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Wow.......would someone pull that knife out of my back? ................thanks, I am back and much better now. What's happening this week: Gun Control. Was it an oversight, or was it a cruel joke? I nearly fell out of my chair yesterday when I saw the article on a local website about the Supreme Court striking down a gun ban in place for handguns in the District of Columbia. And right below that was a story about a Memorial Softball Tournament for Fallen Law Enforcement Officers. Seriously. Would you have not taken 10 seconds to see that the 2 stories are polar opposites? I’m very doubtful that these officers’ families and friends are all for making it easy for people to buy guns. An apology is due from that website.
That's the dilemma, isn't it? How to keep our right to own guns free and clear for some, and not for others. Folks, you can't have it both ways. Even though groups like the NRA want to push for little legislation on gun control, the "reasonably" sane people know we have to put in place some stronger laws. Like closing the Gun Show loopholes. Like strengthening the laws of who can and can't carry a concealed weapon. Like doing a more extensive background check on individuals before they are allowed to purchase a gun. Think about the ease of purchasing a gun - we know one gentleman who was arrested and convicted for assault and battery. Now he has a concealed weapon permit. How does this happen? I believe in our right to keep and bear arms. But I also believe that we should consider it a privilege that could be taken away rather than a right. Obedience Class. Over my years I have probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 pets. In fact we have six right now, a fair balance of dogs and cats - 3 and 3. And we don't believe in the small, drop-kick dogs either like my friend Randy Thompson has. We have two rather large labs and a very hyper Border Collie. You see, all real men want a big dog. We all want the dog you see in the movies who attacks the guy holding a knife on you, the dog you can say "get me a beer" and the task is done.......the kind of dog that jumps in the bed of the pickup truck to travel to the other end of the field. I had a dog like that once........got in the back of the truck when I was headed out, went and got the neighbors after I took a heavy fall once.......and he promptly went with my ex-wife when we divorced. Traitor. So, it should be no surprise that I had high hopes for the yellow lab we kept from a litter of puppies from our black lab. Up until yesterday, my classic answer about this dog was, "he's not the stupidest dog I've seen, but he made the list." The dog is, without a doubt, a bad dog. Tore up everything on the porch; wakes everyone up at 3 in the morning and even though he has been fixed - he's still humping everything in sight. So, before his 1st birthday, the decision was made to take the dog to obedience class. Our first session was Wednesday night. I should have known something was "up" from the start. In the past, it has taken two of us to get the dog into a vehicle. He seems to recall the trip that ended in his being "snipped". Wednesday night he flew out the door to the vehicle and jumped in. So, I figure when we get to PetSmart, that's when his true colors will show. Nope. We get to PetSmart and he suddenly becomes this calm and very well behaved dog. Sits, shakes, lies down, doesn't bark, and wants to play with the other dogs instead of humping them. The general consensus from everyone in the room was the dog was well-behaved. So, when shown how one or two times, the dog was doing every trick in the book. Class ends, he runs to the vehicle and is calm during the 20 minute ride home. Once home be happily runs into the house, starts humping the Border Collie, chewing the columns of the porch, and woke me up at 3 in the morning with his barking. I'm wrong.......the dog is smarter than I thought. Best Joke of the Week. Joan was expecting a new car as a birthday present from her husband Bob, but by the end of the day she realized that he had forgotten her birthday. She left him a note the next morning saying, "When I get home from work today, I want to see something in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds!" When she arrived home and looked in the driveway she found a bathroom scale. Joan is currently listed by police as a "person of interest" in Bob's disappearance. Virginia Roads. Well, when your car suffers extensive front-end damage any time soon from hitting a pothole, send the bill to Dave Nutter or Annie Oakley Davey-Crockett or whatever her name is. These two are part of a contingent of Republicans playing politics with Virginia roads and bridges. By even conservative efforts, VDOT needs another BILLION dollars a year to operate. Yesterday, a Democratic controlled Senate passed some legislation that would put a small tax on gasoline to help pay for the shortfall. But, the bill will never get past the Republicans in the House of Delegates. They seem to believe that VDOT remains an out-of-control agency where they can find a billion dollars a year in cuts. The Republicans should know as they are the ones who directed VDOT when it was an out-of-control agency that took Mark Warner and the Democrats to fix. Virginia roads used to be the pride of Virginians. The roads and the road system were one of the best in the nation and resulted in high marks from other states. Those days are done until we get Nutter, Davey Crockett and all the other Republicans out of Richmond. And by the way, I thought campaign signs had to come down following elections? So, why does the lady with the hyphen in her name still have a sign up on Rt. 100? A BIG sign too. Worst View of the Week. Seeing an obviously 300 pound woman search through the bras at Wal-Mart. The Obama Watch. Newly named Fox News contributor and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is begging, is pleading, is cautioning the Republicans to tone it down on Obama. He's right and frankly his approach sounds more Presidential than Obama or McCain. Here's where the Republicans just don't get it. There is a very large group of people - some call the Reagan Democrats, I just call them "landed in the center" - who despise the far right and the far left. What the Republicans do not get is this..........and I'll be tarred and feathered for saying it - people in the middle are as terrified by Dr. James Dobson as we are Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Just the facts Mam............we don't want to hear Jeremiah Wright's take on Iraq and the Republicans, just as we don't want to hear James Dobson question Obama's Christianity. The reason? We are smart enough to know that George Bush has this country in a mess and we are smart enough to know that Barak Obama needs to be grilled a bit harder on some of his past actions, relationships and votes. And he certainly needs to be grilled about his plans for the future of this country. Huckabee "gets it". Frankly, Huckabee sounds more like what we would expect of Christians as opposed to the hate coming from the Christian right. He stops short of calling Obama "dishonest". He praises Obama for things Obama deserves praise for, such as being the first African-American nominated by his party to run for President. He makes the differences between him and Obama relatively easy to understand and he seems to mix passion and compassion very nicely. Huckabee is careful to use the word "uncomfortable" in describing Obama. He doesn't resort to name calling as the bulk of the Religious right seems to be intent on. Even local opinion writers scare those of us in the center. They hear Sean Hannity spew his racist poison and hate messages, embrace Christianity and they think that is how to become a "character". It doesn't, it just makes them a cheap imitation of the Republican "talkers" and completely out of step with what the majority of this country believes. Huckabee appears to be one of those people who will find some good in everyone, even though he strongly disagrees with the person's politics. And he seems to be hesitant to judge people because he seems comfortable with handing that task over to a higher power. But, if you'll notice, these talk show hosts, these people from the extreme Religious Right, these opinion writers.......... they don't seem to be comfortable with letting God judge as it says in the Bible. It's as if they believe God must be incapable of doing the job. I do not think that these individuals know just how many people they turn off from the voting process. We don't want to elect Obama because he might name Jeremiah Wright Secretary of State. And we don't want to vote for McCain or we'll be attacking someone else in the Middle East.................looking for the Ark or something. Just over three years ago (and my wife will confirm this story), my wife and I were watching one of the news shows where Obama was being interviewed. I watched about 15 minutes of the program and told my wife that she was looking at the next President of The United States. I'll be proven right and it will divide this country terribly because Obama is incapable of bringing the country together. Forget all of his past, for me it was the very moment that he played the "Race" card in this campaign that I turned completely numb on the guy. And because of that I am now saying that you very well might be looking at the new President four years from now in Mike Huckabee. He’d get the vote of a Liberal Democrat right now – me.
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Just My Opinion 
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