The Daily Dose/August 5, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
READY…AIM…FIRE: Damn.
Four in the last week, including two within a few hours of each other, which is a lot, even for America.
Can We Talk? Of Course We Can’t: Despite these tragedies, and thanks to the NRA, none of our elected officials wants to talk about this so, just for funsies and in the spirit of civilized discourse, we are going to trot out the Second Amendment, oblige you to read it, and then talk about it. If you’re reading it for the first time, it’s shorter than you might think, having one sentence and 27 words and, like other parts of our constitution, it is wonderfully ambiguous.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
For $100 And Control Of The Board: Does the Second Amendment only provide for the several states to defend themselves, or does it provide for a citizen’s right to bear arms? Both sides of the debate are equally adamant the Amendment supports their view. Considering the context of the times our Bill of Rights was established and the English laws and customs that influenced them we believe the answer is both.
Back To The Future: Now, we no longer need to defend the homestead from Indians or wild animals and most of us have convenient access to a grocery store or restaurants, but the proposition of not having unarmed citizens go up against an armed government is still valid.
OTOH: Or maybe it isn’t. Great Britain has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world and still manages to hold a free country together. They’ve had three mass shootings since 1980, one less than America has had since last week. Still, though, guns have been part of the American landscape since before the founding of our republic. Good luck getting rid of them. New Zealand, after their own mass shooting, is trying mightily to rid itself of assorted weapons without much success.
Stop Us If You’ve Heard This Before: The American shooting gallery is a phenomena as sad as it is rare, because no other country has ever been subjected to shootings on this scale. Our own theory, trotted out more or less every hour on the hour, is this:
America has violent citizens because America has a violent government.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: Peaceful nations have peaceful citizens. We are not going to have a peaceful country or a peaceful world without a peaceful America.
Are You Done Yet? Now, an America at peace will not eliminate all mass shootings. Nothing short of complete disarmament will because there will also be those deranged people hell bent on causing mayhem and tragedy. It’s the way the world is built.
OK, Now We’re Done: But both our country and our planet are entitled to see the world an America at peace would produce.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow takes a phone call at the hotel. Today’s Diary.
About 0200 – bar closing time – I get a call from a young lady asking to talk to Mr H…I don’t know what room all our guests are staying in off the top of my head, so I look it up and transfer the call to the room…Based on my not-insignificant amount of experience in the matter, I figure it’s a hooker calling a client to verify his hotel and room number before showing up to ply her trade, fairly standard procedure in the call girl racket…This is hardly a problem up here, but you never know…Like hotel rooms, female bodies are classic supply and demand…Some desk clerks would get their shorts in a knot over this and go tactical stake out the room and whatnot but one, it’s more work than I want to put it and, two, as a classic libertarian, I feel obliged to let the free market run its course.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
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On This Date
In 1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires over 11,00 striking air traffic controllers, two days after they violated federal law by going on strike. The government and the union had been unable to agree on a reduced workweek for air traffic controllers. The effects were profound: though managers, non-striking and military controllers were able to get about half of the scheduled flights airborne, it would take eleven years before staffing levels returned to normal. Over the years, about 850 striking controllers were rehired.
In 1901 – Peter O’Connor of Ireland establishes the first long jump world record recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations, jumping 24 feet, 11.5 inches at a meet in Dublin, Ireland. O’Connor’s record would stand for 20 years, now the fourth-longest reign in track history, behind Bob Beamon’s 23-year reign, Jesse Owen’s 25-year tenure Mike Powell, who has held the record since 1991.
In 1966 – Wild Thing by the Troggs is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks. The song also went to #1 in New Zealand and peaked at #2 in Great Britain. The Troggs would hit the Top 40 two other times and Wild Thing remains their only #1 hit. Due to a contractual dispute, the song was released by both Atco and Fontana records and remains the only single to reach number one for two companies.
Quotebook
Only when we begin to trust ourselves do we begin to live.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The United States Coast Guard got its name on January 28, 1915, when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the US Life Saving Service.
Today’s Stumper
Who holds the Olympic record for the long jump? – Answer next time!
