It's Bigger Than it Looks.

This a photo of Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President.  In my most recent e-issue (January 2012) of the American Rifleman, I ran across an article by Chris W. Cox, NRA-ILA Executive Director, entitled "Fast and Furious, Right From the Source".  It reminded me of the response of the NRA after the attempted service of a federal search warrant at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX.  I am an NRA member and I agree with a lot of what they try to do.  However, they, like others who use their considerable resources to influence what goes on in Washington, sometimes use attacks on public servants to get at otherwise untouchable politicians.  The photo that goes along with the article shows a beaming Chris W. Cox, (Career Lobbyist)  flanked by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (Career Politician) and U. S. Representative Darrell Issa (Wealthy businessman turned politician with a very interesting past - check them all out on Wikipedia).  I did, and I'm convinced I wouldn't trust any of them to make a decision on what was or wasn't a legitimate law enforcement operation.  I gave my take on "Fast and Furious" in a post during August of this past year.

http://www.pappysbalderdash.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html .

I was not going to post on this because it is so hard to lead readers through my maze of critical analysis without loosing them to their own staunch gut reactions.  However, a fellow blogger (a former Chief of Police) sent me a blog entry calling for shooting more police officers and lauding the recent killing of a Deputy Sheriff in Phoenix Arizona.  He was asking me what I thought we should do to counteract those who call for such action.  Here is my response to his inquiry.

"I read it Brady. It is a sign of the times. Unfortunately, people who
dislike the laws we have passed, take out their angst on the people who
enforce it. Those who would have us enter a state of anarchy and
lawlessness have an agenda to destroy the public's confidence in those who
are guardians and enforcement officers (soldiers and law enforcement
officers). When they do this, the "Nanny State" can come in with their
hand picked cadre of enforcers and force people to do as they're told. The
process is aided by people who lack understanding, or those who have nothing
else to do in life but get paid to protest. Look at the "Occupy Wall
Street" crowd for example. Our current president came from the ranks of
those who can be paid to stir up unrest under the guise of furthering social
justice. "Community Organizers" are people paid by wealthy patrons to keep
the undereducated masses in a state of turmoil and herd them in mass to the
polls to vote for those candidates who "The Pseudo-Intellectual Elitists"
tell/pay them to vote for. Barack and Michelle Obama are getting rich and
living large doing exactly as they are told by people like George Soros.

The system is incremental and many people don't even realize they are
playing an active roll. We have passed so many laws that people rebel,
(even those we label as good folks) and quietly justify their selective
obedience/disobedience of the law in their own minds. How many people
speed? How many cheat on their income taxes? How many take liberties with
the gun laws? The list is endless. Those who have financial interests in
the process lash out at the enforcers of the law on both sides of the
political aisle. It is a society driven by short sided selfish interests
that ignore the future consequences for those who follow. Once the
representative republic implodes, then the masses are forced into
compliance/slavery by the Oligarchy.

Everyone loves the NRA right? After ATF's failed service of a search
warrant at the Branch Davidian compound, and the subsequent FBI directed 51
day standoff, Wayne LaPierre the head of the NRA suggested that his
followers shoot ATF agents in the head. He later apologized for the
statement, but what led him to do this? All the agents involved were acting
according to, and following the laws of our land. He had a platform to
attack political opponents of the gun laws and stir up his base to send more
money to the NRA. The target of vitriolic written accounts both before and
after the raid targeted law enforcement (even though many officers belonged
to the NRA). The ATF and FBI were enforcing laws passed by our
representatives in Washington, D.C. However, the political opponents of
the NRA were the democrats who occupied the White House and controlled the
congress under then president Bill Clinton. In our society, these elected
officials are virtually untouchable, and through the courts, the Attorney
General, powerful elected representatives, and a now complicit national media
they control much of what goes on in our country without consulting those
who put them there. So to get at this juggernaut, powerful players in both
political parties target the relatively defensless and hamstrung public
servants who enforce the laws of the land. They are repeating their actions
now by attacking, and inacurately portraying the actions of ATF agents in
Operation Fast and Furious. Agents and police officers are usually under
some level of gag order while the political infighting goes on. They cannot
defend their actions without facing punitive sanctions. The NRA and their
political supporters on the right are after Obama and Eric Holder (among
others) and the left uses their platform to further erode the public's
confidence in their public servants. The media piles on with their blather
which the underinformed, who can read, gobble up without any critical
analysis. Our soldiers are also covered in a manner designed to create
doubt and mistrust.

We are a society in decline and the problem is world wide. We were a
country, like no other country, founded by men who followed the Holy
Scriptures and the principles outlined by Creator God. Our God is a jealous
god, and will not be mocked. We are doomed to failure unless we return to
the selfless life his Son, Jesus Christ modeled for us in his short life
here on earth. God knew before he created us that by giving us the freedom
to choose, (a necessary component to make relationships mean something) he
had given us the program to choose selfishly. He knew man would make the
wrong choice, and he planned for his perfect Son to come and pay the penalty
required to make a way for us to return to a right relationship with Him. Man's
pride and continued insistence on following his own flawed human wisdom has
caused us to pick up speed in our slide toward perdition. We are oblivious
to the slavery that ultimately awaits us when we live our lives outside of
God's plan."

I hope you were able to follow the thread.  At the least, I hope you will do your own critical thinking and research on the issues brought up.  Thanks for reading,  Pappy