The State of the Union is still a state of war
Posted in by R. Lee Wrights
A year ago, after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union message I wrote an op-ed entitled “The State of the Union is a State of War.” Lamentably, a year later, after his 2012 address I am compelled to write that the State of the Union is still a state of war. And there’s no sign that the wars will come to an end anytime soon, particularly so long as Democrats, Republicans, and their corporate and special interest supporters keep using our tax dollars to fund these wars so that they can benefit and profit.
President Obama used the word “fair” and “reward” several times in his speech. His vision of “fair” is to “fight obstruction with action,” by taking from those who produce and giving that money as a “reward” to those who produce nothing. His idea of “fair” is to “reward companies that keep jobs in America” by taxing companies that try to stay in business by outsourcing jobs overseas. His view of “fair” means “reward” schools that meet federally-imposed education standards by threatening to withhold money from schools that fail to do so. His concept of “fair” means forcing states to keep young people in school until they graduate or turn eighteen.
While piously declaring that there would be “no bailouts, no handouts, and no cop-outs,” the president’s address was full of promises and pledges, threats and offers of reward that are precisely some sort of bailout, handout or cop-out. His standard line was to demand Congress “send me a bill,” but threatened, “with or without this Congress I will keep taking action…” For some reason that old saying, “the blind leading the blind” comes immediately to mind when I hear our president say things like that.
This week’s revelation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that homicide is no longer among the leading causes of death in the United States - at a time when gun ownership is at an all-time high - shows that the gun ban lobby has been wrong, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
When I was growing up, Superman was the ultimate hero on American television. The opening promotion proudly proclaimed that Superman was fighting for “truth, justice, and the American way!” Unfortunately, Superman is fiction, and there is neither truth nor justice in our American courtrooms today.
BELLEVUE, WA - The Second Amendment Foundation and Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs will appeal a federal judge’s ruling Friday that “the Second Amendment does not include a general right to carry handguns outside the home.”
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door.” 
