18 September 2013 Got some things to talk about

Cassi Creek:

         

It is official.  The VA determination is that I do; indeed, have Parkinson’s and that it may well be caused by exposure to Agent Orange while serving in VietNam.  The compensation for this was set at 30% disability.  I’m pleased they acknowledge some culpability on the part of the U.S, government.  I think the disability rating is too low.  Yesterday I submitted the notice of disagreement allowing me to appeal the rating.  Digging in for another 1-3 year trip from the top of the backlog pile to the bottom. 

          This morning’s hike with Mike was nothing abnormal.  Mike is perturbed over the “demonization of AR’s” by the media.  The Navy Yard shooting reporting upsets him.  The media reported the possible use of an AR-15 or M-16 during the shootings.  The witness who appeared on television indicated that they might have heard automatic rifle fire.  Most civilians cannot identify firearms by sound, particularly when afraid for their own lives.  Following the NRA dogma, Mike insists – somewhat correctly – that there were no automatic weapons used in the recent killings.  It makes little difference to the wounded and dead whether or not the newsreader reports that an AR platform rifle is not full auto while the AR platform rifle built into the M-16 or M-4 rifles are either full auto capable or three round burst capable. 

          During my time in service, we called the full-sized, full auto capable rifle an M-16.  The smaller carbine was called a CAR-15, indicating its size and origin.

          The NRA and its minions are using a failure to distinguish between a fully automatic M-16 military weapon built upon the AR-15 platform from the semi-automatic civilian rifle built on the AR-15 platform as a tool to keep gun owners fired up over points that truly have little bearing on the realities of these mass murders.

          The U.S. needs to deal with the NRA’s intentions to keep any changes in gun sales from being dealt with in Congress.  It has been only hours since the Navy Yard murders.  Congress, at least the GOP/teavangelists faction has already made it clear that it will follow the NRA in every effort to prevent such events in the future.  Congress is willing to destroy the nation’s economy but unwilling to anger the NRA and weapons manufacturers and arms dealers who hand them hidden money for their re-election campaigns. It’s time to remind the U.S. population that the various militias organized to “prevent a tyrannical government are largely composed of men who are self-deluding their selves into believing that these rat-tag imitation soldiers will never be in a position to defeat the U.S. government’s forces or any other real military unit. 

Come hear Uncle John's Band by the riverside,
Got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide.