It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
Mother Davis clucks her tongue as she asks,

What has gotten into the Republicans in Congress these days?!?

They say that they're for Homeland Security, so they pass a bunch of legislation that allows the government to spy on law abiding Americans, but they refuse to pass any laws that would actually help the government to keep track of high powered, portable weapons being sold and transported within out own country! Oh sure, these Republicans think it's okay for the FBI to read all your personal emails, but will they let the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms create a registery system so that convicted felons aren't able to buy sniper rifles? No, they say, that would be big government!

Just yesterday, Republican Congressional Representative Tom DeLay announced that he opposes a renewal of the assault weapons ban of 1994. This ban simply makes it illegal for Americans to buy extremely dangerous guns like Uzis for their own "personal" use. Since the ban was passed, deaths from these kinds of guns are way down, but DeLay and most of the other House Republicans think that the ban was an awful idea, because they believe that Americans ought to be able to privately own whatever kinds of weapons they want to own.

DeLay says that he has enough Republican votes to kill the assault weapon ban. He says he's doing it for the hunters. Folks, do you know any hunters who go after turkey or deer with an Uzi?

This isn't just an issue of Homeland Security, it's an issue of crime. If Republicans can't summon the inner strength to renew a law that bans Uzis and other similar machine guns from America's streets, then it seems clear to me that these Republicans are soft on crime.

Luckily, Democrats and a few moderate Republicans in Congress are organizing a filibuster against this dangerously extremist Republican attempt to open America's neighborhoods to automatic-firing machine guns.

Please, call your representative in the House of Representatives and urge them to participate in the filibuster until the Republicans agree to abandon their reckless attempts to allow anyone in America to stockpile private armories of Uzis and other machine guns.

Wiping little beads of sweat off her forehead,
Mother Davis

Posted by Katherine Davis at 7:59 AM. # (permalink)  




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