Sen. Feinstein - dumber than the average bear?

Sorry. My apologies to bears. No offense intended.

This morning I read this comment about a statement of California's Sen. Feinstein:

"After the deadly Aurora, Colorado shooting Feinstein criticized those who said responsible conceal carry permit holders could have stopped gunman James Holmes, saying '...and maybe you could have had a firefight and killed many more people. These are people in a theater.'"

Is she just plain stupid to be worried about a "firefight"? Are people just supposed to sit in their seats and wait to be killed?

So I visited her U.S. Senate website and sent an email to her.

Now look at her auto-response! She is one of 100 U.S. Senators, and she can't figure out that it's possible to email an out-of-state person?

"Thank you for sending me your electronic mail message. I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me.

"Because of the volume of e-mail that is received by my office, we can only respond to email that includes a California postal address. Please resend the text of your e-mail message, including your postal address, and I will respond to you as soon as possible.

"Should you need additional information about the Congress, or my offices in Washington and California, please visit my homepage on the World Wide Web. The address is http://feinstein.senate.gov.

"Thank you again for contacting me, and I hope you will continue to do so in the future."

Do you suppose she could find someone in California who can read? My postal address was included in the information on her webform. OK, so I "get" that she isn't going to respond. I guess that means that my email automatically went into her trash. That's probably where all email to her goes.

It is patently untrue that they "can" only respond to email with a California postal address. Of course, she could respond, but she has decided that she isn't going to. I could "jimmy up" a California address, even use her own as an in-care-of address, but I won't. What if I accidentally violated some unknown Patriot Act law and caused the FBI to show up with for a no-warrant search that I couldn't tell my lawyer about.

What is this country coming  to? Yes! We do need to be worried about Government. And about Dianne Feinstein!

LEO Code of Ethics

The following below is the National Law Enforcement Officer Code of Ethics.

As a Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to serve humanity; to safeguard lives and property; to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional right of all people to liberty, equality and justice.

I will keep my private life unsullied as an example to all and will behave in a manner which brings credit to myself and my agency. I will maintain courageous calm in the face of danger, scorn, or ridicule; develop self-restraint; and be constantly mindful of the welfare of others. Honest in thought and deed in both my personal and official life, I will be exemplary in obeying the law, and the regulations of my department. Whatever I see or hear of a confidential nature or that is confided to me in my official capacity will be kept ever secret unless revelation is necessary in the performance of my duty.

I will never act officiously or permit personal bias, prejudices, political beliefs, animosities, aspirations, or friendships to improperly influence my decisions. I will always remember my shared humanity and will cultivate an attitude of compassion, respect, and empathy toward all peoples.

With no compromise for crime and with relentless prosecution of criminals, I will enforce the laws courteously and appropriately without fear or favor, malice or ill will, never employing unnecessary force or violence and never accepting gratuities. I will never engage in acts of bribery nor will I condone such acts by others. I will cooperate with all legally constituted agencies and their representatives, in the pursuit of justice and the maintenance of integrity in law enforcement.

I recognize the badge of my office as a symbol of public faith, and I accept it as a public trust to be held only so long as I am true to the ethics of the police service. I will constantly strive to achieve these objectives and ideals, dedicating myself before all I hold sacred, to my chosen profession....law enforcement.

A message from ISRA

The following is a message from Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA)

"We are all saddened by the unconscionable events that took place last Friday at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. As a result of this terrible tragedy, we are hearing the shrill screams of the gun banning crowd who want to ban everything they can think of. What they are proposing would not have stopped this or any other mad man who is intent on doing evil.

"I have been deluged by reporters who want interviews and immediate solutions to the problem of protecting children in schools. One of the solutions I offered was to have armed security guards in all schools. This idea was shouted down by some of the anti-gun people, but suddenly I find many schools are doing just that. There are several firearm training academies and individual trainers who offer special training to teachers. In fact, just today I had several calls asking for such training. Some of the objections I received were that it would be terrible to have a gun around children – don’t these people realize that guns are everywhere from movies to TV to video games? My favorite objection was: what if the gun fell out of the policeman’s holster and went off? Obviously, they have no clue how a policeman’s holster works. The nuttiness and vulgarity of the calls have been interesting, to say the least, but are nothing in comparison to the death threats people at the NRA have received."

Thanks, Richard.

Readers can learn more about ISRA and the NRA by clicking for their respective websites.

Here come da judge...

Thanks to Mike Tryon's e-newsletter, I know now that there are more than 150 new laws in Illinois to take effect in 2013. Heaven help us!!! Considering that there are 118 State Reps and ___ Senators, all wanting to get on the scoreboard with their own bills, somehow I think we the People are lucky that there are only "more than 150" new laws. Among them are

PA 97-784: Provides that ambulances involved in emergency service will no longer have to pay tolls.

(How many legislators own ambulance companies?)

PA 97-827: Improves transparency and public access to information by requiring public bodies to post meeting agendas which include an adequate description of the business to be conducted at a meeting. It also requires that public meeting notices be posted in locations that allow for continuous viewing for the 48 hours leading up to a meeting.

Note the word "continuous". This means the Merit Commission will have to start telling the public in advance what is going on.

PA 97-830: Expands the ban on cell phone use when driving in construction zones, making it illegal to use a cell phone in all construction zones rather than only in zones where a reduced speed limit exists.




Note: this probably applies in school zones, too.
 
Is this only hand-held cellphones or all cellphones? 

From PA97-830: 625 ILCS 5/12-610.1 (e) (Prohibition against cell phone use) does not apply to ... (iv) to a person using a wireless telephone in voice-operated mode, which may include the use of a headset, or (v) to a person using a wireless telephone by pressing a single button to initiate or terminate a voice communication.

PA 97-984: Provides that a motor vehicle used while driving on a suspended or revoked license is subject to seizure and forfeiture if the person’s driving privileges were revoked or suspended for a similar violation in another state if the offense involved operating the vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, refusing to submit to alcohol or drug testing, or reckless homicide.

PA 97-1049: Cracks down on parents or guardians who permit underage drinking on property they own. The new law makes it a crime to allow underage drinking not only at a parent’s or guardian’s home, but also on property under their control, including barns, cabins, boathouses, etc.

How many courts will assume the parents knew their kids were drinking in the barn out on the back forty acres?

The U.S. President is so wrong!

Obama is already cranking up his gun-control agenda, and it makes me sick! Sick!

Today it's gun shows. The Associated Press reports that Obama "...acknowledged that the Friday's deadly shooting had been 'a wake-up call for all of us'."

No, it was NOT a "wake-up call for all of us".

But he is using it to go after gun-show sales (what do they have to do with Newtown?) and everything else he doesn't like about guns.

The kid's mother legally purchased and legally owned her guns. Now it seems she was about to hospitalize her kid for mental health reasons. Is that why he killed her and went on a shooting rampage?

This country should fear its president. What a shame to even think such a thing! But it is becoming clearer and clearer to me. And not only fear the president, but fear the Illinois Governor, Senate President, House Speaker and Mayor of Chicago.

It is feeling more and more like it's time to clear out of this rotten State and find a place where people and their rights are respected.

Second Amendment?

A Massachusetts man posted this comment to a news article on Monday:

"a rifle ... no longer allows a private citizen parity with the authorities like it was centuries ago. Stars wars , drones , and nano technology mean the citizen of today is hopelessly out-gunned except of course for Flash Gordon."

The forefathers were thinking of their time. The future, too, but they would not have comprehended the awesome firepower now maintained by our governments.

Just look at the firepower maintained right here in McHenry County, from MARV on down. What citizen would have a chance to protect himself (and us) against Government?

Yet, that's what the Second Amendment is for. The right to keep and bear arms (not "to bare" arms, as one poster wrote elsewhere last week).

The Second Amendment? "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." That was as written by Congress at the time. When I read that, I thought two fewer comments would make it more to my liking. Take out the comma after militia, and get rid of the one after arms.

And then I found this on Wikipedia.com:

"As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Well, what do you know about that?

Christmas Clearing House

An article in this morning's Northwest Herald decries the financial plight of Woodstock's Christmas Clearing House (CCH), which is worried about a decreased level of donations this year.

The CCH is a project of the Woodstock Rotary Club to make Christmas a little happier for many Woodstock families. It expects to deliver gift and food to 1,100 families this year.

Right now the Clearing House is $15,000 short of its $46,000 budget for next year's program. While next Christmas is months away (this Christmas is less than a week away), why not push them up to the goal right now?

Mail your check, payable to Christmas Clearing House, to P.O. Box 53, Woodstock, IL 60098. Every dollar counts. If 1,500 people send $10, that's it. My check is in the mail.

If you want to save the price of a stamp, drop your check off at BMO Harris Bank in Woodstock.

But do it. Think about all those cups of coffee you buy at Starbuck's, Panera Bread or Dunkin' Donuts. You could skip 3-5 of them and, bingo, there's the $10. But you won't, so mail your check today. (Put in a note that you read it here.)

And - you can come and help assemble gift packages tonight and tomorrow night and help with deliveries on Saturday. Tonight and Thursday: 6:00-8:00PM at the old Farm & Fleet building on the southwest corner of Route 47 and Highway 14, next to Woodstock Harley-Davidson. Saturday, 8:00AM to noon. Dress warmly; it's not heated.