An open letter to Chris Matthews of MSNBC on gun control

Greetings Mr Matthews,

I am writing you in public as there doesn't seem to be any way to reach you directly in private. I am among your viewers most nights, and have noticed your strong anti-gun views, or should I say pro-gun-control views. Perhaps you have not considered your position thoroughly.



Firstly, yes there have been far too many mass murders recently, including the Sandy Hook example you cite so frequently. Perhaps you are unaware that the mother of that homicidal maniac had tried to have her son incarcerated in a mental hospital but was refused? This is hardly the only example, virtually all of the mass murders or mass shootings as you prefer to call them, are the work of homicidal maniacs and I include the supposed "Islamic" murderous maniacs of ISIS and others of that ilk, truly a death cult and very far from Islam or any of the great religions. Do you suppose that Sandy Hook massacre would have occurred, had that man been locked up in a mental institution as his own mother TRIED to do?



Next you like the background checks as "the" answer. Well consider the Colorado theater killer, whom had PASSED his background check. How well did that background check work there? More recently, the Texas church killer had passed background checks. Background checks simply do not work, and make it more difficult for the law abiding citizens to purchase arms.



Chris, (if I may be so familiar with you) you have a fair reputation as a stout defender of the Constitution, yet when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, you seem to not wish to stand up for this most important of all of our rights. The 2nd Amendment is not for hunters to have hunting shotguns, nor is it merely for people to be able to have a small pistol for personal defense. Our forefathers had tremendous foresight, and foresaw the possibility that one day, the people might have to defend their freedoms from foreign invaders, or worse even from its own government! So they wrote the 2nd Amendment to include the statement "...shall not be infringed." That is a pretty straightforward statement, and those founding fathers wanted the people to have weapons at least nearly equal to those in use by the military and police. Not limited to a single shot weapon, or they could have included such a restriction, in fact not limited to small arms for that matter, for a fair number of people in the days of the Revolution owned their own CANNONS - cannons equal to those in use by the British Army and Navy. Our founding fathers foresaw that a people that is disarmed, or even limited in their choice of arms, could become subjects of tyranny. Perhaps you have already forgotten the massacre at Tianamen Square, when the Chinese communist dictators turned the power of the Chinese army against their own people, slaughtering them for protesting for freedom. The civilians had no weapons and were massacred. More recently we witnessed what happened in Syria and Libya, with strict gun controls left the citizens poorly armed to fight for their freedom. Don't think that it can not and never could happen here, we are already seeing signs that tyranny may well be about to blossom right here in America.



You have ignored the many thousands of times when law abiding citizens have used their own personal firearms to protect and save lives. More than once, a would-be mass killer was stopped in his tracks by a private citizen who returned fire at the maniac. The Texas church killer is a recent example.



In truth, every time we have such a horrific event as a mass shooting, it is an indirect assault on our Constitution, specifically the 2nd Amendment, as well as mass murder and terrorism. If you believe that having the citizens disarmed would prevent it, then look at the horrendous massacre in Paris so recently. France has highly restrictive gun laws, so the homicidal maniacs were able to slaughter with impunity, knowing they were safe from any kind of return fire except from the police, whom cannot be everywhere at all times. Look at the Orlando massacre - it was a case that would be right in your way of thinking, a public bar full of law abiding and unarmed citizens, protected by an armed guard professional, so the very first person killed was the guard, followed by the unarmed citizens whose only hope was to hide or escape.


You may think we are in the 21st century, too far advanced for "wild west" type culture, too modern to have people walking around carrying guns. Yet in truth we live in a rather barbaric time, facing vry barbaric enemies like ISIS, and unable to remove the truly dangerously mentally ill from being free to murder when ever they decide to do so. You and I are old enough to remember the days when if someone were talking crazy, saying they want to murder everyone and such, you could call the state mental hospital and soon a van would arrive with nice young men in clean white suits to take the maniac away for observation. I do not know why this was stopped, other than to save money. Perhaps this was part of a campaign to disarm the public, by allowing mass murders to happen and give the 'authorities' the excuse to ban firearms, as has happened in some other countries.



You never miss the chance to start calling for gun control with every mass murder. Now you are certainly free and welcome to your own opinions, but as you are an intelligent man I hope you will re-examine the facts, learn just how many times armed citizens have protected life and property, and the times when armed private citizens have stopped murderous maniacs from causing even greater bloodshed and havoc.



Keep up the good work Chris, I remain a fan and won't stop watching your news program over a single issue like this, but I hope you might change your views, on re-examining things.



My apologies to any of our readers here for the LONG absence from the blog, it has been over four years since I was able to get into my account and finally managed to get in. I will try to post something interesting sooner than another four year lapse. But just in case I am not able to get into my account again, I wish you good luck and good hunting dear reader, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.



Oroblanco

Syria

Victims of Assad's Nerve Gas Attack

I am posting this to hopefully wake up you, dear reader, to an horrific dictator in Syria, that has been murdering innocent children by the hundreds, and over 100,000 of his own people, just so he can remain in power. 

As an American, I am fully aware of our national war-weariness.  We have had a bad experience in getting led into a war in Iraq, yes.  Syria is not Iraq.  It is not a question as to whether Assad has chemical weapons, nor that he MIGHT use them, he has used them.  He used them first in a small way, and when the international community did nothing, proceeded to use them in a larger way.  If we do nothing now, he will have the green light to proceed and exterminate as many people he likes, using this most horrific and indiscriminate of weapons to do it.  Even worse, it will be sending that green light to any and all other tin pot dictators that we will do nothing if they choose to use chemical and biological weapons.  We will definitely see much larger mass muderss, and our own people will definitely be put at risk of attack by these weapons, as will our allies in the region.

The issue is raised that some of the rebels in Syria are bad guys.  No doubt, some of them are.  If we do nothing, those evil people will stand to benefit, by being the only support for the people of Syria fighting for their freedom from an evil dictator.  We are told by the talking heads on television, that it is not our business, not our people getting slaughtered, we have no business there.   As Americans, we also forget that we did not win our own independence and freedom without the aid of foreign powers, one of whom even sent her own sons to fight for us, and her fleet to fight the British; I am referring to France.  Today, we are the greatest military power on Earth.  No other nation can provide the kind of aid which we can, nor the leadership to help people fighting for their freedom.  Shall we now turn our backs on them, as we have done for the past two years, and allow Assad to brutally kill off many more of his own people, drive millions out of the country and destabilize an already unstable region?  How will history look upon our actions, or inactions I should say?

I realize it is most unpopular to be proposing that we get into yet another war; yet this is a case most  urgent and indeed dangerous.  To do nothing runs far greater risks than to act and act strongly.  I do not believe we need to send our own troops in to fight for the Syrian people, they are not asking for that.  I do think we ought to be providing a safe zone for the refugees within the borders of Syria, a no-fly zone over the entire country, and even air support for the rebels to help even up the fight.  We could also impose a sea blockade, so that Assad and his evil henchmen could not get any further supplies of weapons and ammunition by sea.  We would be far safer in the long run, to help the rebels win their freedom, and eliminate Assad's government from rule.  

Consider this, Assad is most friendly with Iran, our self-declared enemy, and Russia which seems to be reverting to a Cold War state opposing the USA and the west in general.  Why would we NOT want to see Assad lose this war?  Stability?  As Thomas Jefferson said, when the tumult and instabilities of democratic government were being pointed to as a reason for the United States NOT to become a democracy he told them he would happily take the tumult, for despite the lurchings and uncertainties, over time the benefits will far outweigh the drawbacks.  

What message will we be sending Iran, actively working to build nuclear weapons, should we stand by and turn a blind eye (and deaf ear) to Assad's mass murder by illegal chemical weapons?  Green light!  They will see the west as weak and divided, and while we may be divided, we should not lead the mullahs in Iran to believe that we will fail to act when faced by such evils.

You do not have to take my word on it that Assad has gassed his own people, read this:

US Assessment on Syria

or if you do not trust US sources;

France, Britain confirm use of nerve gas

Contact your congressional representatives and urge them to act on Syria, we have to act or we will face far greater tragedies in the future.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.

Oroblanco  

Explaining myself

Hola mi amigos,
Yes that title is what this post is all about; for after a number of years and many puzzled friends and family, I have had some difficulty in trying to explain what Beth and I do and why.

One key question is how can you go camping, for so long?  Apparently the idea sounds like it is a tremendous hardship or involves suffering and doing without.  This is pretty far from the case.  To be sure, there are times when the weather simply refuses to cooperate, or some equipment or vehicle will fail at the most inopportune moment.  To be honest though there is little in the way of hardship.  Yes it can get pretty cold at night, and we have been snowed in a number of times, but if you dress properly, keep a campfire going for the cold nights, and be sure to zip up your down-filled sleeping bag each night, there is little in the way of discomfort due to the cold.  At the other extreme it can indeed get uncomfortably hot but when that happens (as it rarely does over the winter months) one can spend most of your time in the shade, do your activities in the early morning and late afternoon hours when the heat is much more tolerable.   Camp life almost never becomes monotonous either, for there are always wildlife to see and many things to do not to mention the plain old ambience of camping.

Even the worst sort of weather is more like a personal challenge than something miserable to have to suffer through.  Kind of like a test, to see if we are still tough enough, smart enough to keep warm and dry, to be able to cook up a hot meal in a driving rainstorm, and so far neither Beth nor myself have yet failed such a test.  Bad weather passes, generally speaking, so a day spent stuck in the tent is not so much to get through; with a portable radio, the laptop computers and movies on DVD, playing cards or just fooling with the dogs, such a day is not really anything "tough" to get through.

This will sound rather corny, to wax poetic about it but there is no other way to put it.  The wilds of america are some of the most beautiful country there is.  Gorgeous sunrises and spectacular sunsets are rather the rule, and at night, the star-studded skies are so stunning as to beggar description.  Crystal clear blue skies, with a hawk or eagle soaring on the updrafts, a gentle breeze to "blow the stink off us" as my mother used to put it, makes for a most pleasing sort of living room.   Even the night sounds of the desert are like sweet music, from the coyotes howling plaintively to each other or great horned owls giving voice to their haunting souls.  Too corny?  Perhaps, but if you have experienced it you know exactly what I am talking about and know that I am not exaggerating.

Now some folks feel that if you were to do this, then the right way would be to get a big motorhome or RV trailer; to then have a portable home on wheels that you could haul anywhere you wished, rather than having to pitch a tent and put up with the vagaries of tent life.  Modern RV's are fully equipped with all the conveniences of a home, from a furnace to warm you when it is cold to a flush toilet and shower, even a microwave.  I do not wish to cast aspersions on such camping, for it is still camping yet it is something disconnected from camping in a tent.  You do not really get to experience the outdoors quite as well, and there are other issues as well.  Driving the big RVs down a highway are one challenge, getting them around in towns and cities quite another, and the fuel costs are high enough that we would never be able to afford to go traveling with one.  That is only a part of the problem however, for despite the portable home being on wheels, there are a great many places they simply cannot get IN to.  Or once in, would be a major task to get them back out, and sad to say but most of the places that Beth and I do go, are those sorts of places.  Heck we have a tough time with a 4WD Blazer many times, and have gotten it stuck more than once.  Then there is the setup, for an RV cannot simply be parked but needs to be leveled up, and shade awnings set up, get the power system going, and of course the need to stop and fill the water tanks, as well as the need to find a place where you can legally dump the dirty water in the septic holding tank onboard.  So while the RVs are really nice, and such camping would probably be more comfortable than a tent especially in bad weather, there are a number of reasons why we choose not to go that route. 

Life in camp is also not one of boredom or tedium.  Yes, doing the dishes can be a pain in the neck but that is a small matter.  Much of our time is very busy - for we do not spend our time just camping out, but rather are out exploring, searching for lost mines and buried treasures!  If you have never done this, I highly recommend you do give it a try, even if only once in your life.  How can I explain it?  I know, some folks view this pursuit or avocation as nothing but sheer greed; as if we are only out to get rich quick.  Let me disabuse you of that notion out of hand.  In fact, just one day of working with that old number 2 shovel, and any greed that may have been at the root of your passion will have rapidly evaporated.  Have you ever found a penny?  How about a nickel, or a quarter, or a dollar bill?  Maybe even something more valuable, like a twenty dollar bill?  How did you feel when you picked up that small treasure?  Yes indeed it was a treasure, small maybe but treasures come in many sizes and many forms.  Were you filled with greed for money?  Hardly, rather it was that inexplicable little "rush" in your heart.  The great poet (hey I heard you, 'oh no, here he goes again with the poetry') Robert Service put it best, and I will quote:

"There is gold and it's haunting and haunting,
It's luring me on as of old,
But it's not the gold that I'm wanting,
So much as just finding the gold"

You can believe that or not, but it is the plain simple truth.  Few treasure hunters will admit it but it is the search and the finding, not the monetary value, that is what they seek.  It is a quest, a search for fulfillment that attains the goal whether one finds the treasure or not.  I know, you fellow treasure hunters may well be thinking that I just spoke blasphemy, but it is the secret at our very core.

To try to sum this up, as if I ever could, the short answer is that when Beth and I go off camping, for weeks or months at a time, we are really at home.  Not to try to pretend that I am some kind of latter-day Dan'l Boone, heck I know that I could never hold a candle to such men; they had no detailed maps of where they were traveling, primitive weapons, often forced to live off the land and almost constantly in danger of attack by savage enemies.  True, we do have some of the same dangers they faced, like poisonous snakes, scorpions, bad weather, steep terrain, murderous drug smugglers, the evil men who traffic in human beings or slip guns across the borders, but it is nothing compared to what those early pioneers and mountain men faced.  Kit Carson or Jim Bridger could hardly pull out a cell phone and dial 9-1-1 when trouble arose, like we can.  And   Heck, Beth and I are both physically limited now, and are forced to do more car-camping not to mention having the dogs pack some of the stuff when we do hike, and have to be extra careful about hiking the rough country not to mention the medications we live on but these are just more challenges to your engineering and planning skills.

So dear reader, I hope that I have successfully explained what it is that my wife and I are doing at our every opportunity.  We generally include in our budget enough for a motel room now and then, for the hot shower and to catch up on the latest events, and we are blessed with many extremely hospitable and generous friends and family, whom have allowed us to "crash" at their homes along the route.  But we spend the biggest part of our time camped fairly far from what we call "civilization"; not because of adversity or poverty, but a personal choice.  For it is in those so-called wild places that we are most at home, feel closest to our God and can more fully appreciate His handiwork.  Yes we are out searching for lost mines, buried treasures, and sometimes just plain vanilla old-fashioned prospecting for gold and silver, but even were we to suddenly strike it rich and join the Billionaires club, it is a certainty that the moment we had deposited the new-found wealth into a bank or into a safe buried in the ground, we would be packing up our gear and hitching up the dogs to get back out there and search for more.  You can choose to believe this explanation or not, I won't be offended if you don't, but it is the truth.

So let me close this over-wordy attempt to explain our lifestyle in my own personal way, as I prefer to - good luck and good hunting my amigos, I truly do hope you will find the treasures that you seek.  Just be sure to let me know that you did - for I will get almost as big a kick out of it for you, my friend, to have found it as if I found it myself.

Roy ~ Oroblanco

PS I will try to post somthing interesting for you to read, as soon as I get some more time at the PC.