Meet Robert Steed, a resident of Vernon, Connecticut who took three days straight off work to attend several gun control hearings in Connecticut. There isn’t a lot I can add to his testimony.
Robert Steed did a great job!
I am not sure which Representative dais this, he is clearly visible in the video (if you know who he is please post it in the comment section), but his word choice was interesting:
“As long as we live in an open and free democratic society your not going to be able to get a handle on all of the violence in our society. …You’ll get a better handle on it in a Dictatorship where they take all your guns and watch your every move….” …”we don’t want to go down that road”…
I believe in reading between the lines, especially with politicians. First I thought to even bring a dictatorship up in the debate was interesting, but notice his wording at the end. …”We don’t want to go down that road“ Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate (if you felt the need to even go there) to end with, but that will never happen in here, in this country.
On March 19th he was back at it again…
In follow-up testimony Robert Steed again knocks the ball out of the park! Here it is:
You read right, it is all the rage, we are tired of going to competitions and having to deal with this insanely unfair Karate Electoral College. The last competition I went to was so unfair, the vast majority of the people at the competition chose me as the winner. It was clear by the crowds reaction, by the energy in the room, even an electronic poll they were running (American Idol style) had me the clear winner. So what happened? Some judges ruled that my opponent won and I lost! That was the most unfair experience of my life and the crowd agreed. Wouldn’t you? Shouldn’t the most popular contestant win? Shouldn’t the people be able to choose the winner, I mean they are watching the fight, they know!! That is why we need to get rid of the Karate Electoral College!
Alright that didn’t happen quiet that way. I am from a very small club, low budget, low body count. What chance do we have at a competition? Well if it is run fairly then a pretty good chance. I have been to both, fair and unfair competitions, they look the same from the outside, they look the same to the crowd. The illusion part is easy for the crowd, the contestants always know, but who do they complain to?
Democracy sucks. The big clubs/schools, with the 500 students win. The small clubs/schools don’t have a voice. Democracy is High School, there are the popular kids (who can do anything up to and including murder), the normal kids (geeks – perspective people) and then there are the wanna-be’s (that is the crowd that want to be part of the popular kid club but are to self-deluded to see that they never will be and that the popular kids aren’t really that nice). Yes I stereotype
Perhaps, a popular vote wouldn’t be all that fair for anyone other than the person who can gain 51% support. In other words the club/school who brings the most members has the best chance of winning. Not very fair for the smaller clubs/schools! Does that mean the Karate Electoral College is actually more fair?! This video may shed some light on the matter, let me know what you think in the comments section…
Think you know what the 2nd amendment is for, think the world safe, think you know what you are talking about? Invest 7 minutes, watch the video and perhaps you will be able to answer these questions honestly. Or you can remain blind and deceived by the lord of lies and his minions…
IF only our citizens would elect someone with this much honesty and fortitude. Alas we would rather elect a celebrity than a leader or statesman. How blind are ‘we the people’ that we continue to be so short sighted…
PS: I’ve been looking for a reason to use the world minions!!
I almost didn’t share this because of how traumatic it is, but the potential to raise everyone’s safety awareness out weighs the uncomfortableness of the video. To often we joke about the Darwin Award winners, when in reality each of them could have been one of us, caught in a perfect storm of situation, and not thinking things through. Hopefully this video will give everyone pause and help them to remember, safety first, even when things seem safe and you seem in control. The video speaks for itself so I won’t beat a dead horse (perhaps not the best choice of words but it fits).
I’ve remained silent for a while now, out of respect for the dead and because I don’t like exploiting situations like this. Unfortunately those who support gun control have no problem sensationalizing, over reporting, and frankly traumatizing the public with stories like these. They have been at it for years, they will be at it for years to come. Who wants gun control? The uninformed and those who do not like the idea that you may be able to stand against the things they believe in. Fascists, communists, socialists and progressives like gun control, history teaches us this. Unfortunately we are living in a period of history where we (the collective we) have forgotten the lessons of history and begun to believe that we are better than our predecessors, more civilized. These people think things turn bad quickly with easy to spot signs. History teaches us differently. From antiquity the story always plays out the same and unfortunately it always has the same ending, death and enslavement. There are many different forms of slavery, they all begin with fear. Guns level the playing field. The age old mantra of gun control proponents is that if we have no guns society will be a a safer place. Reality could not be further from that belief.
Let us say that we could in fact remove ALL of the guns from society, including those that the criminals have. That would be utopia, no? I mean crime would go down, no more crazy people shooting up schools and theatres and such…right? Wrong. So the criminals are disarmed does that mean they will suddenly become law abiding citizens? No it does not. But now they have the advantage. How? Well guns have an equalizing effect on society. You see a 70 year old man being attacked by a 20-30 year old attacker is going to lose in 99% of the cases. What choice do the defenseless (the children, the seniors, the women, the weak, the timid) have but to submit under gun control? NONE. Think about the defenseless group of “the weak” for a moment, that group might include a 6 foot 5 inch man who weighs 300 pounds, if he is confronted by 4-5 thugs with baseball bats. The defenseless become anyone who is a law abiding citizen. The criminals know this, the police know this, the politicians know this, they are banking on the fact that you won’t realize this.
Facts. People who want gun control HATE FACTS. They are emotional beings not willing to admit that bad things happen and life is often unfair and cut short. They do not want to solve the problem, they want to feel better. Unfortunately for them, only after we loose our freedom with they realize their mistake. Anyone who ignores all facts and rationalizes away anything that conflicts with their ideas, is probably… well probably suffering from some sort of insanity. I know that will make some cringe, but that is part of the problem. Evil relies on the fact that “good”, nice people are willing to try to find compromise. Good people do not compromise when the facts are on their side. If they did, we would be drinking a lot more tea today!
Now that I have said most of my peace, I want to share a few videos that present a few different perspectives and some clarity on several issue I have not touched on.
Let’s start with the facts about the current gun control move, a decent presentation without the sensationalized coverage:
Next let’s look at the facts and a case study of a country, not unlike America, that has implemented gun control, Australia. How has that been working out for them? See for yourself:
Let’s see what Ice-T had to say about gun control after the 2012 shooting in Denver, CO.
I’ve already liked Ice-T, not necessarily a fan of his music but he is now one of my favorite people in Hollywood!
This slightly choppy, computer generate cartoon seems to cover every argument for gun control:
And of course probably my favorite, because it spoofs what the left wants but isn’t willing to do, live now be the rules they want to impose on all of us. I think those in favor of Gun Control should implement this in their work and home immediately. They could even label their cars!! That would show how much support there is for gun control! Take a look:
And the real reason we MUST fight Gun Control, to defend our liberty and our freedom. Don’t believe it is possible:
For those not willing to understand history and not willing to look around the world with their eyes wide open, Gun Control may seem like a good idea. To the rest of us, we understand that America is the last stand of freedom in the world, the last protector of liberty.
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever increasing unhappiness.
To think good thoughts, however, requires effort.
This is one of the things that discipline – training – is about.
James Clavell, in his novel “Shogun”
I read this book as a young man and have to say it is still one of my favorite novels. At the time I was training very hard in Karate and this novel steeped me even further in the history and culture of old Japan, brutal, savage yet elegant. Today I teach students in the art of Karate and hopefully Life. I am an avid observer of the world and I see increasing negativity in general. One of the aspects of how I train my students is control of themselves and their minds. The above quote goes to the root of my teachings (though I never connected the two) in that we control nothing in the world without first controlling ourselves. Negative thoughts are destructive to yourself, your world and those around you, it is like a disease. Our thoughts are ours to do with as we please. Yes our thoughts can be influenced by the things around us. That is why it is a bad idea for an Alcoholic to hangout in a bar with his/her friends. Ultimately though we have ourselves to deal with, the environment or situation we are in are only as influential as we let them be. This all sounds so easy but it is a lifetime of work and practice and failure to become proficient at. The world is dynamic but our inner world’s are infinitely more dynamic, to infinity and beyond! But like any lesson it starts small, baby steps, with awareness. We cannot change or control anything we are unaware of, become and observer of the world. First we need to see the small things most people never see. We can find perfection in the small things, the cut of sunlight through a cloud or the beat of a butterfly resting on a flower, or even the silence of being totally alone in a room. Some of the things you will notice may make you uncomfortable in a strange way, that is your body fighting awareness the way you fight waking in the morning (if you are like me!). What does this have to do with not being negative? Everything. You could start by focusing on not thinking negative thoughts, however your success would be short lived. You have to have something to fill the void left by the negative thoughts you eventually will banish. Why? Because your brain never stops, it is always churning away, in the computer world we call that paging. Paging is moving information into and out of usable memory, if you page to much you can’t do any useful computations or make any useful observations. Observing the little things in the world require you to stop thinking so much, to quiet your mind or in computer terms to limit or stop paging so we can take in new information. As you do this you are increasing your positive memories and thoughts and reducing your negative thoughts without trying to force it. You will eventually get to a point where you will be able to control what your brain is processing positive or negative and more importantly know when you are paging negativity because you are more aware. Awareness is one of the keys to good thoughts with its byproduct, happiness. As an observer you often find yourself in a calm state of acceptance like someone watching a play…but that is a topic for another discussion.
‘Stop and smell the roses’ are words of supreme wisdom which few of us ever understand until it is to late. Stay positive, train hard, train often.
Like the title says, everyone has a story. I do. You do. Everyone does. So what!
This isn’t meant to trivialize your story, but try to keep it in perspective. We all have or will have health problems. We all have our crosses to bear, if you don’t…you will. What is important is how we deal with these crosses put upon us. How do we deal with them… how do you deal with them? Sometimes they turn into excuses. The important thing is to stretch to your limits. Like stretching a muscle you might just find that after a while you can stretch further then your could before. Maybe that hill wasn’t as steep as you thought. But most definitely you are not the only one who has climbed that hill or another just like it!
Life happens all of a sudden and not usually in the way we expect, the trick is accepting the blessings and curses as gifts. Do this and you will find the value in the gift no matter how it changes the direction of your life.
Train hard, Stay Safe, Have Fun…but stop whining!!
The following video is off topic but worth sharing for the clear and truthful picture given of our current relations with China and our economic picture. I have a new hero because of how truthful, honest and unabashed the presentation is.
In this following video clip, Wolf Blitzer is called out for pandering, he isn’t none to happy, no more so then the Wizard was when the curtain was pulled back! What is surprised me was who did it…The Donald! No, not Donald Duck, Donald Trump! I am posting this video because every word that Trump says in this video is pure GOLD. The man didn’t pull any punches and he does it in a way we should all strive to do, truthfully and honestly without the mean spiritedness or sarcasm that is to often born out of ill motives and/or fear.
