What Guns are to America--And Why

While on an international locksmithing forum, in the wake of the Aurora shootings, those of us in the US were asked by a British locksmith what it is it about the "gun culture" in the US, that ownership is such a "hot button" in politics.

Sad to say, a lot of it turned into a bashing of the UK and Europe, with some personal (and uncalled for) sniping.

So, I wrote this commentary as a statement as to this country and its guns. It reads as follows

John, let me try to explain the “gun culture” here in the US, best as I can.

The gun in this country is many things to many people.

The gun is some people’s food market. From here in Wisconsin, for the annual deer hunt, to the bays of the coasts where waterfowl are hunted, to the mountains, where elk and goat are to be found, there’s a gun to be seen and food to be put on the table. Has been for over two centuries, and don’t see that changing soon.

It also insures some folk’s food supply, dealing with marauding animals, be it a raccoon in the corn fields, a fox in the hen house, or coyotes checking over a herd of cows or a flock of sheep. More than a few animals that would consider H. sapiens a nice snack think twice, and it’s the sharp crack of the gun, and the smell of blood mixed with the acrid tang of burnt cordite, that reminds them why we have the last word. From the big cats, to grizzly bears, from alligators to rattlesnakes,  wolves and coyotes alike, all consider a meal of a human to be an act of desperation.

The gun is tradition, what bonds many families, from three generations going on the annual deer hunt, to a family with generations in law enforcement, with the youngest member carrying his father’s or grandfather’s sidearm, keeping tradition alive in service to his city or state.

In some parts of this great nation, the gun is law. Where any form of legal authority is miles and hours away, the gun is the defining factor as to how man will deal with his fellow man. There was a time in this nation when attempting to steal or rob one’s fellow man blatantly would be dealt with rather harshly, if not terminally. The courts also looked at this as simply an occupational hazard of committing a felony, and that was the last to be said of it.

The same could be said at sea, or on out Great Lakes. A man was the master of his vessel, and any attempt to board and seize it, would result in a miscreant becoming fish food.

The gun is freedom to many people. From the Continental Army in the 1700’s, to the Civil War, from WW1 and WW2, to Iraq and Libya, the gun is the last hope of freedom from an oppressive dictatorship, and a chance for all at a new and better future. And after having won that freedom, the gun is the first line of maintaining the hard won freedoms.

Much of Europe simply sees this country and its gun culture as little more as a extension or substitution of a man’s anatomy, forgetting it was as much the machinists and steelworkers making those guns, as it was the soldiers and sailors putting them to use, when it would have been far safer and more prudent not to rush into harm’s way to defend another nation.

It was also the gun, that brought technology advances, from using stampings to replace complex castings and machined parts, to produce better and stronger metal alloys, and faster means of working them to suit our needs, be it armaments, aircraft, or the lowly automobile. It drove chemistry as well, through better powders and lubricants, which begat offshoots into better varnishes and lacquers, and better oils and greases for aviation, automotive, and marine uses, giving us durable goods that really were durable.

No, our gun culture goes far beyond simply self protection. And that’s just the way it is.

-A. D. Murphy©,  23 July 2012

How'd we get this poor this fast?

A bit of it can be summed up in two words: credit cards.

You want to watch something that should scare the hell out of you? The PBS show FRONTLINE had a episode titled "Secret History Of The Credit Card". Get yourself a nice glass of ice water, and watch this. No coffee, your blood pressure will be high enough after this; no beer or other booze, you won't believe what you hear, or blame it on the hooch.

Cold drink? Popcorn?OK, here we go!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/

Are you good and angry? You should be.you and I have been lead, like a cow to a butcher house, to be financially dissected and sold like so many pounds of raw meat. One of the people interviewed is Andrew Kahr. Here's his biography from Wikipedia:


Andrew Seth Kahr was the founder and CEO of First Deposit Corp, which later became known as Providia, and was acquired by Washington Mutual in 2005; it is now owned by Chase Bank.
Kahr grew up in New York City, where he attended the Fieldston School of the Ethical Culture Society. He went to Harvard University in 1957 and graduated three years later, in 1960. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1962 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis was "A Minimal Reduction Class for the Entscheidungsproblem". Following that he attended Harvard Business School. For his role in forming the credit card business, he was interviewed by the PBS Frontline documentary "Secret History of the Credit Card."

I wonder why he doesn't doesn't consent to interviews or want anyone to know where he lives. I wouldn't want someone to know where I lived if I had done what did. He understood that if you had to make a rather low monthly payment, you'd be more inclined to have a higher balance to pay interest on. From the point of the banking industry, the man is their Einstein. He blended high-end mathematics with applied psychology to produce the perfect people trap. In actuality, he didn't do anything to us, or for us, he created the perfect storm to entice us to do it to ourselves.

In many respects, what Andrew Kahr gave us was the ability for instant gratification.  Want a new watch? No prob. Fancy clothes? Did and done. Car payment? Got it. And one day you miss a payment, or it's late. Only a day or two, you say to yourself. It's only to the utilities, I won't be cut off. Guess what.  You get to learn a new expression: universal default.

Have a payment listed on a credit report as being late--even if it isn't to the credit card agencies, and your interest rate goes through the roof.Too high a balance? Same thing. Fair? Who cares, you agreed to it. Send in your payment by registered or certified mail? You better read the fine print in that contract--they tell you that they will not accept registered or certified mail, and you agreed to it.

Your credit card rates are figured using the LIBOR rate as a benchmark. You don't know what that is? Most of us don't, never mattered, or so we thought. This link explains it rather well, easier that typing until my fingers fall off.

http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/LIBOR.htm

Recently, we've also seen how the banking industry has buggered the LIBOR like a Vegas hooker, and most, if not all of us none the wiser, until recently, when that house of cards fell apart! This explains it rather nicely:

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/11/the-libor-scandal-explained-in-one-simple-infographic/

The UK's Daily Mail explains some of the ramifications, both there and here in the US.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172377/LIBOR-scandal-rocks-US-experts-warn-biggest-consumer-fraud-history.html


Still don't understand jack? Don't feel bad, you aren't supposed to. To quote Prof. Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, "I've read my credit card agreement, and I can't figure out the terms. I teach contract law, and the underlying premise of contract law is that the two parties to the contract understand what the terms are."

And with good reasons. If you understood the late fees and the like, you would have realized you signed your peace of mind away.

Now, this was produced several years ago, in 2004, and many things have changed. Federal laws have been put into place to protect the consumer, but as usual, the laws fall short. The public has wised up, too, with debit card use now exceeding credit card use.

Still, it's something to be aware of, better the devil you know then the devil you don't!

I Really Shouldn't Be Here--

I should be, in all odds, at a funeral service now. Mine.

I'm not sure what prompted me to call the EMT's to come get me from the backyard of the house. I felt a little tightness in my chest, but I just finished working on my son's car. Must have pulled something.

Got up and felt a little light headed. Big deal, hot summer afternoon, nothing a little cold water from the outside hose won't fix, chug down some water, and run the water over my forehead, should be right as rain.

Not.

I sat down on the back porch steps, and laid back and closed my eyes for a moment, and heard the voice in my head. "You are having a heart attack NOW. Call the EMT's NOW. No, you are NOT driving yourself to the hospital."

The next thought was a question. Do you want to live or die? Are you that tired of listening to the world and its bullshit that you want out? Your kids are adults, with the youngest married to a kind and intelligent young man with an excellent future ahead of them, and my eldest making headway, breaking new ground in his dreams and making a buck at the same time. All in all, they really don't need me.

My darling wife? If I live, am I sentencing her to a life with me, taking care of a fucked-up spouse? And if I die, I've no life insurance, so even though the house and everything is paid off, it would leave her in one hell of a financial bind. She's collect my social security as a widow, which isn't shit.

Hm. May as well stick around. Call 911 and let's get the show going.

Now, to the credit of all involved, you couldn't ask for better of the Milwaukee Fire Department and their paramedic/EMT units.These folks work as a team so damn well, they could re-educate the Packers AND the Brewers! No uncertainty or errors, everyone knew their part, spot on.

St Luke's Hospital was just as efficient, took the EKG readings, ran the dye contrast test, and promptly rolled me into the OR for triple bypass surgery. Not only were on top of their game, they even appreciated my warped sense of humor.

I get asked what I'm going to do, given a new lease on life. Not really sure, still making payments on the old lease on life. It's really tough to be philosophical when you're scrabbling to make a fucking dollar from many of the cheapskates here in Milwaukee.

The cardiologist has all but given me a clean bill of health, we'll see what the surgeon has to say in two weeks.

What made me think heart attack? Damned if I know, my symptoms were anything but typical. Almost brushed them off.

So, what do you do with a second chance at life, and why? Thoughts or suggestions are accepted, but not necessarily going to be applied.

And in the Beginning--

The idea of this blog came from a old friend from high school, over 30 years ago, when I commented on a article as to the middle class taking a huge hit in their financial worth in an e-mail he sent. He's been sharing them with friends, and they've asked the same question--what did I see that nobody else wanted to see and why?

Some of it was seeing what society was doing to each other, rather than for each other. Once you see beyond that, you see that there is a growing segment of mercantile commerce doing things to you, rather than for you. And it came to be for only one reason: we allowed them to do it to us. Decades ago, the comic strip Pogo summed it up in one sentence, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

I'm now just a tad over 50, and have seen and understood the gradual but accelerating erosion of the middle class to the point where folks who never thought they'd have problems are out on the street, living with their adult kids, or the other extreme, parents with their adult kids moving back in with their parents, having found out their college degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

I remember all too well, the classes in high school, call them social studies, call them civics class, when what we needed was a good semester of Contract Law 101, what the elements are of a valid and binding contract, how one is drawn up, and if it ends up in court due to gray areas in the pages of words lawyers call "boilerplate", in who's favor the court will decide (It's NEVER supposed to be in the contract originator's favor!)and why.

We needed a decent education in the legal system, how to appear in court, how to enter a plea in things like traffic court, pre-trial hearings and the like, and how to handle these things by mail, not by paying a lawyer to appear for you (unless your time is worth more than the lawyer!). Some of us learned from out parent's occupation, some through their degree, but far too many of us learned by being dragged through the process. Some of us have gone through the legal system in divorce court or bankruptcy proceedings and the like, completely confused and bewildered and coming out the end gutted like a fresh fish. The lucky among us came out beaten but not broken, much wiser for out battle scars.

We all have done our youth a great disservice in their education. And we need to do better now. And every day.