Police Officers

Those Against “Reasonable” Gun Control Laws Are Promoting Anarchy And Lawlessness, Undermining Police And Law Enforcement Agencies!

Ronald 1 Comment

With the horrific events in Aurora, Colorado, on Friday, the Movie Multiplex Massacre conducted by James Holmes, we are seeing conservatives, Republicans, and the National Rifle Association ready to fight to prevent even “reasonable” gun control laws.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, elected with the help of the Tea Party in 2010 over the great progressive Russ Feingold, came out swinging against any gun control legislation, using the same crazy viewpoint of Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert that if others in the audience had possessed guns, they could have stopped the gunman, fully misunderstanding that several people using guns would have likely led to far greater casualties, as no one would know who was the perpetrator, and who was trying to stop him!

Johnson, on Fox News Channel, saying this ridiculous comment, was contradicted by Senator Diane Feinstein of California, who knows the horrors of guns, witnessing the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.

As Feinstein asserted, there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for ANYONE other than the military and police forces to have access to assault rifles, and magazines of large numbers of ammunition. Handguns and hunting rifles for specific purposes, after a total background check are reasonable, but not AK 47s or other types of rapidly firing machine guns that can kill large numbers of people, as this massacre was conducted two days ago.

This is a struggle that needs to be fought against the unreasonableness of the National Rifle Association, and those Republicans, and even Democrats, who seem to have the belief that we are fighting the Indians on the frontier, or are fighting the Crusades in the Middle East in the medieval period.

A civilized society MUST put controls on guns that are unnecessary, and that only crazy people would wish to possess, as what is the purpose of having assault weapons, except to kill large numbers of people? It is not like a handgun to protect oneself, or a hunting rifle to go hunting for deer, or whatever!

Sanity must be demonstrated, and requires courage by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney and those who understand that if nothing is done, the massacre in Colorado will be repeated with much higher numbers of casualties, far surpassing the all time record of 70 victims which occurred two days ago!

Also ask law enforcement agencies, and one will find that the police see themselves as the front line of possible victims, as even with their own defenses, the widespread ownership of assault weapons endangers their lives, even more than the average civilian!

The Scranton, Pennsylvania Financial Disaster: What It Means!

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Scranton, Pennsylvania, the home city of Vice President Joe Biden, has reached the absolute bottom fiscally, unable to pay its city workers a living wage, and breaking all wage agreements in the process.

We are talking about a Democratic Mayor unable to get the City Council to agree to tax increases on residents, in order to pay a living wage to police officers and fire fighters, as well as other city workers.

So police officers and fire fighters, who protect and serve the residents of Scranton, are being told they will now be paid the minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, to do their crucial jobs!

These courageous city workers are supposed to be able to pay their mortgages or rents; take care of their children’s needs; and plan for a future being paid what they might have been paid when they were in high school or started their first job after graduation!

The citizens of Scranton need to look in the mirror! Do they wish police protection and fire fighting expertise, or do they not?

YES, times are tough, but any sane person will realize that if taxes have to go up, so be it, as everyone tightens the belt, but we have lost our whole purpose as a society if we are telling police officers and fire fighters, as well as other public workers, that we have so little respect and honor for their sacrifice, as to insult them by expecting them to accept the minimum wage for a job that deserves proper pay and benefits!

The City Council and Mayor should be paid the minimum wage as well, and see what it is like to live on it!

And despite the reality that, short term, these workers will have to accept this horrible situation in order to keep their jobs, if this continues more than a few weeks, many will simply quit and move, as there is no way one can sustain himself or herself on the minimum wage when bringing up a family, and sacrificing their safety every day, to do their job, one they knew would never enrich them, but never dreamed that they would be so disrespected that they would told to take a pay cut, averaging 66 percent!

This is a crisis all of America is going to face if we allow the Republican philosophy of “starving” public services to continue to prevail, all to avoid making those who have more to pay more!

Public Servants: An Insurance Policy For The Present And The Future, Underappreciated!

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The attacks on public servants being encouraged by Fox News Channel, Congressional Republicans, Republican Governors, and Presidential nominee Mitt Romney are reprehensible!

The idea seems to be to “trash” the value and essential nature of having police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, and other public servants, who serve willingly, but are mistreated, underpaid, and now are told many of them are not “necessary”, because the wealthy cannot pay more taxes!

It is the same attitude toward military personnel, who are sent into harm’s way, told they are appreciated, but discover otherwise when they need health care and other services, and are told they must wait months for service, or just be asked to go away, as they are used in public rhetoric and then abused in reality by lack of concern and care!

It is the public servants of this country, both civilian and military, that make this country what it is–a safe, secure country in the present and the future, as well!

Police officers are there to protect us against crime; firefighters are there to protect us from urban blazes and massive fires such as the horrifying forest fires in Colorado right now; teachers at all levels are there to educate our young and our adults and even our senior citizens, so that they have a future that is enriched by knowledge and skills; nurses are there to do much of what doctors fail to do, including saving lives in emergency rooms and assisting in surgical procedures; and military personnel are dying and being wounded for us overseas to protect the homeland!

That is MUCH more important than whether a corporation had record profits in the last quarter; or whether banks made more by bilking consumers out of greed; or whether Mitt Romney and other “vulture” capitalists managed to make even more money to add to their obscene amounts of wealth which they protect from taxation by having secret accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, the Bahamas, and elsewhere!

None of the above are at all patriotic, or caring about what is good for America!

All they are concerned about is the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, as they worship the acquisition of wealth, and celebrate greed and selfishness, at the expense of their fellow citizens and their nation! They are defended by the Republican Party and conservatives, who like them, should be ashamed of themselves, but don’t have the capacity to have a conscience or concern for their fellow human beings!

Return From Vacation To Horrible News! Mitt Romney, And The Ugandan Catholic Bishops!

Ronald 4 Comments

Having just returned from vacation in Charleston and Savannah, and only having contributed one entry about the Wisconsin recall election results while on vacation, the author returns to horrible news, making one wonder about humanity!

Mitt Romney has made it clear that if the Supreme Court rules against the Obama Health Care law later this month, he will not protect the millions with preexisting conditions, who would, effectively, left out of health care by such an action.

Romney has also made it clear that he feels the message of Wisconsin is that the American people do not wish to fund more jobs for badly needed teachers, firefighters, and police officers, an unbelievable conclusion based on one state’s results, and a slap in the face of the American people, and the honorable professions that are so essential to the nation, and are being treated as if they are “servants” who can be hired and fired as Mitt Romney loves to do with everyone, due to his obscene wealth, greed, and selfishness!

Mitt Romney is becoming worse by the day, a true monster who comes across as the worst GOP nominee in American history, with his lack of humanity or concern for the needs of the American nation!

The thought that this man without a conscience could actually become President is totally sickening!

But then, the news gets worse, as we learn that in Uganda, the Catholic bishops are endorsing legislation to kill gays or put them in prison for life, a bill already promoted by the evangelical Christian movement, and setting up a situation that would lead to a Holocaust not that different than the one in World War II against gays, as well as Jews and other groups, which was ignored by the then Pope Pius IX!

Pope Benedict XVI needs to condemn this endorsement immediately, and crack down on the Catholic bishops of Uganda, but will he? He is condemning the “radical” statements of nuns who are promoting a open mindedness on many issues within the Church, so can one be assured that he will take steps to crack down on the hate of the Ugandan Catholic bishops?

This is just more proof how organized religion has lost its humanity, and is about to make gays the new victims of a modern day Holocaust in the name of God!

This news about Mitt Romney and the Ugandan bishops is enough to make one wish to go back on vacation, and shut out the cruel world we live in!

Police Officers, Fire Fighters, And The “Divorce” From The Republican Party

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The Republican Party is involved in a nasty “divorce” proceeding from two groups that have been for a long time proud to be Republicans–police officers and firefighters, with the unions for both occupations regularly endorsing GOP candidates for President, Governor, Senator and other political offices. This “marriage” has been a good deal for the Republican Party, but no longer, thanks to GOP Governors across the country!

Other than the military, what other occupations are more respected as there to protect all of us in America than the police officers and firefighters, who like soldiers at war, sacrifice themselves daily and face dangers most of us have never experienced!

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who recently ridiculed a police officer for having the gall to stop him and give him a ticket for reckless driving, has now signed legislation taking away collective bargaining from these loyal unions. A referendum to repeal this legislation is proceeding, and police and fire unions across the nation are actively working to overcome the despicable actions of the Ohio Republican Party, and also to work work against all the other GOP governors who are mistreating those who are there for us every day, loyal to their communities!

Even Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was smart enough to leave police and fire unions out of his legislation to to take away collective bargaining rights from teachers, nurses, and other public servants, because of his awareness of their endorsement of his candidacy last year. But many police and fire fighters marched and demonstrated at the state capitol in Madison to show their support for those public workers under attack, and made clear their opposition to such actions by the Republicans in the Wisconsin state legislature.

Chris Christie in New Jersey, Paul LePage in Maine, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and now Rick Scott in Florida have also declared war on police and fire fighters, and so this will become a major factor in the Presidential Election of 2012 and in Congressional races and state races next year.

As Rachel Maddow of MSNBC said tonight, this issue could insure that Barack Obama is elected to a second term as President, and that the Democrats could make major gains in the states and in Congress, as a result of the stupid, inane actions by Republican politicians, who will now pay a heavy price politically!

But remember, also, that the Republican Party has ALWAYS been anti labor since the era after Theodore Roosevelt one hundred years ago, and sponsored the anti labor union law, the Taft Hartley Act of 1947, which led to a half century of GOP minority status in Congress until 1994!

The Republican Party is a leopard that has never, and never will, change its spots! Once a enemy of working people, ALWAYS an enemy of working people!

When will working people finally understand and stop voting Republican?