movement takes just seconds to spew their venomous agenda, it bring me to believe that these folks are happy when tragedies like this happen, as they are fresh fuel for the advancement of their agenda.

I listened to Obama statement on Friday and while we were all impressed by his teary words, I was not impressed by his hint to some 'meaningful solutions' we can all agree about.
His intention of severely attack and reduce our Second Amendment is not a secret, as he has been working really hard at it behind the backs of the American people.
But when he talks about 'mutually agreed solutions' he really means that he will use the power of the federal government to enforce whatever policy he wants, regardless of the will of the people.
Well, this is the man America gave four more years, folks.

And all the other rats are coming out to take the opportunity of the tragedy in Newtown to get their faces in the press: Mayor Bloomberg must be truly elated at the Friday morning news, as it fits perfectly into his demented narrative of complete government takeover.
Never mind that the mayor, regardless of the bans he keeps in place, is impotent against the daily criminal activity in his own town, but he is adamant to call for imposing unconstitutional laws upon all Americans.

On Saturday morning, some clinical psychologist was interviewed on Fox News and in one short sentence he was able to describe as root cause guns, of course, and television and video games.
According to this man, there are too many guns in the hands of civilians in this country. Think about this statement: too many guns in the hands of civilians!
Obviously, this is the type of 'expert' who believes that 'civilians' are nothing more than a heard of sheep that must be guided by elitists like him.
He also claimed that children are exposed to too much violence on television or in video games, so the psychology 'expert' lay the root of the problem at the programs and games. This told me that his expert opinion is that the First Amendment of the Constitution is also at fault.
What I did not hear, though, was any mention of the fact that the breakdown of family values and priorities in our country has brought many children to be left to fence for themselves. He did not mention that the epidemic of illegitimacy leaves countless children without any form of male role model in their lives, no sense of right and wrong, of personal responsibility.

The images from the once sleepy little town of Newtown are hard to take in without emotions. I think of my grandchildren and a knot forms in the pit of my stomach.
The only way I personally found to avoid being paralyzed by the pain and sorrow for the loss of such innocence was to rationalize that on Friday morning, as so much evil descended upon so many innocents, literally millions of children went to school and experienced a normal day.

The progressives who rejoice at these occurrences waste no time in trying to advance their agenda. It is up to us, the American people, to make sure that we keep rationality always at the forefront of any situation.
Let the progressives have their say, but taking the high grounds of decency by saying that 'this is not the time for politics' is not an option. The left never stops in the pursuit of its power, and by the results of the last elections, taking the high grounds does not serve the American people and our Nation well.

So we mourn those we lost, but we must remain vigilant against those who are happy for the tragedy.

Just my thoughts!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Power Of Mental Preparation

By Semperpapa

It has been 24 hours since the worst mass murder in American history took place in Newtown, Conn.
Of the 27 people who were murdered, 20 were small children and this detail makes this the worst act of mass murder.

For normal folks, the idea of anyone deliberately executing 5 and 6 years old children is so far from the realm of rationality that we can only sit back and look at the evidences with unadulterated horror.

But as the raw wounds of such tragedy give us emotional pain, we are reminded of the positive impact that mental preparation can have on each one of us.
The stories of teachers immediately responding to the threat by taking their students to bathrooms or closets after barricading the classrooms are telling of what appears to be mental preparation to respond to perceived threats. And a big thumb up must go to these individuals who may have saved countless more lives.

Mental preparation is a vital exercise every person should do in order to have a shot at surviving sudden unpleasant events that may occur in our daily lives, and in cases like yesterday, can be a life saver.
I have been a long time proponent of preparation and I have, of course, been labeled 'paranoid'.
I have had people telling me that they refuse to live in a constant state of alertness, insisting that such state is not a life. I propose that not engaging in some sort of mental preparation may jeopardize life itself.

From mentally covering responses to an invasion of my home to always being aware of my surrounding when I am in public, to consider what reaction I would have in the case of work violence, I continuously update my mental data bank with possible scenarios and responses.

It is interesting that security specialists are adamant about promoting such idea of preparation, that former Special Forces operatives are promoting them also, suggesting that being aware and prepared could make all the difference in the world at the right time.

After all, the members of our Military and Law Enforcement Officers spend their whole careers virtually training to respond to emergency situations. This thin line of dedicated men and women train to be prepared to instinctively respond to unexpected circumstances.
As civilians, we have an obligation, toward our loved ones, our community and ourselves, to also mentally train and prepare for such unexpected events, because, as the saying goes, when life and death is determined by seconds, a cop is only few minutes away.
We cannot have Law Enforcement Officers in every school, or office building or shopping mall. These first responders are trained to get to the place of emergency in just minutes, so what we civilians must try to do is to limit the impact of the assault long enough for help to arrive, we must try to contain the threat long enough for the professionals to take over.

The real power of mental preparation, the way I see it, is that when scenarios are played in our heads long enough, should the threat materialize, some of our reactions are almost automatic.
Case in point. When one night few weeks ago my dog rushed downstairs in my home and his bark woke me up, it took me about five seconds to go from deep sleep to up and weapon ready, including making sure my wife was in bed, basically registering that she was not roaming the house for some reason.
It also helps tremendously to have a dog and to know the dog's behavior ( our dog, for example, only barks when someone is actually at our front door and not when he hears someone just walking in the street. So when he barks, we pay close attention).

The reason for my quick reaction is that I have been mentally preparing for such an occurrence several times and my reaction was instinctive. Should that have been a real threat, I would have been ready to defend my wife and myself.
Is this any guarantee? Of course not. Any kind of preparation is not a guarantee to be able to stop a determined criminal actor, but it may at least slow it down. And that may be the difference between life and death.


So take some time and do some mental preparation in your personal life. We owe it to those we love.
Some students in Newtown may owe their lives to it.

Just my thoughts!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Inciting Violence? No Problem

By Semperpapa

I find it very interesting that the Main Stream Media is ignoring the violence being called for by the liberals in Michigan.

The state has voted and the governor has signed a bill that makes Michigan a “right to work” state, meaning that Michigan workers cannot be forced to belong to a union as a condition for employment.

The controversy has brought to the state union thugs from neighboring locations as a sign of solidarity for the local union thugs. Teachers did not show up for work to join the protesters, leaving thousands of children out of school.

The protesters violently attacked those who were daring to voice their support for the bill the governor was to sign and IBT union president Jimmy Hoffa even predicted the eruption of civil war in Michigan if the bill was going to be signed.

The statement from Hoffa is the only reference I find on CNN website regarding the controversy going on in Michigan, although I admit to have given the leftist CNN only a cursive look.
What is being ignore is the physical violence perpetrated by the criminal protesters against anyone who disagree with their bullying.

But even more disturbing is the statement made by Michigan State rep Doug Geiss, a democrat who tweeted the following:
We are going to undo 100 years of labor relations, And there will be blood. We will relive the Battle of the Overpass"
…referring to a clash between union organizers clashed with guards from Ford Motor Company in the 1930s.

So, if I understand this correctly, the elected official in the state legislature, is basically threatening violence if the union thugs don’t get their way. To me it sounds like an openly overt threat to public safety.

This is the way things are in the new America, the America of the community organizer, of the activist, of the inciter to unrest. This is Obama's America and the country of all those who cast the ballot to give the man a second term, four more years to further destroy the country.

I still remember the attacks from the left against Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin and conservatives in general after the shooting in Arizona, or the bombing of Oklahoma City.
Progressives are ready to call out for all sorts of violations of the Constitution to fit their agenda, but are totally silent when they are the ones perpetrating the violence. And the media is completely silent.

Nowhere but Fox News and the conservative blogs the scenes of union criminals attacking Steven Crowder and the American for Prosperity tent in Lansing, Michigan, yesterday was shown, while liberal pukes like Bob Beckel and James Carney have the audacity to justify the violence as an expression of passion.

These are the same scumbags who still go after the TEA Party because of the "threatening behavior" of those who participated to the movement rallies.
Really? Was anyone ever assaulted at a TEA Party rally?
Did any of those TEA Party participants ever destroy someone else's property?
Or threaten "civil war" or "blood flowing"?

That is correct. The answer is no!

But for the new Obama America, violence is just the mean that this tyrannical regime and its followers feel they are entitled to because they are "passionate" about their ideology. Just as Adolf Hitler used the SA and the SS to intimidate a whole nation, Obama is using the unions and the federal government to bully America into Marxism.
Well, this American, and many more I have heard from, are "very passionate" about the survival of our country.

The left wants either complete free hand over the country or civil war.
Careful what you are wishing for.

Just my thoughts!