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I’ve been asking this question at the national level where we have seen the EPA, HHS, DOJ, and IRS (to name the “agencies of the day”) obfuscate, mislead, or outright lie to Congress and private Citizens.  In each case, we see a partisanship that has not been seen in decades (or worse, the first time).  Call me naïve, but regardless of Party-in-Power, the bureaucrats are answerable to “their masters” – be they their higher-ups in the Executive Branch, oversight by the Legislative / Judicial Branches and certainly to individual or groups of Citizens.  Our Republic form of government demand nothing less lest we loose that form  of Government.  Remember: The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.

And the San Jose Police Dept certainly felt that it was unaccountable to Citizens, hiding something of much value to them, until it was no longer able to hide:

San Jose Police Dept. Spends Two Years Denying Any Interest In Drones Before Apologizing And Handing Over Documents

The San Jose Police Department has spent more than two years denying it has a drone in its possession, having returned no responsive documents to MuckRock during its 2012 and 2013 “drone census” document requests. The drone the SJPD pretended to not have in its possession (until just recently) may have not been acquired until early 2014, but its grant application was actually submitted sometime prior to November 30, 2012. But this is how the SJPD responded during previous requests.

When someone makes a FOIA / RTK request to government (Freedom of Information Act in most places, Right To Know here in NH), a “responsive document” means that the government entity (or one outside of government but still receiving taxpayer monies) has something in their possession that pertains to that request.  So in this case, the Government agency just flat out lied.  It decided that it no longer had to be accountable to Citizens.  It decided that it WAS Bigger Government that was larger than an individual citizen.  By lying, it made that citizen insignificant.

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I live in a more rural area in Central NH – certainly not a city or “in town” that isn’t quite what I would call “suburban” and we get fairly few strangers out here – and one day, the dogs started barking up a storm.  A rather burly young guy was coming up our pathway; his truck said something about steaks and he said he was selling high quality steaks door to door – asked if I’d be interested.  I replied, through my closed and locked door (my door are ALWAYS locked, even during the day and I’m at home – shades of living in Boston for the better part of a decade).  He walked away.  Couple nights later, a repeat performance and this time he had a bit of a desperate look on his face….

This is Why People Carry a Gun When Answering the Door

Numerous people have criticized homeowners  for having a gun in their hand or on their person when answering a door.  I have always maintained that it is only prudent to do so.

…The incident occurred around 1:27 a.m. July 28, when Daryl Marquis Evans, 22, knocked on the door of the home and displayed a handgun when the front door was opened by a 29-year-old resident, according to the press release. Police later determined Evans was carrying a Taurus PT 911 9mm handgun. The resident was also armed, with a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson in his waistband, which he brought with him to answer the door due to the late hour, the district attorney’s office said.  The homeowner made the evaluation that defense instructors suggest.  “Does this attacker intend to kill or severely injure me, even if I comply?”

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That’s part of a quote from someone that I no would call a true Democrat (as opposed to the hard-core Progressives that have careened the Democrat Party far to the Left) – former US Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick.  Unlike many Democrat leaders of today, she ALWAYS had the best interests of America on the forefront and NEVER did an “apology tour” inside the UN.  Here is the full quote:

 “Everyone says we can’t be the world’s policeman, sure. But what if there’s a world criminal? Will anyone check that criminal? Should he just run rampant? How do you keep him from coming to your door?”

During the last Prez election cycle, not knowing this quote, I had a discussion with a hard core Ron Paul supporter on foreign policy.  My argument was “would you rather have China, Russia, or some other possibly bad actor take our place?  Ask youself: if Ron Paul’s foreign policy depends on free trade among all nations, would someone else police and protect the sea trade routes for all comers like the US has?”.  The person acceded I had made a point that no one else had made to her.

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Nature abhors a vacuum; when a gap in “life” occurs (be it natural when lava from a volcano overflows a lush jungle environment in Hawaii and wipes out ALL life, or man-made like Chernobyl), there will be some forms of life that will recapture that space.  Sure, it may take some time, but it happens (given other supporting factors like sun and water).  Life is.

Americans are war weary, and being a (now) a military family (both sons being combat vets), it is clear the dangers and fears faced not only by those who are at the tip of the spear but also those keeping the home hearth going.  But the question that Jeane Kirkpatrick asked remains: “Will anyone check that criminal? Should he just run rampant?“.  I’m not saying that WE must be that limiting factor but I am saying that it will be important as to who that will that be?  I see no other Western democracies stepping up to confront what I see is a long term existential threat (which Australia’s former army head said recently Australia needs to be ready for a 100 year war with radical Islam).  And one will be needed, as this from The Corner reminds us:

Bernard Lewis, as you know, is one of the great scholars of our time. The dean of Middle East history. He is two years shy of his hundredth birthday. In addition to being a sage, he is a wit. On Friday, he uttered four words that pretty much sum up where we are — how civilization stands against barbarism:

“We cease, they fire.”

A truism – when we walk away, bad 

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“When you’re part of a society, you can’t separate yourself from the obligations that citizens have”

Independent; rugged individualism; self-responsibility.  The old maxim (quick, good, or cheap) is to pick two and call me back.  Ginsburg can’t as it is obvious, just as the Left believes, those attributes are just archaic.  Sure, they worked when our country was formed and the Constitution was written, but that’s just so old and well, people can’t make it on their own anymore without the help of others.  But the Left goes further than that – to a forced communitariansm in which the Government dragoons you into “helping” or being “charitable” towards others. Doubt me?  This is what she said concerning the Hobby Lobby decision:

“The decision that an employer could refuse to cover contraceptives meant that women would have to take care of that for themselves or the men who cared,” Ginsburg replied. “Contraceptive protection is something that every woman must have access to to control her own destiny,” she added.

What a concept, that “that women would have to take care of…themselves“! For thousands of years, that is the way it was.  But you see,

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Cleveland judge accused of beating wife had 2,500 rounds of ammunition, semi-automatic rifles, sword and smoke grenades in home

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Police confiscated smoke grenades, semi-automatic rifles, a sword, a bulletproof vest and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition from the home of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lance Mason’s home, according to a police report.

I.E., lazy.  This Is Supposed To Be A Big Deal – and the headline writer is sure to let us know that.  Not that the judge punched his wife with a closed fist, but that he had what GOD KNOWS is a veritable arms warehouse!   Seriously, must have been an eye opener for the reporter – only drug dealers and other nefarious folks are supposed to have that much!  Thankfully, I can say that while I do know some reporters (that I would also call journalists) that shoot, I’m quite sure that most MSM reporters haven’t a clue.  To a lot of my friends, that might be 4 or 5 trips to the range – on slow days.   I also do know folks that have FAR more than that – especially those that practice a lot for competitions (in fact, WAY, WAY more that other shooters would go “really”???).  But here, this is supposed to be A Big Deal.  No – most of the folks I know that shoot on a regular basis will just shake their heads at this “breathless headline”.  But admittedly, the rest of this is not a good thing (to be complete):

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Watching FoxNews “Special Report” is a staple for me – while it seems that they do try to report the news fairly straight up (yes, sometimes shaded a bit or bit more to the Right – let’s be honest here, as do the others shade (or in the case of MSNBC, leap) to the Left), it is the roundtables in the latter part of the show that I really do enjoy.  That said, the news part had a snippet of GOP Chair Reince Priebus begging for unity on the Right.  In doing so, he said  a sentence that I thought was quite oddly constructed:

“If we work together – Conservatives, Republicans, Independents, local TEA Party activists – we can fire Reid and get this country working.”

I would have thought that “wings of the Republican Party” might have been sufficient or even just “Republicans”.  However, it actually is rather truthful.  A lot of Conservatives have and are leaving the Party because elected Republicans aren’t voting the way they talk.  Then there are the Republicans – mostly known as

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Africa is now a country!

Yeah, such a show of brilliance!  For their underlying philosophy is that Government is FULL of smarter people than the rest of us “little people” who not only need but WANT them to lead us.  And that these folks are totally non-partisan to boot. Snort!  First we get our esteemed gaffe-a-matic Vice President Biden wonderfully making a whole continent smaller.  Get the rewrite of the geography books, globes, and charts ready:

“…But gaffe he did, in front of 50 world leaders and their entourages at the event held on the sidelines of President Barack Obama’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

…Africa is a continent made up of 54 separate countries, including island nations off its coastlines.

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